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It was right after the race at Silverstone, minutes after getting out of his car and Carlos had to go through the usual media circus. If he was being completely honest, he’d rather go take a lengthy shower and be alone for a while. The heat wasn’t helping and the fact that he had lost what would have been a perfectly fine fifth place if his tyre hadn’t decided to give up, was making his head even heavier. Walking around with Charlotte waiting to be interviewed and having to think about what he was going to say made his heart beat fast. Having to blame it on luck once more wasn’t fair at all. If it was his fault, he could work on it, he could fix it...
When Lando called him so they could do one of the interviews together he was thankful, thinking that he wouldn’t have to talk that much and let Lando talk about his race as much as possible.
His face couldn’t hide the way he felt, and the reporter noticed, teasingly suggesting that Carlos needed a hug, encouraging Lando to give him one. Carlos was used to the teasing by now, his relationship with Lando having been analysed by people a lot, some wondering whether they might be more than just friends. Carlos, lost in his thoughts, momentarily turned his body towards Lando but then he heard him say that they shouldn’t because they were social distancing. He could have used that hug...
They moved away from each other, Carlos going through the post-race interviews as fast as possible before returning to his driver’s room to change out of his sweaty suit and calm his racing mind. He sat on the couch, holding his head in his hands, willing himself to go on with his post-race routine but failing. There was a tentative knock on the door before the door moved slowly to reveal his teammate’s head. Carlos gave him a little smile which gave him the go-ahead to walk in and close the door behind him.
“Good race” Lando said, moving closer to Carlos, “Unlucky...”
Carlos looked at Lando, nodding his head, hoping he didn’t look as hopeless as he felt.
“I could use that hug now.” Carlos murmured, standing up and opening his arms slightly, waiting.
Lando closed the gap between them, letting Carlos wrap his arms around him and Carlos sighed, letting all his thoughts and worries wait for a moment, as he felt sure that, even if in the future there would be battles for positions or if they inevitably drifted away after his move to Ferrari, at that moment Lando felt pretty close to family.