Dangerous Love
Lando and Oscar arrived in Suzuka the next day, just in time for Lando’s media obligations.
“So, how do you like married life?” Carlos asked, entering Lando’s driver’s room after second practice.
“Oh, hey, it’s good. Oscar is great, it was the right thing to do.” Lando said, stuffing his things into his backpack.
“Oh, come on, Lando.” Carlos said, throwing up his hands.
“What?” he asked confused, zipping his backpack.
“Are you serious? A kid like that? He’s not your type, Lan!”
“We have been mated for more than three months; I’d know by now if he wouldn’t be my type. What are you on about?”
“You don’t need a kid like that Lan, wake up! You need a man, a real one.” Carlos said, stepping close to Lando and stroking his cheek. “You need someone to take care of you, Lan. Someone to make you feel good.”
“Stop it, Carlos. I’m with Oscar and I love him.” Lando said, pushing Carlos’ hand away.
“Love, you’re so sweet, Lan. You don’t even know what that really means.” Carlos said softly and stepped forward again, letting Lando step back and up against the wall.
“I know what love is. What it feels like. What we had was a good thing for a while, but it is over, Carlos. I’m happy with Oscar. Now let me by.”
“He doesn’t need to know anything, you know. We can just … meet and he can keep making those little snacks and food you love so much. He takes care of that and I’ll take care of … the rest.” Carlos said, lifting his hand back up and stroking his finger over Lando’s lips, his hips pressing against Lando’s.
“No” Lando said, his voice shaking.
“You know you want it, Lan. You know that you miss this … miss us.” Carlos whispered and started moving his hips against Lando.
“NO!” Lando said loudly and pushed Carlos away, who stumbled a couple steps back. “I will not che-“ Lando started loudly, but stopped when he saw Oscar standing in the doorway, looking at them with a hard face. “Oscar, please, nothing happened, I pro-“
“I know. I’ve been standing here for a while.” Oscar said, his voice strained. “Carlos?” he asked and turned towards him with a wicked smile and then, before either Lando nor Carlos could react, planted his fist into Carlos’ face, letting him crouch down and blood flow out of his nose while yelling loudly.
“What the hell is going on?” Daniel asked, rushing into the room.
“Carlos tried to take my mate from me. He learned what will happen if he tries again.” Oscar told him with a smile.
“Ah … yeah, okay, I won’t help him up then.” Daniel said, stepping back from the painfully moaning Carlos on the floor.
“Lando, we are leaving.” Oscar said, waking Lando out of his trance and making him step towards him. “Oh, and just if that wouldn’t be clear, those snacks I’m going to make … you won’t get some.” He said towards Carlos before leaving, pulling a still shocked Lando behind him to the car.
“I’m not in the mood to cook something big, I’ll make a glass noodle salad with lamb, okay?” Oscar asked in the car while rubbing cream onto his hands. They sat in the middle row, while Max, Charles and Penelope sat in the back.
“Sure” Lando said, slightly airy “Did you really just punch Carlos?”
“Yes” Oscar said to him.
“You did what?!” Max asked.
“Finally! That was long overdue.” Charles said at the same time, clapping his hands.
“I thought you liked him?” Max asked Charles confused.
“I do, he’s a good friend and a great team mate, I like him for that. That’s also fine with Oscar, by the way, but he’s got heart eyes on Lando almost non-stop and the side eyes he gives Oscar … let’s just say I don’t know why, but I’m pretty sure Carlos deserved to get punched.”
“Oh, he did. He tried to convince Lando to leave me, when that didn’t work, he tried to seduce him and suggested an affair.”
“Then you punched him, sounds fair to me.” Charles said and nodded.
“Well, actually Lando told him no twice and he kept touching him, he should be really happy I only punched him once. He really can’t take anything, by the way, he went down immediately.” Oscar said while Max still stared at him with an open mouth.
“I’m just happy you were there.” Lando said.
“Why?” Oscar asked.
“I wouldn’t have known how to tell you that without panicking you would maybe leave me because of that.”
“Why would I leave you if another man likes you?”
“I mean … if I wouldn’t have been able to explain it really and then he tells you something else happened.” Lando mumbled.
“We would have talked about it and I would have known what had happened. I trust you to tell me the truth.” Oscar said, taking Lando’s hand.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.” Max said after a little silence. “Carlos made a move at you?”
“Yes.” Lando said shortly.
