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Media day was the worst. By far the worst part of being a driver, in Oscar’s opinion at least. He joined the sport because he wanted to race, not do media. Unfortunately, it’s not something he can really opt out of– no matter how much he wanted to.
Thankfully, Oscar was pretty much done for the day, so he takes a moment to flop onto one of the chairs in the corner of the McLaren hospitality, exhausted.
He should be able to go back to his hotel soon– where his plushies and old car show reruns were waiting for him, along with a big fat nap.
“Oscaaarrrrr!” calls someone from across the room, and Oscar doesn’t even get a second to look up before one Lando Norris has also decided he wanted to flop onto Oscar’s chair, and consequently landed on Oscar’s stomach with a quiet oof.
“Mate,” Oscar groans, pushing Lando off of him. “What?”
“I’m bored,” Lando pouts. “I wanna play something. Play with me.”
Oscar studies his teammate for a moment.
“...Did you slip?”
Lando blinks, having obviously not considered that. “Oh. Yeah, maybe. Probably.”
“Probably,” Oscar teases, huffing out a laugh. “Should we call Daniel?”
Lando’s eyes light up at the mention of his caregiver, and he nods rapidly, bringing out his phone and immediately opening up Daniel’s contact and pressing call.
Then he hands the phone to Oscar as it rings, which does baffle Oscar a little bit– but Oscar is the one who’s big right now, so he supposes it makes sense.
Even if he really doesn't want to be the one to talk to Daniel. He doesn’t know how Lando forgave him for taking his caregiver's seat.
"Hey buddy! What's up?" Daniel greets cheerily, and Oscar takes in a quick, steadying breath.
"Hi, Daniel– um, Lando slipped, so I thought we should probably call you? It's Oscar."
"Hey Oscar!" Daniel replies, sounding friendly enough. "I can't get away at the moment, it's a little busy– do you think you could watch him for an hour or so? You can just take him to the paddock playroom, there'll be other caregivers around to help."
That’s… odd, to say the least. While it isn’t unheard of for littles to babysit other littles, it’s usually as a last resort, and not when there are other people around who are capable of helping. If there are other caregivers in the paddock playroom, why would Oscar need to be the one in charge of Lando?
But– Oscar isn’t really in a position to be able to say no to Daniel Ricciardo.
“Yeah– sure, yeah, I can do it,” he agrees. “How long do you think you’ll take?”
“No more than an hour or so, I’ll try to hurry this up as much as I can. If he needs anything just tell him I’ll be there soon, but he’ll probably just want to play. Thank you so much!”
“Yeah, alright, no problem,” Oscar says, trying to reassure himself more than Daniel, to be honest. Then he hands the phone back to Lando, allowing his friend a few moments to chat with his caregiver.
Lando chatters away, but Oscar can’t help himself from getting lost in thought. Why would Daniel ask Oscar to babysit? Chances are, Oscar was going to end up slipping too– especially since Oscar hasn’t regressed in a few weeks.
He’s pretty sure Daniel doesn’t really like him, either, with the whole stealing his seat and separating him from his little. So why trust him with Lando?
Unless that’s the point. Maybe Daniel didn’t think Oscar should be regressing, that he didn’t deserve it, and should just watch Lando regress instead– or maybe he knew Oscar would mess up somehow, and then everyone would be even more mad at him, or worse, they won’t let him hang out with Lando anymore–
Lando is waving his hand in front of Oscar’s face.
“Hellooooo, Earth to Oscar?” he teases. “Come on, I wanna go play!”
Oscar blinks and smiles at his friend sheepishly. “Sorry, got a bit lost there. Daniel said we should go to the playroom, right?”
Lando nods hurriedly, already standing up and pulling Oscar up along with him. “Yes! Let’s go!”
“Okay, okay, you lead the way,” Oscar laughs.
Oscar had never been in any of the paddock playrooms, but they were mandated by the FIA for every track to have at least one. They were meant for drivers to have a private space for them and their caregivers or littles to satisfy their designations, but Oscar preferred to regress in his hotel room, alone.
He wasn’t even sure if anyone would want him in the playroom, either. Especially not when he was regressed– he didn’t want anyone to feel like they had to watch over him while he was there when he was perfectly fine regressing on his own.
It’s fine, really– Daniel and Lando told him to go there, and he was watching Lando, so no one would feel like they had to babysit him, either.
It’ll be fine.
—
Fernando hummed to himself, watching Esteban play with a couple action figures in the corner of the playroom. He’s pretty sure he’s keeping up with the kid’s game well enough from afar– looks like Iron Man has turned evil and Spider-Man needed to fight him– but it’s almost naptime, so he needed to start thinking of ways to convince the kid to head back to the hotel soon.
It was the same for the other littles around, as well– he's babysat Carlos for Charles more than enough times to know the kid’s naptime was soon, and George was already asleep, practically sprawled on top of Lewis as he and Charles chatted.
His attention was then caught by the click of the door being unlocked and then Lando peeking his head inside excitedly. He expected the little to beeline it straight towards Carlos– who was playing at the train table– but instead he made his way to the toy cars, dragging an amused-looking Oscar behind him.
