Chapter Text
It was stupid.
Oscar knew it was stupid. Louis was one of Lando’s closest friends, and yet-
And yet the cellphone in his hands felt like it weighed a ton, the image attached to Lando’s most recent instagram story burning behind his eyelids.
Lando behind Louis, their arms intertwined, the champagne glasses in their hands midway to their mouths… Oscar really wished he could control the way his stomach tightened into a billion knots. He couldn't.
So he wondered if it was stupid, the way he wanted to open their message thread and question it. He certainly felt stupid, halted to a stop in the middle of the Miami paddock with his thumb pressing down on the screen, making sure that the story didn't change to the next one.
Without being able to stop it, his bottom lip found its way inside his mouth and behind his so-called bunny teeth. He was nervous, but as the adult he was known to be, decided to face the problem.
That's how he ended up with Lando’s message thread opened, fingertips flying across the screen while he typed his thoughts and insecurities.
Oscar x Lando message thread
Oscar:
Hey
You’re at the hotel yet?
Lando:
Am noottt
Oscar gnawed on his already swollen lower lip.
Oscar:
Saw your last story.
Having fun with your friends?
Lord, hopefully he wasn't sounding like a complete loser. Lando just won the Miami GP, it was a 1-2 for the team, he deserved to celebrate. It was not his fault that Oscar's idea of celebrating involved his hotel room, a hot chocolate as a treat and some random tv show.
Lando:
Yep
All the guys from homw arw here
Oscar:
Yeah, I saw the photo you posted with Louis.
It was a bit too much, don't you think?
People have already been talking about you two since Abu Dhabi last year, it's a whole thing…
Lando:
Osssssc, youre jealous?
Oscar:
I-
Well.
Maybe.
Lando:
Chillll, mate
Were not even dating or anything
There it was. The answer he was afraid to receive. Oscar still couldn't actually believe it, reading it over and over again until the letters got blurred.
He knew what they had wasn't serious. He'd seen the photos on-line. Lando with models, Lando standing just a bit too close to whoever had the blondest hair, Lando never actually asking him on a proper date. Never popping the question that matters. It was always “u up?”, or “want u soooo bad, osc”.
The signals were all there, and Oscar felt even more stupid now, after so many months trying to ignore them. And gosh, he did try. He tried so hard.
Before he could embarrass himself even further, his fingers moved, changing the message thread.
Oscar x Logan message thread
Oscar:
You're still around?
Logan:
Yeah, man
Been’ catching up with Alex
Wassup?
Oscar:
Can I join you both?
Logan:
Sure
We're at William's
His driver's room
Oscar didn't wait. His body moved before he could even give the command, and in an instant he was in front of Alex's drivers room door, receiving weird looks from some of the team members.
He didn't knock, just opened the door and stepped inside. Immediately two pairs of eyes found him, and suddenly he couldn't contain the tears anymore. His mind was a swirl of stupid, stupid, stupid.
“Hey, hey, hey, what happened?” Logan's voice sounded too close and, oh, there were arms around him.
“I’m so fucking stupid, Logs” he said breathless, feeling the way his chest failed to completely expand mid breath.
“What happened, Osc?” It was Alex this time, and fuck, he was one of Lando’s best friends. Suddenly Oscar felt like a terrible person.
But also-
Well, Alex has been a very good friend to him lately. They even went to watch tennis together, and karting, and-
“It was Lando,” the words blurted out without his permission.
“What did he do?” Logan had gone still and Oscar could only feel it because he was still wrapped around him like a koala.
“He posted this photo and I- I mean, it was my fault, really, for feeling jealous over someone whom I know doesn't feel the same way towards me. But I- Logs, you know I’ve been in love with him since before F1, it's not easy to just-” Another fresh wave of tears and he finally stepped back, his hands finding his eyes to try and dry them.
“Osc, tell us what he did” Alex’s voice cutted through his thoughts.
“I sent him a message saying the photo may be too much, ‘cuz you know how people has been insinuating things between him and Louis since december last year, with the video from his WDC celebration. Which, by the way, it's still a sensitive topic for me. The thing is, he asked if I was jealous and stupid, stupid me said yes, so he went and said what I should have already known. And truthfully, I did know. Of course I did. You only fuck someone for months without bothering to officialise the relationship if you don't love them”.
The small laugh that ripped out of him was hollow and tired.
“Oscar, I don't think he doesn't-” Alex started, being completely cutted off by Logan.
“What did he say to you?”
“That what we have is nothing serious,” his shoulders finally fell. “Or, in his own words, ‘we’re not even dating or anything’.”
When he looked up, Logan's mouth was nothing but a thin line and Alex seemed to want to say something, but ultimately decided not to.
“That’s definitely his loss!” Logan said then, stepping close again and pulling him into a hug.
Oscar simply allowed himself to be hugged, and not even a minute later Alex joined the hug too.
Logan Sargeant created the group “Mission burn in hell, Lando”
Logan Sargeant added you and +20 to the group “Mission burn in hell, Lando”
Max V.:
??
Carlos:
what is this?
Charles:
ooooh, lando fucked up?👀
Logan:
Well, one would hope the name was self-explanatory
But, yes, Charles is right
Lando did fuck up
Charles:
okay, hold on
wait a minute
Charles Leclerc added Arthur Leclerc to the group “Mission burn in hell, Lando”
Arthur:
What did I lose?
