Chapter Text
Zak:
Zak stood in the doorway of the pumphouse, gazing out onto the pool deck of Paddock Swim Club. He knew everything was ready for the social tonight and yet, he couldn’t stop thinking of things he could still do.
“The grass could use another mow,” he thought, “and when was the last time we chlorine-washed the deck?” “I gotta get that new shipment of zoysia soon.”
He was on to wondering whether the pool needed any more cones and delineators to grace their fair deck when his lifeguards bounded in, buzzing with excitement.
He had picked Isack, Kimi, and Ollie because he trusted them to be mature guards, and because he knew they were extremely committed to their jobs, though tonight he knew they would have to let a lot slide. He, Andrea, and Toto had wanted to reward them for all their hard work.
And what young, curious teenage lifeguard wouldn’t be excited at the prospect of seeing all the adult members they’d come to know get absolutely hammered and do crazy stuff in the pool? Even if the guards weren’t excited about the entertaining people watching, they were surely excited for the pay bonus: $110 each, all under the table.
Zak greeted them and gave them instructions to take the trash from free swim out to the dumpster.
His fellow manager Andrea passed by at that very moment. “You haven’t seen a leaky trash bag until you’ve worked the adult social,” he quipped at the guards.
While the lifeguards grimaced, Zak added, “You might see some crazy things happen tonight, things that might even be out of character for some members. Let most stuff go, including rule breaking, unless someone is a danger to themself or others. And remember, what happens at the social stays at the social.”
With that, Zak sauntered off, bracing himself to witness his beloved pool become a site for chaos and his pool rules replaced with a frat pledge.
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Kimi:
Kimi was already smirking when he headed through the pool gates. Three seasons of hard work lifeguarding have paid off: he was finally going to get to guard the adult social.
He had been waiting to guard the event since he started working at Paddock Swim Club. He had heard all the adult social legends from the older guards despite Zak’s insistence on trying to keep the tales hush-hush. Besides, the Paddock rumor mill was bad, and if he hadn’t found out from other guards, he would have found out from the members.
To make matters even better, he got to work the event with his work crush, Oliver Bearman. Ollie was one year older and had one more year of lifeguard experience in comparison to Kimi. But the two were both members of the Paddock Swim Team, so when they started working together, they made fast friends.
“Are you ready for the shift to top all the shifts you’ve ever worked?” Kimi greeted his friend with a smile.
Ollie returned his smirk but added, “I don’t know, the shift where you cut your toe trying to climb up the slide was pretty great, and that time Leo escaped Charles’s car and got into the pool.”
“Yeah, those were great shifts, but this is going to be better, we get to see all the members drunk.”
“Haha yes, this will definitely be lit,” Ollie said, giving into agreement.
“Don’t act like you’ve never had alcohol before Kimi,” shot Isack with a grand entrance, “you’re literally Italian, you’ve definitely sipped on some wine before.”
“You’re French, I could say the same thing about you,” Kimi shot back.
Isack was about to defend the honor of himself and France when their manager, Zak Brown, approached them to give them instructions. They were to take out the trash from free swim and received a reminder to be more lenient on the rules for this crowd as opposed to the normal free swim protocol.
After the guards successfully collected and disposed of all the trash cans, they prepped themselves for the entrance of the adults.
Ollie prepped three chairs for them to sit in, as they would not need to sit on their typical stands tonight. Isack retreated to the pumphouse to find some snacks to keep him and his fellow guards occupied. And Kimi prepped the raffle tickets to hand out at the door.
But Kimi knew they could do nothing to prepare for the insane lore they would be gaining in just a few hours.
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Charles:
Charles grimaced as he listened to his car roll over the rocks of the Paddock Swim Club parking lot. The sounds of those rocks against the tyres of his precious Ferrari were never pleasing.
He had come early to help his friends George and Alex set up for the Adult Social. This mostly meant blowing up the insane array of floats that would be raffled off at the end of the night. But this also meant pregaming for Charles.
He sauntered into Paddock like a model on a runway, carrying his air pump for the floats and a cooler that rattled with the sound of wine bottles clinking together. He graciously accepted a raffle ticket from Kimi and headed to greet George and Alex.
“Tell me, George and Alex, are you going to stop holding hands long enough to tell me about the floats this year?”
“Charles! Glad you could come help us set up mate,” the couple said, greeting Charles.
“We have quite the array of floats this year,” explained Alex, “we have a tube with octopus tentacles, a bottle of rosé raft, two dinosaurs, a margarita tube, floating cup pong, and tubes with inflatable people sticking up out of them.”
“Also, we’re going to be doing a smoke off this year, would you want to be a judge?”
Charles opened his first bottle of wine and poured it into his plastic wine glass. “Who’s competing?”
“Danial, Sergio, Yuki, Max, Logan, and Toto,” said George, “but Charles, drinking already? Seriously?”
Alex snickered and added “Well he’s gonna need it if he’s about to spend yet another day pining after Max.”
Charles gave Alex a pointed look. “I have to pregame, don’t judge me!”
“Oh, Lando just texted me. He wants to know if we could use his and Oscar’s help setting up.”
Charles waggled his eyebrows. Alex groaned at Charles but told George to invite them.
“Are they arriving together? Ooooh…”
“Charles, I don’t know why you think they have feelings for each other,” Alex said, “I’m pretty sure they’re just really good friends.”
“They act exactly like you guys did before you confessed to each other,” Charles explained, “I can’t believe you don’t see it. My gaydar has been going off about them for months.”
George, switching the conversation, said “Guys come on, let’s just blow up these floats.”
And with that, they started bringing their crazy display of floats to life.
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Oscar
“What do you like better, Surfside or High Noon?”
Oscar stood next to Lando in the alcohol section of the grocery store. He was already holding a case of beer. They were here trying to find alcohol to drink at the Paddock Adult Social.
Or rather, Lando would drink it. Oscar had volunteered to be Lando’s designated driver, not wanting to get completely trashed and wanting to do something nice for his best friend, whom he definitely didn’t have feelings for.
Not that Oscar didn’t plan on drinking at all. It would be borderline socially unacceptable not to drink at all at the adult social. He planned to have just a couple drinks, but wouldn’t go overboard. Besides, he was more lightweight than most, so drinking too much definitely wouldn’t go over well.
“Hey Osc, George said he could use our help over at Paddock setting up. You feel like going over now?” Oscar felt Lando lightly brush his shoulder with his hand as he said this, and he tried not to start blushing violently.
“Sure, that would be fine by me. But we do need to decide which case to take with us first.”
“Definitely the Surfsides,” said Lando, moving to grab the case.
Oscar stopped him. “Here Lan, let me.”
“My gentleman,” Lando teased, playfully patting Oscar’s arm and snickering.
This time, Oscar couldn’t stop himself from turning the slightest shade of pink.
Trying to figure out if Lando reciprocated his feelings for him was driving Oscar insane. He couldn’t figure out if the casual touching and maybe flirting was just a new development in their friendship or if the dynamic had shifted into something more. Something romantic, perhaps.
These thoughts plagued Oscar, especially when Lando linked Oscar’s hand with his own and gently pulled him alongside as they left the grocery store and again as they entered Paddock.
That’s right, Lando had done it twice.
“Maybe he’s just doing it cause he’s getting a buzz already from the alcohol,” thought Oscar to himself.
Oscar knew that Lando, like many other attendees of the social, had been pregaming the function. He hadn’t been surprised when Lando finished his first drink of the night in Oscar’s car on the way to the store.
“That must be the reason,” whispered Oscar under his breath as he helped George and Alex set up for the social. “Lando having feelings for me? That would be out of the question.”
With an exasperated sigh, Oscar pushed all hope for a budding romance with his best friend from his brain.
“I’m so far gone that I’ve become delusional.”
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Mark:
“I know that face, you’re plotting something Seb.”
“Whaaaaattt? I don’t know what you’re talking about babe.”
“Come on love, out with it. What are you thinking about?”
Mark was sitting in his parked car in the Paddock parking lot. He studied his husband’s face intently as he awaited walking into the Adult Social.
“Please tell me what you’re currently planning so we can go inside? More people are arriving and the party is clearly starting.”
“I’m not sure if you’d want to be involved.”
“Seb, we’ve been married for ten years. You could be plotting murder and I’d want to be involved.”
“Ok, so you know how we’ve talked about how certain people at Paddock totally have crushes on each other?”
“Yeah, Lando and Oscar and then Charles and Max, why?”
“I was thinking about playing matchmaker tonight,” stated Seb, a sly and chaotic grin spreading across his face.
“No way they go for it, they’re all idiots who are too afraid to confess.”
“But Mark, they’ll be in a different headspace tonight. Drinks will be flowing, quite steadily I might add. They’ll all be at least a little tipsy, so they’ll let their guards down. That’s when we convince them that it would be a good idea to confess their feelings to each other. And they’ll probably listen.”
“You might actually be on to something there love,” said Mark, considering, “all right I’m in.”
“Perfect. I’m thinking we start with Lestappen, since they’re both definitely going to get hammered and we know for certain that they have a lapse in judgment when drunk. I have a feeling Landoscar will be more difficult, seeing as Oscar is more responsible with his drinking and also the most in denial out of all four.”
“Lestappen? Landoscar?”
“Their ship names babe, I made them up. Ours is Sebmark.”
Mark chuckled and gave his husband a quick peck on his cheek. “Come on, let’s go inside.”
Chapter 2
Summary:
Hope you guys like cheesy pick-up lines and matching swim suits
Chapter Text
Zak:
Zak watched the pool deck fill up with members, anxious for the night to begin. His mind was wandering off to the worst.
