Brake check- autistic Oscar Piastri, ADHD Lando Norris

3: communication

Oscar's POV:

By the time I was getting my stuff together to head back to my flat, Lando still hadn't come to talk to me. It was okay if he didn't want to, I understood that sometimes you just didn't have the words: but I was worried and I didn't want to go home if he wasn't okay. I wouldn't leave him alone like I had been all those times before. I know it's only barely even been a week that we've been this close, but he was so helpful to me and I don't want to leave him when he needs help. I really do care about him.

He wasn't in his office next to mine and I hadn't seen him around the MTC all afternoon. On my way out to the car park, I noticed his car had gone and assumed he must have gone home early. I'd send him a message when I got home and then if he wanted to, we could text or call or do whatever.

When I got home, I had a shower, chucked on some pajamas and called Mum, chatting about it all and how amazing it was to feel so seen for who I actually am. Then I made my dinner, texted Lando and binge watched some random series that had come up on Netflix. It was alright, nothing special but not a total waste of time.

In the morning, Lando hadn't read my message and that worried me. I went to the MTC and got myself set up in my office. I had some video calls with media, just some normal interviews. He wasn't in his office next door. I sent him another message and tried not to worry about it.

Lando's POV:

I didn't want to ignore Oscar. I felt like shit for doing it but things were just moving too fast for me and I wasn't really dealing with any of it well.

After the game of dodgeball, Jon agreed that me going home early would be a good idea and so that's what I did. Max was surprised to see me home so early and delayed going out with some friends to sit and talk with me. I explained about the ADHD. I explained how everything being different made me feel. I explained I was scared.

I was scared of being someone I didn't understand, someone other's didn't like, someone that didn't race in formula one anymore.

We talked for what felt like hours but was only 30 or so minutes. He made me feel better about most of the things I'd been stressed about and I ordered myself a takeaway to avoid the effort of cooking. I could see Oscar's messages but I didn't know what to say back.

I didn't want him to feel like he couldn't be happy being himself just because I'm scared of it. I didn't want him to feel pressure to hide it away from me because I found it uncomfortable. I didn't want him to hate me for not being as accepting as he is. I accept him, just not myself quite yet.

So I ignored him and felt shit about it and stayed up late playing video games, trying not to think about anything but how the guys I was playing against on fifa were definitely cheating.

Come morning, Max helped me explain to Jon how I was feeling. I was supposed to have a meeting with my core personnel about how I wanted to be supported but I didn't know. How was I supposed to explain something I didn't understand!

Jon said it wasn't for me to explain, but for everyone to communicate about what we could do. It would be my choice what happened, but there was no pressure for me to know exactly what was best for me yet. And so reluctantly, I put my jeans and McLaren polo on before arriving to work late and going straight into the meeting.

Jon did a lot of the talking. Zak explained how changes were going to be made across the company to make it more neurodivergent friendly for all employees and how 'important' it was. It hadn't been important a couple of weeks ago. I sunk further into my seat.

Kasper was there and talked about his role in helping me navigate the mental side. Jon talked about his alternative training. Will talked about how we were going to reevaluate radio communication for when I was in the car. A designated member of the PR team who coordinated a lot of the content talked about how they were going to re-plan some of the videos we had to shoot for this week to accommodate whatever needs we identified as needing support (whatever the fuck that meant). Zak listed departments that could change what they were doing to support me better but hadn't been told about the diagnosis yet. The list was way too long and most of the didn't even need to do anything different. Like my suit and helmet and shoes and gloves and team kit: all that's good for me. I don't have issues with any of it apart from sometimes forgetting it. And that's a problem Jon already knows way too well.

Everyone else talked and explained and promised and smiled. I sat there, burning holes into the carpet by my feet, hands pushed into my pockets so that they wouldn't embarrass me. I still hadn't talked to Oscar because I still didn't know what to say to him.

A/n Hey! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, much more of this story to come and I can't wait for you all to read it. Thanks for being here!