The sea breeze gently brushed the shoreline as Charles Leclerc stood on a terrace by the ocean, his hands wrapped around a cooling cup of coffee. The view was stunning, the sky painted in shades of orange and pink, but his mind was elsewhere. Lost in the depths of his thoughts, he wrestled with a dilemma he had never imagined facing.
Carlos Sainz, his teammate, his lover.
Lando Norris, his friend, his trusted confidant.
And the suffocating weight of guilt.
The previous evening, Carlos has kiss him for the first time. It had been a perfect moment, but as soon as their lips parted, a chill had settled in his heart. Charles couldn't stop thinking about Lando's smile, about how he used to talk about Carlos before it all fell apart between them.
That morning, as he quietly watched Carlos, a phrase played over and over in his mind like a haunting refrain.
"But I see him in the back of my mind all the time, like a fever, like I'm burning alive, like a sign"
He saw Lando everywhere in his memories. Not just the good times. But especially that night.
He remembered how Lando had run to him after the breakup, his face wet with tears. Charles hadn't asked questions. He had simply sat beside him, draped an arm around his shoulders, and let Lando crumble. His body shook with sobs, broken words spilling out between gasps.
"I thought it was forever," Lando had murmured in a raw voice.
And Charles, at a loss for words, had simply said, "I'm here."
It was true. He had been there, from start to finish. For the pain, for the confessions, for piecing Lando back together bit by bit. So why did he now feel like he was breaking him all over again?
Carlos, on the other hand, seemed at peace. He moved about the kitchen preparing breakfast with an ease that only made Charles' inner turmoil worse. Every smile Carlos gave sparked questions. Was he really present with Charles, or was he still thinking about Lando? Was Charles just a refuge to soothe an open wound?
When they sat down at the table, Carlos looked up at him. "Are you okay? You're awfully quiet this morning."
Charles hesitated, his heart pounding in his chest. He wanted to speak, to ask if Carlos still thought about Lando, if he saw his face in the shadows of the past the same way Charles saw Lando in his.
But he said nothing.
The day dragged on, but guilt gnawed at Charles. During a break in their training, he found a moment to himself, sitting on a bench overlooking the horizon. He opened his phone and scrolled through old photos of him, Lando, and Carlos. He stopped on one where Lando was laughing, his arms wrapped around Carlos. They looked so happy.
"Did I cross the line?"
The question remained unanswered. But what Charles did know was that he couldn't go on like this, stuck between a budding love and a friendship he might have betrayed.
That evening, as he got ready for bed, Carlos joined him. The soft yet concerned expression on his face showed that he had noticed Charles' unease. "You know you can tell me anything," he murmured.
Charles nodded, feeling the words rise in his throat.
"And you?" he asked suddenly. "Do you still think about him, sometimes?"
Carlos frowned, surprised by the question. But instead of answering right away, he stepped closer, taking Charles' hand in his. "I do think about him, yes. But not in the way you're imagining. It's not Lando I want, it's you."
The words resonated in Charles' heart, easing the weight of his guilt slightly. But deep down, in a corner of his mind, he knew it would take time to heal. To forgive Lando, Carlos, and most importantly, himself.
As he listened to the sea crash against the rocks that night, Charles understood that this story, their story, was like a wildflower. Beautiful, fragile, and born in rocky soil.
A/N
Here a new chapter, I really loved writting him, hope you liked it 💕💕