“What if someone gets seriously injured?”
“What if the deck gets all grassy and muddy?”
“What if glass gets into the pool?”
“What if there’s some sort of incident in the bathroom?”
And probably worst of all: “What if my prized lawn gets damaged? Someone could take a chunk out of it! Or rip out a ton of grass! WHAT ABOUT MY ZOYSIA!?”
“You look tense,” Andrea said walking over.
“Oh it’s nothing, just worried about the pool.”
“You should try loosening up a little, you know it will all be fine. Plus the members always look forward to this night.”
Zak went silent, reassuring himself that all will be well.
“Here.” Andrea slid him a can of beer. “Everyone else is having it, why not you?”
“Thank you Andrea.” Zak opened the can and took a sip without a second thought. It would take his mind off his worries.
Plus, Zak knew he could handle his alcohol well. He knew he could have up to even four drinks and still be able to manage the pool.
But still, he reminded Andrea, “We can’t have too much though. A drunk manager is not a good manager.”
“Of course.” Andrea nodded along.
That’s why Zak liked working with Andrea. He was chill, but he always agreed with Zak on the most important matter: safety. Even if that meant putting up with Zak’s addiction to adding orange cones to various places around the pool.
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Kimi:
The stream of people coming through the gate for the Adult Social was quite heavy and it took both Ollie and Kimi to keep up with it as they handed out raffle tickets to each adult.
Sebastian and Mark entered, trying to look inconspicuous as they smirked and evaluated the people already there on the pool deck.
Lewis and Nico arrived and set up lawn chairs in a cozy corner of the pool deck, not letting go of each other's hand the entire time.
Logan arrived in true American fratboy fashion. He wore an American flag cowboy hat, which matched his American flag swim trunks, carried a JBL speaker blasting “Party in the USA,” and, of course, wore a pair of Vipers.
“Wow, that outfit could rival Pierre’s,” remarked Kimi.
Pierre wore a Speedo with the French flag on it, relishing in his bravery as he jumped off the side of the pool to dunk on the basketball hoop. His boyfriend, Yuki, watched on from the water, holding the other basketball and ready to take the next shot.
Logan winced at the sight.
“Yeah, I feel you,” said Ollie whilst handing Logan a raffle ticket, “have a great time.”
“I just feel bad for poor Isack having to watch all that,” muttered Logan as he shuffled in.
Yeah, Kimi was enjoying life greeting people as they walked in. He and Ollie would inevitably have to join Isack once more people got in the pool, but for now, he was enjoying the antics of people walking in.
If he’d been watching the pool, he wouldn’t see things like:
Lance poking fun at his fiancé Esteban for wearing Spider-Man swim trunks.
Carlos greeting his fellow Spaniard, Fernando, at the door with a rant about Real Madrid.
And probably most hilariously: Daniel walking in with a couple of bags to set down, then retreating back to his car to smuggle in a floating cooler in the shape of a palm tree and ice to fill it with. His husband Sergio snuck in with him that second time, hugging bottles of tequila.
“You didn’t see us!” Sergio quipped at the lifeguard pair.
“You don’t know our names!” Daniel had added.
“It’s going to be one long night,” muttered Ollie in Kimi’s ear. With the close proximity, Kimi couldn’t help but flush a little pink.
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Charles:
Charles was just minding his business, sipping on a second glass of wine, when all of a sudden, he heard an agitating, grating voice.
Just kidding, Charles would never describe Max’s voice as anything other than soft, sweet, and quite frankly, perfect.
“Dutch has to be the sexiest language,” thought Charles to himself, “even just his Dutch accent is making me swoon.”
“Oi! Earth to Charles,” remarked George, waving a hand in front of Charles’s face.
“What? What’s going on?”
“If you had been listening to me, rather than staring at your man, you would have heard me point out that you and Max are totally mismatching.”
Sure enough, Max was sporting navy blue swim trunks with small cats on them, very similar to Charles’s bathing suit, which was red with small dachshunds, like his dog Leo.
“It's a match made in heaven,” Alex sighed. “You should go talk to him.”
“No, it will be too awkward,” Charles protested.
George rolled his eyes. “At least we weren’t this afraid of our feelings,” he said, pressing a kiss to Alex’s temple.
“I’m not afraid!”
“Please you were absolutely mortified at the suggestion that you simply go talk to the man you’ve been friends with for years, despite your longstanding crush on him.”
“I wouldn’t be able to talk to him right now without gushing over how good he looks and how he totally wore it better, just give me a little time.”
“Charles, he is wearing a Red Bull team kit with that bathing suit, please tell me you’re not attracted to that.”
The pair burst into laughter as Charles flushed red, answering that question.
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Oscar:
“Oscar, you just have to stop being scared. Like, look at me, look at Pierre, does it look like we have any shame right now? If we can wear these ridiculous articles of clothing, you can confess your feelings. You don’t have to bottle them up, you know, Lando wouldn’t want you to do that.”
An exasperated Logan, made blunt from drinking, was lecturing Oscar about his own love life.
And Oscar wasn’t having any of it.
“I can’t ruin our friendship, Logan. It's a ten-year friendship that's way too valuable to lose. Plus, I wouldn’t confess like this, Landos over there downing one of Checo’s tequila shots with Carlos. Another couple of drinks, and he’ll be completely gone. Come tomorrow, he probably wouldn’t even remember anything I said.”
“I’m just telling you, Piastri, you have a shot with him. I see the way he looks at you, the way you look at him. Your feelings just have to be reciprocated. Now, if you’re not going to shoot your shot, then shoot this shot,” said Logan, pointing at the tequila shot in Oscar’s hand.
“No, I’m really not in the mood.”
“Oscar, Checo didn’t walk all the way over here, away from his tequila gang of Spaniards plus Lando, for you to not drink that shot. Plus, look who’s coming over. Looks like he's shooting both of the shots that you’re too afraid to.”
Upon seeing Lando walking toward him, Oscar downed the shot because one drink can’t hurt… right? After all, it seems he’ll be needing it for this conversation.
“Good lad,” Logan murmured so only Oscar could hear, “now I’m leaving you lovebirds alone.”
“I’m not saying I’m drunk, but you’re starting to look like a really good idea for another shot,” Lando said, slurring his words slightly.
“Nice pick-up line, sweetheart, but how many drinks have you had?” Oscar’s words were dripping with sarcasm and a hint of concern, but he was laughing nevertheless.
“Onlyyyy likeeee 3? Plus ah couple ah shots. Thanks to Checoooo. But look Osco! I am walkin backwardddd. Could ah drunk guy do thatttt?”
Before Oscar knew it, Lando was walking backwards, right into his arms. Oscar barely had time to register the fact that he was holding his crush in his arms when the impact sent them falling, flailing, right into the pool.
“Oscariño, are you a slippery pool deck? Cuz I’m falling for you.”
Oscar, flustered and already climbing out of the pool, could only weakly muster a “Oh, Lan,” and retreated to dry off and judge the impending smoke-off competition.
“He’s like a cat, hates da water,” Lando was borderline shouting at his tequila shot gang on the deck, “everyone come in an’ swim with me!”
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Mark:
Mark wasted no time putting his husband's plan into action. So, he found himself approaching Max for a little chat as Seb sought out Charles.
“Hey Max, mind if we chat for a minute?”
Max excused himself from a conversation with Zhou and Valtteri over their cats and walked over to Mark.
“So… Charles, eh?”
Max’s eyes widened as he sputtered and spat out the beer he’d just sipped.
“HOW DID YOU KNOW?”
“Oh, Max, it's so obvious. He likes you, too, for the record. Literally everyone can see that you guys have feelings for each other. Except for you and Charles.”
“Oh my gosh, jesus, holy ambush, Mark, excuse me, I need to be left alone, god I need another beer…”
As Max trudged off to find his next drink, Mark saw Charles walk away from his conversation with Seb to do the exact same thing, probably.
“Well, that was a bust,” Mark grimaced as he met back up with Sebastian.
“Were you too blunt, Mark?”
“Maybe… but he needed to hear it.”
“They do need to hear it. They need to be enlightened. But, let’s allow them to be avoidant for now. We’ll catch up with them again later. Maybe by then they’ll be more tipsy and we can convince them to actually talk to each other instead of talking to a drink.”
“Yeah, at least our talks will get them drunk.”
“OH MY LORD!” Mark was screaming as he watched Oscar and Lando tumble into the pool. They hadn’t even been watching the pair, but all of a sudden, Oscar was breaking the fall of a pretty hammered Lando, arms wrapped around the latter like a koala.
As the husbands watched the aftermath: a frantic, flustered Oscar and a shameless Lando, their previous suspicions were confirmed.
“Glad to see drunk Lando’s not afraid to make a move,” Seb murmured.
“But Oscar, he’s not gonna accept those advances, that makes it tricky.”
“We still start with Lestappen,” Mark and Seb said in unison. They knew Oscar was not about to play fast and loose with his friendship unless something drastic happened. So, still unsure how to make that drastic event happen, they stuck to their original plan: operation get Max and Charles together, even if that meant getting them drunk first.
Chapter 3
Summary:
Hope you like secret betting rings and cooking competitions, enjoy :)
Chapter Text
Zak:
The party was now in full swing, and while a little buzz was keeping Zak from worrying too much, he still kept a concerned eye on the pool.
“Leave it to Lando to get the party going,” he murmured as he watched Lando start to scream, chanting “PADDOCK VOLLEYBALL."
He lazily watched Lando and his chaos group of Carlos, Fernando, Daniel, and Sergio use his precious pool flags like a volleyball net with a sigh.
