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The 2023 season is about to start and Daniel can't wait to get back on track. On top of that, they can finally get back to seeing the fans in the stands but luckily they won't be allowed into the paddock for a while - Daniel loves to see the smiles of the fans, hear their stories and take a lot of photos, but some are a little bit too intrusive and the restrictions that have remained around motor homes aren't that bad.
It's Wednesday and he's been at the circuit for a while, Charlotte sent a message in the groupchat with the PR team and the drivers to ask to be in front of the entrance at 10 am, but Lando replied that he had just landed at the airport and he did not know if he could make it in time, that she should have warned him in advance so that he could organize himself... lately, that boy is like a ghost - outside of meetings and official ceremonies he is can never be reached and seems to disappear into thin air in the exact moment they no longer need his presence.
With this Daniel absolutely does not want to say that he is not professional. On the contrary, in the last two years he has shown him that he is not only the carefree kid who laughs and jokes but that does’t try hard enough. Lando is always on time - when the meeting is planned in advance - he is always very concentrated and prepared when it comes to work, but he also knows how to be nice and manages to steal a laugh from you even when not everything is going well, all in all Lando is a awesome teammate.
When Daniel arrives at the entrance he finds the McLaren and Ferrari PR team waiting for him, with Charles in a corner tapping away on his phone.
"Hello!" greets Daniel "What are we all doing here? A party?" he asks.
"No, we have some news for this year" says Silvia clapping her hands to get the attention of those present, but she doesn't have time to start explaining that the noises coming from the parking lot make everyone look around.
Lando and Carlos are walking towards them, but Carlos is trying not to let Lando take the phone he has in his hand. Lando jumps in response trying to grab it and, when he fails, takes a handful of Carlos' hair and pulls it, making the other moan in pain and he tries to give Lando a few punches but they do not hit the target. Daniel looks at them in amazement, he noticed that Lando stiffens when he heard the name of the Spaniard, but he didn't think their friendship had degraded this way… arguing like this.
In the meantime, the two former teammates arrived and they passed the entrance turnstiles, Lando with his phone finally back in his hands and Carlos massaging the side of his head where until a few seconds ago the younger one was pulling his hair.
"Have you finished being children?" Charlotte asks impatiently and then turns to Silvia and signals her to proceed with the explanation of this extraordinary meeting.
Daniel sees the look of horror in Lando's eyes as Silvia announces that, to improve inter team unity, each week they will film challenges between the Scuderia and McLaren drivers. He just hopes that other situations like the one a few minutes ago won't arise, and that Lando and Carlos are able to behave like adults in that case at least - Charles' worried look doesn't reassure him at all.
---
The first challenge is Jenga. They sit around a table with the wooden brick tower in the center. Daniel and Lando on the one side, Charles and Carlos on the other - they're waiting for Silvia to finish the introduction and for her to explain the rules.
The first turns are simple, the tower still stable and the wooden blocks easily removed - the challenge is fun, they make jokes and exchange digs, Daniel controls Lando out of the corner of his eye but the youngest is behaving. The commotion begins when Charles, given the difficulty in removing the blocks from the bottom, takes them from the upper layers - rightly Lando, Daniel and Carlos himself contradict him and spend a good five minutes explaining why he can't do this, that the rules are different - that guy is as good a driver as he is a bit dumb outside of it, seriously!
From that moment on the game becomes tougher, more time to choose which brick to remove, more turns around the table to study the situation.
It’s while Lando is bent, elbows on the table, hands under his chin as he carefully studies a block of wood, poking it a bit with his pointer finger to see if it's manageable, that Daniel notices Carlos' gaze. The Spaniard has been staring at Lando for too long with a strange look in his eyes, Daniel cannot read the meaning of that look but when Carlos approaches Lando with a predatory do and a smirk on his lips, Daniel knows there’s trouble ahead.
Carlos's hand lands on Lando's firm ass at the exact moment when the younger one is about to grab the wooden cube, making him jump and causing the tower to fall ruinously.
