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“Come on, Lando! Focus!” Michelle snaps.
“Sorry,” Lando mumbles, feeling embarrassed as he fumbles to lock his phone. They have been filming for hours now, and Lando is exhausted and ready to be done for the day. But there is so much filming left to do and a team briefing to attend before they will finally release him for the evening.
“You waiting for a message from someone special?” Daniel teases, in a sing-song voice, wrapping his long arm around Lando’s shoulder, and trying to grab his phone from his hand.
Lando quickly slips it into his pocket and out of his teammate’s reach as he swats his arm away. “Fuck off.”
Danniel laughs jarringly loud and continues to tease, “aww, someone is grumpy.”
“Am not,” Lando humphs, crossing his arms, realizing too late that he is actually acting like a grumpy child.
It’s not his fault. It feels like the longest media day ever. Probably because Lando is out of practice after the winter, but more pathetically, he misses his boyfriend. He and Max finished moving in together right before the off-season started, and spent almost the entire time in their flat with their two new kittens. After several months of having Max within arm’s reach at all times, Lando feels inexplicably lonely, even though the McLaren team surrounds him and he will see Max in just a few hours. He has had his phone glued to his hand all day, constantly texting Max or waiting for a response, like when they first started dating. Lando feels ridiculous. His entire mood all day has hinged on how quickly he hears from Max and what he says.
The social media team has been keeping Lando and Daniel busy for hours at this point. They are filming a lot, trying to stock pile content to mix in with fresh content throughout the season. As always, Danny is a drop of sunshine, all easy laughs and smiles. Usually, Lando can match his energy, but not today.
When they finish filming, Lando doesn’t have to pretend to smile anymore, so he doesn’t. He trails far enough behind Danny as they walk to the team briefing that he won’t try to start a conversation. They are the first ones to arrive and Lando doesn’t hesitate to fling himself into a chair and pull his knees into his chest, resting his chin on his knees as he checks his phone again.
There is finally a notification, showing him that Max hasn’t just sent him a message but also a picture, which he clicks into immediately. Max is laying topless on a ridiculously lavish looking hotel bed. He is laying on the right side of the bed, which is always Lando’s side, no matter where they are. “Hurry. I’m keeping your spot warm,” the text reads. Lando smiles and snaps a quick selfie of the huge grin that Max’s picture put on his face. “Be there as soon as I can!” He follows it up with, “I miss you.”
He watches the speech bubble as Max types, but before he can see the response, Daniel’s voice pops Lando’s happy little bubble. “Mate, who has you smiling like that?”
“No one,” Lando says quickly. Too quickly.
“Bull shit! Spill!” Danny commands.
Lando shakes his head. “There is nothing to tell. Just saw a funny meme,” Lando lies. He has never been a good liar, and the amused look on Daniel’s face is proof that Lando did not fool him.
“I’m not falling for that,” his teammate says, pointing at him and squinting his eyes. “You have checked your phone more today than I saw you check it all last season.”
Lando feels his cheeks heat, which only makes Danny’s smirk grow. He isn’t wrong, Lando has been glued to his phone way more that usual. But last season, race weekends ment shared hotel rooms with Max, and more time together than usual. Now that they live together, the nights in the hotel pale compared to being with Max all the time in their own home.
“Who is she?” Danny presses.
“Who?”
“Your girlfriend.”
The choked laugh Lando lets out in surprise is completely genuine. The concept of having a girlfriend is very foreign and kind of icky to Lando, who has never been interested in women like that. His love life is so happily settled, it rarely comes up, his contentment obvious, even if who he is with and his preferences are a secret. Lando considers Daniel to be a good friend, and this is the first time in a year of being teammates the subject has come up.
“Girls have cooties,” Lando informs Daniel, who laughs loudly in response. Lando can’t help but feel a bit of pride every time he makes Danny laugh. He is the funniest guy Lando knows, after all.
The room is filling up with the rest of the team. Daniel squints at Lando and says loudly, intentionally drawing the attention of others, “I’m not letting this go.” Lando fully believes him and groans in response. He really doesn’t want to deal with intense scrutiny about his relationship. It is a secret for a reason.
When Lando finally makes it to the hotel, it feels late even though it is only seven in the evening. Max is walking to meet him at the door, but he doesn’t make it very far before Lando is flinging himself in his boyfriend’s arms. Max easily lifts him under the butt and lets Lando cling to him like a koala.