Suddenly, he saw his fellow manager, Toto, walk into the pavilion and join him at his perch.
“Hey Toto, how’s it going? It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”
“I’m doing well, I’ve got my entry for the smoke-off right here.”
“Good, good for you Toto. What did you make there?”
“Smoked chicken and zucchini.”
“Sounds delicious.”
“Hey Zak, I think the pool deck could use some leaf blowing. Also, if people start to go down the slide again the lifeguards should be up on the stands rather than in the chairs. And we need to get more trash cans out there. The lifeguards need to be stricter…”
“Toto, stop stop,” Zak cut him off, “it’s a party, not free swim. You can chill a little bit. Have a beer, hang out with your wife Susie. We shouldn’t be worried about that stuff right now. Try to enjoy yourself.”
How Toto could be more of a pool control freak than he was beyond Zak. At least he kept his worried thoughts to himself.
Toto frowned, but accepted Zak’s words. There were times that they got into petty arguments, but tonight wasn’t the night.
He turned his attention back to the pool deck. Max and Charles were interestingly standing in separate corners of the pool deck, far apart. Max was working on a gin and tonic while Charles was sipping more wine from that plastic wine glass.
“There’s got to be something going on with that,” he thought, “Andrea gets all the pool gossip, I’ll have to ask him later.”
As his eyes wandered from Charles back to Lando wreaking havoc, he thought about Oscar and Lando. Everyone had seen the pool incident between those too earlier, and now Oscar was sat in the corner of the pavilion, nervously tapping on his phone while he waited to judge the smoke-off.
“They definitely have something going on too,” Zak considered, “not a bad thing either. Lando could use a calming presence, and Oscar could definitely be that.”
“Lando, now vigorously splashing Daniel for dropping the beach ball, needs someone to get him to chill out soon, or the pool is burning down.” Zak’s eyes widened at the thought.
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Kimi:
“Oh my, pools, alcohol, and adults don’t mix well,” Kimi thought to himself as he watched drunken shenanigans ensue from his chair on the side of the pool.
All it had taken was for Oscar and Lando to fall in the pool together for him to get treated to a plethora of drunken activities.
“Omg Carlos is going to fall off that dinosaur!”
Ollie was expressively nodding toward Lando and Carlos, who were struggling to stay afloat on the two dinosaur floats. When they both managed to stay on, they hit each other with pool noodles.
They were noticeably in the absence of Daniel and Sergio, who had gone to prepare their dishes for the smoke-off. Fernando had also left, off doing who knows what.
Kimi, Ollie, and Isack would have the chance to try some of the smoke-off foods after the judging was complete, and Kimi could not wait.
“HEY!” All of a sudden, Kimi was wet and he realized where Fernando was. Fernando had decided that it would be a good idea to cannonball right in front of the lifeguards.
“Blow the whistle,” he said, “I want you to.”
Kimi, still in shock and somewhat intrigued, did oblige, even though it earned a round of booing from the adults.
Turning his attention away from Fernando, he saw Lewis and Nico playing floating beer pong against Kevin and the other Nico. It was married couple versus married couple, though Kimi supposed they could also do Nico squared versus Kevin and Lewis.
Nevertheless, it was funny to watch Nico Rosberg whoop like a high school kid after every throw he made, regardless of whether it went in or not. It so rarely did, which was ironic given Nico’s German heritage.
Nico Hülkenberg seemed to have inherited some German traits that Britney didn’t, as he was single handedly carrying him and Kevin to victory.
Meanwhile, Pierre was chasing Yuki, who was paddling around on the bottle of rosé float.
Esteban and Lance were watching from the side, with Esteban probably giggling over how his frenemy could not catch Yuki for the life of him.
And Zhou and Valtteri were floating on tubes right in front of Kimi. He could overhear them gossiping about some conversation they’d eavesdropped on between Max and Mark.
As they talked about how Mark had confronted Max about his feelings for Charles, Kimi realized a scheme could be afoot.
“It appears the night still has drama in store for us,” he mumbled, excited at the prospect.
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Charles:
“Last call for the smoke-off!” George was yelling through the megaphone at the crowd on the pool deck and in the pool.
With one last sip of wine, he downed his glass for courage and sauntered down to the pavilion where he knew he’d have to interact with the last man he wanted to interact with.
Awkwardness was not something Charles liked to deal with, and his current situation with Max was just that. Especially after his conversation with Seb. And unfortunately for him, he couldn’t avoid it any more.
The contestants, Daniel, Sergio, Yuki, Max, Logan, and Toto lined up behind their smoked foods on the back table while the judges, Oscar, George, Alex, Zak, and Charles himself clustered in the corner.
Oscar still seemed slightly off, so Charles gave him a sympathetic glance, knowing he was dealing with his own awkward situation.
But at least he didn’t have to talk to Lando right now.
“Right-o, so we’ll start with Toto on this end of the table and work our way down,” George announced.
“May the best grill master win,” Alex added.
They started off with Toto’s smoked chicken and zucchini. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but Toto beamed at it with pride.
Next was Daniel’s smoked shrimp, which looked like it came right from an Australian Barbie. Oscar proclaimed it the winner already, saying it “tasted like home.”
“That’s what I was going for mate, thanks for the Aussie approval.”
Sergio, in friendly competition with his husband, had prepared smoked pulled pork, which he served in burritos with chopped onion, cheese, and cilantro.
Logan, true American he is, had prepared smoked brisket.
Yuki served smoked salmon on sushi rolls, the likes of which would make Lando recoil in disgust and fear.
Charles had enjoyed many delicious smoked foods by the time he got to Max, who had made a traditional Dutch smoked sausage.
They exchanged shy smiles and avoided eye contact when Max’s hand brushed Charles’s as he handed him a plate with his cuisine.
Max was a better cook than Charles had expected. “God, I need to get him to cook for me sometime,” Charles thought to himself, “maybe on a date or something?”
Charles was blushing at the thought when he thought he heard Daniel murmur “you would need a knife to cut the romantic tension right now.”
He was about to shoot Daniel a look, but something, or rather someone, distracted him before he could do so.
Because all of a sudden, he heard the cutest Dutch accent say: “I know something else you could eat.”
Charles almost spat out his food, turned as red as a tomato and stared at Max with wide eyes.
“A Jell-O shot,” Max said nonchalantly like he didn’t just give Charles a heart attack, “I have some in my cooler. Want to go get one with me Charlie?”
Charles weakly nodded and followed Max out of the pavilion, not even waiting to finish judging.
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Oscar:
Judging the smoke-off competition was a welcome distraction from his crush on Lando.
His fellow judges, minus Charles, ended up voting Yuki the winner, which was unsurprising considering that Yuki wanted to open a restaurant one day, but Daniel’s shrimp had won in Oscar’s heart.
And now, without the competition distracting him, he was stuck thinking about Lando, his loveable, drunk idiot who was currently getting another round of “Paddock Volleyball" going.
“WOOSH!” Lando would say when his team did something good as opposed to a more depressed “woosh” when they did something bad. It seems drunk Lando had returned to his swim team roots by doing the wave and woosh they used to do when the relays got sent off.
Now, sitting on the side of the pool with his feet in, Oscar missed those days on the swim team with Lando. When their relationship was easy and not… whatever was going on now.
Oscar’s mind kept wandering back to how it felt with Lando in his arms. It had felt right, even if Lando was intoxicated.
And Lando had flirted with him. As cheesy as those pick up lines were, Lando had been trying to flirt with him and Oscar had loved every second of it, no matter how hard he tried to play it off.
There was a little part of Oscar that allowed him to hope, hope that Lando reciprocated Oscar’s feelings for him, but Oscar, ever the realist, wouldn’t let himself believe that Lando had behaved like that for any reason other than the fact that he was drunk.
“He was drunk, he was just trying to show off to Carlos,” Oscar was telling himself, “He was drunk, he was just trying to be funny. HE. WAS. DRUNK.”
And yet, Oscar couldn’t give up that little bit of hope he still had.
He gazed at Lando, his Lando, taking every bit of him in and letting himself daydream about what it would be like to call him his. What it would be like to hold him in his arms again. What it would be like to kiss him for the first time and all that silly romantic stuff.
“If I was ever lucky enough to be with him, I’d never let him go. And by golly our first kiss would be good.”
Suddenly, Oscar needed to make sure that he wasn’t thinking out loud, as his eyes followed Lando swimming across the pool, towards him.
“Like what you see, Osc?”
Lando swam up to Oscar and laid his arms across Oscar’s knees as he gazed up into Oscar’s eyes.
It was taking every fiber of Oscar’s being not to explode and go completely insane. He was blushing so hard right now, not that Lando noticed.
“Will you get in for meh Oscie pleaseeeee?”
Oscar was never one to say no to Lando’s requests, not even when Lando was drunk. But this new closeness and Lando staring hopefully up at him made him so much weaker somehow.
He allowed Lando to take both his hands without hesitation and guide him into the pool. Before he knew it, he was in the water, and Lando was wrapping him in a tight embrace.
“Now come on, baby, you’re on my team for paddock volleyball.”
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Mark:
“Well at least they’re talking now, even if they’re being awkward and taking Jell-O shots to try to stop the awkwardness.”
Mark and Seb were sitting on a picnic bench on the hill as they watched Max and Charles, scheming their next move.
“They’re really taking down those Jell-O shots though, maybe they’ll be drunk enough for our plan to work afterwards.”
“Yeah, that’s true. You really think you can get Charles to confess Seb?”
