✓ WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris. ¹

[ 046 ] When I Was Scared Of Letting Go

( ACT III. ── Fearless )
chapter forty-six / When I Was Scared of Letting Go

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Lando woke up to find the other side of the bed empty and muttered unintelligibly into the pillow. He patted the empty blankets, searching for what was not there, and his hand smacked into something lumpy. Laundry pile. Happy Monday.

"Annika," he groaned, "what are you doing?"

"Go back to sleep," she chided as she folded her trousers.

"You're folding laundry in the dark," his voice, muffled in the pillow and a little whiny with tiredness, was the only sound in Annika's bedroom. He rolled over to squint at the bedside table and whimpered, "Holy shit it's not even six yet. Oh my god," he dragged the word out like he was crying and pulled a pillow over his head.

"I told you to go back to sleep," said Annika.

"Psycho girlfriend." He squeezed the pillow over his face and then threw it to the side to peer at her in disbelief. "Have you slept yet?"

"I'm not tired."

Lando finally seemed to pull himself together and sat up on the pillows, the blanket falling away from his bare chest a little. He was obviously still getting his brain in order. "We land at one. Go to bed at three. It's five fifty-two and you are clearly having some sort of episode."

She laughed softly and dropped the trousers in a stack, going back in for a shirt now. "I just want to get a head start on unpacking. After Qatar is a triple header, you know."

"No, yeah, I know. Hey─" he reached out for her arm helplessly, "Annie, hi. Hi."

"Hi?"

"Hi, baby. Put the shirt down for a second."

She did as she was told.

"Thanks. Come here." Lando tugged her hand and guided her back onto the bed with him, noting that she was still in the same sweatpants and t-shirt that she had been wearing on the flight from Japan, which was strange because she always made a big fuss over her clothes having an altitude sensation afterwards, and typically changed into a different outfit right away, even if it was just another set of pajamas. Annika put one leg across his lap, sitting on his thighs to face him. He laced his fingers into hers, partly just to make sure she wasn't going to make a run for it. "Annie," he began, "I think you're having a rough time right now, and I also think that not sleeping isn't going to help, okay?"

Annika rolled her eyes. "Come on, I'm not doing it on purpose. I really couldn't sleep."

"Okay, well, there's plenty of time left in the day, how about you lay back down with me and we sleep for a while longer, yeah?"