the only people i would ever wish covid lockdown on are shane hollander and ilya rozanov. they would just fuck off to the cottage and have the best year of their lives probably
Summary: 5 times (years) Oscar and Lando have been secretly but not secretly dating and 1 time (night) it’s not a secret anymore.
Rating: T
Chapters: 1/6
Chapter word count: 2,148
Prompt from Anon: What if Landoscar had met before they were teammates and had been dating long before Oscar moved to McLaren and they never bothered to hide it but they also never particularly told anyone, and everyone just assumed they get along really well. (Tbf Osc and Max F were teammates at one point so perhaps that’s how Landoscar met?)
Written for Landoscar Fest 2024-25 🧡
Notes: Started writing it. Had a breakdown. Bon appétit!
Dedicated to my anonymous prompter 🫶🏻
Playlist: +here
Read on AO3 | or read Part 1 below 👇🏼
~
2020
He can’t help but smile, heat rising to his cheeks as he sits and watches Lando win the latest round of CoD then pump his fists and screech in delight.
“GGs please in my chat for me and me only, thank you very much!”
Oscar folds over the table, laughing at the Brit on his phone screen. A replay from the stream two days ago shows Lando clasping his hands together and throwing them over his shoulders one at a time in celebration. It’s adorable and Oscar can’t believe that this endearing dork races amongst the best of the best in Formula 1 and has been one of his heroes since karting.
His mind absolutely does not imagine them gaming together like this, Oscar getting to tease him freely to make him blush, Lando spluttering out insults that are just another form of affection from him if you’re one of his closest friends.
Oscar admires him a lot. Lando Norris is a talented driver, a future world champion in Oscar’s eyes, having always been successful in his racing categories no matter his age difference from his peers. Lando’s petite but strong, fast, and not to be underestimated. He’s also pretty cute, with his soft brown curls and bright hazel eyes. He loves gaming, and it’s a happy accident that he broadcasts on the internet for everybody to watch.
Oscar isn’t stalking him or anything, honest! But with the current COVID pandemic occurring, everybody is locked in their houses until further notice, so who can blame him for taking every spare minute he can to watch Lando’s streams, especially ones he misses with his training?
That’s what he’s doing here at the Renault factory in Enstone. He’s sitting wearing a face mask with his gym bag and water bottle, waiting for his allocated gym slot for the day. They’re on rotation for the duration of lockdown, meaning it’s one-in-one-out unless you’re with people in your bubble. Oscar’s trainer is currently spending socially distanced time with his family, so he’s alone today.
He'd spent an extra week in Melbourne after the Grand Prix was cancelled before returning to England to avoid getting stuck. Lockdowns inevitable and needing to be in Europe for his season prep, his mum and sisters were all too happy to have him for as long as they could. It was nice, even if he’d spent the final night squished on the hard wooden floor amongst the blankets and tangled limbs belonging to his snoring sisters.
Oscar misses them a lot.
Stuck here in London, with travel to Italy for Prema sim work also off the table, he’s making do with his Renault driver academy privileges until more information comes out about the 2020 racing season. He’s sat at the designated table in the empty cafeteria, waiting for the all-clear to enter the gym next door. It’s all a bit overwhelming how much the world has changed in a month, and Oscar just wants everything to return to normal.
At least he has Lando’s streams to help him smile through it all.
On his phone screen, the Brit reads through the chat and answers the occasional question with a healthy dose of sass. He’s wearing a cosy hoodie that’s hiding his muscled arms as he flexes at the camera and Oscar pretends that it’s aimed at him when Lando wishes the fan good luck with their workout–
“S’up, man!” Max Fewtrell’s voice abruptly brings him back to reality and he quickly locks his phone and slams it down on the table. Subtle, yep. Not suspicious at all.
In the same moment, his elbow sends his full water bottle flying several feet away with a loud thump and he ducks his head with a defeated sigh. Max, still on his feet, rescues the rolling bottle for him. Oscar mumbles out a thanks, full of embarrassment knowing he’s just been caught red-handed.
Max is Lando’s best friend.
