Work Text:
The fall weather that Charles was used to back home was so different from the humid Qatari air. The wind on top of the roof did little to ease the heat in the October night, and still, the person sitting there watching the city below was in their usually bright orange hoodie.
The race had been a disaster. Really a perfect description of his season this year. Although his engine had been kind enough to at least let him drive 30 laps before blowing up this time and spreading even more salt in his wound, Carlos had gotten a 3rd-place finish. Charles really couldn't wait for the two-week break before Austin. But if there was a person who needed the vacation more than him, it was the person in the orange hoodie sitting in front of him.
The result wasn't bad in itself, but the question of what if was bound to make him go crazy. Lando had led the whole race, passing Max into the first corner after lining up second on the grid. Everything had been going perfectly; Charles had watched from the pit during the last 27 laps as Lando had managed a 5-second gap down to Max until everything went wrong. With three laps to go, the dreadful radio message had come. Charles had listened as a distraught Lando told his team that something was wrong with the engine. He had watched as Max passed him on the last lap as Lando struggled to even get his car over the finish line in P2.
"I thought I might find you up here."
Lando didn’t even turn around at Charles' words.
"You want to join the self-pity party up here?"
Charles had to laugh at Lando's words. He moved to sit next to Lando, and almost had a heart attack about how high up they were.
"Want a cigarette?"
Charles wasn’t expecting that question but wasn't surprised when a cigarette was handed to him. He gracefully accepts and lets Lando light his cigarette for him.
"You want to talk about it?" Charles asks.
Lando looks away at that. He doesn't say anything, and Charles doesn't either for a minute to let him gather his thoughts.
"I don't really know how to… how to really explain it?" He sounds unsure when the words leave his mouth. "I think I will understand more than you think I will." Charles said, and Lando looked down onto his lap before speaking: "I can’t help but think that I will never win a race… or I don't know, I mean it just feels like everything that can go wrong does go wrong as soon as I’m even a little close to that win." He doesn't look up from his lap as he continues. "I mean, I think everyone on Twitter will agree at least. I’m not that talented; I’m just lucky."
"Please tell me you're kidding me? Lando, how can you even say something like that? I mean, you are the only driver this season to challenge Max on pure pace, so if you don't have any talent, then what does that make the rest of us?"
Lando didn't say anything but lifted his gaze from his lap to admire the view.
"I don’t think I’m anything special, really. I know people think I’m this stuck-up rich kid that only got into F1 because of his background, but I only act confident so people can’t see the real insecure person that I really am." Lando was rambling now. And tears were threatening to spill from his eyes. If Charles were truthful, he wasn't far from tears himself.
Lando, please look at me when I say this." Lando's eyes didn't leave the city below him. "Lando…" Charles continued as he moved his hands to move Lando's head to face him. Lando's eyes didn’t meet his; they were looking everywhere but at Charles. "Lando, please." That did it; Lando's eyes finally met Charles's, and he could continue. "None of those people matter. Everyone who knows you and has ever spent any time with you loves you. Those people matter, not the others." Lando was looking at him with big eyes, and there were now tears falling down his cheeks, and Charles moved one of his hands to dry them off. "Nobody but the people closest to you matter. Your family couldn't be prouder of you, and neither could your team. And you should see the way Oscar looks at you. I mean, he looks at you like you're the coolest person to ever walk this planet. And you should hear how highly Carlos talks about you whenever someone mentions you. And I…" At that point, Charles had to pause for a minute before continuing. "And… And I couldn't be prouder of you."
More tears fell from Lando's eyes, and Charles moved to hold him close to him. Lando finally let his guard down, and he fell apart. He was shaking as he sobbed into Charles' shoulder, and Charles couldn't do anything more than continue holding him.
It took a long time before the sobs stopped, and even longer before Lando said anything.
