caught in a bad dream
an F1 RPF Landoscar Omegaverse whump collection by papayabrain
For Whumptober 2025
No.31: ALT 3 If all my days are numbered, why do I keep counting?
Summary: Lando and Oscar develop a fear of flying after the plane crash that left Osc in a coma. Sequel to No.17 and No.23.
Rating: T
Word count: 2.1k
Warnings: Nightmare, fear of flying, mentions of past plane crash (though the crash itself is not written), serious injuries, and past coma.
Notes: This is it, #31/31! Thank you to everybody who’s read and supported this collection over the past six months! All my love and hugs 🧡
Based on the song Why Do I Keep Counting? by The Killers 🎧
Read on AO3 | or read below 👇🏼
~
“Who the heck is Lando?” Mae asked.
“You know who he is! That British F1 driver he’s been crushing on,” Edie replied, before looking back at Oscar. “Have you been dreaming? Kinda creepy to think his birthday is your phone passcode.”
“Yeah, stalker,” Hattie added. “Maybe you should go back to bed, and we’ll leave you two well alone.” She smirked, and he gave her a flat look.
“So tell me again what day it is?”
“Seriously, dude? What is wrong with you?”
Mae stood up from the table and hurried over to hug him. “It’s your birthday, silly!”
“Except it can’t be,” he insisted, hugging her back. “That means it’s race day.”
“Dad’ll be home from work in time to watch it with you later,” Mum reassured.
Dad?
“You mean David? And whatta ya mean, watch it? I’m supposed to be there! I’m a driver!”
Her eyes widened, and he could feel his sister’s eyes on him. “Noooo, Oscar. Chris, your dad. My husband.”
“You’re kinda freaking us out here, dude,” Hattie whispered.
Mae shoved him in the chest. “Stop being mean! We’re trying to be nice, and you’re ruining it!”
Oscar felt his heart thump inside his chest. “But you’re divorced, Mum. And I’m an F1 driver. For McLaren. Lando’s my teammate.” And my boyfriend, but he didn’t feel like that would help them understand anything right about now.
“At what point do we call triple zero?” Edie said, standing up and approaching him, running her hands over his head like she was feeling for a goose egg. “I’m being serious.”
“This isn’t funny anymore!” Oscar yelled, storming past them all and into the lounge, only to stop dead.
The frames on the wall were different. Art pieces and more family photographs that Oscar doesn’t remember taking. The glass cabinet full of junior trophies and F1 helmets was gone. His framed Prema suit, signed by the team, was no longer there.
What the fuck?
~
Oscar shot awake. Breath escaping in heavy gasps, sweat sticking his hair to his forehead, tell-tale sting in his eyes and down his cheeks.
“Osc?” came Lando’s sleep-thickened voice.
He brought the blankets to his nose, Lando’s orange and ginger scent embedded in them, and he sobbed in utter relief. A soft, warm hand stroked his bare back. Across countless skin grafts, the mismatched scars evidence that his dream wasn’t real.
His omega’s arms surrounded him, chapped lips kissing his shoulder, whispering soothing words as his breathing calmed. A solid, real, presence.
“Fuck,” he eventually said. Dropping the blankets and wiping his eyes, he let Lando coax him back to lying down. He sprawled across his chest, face buried against his neck, his boyfriend’s warm paws stroking over his back once more.
“Nightmare?” Lando asked quietly.
“Kind of.”
He’d never told anyone about the strange alternate world he’d dreamed about while he was in the coma. His therapist had insisted it was normal to experience vivid, surreal encounters. He’d insisted he couldn’t remember anything. Blocking out traumatic experiences was also normal. His dream had just been crazy.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Oscar took in the room outside of the nest. His racing memorabilia was all here, old trophies and helmets in display cases, framed photos of him across different years. Some scattered McLaren and other branded apparel, including their suitcases, with more in his wardrobe.
No Bachelor of Science on the wall. No extra cricket achievements past those of his youth. With Lando here, in his childhood bedroom, his scent was all around like an extra comfort blanket. Further confirmation.
“I dreamt,” he began, “while I was in the coma.”
He heard his omega’s breath hitch, his arms tightening ever so slightly.
“I wasn’t a driver. I never left Melbourne for Europe. Nobody knew who you were. I felt like I was going insane–” His throat tightened, and he swallowed. “It was my birthday. I was confused because I was supposed to be in Japan for the race. They all thought I was sick, while I thought they were all playing a stupid prank.”
Tears cascaded down his cheeks, and Lando kissed his head.
“All of my racing stuff was gone, I had a mechanical engineering degree, and nothing I had smelled like you.”
“Oh, honey,” Lando soothed. “I’m sorry, that must have been so scary.”
“I looked you up on Instagram. You were still you, still a driver, still for McLaren.”
Lan snorted softly. “Was Carlos still my teammate?”
He felt his stomach drop. Fuck, how was he supposed to tell him?