“And you punched him because of it?”
“Yes.” Oscar said.
“And you are absolutely fine with Oscar beating people?” Max asked Charles.
“No, no, no, no, he doesn’t ‘beat people’. He protected his alpha from a predator. He hit the person who passively bullied him for MONTHS, to get him back in line. If he would walk around beating people up, I wouldn’t be on his side. You always have to listen to the reasoning as well. Imagine one day P hits someone because he or she made a move towards her, what she didn’t want. Would you be on the other persons side, just because you don’t like violence?”
“That … that is different.” Max said.
“No, not really.” Charles argued back.
The paparazzi went crazy the next day when Carlos showed up with a heavily bruised nose and a swollen face. His excuse? I fell in the gym last night. Charles told them later Carlos had tried to tell him and the team Oscar had attacked him without him doing anything, just because he was jealous. Charles took Oscar’s side by asking him directly if that 'doing nothing' was before or after he tried to forcee himself on Lando. Carlos was silent for the rest of the day, qualifying 14th.
Lando got pole, Max 3rd, Daniel 5th, George 8th, directly behind a surprise Alex and Logan, Charles 11th and Lewis had to start 15th after receiving a penalty for impeding Pierre, who couldn’t get a good lap and started at the back of the grid. That, as well as the general performance of the car pretty much killed Pierre’s mood, although it hasn’t been the best all weekend.
The race itself was pretty uneventful, Pierre had to retire his car with a mechanical failure and had left back to the hotel before the others finished. Max unsurprisingly won, Lando 2nd, Daniel stayed on 5th, Charles 6th, Alex finished 7th, Logan 9th and George got the last point on 10th. Lewis finished 12th after another botched pit stop and Carlos ended up on 17th, Ferrari’s worst finish in more than four years.
They had planned to go to Lando and Oscar’s room for some drinks, not really in the mood for a big club, except Alex, who said he needed a big celebration. George and Lewis were still in their post-race meeting when the others walked to their cars, so they left them a message.
Max was just opening the door for Logan who came with some cookies and a couple bottles of coke when he got a message from Lewis, thanking for the invitation, but saying he won’t come as he didn’t feel in the mood.
Logan stood in the room a little bit lost until Esteban asked if he was okay.
“Yeah, yeah, I just feel a little lost … I only got to places with Alex until now and he kind of … told me where to sit best.” Logan said a little bit shy.
“Don’t worry, there isn’t really anything you can do wrong, except some people might not like it if you sit in their laps right away.” Esteban then said, slapping the seat next to him on the couch. “If you don’t like it with me, it’s alright, you can just switch over to somewhere else.” He said lowly to Logan after he sat down. “Could I get one of those?” he then asked, pointing at the cokes.
“Of course.” Logan said, opening two bottles and handing Esteban one.
“You don’t drink alc?” Esteban asked after a moment.
“No, I just … don’t really like it. You don’t either? Or just a dry night?”
“I don’t drink, my family … has some not so good history with it and I don’t really want to risk anything, I know it sounds ridiculous.”
“No, it doesn’t.” Logan said, clinking their bottles and letting Esteban smile a little.
“So then, Estie-boy, what’s going on with your car?” Daniel asked.
“It’s fucking slow, that’s what it is.” Esteban said. “It feels like driving against a wall, like there is no aerodynamic at all and I won’t even tell you about the cooling issues, I mean, you saw Pierre today.”
“He had to retire because of a cooling issue?” Charles asked.
“Well, you guys know I’m not supposed to talk about it, but the cars are overheating like crazy. That’s why we have to drive even slower than we could just with the … wall car itself, if we push it too much, it overheats and the engine or the brakes are gone.” Esteban huffed.
“Jesus Christ. If you can’t go faster because the car literally can’t – that’s one thing but not being able to go faster because it’s overheating is … cruel to let you drive like that.” Lando said.
“They are ‘working on a solution’.” Esteban mocked some weird voice.
“Oh, that’s the worst, it’s like my ‘we’re checking’. What do you need to check? Just tell me what’s the gap to Daniel!” Charles exclaimed, letting Logan chuckle.
“What about your car now? Did you give it some performance enhancing drugs or something?” Max then asked Logan. “Big congrats on your first points, by the way!” he added, lifting his glass together with the others.
“Well, after that steering wheel thing, they had another look over the car and gave it a little upgrade at something I didn’t understand, but it gave us a little speed and yes … points.” Logan said, smiling widely.