“I think I have a better chance at getting Charles to confess, especially if he’s tipsy, than you have a chance at getting Max to confess. Max isn’t going to trust you again after that first conversation, but Charles, he’s like a son to me, he’ll listen.”
“WAIT MARK, LOOK AT OSCAR AND LANDO ON THE SIDE OF THE POOL RIGHT NOW! OMG THEY’RE ADORABLE, DO YAH THINK THEY FIGURED IT OUT?”
“Dang Seb, quiet down. And no, they definitely still need our help. Behind that blush, that Aussie is still in so much denial. Lando is just a clingy drunk I suppose.”
“Let’s sort Charles and Max before we start on them. Plus the more interactions Oscar has with Lando that are like… well that, the closer he is to cracking and the easier our job is.”
“Right, we’ll get Operation Lestappen underway soon.”
Suddenly, Lance and Esteban appeared at their table. Esteban appeared like he was demanding answers, and if Lance hadn’t been holding his hand, he might reach out and grab Seb’s shoulders to shake him back and forth.
“What are you schemeing?” Esteban demanded.
“Uhhhh nothingggg,” Mark tried to be nonchalant as he said this, but Esteban narrowed his eyes, spotting the lie.
“Fine, we’re trying to get Charles and Max together.”
“And….?” Lance could somehow tell that there was more to this story.
“We’re also trying to get Oscar and Lando together.”
“WELL IT'S ABOUT TIME!” Esteban exclaimed. “I’m honestly surprised you guys weren’t doing this earlier.”
“Yeah,” Lance agreed. “How come you were afraid to tell us? After all, you guys got us together, and now we’re getting married.”
“Because it’s a top secret mission,” Seb explained, “they can’t find out about it.”
“Soooo, if we were to get a bet going on as to whether you guys can successfully get these pairs together by the end of the night, what would you say?” Lance was smirking as he plotted his little gambling ring.
“Ooh that would be fun babe, let’s do it.”
“Wait a second,” Seb warned, “if you’re going to start a bet, it cannot get back to those four. Can you promise that they will not hear of this?”
“We solemnly swear.”
“Then fine, go for it.”
The pairs dispersed, leaving each other to scheme their respective plans.
Chapter 4
Summary:
Obviously getting hit with a beach ball is a very serious injury
I've been busy with band camp, so this is a bit of a late update lol
Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos, they make my day :)
Chapter Text
Zak:
“So… do you know what's going on?” He and Andrea were standing against the pavilion fence, sharing another beer.
“I don’t know anything other than what we’ve already witnessed. Charles and Max seemed to be avoiding each other. Oscar and Lando fell into the pool. Max accidentally made a flirty joke directed at Charles, and now they’re taking shots rather than addressing their feelings. Lando seemed a little too close to Oscar on the side of the pool.”
“Darn, you normally have the inside information on our members, Andrea.”
“If by that you mean I have all the pool gossip, yeah, I usually do, Zak. I wish I could tell you that these pairs are closer to getting together than they appear, that there’s some kind of backstory you don’t know, but there isn't. Apparently, not even alcohol can get these idiots to get their acts together.”
“An act of alcohol may not force them to get their acts together, but an act of Seb and Mark might,” a voice said behind the two managers.
Zak whipped his head around to find Lance and Esteban standing there, holding wads of cash.
“We’re running a betting pool, do either of you care to join?”
“What’s the bet?” It appeared there was a piece to this story that Zak was missing.
“Sebastian and Mark are trying to set up Charles with Max and Oscar with Lando all in one night,” Esteban explained, “We’re betting on whether they will be successful or not. You can bet that they will only get Charles and Max together, that they will only get Lando and Oscar together, that they will get both couples together, or that they will completely fail and that nobody gets together.”
“I’ve already bet 100 quid that both get together by the end of the night,” Lance said proudly.
Zak considered the offer carefully. Was it wise to make bets with the members as a manager? Probably not. But he avoided chastizing himself, insisting that it was a special night and that he could let his manager guard down just this once.
“I’m rooting for them, so why not? I’ll kick in 40 quid that both pairs end up together by the end of the night.”
Andrea also accepted the bet, betting 30 quid that Mark and Seb could get Charles and Max together, but not Lando and Oscar.
“I think both pairs in one night is a little too daunting. And Lando and Oscar are just a little further beyond help,” Andrea had reasoned.
Zak was pleased with his discovery of an additional layer to the events he was witness to. He’d never admit it to anyone else, but he secretly enjoyed learning about the pool gossip. No matter how many times he insisted on telling his swimmers, “NO DRAMA.”
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Kimi:
“So, have you heard about the lifeguard tradition we have for the social?” Andrea walked up to Kimi, Ollie, and Isack.
“No, what is it?”
“We try to predict which adult will be the most drunk by the end of the social. Who are you guys taking?”
“That’s awesome,” Ollie said, eyes full of chaotic anticipation, “I’m taking Charles. I’ve seen him take way too many Jell-O shots, and when he wasn’t doing that, he’s always had that wine with him.”
Kimi had to agree that Charles was a good choice. But he had someone else in mind.
“I think it will be Lando,” he said. “Lando already seems pretty far gone given his recent actions.”
“Nice choices,” Andrea complimented. “Isack, who do you think it will be?”
“I’m going to go for a wild card and say Max.”
“Alright, so now we just need to wait and see. Oh also, theres another bet going on. I wouldn’t recommend you guys actually participate in the betting aspect, but I’d like to get your opinions anyway.”
“What is it Andrea?”
“Seb and Mark are trying to set up Lando with Oscar and Max with Charles. We’re betting on how successful they will be.”
Kimi snickered. Given what he’d overheard from Zhou and Valtteri earlier, he was right. A scheme was indeed afoot.
“Omg really?” Ollie responded with glee. “I so hope they can get both pairs together.”
Kimi nodded along. “I agree.” He was blushing slightly, after looking at Ollie and seeing how happy and hopeful his crush was. “I so love love.”
“I hate to be the skeptic here, but I doubt they can get both of them together.” Isack was shaking his head.
“That’s what I said too.” Andrea nodded his head in agreement. “I think they may get Max and Charles together, but I don’t think they will be successful with Oscar and Lando.”
“Anyway, I should let you guys know that you are welcome to come one at a time to the pavilion to get leftovers from the smoke-off,” Andrea said before walking off, “But you won’t find my cooking there. They didn’t tell me about it! I think they were too intimidated by my grilling skills.”
And get leftovers they did. When it was Kimi’s turn to go, the adults had absolutely filled by his plate. Toto had tried to give Kimi a giant slab of smoked chicken, but upon seeing Kimi’s intimidated face, Susie has insisted Toto cut it for Kimi.
It took a painstakingly long time for Toto to cut the chicken, which made the situation a little awkward, but at least all the food ended up being good.
Kimi sighed in satisfaction as he enjoyed his food from his perch on the side of the pool. First betting, now food. This may be the best shift of his life.
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Charles:
Charles is unsure how much he’s had to drink after the smoke-off, but he knows he’s had a lot. One and a half bottles of his wine is now gone, and he was just knocking back Jell-O shots with Max, which he didn’t bother counting.
Max had excused himself from taking shots with Charles, mumbling something about having to discuss a plan with Daniel.
Normally, Charles might be disappointed or offended, but tonight, he was too drunk to care all that much. So now, he was standing at a table on the hill, pouring himself another glass of wine.
Which made him susceptible to a conversation with Seb. Again.
“Hey Charles, you got a sec?” Charles turned around to find the expectant face of Sebastian Vettel staring back at him.
“Sure is’ fine,” he slurred.
“Can we talk about it?”
“Bout Maxie? What abouttt himmm?”
“That’s funny Charles, because I never said ‘it’ was Max or even a person at all.”
Charles’s face, already flushed from drinking, somehow turned an even deeper shade of red.
“Though, you are right, I am here to talk to you about Max.”
“Charles, I think you should tell him how you feel. I know you’re afraid that it will be awkward, but he deserves to know. And I assure you, he feels the same way. He looks at you like you hung the stars. Like you created the air he breathes. Please put both you and him out of your pining misery and fess up.”
Maybe it was the alcohol talking, but this time, Charles actually considered what Seb had to say. If what Seb said was true, if Max truly was as down bad as Charles, then one of them should make a move surely… right?
“I don’t think you will regret making the move,” Seb continued, "You and Max have been close for so long. You guys have a solid foundation. I think that you guys could have a really special relationship with a deep connection, like Mark and myself.”
“Ok, oui, fineee. Just.. give me some time to figure out what to say mate. I’ll do it I swear.”
A wide grin spread across Seb’s face as he clapped Charles on the back.
“Atta-boy. Go get your man, Charles.”
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Oscar:
“Friendly competition should be a good distraction from any unwanted thoughts,” Oscar had thought when Lando pulled him over to the flags to play Paddock Volleyball.
And yet, Oscar couldn’t have been more wrong.
Because volleyball wasn’t a distraction from Lando, Lando was a distraction from volleyball.
Oscar was too helpless, too captivated by this man. Even his competitive nature could not win over his mind and conquer his thoughts.
Oscar’s heart eyes would find Lando over and over again. He observed constellations of small dots, either freckles or moles, that scattered Lando’s skin. He watched Lando’s face brighten when their team won a point. The way his curls would bounce as he jumped up and down in the water. A little flush and sweat from drinking. Every micro-expression. Every suggestive look. Oscar noticed it all.
Then, as if on cue, the beach ball hit Oscar smack dab in the head.
“Osco, are you alright?” Lando darted over to Oscar.
