The perfect match

The next race was Monza. The temple of speed. The home of Ferrari. Everything was red. The crowds, the shirts, the air, the cars. This track belonged to the Scuderia Ferrari and Charles Leclerc, who the Tifosi now called el predestinato. The predestined. Their new king. Their new red baron.
The fans were chanting Charles name and the Italian hymn so loud, you were barely able to talk to each other in the garages, the background music was long turned off.

Lando was a little unlucky in the last round of qualifying, ending up in 5th, behind Max, Charles, Lance and Daniel.
The lights went out and they sped off, Lando getting a better start than Daniel, going into the first corner behind Lance. It was a double, turn 1 and 2 being directly behind each other. He heard some tires screeching and saw a Redbull sliding off the track and over the gravel. He stayed behind Lance, speeding ahead into the Biassono, the grand curve.
“Is everyone okay? Who was it going off?” Lando asked.
“That was Verstappen, he’s still in the race, now last and needs a new front wing. Ahead are Leclerc and Stroll, Sargeant .4 behind, then Ricciardo, Bearman, Ocon and Albon.” Will, his race engineer, informed him. He kept going, they had a good pace. There was a yellow flag in lap 40, Latifi spinning off the track and into the barrier, although unhurt. They took the chance to pit, as did many others. They were quick, but Lance still managed to stay in front of him. Charles had some problems, the tire not getting off quick enough and spending almost 6 seconds in the pit, putting Charles behind Lando. Lando waited for Lance to speed off, knowing Charles would give anything to pass them. He was almost touching his back wing already. Lance sped off, Lando right behind him, not wasting any time. They went through the first corners quickly, Charles still behind them, although a little bit of a distance to them, not getting the perfect start. Lando overtook Lance on the grand curve, putting himself in front of him.
“What are the gaps?” Lando asked towards the end of the lap.
“Stroll .5, Leclerc .7 behind him, then Sargeant, Ricciardo next. You agree with plan S like Sierra?”
“Yes, copy. Keep me updated on the distance.”
“Will do.” He heard and they went ahead, keeping Lance in his DRS, but with enough distance to not get overtaken. Plan S. Like Singapore. Using the car behind you as a buffer to the bigger opponent. In this case, Charles. They sped ahead, and their plan worked. Lance stayed behind him and Charles finally braked too hard, costing time and losing his DRS. That’s how they ended up. Lando in first, followed by Lance and Charles, then Logan, Daniel, Oliver, Alex, Yuki, Esteban and Max.

In the aftermath they said it was Lawrence’s fault. As they all lived in the same hotel and there was no real party planned for anyone but the fans, they had already settled their minds on a celebratory dinner. Lawrence found a sports bar that didn’t have an after party planned and just ended up renting the place and inviting everyone over. A lot of them came and due to the bar owning a karaoke machine, hell broke loose.

You flip your hair get’s me overwhelmed,
you don’t kno – o – ow,
you don’t know you’re beautiful!
Kevin and Nico screamed in the little microphones, swinging beer bottles. “We are young!” Kevin added at the end before they stumbled off, letting everyone laugh.

Yeah, I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more
I'm gonna take my horse to the old town road
I'm gonna ride 'til I can't no more
If there are people not sounding like Lil Nas X, it’s Yuki and Ollie, screeching their way through the song.

Now, this is a story all about how
My life got flipped-turned upside down
And I'd like to take a minute
Just sit right there
I'll tell you how I became the prince of a town called Bel-Air
That was a song that fit to Liam and Logan perfectly and due to too many streaming services, they didn’t even have to look at the lyrics, just standing on the stage arm in arm, celebrating life.

These boots are made for walkin'
And that's just what they'll do
One of these days, these boots are gonna walk all over you
Are you ready, boots?
Start walkin'
Lance and Esteban, a pairing not many expected on that stage, finished their song.

Yo, I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I'll tell you what I want, what I really, really want
So tell me what you want, what you really, really want
I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!), I wanna (hey!)
I wanna really, really, really wanna "zig-a-zig", ah
Nicole and Pascale sang, Geri just looking at them while shaking her head, Christian laughing next to her at the bar.

