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Qatar is so stupid if you ask Lando. The only thing it seemed to have going for it is that it was a dry race, and that he set a new lap time record. But he had a chance at winning and then he got a 10 second stop go penalty and completely destroyed any chance of a podium. Of course had be known about the yellow flag he would have slowed down, this is just completely unfair and to make everything worse, Oscar had a good race. He knows he shouldn’t be mad at Oscar, it’s childish but he can’t help it. That was supposed to be him up there!
He wants Carlos, wants to be held and coddled and have soft words spoken to him until he falls asleep in his dadas arms, but nothing is going his way today and he is instead directed to the media pen. He tries to argue about it, even if he knows it will do him no good and of course he looses that battle and trudges his way to media.
-
All he wants is for people to ignore the penalty the stewards gave him, talk about literally anything else, or not at all, that would be great. But this is his fifth interview and the fifth time he’s been asked about this. Now he’s not only upset, pushing little but also annoyed about the repetitive questions and starts to get snappy in his answers.
“Look, I’m not stupid, if I knew about the yellow flag, I would have slowed down.” He answers in an aggravated tone.
“R-right. Thank you.” The journalist he’s talking to says, clearly caught off guard by the response.
All the drivers are media trained and should know better. Lando nods curtly and turns on his heels, coming face to face with his ticked off media manager.
“What the fuck was that?” She asks quietly, not wanting this to make headlines as well.
“What? They asked, I answered.” Lando responds, folding his arms over his chest. “Where are we going next?” He then exasperatedly asks.
“Not another interview, I can tell you that. Get your ass back to McLaren.” She says. “Can’t have my driver acting like this.” She then mutters.
That last comment feels unnecessary to Lando, and honestly just makes him hate the woman in front of him at the moment. If that were Carlos quietly berating him, he would have folded right then and there, but alas it’s not and the way he’s being talked to right now strengthens his resolve and he storms away for his media manager back to McLaren hospitality. With a deep sigh, she follows him, but at a distance, knowing now only Carlos can fix this and not willing to put herself back in that line of fire until he’s had a chance to relax.
-
Lando slams the door to his driver room upon return, grabbing a pillow and screaming all his frustration into it until all that’s left is a hoarse voice and tears. He wants Carlos now more than ever, and he realizes he’s spiralling down into headspace at a rate so fast there is nothing he can do anymore to stop it. With none of his comfort items in sight, he drops to the floor, holding the pillow close as he hits rock bottom in headspace and sobs his heart out. This day can’t get any worse.
-
Those truly are famous last words it seems. In the room next to him, Oscar is just getting back, changing quickly and hoping to go to the post engineering meeting then go take a fat nap. He hears the door slam across the little hall and perks his head up. After a moment of not hearing anything else, he continues to change and pack up, thinking nothing of it as Lando slamming his door doesn’t typically mean much, he does that no matter what mood he’s in. Then he hears it, tiny at first and muffled by the distance, but he knows. That is the sound of his teammate sobbing. He’s heard it once before, the man crying to Carlos after a day similar to this and he dropped in quickly to make sure everything was ok. He wasn’t around long, Carlos told him he had it under control and that was that.
This is different, the cries get louder, almost as if they were in the same room, and Oscar feels compelled to go make sure his teammate is alright. So he makes his way quickly across the hall, knocking loud enough to be heard and waiting a moment.
“D-dada?!” Is the response that comes from behind the door.
Oscar finds this odd for a moment and then. Oh. Oh shit. He opens the door, finding Lando sitting on the floor, an absolute mess of tears. His body langue screams little, curled in a ball, pillow wet presumably from being in his mouth, and even just the sound of his cries indicate a rather young little.
“Dada?!” Lando cries again. Oscar’s heart breaks.
“I’m sorry buddy, I’m not dada.” Oscar says, stepping closer. Lando sobs, clamping back down on the pillow. “But we can find him.” The Australian quickly tries to diffuse.
“Dada!” Lando wails.
