𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵 𝘶𝘱 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘳𝘪𝘷𝘦 || 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘴𝘤𝘢𝘳

lost a friend, gained an ally

"Lando..." Oscar said over the phone, "I don't know how to tell you this."

"Just spit it out, Piastri."

"It's Verstappen who did it."

"What did Verstappen do?"

"Use your brain for a second, sweetheart."

"Ver- oh. No, no no no, you're not serious he's one of my best friends on the grid!"

"Baby, why would I lie?"

"Prove it. I don't believe you."

"So you trust me to not hurt you when you're all laid out for me, which for the record I would never do, and yet you don't trust me when I tell you that it was Max fucking Verstappen who cheated with your girlfriend."

"I don't give a fuck about her but if he actually did this I will never forgive him."

"I can prove it to you, Lan."

"Please do."

"I'm sending you now the third video that's been captured of them, and this one is very obviously him and her together."

A few moments of silence went by before there was a response.

"...how did you get this?"

"Saw it on the internet, saved it instantly. Wanted you to see it regardless of if it got taken down or not. Literally saw it, watched it 5 times to make sure I wasn't hallucinating, then picked up the phone and called you. The team doesn't even know I've seen this."

"Oscar."

"Lan."

"Why the hell would he do this?"

"I don't know, because he's apparently an asshole? I didn't have any issue with him up until this."

"Neither did I but now he'll be lucky if I look him in the eye again because he cheated knowing full well she was with me. And I don't care if she instigated, I don't care what SHE did, he let it happen."

"You are so right, and I mean cheating is fucked no matter how you put it so... I can't like him for this either."

"Why are you so damn nice to me?"

"Guess it's how I'm wired," Oscar replied. I mean yeah, Lando was an annoying little shit most of the time but he would walk the high road like he always had done. Lando was convinced it was only to preserve his reputation paying absolutely no heed to the fact that Oscar may have just been an inherently good person.

"God, that kinda hurts," Lando sighed. "And here I was really thinking he was my friend but in the end he'll play as cheap as he needs to if it means he gets the upper hand."

"It's shitty, no doubt," Oscar sighed back. "But yknow, she's in your past and he doesn't need to be more than a rival, not after this. And if he has an issue with it, we all know who instigated it. It wasn't you, probably for the first time in your life."

"You ALWAYS have to find a way to be an asshole, no?"

"Lan, baby, you're the pettiest person I've ever met in my life."

Why did that stupid nickname shut Lando up so effectively? He hated it. It made him absolutely nuts. The fact that the one person who he always used to have a cheeky response to could now get him to be quiet so easily was both maddening and... kinda hot.

He heard soft laughing on the other end of the line. "Shut it, Piastri."

"What are you up to right now?"

Lando didn't reply. Oscar didn't get to just ask him anything he wanted and Lando would give him an answer like some sort of robot who listened to every command it was given. Lando wanted the upper hand, and yet with Oscar he had lost every advantage he had in a matter of weeks since the younger man had him in this sort of fucked up chokehold.