I'm a slave for you, here we go now, here we go now
I cannot hold it, I cannot control it
I'm a slave for you, here we go
I won't deny it, I'm not trying to hide it, yeah, yeah, yeah
Oscar and Kika sang, letting Lando burry his face in his hands while Pierre almost fell over laughing. He knew that Oscar liked Britney Spears, but why that song?

I'll take you to the candy shop
I'll let you lick the lollipop
Go 'head girl, don't you stop
Keep going 'til you hit the spot, whoa
I'll take you to the candy shop
Want one taste of what I got?
I'll have you spending all you got
Keep going 'til you hit the spot, whoa
50 Cent was the choice of Lewis and Kimi when the police arrived, being called by neighbours due to the insane volume.

“Are you going to use those boots to walk over me, too?” Logan asked, pulling Esteban on top of him on the bed.
“No, Cherie, I’m just going to kiss all over you.” Esteban said, kissing Logan deeply.

“Slave, huh?” Lando asked, pulling Oscar’s shirt over his head.
“It’s Britney, bitch.” Oscar said and giggled while opening Lando’s belt.
“You’re the devil in disguise.” Lando said before picking Oscar up and carrying him to the nest.

“Oh, I love this horny phase!” Pierre said, carefully placing Kika in their nest.
“Then enjoy every second of it.” She smiled at him, pulling him into a kiss.

“Okay, I know that things aren’t going like what you guys are calling good, but it seems too late to start drinking this late in the season.” Lance said, sitting down at the hotel bar.
“I’m not drinking, I’m just staring at it.” George said, twirling the whiskey glass in his hand and looking at Lance “You look all flushed, what happened to you?”
“Afterparty had a karaoke machine … things got a little out of hand and they shut us down.”
“So, you’re talking to me because you are drunk?”
“No, I had one beer, that’s it. I can leave if you want to.”
“No, just … stay there.” George said and kept twirling the glass for a couple of minutes. “Alex met someone else.” He said just when a barkeeper walked up to them.
“Nothing for now, thank you.” Lance said quickly and waited until the barkeeper was a couple steps away “What?” he then asked George.
“Apparently, he met someone after his accident, during his rehab. Some PT guy.” George said, now taking a sip. “You know we went to Thailand during the break, stayed at a convent. I thought it was for us to work on the miscarriage, through the miscarriage and the accident. We worked separately, most of the time. Now I know he wasn’t even working on that. He was there to find out who he wanted to be with more. Me or that other guy.”
“And he decided on the other guy.”
“He said I’m not letting him be who he is. That he can’t unfold his whole potential. That I would hold him down. He can’t even explain how, just that I do it and he can’t keep on going like this.”
“You are holding him down?”
“That’s what he said.”
“But … you’re like … the least forceful alpha there is.” Lance said and George chuckled.
“He definitely thinks different.” George said taking another sip. “That was the last thing I thought could happen today.” He rubbed his hands over his face. “He slept with me … you know. He met that guy in June. We were at the convent and afterwards he still kept sleeping with me, telling me he loved me … while all the time … I mean … everything is just … confusion.”
“I’m sorry I can’t help you with that, I’ve never been in that situation.” Lance said.
“That’s a good thing.” George said “It means your partner doesn’t fuck with your head.”
“I don’t have a partner, so … yeah.”
“I thought you had a boyfriend?”
“I did, I did … after my last … rut he broke up with me. Saying that he couldn’t handle that. How I turned. It was brutal to hear that, but it was honest.” Lance covered.
“Your rut made him break up with you?”
“Yeah. Apparently, I am too whiny and needy.” Lance said and George tried to supress a smile “I didn’t think that could be an issue.”
“I’d see that as a welcome change. You’re normally pretty closed up.”
“Yeah. A hard shell, my dad says.” Lance said “Anyway, I’m sorry, I’ll have to go to bed.”
“Yeah, I’ll just finish up.” George said, drinking another sip.
“See you in Azerbaijan?”
“See you in Azerbaijan.” George said with a little smile and emptied the glass, waving at the barkeeper.

