F1 Grid Chaos

20

The next day, Max was bouncing nervously around the house. Oscar was due to be coming round with whoever his boyfriend was, and although Max had been told that Oscar was excited, he still wasn't sure how the Aussie would react to him. But Oscar seemed to at least like him from the interactions that they had throughout the season. So that must count for something.

"Stop worrying, Max. Oscar likes you, and so does his boyfriend. Plus, we wouldn't be thinking about doing this if they weren't." It was Fernando who'd spoken, sitting himself down next to Max on the sofa. He had snapped Max out of his thoughts, prompting the younger man to look up at him with something akin to a questioning look.

"Nando's right," Lewis agreed, sitting himself down on the other side of Max, tugging him into a hug. "Oscar was excited about the prospect of getting you as a brother."

"When's he coming? Oscar, I mean," Max asked.

"If everything goes to plan, he should be here in an hour," Lewis replied after consulting his phone. "Speaking of which, we should probably get the rooms set up. Obviously, that is if you're not bothered about them staying," Lewis said, specifically talking to Max at the end.

"Nah, I'm not bothered," Max responded.

Both Fernando and Lewis gave him huge smiles at that as they got up off the couch to go and get the rooms prepared. It was only half an hour or so later that it hit Max about the use of the plural when Fernando and Lewis talked about getting the rooms ready. It was always rooms rather than room. However, Max didn't bring it up. He figured that he'd find out later.

Just as Lewis and Fernando had finished in the rooms, the doorbell rang. Now, the nerves and doubt started to creep back in again.

Fernando was the one to go over and answer the door with Lewis putting an arm around Max to quietly reassure him again. There was quite a bit of noise coming from the area of the front door, which Max found very odd. It wasn't like Oscar was the loudest of people.

Then, not long later, Fernando walked back into view next to Arthur, and Max felt his jaw drop open. So that's who Oscar's mysterious boyfriend was. But this shock couldn't compare to the one Max experienced a couple of seconds later.

When Oscar walked into view, Max's jaw dropped to the floor. Because, in Oscar's arms, was a young child. Around one, maybe two Max would guess.

"You're gonna catch flies like that," Lewis laughed, referencing Max's open mouth.

Slowly, Max closed his mouth as he watched Lewis go and take the child out of Oscar's arms.

Everything from earlier now made sense. The other room was for the kid, that's why they always talked about it in plural.

"Why don't we all sit down, and then introductions can be made and explanations given," Fernando suggested as he sat back down on the couch, Lewis then sitting next to him, Nyah on his lap.

"Yeah, sure," Arthur agreed.

Arthur took a seat on the other couch with Oscar next to him and Max sitting on the other side of Oscar.

"We should probably address the elephant, or rather, child in the room, shouldn't we," Oscar said, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"That's probably for the best." Max nodded, curious as to what the story was.

"Her name is Nyah Alonso-Hamilton, and she's mine and Arthur's daughter."

"Biologically or..." Max left the rest of the question unsaid.

"We're both biologically her parents," Arthur said. "Osc carried her."

"Ohhhhhh, is that why Oscar wasn't racing in 2021?" Max asked, starting to connect some of the dots. His theory was confirmed by everyone around him nodding. Right, he forgot that Lewis and Nando already knew all this. "But you two have only just gotten together. Or am I missing something?"

"We have only just gotten together, but before Osc got with his ex, we were friends with benefits," Arthur explained. "And at the time, neither of us realised that there were feelings on both sides."

"In hindsight, you were both idiots," Fernando sighed. "I'm only saying this cause I-we had to endure Oscar's pining."

"Dada an Papa silly," Nyah said, giggling and kicking her feet from where she was now sat on Fernando's lap.

"Yeah, they are a bit silly, aren't they?" Lewis replied, tickling Nyah, who started giggling.

"Erm, how old is she?" Max asked.

"Nearly 18 months now," Oscar replied proudly. Both him and Arthur looked at their daughter with fondness.

Before Max could respond, Nyah decided that she would like to do some exploring. She slid herself off the couch and toddled over to where Max, Oscar, and Arthur were sitting.

Nyah lifted up her arms in a show of wanting to be lifted up. So, Oscar leaned how and hauled up onto his lap before she crawled onto Max's lap. Throughout the time that they had been there, both Arthur and Oscar had noticed that she had been watching Max curiously, so they weren't surprised by her actions.

"Who dat?" Nyah asked, poking a finger at Max.

"That's going to be your Uncle Max, Nyah," Oscar replied. Max felt a swell of joy in his heart at Oscar referring to him as Nyah's Uncle. He hoped that it meant he didn't mind Max becoming his brother.

" 'Cle Maxy," Nyah said.

"Yeah, that's your Uncle Maxy," Oscar responded.

"Hiya," Nyah said as she settled down into sitting on Max's lap.

"Hiya Nyah," Max said, wrapping his arms around who he supposed was now his niece.

They all stayed like that for a bit before Nyah decided that she wanted to play with some of he toys. So, Arthur went and got them sorted out for her, and she sat down on the rug, playing with them.

"So," Oscar started, "is Max gonna become my brother?"

"We hope so," Lewis replied after sharing a look with Fernando. "As long as you're okay with it and Max is okay with it, then we'll get the paperwork started right away."

"Yeah, I'm okay with it," Oscar replied. "I'd love a brother."

"And I'm okay with it as well," Max said, smiling at Oscar.

"Great, we'll get started on the paperwork then," Fernando said.

"Wait! One more thing," Oscar said.

"What?" Fernando asked.

Oscar grinned and pulled out his phone.

***
Alonso-Hamilton Fam

Oscar added Max
Oscar added Arthur

***

"There we go, much better," Oscar smiled.