"Thank you, Charles; thank you for not laughing at me. I know how stupid it must sound.." Lando started before Charles had to intervene yet again. "No, Lando, this isn't stupid. Your feelings aren't stupid, Lando. They're feelings. And I have some experience with sounding stupid, so that makes me an expert at identifying it as well."
Lando let out a laugh at that, and Charles couldn't help but join him. Lando moved away from the embrace but stayed close to Charles as his eyes wandered back to the city below him. Charles' eyes were glued on Lando, and he finally let himself admire how beautiful he looked. Lando had really grown up since 2019, and he had grown into a beautiful man.
"I love this view; it’s so beautiful."
Charles kept his eyes on Lando as he answered. Yeah, it is."
Lando turned his head to look Charles in the eyes, and he gave Charles a large smile that melted his heart. He didn’t think through the next thing that left his mouth.
"Spend the break with me?"
"What?"
"Spend the break with me? Fly back with me to Monaco and stay with me at my apartment. Lando, we’ve been dancing around this thing for over a year, so please just give us a chance."
Lando looked stunned. It took him a minute to answer. He needed to fully register exactly what Charles had said before answering the question.
"Yes"
Charles' smile only grew at the sheer excitement in Lando's voice as he threw his arms around Charles' neck. Charles just held Lando close to him as they sat there, enjoying the night in each other's arms.
….
They spent the small break together, alternating between lazy mornings in bed, sharing kisses during unfocused workouts, and long walks in the fall weather. The time to leave for the United States came way too quickly, and suddenly they were sitting on Max Verstappen's plane on their way to Austin. Charles didn't let go of Lando's hand during the entire flight, which made eating a bit of a challenge, but they made do, with some light teasing from their friends, of course.
Austin went by perfectly for the couple; a pole position for Lando and a P4 for Charles in qualifying set them up for a perfect race. And a perfect race was what at least one of them got; the other had to make do with a p4 finish after being overtaken by his teammate in the pit stop phase ruined Charles chances of a podium.
Lando, on the other hand, proved everyone who had ever doubted his ability to win a race wrong. He crossed the line in P1 after having fended off Max for the majority of the race.
When Charles finally got out of the car, he could see Lando being congratulated by the swarm of orange mechanics and team members. He slowly made his way over, stopping to congratulate his teammate on the podium finish before making a beeline for the Brit. The Brit in question was talking with his trainer and stopped suddenly when his eyes caught sight of the Ferrari driver making his way towards him.
Charles could see the pure happiness in Lando's eyes, and Charles couldn't help but smile back at him. He brought the Brit into an embrace that didn't last more than a few seconds. Charles lowered his voice so that Lando could only hear him and whispered
"I’m so proud of you, Cheri."
Charles moved away from Lando, who didn't have time to respond before Max came over to congratulate him as well. Charles was pushed away to get weighted.
After being weighted, Charles managed to somehow run away from the FIA officials, whose job it was to get him to the media pin, and make his way to watch the podium together with the Ferrari mechanics. Thank God for Carlos getting a podium; otherwise, it would have been difficult for Charles to explain why he was at the podium ceremony.
Charles' gaze was fixed on Lando from the moment he stepped out on the podium. He couldn't be prouder of the Brit as he saw him accept the first-place trophy, and he couldn't help but admire how beautiful he looked standing up there on the podium.
Charles couldn't hide his smile as his face caught Landos, and his smile grew even bigger when he saw the look of pure happiness expressed in Landos' eyes. Charles only had eyes for him.
He really couldn't wait to ask Lando to be his boyfriend. In that moment, he didn't feel anything but love for the man standing at the top step of the podium, and if the look he got from Lando was anything to go by, the feeling was mutual.
Charles couldn't wait to get Lando alone for a moment. So he could tell him just how proud he was of him and that he loved him.
At that moment, nothing other than Lando matters. Lando was the only thing running through Charles' mind.
Lando was his whole world, and in that moment, it didn't matter that Charles had lost out on a podium. He was perfectly fine admiring Lando from afar.