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prologue. dr3
Daniel meets Lando Norris with everyone else during pre-season testing in 2019. He notices that he pretty much sticks to Carlos and the other rookies for the year, George Russell with Williams and Alex Albon with Red Bull. He has a baby face to end all baby faces and drives like he has something to prove, which he does to be fair. He’s all of 19 and insanely talented for his age (not Max Verstappen talented but then again that’s once in a generation) and he deserves to have all of the confidence he does because he’s been signed with McLaren of all teams in his rookie season.
Daniel talks with him intermittently throughout his seasons with Renault, kind of hard to avoid when you only have 19 other colleagues, but he doesn’t really get to know him until they end up at McLaren in 2021. They get on like a house on fire, riffing off of each other every chance they get and making each other laugh like they’ve never heard a good joke in their lives.
When the Formula 1 train ends up in Monaco, Lando gets his second podium of the season and Daniel, looking up at him from a sea of papaya below, notices his heart beating faster than it normally does. He doesn’t know why yet, but it’s the first time he notices. Several months later, Daniel stands on the top step of a podium for McLaren in Monza and as he looks at Lando, covered in champagne, he’s finally able to put a name to the feeling he’s been experiencing all year; he’s in love with Lando Norris. Painfully, deeply in love and he has no idea how to deal with it. It panics him so much he barely talks to Lando between Monza and Sochi and he feels like the biggest of dicks when Lando almost wins in Sochi and then gets fucked over by the rain.
He decides on his course of action then and there, sitting in a debrief while the love of his life looks down at the table and fiddles with a blank piece of paper in front of him, he will never, ever, ignore Lando again. He knows it’s not his fault, logically it couldn’t be, but he feels guilty all the same, like his poor communication caused Lando to slide and lose the lead. Immediately after the race, he pulls Lando into his driver’s room and, in a moment of pure selfishness, hugs him tighter than he’s hugged anyone. He feels Lando’s arms wrap around his waist, growing smaller and smaller because of the stress, and squeeze just as tight; he doesn’t want to let go.
Eventually he does and he does what Daniel Ricciardo is known for and starts joking. It brings a bright smile to Lando’s face almost immediately and he feels better instantly knowing he hadn’t totally fucked it up.
His love grows race after race, almost podium after almost podium until he has an impromptu meeting with Zak just before they leave for Zandvoort in 2022; he’ll be out of a contract next year due to his performance and a rookie named Oscar Piastri, champion of F2 2021, will be taking his place. He tells Lando on the flight over and holds him as they both cry. Lando doesn’t want a different teammate, he’s happy with Daniel and he knows Daniel doesn’t want to leave but he is anyway. He hears Lando lay into Zak when the news goes public but he goes quiet when he’s told that the contracts have already been signed and the buy-out is already in Daniel’s bank account.
In Abu Dhabi, Lando holds him tight and refuses to let go until he absolutely has to and Daniel does the same. It’s like losing a piece of himself.
prologue. ln4
Lando meets Daniel when he’s new to the world of actually being a Formula 1 driver, signed on by McLaren in tandem with Carlos Sainz to take the place of the retiring Fernando Alonso and sacked Stoffle Vandoorne. Him and Carlos get along better than he has with almost anyone (save for Max Fewtrell) and he sticks to him like a pervasive fungus, only leaving to hang out with Alex and George.
He gets to know Daniel when they become teammates in 2021, though when they meet it’s obvious Lando is still mourning being Carlos’ teammate. He gets over himself and soon enough, they’re cracking jokes that would make a nun blush and annoying everyone that has to work with them, especially the marketing team that try to make them be family friendly for YouTube videos and other pieces of media. He noticed the funny feeling in his chest in Imola, when Daniel hugs him tight after he gets off the podium with his trophy. His heart is racing as he buries his face in Daniel’s shoulder and he doesn’t know why.