Interesting. He’s never seen Oscar in the playroom before, with the neutral not usually being a go-to babysitter, so he’d never really had a reason to go inside. Daniel must’ve been pretty busy.
Oscar waves to the caregivers in the room– Fernando waves back– and then lets Lando pull him down to the floor, where he gets started on setting up a little track.
It’s then that Esteban decides to come sit by Fernando on the couch as he plays, so Fernando focuses on entertaining the boy quietly as he talks about his toys, sparing a glance to Oscar and Lando every once in a while. He knew this was probably one of Oscar’s first times babysitting, so he wants to be able to help if Oscar ends up needing any, since he knows from experience that Lando can be a handful when he wants to be.
It was only around 30 or so minutes when Daniel showed up to collect Lando, peeking his head in the door much like his little did before.
“Lando, buddy, time to go,” he calls, getting Lando’s attention.
“But we’re having fun!” Lando protests. “Just five more minutes? Please?”
“Sorry kiddo,” Daniel says sympathetically, opening the door a little wider. “You’ve got a few more things on your schedule for today, and then we can come back to play, okay? Say bye to Oscar, please.”
Lando pouts, but thankfully gets up. “Bye, Oscar,” he mumbles.
“Bye, Lando,” Oscar replies offhandedly as Lando and Daniel leave, still deeply focused on playing with the toy cars.
…Curious.
He watches a while longer as Oscar continues to play alone, with no other littles with him to serve as an explanation for why he was still playing. Maybe he could say that he just likes toy cars in general, but his body language striking something in Fernando’s instincts that doesn’t seem to be just a coincidence.
…Has Oscar ever outright said that he was a neutral?
It seems like the other caregivers in the room have noticed as well, since the ongoing conversation dies down before Charles asks quietly, “What was Oscar’s designation, again?”
“I thought he was a neutral,” Lewis says, eyeing Oscar curiously.
“Yeah, I don’t think that’s true,” Charles replies, pulling out his phone. “Hold on, I’ll text the drivers chat– maybe someone knows who his caregiver is.”
Fernando pulls out his phone as well. If Oscar’s caregiver is going to be anyone…
get set go
is oscar a little
on your marks
No? What are you talking abt
Fernando glances up at Oscar for another moment, watching as the kid mimes a devastating car crash with two red cars, accompanied by quiet, almost unnoticeable explosion noises.
get set go
nothing dw abt it
on your marks
Fernando what is going on
Fernando.
Stay where you are
If what I think is happening is happening and you steal him from me I swear to god I’m locking you alone in a room with Lewis every chance I get
Fernando puts his phone away.
“No one else knows who his caregiver is,” Charles says, squinting at his phone.
“I don’t think he has one,” Esteban pipes up, still focused on his toys.
All three caregivers stare at each other for a moment.
“I’ll take him,” Lewis says casually.
“Um, no,” Charles laughs, giving Lewis an incredulous look. “He is my friend, we’re closer. I’ll take him, he likes me more already.”
“While he’s big, maybe,” Lewis argues, “I have more experience– you’re not ready to handle two littles at once.”
“Yes I am!” Charles exclaims, offended, and the two start to devolve into useless squabbling over who would be the better-suited caregiver for Oscar.
Fernando nudges Esteban to stand up, and quietly makes his way over to Oscar.
“Hello, pequeño,” Fernando greets, and Oscar looks up curiously. “Would you like to get some Tim Tams with us? We are going to the store.”
Oscar’s eyes light up at the mention of his favorite snack, just like Fernando knew he would. He nods.
Fernando glances back at Lewis and Charles, finding them still sufficiently distracted. He holds his hand out for Oscar to take, pulling the boy up and leading the two littles out of the playroom.
“We are going to the store?” Esteban asks eagerly, probably assuming that Fernando forgot about his nap– which he didn’t. It was just being postponed in favor of a little kidnapping and bribery.
Is it really kidnapping if the kid didn’t have anyone to be stolen from?
Fernando’s phone buzzes with another text from Mark, which he ignores.
“Just to get a few snacks,” Fernando replies, holding his other hand out for Esteban, and the little takes it easily.
It’s thankfully a fairly short walk to the store, and hopefully they’ll be in and out in under 10 minutes.
Though, sparing a glance over at Oscar, he might have to hurry it up a bit more than that. The kid looks very obviously uncomfortable with all the hustle and bustle of the supermarket, which does make sense. Some littles are more sensitive to lights, noises, and crowds than others.
Luckily for them, they were able to locate the section that contained Oscar’s preferred treat quickly, and Fernando gave Esteban free reign to pick out whatever snack he wanted while Oscar decided what flavor to get.
Never let anyone say he isn’t a pushover when it comes to littles, because he immediately folds and allows Esteban to get two different snacks instead of the one that they had agreed upon as soon as Esteban gives him puppy eyes.