Toto’s phone rang, ripping him out of his sleep.
“Urgh” he let out, grabbing his phone from the nightstand and taking the call. “Yes?”
“Uhm, yeah, hi it’s Lawrence. Weird question, do you know when George’s flight is going?”
“Sometime this afternoon, I think, why? Since when are you interested in George?” Toto asked, slowly sitting up.
“I’m not interested in him. It’s just … he got really drunk at the bar, Lance was there at the beginning so the barkeeper called him.” Lawrence explained.
“Where is he?” Toto asked.
“On our couch in the penthouse.” Lawrence said.
“I’ll be there in a minute.”
“Just knock, please, don’t use the bell, he’s still sleeping.”

“Jesus Christ” Toto whispered when he saw George on the couch, his shirt off and a wet cloth on his forehead, snoring with an open mouth, face flushed. Lawrence pulled him into the kitchen, closing the door behind them.
“Coffee?” Lawrence asked.
“Yes, thank you. How did he get here?” Toto said.
“After the sportsbar, Lance took a little detour through the hotel bar, George was there but wasn’t drunk. Two hours later, the phone here rang. The bar was about to close and George was blacked out drunk.” Lawrence explained, handing Toto the mug “We went down to pick him up, he … vomited on his way here. Only the night audit saw, he got a hefty tip. Lance said something about Alex breaking up with him.”
“Well, thank you for taking care of him.” Toto said.
“Of course.” Lawrence said and Lance stumbled into the kitchen, still half asleep, getting himself a coffee, seemingly falling back asleep while it ran through the machine before stumbling back out with the mug. Toto looked at Lawrence with a questioning look.
“He’s not drunk. He’s always like that in the morning. He needs at least half an hour until he is fully there. I found him sleeping in the shower once. Thankfully he was standing up.”
“Young people these days.” Toto said and shook his head.
“They drive you nuts but somehow they manage to make you love them anyway.”

There was a little crash, then an oops. George groaned and tried to turn around, but there was something he couldn’t push away. He blinked a couple of times and looked at the back of a couch. Why was he on a couch? He tried to sit up and everything started to turn. His head felt like it would explode, his eyes burned from the little light that came into the room. He pulled himself on his elbows and saw someone walking up to him.
“Good morning, here, take these against the headache.” Toto said, handing him two pills and a glass of water, which George downed quickly, swallowing the pills.
“Thank you. Where am I?” George asked.
“The penthouse” Lawrence said, stepping up to him while cracking an egg into a glass with tomato juice. “Here drink this, trust me, it’s disgusting, but it helps.” Lawrence handed him the glass and George took a sip, almost gagging.
“How did I get here?” George asked two sips later “I was at the bar.”
“Yeah, the barkeeper recognized Lance and called here two hours after he left.” Lawrence said.
“I got that drunk?” George asked.
“You were out of it, George.” Lawrence said, now handing him some scrambled eggs with bacon and toast “Eat slowly, you … lost the last of your food on your way here.”
“I vomited?” George asked in shock.
“Don’t worry, only Lance and the night audit saw. He got a pretty good tip.”
“What happened?” Toto asked after some silence and Lawrence made his way out of the room, knowing this wasn’t a conversation he should be involved in.
“Alex met someone.” George said and ate some eggs “He met him during his therapy months ago. Lying to me all this time. He told me after the race yesterday. I didn’t plan to get drunk or anything. I just started and then kept going.”
“It’s not a good way to cope.” Toto said.
“I know. It’s not going to happen again.” George said.
“I trust you with that. You can always come to me, you know that.”
“Yeah”
“I’m sorry about Alex, I thought you guys were going strong.”
“Yeah, me too.” George said, drinking more of the tomato juice “me too.” Half an hour later he thanked Lawrence again before leaving back to his suite. Or better, Alex and his suite. They shared.

