Chapter Text
September 21st 2025
All in all Oscar had not been having a great weekend in Baku, yes he was up there during all 3 practice sessions but it all went down hill during quali when he qualified P9 on the grid. And now he was in his drivers room getting ready for the race in an hour, stressing about the fact that Lando could make up points in the championship because he had qualified above him. A knock on the door interrupted his racing thoughts.
"Osc it's me." He heard from behind the door, Lando, he considered pretending not to be there but instead he opened the door to let him in.
As soon as the door was shut and locked Lando had his arms around Oscar, hugging him tightly.
"Hey, how's the nerves?" He asked into the crook of his neck.
"Alright. Better with you here." Oscar responded taking in the hug and realising just how stressed he must've been.
"You're gonna do great out there Osc, I know you will. You made that crazy overtake on Charles last year I'm sure you can overtake just as well this year." He said pulling back just enough to put their foreheads together.
"You think so? Even if I have to overtake you?"
"Even if you have to overtake me." He reiterated
"I don't know why I'm so nervous, it's never normally this bad." He said stepping back and sitting on the small couch that barely fit in the room. Lando sat down next to him, though they barely fit on it next to each other.
"You won Baku last year Osc, and then you only qualified 9th, which with the way the car performed was still good, I had the same feeling in Miami this year. Didn't want to have a bad race the year after I won the same race."
"Yeah I guess maybe that is it." He paused, "What about you? How are you feeling about the race?"
"Nervous for the start, but other than that there's not much you can do in Baku is there. In fact if you show up behind me I might just let you pass so that at least something interesting happens. The media would have a field day with that." He said, earning a small smile from Oscar
"You know I'd rather race you properly, and the media would have a field day with anything that happens between us. Even if it's just one of us having a 0.01 second slower pitstop. They love over exaggerating papaya rules and making it look like we hate each other."
"Oh so we hate each other now." He said turning his head so that their noses were basically touching. "That mean I can't kiss you anymore?"
"It certainly does not"
But just before their lips met there was another knock on the door, "Oscar you in there?"
"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute." Oscar regretfully responded.
"One minute Oscar you need to be in the car soon to get it on the grid."
"Do you have to leave?" Lando asked now slumped back on the couch.
"Yes I do, and so do you, we're both racing Lan." He said getting up and grabbing his water bottle.
"You go first so I don't get caught in here."
"I'll see you after the race yeah."
"Yeah, love you."
"I love you too." Oscar replied leaning down to kiss Lando, their lips barely touching before he moved away and opened the door to check if anyone was around before stepping out and walking towards the garage.
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Before they knew it they were at the end of the formation lap, lining up in their grid spots. Lando in P7 and Oscar right behind him in P9.
When the lights went out Lando took longer than he should to take off, leaving him in between many midfield cars, he didn't get far before he had his first radio message.
"Lando, red flag come into the pits."
"What happened? Is everyone okay?"
"Just come into the pits Lando, we'll let you know once you're here."
"Is it Osc?"
No answer.
"Will, is it Oscar?" He asked again as he entered pit lane.
"Just park the car Lando then we'll let you know what's going on."
As soon as Lando had parked his car he was out of it checking to see if Oscar had come in. He wasn't there. Then as he turned to the garage he had the horrifying realisation that it was Oscar on all the screens, Oscar who had crashed, Oscar who this red flag was for. He felt like he couldn't breathe.
"Is he responding?" He asked urgently. Everyone was too busy to respond to him. "Will, is Oscar responding?" He asked his engineer, he was beginning to panic, no one was giving him answers.
"He hasn't yet Lando. They're getting the medical car there as quick as possible but it's a tricky spot."
"Let me try talking to him, please." He practically begged. Will seemed to understand he wasn't taking a no and led him over to Oscar's engineer Tom. He said something to him, Lando was too panicked to hear it. He was brought back to his senses when he was offered a headset.
"Osc, it's Lando. If you're awake please respond." God his voice sounded so broken, it was a good thing the radio distorted it so much or the entire population would have heard how panicked he was about his teammate.
But he got no response. He looked up at the screen which was replaying Oscar's start. He'd jumped the start and then ended up at the very back. It didn't go much better from there. Until he got to Turn 5. The car didn't turn properly. Oscar went straight into the wall. Hard.
