Brake check- autistic Oscar Piastri, ADHD Lando Norris

13: getting sorted

Oscar's POV:

I ended up staying the night at Lando's. We pulled youtube up on his tv and watched ADHD and autism videos (by actually neurodivergent people) all evening. We alternated between welling up as each of us related more to different videos and the final video of the evening ended up between one from The National Autistic Society featuring a young autistic boy having a sensory overload in a shopping centre and asking the watcher 'can you make it to the end?' as the video showed what it was actually like to have a sensory overload.

Lando and I turned to each other in tears. "All those tantrums," he whispered, his voice failing through the tears.

"They weren't tantrums, they were sensory overloads." I answered the unasked question.

"I wasn't naughty."

"You were hyperactive."

"I'm not wrong."

"You're just you." Lando barreled into me again, barely staying on the sofa. I pulled him over and sat us both up. "We're just us and there's nothing wrong with it." He was still crying. It had been a long couple days and they had taken their toll on him.

They had taken their own toll on me too. But I'd unpack that later. I'd call Mum, maybe manage to tell her about what happened at Al- no, maybe not just yet. I don't, just no. I'd take a minute, calm myself down, tell myself that Lando didn't mean it like people had in the past. Things were different now, they were good.

In the morning, we woke up still on the sofas but with blankets covering us in a way they hadn't been last night. Max was in the kitchen, making tea. He'd gone food shopping. He'd cleaned up the flat and he had a smile on his face.

This time, it was he, who Lando attacked with hugs and my rib felt glad for it. I thanked him for the cup of tea and sipped at it. He asked Lando if he wanted to go out on a run and he nodded eagerly.

"Want to join us Oscar?" Max offered.

I paused, "nah, I'm alright. I uh, I'll get home."

"Thanks, I'm sorry but thank you. Thank you for last night. Thank you for being nice and not angry and ordering food. Thank you for making me feel normal." Lando was crying as he hugged me again. So much hugging, but I didn't hate it. I just needed to get home and chill out, take a minute. So much crying too which continued to worry me.

"You're welcome. But I still need to talk to Carlos and I would prefer if it was with you."

"I'll organise it. I'll text you."

"Okay, and text me with what he says about the other stuff." I replied, knowing he still hadn't turned his phone back on after messaging Carlos last night. I felt a nod against my shoulder and squeezed him a little before letting go.

Max had it sorted. Lando had it sorted. Now I just needed 5 minutes and I would have it sorted too.

Lando's POV:

I spent all afternoon info-dumping to Max about ADHD. Looking up more stuff online, watching some of the videos I watched with Oscar last night. But he didn't well up like Oscar did. He didn't nod in understanding or give examples of times that had happened to him. It was nice anyway and Max kept laughing when something came over that was so obviously me. We'd laugh about times growing up where I'd done something that was so ADHD-typical that it was painful. He shared memories with me in a way Oscar couldn't yet.

And with Max's help, we sorted out an online appointment with Kasper just before we went on our lads trip. Max promised to stay in the spare room for it and be there for me, but also give me space. And Max cooked dinner because my meal prep stuff still hadn't arrived and by now it was just too late for me to care. He'd bought food anyway and reveled in 'cheffing it up' in my kitchen but essentially that just meant using more than one pan and not relying on the microwave.

It made me think about how much easier I found it when I stayed with Max in the UK. Having someone there just calmed me and made it easier to keep on top of things because I could never truly get too far in my head. Still, there wasn't a way to fix that. Max had a life and he couldn't just follow me around hotels and tracks for most of the year.

Things were just so much easier. I went to sleep quicker. I had a running partner. There was someone there when I had a meltdown. Max always made sure I ate. Max always made sure I didn't forget anything. Max made sure I woke up on time for stuff. Max made sure there was food in the fridge when the concept of shopping scared me and I couldn't process shopping online well enough. Max reminded me being me wasn't wrong. Max made it clear that being me wasn't wrong because it was just me.

I dreaded having to go to Zandvoort without Max in a couple weeks time. I'm not sure I can do it alone anymore. Now I'm asking for the support, I actually need it.

A/n Hey! What a grand prix today, so much going on, especially with qualifying being moved to this morning. So many ideas already to go for this story, Sao Paulo might have to be it's own book at this point haha. Anyway, thank you for reading and I hope you all enjoyed!