Suddenly, Oscar’s face was cupped by Lando’s hands as Lando inspected his face and rubbed circles into his forehead where he had been hit.
“I’m alright,” Oscar breathed, “it was just a beach ball.”
He looked into Lando’s eyes, which were filled with concern. Perhaps drinking had altered Lando’s understanding of how much being hit with a beach ball actually hurt.
“Hey Lando, you know he’s gonna live, right?” Carlos’s words were dripping with sarcasm, but he was giving Lando a knowing look.
Lando shot his own look back at Carlos, but he did slowly let go of Oscar’s face to go back to his volleyball position, even if it was with hesitancy.
Oscar was allowed to serve, as he still had the ball from being hit with it.
It took him five tries to serve a fair ball, but he was still processing Lando’s hands holding his cheekbones, so who could blame him?
“Oscar, you are high-key selling our team right now,” Logan commented.
And under his breath, so only Oscar could hear, Logan also said, “can’t take your eyes off him long enough to actually lock in and hit the ball?”
Oscar gave Logan an annoyed and very obvious eyeroll.
Then he returned to gazing at his Lando.
But as he replayed Logan’s words, he realized Logan was right. They definitely were not going to win this match, not unless Oscar got it together.
So, Oscar tried to put more effort into playing volleyball than he had previously. He didn’t care if he won or lost, but he didn’t want Lando to lose.
And being a better player for their rag-tag team of Lando, Logan, Yuki, Checo, and himself did have its perks.
Now, when Oscar successfully defended their side of the net, he could celebrate with Lando. Lando would give him high fives, fist bumps, even daps. He was reveling in all the contact with his crush.
When the game ended in a win for him and Lando’s team, Oscar even shared a long hug with Lando, one neither had wanted to break.
Maybe playing volleyball decently had paid off after all.
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Mark:
“He’s gonna do it!” Seb was excitedly talking about his conversation with Charles, a little twinkle in his eye as he told Mark that it had been successful.
“That’s great, Seb,” Mark smiled at his husband’s joy. “You’re such a good matchmaker.”
“I know, right? Why can’t these people see what I see?”
“They just don’t have your talent, or your eye. You could see love between two people from about ten miles away. The only area you seem to lack is being able to see when someone is in love with you.”
“Oh, shut up, Mark, that was YEARS ago. AND WE’RE MARRIED NOW.”
“All the more reason to tease you about it love,” Mark replied with a smug grin on his face.
Which, Seb decided to kiss off his face.
Even all these years later, time still seemed to stop when he kissed Seb. Mark was so happy that he got to call Seb’s lips his home.
Many people say that a relationship loses some magic after marriage. Not for him and Seb.
When they pulled away from each other, they burst into a fit of snickers.
“So, what is your plan for Landoscar, babe?” Mark was wheezing as he recovered from a laughing fit.
Seb paused, recovering from laughter and considering his next move, possibly drawing inspiration from his relationship with Mark and all the ways they showed love.
If matchmaking was a game of chess, Sebastian would be a grandmaster.
“Well, we know that Lando is not afraid to make a move in his current state of mind. And we know Oscar is going to need a very clear signal that Lando likes him. So, why don’t we go all out?”
“What would going all out entail?”
“We get Lando to kiss Oscar.”
Chapter 5
Summary:
Sorry if it took a little while to update, but I've been COOKING guys, trust!
Hope you enjoy slide shenanigans and one shocked Pierre Gasly
Thank you again for all the kudos and comments! I'm glad you guys find this fic as silly as I do :)
Chapter Text
Zak:
The moment Zak had been dreading all night had finally come. The adult members had rediscovered the slide.
The blue winding slide stood in the middle of the deep end, positioned over the deepest area, which happened to be nine feet.
The children always cherished it during free swim. Zak and the lifeguards frequently had children come up to them repeatedly with the request that they move the cones into place and open the slide.
But the slide was untouched by the adults, unless it was the adult social, when its power was harnessed for drunken antics.
Unsurprisingly, Yuki and Pierre had started it.
Yuki had brought everyone’s attention to the slide as he climbed the stairs with the float shaped like a bottle of rosé and slid down on top of it.
From there, Pierre renewed the challenge from last year: attempting to go down the slide and land on a float that another person held in place.
In addition to Yuki and Pierre, Esteban, Lance, George, and Alex had all taken up the challenge. Now they were taking turns on the slide and holding floats in place for others to attempt to land on.
Perhaps this would be the year that someone successfully did it.
The rest of the pool cheered enthusiastically for the contenders as Zak took another skim of the main pool.
The game of volleyball persisted, though the players were taking breaks to cheer for the people on the slide. It appeared to Zak that Lando, Oscar, Logan, and Checo were one team while Daniel, Carlos, Valtteri, and Fernando opposed them. Zhou was sitting in the margarita float looking onward, watching Valtteri play.
Nico H and Kevin, now victorious over Lewis and Nico R, defended their cup pong crown against Seb and Mark, who had just gotten in.
Speaking of, Lewis and Nico now sat on the side of the pool, leaning into each other and watching the various games.
Zak also noticed Toto on the side of the pool near the lifeguards’ lawn chairs, probably talking to them about possibly going on stand since there were people on the slide.
“Oh god, I’ll probably have to go address that,” Zak thought, “No need for the lifeguards to go on stand, they’re fine watching from where they are, plus, this happened last year.”
But before Zak could go do that, he heard someone trying to start a chant from within the pool.
“ZAK! ZAK! ZAK!” Lando was repeating. He was somewhat successful in getting people to join him, but not successful enough.
Zak made a face that hopefully said “I don’t want to” and waved his hand to decline.
Lando was persistent, though. He climbed out of the pool and walked with a slight stumble over to Zak.
“You shud go down da slideeeee Zakkkkk! ZAK! ZAK! ZAKKKKKK!”
“Nope, I’m afraid I’m not going to do that, Lando, sorry mate.”
Lando started to pout, but Zak quickly excused himself to go deal with Toto, forcing Lando to admit defeat.
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Kimi:
Kimi was fighting off an eyeroll.
Toto was in the pool, hanging off the lane line no less, which was against the rules, and lecturing the lifeguards on why they should be getting up on the stands to watch the adults on the slide.
His wife, Susie, gave the lifeguards sympathetic glances.
Toto meant well, Kimi knew that. But sometimes, he was just so passionate about his job and ensuring that everything was perfect that it was overwhelming.
Especially when Susie was around. That’s when Toto really wanted to impress.
“Toto, no need for the lifeguards to get up on stand.” Zak’s voice rang out from behind them.
Toto shrugged, but accepted defeat. At the end of the day, Zak’s word normally outweighed Toto’s as the head coach of the swim team and main manager.
Kimi was aware that, like Toto, Zak also had the burning desire to make the pool as perfect as possible. But he was more down-to-earth and understanding as a manager than Toto was. He wasn’t quite as chill as Andrea was, but he could at least talk to the lifeguards on an equal level with the same respect he would give another adult.
So, he really respected Zak, even if Andrea was the fun one and everyone’s favorite manager.
“They did this last year,” Zak explained, “it's harmless, no need to worry, Kimi.”
Kimi suddenly realized that he had been watching the young adults wreak havoc on the slide with a very concerned face.
“Oh, it’s fine, Zak, I wasn’t too worried.”
Seeing Toto climb the slide while George positioned one of the dinosaur floats under the slide, Kimi added, “Now I am.”
He watched in nothing short of pure shock as Toto flew down the slide and wrapped his legs around the neck of the dinosaur float.
The guards held their breath as they waited to see if Toto would fall off.
Toto didn’t fall, to his credit, but the dinosaur did pop.
And the lifeguards went hysterical.
Kimi and Ollie clung to each other for stability while Isack wiped tears from his eyes.
Funny how Toto went from telling the lifeguards that the slide antics were so dangerous that they needed stands to participating in said slide antics.
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Charles:
Charles hated that Seb was right. It was about time he made a move.
So here he was, walking toward his friend, his crush, his Max, after all these years. And he was going more insane than Ferrari’s strategy. Despite all the drinking he’d done, he’s never felt so sober.
“Heyyy Max…”
“Hi Charlie!”
“I have something to tell you.”
“Oh, no way, me too.”
Suddenly, all the words Charles had been planning to say were out the window. Wiped clean from his mind. All that practice in the bathroom mirror, the long-winded confession speech he had planned, was forgotten.
“Do you want to go first?” He mustered.
“No, you go first, I insist.”
“No, Maxie, you can.”
“Charlie.”
Charles sighed. Of course, he and Max would get in a playful squabble over who got to talk first. Their playful debates were something he enjoyed, but not while he was trying to profess his love.
“Want to say it at the same time?”
“Why not?”
Charles took a sharp inhale. “I like you…”
At the same time, Max blurted out, “I have feelings for you!”
And so they froze. Stared at each other with wide eyes. Blushed furiously. Max clasped a hand over his mouth, and Charles tried observing the ground.
Suddenly, it was all too much for Charles. He turned to walk away, get some space. But before he could take a step, he felt someone clench his wrist. Not hard, not hurtful, but with intention.
“Please don’t start avoiding me again,” Max pleaded.
Charles stiffened. He allowed himself to stay in place. And he smiled. He started laughing, and Max joined him.
As laughter subsided, Max’s expression changed. A suggestive look crossed his face, and his voice lowered as he whispered in Charles’s ear. “Want to go somewhere private?”
“Sure,” he mumbled, turning a deep shade of maroon. He allowed himself to be dragged off, following Max’s wake.
Suddenly, they were in the bathroom, about as private as you can get at a public pool.
