Formula one sickfics/oneshots

Who to count on

People: all drivers on the 2020 grid

Requested by: @3vs9nk 

AN: I'm sorry if I made your favorite driver a bad guy. I needed some people to be rude in this story, but this doesn't reflect what I really think of them. I'm not sure about how this one turned out, but I hope you guys still like it. Slight trigger warning for a panic attack, though not very descriptive

- POV Lando -

I laughed at one of Daniel's stupid jokes again, throwing my head back in laughter. I was sat on a mattress in the middle of Max's hotel room. We were all bored out of our minds as the weather today was crap, so he had invited the entire grid over for a sleepover. Surprisingly, everyone agreed to join in, so now there were 20 drivers on mattresses on the floor of Max's (luckily huge) hotel room. (AN: Sorry but all I can think about is all the drivers that sleep in different hotels hauling their mattress through the city 😂)

"Guys, guys, let's play truth or dare", Alex proposed. Everyone seemed in for it, so we started. George was dared to stand on the balcony and scream "I'm an idiot", Pierre had to admit which of the wags he thought was most hot and then Seb had to drink a shot of tequila. "Lando, truth or dare?", Seb asked. "Dare", I said, knowing Seb wasn't one to want to humiliate me too much. He was too kind-hearted for that. He had to think for a while before he look at me and said: "do a silly dance". Everyone in the room thought Sebastian was being too soft, but I didn't mind one bit.

I got up and did a weird little dance. I was in the middle of showing off my goofy dance moves when my shirt rode up a little bit and exposed my tummy. I immediately pulled my shirt back down and went beet red. I had been very self-aware of my tummy, because it wasn't as flat as that of other drivers. I sat back down and hoped everyone would just forget about this, but then Esteban started laughing. Soon, Checo, Daniil, Antonio and Kevin joined in, whispering amongst themselves.

I felt tears burning behind my eyes and I ran away to the bathroom, but before I could lock the door, someone jammed it with their foot. "Oh, is this too much for you to handle Norris?", Esteban sneered. "Leave me alone!", I yelled, my breathing quickening and my chest getting tighter and tighter. My vision started to blur and it was as if the laughter only got louder and louder. Then, Esteban was harshly pushed aside by someone and I vaguely noticed 2 figures entering the bathroom, locking the door behind them.

I mentally prepared for even more humiliation, but instead, one of the figures crouched down in front of me, while the other went to the sink and wet a towel with some cold water. The second person wiped my face tenderly with the towel and then placed it in my neck. Then, the first person spoke up. "Hey, everything's gonna be okay, Lando. Max has thrown out all the guys that were making fun of you. Remember that you're very, very loved by all the rest of us, and we do care a lot about you. Try to breathe with me", he instructed.

I closed my eyes and inhaled when I heard him inhale, breathing out in time with when he exhaled. "You're doing great. Keep going like this, keep breathing with me", he said. I now recognized his voice as Sebastian's. I kept following Seb's breathing rhythm, gradually calming down. "What can I do?", a new voice spoke up now, the question aimed at Seb rather than at me. "Maybe wet the towel again and get him a drink of water", Sebastian suggested to whom I now realized was Kimi.

He walked back to the sink and ran the towel under it again, also filling a cup with some water for me to drink. He placed the towel on the back of my neck again and offered me the cup. "Lando, is there anyone else you want to be in here, or are you okay with just me and Kimi?". I think about that for a bit. There are people here who I know better than Kimi and Seb, like Carlos, George, Alex and Max. "No, I'm good. I trust you guys", I decided. I actually enjoyed Seb's gentle, almost parental approach and it was nice how laid back and calm Kimi was. I knew he never really judged people, which helped.

Seb smiled and rubbed my back as I regained my breath and managed to steady my trembling hands. "Thank you", I said, looking at both Sebastian and Kimi. Kimi actually smiled a little at me, which put my mind at ease a bit, because that wasn't common for him at all. "And Lando, listen to me", Seb started. "You have absolutely nothing to be ashamed of or insecure about. You're perfect as you are and everyone has a bit of a tummy, they just hide it. It doesn't matter what others think of you, you're beautiful". I looked up at him as he said this and thought about what he said, finally gathering the courage to get up and step back out of the bathroom.

The rest of the guys all looked up when they noticed me, Kimi and Seb emerging from the bathroom, and they looked relieved to see they'd managed to calm me down. I also noticed that the guys had moved the mattresses, so I was now placed in between Carlos and Max. "Come on mate, we have food", Charles smiled as he saw I was still a little hesitant, holding up bags of McDonalds. I sat on my new makeshift bed and got handed a paper plate, fries and chicken nuggets. I looked at Carlos, who smiled knowingly. Of course he knew my McDonalds order from the top of his head.

I stared down at the food, initially picking at it and only taking a bite when I noticed someone was looking directly at me. "Mate, everyone here is an athlete and everyone else is also eating unhealthy right now. Nobody's going to judge you. And no, one fast-food meal won't ruin your diet, I swear", Alex whispered as he noticed my unusually small appetite. I smiled gratefully at him before I finally started eating. I joined in on some ongoing conversation between Carlos, Charles and Seb almost naturally and I finally felt included and loved.

Then, Max put on a movie. Sadly, lots of the other drivers voted for Saw, which was a horror movie. George noticed my apprehension and I could see how his shoulders were just as tense as mine. We just faced away from the screen and started playing card games together. Luckily, I noticed we weren't the only ones who weren't a fan of horror movies. Seb was distracting Charles by striking up a conversation with him, Pierre joining in soon after.

I also noticed Alex busying himself with his phone, trying to keep up a strong front to not look like a coward. I motioned for him to join me and George in our game and he let out a sigh of relief, telling me how glad he was to have a proper distraction now. We played cheat, palace, crazy eights and speed. Alex turned out to be a master at palace, while I dominated cheat and speed. Meanwhile, George looked like a fool, losing 1-6-8 against us. "You know, I'm getting a feeling that maybe you just aren't built for this, mate", Alex laughed as George lost once again. This earned him a nasty glare from the Brit.

After a lot of beer and shots of strong liquor came into play, the three of us became more competitive. This resulted in George getting revenge on both me and Alex, while we tried our hardest to beat him. In the end, we all had a huge laugh and our energy only died down at around 4 am. This was the time most of the others went to sleep as well, so George, Alex and I also laid down under our blankets on our respective mattresses.

Even though some of the drivers could be assholes, at least I now knew exactly who to count on.