What follows is an angry Lando pouncing on Carlos. The two end up on the ground, Daniel and Charles look at each other in amazement, but the expression turns to one of confusion when Carlos pins Lando's wrists to the floor and whispers something in his ear that stops Lando's squirming immediately.
Thanks to the intervention of the other team members present, they are able to restart with the challenge and everything goes smoothly until the end.
Only a "See you" said by Lando in a threatening tone as he points two fingers first at his eyes and then at those of Carlos - Daniel rolls his eyes but doesn't think about it again until that night.
Daniel is getting ready for bed, tomorrow is press day, so he can afford to stay up a little later - Netflix on his computer, something to nibble on and a bottle of water to drink because he knows any movie he’s going to choose, sooner or later - whether it is for fear or too much laughter - he will risk choking on what he is eating.
He is crawling under the covers, trying not to drop the bowl he is holding when he hears a thud coming from the room next to him, followed by a muffled groan. Daniel chuckles, Lando is really clumsy at times, he doesn't know how he manages to be a Formula 1 driver but he can't walk in a straight line without bumping into something at least twice a day.
But when, after a few minutes, the noises and voices start to rise and Daniel is forced to turn up the volume of the film because he cannot hear the characters speak, he decides to try to understand what is happening. More than anything else because he is not allowed to bring external people into their rooms so Daniel excludes a "sexy night" for his teammate, so the only other option is that someone with malicious intent has infiltrated his room and now Lando finds himself having to fight it all alone.
At that thought, in two seconds Daniel moves the computer from his thighs and throws himself out of his door and starts banging frantically on Lando's.
At first the noises don't stop "Lando? Lando are you ok?" Daniel asks a little worriedly, knocking on the wood again when he gets no answer.
After a few seconds of silence Lando opens the door "Why shouldn't I be ok?" he asks confusedly, but Daniel doesn't answer him and cranes his neck to see what's going on in his teammate's room and what he sees leaves him stunned.
Carlos is half seated on the bed, his hair unkempt and his shirt out of his pants. Daniel returns his gaze to his teammate and notices the red cheeks and a couple of scratches on the younger skin.
"I can’t believe in it" blurts Daniel raising his arms to the sky "Are you still fighting because of this morning? I understand it wasn’t a good move from Carlos, but I don’t think it is appropriate to fight like this" says the Aussie turning to Lando "I would advise you to stop fighting over these stupid things and if you really have to do it at least make less noise. I can’t hear the TV" he concludes, turning on his heels and going back to his room slamming the door.
Daniel puts on his headphones and prays that those two will be able to fix things between them, he doesn't know what happened, but he doesn't think he can spend the whole season like this, especially now that the challenges will be weekly.
---
This week's challenge is "guess the song". If he is not mistaken, Charles has already played with Seb a few years before, but since they are going to be divided into two teams he is not sure how it will work.
He and Carlos are walking to the McLaren motorhome, it's their turn to change location "Do you think they'll only put in TikTok songs to make Lando win or will they choose more common songs too?" Charles asks with a chuckle.
"Lando doesn't use TikTok, and he can't even dance to save his life, so he doesn't do those little dances" Carlos asserts, Charles turns to him confused and notices his teammate's wide eyes "Not that I know.. I guessed. Since he never had the rhythm in his blood" Carlos mumbles, running a hand through his hair.
Charles looks at him bewildered, but he's used to Carlos' somewhat mysterious way of doing and saying things and he knows it's best not to ask questions.
The challenge begins quietly, Carlos and Charles on one side of the room, Daniel and Lando on the other, a button in the center. When the music starts, the first of the team who knows the song must run, press the button and give the answer. Their teams have done a good job and so far they have chosen songs that everyone knows, and the two teams are tied.
When the first notes in the new song begin to ring out in the air, Charles doesn't even have time to hear the first words as both Lando and Carlos dive on the button and, in sync, shout "Il meglio!", When the person behind the camera raises a thumbs up to say that the answer is correct and that both teams get a point, Lando is beaming but after a few seconds a veil falls on his face "Wait.. How do they... Did you tell them? They weren't there-" he starts angrily turning to Carlos and narrowing his eyes "No. No! I didn't know" Carlos tries to defend himself, but Lando comes dangerously close to him and, poking him in his chest with a finger, whispers something.