Oscar makes his selection– double coat– and they head out to go pay for their items. Oscar refused to let go of his Tim Tams the whole time, except for when he had to get them scanned for a second before they were swiftly returned to him, and then they leave.
They need to get back to the hotel for Esteban’s nap, but–
“Esteban, didn’t you take Spidey to your driver’s room with you today?” Fernando asks, referring to Esteban’s favorite plushie, which he absolutely cannot take a nap without, lest risking a massive tantrum.
“Yeah,” Esteban replies, a bit distracted as he makes sure not to step on any cracks in the pavement as he walks.
Fernando curses internally. They’ll have to make a pit stop at the paddock to grab Spidey before they can head to the hotel, then, which is just pushing back the kid’s nap even further.
He hears the sound of crinkling on his other side, and looks over to see Oscar already shoving an entire Tim Tam in his mouth.
He winces, thinking about the sugar rush he’ll probably have to deal with later. “Ah, cachorrito,” he says, getting Oscar’s attention. “Take bites. Not the whole thing at a time. You do not want to get sick, no?”
Oscar huffs very pointedly.
Fernando just chuckles, leading them back into the paddock. “Only a quick stop, we grab Spidey and then go to the hotel for a nap, okay?”
He doesn't get to hear the kids' response, because the next moment there's a voice shouting, "Excuse me! Coming through!"
Someone runs past them, followed by a yelp and childish laughter. Fernando turns back to see–
Alex Albon, sprinting away as fast as he could, holding a giggling Oscar in his arms.
Fernando lets out a few choice words that Esteban knows not to repeat.
—
Fernando swears up a storm behind him, but Oscar giggles wildly in Alex’s arms as he runs, so he already counts that as a major win.
“We gotta hide!” Alex exclaims, to Oscar’s endless amusement. “Fernando’s gonna get us!”
Oscar points at the stacks of tires off to the side. “There, there!”
Alex laughs and quickly ducks behind the stacks, out of sight.
He mimes wiping some sweat off his brow. “Phew! That was a close one!” he remarks. “You think he saw us?”
Oscar shakes his head, covering his mouth to try and contain his laughter. It doesn’t work, but it’s a valiant effort.
“Good, good,” Alex replies with a nod. “Where did Fernando take you, anyway? I was running around the paddock for ages before I found you guys.”
Oscar blinks and holds up his Tim Tams.
Ah, they went out to get bribes.
“Oh, for me?” Alex teases, reaching out to grab the package. Oscar reacts quickly, pulling it out of reach with a pout and a firm shake of his head.
Alex laughs, ruffling Oscar’s hair. “Don’t worry, I won’t steal them from you.”
Oscar continues to pout, not so quick to forgive.
Alex just snickers, reaching up to take his cap off before unceremoniously plopping it onto Oscar’s head. The boy blinks, a bit bewildered, but Alex continues to laugh quietly, so Oscar giggles with him.
“Wow, I think that really suits you,” Alex says, poking Oscar on the nose, prompting more snickers. “I think we should take a picture.”
Alex pulls out his phone and beckons Oscar closer, bending down a bit until their faces are side by side. He holds his phone out and they pose for a selfie, but at the last second Alex’s other hand shoots out and tickles Oscar’s side, causing the boy to squeal.
The phone camera clicks, capturing the moment.
The picture is undeniably cute, with Oscar’s cheeks flushed and grinning. It goes straight into Alex’s favorites folder. He decides to send the picture to the drivers chat, which he had been neglecting since he’d snatched Oscar up.
Pierre G.
JUST WATCHED ALEX STEAL OSCAR
Yuki T.
oh no 😭
Nico H.
I’m sure Fernando liked that. Lol!
Sergio P.
Oh, definitely
Also Yuki, where are you hiding?
Yuki T.
nowhere
[Sergio P. reacted 👎]
Fernando A.
albon will face the consequences.
Lance S.
lmao thats not ominous
Pierre G.
everyone pray for Alex, he will need it
Alex A.
he’s just mad oscar likes me more 😋
[Image description: A blurry picture of Alex and Oscar, their faces squished together. Both of them are smiling, with Oscar appearing to be mid-giggle. He’s also wearing Alex’s cap.]
several people are typing…
“What are you guys doing?” A voice asks, startling Alex into looking up.
“George!” Alex exclaims, smiling at the boy peeking around a stack of tires. “What are you doing? I thought you were with Lewis!”
“He said to find you,” George explains, looking adorably sleep-ruffled. He probably just woke up.
“Oh? Did he say why?”
George nods. “Yeah, I’m supposed to be a distraction.”
“A distraction?” Alex asks, confused. “A distraction from what– No.”
Sure enough, Alex looks back to where Oscar was just seconds ago, and the kid is gone. Instead, he was already walking away from Alex, as Lewis held his hand and whisked him away.
Alex groaned in defeat. “No!”
“Alex,” George whines, tugging on Alex’s shirt. “Come play toys with me.”
Alex sighs, but grabs George’s hand with a smile. “Yeah? What are we gonna play?”