Lando has missed him so much over the last twelve hours, it feels like they haven’t seen each other in months. Embarrassingly, his eyes water with relief to be in Max’s arms again. He tries to hide his tears by tucking his face into Max’s neck, but Max can feel the wetness on his skin.
“Little love, it’s okay. I’m here now,” he tells Lando, moving them to the bed, instinctively understanding what Lando is feeling and needing.
When they are completely tangled together, Lando can finally breathe easily for the first time today. “I missed you,” he whispers to Max, who smooths a hand over his back.
“I missed you, too.”
“No, Max. I don’t think you understand. I missed you so much, too much. I think I’m broken.”
“Lan, you aren’t broken,” Max tells him. “I missed you too. Felt so weird not having you right next to me.”
“I got spoiled,” Lando says into Max’s chest, where he buried his face, breathing deeply, enjoying Max’s familiar scent with every inhale.
“I know. It’s hard to come back to reality,” Max confirms, moving the hand that was stroking Lando’s back to his hair, pulling a groan from Lando as he massages his scalp.
Max and Lando walk into the driver meeting together. Even though they spent the entire evening and night cuddled up together, Lando’s foul mood returned when they woke up this morning. Max has to fight not to be amused by his pouty and grumpy boyfriend. It’s fucking adorable, even if Lando would kill him for saying that.
Right now, Lando is glaring at him as they sit next to each other. “What now?” Max says under his breath, looking around the room to conceal their conversation.
“Can’t touch you,” Lando huffs, barely audible.
“Soon,” Max tells him, biting back a smile.
“Not soon enough,” Lando argues.
“You’ll forget all about me when the practice sessions start. Aren’t you excited to drive?” Max asks, trying to reason with Lan.
“No!” Lando says, too loudly, drawing the attention of some of the other drivers. Max feels like he is arguing with a toddler.
He takes his time, grabbing his water bottle and taking a sip, before leaning into Lan and whispering in his ear. “If you don’t stop throwing a tantrum, you will be in trouble tonight.”
Lando’s eyes go wide and he squirms before squinting at Max and whispering, “You won’t spank me on a race weekend.”
The teasing defiance in Lan’s eyes makes Max’s dick harden in his jeans. “It’s cute you think that is the only way I can punish you.”
Lando blushes deeply and squirms again, whispering, “I’m sorry.”
“Too late for that, little love,” Max teases, pinching Lando’s waste subtly, and chuckling when Lando startles and hisses at him, so worked up in a room full of their colleagues that he can’t even speak.
Their terrarium of whispers and sexual tension shatters as Daniel flops down in the seat next to Max, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and startling both of them. Max blinks back into reality and looks at Danny, who smiles widely. “I need your help, man.”
“With what?” Max asks.
Daniel looks at Lando and smirks. “It’s about Lando.”
“Daniel, don’t,” Lando whines.
“Lando is keeping secret,” Daniel tells Max conspiratorially, laughing when Lan gets increasingly agitated.
“Oh, yeah?” Max asks, enjoying the teammate banter between his friend and boyfriend.
“I am not,” Lando insists. “I told you, it’s nothing.”
Max chose the wrong time to take a sip of his water because Daniel announces, “Lando has a secret girlfriend.” It draws the attention of the other drivers and Max chokes on his water, shocked.
“I do not!” Lando says, looking around at everyone else, until they return to their own conversations. “Stop doing that,” he hisses at Danny, looking like Sassy and Jimmy when Max tries to take them away from Lando for any reason.
Daniel ignores him and turns to Max, patting him on his back until he clears his airway. “He was texting all day yesterday! Kept annoying everyone because he couldn’t focus, and he kept smiling in this goofy way.” Daniel makes a silly love struck face and Max bursts into laughter. He obviously knows exactly who Lan was texting. It was him.
The predicament is hilarious, but Lan and his pouty mood are not amused at all. Max can’t resist the temptation to join in on teasing his adorable little grumpy boy. “I think you are on to something,” Max tells Daniel.
Lando looks at him, shocked for a moment, clearly expecting Max to defend him, not to agree with Danny. Lan’s eyes squint at him when he realizes Max is fucking with him. “I’m going to go sit somewhere else,” he says, hesitating, expecting for one of them to stop him. Max is not going to do that. The more worked up and fussy Lando is tonight, the better. They are going to have a lot of fun and as much as Lan pretends to hate it, he loves when Max takes him in hand and makes him behave.
