favourite / lando norris

twenty-two

I spend the entire parade doomscrolling on Twitter and Instagram and TikTok, nearly throwing my phone across the grid when a particular post catches my eye.

Trevor's been talking to the fans. He's been telling them I'd always been cheating on him, that I'd only dated him to get closer to Formula One, that I'd only dated him for his money, that I did it for a good laugh, that Lando and I planned it all together.

It's fucking disgusting.

I'm so caught up in the thread currently pulled up on my phone that I don't notice Lando when he returns. And he takes full advantage.

Before I can react, I'm pulled through the garage, forced into the ever watching eye of the paddock, and into Lando's driver room.

He practically tosses me in there, tripping me up on my own feet as he hurries to shut and lock the door behind him.

"You need an ice bath," I remind him, barely hanging on by a thread when he finally turns to face me. I pretend to check my watch, refusing to look at him as he falls back against the door. "We're already behind schedule and -"

"Fuck the schedule!" Lando shouts. "I can't," he rakes a hand through his hair, pulling at the ends with a frustrated noise. "Arden, we need to...fuck, we need to talk."

Fine. If he wants to talk about this, I've got plenty to say. "Alright, me first. You left. You left me in a hotel room in a country I've never been to before with no idea where you'd gone or what had happened to you. And you never came back. Not when the posts started, not when the hate started, not when the gossip and the rumors and the stupid fucking stares started. You left me and you're the one that started all of this!"

"I know! You think I don't know that? Smoosh," Lando steps toward me. I take two steps back, "smoosh, I'm sorry."

"Don't call me that." He moves forward again, backing me up until I hit the massage table. I shake my head, putting my hands up to try and push him away when he gets too close. "Don't you fucking dare."

He doesn't move, the space between us almost gone entirely. "Smoosh, Arden, you need to understand, I never meant for any of this to happen."

"Then why? Fuckssake, Lando, we're best friends! That was never meant to change, you were never supposed to...why?"

We made pacts as kids. We promised each other we'd never do anything to hurt one another. And yet, here we are.

Neither of us say anything, the silence deafening. Until..."What if I want it to change?"

"Very funny," I scoff, rolling my eyes.

Lando shakes his head, grabbing for my hands when I move to push him again. "I'm not joking. Arden, I don't...god, I don't know what I'm doing but I didn't do that by accident."

"Do what?" I taunt, daring him to say it. "What did you do, Lando?"

"I didn't kiss you by accident. I didn't...I didn't plan it but it wasn't some impulsive, drunk bullshit." I glance down at our enjoined hands, a heat rushing through me when I realise he's still holding onto me. "Smoosh?"

When I lift my head, I know what's going to happen. In a way, it almost feels inevitable.

Our lips connect and in an instant, I'm melting into my best friend like this isn't the last thing we should be doing right now. Quincy is going to be so mad at me.

He drops my hands to hold my face instead, fingers sliding back into my hair at the nape of my neck to hold me there. The kiss is pure frustration. It's days spent alone in a hotel room with no idea what to do. It's separation healing itself, melding us back together.

I can't stop the moan that slips through my lips as he presses forward. Lando's hands leave my hair to reach for my waist, lifting me onto the massage table to step up between my legs without a moment's hesitation.

His hands stay here, fingers bunching up the fabric of my shirt to brush against the skin of my torso, to tease along the underside of my bra, to scratch and pinch and pull and hold me closer than I'd ever thought possible with Lando.

Lando, hold on, wait, this isn't - A knock on the door has me jolting back to reality, but Lando makes no move to stop. He abandons my lips as his mouth trails down, pressing insistent kisses along my jaw and neck. His hands return to my hair, tilting my head to the side as another knock sounds off.

"Busy!" Lando shouts, the sound of his voice partially muffled from his place tucked into the crook of my neck.

Jon's voice rings through the door, "Mate, I've got the bath ready, we gotta go!"

I have to cover my mouth to hold in the noise I nearly make when one of Lando's hands drifts up to skim the wire of my bra.

This shouldn't be happening right now. This solves nothing. In fact, it'll probably make everything worse. But I can't bring myself to stop this. Not when Lando's coming back up to kiss me again, stealing every bit of air from my lungs with a kiss that's sure to bruise.

"Don't need one!" Lando quickly responds, only glancing back at the door when he hears the door handle jiggle. "Seriously, mate, I'm good."

"No ice bath means no regulated internal temperature and we're in Singapore." Jon reminds him. "Why's the door locked? Come on, stop fucking about." He jiggles the handle again, giving it a good shake.

I push at Lando's chest, forcing him to step away when I realise there's no getting around this. Before he can get too far, though, I pull him back toward me, working my hands through his hair to fix where my fingers had messed it and hoping I don't look too bad myself.

From the grin Lando's currently giving me, though, that may be a lost cause.

I jump up from the table, quickly moving across the room to the door. Lando tries to stop me, silently gesturing for me to go to the mirror instead, but I'm moving too quickly to think any of this through.

I think Lando fried my brain.

When I open the door, Jon is standing right there, a mix of confusion and annoyance flashing across his face when he sees me in the doorway. "You steal the room for another nap?" He pushes past me to get to Lando, grabbing one of the rolled down sleeves of his race suit to begin walking him out. "We've got a schedule for a reason, Arden, you know better."

He doesn't give me a chance to say anything else, not when he's got Lando by the sleeve and he's dragging him out with an urgency I should have had in the first place. I nearly follow them, I know I should, but Lando's second gesture for the mirror before he's out the door has me turning around and checking myself.

Holy shit.

My face is flushed, my lips are swollen and red, and my hair is a mess. My shirt's still half up my torso and I tug it down with a blush, realising Jon had seen me like this and just...not noticed? He can't be that daft, can he?

I've got blooming red marks on my neck, marks I can't cover with makeup since I hadn't brought any with me, and so I make a grab for one of Lando's hoodies before leaving the room. I'm bound to sweat my ass off, but it's better than nothing.

Holy shit, I think to myself once more. Holy shit.