—
Oscar is worryingly easy to lure away from Alex, but maybe the kid just trusts Lewis already? Hopefully he isn’t the type to wander away as soon as you aren’t looking…
“So, kiddo,” Lewis says, glancing at the kid next to him as they walk. “You having a fun day so far? I heard you’ve been pretty busy.”
Oscar nods, shoving an entire Tim Tam in his mouth.
“Ah– take smaller bites, okay?”
Oscar frowns. “Nando said that too,” he complains, his mouth full.
Hm.
Lewis clears his throat. “Well, he’s right. You don’t want to choke, do you?”
The kid just hums consideringly and swallows, which causes Lewis to raise an eyebrow, but he lets it go.
“Anyway, did you have fun playing with Lando earlier? It looked fun, I was jealous,” Lewis says.
Oscar shrugs, before looking up at Lewis with wide eyes. “What was it like to race with Mark?”
Lewis laughs, but he probably should’ve expected that. Oscar is a Mark Webber fanboy even when he’s big, why would that change when he was small? “You wanna hear stories about Mark?”
Oscar nods eagerly.
He takes a moment to consider what stories to tell. He’s collected plenty of embarrassing stories about his fellow grid mates over the years, most of which are little-appropriate, but which one to tell first…
As it turns out, no matter how embarrassing of a story Lewis would tell him, Oscar would hang onto every word. Not because it was Lewis telling it– though, he is a great storyteller, thank you very much– but because it was about Mark.
He knows for a fact that Mark was running around the paddock right now, trying to track down Oscar– the man just as devoted to the kid as Oscar was to him. He was probably ecstatic when he heard that Oscar regressed, another opportunity to take care of him in any way he could.
Really, they were all playing around to see who would get to keep Oscar, but Oscar is always going to be Mark’s. They can’t keep the kid from him.
Maybe some sort of split custody deal…
—
“You see him, buddy?” Daniel asks, craning his head to look around.
Lando huffs, looking put-out. “No… maybe Lewis stole him away forever.”
Daniel gasps. “Forever?”
“Yeah, and then I’ll never get to play with him again,” Lando pouts.
“I don’t think so, we’ve got some pretty good leverage to steal Oscar back,” Daniel reassures him. “And even if we don’t, I’m sure we can organize a playdate.”
“That’s not the same,” Lando whines, and then freezes mid-step.
“Danny, Danny!” he shouts, pointing at something a little ways away. “Danny, I found them!”
Daniel turns to look where Lando is pointing and sure enough, there was Lewis and Oscar, sitting on a bench, with Oscar listening intently as Lewis talks.
“Woah, good job buddy!” Daniel exclaims. "Alright, do you remember the plan?"
Lando nods, practically vibrating with excitement.
"Good, okay, let's go!"
Lando runs over to where the other two were, with Daniel hot on his heels.
"Oscar!" Lando shouts, waving his arms. He skids to a stop in front of them, a wide grin on his face.
The boy in question startles, staring at Lando in surprise. He recovers quickly enough, though.
“Hi, Lando,” he greets, a lot quieter than Lando.
Daniel gives Lewis a cheery wave, which Lewis returns suspiciously.
“Hi, Oscar!” Lando says. “You should come play with me! Danny says he’s got lots‘a cool snacks just for you!”
“The ones from back home,” Daniel adds with a wink.
Oscar’s eyes widen. “What kind?” he asks, leaning forward eagerly.
Lando giggles. “We can’t tell you, you have to go back to my room to get them,” he responds.
“Hey, wait, hold on a minute–” Lewis tries to interject, but Oscar isn’t paying attention to him anymore.
“Okay,” he agrees, and gets up, leaving a heartbroken Lewis behind. “Nando already got me some, though, so you can’t tell Kim.”
“I’ll take your secret to the grave,” Daniel replies seriously, causing the boy to giggle.
Daniel winks at Lewis, who returns it with a scowl. Sucks to suck.
“Alright, come on, kiddos,” Daniel announces, holding his hands out for them to take. Lando grabs his hand, but Oscar grabs Lando’s, instead.
Daniel smiles at the sight and leads the two away, watching as Lando swings his and Oscar’s hands happily.
“Osc, Osc, we’re gonna have so much fun when we play together, I had a lot of fun earlier and I have so many toys we can play with, plus Danny is super duper nice you’ll like him a lot, even when he makes me brush my teeth and stuff it’s only ‘cause he cares about me! He’s a lot lot better than Lewis, I promise,” Lando rambles, to which Oscar listens politely.
Lando continues to talk about his toys and whatever else comes to mind, until he ends up literally shaking Oscar because of how excited (and probably hyper,) he is, and Daniel decides to step in.
“How about we stop and play tag for a bit, and you can show Oscar your toys after?” Daniel proposes, hoping that the game will burn off a bit of Lando’s energy.
“Yes!” Lando shouts, practically jumping up and down. He lets go of Daniel's hand and practically runs to a nearby large patch of grass, dragging Oscar with him.
“Slow down!” Daniel tries to yell, but Lando doesn’t hear him. It’s honestly a miracle neither of the kids tripped and fell on their way.