“Where have you been?” Alex asked after he entered.
“Why do you care? Why are you still here, anyway?” George said, rubbing his face.
“I was worried.” Alex said, trying to take George’s hand but was pushed away immediately.
“Then you shouldn’t have lied for months.” George said. “I’ll pack my things. I’m going to England for now. I’ll give you a call, someone will get to Monaco to get my things from your place.” He said while walking over into the bedroom, starting to pack his things.
“George, please let us talk about this.”
“Okay. You met someone, you lied and let me believe for months that everything is fine between us, tell me you love me and sleep with me. I hate that you did that. I don’t like that you broke up with me, that you want to be with someone else, but I will have to live with that. I will pack my things and leave. We will see each other at race weekends and things, but I prefer to get some distance outside from that for now and I would appreciate if you don’t full on PDA with your new guy in the paddock for a little while.” George said matter of fact.

“Oh God, maybe you should lead the championship more, it gets you all riled up.” Oscar said, settling down in their nest in London after a couple of rounds of lovemaking on their way from the door to their nest.
“I’m leading the championship!” Lando laughed loudly.
“Yes, you are, baby!” Oscar laughed with him.
“And I’ve got to enjoy every second with you until you’re going back to work.” Lando said, kissing Oscar.
“I have one meeting on Wednesday, don’t act like I’d be extremely busy.”
“Well, by now I know how long your meetings are going, I won’t see you for all of Wednesday.”
“That’s probably true.” Oscar moaned while Lando entered him again.

Lando was right. The meeting began at 9 am, and didn’t end until late at night, making plans to widen their range in snacks and adding possible products in other food areas.
“We’re trying to find out if we can make some kind of snack bar or salads and smoothies, but we’re not sure if it would be a good idea to jump into a new area this soon, so we’re probably going to postpone those ideas for now.” Oscar said, summarizing their meeting “We already tried some new recipes and we’re planning a special for the Mexico race and Christmas time. I’d prefer the Christmas one to be for the energy balls.”

“School is sooo cool, Charlie!” Arthur boasted, almost jumping in his chair at the dinner table.
“Wait a couple of years, you’ll change your mind.” Charlie muttered.
“We learned sooo much! And the PE teacher said that the sports also helps with the racing!”
“It does, Arti, it does.”
“Oh and Rence said he would be at my race on the weekend, even though it’s a small one. He said it doesn’t matter how big or small it is!” Arti kept going, having an inner club race on the weekend.
“Who’s Rence?” Charles asked confused.
“Wewence! You know him. He’s mummy’s new beau!”
“Beau? Where did you get that word?” Pascale asked.
“At school. Ms. Chalet calls her boyfriend that to the other teachers.”
“So, he really is your beau now?” Charles asked Pascale.
“Yes, I guess he is.” Pascale said with a little smile.
“I’m happy if you are happy. Even if I think it’s a little weird.” Charles encouraged his mum.

“That was a good one.” Toto said, watching George’s golf ball fly through the air.
“A little too far to the left.” George said.
“But very far. You’re definitely closer than me.” Toto said and they started walking “How do you feel today?”
“Okay. Distraction helps. I’m not feeling like I could break down any moment, but it will take more time.”
“That’s absolutely normal. It’s been a week right now.”
“Thank you for doing all this.”
“Of course. We’re always happy to help, you know that.”
“Yes, but still. It’s not … I don’t take it for granted, you know. You and Suzy pretty much took over as my parents after they died four years ago.”
“Well, we love you.” Toto said “Platonically” he added with a smile and George let out a laugh.
“We’ve got this double header and then a couple weekends off after Singapore … I wrote to the convent I was with during the break. I’m going to visit them for two weeks.”
“You think it helps you?”
“They helped me tremendously the last time. I don’t see why not. Even if it sounds ridiculous.”
“It doesn’t. It’s just not what I expected.” Toto admitted and stepped up to his golf ball “Now let’s try to get closer to you.” He said and got into position, hitting the ball hard and sending it into the lake, letting out a groan and making George laugh “Thank god we’re alone.”

16-Monza
NOR292
STR57
LEC171
SAR179
RIC112
BEA42
ALB41
TSU66
OCO33
VER273
RUS59
HAM22
LAW4
SAI59
HUL5
MAG6
GAS1
ZHO2
BOT12
LAT0