Charles is too far away to understand what he's saying to him, and he can't see Carlos's face because his teammate has his back to him, but from the look on Daniel's face, it's no good.
Carlos returns to his seat next to Charles muttering something in Spanish and Lando, who is already standing next to Daniel, says "I heard you!".
"Since when does Lando know Spanish?" the Monegasque whispers looking at Carlos over his shoulder, Carlos raises a confused eyebrow but does not answer because a new song is already resonating from the speakers.
As they return to their rooms, one more win in their pockets thanks to Charles' musical knowledge (he blamed his girlfriend who always listens to pop songs, but he knows that no one believed him), what happened just a bit of time before came back to his mind.
"Wait, how does Lando know an Italian song? That boy sometimes doesn't even know English and he was born in England" jokes Charles.
"It's the song of his first dance" replies Carlos "Not that there have been others after. One and only, gracias a Dios" he chuckles.
"Uh? In what sense? First dance of what?" Charles asks confused turning to his teammate who is looking at him with a confused frown, an expression he usually uses when Charles asks stupid questions... but it's not a stupid question this one "What?" he asks again.
"The first dance Charles. Isn't it your tradition too that the spouses do a dance together before all the guests?" Carlos answers rolling his eyes.
Chalres can't hide a laugh "You mean you want me to believe that someone has decided to bond with that boy for life and not under threat?" he snorts "If you didn't want to give me an answer you could have just said it" he says before entering his room and slamming the door behind himself.
---
They are all in front of a white board, with a red marker for the Ferrari team and a blue marker for the McLaren team. Today's game is hangman and Daniel already knows they're going to lose - because although English is not the other two's native language, Lando is a mess at spelling and he knows he'll start laughing and won't be able to concentrate. Despite his predictions, Dianel and Lando are ahead by a couple of points and now it's Carlos' turn to choose a word. The Spaniard taps the back of the marker on his chin thinking, then takes off the cap and starts writing.
They start guessing the letters but, despite having found almost all of them by now, Daniel just can't understand what word it could be "we need a team meeting, Lando come here" he says taking Lando by one arm and pulling him away from the whiteboard "so, what do you think? I can't find a word that can be dense in those spaces, that is, I have one in mind, but we have already said the missing letters and they were not the correct ones... it could be that I was wrong with spelling? In the end, both are not English" murmurs Daniel, Lando looks at him frowning "I don't know I'm not good with him-" Lando hits his palm on his forehead "how could I not think about it before!" he rejoices taking the marker from Daniel's hands.
However, instead of removing the cap and writing the word, Lando walks briskly towards the couple in red "who chose the word?" he asks. Charles points to his partner and Lando, in response, throws the marker at Carlos and, with a throw that not even the best knife shooter could have ever managed, he takes him straight in the forehead.
"Hey!" Carlos exclaims, rubbing the spot where Lando hit him with one hand. Lando frowns at him, crossing his arms over his chest "you promised you would never make fun of me again about that!" he asserts but seeing that the older one doesn't stop touching his red forehead he takes a step towards him "Did I really hurt you that much?" he asks, an almost sweet tone of voice that Daniel has never heard Lando use with anyone, least of all with the man he does nothing but fight with. But when Lando approaches again to check that everything is in order Carlos reaches out with a feline jerk a hand to hit him, luckily Lando's reflexes are excellent and he manages to grab the Spaniard's wrist just before it collides with the crotch of his pants "Not to the balls" moans Lando with a fake Spanish accent, mocking the other one.
Lando then says something in Spanish and Daniel doesn't know many words in that language, but if what he understands is right, he needs to talk to his teammate.
In the end the challenge was won by Team McLaren because Carlos kept writing invented words and angering Lando, so they gave up and gave the victory to them.