He makes his way over, dropping his backpack off to the side and joining the game, running around and laughing with the two of them, periodically reminding Lando to be gentle when you tag someone, stay on the grass, and don’t tag people who aren’t playing.
Unfortunately he isn’t as much of an endless fountain of energy as Lando is, so after around 15 minutes he announces that he’s taking a little break, and walks over to where he dropped his bag and sits down, watching as the two continue to play.
Eventually Oscar looks like he’s getting tired too, so Daniel calls him over to sit with him.
“Aww, but I wanna keep playing!” Lando whines, scuffing his foot on the grass with a pout.
“How about you show Oscar the cool gymnastics stuff you were showing me yesterday?” Daniel suggests, as Oscar flops down onto the grass next to him.
Lando deems this acceptable with a firm nod, and starts attempting to do a handstand.
“I’m sorry about earlier, kiddo,” Daniel says, turning to face Oscar. “I wouldn’t have asked you to watch Lando if I knew you were a little. I didn’t mean to put that pressure on you, especially not when there were other people that could watch him.”
Oscar blinks, staring at Daniel for a second. “...You’re not mad at me?” he asks tentatively.
What? “No, of course not!” Daniel exclaims. “Why would I be mad at you?”
Unfortunately, Oscar didn’t seem to want to answer that, instead opting to just shrug it off.
Daniel really wants to press the issue, but Lando calls out, “Osc, Danny! Watch me!”
He looks back to Lando, and the boy makes sure the two are watching before raising his hands up and doing a cartwheel.
“Woah!” Daniel exclaims. “That was awesome, buddy! Ten out of ten!”
“I did it! I did it!” Lando exclaims, and immediately goes to do another one.
However, this time he doesn’t stick the landing, and instead crumples to the ground with a yelp.
Daniel holds his breath for a moment, hoping Lando walks it off, but immediately gets up when he hears Lando start to cry, with a worried Oscar following behind him.
“Are you okay?” Daniel asks, crouching down beside a sobbing Lando.
“Owwww,” Lando whines, pulling up one of his knees, where Daniel can see he scraped it.
“Aw, bud, I’m sorry,” Daniel consoles him, pulling the kid in for a hug.
“Danny, it hurts,” Lando hiccups.
“You’re okay,” Daniel replies. “We’ll put a band-aid on it and it’ll be all better, okay?”
Lando sniffles and nods.
“Oscar, can you grab the bag for me please?” Daniel asks, to which Oscar quickly runs over to grab the backpack and returns it to Daniel.
“Thank you,” Daniel says, opening the bag up and pulling out a first aid kit.
He makes swift work of disinfecting the scrape (much to Lando's horror) and placing a big, dinosaur-themed band-aid on it, all the while Oscar hovers anxiously.
"See, all better!" Daniel says, giving Lando's hair an affectionate ruffle.
He packs everything back into the bag and helps Lando up. "Alright, I think it's time we head back now. What do you say?"
“Yeah,” Lando agrees, subdued, but Oscar doesn’t respond, staring off to the side. Daniel turns to see what he’s looking at, and–
Uh oh.
—
Oscar watches with interest as Max charges towards the three of them, quickly stepping out of the way before Max tackles Daniel to the ground.
Lando shrieks beside him, probably a bit shocked at seeing Max barrel his caregiver over like a bowling pin, and Carlos sidles up next to them.
“Hi Lando! Hi Oscar!” Carlos greets cheerily, entirely unconcerned with the scene unfolding before them.
“Carlos, why is your daddy beating up Danny?!” Lando demands.
Carlos looks back at the two caregivers currently wrestling with each other on the grass, as if he hadn’t noticed. “Oh, Maxie is fighting him for the rights to my new sibling!” he says proudly.
“New sibling?!” Lando screeches. “No! Oscar’s mine! You guys can’t take him!”
Carlos just sticks his tongue out at him. Oscar blinks, confused, before deciding that it’s not his business and ignoring it.
Lando fumes, but Carlos moves on to Oscar. “Papa said that we can watch Cars and play with my trains back at the hotel, we just gotta pick up your little stuff from your driver’s room.”
“You always play trains,” Lando whines, but both boys ignore him.
“I don’t have stuff in my room,” Oscar says.
“Oh.” Carlos blinks. “Where is it, then?”
“Um, my hotel? Mostly home, though.”
Carlos tilts his head. “Your team doesn’t give you any little stuff?”
“They do, but he didn’t tell us!” Lando interjects. “Nobody knew!”
“Oh, I thought I was just out of the loop,” Carlos admits.
“No one knew?” Oscar asks, a bit bewildered. It’s not like he was hiding it…
“Okay, okay! I yield!” Daniel shouts, drawing the boys’ attention back to the two caregivers.
Max laughs triumphantly as he gets up and finally lets go of Daniel from where he was basically holding the man in a chokehold, and Carlos cheers loudly. “Yay! We win!”
“We win!” Max agrees, grinning. On the ground, Daniel groans.