He realizes in Monza that he’s been in love with Daniel the whole time as he looks up at him with a sun induced halo and begins to hate Italy for giving him existential crises that he doesn’t know how to handle at 21. Daniel starts ignoring him as soon as they get off the plane in England and he’s convinced Daniel has somehow looked in his mind and figured out his dark secret and starts hating himself for feeling this way, cries in his mum’s lap about it and everything. She doesn’t know how to fix it though, and just cards her fingers through his hair until he passes out from all his tears and wakes up in his bed a few hours later, his dad having carried him there.
He does well in Sochi until he doesn’t, catches a puddle and skids off the track, losing his lead and ending the race 7th when it should have been his first win. Everyone he sees from the team tells him they don’t blame him and it wasn’t his fault in a way that’s probably meant to be reassuring but just makes him fall into a pool of self deprecation. He completely zones out during the debrief and no one calls him out for it, which is unusual because he does it all the time; the pity he sees in everyone’s faces makes the pit in his stomach sink lower.
They leave the briefing later and Daniel pulls him into his driver’s room and hugs him tighter than anyone but his mum has done before and holds the tears back with almost everything he has, holding Daniel with the rest. God, he loves this man. Eventually they have to pull back and Daniel makes dumb joke after dumb joke and it makes Lando smile then laugh his head off because Daniel is really funny to him, his stupid jokes hit just the right nerve to make Lando break down laughing.
The good times can’t last forever and on the flight to Zandvoort a year later, Daniel tells him he’s getting sacked and Daniel decides he hates Zak Brown and Andreas Seidl in that moment even though he knows it's not true. He hugs Daniel and cries into his shoulder as Daniel cries into his hair and pretends his heart didn’t just crack in a million small pieces.
A couple hours before the team is slated to release the news about one Oscar Piastri being Lando’s teammate for next year, Lando stomps his way into Zak’s office and gives him a piece of his mind and asks him, begs him, to reconsider but what’s done is done and Daniel’s out of a job.
A few weeks later, Lando hugs Daniel as tight as he can and refuses to let go until he has to and Daniel hugs back just as tight. It’s like losing a piece of himself.
i. finally
Daniel takes in a huge breath as the elevator rises to the floor Lando’s room is on, his heart jackrabbiting in his chest and his thoughts going a mile a minute. He loves Lando so much, too much, and if this doesn’t go well he’ll lose his goddamn mind. His phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out with shaking fingers. There sat a text from Logan. ‘ It’s gonna be fine, breathe. ’ Daniel was pretty sure Logan must have been a psychic at that point to know Daniel was three breaths away from a panic attack so he slowed down his breathing and tried to calm down. It worked, not well, but he wasn’t on the edge of curling into a ball and shaking back and forth anymore.
The elevator dinged and opened and Daniel was right back on the edge. He took a second and stepped onto the floor, gazing at the directory signs that were sitting on the wall. 1426, that was the room he was looking for. He took a right, then a left, then went down a decently long hallway until he was standing in front of the room and the conversation that would likely determine his mental health for the foreseeable future; he was getting dropped by Red Bull after Singapore unless he got a podium or was proved to be Jesus Christ incarnate and there was no way either of those were happening so he wasn’t very hung up over it. This though, this would make or break him.
He raised his hand and let it hang there for a second before bringing it down again and wiping it on his jeans; his hands were sweaty. He raised it again and knocked on the door before he could stop himself. He stood there, every instinct telling him to run for the elevator, and the door opened. Lando stood there in a hoodie and sweatpants, his hair a curly mess on top of his head and his goatee a little scruffy, indicating he hadn’t shaved yet. He looked perfect.
He registered it was Daniel at the door and smiled widely. “Hey mate, you wanna come in or do you want to have this conversation in the hallway?”
Daniel huffed an unexpected laugh and shook his head. “I’ll come in, I really don’t want anyone to overhear this.” Lando made a confused noise but opened the door wider and stepped to the side, letting Daniel in without any fuss.
He turned away and picked up a can of Monster, chugging for it for a second before setting it back down. “Can I get you anything?”