There was no more talking, no more words exchanged. Max cupped the back of Charles’s head and guided him up against the wall.
He was stuck standing in shock as he rested up against the wall, Max’s hand cushioning his head. The space between them was now close, with little room to close it further.
Max’s eyes searched Charles’s face, looking for confirmation to move further.
Charles nodded slightly, and that’s all it took. Max closed the rest of the distance between them, tentatively bringing his lips to Charles’s and testing the waters.
Charles kissed back, slow and gentle at first. But then, they were pouring years of pining into one kiss. It deepened until they were kissing each other breathless.
When they finally broke apart, Charles let out a small sigh of satisfaction.
“Was that okay?” Max questioned until it was met by Charles kissing him again.
This time, the Dutchman upped his game, lightly biting Charles’s lip and eliciting a small squeak from Charles.
Charles was about to return the favor when suddenly, they were interrupted by a gasp.
They turned to find Pierre standing there, jaw on the floor. After the initial shock, Pierre snapped out of it.
“Having fun there, cabron?” He smirked before turning on his heel to run out the door.
From his spot on the wall, he could hear Pierre shout at the rest of the party.
“GUESS WHAT GUYS?!”
And all Charles could do was look at Max and give him a weak but shameless shrug.
Max smiled, equally shameless.
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Oscar:
“Oh my god, what a sight that is,” Lando said, stunned as he walked across the poolside with Oscar.
Oscar followed Lando’s gaze, finding Pierre clamoring around Max and Charles.
“LADS, I’VE CAUGHT THESE TWO MAKING OUT WITH EACH OTHER!” Pierre was screeching. Max and Charles stood to the side, clearly blushing with embarrassment, but they kept giving each other sly smiles.
“At least someone mustered up the courage to make a move,” Oscar muttered, insulting himself. Thank goodness Lando didn’t hear.
“Well, it's about time, suppose!” Lando laughed, pulling away from Oscar’s side as he congratulated the couple.
But as Lando walked away from the swarm of people now surrounding Charles and Max, he stumbled, as a drunk person might, and Oscar watched as Lando tumbled to the ground.
“AGHH, MY KNEE!” Lando yelled with anguish.
Oscar hurried to his side, kneeling down on the concrete and resting one of his hands on Lando’s shoulder as a means of comfort.
“Are you alright?” Oscar asked as he inspected Lando’s knee. Lando has scraped it up pretty badly. There were multiple bleeding scrapes. Oscar sucked in a breath.
“Yeah, just bleeding a lot,” Lando responded. “Osco? This is gonna sound weird, but can you carry me to the lifeguard table for first aid so I don’t bleed all over the deck as I walk?”
As if Oscar wasn’t already short-circuiting, Lando made grabby hands at Oscar, indicating he wanted to be lifted off the ground.
“Yeah, course, Lando, no problem.”
Oscar curled his arms around Lando’s knees and back, carrying him over to the table bride-style. At least it successfully prevented blood from getting anywhere.
Once Oscar had gently deposited Lando on the top of the table, he called out to Andrea, who was walking by.
“Andrea, is it ok if I use the first-aid box?”
Andrea nodded. “Yeah, the lifeguards are busy watching the pool right now.”
He located the black toolbox used to house the first-aid supplies on the ground next to the table. Cracking it open, Oscar located what he needed.
First, he utilized the gauze to clean up some of the blood dripping down Lando’s knee.
“This may sting a little,” he then said as he cleaned the wounds with hydrogen peroxide. When Lando winced at the sting, he ran a hand through Lando’s curls and blew on the cuts, attempting to console Lando’s pain.
Finally, he applied Neosporn and Band-Aids.
“See? All better now.”
Lando proceeded to give Oscar the most sickenly sweet look Oscar had ever received. “Thanks for taking care of meh Oscie.”
Oscar flushed, helpless to do anything but stare at Lando with heart eyes until Lando was stolen away from him by Mark.
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Mark:
“Congratulations on one successful scheme,” Mark remarked as he clinked glasses with Seb.
They were celebrating getting Max and Charles together at last.
“We’re not done quite yet, love,” Seb replied.
“Right… we gotta somehow get Lando to kiss Oscar. How do you figure we go about doing that?”
“I mean, we could organize some elaborate game of spin the bottle or truth or dare like we did to get Pierre and Yuki together, but I think that would be a little too difficult to do here at Paddock. I think a one-on-one conversation with Lando may yield the best results, kinda like what we did with Charles. Lando is pretty far gone, further gone than Charles at least, so it shouldn’t be hard to convince him.”
“Sounds good, Seb. When are you going to talk to him?”
“Actually, I was thinking you could talk to him, seeing as you’re like a father to Oscar. Because of that, it will be best coming from you for both of them. And he appears to be free now, just go up and ask for a moment to talk.”
Mark scanned the pool for Lando, finding him sitting on the lifeguard table, being fixed up by Oscar.
“Alright, wish me luck,” he said as he departed. Seb blew him a kiss as he walked.
As he approached, he was met with the sight of Oscar and Lando giving each other loving gazes. “God, they need to confess to each other already,” Mark thought.
“Lando, can I borrow you for a moment?” Mark broke up the awkward silence thing going on between the two.
“Yeppers,” Lando confirmed, hoisting himself off the table and back onto his feet.
“Sorry, Oscar, we’ll just be a minute,” Mark said, turning to Oscar.
“Yeah, no, it's ok,” the other Aussie replied, “I was just going to get back in the pool anyway. I think Logan wanted to hang out with me in the water.”
Once Mark had Lando in a quiet corner of the facility, he carefully broached the subject. He’d learned from his earlier conversation with Max.
“So… I wanted to talk to you about Oscar.”
“Osc? What about him?”
“Well, you like him, right?”
Lando shifted slightly, cheeks turning pink as he avoided eye contact with Mark ever so slightly.
“Yeah,” Lando admitted, “I’ve been trying to make him see that I like him all evening. The playful nudges and friendly touching. The pick-up lines. Playing on the same team as him. Everything. And he’s not picking up on anything.”
Mark sighed. “As much as I love him, Oscar is unfortunately kind of an idiot when it comes to these things. I firmly believe that Oscar likes you as well, but he’s too far in denial that you won’t reciprocate his feelings to notice your signals. And he won’t confess his own feelings because he’d rather bottle it up than risk losing you completely.”
Lando went silent. “If that's true, what should I do then?”
“You have to send a signal that Oscar cannot possibly deny.”
“And what on Earth would that signal be, mate?”
“You could kiss him.”
Lando considered this for a moment. “Actually, Mark, that’s not a terrible idea.”
Chapter 6
Summary:
Hehehehe it will all work out, you guys trust
I started school today, so updates may take longer from now on, but we'll see
A certain couple has become disgustingly in love, and the other is having a bit of a chaotic moment
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Zak:
“So… do you have some cash for me, boys?” Zak grinned as Esteban and Lance approached him. “Pay up.”
“Congratulations, Zak,” Lance replied, forking over a wad of cash.
Seeing two people puffy-lipped and blushing on his pool deck had never been more rewarding.
“I’ll probably have to hardcore sanitize that bathroom tomorrow, but honestly, it's whatever,” Zak thought.
Now, if only Lando and Oscar could get their acts together so Zak could cash in on the rest of his bet.
“Who lost out on this one?” Zak questioned. “I know Andrea got some winnings from Charles and Max, but who lost money?”
“Well, Logan lost some money; he thought it would only be Lando and Oscar, you see. Daniel thought the same, so he also lost out. Carlos got unlucky as well. And poor Pierre, who discovered them, had bet nobody would get together.”
“Poor bloke. I can’t imagine walking right into something I bet wouldn’t happen. He should have kept it to himself, maybe.”
“I don’t feel bad for him,” Esteban interrupted, “but I must say, if I walked in on two of my close friends making out, I would have a hard time keeping that a secret. I would yap to anyone who would listen.”
“Expressing empathy for Pierre love? I’m surprised. Is there some kind of white flag in the French Civil War currently?” Lance teased his fiancée.
“Shut up!” Esteban shot back. “I’m sure Pierre and I could see eye to eye when there’s gossip this juicy. Plus, I’m totally winning the Civil War.”
“Of course, babe, I mean, you’ve got Canada as an ally. Maple syrup and rugged hockey players. Japan is great and all, but it’s got nothing on Canada.”
“No need to break out into the Canadian national anthem there, Lance. Also, Yuki would have your head if he heard you insult Japan.”
“Ehhh, wouldn’t be as bad as it would be if I insulted America in front of Logan. I could take it.”
“Because you are one of the said ‘rugged’ hockey players?”
“I could be rugged for you, Este!”
Zak snickered, watching the two playfully banter. “Oh, to be young and in love,” he thought.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kimi:
When Kimi said he had been looking forward to interesting people watching, he had not pictured watching two highly intoxicated adults, who’d just admitted their feelings to each other after years of pining, interact.
After being exposed to the entire pool by Pierre, Charles and Max had absolutely no shame.
Kimi didn’t blame them for acting this way; emotions could be a lot, especially when you’ve already reached the point of being so embarrassed that you no longer care.
“If only he could act that way with Ollie…” His brain started, but he immediately shut it down.
He turned his attention back to Max and Charles. God, just looking at them made you feel like you were walking in on something.
Charles was contentedly spinning in circles in the octopus tube. He clutched his plastic wine glass filled with red wine. The lifeguards had initially reprimanded Charles for the cup, since they had thought it was glass, something prohibited on the pool deck.
Upon realizing that it was plastic, they allowed Charles to keep it. Not that it stopped anyone from teasing Charles about getting yelled at.