“Go on,” Daniel says to Lando. “Max can help me narrow down the list of suspects.”
Lando stands up and stomps across the room, flopping down dramatically in a seat next to Alex and George, immediately gesturing towards them as he complains to his friends. Max has to work really hard to not let his adoration for his boy show on his face. In another world, he would walk over there and wrap his arms around Lan from behind and nibble his neck, then whisper exactly what he would do if he didn’t stop being a brat, watch him squirm in front of his friends. But the world is not as perfect as his boy, so they have to live in secret, but Lan will always be worth it.
Max refocuses on Daniel, who is inspecting the profiles of every of woman that Lando follows on Instagram, trying to convince Max of conspiracy theories about how each one of them could be Lando’s girlfriend. Max emphatically agreed, even offering some of his own theories. This was too much fun.
Max made sure to get back to the hotel before Lando. Tomorrow is qualifying, so he can’t be too hard on his boy, but he also can’t let Lan keep wandering around like a dark storm cloud, engulfing everyone he encounters in his misery. When his boy gets stuck like this, Max has to help him along, break him down some, so he can process his emotions and get them out. By the end of the night, Lan would be crying in his arms and, as much as he hates seeing his boyfriend upset, he knows it is exactly what Lando needs. He also knows how to make him feel better, by tomorrow he will be his smiley self again.
Max is waiting near the door when Lando storms into the room, slamming the door behind him and grumbling under his breath. Max clears his throat and Lando notices him, crossing his arms and giving him a stern look. Lan bites his bottom lip and obviously checks Max out, scanning his body with his eyes. His poor boy, doesn’t realize that he just told Max exactly how he should be punished tonight.
“Let’s try that again,” Max directs Lando, in a no-nonsense voice, placing a hand on his lower back and guiding him back out the door.
After several long seconds, Lan unlocks the door and enters again, shutting the door quietly behind him. Fuck, this boy will be the death of Max, the way he peaks up at him through his eyelashes, eyes wide and cheeks already flushing with embarrassment, from that minor correction.
“Good,” Max tells him, trying to ease some of the anxiety radiating off of his boy. Lando loves this. He even admits he needs it, but Max always checks in with him a lot when they mess around with power play. He never wants to push his little love too far. The point is to help him get out of his head, process his emotions, and get off. It might require temporary discomfort or upset, but he does not want to make him truly suffer.
“Take your shoes off and sit on the bed,” Max tells him.
Lando nods and meets Max’s eyes. His blue eyes are already swimming, and it breaks Max a little. It won’t take much tonight, Lando is already close to breaking for him. He steps forward and pulls Lan into a tight hug, kissing the top of his head. “I love you.”
“I love you too, Max,” Lan whispers back. The way he says Max’s name has his cock hardening in his jeans already. Lando says Max’s name like it is an honorific.
Lan slowly removes his shoes, almost falling over twice while trying to look at Max. Eventually he gets his shoes off and stumbles over to the bed, looking eager and nervous.
Max strips off, enjoying the way Lando watches him hungrily. The next part is going to be difficult. Max reclines on the bed and Lando tries to scramble towards him. “No!” Max says firmly, shocking Lan, leaving him trembling. “Your going to watch.”
Lando whimpers and stares at Max’s hard cock, watching him stroke it and looking desperate to do it himself. “Let me,” he whines.
“No,” Max says again.
He watches the gears turn in Lan’s head. “But I could make you feel so good,” he tells Max in his most desperate voice, topping it off by licking his lip before chewing his lower lip.
It’s tempting, but he doesn’t give in. Max won’t let Lando play him so easily. “That wouldn’t be a punishment.”
“Max!” Lando complains loudly, his bratty attitude from the past few days returning.
“Little love, that is exactly why you have to sit there and watch. Watch me get myself off without your help. Do you think you’ve earned my cock with that kind of attitude?”
Lando shakes his head no, eyes watering again.
“Use your words,” Max reminds him sternly.
“No,” Lan mumbles, his voice cracking.
“That’s right.” Fat tears start rolling down Lando’s cheeks as he watches Max masturbate, and it pulls at Max’s heart. But he doesn’t feel too bad, because he can see how hard Lando is in his jeans. “If you’re good and don’t try to touch, I’ll give you a reward.”
“Reward?” Lan sniffles.
“I’ll let you clean me up.”
Lando whimpers again, tears still flowing. “Please. Please. I’ll be good.”