And Oscar’s sat in this empty, echoing room at their workplace with his phone playing aloud without earphones, giggling and blushing at said best friend on his phone screen.
Well, there goes his dignity for the year.
“You play CoD, right?” Max asks as he sticks his hand under the automatic hand sanitiser dispenser at the other end of the table. Oscar wonders for a second how he could know that before he remembers they’ve played together before during their joint Eurocup campaign. Max was champion that year and moved up to F3 a year before Oscar followed suit.
“Umm, yeah,” he replies. “That’s why I watch the streams. To improve my own game.”
Oscar might throw himself into the road outside. He’s already in the shit; he could have gone about his entire day without running his mouth and making it worse.
Max raises an eyebrow, his eyes twinkling, his knowing smirk 100 per cent hidden beneath his face mask. Oscar coughs and stands up.
“Gym’s free, yeah? Gotta go.” He shoots Max a thumbs up whose loud cackle echoes around the room as Oscar makes his escape.
Jesus.
~
landonorris
hiya wanna play some cod?
max says ur alright
oscarpiastri
Sure
Not on stream though, that ok?
landonorris
duh u muppet
chat can b mean n ur tooo nice
max says so anyway
ad me @ NightKnight
u got discord btw?
oscarpiastri
👍🏼
Same @
landonorris
u hav @ NightKnight too?
omg oscar we match 😱
oscarpiastri
Lando no
I meant my name @ oscarpiastri81
Shit
I forgot about the number
Sorry
landonorris
Oscar 81 is 2 numbers
oscarpiastri
8 and 1 are two numbers separately yes, 81 is just one
landonorris
just messin w u 😛
max confirms ur not a stalker
oscarpiastri
Thanks?
landonorris
I trust him
lets see wot u got Piastri 🥊
oscarpiastri
When and where, Norris? 🥊
landonorris
so formal wow
2pm tomorrow. Got media stuff today ☹️
Your on!
oscarpiastri
*You’re
Good luck with the media stuff 😊
landonorris
Thank u 😊
You’re on!
oscarpiastri
You’re welcome. Can’t wait 😁
~
He and Lando make a good team. At least, they do when Oscar concentrates enough not to get his player immediately killed because he’s distracted by Lando’s soft voice over the discord.
Because he’s playing CoD with Lando Norris.
Lando’s softly spoken one minute and total chaos gremlin screeching over his headset the next, and Max is teasing the both of them and Oscar is giggling and blushing exactly like he knew he would be, all too glad that they can’t see him. After several rounds, he gets brave enough to tease Lando directly, and he glows at the response, wishing he could commit the adorable sound of Lando’s giggle to memory to replay after a shit day.
He'll settle for the stream replays.
The first time he hears Lando call him a fucking muppet over the comms he thinks he might die. Pretty fucking cool to be playing with the man himself in the first place though so Oscar thinks it’s not a bad way to go.
When they play, it isn’t always with Max, either. Sometimes, it’s just the two of them, and Oscar’s quite unsure how he manages to survive those sessions without ending up impersonating a puddle on the floor. It’s nice, though, and in between the gremlin screeching, they chat and get to know each other.
At one point, he even opens up about missing his family, and Lando pauses their game to check if he’s okay and says if he ever feels lonely or sad, to just message him, no matter what time it is. It’s sweet and caring of him, and Oscar feels close to tears as he thanks him.
Max clocks his crush, because of course he does, and Oscar sends him the middle finger emoji in response to a GGs lovebirds message he gets. In their private thread away from Lando’s eyes, thank fuck, and Max must feel he’s overstepped because he’s immediately typing back that he’s not an asshole, apologises, and says he only means that he wouldn’t mind someone kind and genuine like Oscar being there for his best friend.
Oscar wouldn’t mind it either but what business of that is his?
~
The season finally starts again, and Oscar wins the first race of his debut F3 season, with Logan coming second. They beam at each other on the modified podium of the Red Bull Ring. Lando’s been his hero since karting, but Logan has been his best friend, and this year, they’re teammates, so forgive him for basking in the special moment for a few minutes.