Daniel breathed in and out before answering. “Just water, please.” He’d been tempted to ask for anything alcoholic, but he would have this conversation sober or not at all, god help him.
Lando grabbed a glass and headed into the bathroom where a sink was turned on and it gave Daniel a minute to look around the room. It was spacious and well decorated. The bed had a little towel animal on it and it made Daniel smile a little bit. Lando’s suitcase already appeared to have exploded all over the room, namely the floor, bed, and a chair by the window, but it left the towel untouched; Daniel doubted Lando would touch it at all.
Lando walked back into the room and handed Daniel the glass and scooped his clothes off the chair before sitting down. Daniel took his cue and sat in the other chair, trying to appear as relaxed as possible. Lando took the Monster can in hand again and leaned back in his chair, looking at Daniel with a pleasant but serious expression. “So, now that we’re done stalling, what did you want to talk to me about?”
Daniel took in a breath again, they were really doing this. It was okay, he’s got this. “I wanted to tell you something…” he trailed off, suddenly losing his voice.
Lando looked at him, a bit more serious. “Are you getting dropped again?”
Daniel startled, surprised Lando had figured it out. “Well, yes, but that isn’t what I wanted to tell you.”
“Oh.” Lando seemed surprised that there was more to it. He furrowed his brow in confusion and a bit of sadness, presumably at the thought of Daniel leaving again. “What is it?”
You got this Daniel. “I wanted to tell you…” Come on Daniel, just say it, rip the bandaid off. “I’m in love with you. I have been since at least Imola 2021, I figured out in Monza after I won. I understand if that’s weird and you don’t want to talk to me or be friend anymore-”
Lando slammed his Monster can down on the table between them and stood up, rounding the table before planting himself across Daniel’s lap and crashing their lips together in a kiss, his hands framing Daniel’s cheeks. Daniel’s hands clamp down tightly on his waist and Lando’s hands move to hold the back of his neck as they kiss frantically for a few minutes, lost in each other as they bite each other’s lips and stick their tongues in each other’s mouths; Lando tastes like his Monster and Daniel finds he likes it more than Red Bull. They only part because they need air, both of their mouths red and swelling with the intensity of their kissing, though it would be better to describe it as them devouring each other. Lando gets his breath back first, at least enough to whisper the words Daniel was hoping to hear. “I love you too, I have since Imola that first year.”
Daniel lets out a breath of relief, all the adrenaline in his blood leaving his body as he tightens his grip on Lando and brings him into a hug, tighter than he’s ever hugged him before, even when he got sacked. Lando reciprocates in kind, one of his hands tangled in his hair as he presses a kiss to the side of Daniel’s face.
They stay like that for a bit before Daniel’s phone starts vibrating and he has to shove Lando back a bit to check it. He pulls Lando back after he pulls it out of his pocket and Lando watches the screen and the notifications that pop up on the screen. It’s all a variation of the same message asking how his conversation with Lando went and oh my god he’s actually going to do it and it makes both of them laugh. Daniel pulls up his camera app and puts it in selfie mode. He looks at the camera and makes sure Lando’s face is in frame and takes the photo as Lando presses a kiss to his cheek. He looks Lando in the eyes and sees nothing but love there. He sends the photo to everyone he’d received a text from and turns his phone on silent, pulling Lando’s face to his own and connecting their lips again.
He moves his hands to rest on Lando’s ass, and then on the underside of his thighs and lifts with his back and legs, lifting Lando and then depositing him as center on the bed as he can manage. Their lips barely part the whole time and by the time Daniel’s taken off his zip up sweatshirt Lando’s taken off his pullover and he wasn’t wearing anything under it and god does that do things to Daniel’s head and dick.
A few hours and a whole lot less clothes later, Lando is asleep with his head on Daniel’s chest, resting over his heart as Daniel cards his hands through Lando’s curls. Daniel presses a kiss to his forehead and whispers “I love you” into his hairline. Lando snuggles closer like he heard him and Daniel’s heart grows three sizes. He sleeps the best he has in a while.