Having Lando beg to lick up his cum has Max’s balls feeling tight. Fuck. His boy is so sexy. “Get undressed, but don’t touch yourself.”
Lando scrambles to get his clothes off.
“Good boy,” Max praises. Lando’s cock jumps at his words and that sends Max over the edge into blind pleasure, spurting cum on his stomach, chest and hand. When he opens his eyes, Lando is staring at it like a starving man. “Clean me up, little love, no hands.”
Lando lays down next to Max, gingerly, and thoroughly licks every spot of cum from his torso and hand. By the time he finishes, he is leaking pre-cum and his cock is full and red. Max can’t take it anymore. He pulls his boy to him, back to chest, enveloping Lando’s quivering form in his arms, reaching for his cock. It only takes a few pumps for Lando to spill over with a pitiful cry of pleasure.
Most of his cum lands on the bed, but he moves his hand to Lan’s mouth, and he licks his own seed off without having to be told.
Since Lando did such a good job of cleaning up after them, Max gets both of them under the covers and pulls Lando into his chest as he cries. For once, they don’t have to talk about it. Lando has been a disaster missing Max, struggling to get back into the rhythm of the season. By denying him this one time, Max reminded him he is always there, always thinking about him, and always taking care of him.
Sleep takes them slowly, as Lando’s tears slow down and Max’s gentle reassurances quiet. When Lando wakes in the morning, he is relieved to feel rested and, instead of dreading the day, he is excited for qualifying. Max is still sleeping soundly. There is technically another half hour before their alarm goes off, but he has no patience.
Lando realizes they are both still naked and his morning wood is begging to be relieved. He slowly pulls the covers off of Max and takes a moment to appreciate his naked form. His boyfriend is always sexy and irresistible, but in his sleep there is something else there, a vulnerability. Lando will never stop appreciating how much Max trusts him, how much of himself he gives to him, even after the life Max has had.
His plans to wake Max with a blow job fall away when Max blinks his eyes open and smiles lazily at Lando.
“I love you,” Lando whispers, brushing a thumb over the soft skin of Max’s face.
Max catches his wrist and uses it to pull him into a cuddle. They pass their morning slowly, snuggling and chatting idly about everything and nothing at all.
“Someone got laid,” Daniel says too loudly after the team meeting while putting Lando in a headlock and drawing way too much attention.
Lando squirms out of his grip and swats Danny away, laughing. “It’s none of your business.”
“I’m going to make it my business!” Daniel calls after him as he escapes, wanting to maintain his good mood, which he won’t be able to do if he has to keep lying. He wishes he could tell his friend and teammate the truth. He wants to brag about his Max. He isn’t ashamed of him at all, but it is just too risky to tell people. Even people they trust because if it gets out, everything could be ruined.
Feeling like his grumpy mood is trying to creep back in, Lando decides to cheer himself up with a visit to Max’s driver room. When they aren’t all segregated into their team motorhomes, it is a lot easier. After a quick stop at his own room to have Jon top off his drink bottle with electrolytes, he makes his way towards Max, unable to keep a smile off his face and skip out of his step.
Lando doesn’t realize he was humming happily, until he suddenly stops, hearing footsteps behind him. He is taking a back way, trying to be sneaky, so it is unexpected. When he looks over his shoulder, he doesn’t see anyone, but when he walks again, the footsteps pick back up. Someone is trailing him and he knows exactly who it is.
Abandoning his plan to see Max, he wanders the back passages for a while before he reaches a dead end. He stops and when the steps stop behind him, he doesn’t even look. Instead he calls out, “Daniel!”
“Fuck,” the voice whispers behind him before a more confident, “Hey, what’s up, Lando?”
He whirls around and faces the taller man, who is standing awkwardly in the middle of the hallway. “What are you doing?”
Daniel’s eyes go wide when he sees the steel in Lando’s eyes, realizing he has pushed too far. Lando isn’t being grumpy and whiney, he is pissed off. Danny’s easy crooked smile takes over his face as he raises his hands in a calming gesture. “No need to be upset. I was just thinking you might lead me to your secret girlfriend.”
Lando can’t help but groan in frustration. “Daniel! If I wanted you to know what I was up to, I would tell you!”
“Yeah! I know, so you will never tell me,” Daniel laughs, but he sounds a little bitter. “You know everything about me, Lando, and you are endlessly kind and fun, but you don’t tell me shit. You don’t tell anyone anything.”
