Deals with Daisy // LN4

31 ~ Goldfish

Daisy's POV

"Well... that sucked," I say flatly to Jon next to me who murmurs in agreement as we walk slowly down the pit lane towards parc ferme. With me in such a multifaceted role in the team, I was allowed to take the place of the McLaren team member that met him and to get the debrief from him whenever he was ready to do it.

It meant that the rest of the team was only needed for while he was giving interviews because I couldn't do that with him unless I fancied wearing one of McLaren's tops. Which I did not.

It had been a crappy weekend with Lando making another mistake in quali which meant he was knocked out in Q1 and the rest of the race was pretty miserable. "Yup - I don't even know what to say to him," Jon confesses and I hum contemplatively as we continue our walk, narrowly avoiding the Red Bull and Aston Martin staff as we dip into the FIA garage to wait for Lando.

"That his car sucks... or that it's a bad day," I mumble, checking my nails before I look around the loud garage, hearing some cheers as the interviews start and Jon chuckles in response. "Or I can Ted Lasso it. Tell him that it doesn't matter. It's over and done with and goldfish forget things five seconds after it happens and they seem pretty happy so... be a goldfish."

That gets full burst of laughter from Jon for just a moment before he tries to suppress it a little more after drawing the attention of some of the other teams with us in the garage. I smile to myself as my eyes continue to search for Lando who seems to be taking his time before coming to the garage. He finds us, helmet already off as he's running a hand through his hair and goes to wait in the queue to get weighed. I lift my hand and wiggle my fingers in some sort of wave before giving him a thumbs up and even from a distance I can see him roll his eyes which is quickly followed up with a brief but definite middle finger.

"Oh he's definitely getting the goldfish speech now," I mutter under as I return the middle finger to his delight before he's distracted by some of the other drivers talking to him. Fortunately it doesn't take long until Jon is passing him his water and I give him the hat I'd been wearing since he passed it to me in the garage and I'd ended up wearing all race, unsure what else to do with it after that point.

Before I can even begin to distract or berate Lando though, he's wrapped me in a hug, my arms dangling by my side in shock as he quickly buries his head in my hair and takes a deep breath. I'm so overwhelmed and overstimulated by the contact and the noise around us that I fail to hug him back as I just stand there awkwardly for a further minute before slowly lifting one hand to awkwardly pat his shoulder.

"You smell bad," I tell him when that doesn't quite manage to extricate the Lando from me and I hear Jon laugh once more at another of our awkward interactions.

"Well now so do you," he mumbles, still not moving from around me until another few seconds have passed and he steps away.

"Little shit."

"Diva."

"Dork."

"Nerd."

"You say that like it's a bad thing."

"For most people it is," he quips back, a slow smile creeping back onto his face as the exchange continues until my arms are crossed over my chest and I'm rolling my eyes at the lame insult. "Alright - give me the honesty."

"Honestly your car is crap and you drove a meh race but it is what it is. Sit with it for like the evening at most - ideally just an hour so that we can go and party and then we move on and we move forward," I tell him shrugging, watching him look slightly surprised but nod nonetheless after a couple of seconds to contemplate it. "You're good Lando and everyone knows it... it won't last forever," I assure him and he sighs a little, shaking his arms before we follow Jon out of the garage and into the paddock, discussing little aspects of the race as we go until we almost get to the McLaren garage and I shoo him and Jon on ahead as my eyes meet with someone else's in the paddock. I know Lando is watching me until the last possible second as I hang out in the paddock for a couple of seconds more and only when he is out of sight do I walk towards the person who had definitely caught my eye on purpose. "Astera - or Daisy is what Lando calls me... and most other people now because he's so chatty," I tell Toto with a smile as he shakes my hand with a smirk on his lips.