They are going back to their rooms, Lando is texting as usual and does not see a table in the corridor "Joder" he mutters in a low voice massaging the affected side, and Daniel remembers the question he was asking himself just before.
"Since when do you speak Spanish?", Lando takes his eyes off the screen "I don't speak Spanish, I only know a few words" he replies.
"Ah… that explains everything", says Daniel.
In the meantime they have arrived at their rooms and Lando stops with a hand on the handle, a confused look on his face "What is explained?" he asks Daniel.
"That when you speak in Spanish not everything makes a lot of sense" replies the older one laughing, but Lando continued to not understand so Daniel goes on "before, with Carlos, didn't you say something like ten cuidado or no jamón para ti esta noche?".
"Yeah... and?" try to understand Lando "that's exactly what I said and what I meant to say, I'm pretty sure I even got the right conjugation of verbs" giggles Lando.
"Ok... now I'm the one confused, why would Calros want to eat some ham tonight?".
Lando bursts out laughing "I said jamón, not ham" he says before waving bye to Daniel and going into his room.
The last thing Daniel hears before entering his room is Lando's voice talking to someone on the phone "You don't know what Daniel just told me" and the laughter of two people... Wait a minute, two people? Daniel doesn't have the strength to get out of bed, but he has to remember to ask Lando about it the next day.
The next morning, when they get down for breakfast, Daniel sits down with his plate next to Lando. The younger one is still half asleep, one elbow on the table supporting his head and the other hand rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"So" starts Daniel "I think we need to talk" he goes on. Lando looks at him under his lashes and he just grunts to let Daniel know he's listening.
"I don't fancy another tell off by our team and I know that if they found out they are going to let me sit in with you during their lesson-on-how-to-behave-properly and I have better things to do so please don't do any of the things they asked us not to do… anything" says Daniel underlying the last word.
Lando seems more awake now, but a bit confused "I dunno what you think I do, but I am behaving and I don't fancy a telling off either so I don't really know what you are trying to say" mutters Lando.
"You know I'm not an idiot right? That our rooms are next to each other and I can hear you during the night.. and morning?" asks Daniel, getting a bit angry.
Lando's eyes widen but he collects himself in a couple of seconds "We'll try to be less loud" he says under his breath blushing.
"Are you joking? I'm not talking about the noises, even though I could do without them, but you are breaking rules and-" Daniel is really getting frustrated.
"We are not breaking any rules, we are legally permitted to be in the same room. Seriously, if it bothers you so much I'll ask to be in a room further away from yours... but I didn't think you could be this closed minded" says Lando, his voice getting low and intimidating with every word.
"Closed minded? But-" asks Daniel, frustration and anger morphing into confusion, but the arrival of Charlotte makes their conversation end like this.
---
Charles could go mad at any moment.
Today's challenge is that they have to touch unknown things and guess what they are, and Charles is the pickiest person in the world so he doesn't really agree with touching unknown things. Besides, something must have happened between Daniel and Lando because since they arrived they don't tease each other, they don't laugh and they talk to each other only in monosyllables, so he can't even use their banter to distract himself.
As if that was not enough, their teams have decided to kill him permanently when, among the various objects to guess, they have chosen things with a questionable appearance and consistency and, of course, his teammate cannot but act accordingly.
Carlos and Daniel are sitting on the sofa, their hands in their respective boxes, while he and Lando can look at the contents and try to help their mates. Charles knows that Carlos has understood what it is but does not know why he hasn’t answered yet, then he makes the mistake of looking for an answer in Carlos' eyes and sees who the older one is looking at.
Charles shakes his head trying to clear the image out of his head, Carlos is not really fingering the melon in the box staring intently at Lando, the Monegasque repeats to himself - it’s obviously just his imagination and his brain that has been in abstinence for too long.
But maybe it's not all in his brain because he can't be wrong a second time when, after asserting that the thing in the box is whipped cream, Lando tastes it to confirm or not his answer - and Charles is pretty sure that, to figure out what it is, it’s not necessary to suck finger by finger slowly, staring your ex teammate in the eye throughout the process, finishing off with a wink and a smirk.