Lando steps back, forgetting there is a wall behind him. When his back presses against it, he feels cornered. What is he supposed to say? He keeps his secrets close to his chest to protect the person he loves the most, but he doesn’t want his friend to think he doesn’t trust him.
Without taking time to think about it, Lando decides he can share at least part of the truth. “What if there was a reason I don’t talk about these things? Did you ever think of that?”
“A reason? What? Like you don’t trust me?” Daniel asks, still looking hurt but trying to hide it behind a smile.
“What if I don’t have a secret girlfriend? What if I have a secret boyfriend instead?” Lando breaks out into a cold sweat as soon as the words leave his mouth and he feels lightheaded as Daniel’s face morphs from shocked to amused.
“Nah, you’re not gay,” he teases. “You would have absolutely hit on me by now if you were.” Daniel laughs loudly, then flexes his muscles. “Who could resist this?”
Lando’s heart falls, and he blinks rapidly, relieved his eyes aren’t trying to water even though the disappointment and disrespect sits heavy on his chest. “Not everything is a joke, Daniel,” he says in a steady voice, before pushing past the older man and making his way back to his driver room. He won’t dare go to Max’s now, in case Daniel keeps following him.
Lando can’t help but smile with relief when he opens the door to his room to see Max, lounging on the massage table, chatting with Jon, who is sitting across the room from him, working on his laptop. Excited to see Max and hopefully forget about that awful encounter, he flings himself onto the massage table, forgetting how unyielding it is.
“Ouch. Fuck!” Lando shouts as the impact reverberates through his body.
“Careful,” Jon tells him sternly, making him blush a little.
“Sorry,” Lando mumbles, quickly forgetting the embarrassment as Max pulls him into the little spoon position.
“What’s wrong?” Max whispers in his ear, feeling the tension in Lando’s posture.
Lando doesn’t respond, just shakes his head no, and Max doesn’t ask again. Instead, he trails his fingers along Lando’s arm and side until his body relaxes. Talking shit with Jon while Max holds him close is so familiar and comfortable. It is exactly what Lando needs right now to forget about the awful conversation with Daniel that he is already embarrassed about.
As usual, Max can’t help but enjoy the driver’s parade. He loves a good gossip session and there is no better opportunity than being stuck on a trailer with the entire grid. Lan had stuck by his side for a while, quieter than normal. But when Daniel approached, he quietly moved on to talk with George and Alex, confirming Max’s suspicion that something happened between him and Daniel yesterday. When Max asked him about it though, Lando denied it and told him not to worry.
“Fuck,” Daniel mutters, watching Lando walk away, squeezing the back of his neck, and not smiling for once. Max raises a questioning eyebrow at him and he says, sounding genuinely upset, “I fucked up, Maxy.”
A flicker of anger ignites in Max’s chest. He needs to know what Daniel did to Lando. “What happened?” he asks, leaving no room for waffling.
Daniel sighs and has the decency to look ashamed as he tells the story. “I followed Lando yesterday before qualifying, thinking he would lead me to his secret girlfriend.”
“Really?” Max asks, doubtfully. Daniel is stubborn, but there is no way he actually believes Lando is hiding a girlfriend somewhere on the paddock.
“Not really, but I thought it would be funny. But when Lando caught me, it pissed him off, and that made me angry… I said something to him about not telling me anything when I tell him everything.” Daniel pauses like he is hoping Max will interrupt, but he doesn’t, knowing there is more to this story. “Look, I wasn’t trying to be an ass, but I was surprised. I didn’t believe him. But now I’m thinking he may have been telling the truth.”
“About what?” Max growls.
“He said something about maybe having a boyfriend instead of a girlfriend and asked what I would do…”
Max’s blood runs cold. Lando came out to Daniel? He is barely out to anyone. That would be a big deal and if it didn’t go well? Fuck, Max is torn between decking Danny in the face and grabbing Lando and holding him close to take away the pain and shame.
Daniel’s eyes go wide, seeing Max’s angry expression. “Fuck. It is true? You knew? Shit! I said something stupid about it not being true because he wasn’t all over me. No wonder he ran off after that.”
Max is seeing red and he can’t stop himself before he reaches out and grips Daniel by the wrist, hard enough to bruise. “You said what?” he hisses.
Daniel gasps in surprise, bringing Max back to reality enough to let go of him. Danny is fucking lucky that they are in public and on camera. If he had told him this in person, Max isn’t sure he would have been able to contain his rage.
