Brake check- autistic Oscar Piastri, ADHD Lando Norris

10: missing in action

Oscar's POV:

I hadn't heard from Lando in days. A couple of months ago that would have been normal but I just- well, maybe we were getting back to normal. I didn't understand but I didn't want to do something wrong so as per usual, I didn't do anything at all.

Today we were supposed to be meeting Logan and Alex for a game of padel. I still wasn't the best at it but it was a way to exercise (which I had to do so much of even during the breaks) and socialising whilst doing something had always felt easier.

When I got there, Logan was already there. So we were just waiting on Lando and Alex. He asked me how things had been, I explained about the process of unmasking. I asked how 'job hunting' was going, he explained he didn't want to talk about it. We sat in silence until Alex arrived and in tow was a friend of his I didn't recognise.

"Hey, morning, how are you?" Alex shook my hand before giving me a hug and slap on the back. He did the same with Logan whilst Alex's friend introduced himself to me. He seemed nice but it was a bit of a shock.

"Lando not make it?" I asked in the end when no one addressed it.

"Nah, he said he wasn't feeling well. Did he not tell you?"

I shook my head, "but I probably wouldn't have read it anyway haha." I hoped I'd hidden my awkwardness well enough. I might have built up the courage to tell Alex about the autism today but now with his friend here, it wasn't going to happen. It was fine, I had time. It didn't occur to me until much later that Lando might in fact not have been sick but not knowing what to do with that thought, I ignored it.

Whatever the reason he didn't turn up, I hoped he was okay. I hoped the thing with Carlos hadn't gone too badly. Or maybe it had just gone really well and he didn't need me to talk about things with anymore.

Lando's POV:

"You alright?"

"Mhm."

"Not sleep or something?" Max asked. I'd only agreed to call him because we were playing fifa together and it was more fun whilst talking to someone.

"Yea."

"Why d'you not sleep?"

"Just didn't okay!"

"Okay okay, jeez, no need to blow up." Max sighed, "sorry, look what's up?"

"Nothing!"

"Oh yea?"

"Yep, everything is perfectly totally fine."

"Any reason why you didn't go play padel today then?"

"How do you know you stalker?"

"Oh so you didn't?"

"No, but how did you even know?"

"Because I guessed you wouldn't be feeling like this if you had."

"Dickhead." I mumbled.

"Thanks mate." I groaned and carried on playing. "So why didn't you go?"

"Didn't feel well enough."

"Okay, you feeling alright now?"

"Eh."

"Wow, you're in a talkative mood." Max said and usually the sarcasm was normal between the two of us, but today I just couldn't cope with it.

"Alright Sherlock FUCKING HOLMES JUST FUCK OFF." I ended the call and the game and dived into my bed, burying myself under the covers, even in the heat and hoping the hidden feeling would shut up all the guilt and anxiety. I still couldn't believe I had told Carlos Oscar's secret instead of my own. Oscar was going to hate me and I was too scared to talk to him about anything, too scared to tell him, too scared to keep it from him.

My phone buzzed: Max was calling. He kept calling and calling and calling. It wouldn't shut up, I threw my phone across the room in frustration and just started crying when I heard it smash and keep ringing. Why couldn't I just be a normal human being. I'd screwed everything up for no reason all over again.

I eventually tuned out the ringing phone and stayed under the covers until it got so hot that I felt like I couldn't breathe. Staring out into my quiet apartment, I wiped the tears from my face and tried to not cry. I needed someone and so, with my phone still ringing, I finally answered. Except, it hadn't been Max who was calling anymore.

"Lando, is everything okay?" I went quiet, staring at the phone in shock at the Australian accent I was hearing. "Max called me, he's worried about you. Can I come over? Sorry, do you want me to come over?"

I was still quiet but didn't turn the call off yet. I knew Max would be worried. Max had just had me blow up at him down a discord call and was hours away.

"Lando? I'm going to come over, if you don't want me there, I'll just sit outside. But I'm coming." He was the one to end the call but I stayed sat, staring at it. There was a crack in the corner of the glass screen protector from where I'd thrown it. My phone case was still broken and the silicone was cracking in a way that meant it was barely holding on to my phone. I didn't know how to feel. It didn't feel like I could feel anything at all.

A/n Hey! Sorry for slower updates recently, I have just been super busy and ill but I'm going to try and pick the pace back up again. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!