Max starts to walk away, gesturing for Carlos to follow him. For some reason, Carlos grabs Oscar’s hand and takes him with them. Oscar just goes with it, since that’s what’s been happening basically all day anyway.
Carlos talks a lot while they walk, much like Lando did. He was telling Oscar all about his toys and his caregivers and his stuffies. Oscar tries to keep up, even if he misses things sometimes.
They’ve been walking for a bit when Oscar sees Mark on the other side of the paddock, and he tugs Carlos’s hand.
“Mark,” he says, looking back at the other two and pointing. Max looks weird, like he’s holding in a fart. He ushers the two boys out of sight of Mark.
Oscar looks at him, confused. Why were they avoiding Mark? He likes Mark.
“We’re playing hide and seek with him,” Max explains, seeing Oscar’s confused expression. “So we have to make sure he doesn’t see us.”
“Oh, okay,” Oscar replies. That makes sense.
Carlos pulls on Max’s shirt. “Um, Maxie, I have to go,” he says, pointing at the nearby bathroom.
“Can you wait until we get back to the hotel?” Max asks, and it’s obvious that he asks this a lot.
“No.”
Max sighs. “Alright, come on, you two.”
Max takes them to the bathroom, but Oscar doesn’t have to go, so he stays outside. Carlos waves to him as he and Max go in, and Oscar waves back.
Carlos and Max take forever, though, and Oscar gets bored. And a bit distracted, he’ll be honest. So, at some point, he ends up wandering away, just taking a look around the paddock. Maybe he’ll find Mark again, and he can help him find Max and Carlos.
He never really goes out when he’s regressed, mostly just staying at home or in his hotel. He always makes sure that he can take care of himself when he’s small, too. Maybe that means that he doesn’t regress as much as he should, but he doesn’t mind. He doesn’t need anyone to take care of him.
“Psst, Oscar!”
Oscar startles and looks around, trying to find whoever was whispering to him.
“Oscar!”
Oscar finally spots the source– Yuki, peeking out from around the corner of a secluded hiding spot. The other boy beckons him closer.
“Hi Yuki,” Oscar greets quietly.
"Come hide with me!" Yuki says, ducking further into his hiding spot.
Oscar complies, following the other boy in. "Why are you hiding?"
"Papa is trying to make me take a nap," Yuki explains. "But I'm too old for naps! So now I'm hiding from him."
"Oh," Oscar replies. "Max and Carlos and Mark are playing hide and seek, too."
Yuki gasps, excited. "Woah! Who's winning? I know I'm winning 'cause Papa hasn't caught me yet, but he got really close a couple times! But some'a the engineers helped me hide."
"Um, I think Max 'n Carlos are winning, but I was gonna find Mark and help him look."
"Isn't that cheating?" Yuki asks curiously.
Oscar thinks about it for a moment. "Um, maybe?"
Yuki hums consideringly, before shrugging. "Okay. I think I saw him by the Ferrari garage earlier, if you wanna go find him."
Oscar does want to find him, so he nods and starts to leave. "Thank you. Bye-bye, Yuki."
"Bye-bye! Good luck!" Yuki shouts, probably forgetting that he's supposed to be hiding. Oscar continues on, watching Checo beeline his way to the spot he'd just left.
Uh oh. Looks like Yuki's gonna have to take a nap after all.
Oscar gets out of there before Yuki gets any ideas and tries to drag Oscar down with him.
—
Sebastian was aware of the shenanigans currently happening around the paddock at the moment, particularly concerning Mark’s not-kid, Oscar.
Finding out Oscar was a little and the consequential fight over him was definitely an entertaining saga to keep up with, especially considering he hasn’t been removed from the driver’s group chat just yet, so he received real-time updates about where the kid was– and where Mark was, right on Oscar’s tail.
Seb wasn’t planning on trying to steal the kid like everyone else seemed to be, since he knew that he likely would not survive Mark Webber’s wrath if he tried. He only barely avoided getting murdered by the man while they were still teammates, after all.
That being said, he did know that Oscar was currently missing, since apparently he’d wandered away from Max– so he kept an eye out for him, just in case. He wasn’t the type to let a little wander around with no one making sure they were safe.
He still didn’t expect to bump into the kid– literally. He’d been rounding a corner while staring at his phone when he almost bowled Oscar over, just barely catching him before he toppled over. Kid must be a bit unsteady on his feet when he’s small.
“Oscar?” Seb asks, watching as the boy regains his footing.
Oscar blinks and looks up at him. “Hi,” he says.
“Hello,” Seb greets back, amused. “Where are you going?”
Oscar doesn’t answer, just staring straight at Seb with his big eyes, much like babies do.
“You know, I think your manager might have an aneurysm if he finds out I got to meet you when you’re regressed before he did,” Seb muses. “We’re good now, but he might start daydreaming about killing me in my sleep again…”
Oscar blinks at him. Seb blinks back.
“...Do you want to go get ice cream?” Seb eventually asks, to which the boy nods and sticks his thumb in his mouth.
Seb shrugs. “Alright, let’s go.”