What did stop people from teasing Charles were cold glances from Max, who was being protective already.
Kimi hoped he would never be on the receiving end of one of those looks.
Charles certainly never would be. He only received soft looks from Max, something uncharacteristic of the Dutchman.
Max looked at Charles with small smiles and heart eyes. His hand would graze Charles’s cheek as he remarked that the Monagasque’s face was “simply lovely.”
Charles and Max were making Kimi feel extremely single. Heck, they were making the drivers around them, most of whom were in happy, healthy relationships, feel single.
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Charles:
“I really regret encouraging you lot,” Alex groaned.
“This is nauseating. Please tell me that Alex and I aren’t this bad,” George added.
“Omg, it hasn’t even been an hour, and they’re already the most disgustingly in love couple I’ve ever seen.”
Charles diverted his eyes upwards, away from Max, who hung off the octopus tube, gripping Charles’s arms. He gave them a playful glare.
“I’m only doing what I’ve spent years wishing I could do,” he shot back, pouting at his friends.
George’s lip scrunched up. Alex rolled his eyes.
“At least we made some money off this,” Alex suggested to George.
“Speak for yourself! I discovered them and lost money. There are no benefits for me,” Pierre interrupted.
George’s eyes widened. “Alex! Pierre! They aren’t supposed to know!”
“Know what?”
Alex patted George’s arm. “It’s ok, babe, the bet is already over, we can tell them. Charles, Max, we were betting on whether Seb and Mark could get you guys together by the end of the night. And, well, they succeeded. Just like George and I knew they would.” Alex shot a smug look toward Pierre.
“Hey, I can still make money if they can’t get Lando and Oscar together!” Pierre defended himself.
“Oh, yeah, also there’s a bet as to whether Seb and Mark can get Lando and Oscar together,” Alex continued.
“WELL, IT'S ABOUT TIME!” Charles shouted, “They’ve made my gaydar go off all night long. It’s so bad.”
Max’s eyes narrowed. “Wait, so Seb and Mark have been trying to get two couples together this entire night?”
“Correct. And clearly, they’ve been successful, at least in part,” George gestured toward Charles and Max, “but the night isn’t over yet, so we shall see if they achieve their full goal. Though I must say, two couples in one night is very ambitious. That’s why I only bet on you guys. Alex bet on both.”
“Is there any way we can get in on the Lando and Oscar bet?” Charles rubbed his hands together, a mischievous grin on his face.
“See Esteban and Lance. They’ve been running it.”
Max cackled, “Figures.”
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Oscar:
“You know you’re not being subtle, right?”
Oscar and Logan had been hanging out on the side of the wall, talking about nothing important really, when Logan decided to chastise him.
“Subtle about what?” Deep down, Oscar knew what his friend was talking about, but his head was just screaming “DENY DENY DENY.”
“Come on, Oscar. Your little crush, obviously.” Logan ignored the way Oscar’s face turned redder than a tomato. “You literally just carried him bride-style not a half hour ago. You couldn’t focus on playing volleyball. Plus, you’ve been giving him heart eyes all night and blushing.”
“Though at the same time,” Logan continued, “he’s been making advances too, and though he’s drunk, they seem sincere. I think he might genuinely like you, like I’ve been telling you all night. You know, drunk actions can be sober thoughts.”
“You really think so? I mean, I thought you were just messing with me earlier, what with the tequila shots.”
“Nah mate, I meant it. I think you seriously have a shot.” Logan’s eyes searched the deck for Lando until he spotted him, walking in the pool over toward Oscar.
“I’m getting deja vu, speak of the devil. I’ll leave you two to it.” And with that, Logan swam away, off to join a grimacing Alex and George with Charles and Max.
Oscar’s eyes also found Lando, and his brain found itself scanning the man again, drowning in his blueish green eyes and cataloging every curl on his head.
As Lando approached, Oscar attempted to start up an awkward conversation.
“Hey, so Lan- MMPH!”
Oscar was cut off by the sensation of Lando’s lips on his own.
It wasn’t soft, not at first. It was rushed, panicked. Their teeth clashed a little, and Oscar’s eyes widened as words were stolen from his mouth.
But after the initial panic and rush of adrenaline, they sank into it. Oscar relaxed, eyes slowly closing. His hands found their way to Lando’s shoulders and relaxed into the touch of Lando’s hands on his back. Tentatively, he kissed back.
When they pulled away from each other. Oscar let out a sigh of disbelief. He couldn’t quite contain the look of shock on his face.
Lando studied his face, noting his shock. Lando seemed to do a double-take of his actions, rethinking his decision, because he suddenly appeared very worried.
“Wait, I’m sorry mate. I don’t know what I was thinking. Mark convinced meh and I’m just a lil drunk…” Lando stammered, “I should go, Oscar. I’m so sorry that wasn’t cool.”
Oscar wanted to reach out to stop Lando from leaving, to explain that he wasn’t mad and that he’d liked it and he liked Lando, but he was still frozen in shock. He wanted to lean in and kiss him again, because god, that had been good, but his body couldn’t catch up to his brain.
The only thing Oscar’s body seemed to cooperate in doing was repeating the same thought to himself over and over again.
“What just happened?”
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark:
Mark and Seb had cheered upon watching Lando kiss Oscar, acting like they hadn’t been the ones to set that up.
The pool cheered with them, not that the couple had noticed. At first, they’d been too busy with, well, kissing, to be overly concerned with the whoops and wolf whistles, and then they’d been too preoccupied with their own emotions.
Which Mark and Seb were doing damage control for now.
“Mark, why would you ever convince me to do that?” Lando hissed at him.
“Lando, slow down; his reaction could not have been that bad.”
“No, you weren’t there, you didn’t see him. He looked terrified. He was freaking out, Mark! Clearly, I must have violated him in some way!”
“Or, maybe he was just surprised. I mean, you did just up and kiss him out of nowhere. Maybe he was just still processing what had happened and actually really enjoyed it.”
“Nah mate, no way. I don’t believe you anymore. God, why’d I listen to you in the first place? I’m so dumb when I drink.”
“Lando, did he kiss back?” Seb interrupted.
“Yes? Maybe? A little?” Lando facepalmed. “I don’t remember. I just remember his face when I pulled away.”
“Well, if he kissed back, that’s a good sign, Lando,” Seb tried to soothe Lando’s panic.
“Ok, ok, ok, ok, cool, cool, cool,” Lando exhaled. “Can I be left alone, guys? I need a minute. And sorry if I offended you, Mark; it was nothing personal. This is my mess, I was just flustered and lashed out.”
“Of course.” And with that, the couple left Lando.
Only to be confronted by Oscar not ten minutes later.
“Hey Mark, Seb, could you drive Lando and me home tonight? I’m going to need a stiff couple of drinks if I’m going to work up the courage to kiss Lando again.”
Notes:
If you have any thoughts about this, I love reading comments :)
Thank you to everyone who's reading!
Chapter 7
Summary:
I know this update took a little longer, but that's because I was cooking, trust :)
Hope you enjoy swimming blocks, octopus tubes, and raffle ticket calling
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Zak:
“So, am I getting my money or not?”
Zak and Andrea were deep in conversation with betting ring lords Esteban and Lance once again, debating who would be getting their money.
“They literally kissed each other, I’d call that getting together,” Zak lamented, “That means I was right, so I get money and you don’t.”
“But, they’ve been avoiding each other ever since, so it doesn’t seem like they’ll be getting into a relationship; therefore, the money is mine, not yours,” Andrea argued back.
“Simmer down, guys, it's just a silly bet,” Esteban interrupted, “If nothing else happens and we can’t decide whether they ‘got together’ or not, then we will simply refund people.”
Satisfied with the compromise, Zak exhaled. “Sorry, Andrea, there was no need to argue over this.”
“Agreed. I’m sorry as well, Zak.”
Suddenly, Esteban and Lance started chuckling at something over Zak’s shoulder.
Zak turned to find a sight he found horrific.
Valtteri and Daniel had dove into the pool and were racing each other. Which meant they had used the blocks. While drunk. And while people were in the pool, potentially in the way.
Zak’s mind raced. He couldn’t exactly blame the two; they were pretty intoxicated. But this was a violation of his most cherished core value: safety.
“This is why we have the cones.” He murmured, his hands gesturing to the neon orange cones that had once rested on top of the blocks but now littered the floor.
Then, upon seeing Alex climb up on the blocks to race Carlos, Zak stopped thinking altogether.
He ran across the pool deck, ignoring the fact that he was breaking the capital pool rule: walk.
Suddenly, Zak found himself flinging cones off the blocks. Then he lowered himself down to get a decent grip on the first block, ripping it out of the square space in the concrete that held it. He rushed the block over to the grass, dropping it, and then returned for the next.
The lifeguards seemed to have gotten the hint because Zak heard Kimi blow his whistle, then shout at Alex and Carlos to step down. They hesitated, their actions slowed under the influence of alcohol, but they reluctantly stepped down.
Zak breathed a sigh of relief. Crisis averted, even if he had slightly lost his mind for a couple of minutes there.
He moved to restore the blocks he’d ripped out of the pool deck, carefully putting them back into place. He also softly returned the cones to their perches on top of the blocks.
But Zak felt bad for ruining the moment. All the members had wanted was to have a bit of fun racing each other.
So, Zak decided to move the swim races to a safer location. He opened up the blocks in the deep end, where they would have more space to dive and wouldn’t hit anyone.
“You can race from these!” He called out to everyone, and the races resumed.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Kimi:
“Kimi, can you hold this?” Andrea dropped a red and white megaphone into his arms.