“You knew?” Daniel asks again. Before Max can respond he groans, “of course you do, your… gay,” he whispers the last word even quieter than the others. “That is why you are so protective of him, isn’t it?”
Max freezes. Daniel is putting it together. He is about to realize what has actually been going on between him and his little love. In any other circumstance, it would be a relief for one of their closest friends to know the truth, but not when he had just been hurtful to Lan over his sexuality. “You could say that,” Max answers, non-committal.
“Damn, what are the odds that both of my favorite teammates would be gay?”
“Statistically, not really that shocking,” Max answers.
Daniel looks at him appraisingly. “You two should date.”
Max splutters, not sure what to say.
Daniel laughs loudly before adding, “What am I thinking? That would never work! Two drivers? Hiding their sexuality and relationship at the same time. Not to mention you could not be more different from Lando.”
Annoyance sparks in Max, making him want to defend their relationship, but he can’t. He won’t tell Daniel, especially not without Lan’s permission. Instead of acknowledging the comments, he changes the subject. “What are you going to do?” he asks, glancing over at Lando, who is watching them wearily.
“I don’t know,” Daniel says, already sounding defeated.
“Have you apologized yet?” Max asks
“No.”
“That sounds like the best place to start.”
Max is desperate to get to his boy, but he can’t get there until after the race and team debriefs. It startles Lan when Max barges into his room, worked up and worried. He pulls his boy into a hug and Lando clearly misreads the situation, squeezing him back tightly and asking, “are you okay? I’m sorry about your power unit.”
“It’s not that,” Max says, but before he can explain further, Lando interrupts him.
“Nobody wants to DNF, especially not during the first race of the year. It’s okay to be upset.” Lando chuckles a little bitterly, “I’m far from happy with fifteenth.”
“It’s not about that. We can bitch about the race later,” Max tells him.
“Then what is it?” Lan asks, sounding genuinely confused.
Max knows he is basically having a conversation with himself, but he can’t stop. He pulls Lando impossibly closer and strokes his hair, whispering, “my brave boy.”
“Max?”
Responding to Lan’s question, he pulls back, holding Lando in place by the shoulder, searching his face when he says, “you came out to Daniel.”
Lando’s confused expression fades into sadness. “Oh. Yeah. That didn’t go so well,” he mumbles, tying to distract Max by unzipping his race suit for him. He brought his clothes with him to change in his desperation to get to his boyfriend and whisk him away to their hotel as soon as possible. “I guess I thought it would go okay,” Lando adds quietly. “I know he took it well when you told him…”
That is what Max is struggling the most to understand. Back when Daniel was his teammate, he had come out to him and Danny took it so well. He was supportive and understanding. It is shocking things went so wrong when Lan told him. “I don’t understand…”
Lando cuts him off with a gentle touch to his cheek. “It’s because you are you and I’m me.”
Max has no idea what Lan means by that.
“Has Daniel apologized.”
Lando shakes his head, no, sadly. Aware he can’t really say anything to make his boy feel better, he just says an affectionate, “little love,” before helping Lando out of his race suit. They continue to help each other undress in an intimate silence. It isn’t sexual right now, just trust and tenderness.
They are both down to their underwear when there is a pounding on the door. “Lando! I need to talk to you, please!” Daniel shouts from outside.
“Fuck,” Lan whispers, looking around nervously. “Not right now!” Lando shouts back.
It isn’t surprising to either of them when Daniel continues to pound on the door. “I’m not going anywhere until I talk to you!”
Max kisses Lando on the cheek, “just don’t let him all the way in,” he whispers, before tucking himself into the wardrobe. It doesn’t have a door, but it conceals him enough that Daniel can’t see him from the entry.
It is hard for Max to stay put and let Lan handle this on his own. He wants to protect his boy more than anything in the world. “What do you need?” He hears Lando ask, sounding annoyed.
“I owe you an apology,” Daniel responds in an uncharacteristically subdued tone.
“No. It’s fine. I shouldn’t have said anything.” Max doesn’t need to have eyes on his boyfriend to know that he is shrinking in on himself as he speaks.
“No, Lando, I shouldn’t have made a joke. I’m sorry I didn’t act worthy of the trust you put in me.”
“It’s okay. I don’t want to keep secrets from you… I just have a lot at risk.”