Charles:
lando fucked up
Arthur:
Took him longer than I thought
Logan:
Can we pls focus?
Liam:
Explain then
Alex:
Okay, so we all know how Oscar and Lando have been together since last year, right?
Carlos:
yeah
Max V.:
Kind of impossible to miss
Pierre:
Disgusting if you ask me
Alex:
Well
Apparently they’re not together
Arthur:
What?
Charles:
????
Max V.:
Oh
Kimi:
That's their “not being together” phase?
Gabi:
Damn, they're gonna be insufferable once they do get together
Logan:
Except they won't, because Lando fucked up
Carlos:
what did he do?
Logan:
You know how he won the GP today and went straight out to celebrate, right?
It's all over his instagram anyways, so go check it out if you haven't seen it
The point is: Oscar sent him a message about the photo with Louis he posted on his story, and he answered by saying they're not dating and telling him to chill
Pierre:
Brutal
Gabi:
Poor Oscar
Charles:
i am actually gagged
George:
I just got here and that was not what I was expecting.
Did he really?
Arthur:
He does deserve to burn in hell
I mean
Who would even have the heart to do that to Osc of all people?????
Kimi:
Whats the mission tho?
Alex:
Yeah, so, about that…
Logan kind of had an idea
Logan:
Yes
I say we make him realise what he lost
Charles:
oooooh, i like where this is going
Logan:
I’ll be honest
Oscar is going to go back to him either way
Man is hopeless
But if we don't tell him the plan, he will not understand what's happening
So if Lando interrogate him about it, he will be just as clueless instead of feeling guilty
It may just work perfectly
Alex:
I will also be honest
I do think Lando loves him back
He was just probably drunk
And also he is an insecure little shit who thinks he doesn't deserve Oscar
Arthur:
And he is right about that
Max V.:
I feel like I should second Arthur on this one
Kimi:
…
Third
Pierre:
Fourth
Fernando:
Fifth
Lance:
Sixth
Esteban:
Seventh
Alex:
oKAAAY
Let's focus on the plan
How can we do it?
Max V.:
Let the first step with me
Logan:
Oh?
Oscar x Max message thread
Max:
Hey
Oscar:
Oh, hey Max!
Max:
Will be on my way to Monaco in an hour, wanna join?
Oscar:
?
You mean like-
Join you on the jet?
Max:
Yeah
What else would it be?
Oscar:
I-
Sure.
Send me the location?
Max:
👍🏼
[📍 loc]
Oscar kept on staring at his phone throughout the drive to the airport and still he couldn't understand what was happening.
He was good friends with Max, sure, but not on a “let’s go home together on my jet” level. After everything that happened today and the hours of miserable crying in his hotel room, though, he wouldn't complain about the extended kindness.
Max was already inside the airplane when he got there, and the moment he stepped inside the jet, Oscar spotted him. He was sitting on the back, calmly scrolling through his phone.
Oscar walked over while trying not to show how much of a mess he was. He failed.
The thing with Max Verstappen was that he was no fool. He was also not a nosey person, so he noticed, nodded and patted the cushion beside him.
“How did you know I wanted to go home?” Those were his first words. He was trying to break the ice, okay?
Max just looked at him like the question itself was stupid. Oscar felt himself immediately shrunken onto his hoodie and the cushion.
“You never celebrate by going out.”
Max’s answer was simple. It was also accompanied by a shrug of shoulders.
The silence that followed was not uncomfortable. Oscar liked silence. He knew how to work with silence most of the time.
Once they were already in the air, Max decided to watch some random movie on the small TV in front of them and, what the hell, sure. Oscar watched it too.
He even laughed at some points, because it was apparently a comedy and it was kind of funny. Max didn't seem to find it that funny though, and Oscar wondered if it was the Dutch in him.
The thing is, he fell asleep mid movie. He was tired and all the crying finally took its tow on him.
The movie became background noise as Max watched the asleep boy beside him, whose head lolled towards his shoulder.
“Stupid Lando”, he breathed out, grabbing his phone blindly. He had a mission to start.
The photo was snapped without much thought. Before posting it on his story, Max analysed every single detail.
Oscar's closed eyes, his cheek smudged against Max’s own shoulder, the way his hair was falling slightly in front of his face, his pouty lips, the slight freckles. Yeah, that would do.
“Found myself incapable of moving on my way home because of the softest boy” was what he wrote before hitting the post button. He could've posted it to his close friends only. Lando was there.
But then Max thought of the way Lando was always posting everyone else on his stories without being ashamed of it. Without thinking twice before doing it. Everyone else but Oscar.
Meanwhile, Oscar refused to even look at someone else. “Heart eyes Piastri” or whatever it was that the fans called him.
Nah. Lando deserved to, for once, feel what it is like to have the world talking.
It took only a few minutes for the notification to come. Max saw it, made sure to visualise, took a screenshot and sent it to a specific group.
Mission burn in hell, Lando
Max V.:
[Screenshot of Lando’s reply to his story: mate, what the fuck?????]
Charles:
LMAO
Pierre:
Absolutely brutal pic you posted, bro