"Osc if you can hear me the medical car is almost there." He said before taking the headset off and stepping back to let the engineers do what they needed to.
All Lando could do was watch on screen as the medical car pulled up and people got out of it. One of them knelt down next to the car clearly trying to speak to Oscar. When they didn't get a response from him they moved to get him out of the car. When they pulled him out he was limp, Lando could feel the tears in his eyes threatening to fall. They laid him on a stretcher as the ambulance arrived, taking his helmet off. Lando couldn't breathe, the love of his life was lying unresponsive on a stretcher after a bad crash and he couldn't do anything.
"Fuck." He muttered. "I'm going to the bathroom." He said to someone that was standing there, he could barely see his eyes glazing over with tears.
"Shit Osc." He said entering the bathroom and locking the door behind him before sliding down the door to the floor knees to his chest. "Fuck what do I do?"
He couldn't tell anyone about them, no that would mean coming out and he wasn't going to out Oscar without asking him, they had barely discussed it. But he couldn't pretend he was just his teammate, not when he was going to the hospital in an ambulance in a foreign country, especially when none of his family were there, fuck what was he going to say to them. None of them knew he and Oscar were dating, of course he'd met them plenty of times but never as the boyfriend, Oscar hadn't been ready. The only people to know where Max and Charles, because Lando and Oscar were the only ones who knew about them.
First he had to get back out there, they were most likely to continue the race once they had cleared Oscar's car. And then he would be forced to finish the race, 50 more laps. 50 times past where Oscar had crashed. Almost 2 hours not knowing what was happening with Oscar, whether he was even alive. No he couldn't think like that. Oscar was going to be okay, he had to be. Lando didn't know what he would do if he wasn't. Lando didn't even know how he was going to get back in the car and resume the race.
"Hey Lando, race restart is at least half an hour away. Once you're ready we'd like to discuss strategy for the rest of the race in the garage." Someone said knocking on the door.
"I'll be there soon." He responded before hearing the person walk away.
He stood up and stepped in front of the basin and looked into the mirror, you couldn't quite tell he'd been properly crying. He splashed water on his face before taking a few deep breaths and walking out.
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Lando didn't remember getting back in the car, he didn't remember driving 50 laps to the end, he didn't remember the checkered flag. He did remember every time he went through turn 5 though. Everytime the image of Oscar laying on the stretcher unmoving went through his mind. As soon as he was out of the car he went straight into media duties as much as he wanted to get straight to the hospital. He lost count of the amount of time that had past while he was there. So many of the reporters asking him if he knew how Oscar was.
"I'm not sure I know as much as you guys."
"I don't know how he is I'm sure the team will keep media updated."
Inevitably he was asked something he knew would be coming, but he had no idea how to answer it.
"Lando given how close the championship is, how are you feeling about being able to close the gap on Oscar today and keep your championship hopes alive?"
Honestly his brain broke in the moment. He froze up completely, he had no idea what to say and he was plummeting into a panic in the middle of the paddock while being interviewed.
"I think that is not a fair thing to ask him no? Oscar is in hospital and clearly was not looking good when he was taken out of the car, I'm sure all Lando cares about right now is how his race went and how his teammate is doing."
Thank fuck for Charles Lando thought. He felt himself being pulled away around the corner by the man.
"Lando, Lando can you hear me?" Charles said waving his hand in front of Lando's eyes.
"...what, sorry did you say something?"
"I asked if you are okay mon ami."
"I- I don't know, I need to get to the hospital, Oscar, I need to see him."
"And I will do my best to get you there mon ami but first you should go change in your drivers room, Max and I will meet you at the paddock entrance and we can take you. But you need to be prepared for what you will see in there Lando, it is never nice seeing a loved one in the hospital no matter what."
"They haven't even updated me yet Charles, I can't think about anything else, I can't lose him Charles, I can't." He says feeling the tears come back to his eyes, he couldn't breathe again.
"Hey hey Lando, I need you to breathe. I think you are having, what is it, a panic attack."
He moved quickly to get Lando further away from anyone nearby. He found an empty meeting room and entered quickly before locking the door and texting Max to come to the room, he had more experience with this than he did.