He turns and leads the boy away, with Oscar grabbing the back of his shirt to stay close.
His phone buzzes with multiple messages in a row, so he reluctantly takes it out as they walk to see who the hell is spamming him.
Charles
seb
seb
seb
SEBASTIAN
Seb
What?
Charles
lewis SNITCHED
he told mark where you and oscar are
and that you had him
get your affairs in order
make sure you leave oscar to me in the will
Well, shit.
Good thing that they were leaving– but he ushers the kid along a little faster with a wary glance over his shoulder, just in case.
—
Mister Sebby is silly, Oscar decides.
He keeps talking about getting caught, but Oscar doesn’t really know what he’s gonna get caught doing. But he doesn’t really care that much, because he’s gonna get Oscar ice cream, so Oscar tunes him out. What kind of ice cream does he want, though…
“...We don’t want Mark to find us,” Seb muses, and Oscar perks up when he hears his manager’s name. Is Mr. Sebby playing hide and seek with Mark, too?
Seb notices that Oscar is suddenly paying attention, and ruffles his hair with a chuckle. “We’re almost there, buddy.”
Oscar pulls his thumb out of his mouth to ask if Seb was also playing hide and seek, when someone calls Seb’s name and distracts him.
Oscar pouts as someone Oscar doesn’t care enough to recognize walks up and starts talking with Mr. Sebby. Doesn’t this guy know that they’re on an important mission to get ice cream? Now Seb is distracted talking about boring stuff, and Oscar was going to have to wait forever to get his treat.
He scuffs his foot on the ground in annoyance a few times before he spots Carlos walking up to them. Oscar opens his mouth to say hi, but Carlos puts a finger over his lips to tell him to be quiet.
Maybe he’s trying to sneak up on Mr. Sebby, since he’s facing the other way. But instead, when Carlos gets close he takes Oscar’s hand and starts tugging him away.
“Come, come!” Carlos urges quietly.
“But– Mr. Seb’s gonna get me ice cream,” Oscar argues with a frown.
“But he’s going to take forever,” Carlos whispers, which is very true. “We can just go get ice cream without him.”
That is a good point…
He lets Carlos drag him away.
The ice cream stand thankfully isn’t very far, and the person running it is very kind as Oscar and Carlos think about what they’re going to get.
Carlos ends up going with a vanilla ice cream while Oscar gets cookies and cream, and Oscar ends up paying because he’s still in his big boy clothes so he still has his wallet with him, while Carlos is in his comfy naptime clothes.
“I’ll have Papa or Maxie pay you back,” Carlos promises, but Oscar is already busy eating his ice cream (and subsequently getting it all over his face).
Carlos happily leads Oscar by the hand through the paddock, eventually leaving the paddock entirely and walking all the way to Carlos’s hotel.
How they didn’t get stopped by anyone asking where their caregivers are, Oscar doesn’t really know– at least in hindsight, because he wasn’t actually paying attention at the time.
They make their way into the hotel’s elevator without incident, and eventually they’re standing in front of a random hotel room. Carlos takes out a keycard and lets them both in, with an ice cream in one hand and Oscar’s hand in the other.
“Maxie, Papa!” Carlos exclaims. “I got something for you!”
There’s a shriek of, “Carlos?!” from somewhere further into the large hotel room, and Charles comes running out of one of the bedrooms, looking incredibly frazzled.
“I got Oscar!” Carlos says happily. Oscar continues to eat his ice cream, not really bothered with paying attention to anything else.
“Carlos, I was so worried–” Charles frets, before stopping and pulling out his phone. “Hold on, I have to call Max and tell him I found you.”
Max picks up almost immediately, and Charles quickly informs him of the situation before they hang up.
“Mon petit papillon, you cannot just leave like that,” Charles scolds, walking forward and checking Carlos over. “You scared me and your daddy very much. What if you had gotten lost? Or hurt?”
Oscar thinks that's a little silly. He doesn’t get lost or hurt when he leaves the house, but maybe Carlos got lost easier.
Carlos looks appropriately ashamed. "Sorry, Papa."
Charles kisses Carlos on the forehead. "Do not do that ever again, okay? Me and your daddy are going to have a talk with you when he gets back."
"Okay…" Carlos murmurs, but moves on quickly. "Can me and Oscar play for a bit? I want to show him my trains."
At that Charles's attention is finally focused on Oscar, who had just finished shoving the last of his ice cream in his mouth. He's had so many treats today! It was the best.
"Hello, Oscar," Charles greets kindly, and Oscar just stares back. Is Charles going to give him some more food too?
Charles chuckles. “You’ve got ice cream all over your face, mon lapin.”
He turns around and grabs something off the kitchen counter– what kind of fancy hotel has kitchens? The kind Max and Charles can afford, apparently– and then tries to wipe Oscar’s face.
Um, no, Oscar doesn’t want the wipe. He moves his head away, but the wipe follows him. He whines in protest, but Charles just says, “Almost done,” and continues to torment him with the thing before finally pulling away.