“Points are good. Really good, for all of you. Alex, you, the team. Williams deserves points.” Lando said, smiling at him while the doorbell rang.
Oscar got up and opened, letting in a pretty distraught Kika and hurrying into the bedroom with her.
“Okaaaaay, that’s not good.” Charles said. “Or is that because of the performance?”
“I don’t know, I’ve never seen her cry after a race. They are pretty much always in their honeymoon phase. Although we’re not the best friends, after all.”
“Why not, I thought you and Pierre were kind of besties as children?” Logan asked.
“For a while, yes. To be true, I’m not really sure what happened, we somehow … drifted … maybe too competitive or something and never made up.” Esteban exclaimed quickly. “I’m going to bed, guys, see you.” He then said, quickly downing the rest of his coke and hurrying out of the room.
George entered his suite, seeing the light in the bedroom turned on. He went for a shower and entered the bedroom shortly after.
“Hey” Alex said lowly after they looked at each other for a while.
“Hey” George answered.
“Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
“Come here.” Alex said, pulling back the sheets and stretching his hand towards George.
“I’m not in the mood.” George said while walking up to the bed.
“I know, that was not what I was going for.”
“You should be out, celebrating your points, not hanging around here, waiting for me.” George said, laying down, his head on Alex’ chest.
“I am where I want to be.” Alex said, kissing George’s head and stroking his hair. “Do you want to talk about it?”
“Not really. I don’t know what’s wrong. The car isn’t really bad … it’s just … also not as good as it’s supposed to be. The data is different than the car is on track. So, it must be us, we are doing something wrong.”
“Not necessarily. Data is important, but it’s not everything. It’s unlikely that both of you are having the same issues. Also, you’re still in the points, you’re not really bad. Why did you take that long, though? I heard Lewis walking by an hour ago.”
“Toto wanted to talk to me separately. I think he’s starting to give up on Lewis … but I also think that Lewis stopped believing in Toto and Mercedes as well.”
“What does he plan to do?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t really say, he just talked about a lot of scenarios, what could be if kind of stuff. Waste of time.”
“It’ll get better.” Alex said, kissing George’s hair again and pulling him closer.
Oscar pulled Kika into the bedroom, away from the others in the living area of the suite.
“Can I stay here tonight?” Kika asked with a hoarse voice.
“Of course, does Pierre know you’re here?” Oscar asked, pulling her into the nest.
“Yes, well, I told him I’m going to another room.” She sniffed.
“What happened? Did you fight?”
“No, we didn’t. Pierre doesn’t fight, not really … maybe that’s the problem, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“It will be a little bit of a story.”
“I have time.” Oscar said, laying down next to Kika in the nest and pulling a blanket over them.
“We want a pup.”
“Really?” Oscar exclaimed with a smile.
“Yes, but … thing is … we are both coming from big families, lots of siblings. Ever since we got married, we never used any suppressants or protection or anything, but still nothing happened. I went to a doctor last summer, she said everything is fine with me, stress of course might have an influence, but I’m totally healthy otherwise. I decided to step back a little on my modelling, concentrating more on jobs in Europe to avoid too much extra travel for work. I had three heats since then. Still, nothing happening. I asked Pierre to visit a doctor as well last year, he said there are no appointments, then again in winter, he said he would make one. I asked a couple weeks back, he had an appointment this Monday. He said it went well; everything is fine. Today I saw an e-mail … his doctor asking him for a reschedule because he didn’t show up to his appointment. I didn’t tell him I saw the mail, I asked if the doctor took blood, he said no, but that they took some sperm. I told him I saw the mail … he got loud, said I snooped and that I wouldn’t trust him, I’m pressuring him too much into this and that he’s got enough on his plate and he doesn’t need me nagging him as well.”
“That’s when you left.”
“It felt better to leave than to yell back.” Kika said.
“So, you don’t know if everything is … working with him?”
“No, he says it is, but if he wasn’t even at the doctors… who knows.” Kika mumbled “You know, I wouldn’t care … if he couldn’t … I just want to know if there is hope, you know? It’s depressing to always hope and then find out that it didn’t happen again. There are many opportunities to have a pup, you know. Or we’ll just be the fun aunt and uncle for all of the other grid babies, I just … I just want to know if it would be even worth to buy all these pregnancy tests.”