"Lando, can you breathe with me?" Charles asked trying to get him to respond, but Lando was seemingly not present in his head anymore, his eyes glassy and breathes short.
"Charles, shatje I need you to let me in." Max said quietly knocking on the door. Lando flinched when the door opened, it was small but didn't go unnoticed.
"He is in his head Max, I couldn't get him out."
"That's okay, he's panicking about Oscar." Max then turned to Lando.
"Lando can you tell me 5 things you can see?"
"Hmm? What?" Lando said quietly.
"Can you tell me 5 things you can see?"
"Umm, you, Charles. The walls, uh the door, and I guess my hands."
"And 4 things you can touch?"
"The floor I guess, my fireproofs, this chair, I don't know there's nothing else."
"That's okay, 3 things you can hear?"
"Your voice, the fan, and people outside."
"Good, and-"
"I'm good Max, thanks." He said interrupting him.
"What can we do for you?"
"Just, just do what Charles said. Come to the hospital with me, I can't go alone and I can't tell anyone about our relationship."
"You know we will not tell anyone Lando." Charles reassures him.
"We'll meet you at the back entrance, less people will be there. But ask for an update first Lando. Just so you can know what you're walking into." Max said.
"Yeah okay, give me 15. I'll find a way out of debrief for now." He responded reaching for the door.
"And Lando," Charles paused as Lando looked at him. "You should call Oscar's parents when you get that update."
"Shit I didn't even think about them, they must be even more worried than me."
"Lando just calm down. We will help you with it once you get that update and get changed." Max countered.
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"Hey Will, is there an update on Osc?" Lando asked emerging from his drivers room now in his mclaren polo.
"We haven't heard, just that he was definitely concussed, and they were doing further tests."
"Is it okay if I went to the hospital?"
"Uh yeah I guess it would be fine, but Oscar's probably in no state to see people. And debrief is not happening, everyone is too busy now having to repair Oscar's car but also potentially get it ready for Pato to drive it."
"I'm gonna head off then, I'll keep you guys posted. Oh and has anyone contacted Osc's parents?"
"I'm not sure, but they would probably be happy to hear any news."
"Thanks Will, bye." Lando called walking, practically running, to the back end of the paddock.
Max and Charles were already there when he arrived, they didn't bother with talking, they just led him to a car where he got in the back seat. Lando didn't remember much of the car ride, he was too absorbed in his own thoughts, the image of Oscar laying on that stretcher not responding kept showing up.
"He is going to be okay Lando." Charles said to him as they got out of the car and walked into the hospital.
"Hello, we're here to see Oscar Piastri." is all Lando heard of what Max said to the receptionist.
Eventually they were taken to a private waiting area, which Max had obviously argued for considering the look on the receptionists face. A doctor came in soon after, he looked serious enough to be a good doctor to Lando, he only wanted the best for Oscar, whatever helped him the fastest.
"Hello, you must be fellow drivers?"
"Yeah, I'm uh his teammate these two are kind of moral support."
"Alright well, as you know Mr. Piastri was brought in from that crash unresponsive. After extensive tests we can say that he's likely got a serious concussion, along with a broken wrist, and a few broken ribs and extensive bruising and soft tissue injuries. We will need to perform surgery as well though for his right ankle which is also broken. We are hoping to get him into an OR as soon as we can which should be within the next hour."
"Has he, has he woken up since you brought him in?" Lando hesitated, he was already so worried about Oscar.
"It is likely he would have but we put him in an induced coma as we did not know the extent of his injuries and he would have been in a lot of pain." The doctor paused, "Do you know if there is anyone here with him that can sign some papers on behalf of him? We technically need permission to perform the surgery as a broken ankle is not technically life threatening. It could be a family member, a partner, his manager."
"Uh, whoever signs it would stay confidential yeah? Nobody can access those forms without permission?" Lando asks. He feels Max put his hand on his shoulder, it makes the decision easier.
"No they cannot, why? Is confidentiality an issue because I must express to you that we are aware of Mr. Piastri's status and we will not let anything get out."
"Yeah no, uh I can sign it. I'm his partner, Nobody can find out though."
"Well alright then. I will go get the papers and then we will move forward with the surgery, but after that you must know Mr. Piastri is not out of the woods, there is going to be a very long recovery ahead of him."