Oscar pouts. Charles is supposed to be giving him treats, not evil, evil wipes.
“Oscar, do you have a caregiver that we should call for you? I do not want to actually steal you away,” Charles remarks, to which Oscar shakes his head, feeling incredibly confused.
Oscar doesn’t need a caregiver, since he's perfectly fine taking care of himself, after all.
Charles just smiles, kissing Oscar’s forehead as well. “Alright, the two of you can go play. But Carlos, do not think you can use this to skip nap time,” he says sternly.
Carlos whoops excitedly, dragging Oscar further into their very fancy hotel room before reaching some sort of living room area that Carlos had obviously taken over as a place to play with his toys.
They settle down on the floor and Carlos pulls out a large drawstring bag, opening it and dumping the contents on the floor. Inside was a bunch of wooden train tracks along with some trains, and the two of them quickly get started on assembling the largest track possible.
Oscar doesn’t notice when Max arrives, but he does when the man suddenly ruffles his and Carlos’s hair. He looks up to see him watching them with a soft smile on his face.
“What are you two playing?” he asks curiously, watching as Carlos rams his train into Oscar’s.
“The trains are fighting,” Carlos tells him, and Oscar nods seriously.
“Oh, I see,” Max hums, amused.
Then he takes Carlos away for a bit for a “serious talk,” (which sounds dumb, in Oscar’s opinion), so Oscar plays alone for a little bit.
Carlos eventually comes back, and the two immediately resume their game. They play for a while longer when someone knocks on the door, and Oscar looks up curiously.
“Who is it?” Max asks, not moving from his spot on the couch.
Charles gets up and checks the peephole before wincing. “Uh, Webber.”
Oscar perks up.
“Don’t let him in,” Max replies.
“No, I have an idea,” Charles says, opening the door.
And there Mark was! He looked a bit grumpy, though. Maybe he was sad because he lost hide and seek.
“I was thinking, we should just split custody of him,” Charles says immediately.
Mark narrows his eyes and stares super intensely at Charles, and Charles stares back.
Oscar doesn’t want them to have a staring contest right now, Mark hasn’t even said hi to him! He stares really hard at Mark, hoping that he’ll pick up on it.
“You already have a little,” Mark points out.
“Yes, but Carlos and Oscar are obviously already very close, so we cannot separate them now,” Charles responds. “Plus, you cannot be at every race, so would it not be best for him to have all three of us? We can help him when you are not around, so he is never without a caregiver.”
Oscar keeps staring intently at Mark. Maybe if he stares hard enough, Mark will finally come over to say hi to him.
And it works! Mark finally looks away from his silly staring contest with Charles and focuses on Oscar, his face breaking out into a fond smile.
“Hey buddy,” he greets, walking over and giving Oscar’s hair an affectionate ruffle. What is it with people and his hair today? “I heard you had a lot of fun today.”
Oscar nods happily. “Yeah. I got a bunch’a snacks, and me and Lando played tag, and we played hide and seek from you. You can’t tell Kim about the snacks, though.”
“Yeah, you were a pretty good hider,” Mark replies dryly. “Don’t worry, I won’t tell Kim.”
Oscar grins.
“Alright, you and Carlos keep playing, us grown-ups are going to have a conversation, okay? And then I think it’s time for a nap for you,” Mark says, tapping Oscar on the nose.
Oscar’s grin immediately turns into a frown. “I don’t need a nap.”
“You look like you’re about to fall over,” Mark replies, raising a teasing eyebrow.
“Carlos is going to take a nap soon, too, so maybe you two could be nap buddies?” Charles offers.
Oscar shakes his head stubbornly.
Mark just laughs quietly. “Alright, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
With that, Mark, Charles, and Max all gather in the kitchen, just far enough that they can still watch the two boys without them bothering to eavesdrop.
Oscar huffs. He does not need a nap. He’s not even tired. He never takes naps when he’s small, even if he really likes them when he’s big.
So he keeps playing with Carlos, even if his blinks keep getting longer and longer, and eventually he gives Carlos his train and just watches the other boy play.
He leans against the couch, because it's really soft and comfy, and…
And…
“...But I want to keep playing,” he hears Carlos whine. There's some muffled conversation after that Oscar can’t really make out.
“Let me,” Someone closer to him says, before Oscar is being gently lifted into someone’s arms and settled onto their hip.
Oscar whines in response. He was comfy…
The person holding him shushes him gently, reaching a hand up to cradle Oscar’s head. Oscar drops it onto the person’s shoulder, which he is happy to find is also very comfy, and warm.
“Come on,” Mark murmurs softly, bouncing Oscar slightly as he carries him. Before Oscar knows it, he’s being gently lowered onto a couch.
He whines again, grabbing fistfuls of Mark's shirt with both hands, refusing to let go.
There’s a warm chuckle above him, and he’s thankfully pulled back into Mark’s arms. Then man lays down himself, this time with Oscar settled on top of him.
Oscar hums, content, and drifts off at the low sounds of people talking and the comforting rumble of Mark’s chest underneath him.