“What’s this for?”
“We’re going to start calling raffle ticket numbers! Ollie, can you go get the tickets?”
“No problem, Andrea,” Ollie said, getting up to retrieve the basket.
“Alright, do you want to announce that we’re starting, Kimi?”
“Sure.” Kimi pressed the button on the megaphone to play a siren sound. Then, he proceeded to press another button and talked into it to announce, “Hey everyone, we’re starting the raffle ticket drawing now, so get your tickets ready!”
The adults started chatting excitedly. Some got out of the pool to go find their tickets.
Kimi reached into the basket to grab the first ticket, inhaling slightly when his hand brushed Ollie’s.
“Ok, so the first winning ticket is 236344.”
The members, clearly distracted, paid Kimi no mind, so Andrea grabbed the mic and repeated the number.
Now they were paying attention.
Kimi suddenly noticed Lando in the water below them, sprawled out in a margarita tube with his tongue slightly sticking out.
“No, Andreaaaa. It should be 814481,” he said as he read his raffle ticket.
“So apparently he had a couple more after his little run-in with Oscar,” Kimi thought.
As Andrea read off numbers, Lando kept giving similar responses. He would blink up at them, repeating the numbers “814481.”
And eventually Andrea did read off that number. But when that happened, all Lando could do was stare up at him.
“Mate, they called your number, let’s go.” Alex and George helped Lando up out of the pool and walked him over to receive his prize for the raffle.
“I think we know who won our little bet about who would be the drunkest…” Andrea was murmuring, “Congratulations to Kimi.”
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Charles:
Charles and Max hadn’t moved much since settling in the pool. They’d had enough excitement at the pool thus far, after being exposed by Pierre, and now, all they really wanted to do, was gaze into each other’s eyes, cheesy as it was.
They were more than content to continue clinging to the octopus tube, which Charles was now the proud owner of, after winning it in the raffle. After all, Charles had the perfect angle to examine Max’s face from his spot on the float.
Max’s eyes were the most perfect shade of light blue in Charles’s opinion. They were like the icecaps of some arctic glacier. Like the sky without clouds. Like shallow puddles after a rainstorm.
And Charles was nothing short of captivated by them.
“Uhm, Charlie, could I have a sip of your drink?” Max interrupted their unspoken staring contest.
Charles, who had been absentmindedly swirling the plastic glass around in his hand, pressed the glass to Max’s lips.
Max sputtered a little, clearly not expecting the glass to be shoved in his face. But nevertheless, he grabbed it and took a swig of Charles’s wine.
The Charles of a couple of hours ago would have short-circuited on the spot, immediately thinking of the implications and indirect kissing. This Charles, the in-denial Charles, wouldn’t believe you for a second if you told him that he would be kissing Max Verstappen on that very night.
However, current Charles, having experienced that, would, if you could get him to stop looking at his boyfriend long enough to answer you.
“Charlie?”
“Mm?”
“I wanted to ask you something, and I prolly should’ve asked before… but uhhh…”
Max’s eyes floated around, making contact with seemingly anything but Charles.
“What is it, Max?”
“Oh god, I’m just screwing this up, aren’t I. Ok uhhh, Charlie, would you want to go on a date with me?”
Charles snickered a little.
“Did you really think I would say no love? Of course, I will Maxie.”
Max let out a sigh of relief.
“I can’t believe you thought I would reject you! I would never! Now, what should we do? Karting perhaps?”
“Maybe not on the first date, sweetheart, we wouldn’t want to have another ‘inchident’ now, would we?”
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Oscar:
Oscar needs a beer. Immediately.
His idea is crazy: kiss Lando again? After what happened the first time? Yup, it’s insane.
So, he needs something to convince himself that it actually is a good idea.
Logan gasped when Oscar approached him for a drink, knowing he had extras. “Oscar Piastri? Asking me to get him drunk at the adult social? I never thought I’d see the day.”
“You’d need a pretty stiff drink, too, if you finally kissed your crush, but all he can do afterwards is apologize to you.”
“True mate, that’s rough. Do you plan on doing anything about it?”
“Yeah, I plan on kissing the apologies right out of his mouth.”
“Holy crap, Oscar.”
Oscar made a face somewhere between a smirk and a grimace. “Thus the drinks.”
Thirty minutes and three beers later, Oscar feels ready to put his plan into action.
“Go get your man Oscar!” Logan cheers at him as he leaves to find Lando.
And find him, he does.
Lando is in the pavilion, staring out at the parking lot with the towel he won in the raffle resting on his shoulders. Alex and George are now nowhere to be found; it's just them.
“You have nothing to apologize for, yknow?”
Lando, startled, whips his head around. “Osc! What are you doing here?”
Oscar starts to move closer to Lando, testing the waters to see if Lando will shy away. He doesn’t.
“I came here to tell you that I don’t accept your apology.”
“Osco, why? I was wrong-”
“You weren’t wrong. At all. For anything. I was in a bit of a state of shock at first, but I really enjoyed it, actually,” Oscar glances at the floor for a second, blushing at himself. “I mean, anyone would enjoy it if the person they’ve been pining over for years kisses them.”
Lando’s eyes widen. His mouth opens, and what tumbles out is a word salad.
“What? You like me? Like, like like me? And for all these years? I mean me too, but what?” Lando is flustered, so he pauses for just a moment and considers.
But then, against Lando’s better judgment, he blurts out, “Prove it.”
“I will.”
Oscar closes the rest of the distance, cradling Lando’s face as he brings their lips together. It isn’t shocking this time. It doesn’t feel wrong, it feels right. Like Oscar’s lips are made for Lando’s. It is everything Oscar wishes he could have said to Lando for the past two years he’s spent crushing. Every bit of longing, desperation, it is all there.
But as Oscar goes to deepen the kiss, he hears a familiar voice. A French-accented voice. A voice that Max and Charles undoubtedly heard before their impending doom of embarrassment at the hands of the entire Paddock Swim Club.
Lando and Oscar break apart, heads turning to find the witness.
“OH MY GOD NOT AGAIN,” Pierre squawks. “Not once, but TWICE in ONE DAY have I discovered the results of Seb and Mark’s matchmaking efforts. I AM TRAUMATIZED AND NOW I AM ALSO GOING BROKE.”
“GUESS WHAT’S HAPPENED NOW, EVERYONE?!” Pierre leaves the pavilion frantically screaming to the other members.
“Suppose we’ll have to put on a good show,” Oscar murmurs, but he still smiles a big bunny-toothed smile at Lando, who returns an equally toothy grin.
“How did you get this smooth?” Lando questions, “Have you been drinking?”
“Maybeeeee, but don’t worry, I’ve arranged for Seb and Mark to drive us.”
“You muppet,” Lando laughs, shaking his head.
“Well, I’m your muppet now.” Oscar grips Lando’s hand. “Come on, let’s go face the music.”
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mark:
Seb greeted him at the picnic table with a bottle of champagne. “We can properly celebrate now, can’t we?”
“Indeed. Hey, wait, I recognize that bottle. Is that champagne from the social last year?”
“It is. I’ve been saving it,” Seb nodded as he confirmed.
“Why did you save a bottle of champagne for an entire year, love?”
“I saved it to celebrate with when my scheme paid off.”
“Wait, Seb, you mean to tell me that you’ve been plotting all this matchmaking for an entire year?” Mark chuckled and shook his head. “That is something.”
“Yeah, well, I saw our two lovely couples being extremely awkward with each other last year, and I couldn’t stand it. So I vowed right there and then to get them together at the next social. And I saved this bottle of champagne for when I did.”
“Wait, how did I not see this in our house?”
“I hid it in the basement.”
“Oh Seb…”
Just then, Lando and Oscar approached their table, Charles and Max in tow.
“Hey Mark and Seb!” Lando greeted them cheerfully.
“What’s up, guys?”
“Well,” Oscar started, “We just wanted to thank you for giving us the push we needed to get together. I’m not sure if we would have acted on our feelings without you.”
“Even if you did mettle a tad, we still appreciate it,” Lando added.
“Wow, thanks, guys. Though it wasn’t too difficult, really. All Oscar needed was to be smacked in the face with a pair of lips,” Mark responded.
That comment earned an eyeroll from Oscar, but nothing could wipe that silly smile of his face.
“We also want to thank you,” Charles joined the conversation, “Thanks for that chat Seb.”
“I’m glad it worked out for you, Charles,” Seb smiled at the Mongasque man.
“Hey, I decided to confess all on my own,” Max put his hands up, “but if you helped Charlie, then thanks.”
“No, you did not,” Charles snickered, “You totally had help from Daniel. You literally left me while we were taking shots to ‘discuss a plan’ with him.”
“Ugh, fine, guilty as charged. We should actually go thank him as well."
After more thanks, the four left Seb and Mark once again.
“So, Seb, already planning next year's scheme?” Mark teased, “If you are, I want in on the planning this time.”
“Actually, yes.”
“Who are you thinking?”
Seb considered for a moment. “Ollie and Kimi, if they aren’t already together at that point.”
“And if they’re working again,” Mark added.
“Yes, good point. I was also thinking maybe Logan and Charles’s younger brother Arthur if we can convince Charles to bring him.”
“Sounds great, babe. So, same time next year?” Mark held out his glass of champagne.
Seb clinked his glass with Mark’s. “You already know it.”
Notes:
I love comments wink wink ;)
Janay77 on Chapter 1 Wed 30 Jul 2025 04:32PM UTC
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Last Edited Tue 05 Aug 2025 01:04PM UTC
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