Oscar refuses to let Lando cry himself out like this. He crouches down next to the little, gently reaching out and rubbing his back. When Lando doesn’t pull away, he decides to scoop him up, deciding the crying really can’t get worse.
“That’s it, buddy, I’ve got you. Can you tell me who your dada is so I can give him a call?” Oscar asks, trying to figure out who Lando needs to calm down.
“Dada!” Lando cries like that is enough to know.
If Oscar had a better grasp on Landos little space, and no doubt one day he will, that would be enough to go on, but it’s not yet. He has to try something else to figure it out then. Gently bouncing the little, he thinks of different ways to get information, coming out with one that will at least narrow it down, or it should anyway.
“Ok… what colour does your dada wear?” Oscar asks.
“R-red.” Lando says with a shaky breath, no longer sobbing but still crying.
Red, red, red. Of course, Ferrari red. Then it hits him and he feels dumb for not having guessed that. Of course Landos caregiver would be Carlos, that just makes sense.
“Carlos?” Oscar asks, just to make sure.
“Dada!” Lando cries his confirmation.
That’s settles it then. Oscar pulls out his phone, switching to pacing the room as he pulls up Carlos’s contact from the group chats and pressing the phone to his ear. It rings a couple times before he gets sent to voicemail. Oscar decides to try again, wondering if maybe the man’s phone is on do not disturb or something. However when the phone only rings once before being sent to voicemail, Oscar knows that he’s being ignored.
“Fucking asshole.” He mutters, annoyed.
Pulling the phone away from his ear he really hopes Lando didn’t hear what he just called the littles caregiver, as that would not bode over well with the Spaniard if his little starts swearing. He lets out a long sigh, trying to figure out what to do next. It doesn’t feel like Landos calmed down much, he needs Carlos here fast.
“Dada!” Lando cries for him again.
“I’m working on it buddy, I promise.” Oscar says as he locates Landos phone.
Thankful he knows Landos password he quickly scrolls through his contacts before finding Carlos. He better pick up this time is all Oscar can think as he hits call and brings the phone up to his ear again. It rings once before the call gets picked up. Oscar was definitely being ignored from his phone.
“Lando, are you ok?” Carlos asks when he picks up.
“It’s not Lando, it’s Oscar.” The Aussie replies.
“Why do you have Landos phone, where is he?” Carlos demands, his concern getting mixed with annoyance for the man he’s talking to.
“He’s with me, he keeps asking for his dada.” Oscar replies. The line goes quiet for a moment and he briefly wonders if maybe he should have called Charles.
“I’m on my way, tell him I’ll be there in ten minutes and he has some little gear in his closet, get his the Winnie the Pooh pacifier. That’s his favourite.” Carlos says, outside noise indicating he’s rushing around filling in the background.
“Ok, will do, see you soon.” Oscar says and Carlos hangs up.
“Your dadas coming buddy, ten minutes.” Oscar relays the massage.
Lando nods with a shaky breath, dropping his head on Oscar’s shoulder, now very tried from the race and from crying. Oscar moves over to the closet, opening the door and finding little boxes of little gear and good lord, Landos younger than he ever would have expected. There are diapers, pacifier, a couple bottles and some very comfy looking clothes. Right on top of everything is the pacifier Carlos told him to grab.
“Here bud, this will help until dada gets here.” Oscar says, gently pushing the pacifier into Landos mouth.
“Tanks.” Lando says softly.
“You’re welcome bud.” Oscar says, accompanying his words with a kiss in Landos disarrayed curls.
He moves and sits the couch, cradling Lando in his arms as they wait, letting Lando play with his hand to keep him distracted. The door opens a few minutes later and both look up to see Carlos coming in.
“Dada!” Lando cries, raising his arms up for Carlos.
“Aloh amor.” Carlos smiles, lifting Lando off Oscar’s lap.
Lando wraps himself around Carlos, resting his head on the man’s shoulder and shutting his eyes. He truly looks calm now, Carlos being here for only a minute and he’s already working his magic.