“Yeah, I get that. Maybe he just got loud because everything just got too much today. The car issues, the uncertainty in the team, his contract is up at the end of the year, now the terrible race today, maybe your question was that last little bit that … just made him explode.” Oscar said, holding her softly. Oscar’s phone started ringing. “It’s Pierre, do you want me to answer?”
“It’s your phone, you can do what you want.” Kika told him and Oscar picked up.
“Hello Pierre” he said a little stiffly.
“Hey, is … uhm … is Kika with you?” Pierre asked.
“Yes, why?”
“I …uhm … could I talk to her? Please?” he asked, but Kika shook her head.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea now.” Oscar said.
“I need to explain to her … what happened on Monday … and I want to apologize for saying those things.” Pierre said with a hoarse voice and Kika looked sad when she heard his broken voice.
“Why did you lie about Monday in the first place?” Oscar asked.
“It’s … I will explain to Kika, I hope you understand, Oscar.” Pierre said and Kika nodded after a deep breath.
“She will be back.” Oscar said, then hung up the phone.
Kika entered their suite five minutes later, seeing Pierre sitting on the couch, wringing his hands. He walked up to her as soon as she stepped into the room, hugging her and apologizing.
“Enough apologies now. Why did you lie?” she asked a couple minutes later.
“I … I … I was scared he would tell me there is something wrong with me, that I wouldn’t be able to have pups.” Pierre said.
“Then what? What did you think would happen?” Kika asked him.
“For real? All you ever wanted was to be a mum, you told me that from the beginning. That you want pups, that you want a big family. What – what if I can’t give you that?”
“You think I’d leave you if you wouldn’t be able to have pups?”
“Why wouldn’t you? You could go get someone who can … who doesn’t have to try with you for years, who doesn’t have a job like this, who –“ Pierre started to rant, interrupted by Kika kissing him.
“I’m not going to leave you if you can’t have pups. That’s final. There are a lot of opportunities to have pups, we could adopt or foster or whatever … but first we are going to get you to a doctor, okay, please? I want to know if we have a chance to have one ourselves.” Kika said, kissing him again. He picked her up and carried her into the bedroom. The next day he called the doctor, making a new appointment.
Esteban entered his room, quickly locking the door behind him and started pacing up and down. That was a close one. He and Pierre made a promise, it would stay between the two of them, it stays in the past. Their friendship is strained, they both know that and it’s okay for both of them. If I just wouldn’t have said anything back then. His head scolded him again, as it had so many times before. He had known he was into boys since he was thirteen, developing a crush on Pierre not long after. Some stupid kid in his class convinced him it would be best to tell Pierre about his crush. Stupid teenagers they were, Pierre’s first action was to push Esteban away, telling him they won’t be friends anymore and that he should stay away from him. Esteban, ashamed of himself, had pulled back, hidden himself, distancing himself from Pierre and his other friends, a panicked form of self-protection.
He had found out later that his crush was exactly that, a little crush. He had his first boyfriend two years later. Pierre and him had the first real conversation again in 2017 when they both were in Formula 1. There is no bad blood between them, but there were some awkward moments in between. He had assured Pierre that there are no romantic feelings and Pierre said he believed him, but it still was awkward, after all, his best friend had told him he loves him out of the blue, followed by a silence spanning years. He could never let that happen again. Never would that happen again. Feelings for another driver or a friend getting in the way. He went into the bathroom and threw a couple hands of water into his face, staring at himself in the mirror. You can do it. You are strong. You can do it. He told himself, but ultimately had to give up and got into the shower, getting himself off with his hand.
“Are you okay?” Pierre asked, entering the gym the next morning.
“Yes, why?” Esteban asked, not slowing down on the bike.
“You’re sweating like a pig, dude. And you hate sport in the morning, you’re never here earlier than me. What happened?” Pierre asked, setting his water bottle and towel at the treadmill.
“Nothing happened, I was just in the mood for some training.” Esteban said aggressively.
“Estie, come on, the last time you were this obsessive was when - wait, did you meet someone?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“So, you did meet someone!” Pierre asked.
“I said I DON’T WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT!” Esteban yelled, letting Pierre raise an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, I just really don’t want to talk about it right now. It’s not going to happen anyway.”
“I think it could, but Logan won’t make a move.” Pierre said and started the treadmill. Esteban jumped off the bike and rushed out of the gym, slamming the door behind him.