The bewildered look on Daniel's face tells him that he isn't the only one who has noticed this exchange.
The greetings and thanks end and, when the drivers get up, Charles stops Daniel by the wrist, waiting for the other two to leave.
"We need to talk" says Charles in a serious tone, releasing Daniel from his grip and gesturing for him to sit back on the sofa.
"I swear it wasn't me!" says Daniel raising his hands in his defense.
"What? It wasn't you doing what?" asks Charles confused "Oh, you weren't accusing me of anything? I usually make disasters so it's always better to prevent" replies Daniel with a chuckle.
Charles snorts amused "No, no, you didn't do anything. I need to talk to you about our teammates. You know what happened? Because I have no idea but all this fighting-flirting will give me the whiplash one of these days" Charles says, running his hands over his face in frustration.
"Your guess is as good as mine. But I don't know about the flirting, because I think Lando is in a relationship with someone and it's probably also something serious because they gave him the chance to take her to his room" snorts Daniel.
"What do you mean? Didn't you see how they behaved today? You can't tell me it's normal!" Charles blurts out.
"I know, I know. I saw it too. But last week I argued with Lando because I thought that he was bringing an outside person to his room breaking the rules, but he yelled at me that he can legally take that person with him and that I am a closed-minded person... he hasn't spoken to me since than, so I think it's something serious, even if I didn't understand much about it" he answers scratching his head.
"Now I'm confused too" mutters Charles "We have to come up with an idea to solve the matter because the situation as it is now, is just a big mess" he ends.
"Mmh, maybe I have an idea... but I have to hear Charlotte out on this and see if it is feasible" says Daniel, before getting up and patting Charles on the head "I'll update you as soon as I have news" and Charles can only nod and cross his fingers hoping that Daniel's idea might work.
---
---
They are all sitting on four chairs, side by side. A white board and a marker on their lap.
This last challenge is a free-for-all, whoever answers correctly several times will get more points to add to those collected by their team so far, so all four drivers are anxious. Someone for the challenge, someone because they can't wait to find out something more about their mysterious colleagues.
The first questions are harmless, like what is the name of Carlos' pet, Daniel's favorite food, Charles' musical instrument or Lando's favorite sport.
Daniel is happy that Charlotte listened to him and asked the questions in the order he gave her... first the simple ones to lull the others into a sense of security before striking.
But now, now it’s starting to get serious!
"At what age did Lando have his first serious relationship?"
All four of them write... Daniel watches Carlos swirl his marker quickly and close it again, Charles chews the cap thoughtfully and then writes something. When the whiteboards are spinned, the only two matching numbers are Lando's and Carlos's.
"Hey, that's not fair, you were his teammate at the time, of course you know it and we don't" complains Charles. "Well, Daniel is his teammate now, but I don't think he answered correctly", replies Carlos.
"What's that got to do with it! I wasn't there when he was with her, it's not like we tell each other about all our past stories" Daniel defends himself, noticing the confused looks of Carlos and Lando but Charlotte interrupts them by reading the next question.
After another round of harmless questions, it's Lando's turn again.
"Who does Lando have a crush for at the moment?"
Everyone writes frantically and it's Daniel's turn to be the first to shoot "the blonde girl with braids on Instagram" it reads.
Lando splutters "the blond girl who?" he asks Daniel confused "Come on, the girl you always like, you know , the one who always has braids and puts pictures with animals" Daniel tries to explain, but Lando bursts out laughing "Mate, that's my cousin" he tries to explain amid laughter.
"Oh, sorry, I didn't know" Daniel mumbles dejected, Lando recovers and they are about to read the next question when Charles raises his hand.
"Sorry, but Carlos and I have not compared our answer" he says and, at Charlotte’s nods, they all show their answers. Once again the only two that match are those of Carlos and Lando - his spouse, my spouse.
Charles widens his eyes, the words of the Spaniard from a few weeks ago come to his mind - maybe Lando is really in a serious relationship with someone.