“I’ve got you, cariño. Everything’s ok now.” Carlos says softly, placing a gentle kiss on Landos head, earning a large sigh from the little.
Oscar stands up, ready to leave and give the pair some privacy so Carlos can take care of Lando and get him home. Before he can leave though, Carlos stops him.
“Thank you for looking after him.” He says, genuinely sincere. Oscar smiles.
“Of course, I couldn’t leave him alone.” He says.
“I appreciate it, he doesn’t like being alone, so thank you again. I’m going to take him home now.” Carlos says.
“Of course, bye buddy, have a good night.” Oscar waves to Lando who’s cracked an eye at the small conversation. The little waves back and Oscar smiles before leaving.
“Ready to go home sweetheart?” Carlos asks.
“Yeah dada.” Lando sighs.
“Alright.” Carlos agrees, placing another kiss on Landos head and starting to get him ready.
The little whines about the pull up that Carlos slides up his hips, never having liked the item. Carlos knows this, but he also knows that if Lando was ever caught wearing a diaper in public he would be mortified so this is a compromise. He gets comfy enough jeans and a hoodie put on next and then gets taken to the car.
They slip out the back way, avoiding all eyes and especially cameras and reporters as they slip away, Lando clinging tightly to Carlos as the older man moves. He finds himself in the car soon enough, cruising back to the hotel. Carlos gives him a hand to hold that Landos plays with until they reach the hotel.
“Ready to go inside?” Carlos asks once the cars in park.
“Yeah.” Lando says softly, very clearly tired now and in for an early bedtime.
Carlos quickly grabs their bags then gets Lando, the littles wrapping himself around Carlos again as he’s taken inside. Carlos is quick into the elevator, taking them up to their room while avoiding everyone, breathing a deep sigh of relief when they are safely inside.
“Good job cariño, you were so good for me.” Carlos coos, making Lando coos back to him.
Carlos smiles as he sets Lando down, moving to the littles suitcase and grabbing some more comfortable clothing for him to wear now that they are in for the night. Finding his favourite pjs, just a simple black onesie with little stars, very simply but very comfortable and Lando begs to wear it every night, clean or not.
“What do you think amor, Bluey?” Carlos asks, pulling out a diaper with the dog on them.
“Bingo dada?” Lando asks, Bingo being his favourite character.
Carlos rifles through the diapers, finding one with the desired character and coming back to his little. Getting Lando out of his day clothes is easy, he wants out of them and does what he can to help his dada. He gets a bit excited at getting his new clothes, wiggling a bit too much for Carlos to get him diapered and dressed.
“Lando, sweetheart, I can’t get you dressed if you keep moving.” Carlos chuckles, happy that Lando is feeling a bit better now.
“I s’op now.” Lando declares and stops moving, at least enough for Carlos to get a diaper on him and his pjs buttoned up.
“Good boy. Would you like a bottle?” Carlos asks, pulling Lando back up into his arms.
The littles nods, and Carlos pulls a ready made one out of his backpack, popping the lid off and sticking it in the microwave. Lando begins to yawn while the wait, the calm swaying and rhythmic pats to his diapered butt making him remember just how tired he really is. Carlos smiles, his plan working just in time for the bottle to come out of the microwave. It gets shaken and Carlos takes it and Lando back to bed. Pulling back to covers and sitting down, he gets Lando situated on his lap before pulling the comforter up again and swapping the paci for the bottle. Lando takes it eagerly, hungry from the race, nursing a little too fast so Carlos titles the bottle so he doesn’t choke. Lando whines at this and he slows his pace a little.
Carlos starts to hum, making Landos eyes droop and his nursing slows more. He manages to finish the bottle, awake long enough to be burped before Carlos shuffled them down to they are both lying on their sides, Lando curled in Carlos’s arms.
“Good night little one, sweet dreams.” Carlos coos just as Lando shuts his eyes.
Lando coos back at him quietly, falling asleep minutes after safe in his dadas arms like he’s wanted since he got out of the car.