After Lando’s raw statement, there is some silence and shuffling. Max is pretty sure the two men are hugging. It is a relief. When Daniel speaks again, his voice is light and playful, like normal. “So little Lando, I’m dying to know what men are you interested in, since it obviously isn’t tall, dark, and handsome Australians?”
He hears Lando laugh and stammer over his words. But moments later, everything goes silent and Max can feel the tension in the atmosphere, even from his hiding spot. Daniel comes into view and he is leaning down, picking up Max’s race suit from the floor, where it is laying in a pile with Lando’s and both of their fireproof layers.
Lando comes into view and snatches the suit from Daniel. “Why do you have that?” Daniel asks, his tone unreadable. Lando shrugs and Daniel presses harder. “Whose is it?”
Lando clams up even more, “it’s not Checko’s,” he whispers, holding Max’s sweat soaked suit against his chest, burying his face in it.
“This is weird,” Daniel says, sounding confused. “I know you are both gay, but this feels wrong. Why are you taking his things? That is creepy.”
Lando’s wide blue eyes meet Max’s in the wardrobe, panic and embarrassment written all over his face as a single tear runs down his cheek. Max doesn’t think about what he is doing. He flies from his hiding spot and has Lan in his arms in seconds, cradling his head and pressing kisses into his hair. Lando mumbles, “I’m sorry, Max. It’s my fault.”
“No, little love, you didn’t do anything wrong,” Max reassures, only tearing his attention away from Lan long enough to see Daniel looking at them with surprise and trying to leave. “You aren’t going anywhere yet,” he barks at Daniel and moves his eyes to a chair, where Danny sits.
Max needs to make sure Daniel will not say anything. He trusts his friend and doesn’t think he would do that, but he needs to be sure to protect his boy. Remembering they are both only wearing underwear, Max lets Lando go long enough to grab sweatpants and a hoody from his bag. He slips on the sweatpants and helps Lando into his Red Bull hoody. Unable to resist how adorable Lan is with Max’s number 1 on his chest, he kisses him gently.
Lan is much calmer now, knowing that Max isn’t mad at him for exposing them. He is easily led to the massage table and does not resist when Max pulls him into his lap. They both turn their attention to Daniel, who opens his mouth to speak, but Max puts up a hand to stop him. “You are my friend, so I will give you the courtesy of a warning that you better watch what you say. I make things difficult for people who upset my little love.”
Daniel nods and Lan squirms in his lap. Max rests his chin on Lando’s shoulder and looks at Daniel, expectantly.
“This is cozy,” Danny says, gesturing towards them, and laughing uncomfortably. Lan, who can’t help but laugh when someone else is, giggles, fully breaking the tension in the room. “I love this, by the way,” Daniel says. “You are both like my little brothers, so I’m biased, but I don’t think you could have done better for yourselves. Especially you, Max,” Danny adds with a wink.
“Max is perfect,” Lan says, earnestly.
Daniel laughs, “I can see you believe that, and it is adorable. How long?”
Max lets Lando answer. He will never get sick of hearing his boy tell the story of how they got together, and Lan doesn’t disappoint telling the whole story. Daniel is delighted and teases Max ruthlessly for his obsessive behavior before they even got together.
“Can you blame me?” Max asks, kissing Lando on the cheek.
“Okay! This is getting too sweet! I’m out,” Daniel says, standing. “And I won’t tell anyone as long as I get an invitation to your flat!”
“Anytime,” Lando nods enthusiastically.
Max grunts in agreement, “you need to meet Lando’s cats.”
“I got Jimmy and Sassy for you!” Lan disagrees, “for winning the WDC.”
“You did. But you can’t help how sweet you are,” Max responds nipping at Lan’s ear. “Daniel, these kittens are obsessed with him. Just wait until you see. He can’t do anything without them following and trying to help. The little shits scratch me if I dare, try to get my Lan to myself for a moment.”
Danial laughs. “Clearly, they are as crazy about him as you are. I thought you were going to knock me out during the driver’s parade.”
“Your lucky we were in public or I probably would have,” Max responds, honestly. Lando tries to make a displeased sound but it comes out as more of a moan. He is clearly getting worked up, knowing Max was protecting him. “Out!” Max tells Daniel, unable to contain his lust for Lan for one more moment.
The moment the door shuts, he bites Lando’s neck, making him groan. “Race is done. I’m going to fuck you right here while you where my hoody.”
Lando whimpers and turns in Max’s lap, now straddling him. “Please,” he whispers, grinding against Max before meeting him in a kiss.