COVID might have meant things changing, such as them all wearing face masks and the podium moved to parc fermé, but the music rings out and they still spray each other with the champagne and Oscar can pretend everything is back to normal for those precious minutes.
Lando sends him a congratulatory message saying he watched the final laps from the McLaren garage and is confident Oscar’s gonna win the Championship. It sends a burst of warmth through him. This time, Logan gives him knowing looks across the Prema truck, and Oscar lobs the nearest cushion at him.
Logan’s known about his crush on Lando since forever, just like they’ve both known they’re not straight since forever. Oscar wonders when he’s finally gonna ask Kyle out.
Come Sunday, he finishes 8th after starting 10th as the grid’s reversed from his win, but he’s still in the Championship lead which he’ll take any day. The day only gets better when he watches from his hotel room as Lando beats Lewis Hamilton to the third and final podium spot in the Grand Prix with the fastest final lap of the race.
Lando’s first podium in Formula 1.
Oscar’s first win in Formula 3.
Not a bad weekend for the pair of them.
As he watches Lando pour the champagne directly over his own head, the sticky liquid cascading over his Pirelli cap, over his papaya-masked face and down his ocean blue race suit, Oscar can’t tear his eyes away. He’s beautiful, focused only on his own moment on the podium, soaking up the joy as his body soaks up the dry sparkling wine.
Once it’s over and they’re in the country for another week for the next round, Oscar sends him a congratulatory message which will no doubt get lost amongst the hundreds of thousands of praises Lando will receive over the week.
A few hours later, a reply comes in, asking if he brought his console and whether he wants to game as he’s gonna be much too hyped to sleep. Oscar agrees, obviously, and they arrange it all in the group Discord.
Max declines.
~
Lando’s miserable in Belgium and Oscar doesn’t know what to do.
Max dropped out after Spain due to a combination of funding and health issues, and Lando is taking it harder than he clearly expected.
Oscar tries to think of how he’d feel if Logan suddenly dropped out, F1 dream down the drain, walking away from the life they’d lived since they were kids. Oscar moving on without him, working his way up categories, achieving his F1 dream alone.
Yeah, he’d be devastated too.
His messages go unanswered and he tries not to let it get to him. Lando’s got a solid support network behind him, he doesn’t need a Formula 3 driver who he happens to game with bothering him when he’s feeling shit and supposed to be concentrating on his Grand Prix weekend.
His phone buzzes with a notification from Instagram.
landonorris
r u up? wanna see u
It’s all Oscar needs before he shoves on his runners, hoodie, and mask, grabs his phone and key card then leaves the room. He’s in the elevator before he remembers he doesn’t know where exactly he’s heading to. McLaren stays in the Hilton, obviously, but he’s not thought this through and doesn’t even know if Lando even wants him to come in person. He probably meant a video call.
He rechecks his Instagram, beginning to type his question when another message appears.
landonorris
room 418
sorry if its a bother
don’t wanna be alone
jon can bring u up from reception so ur not in trouble
hilton love us tho dw
ur in my bubble now lol
Oscar lets out the breath he doesn’t even realise he’s been holding, shoulders slumping as he leans against the back of the elevator.
Lando wants to see him.
Lando doesn’t want to be alone right now.
Lando says Oscar’s part of his bubble.
oscarpiastri
I’m coming Lando
Tell Jon I’ll be there in 10 minutes
landonorris
❤️
As soon as he opens the door, Oscar wraps Lando up in the warmest and safest hug he can muster from his lanky frame. Lando shakes in his arms, and Oscar knows as he kisses his soft brown curls and whispers gentle reassurances, that his crush is not just a crush anymore.
Online school is probably a form of torture in some jurisdictions. Being obligated to listen to a class through a poor quality mic with no noise reduction on fucking GOOGLE MEET during the supposed "best years of my life" shaped me into the mess I am today.
Jim Lee did 60 sketches in 60 days, auctioned to help out LCSs that lost money during the COVID lockdowns. He raised about $700k auctioning these and other drawings by his friends.
Artistically, to my eyes, Jim Lee leveled up on these.
