Back at the house, a few weeks after pre-season testing, things have been quiet. Daniel walked out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around his waist and was humming a random tune when he heard a door further down the hall open, he stopped and looked in the direction to see a sleepy-looking Lando looking both ways down the hallway and slip towards the stairs, Daniel frowned and shook his head entering his room and put on his hoodie and jeans and sighed thinking, he grabbed his phone and clicked on his teammate's number and started typing out a message,
"Hey, I saw you sneak out of your room, I hope you're okay, I'm always here to talk Lando."
He sent it and left his room heading across the hall to Max's room, he lightly tapped on the door and it opened revealing the soft bedhead of the Dutchman,
"Hey Maxie, can I come in?"
The world champ nodded and opened the door wider,
"I saw Lando sneak out of his room and leave towards the stairs, but his behaviour was very unlike him so as you're his best friend I don't know what to do."
Max yawned and sat down on the bed playing with a loose thread on the bed sheets,
"I'm sure he has a reason, Dan. Lando might be young but he isn't the stupidest driver on this grid, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."
Daniel laughed and looked down,
"I guess you're right, he's probably doing something for Carlos."
...
Lando crept down the stairs and looked around the living room catching sight of Lewis and Seb in a hushed conversation about roommates and friendships, he sighed and snuck over to the back door and opened it quietly, creeping out. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket, flinching at the chill air he pulled it out and looked at the text from Daniel, he placed his phone back in his pocket and walked to the end of the garden, he turned around to look at the house and slipped through the gap he found in the fencing and left the garden and house of his friends. As he walked further away and once he was sure he was out of view and ear length he pulled the piece of paper from his pocket and teared up again,
"I know you like Carlos, if you want things to go well between you two, you will do what I say. Call this number, and when the person picks up they will give you the first order."
Lando sighed deeply and called the number on the piece of paper and after 2 rings a stone voice rang in his ear,
"Mr Norris, glad you called. Did anyone see you leave the house?"
Lando thought of Daniel's message and hesitated thinking, he can't say yes, can he?
"Be honest Lando, if you lie we will find out."
He closed his eyes and winced,
"Yes, Daniel saw me but I don't think he knows."
The sound of a light scratching came from the phone and the voice spoke again,
"That can easily be sorted, now I want you to be our informer, can we count on you, Lando? If you say no then Carlos will find out about you liking him one way or another."
Lando teared up thinking of his friends and Carlos,
"Okay, what do you want me to do?"
A laugh came through the phone,
"We want you to keep this number on your phone, we will message you daily tasks that you need to complete. However the first one is to cause an argument between the group, it has to be the two people closest to you."