But he knows that he certainly can't ask now, even more because they are already asking the next question regarding Carlos which will also be the last of the challenge.
"If he could choose a place in the world which one would he choose and why"
Charles doesn't recognize it so it must be one written by the PR ladies.
"They didn't ask all the questions and we didn't get our answers" Charles mouths to Daniel, but the Aussie strugs "We'll ask them later" he whispers back.
Not for the first time that day, when the whiteboards turn, Carlos' and Lando's have the same answer on them.
Daniel and Charles look at each other in disbelief, the illegible handwriting of their teammates certainly doesn't help decipher what is written, but the thing that leaves them most confused are the reactions of their PR team - Charlotte and Silvia are practically cooing at the two drivers while Lando is blushing to the tips of his ears and Carlos has a dazzling smile on his lips.
Daniel is the first to clear his throat "Sorry but, I think I missed something, or you smoked something good and at this point I would say you could have shared" he jokes, Charles nodding at his side.
"Well come on, you can't tell me they're not the most sappy couple there is. They're so-" Silvia says in a dreamy voice, putting her hands to her chest "-so perfect" Charlotte concludes for her.
Lando bursts out laughing "I don't know about perfect, but we certainly are the dream team" he says fist bumping Carlos. The Spaniard nods, smiling and intertwining his fingers with Lando's for a few seconds before letting them go.
"I know that sometimes I'm a bit slow on the uptake but I think I've never been so confused in my life" Charles mutters looking around.
"Don't worry, they are just taking the piss out of me because my favorite place is where Lando asked me to marry him and not something like the place where I win my first GP or something" reassures him Carlos and Charles, who hadn't even noticed Daniel was drinking, finds himself completely drenched thanks to the fact that the Aussie has just sprinkled all the water in his mouth in amazement and is trying to catch his breath amid laughter.
Daniel's laughter dies in his throat when he notices that no one in the room is laughing "What? That was a nice joke, can't I laugh? Maybe the timing was a bit off with me drinking and everything" he tries to justify himself.
"I think I'm the one who doesn't understand now. Which joke?" Silvia asks, looking for help from her colleague who, however, can not help but shrug "Daniel, what are you talking about?".
"That Lando- Them- Enga- Wait what the fuck!" tries to explain Daniel but stumbling over his words, then turns to his teammate "Are you telling me you two are engaged?" he asks in an increasingly shrill voice, and Lando looks him straight in the eye raising an eyebrow "Nope".
"Oh thank God, for a moment I was-" Daniel begins putting his hand to his forehead
"we are married" continues Lando "That's why I told you we could legally stay in the same room. What the hell did you think I was doing? Smuggling boy after boy in my room breaking one of the first rules?" concludes Lando, the serious tone betrayed by a smirk.
"Actually, I was thinking you were smuggling girl after girl in your room but- What the fuck mate seriously! Married? You don't even have a wedding ring!" says Daniel flustered.
Lando looks at his hands and then shows them to Daniel, confused.
"No yes, I see you have rings, but I never noticed you had one that was a wedding ring" he says and, paying more attention, he notices a single silver band peeking out among the myriad of other rings adorning Lando's fingers "What then, what do you do with all those, don't they bother you?" he asks a bit perplexed.
"I give them to him" says Carlos taking Lando's hand between his and leaving a light kiss on his knuckles "I love all kinds of rings around his fingers" he whispers then looking Lando straight in the eye with a dark look.
"And that's a cut!" Charlotte shouts from her position behind the camera, then she glances at the two husbands - husbands, Daniel still can't believe it and from the expression of Charles who hasn't uttered a word yet, the feeling is the same.
"Guys I really love you, but you can't say these things in front of the cameras" she snorts before hitting both of them behind their heads "And now shoo, go and take your teammates with you. I think you broke them with the news, maybe it's time to explain some things to them too, right? In the end two years have passed since your I do’s and they didn't even know you were in a relationship."
"It's not my fault if they are oblivious" mutters Lando, but he gets up and, followed by the other three drivers, leaves the room.