“Osc? Baby, you’re tense. What’s wrong?”
“Max,” he whispered.
He felt Lando cackle beneath him. “Verstappen? Oh my God, how was that panning out?”
“Umm, yeah, no. Other Max.”
“Shit.” He stiffened, and Oscar felt his tears tickle down his neck. He was immediately shuffling in the nest, so they swapped, cuddling Lan to his chest as he wept, the alpha whispering apologies and rumbling softly as the omega whined.
“It is shit. I’m so sorry, darling.” He scented him, pulling up the blankets to cover the goosebumps across his skin, holding him as tightly as he dared. He shouldn’t have said anything.
“No, I’m sorry,” Lando sniffled. “I don’t know why I’m so upset. It wasn’t even real. It was just a dream, right?”
“Yeah, course,” he choked.
Lando propped himself up on his elbows, cupping his cheek. “You survived. You’re here. We’re real,” he stated through tears.
Oscar nodded, a small smile gracing his lips as they kissed.
~
He hadn’t considered that another consequence of the crash would be a newly developed phobia of flying.
Why would he? He’d been sedated through his repatriation from Japan, and Melbourne had everything he needed to recover. No need to fly anywhere else.
Lando had stayed with him the whole time, both of their careers on hold while they took the time they needed. Zak, Andrea, and other McLaren personnel all checked in on them from time to time, and while he longed to be back racing as soon as he could, travelling to them or even back to Monaco hadn’t sunk in as a potential problem.
It was only when Lan had mentioned going back, almost halfway through June, that it hit him. Flying from Australia back to Europe was basically an entire day in the air. It wasn’t a hop, skip, and jump like flying back and forth between Monaco and the MTC was, or all the European races. There was no escape for hours if they panicked, and that was if they even got off the damn runway in the first place.
There were so many opportunities for things to go wrong.
They were relaxing in the lounge, cuddled up on the sofa after another delicious family dinner, his sisters out walking Basil while Mum and David cleaned up. An animated movie played on the TV, the one about anthropomorphic racing cars.
Lando had insisted on this one because it was either this or the one with the bugs, which was Oscar’s preference, but his boyfriend had a brand new disdain for the creatures, having resided in Melbourne for the past couple of months. He’d refused to sleep in the nest four times after finding Huntsman spiders on the wall.
“Would you be scared about flying back to Europe?” he’d asked quietly, as they watched Lightning McQueen get transported by Mack to his next race location. Unfortunately, they couldn’t road trip back themselves.
“Yeah,” he admitted, wringing his scarred hands in his lap. Lan immediately steadied them, bringing them to his lips to plant a gentle kiss against his skin.
“I talked to Max earlier. He and Connor have gotten into watching livestreams of airports, planes taking off and landing. Says it’s quite soothing.”
“I’m sure it is if you’ve always been safe,” Oscar bit out.
He didn’t mean for it to come out like that. They were only trying to help. Lando wanted to go home so he could make his home race in Silverstone next month. He’d been training hard while Oscar had been healing. The alpha didn’t want to let him go, let alone on multiple fucking planes.
“I guess. I dunno if you wanted to try some with me. See how you feel?”
“I can stay here as long as I like. Why do you need to drag me into this?” His breath hitched, and he wrenched his hands free from his omega’s, covering his face as tears began to escape. Shit.
He expected Lando to run, to storm out of the room and leave him there. Instead, his boyfriend cradled him, scenting and soothing him.
“Because I would love for you to come with me. Obviously, you don’t have to if you don’t want to. I’d never force you. To have you in the garage with me? Or just in hospitality? I’d love for you to be there. Don’t feel guilty if you’re not ready, Osc. I don’t even know if I’m ready.”
Oh. “You’re scared of flying, too?”
“After what we’ve been through? Of course I am!” Lando was crying now, and Oscar kissed his forehead before hugging him back properly. “The idea of stepping onto a plane, let alone being in the air for hours, only having to do it again once we get to Dubai…staying here is just fucking easier. I tracked my parents’ flight home from Japan. Couldn’t sleep until they Facetimed me from home with my sisters.”
“How did you handle the flight here?” He couldn’t help but ask. He hadn’t considered it before.
Lando ducked his head. “I didn’t. Threw a proper tantrum and then literally threw up in the airport lounge. A lucky part of a medical repatriation flight is that you’re escorted by medical personnel who can also sedate you.”
“Jesus, Lan. I didn’t know.”
“Well, I was fucking embarrassed about it, wasn’t I. They were amazing at calming me down, but you can understand why I’m hesitant to go through that again. With no sedation…maybe many sleeping pills, however.”
Oscar turned back to the film. Lightning had to brave the situation he found himself in. Lost far away from his normal life, forced to problem solve, embrace the unknown, and fight to get back to business as usual.
Subtle, Lando.
He sighed, his heart longing to return to the racetrack. Together, they stood a chance.
“So, tell me more about these airport livestreams?”
~
Lando was practically bouncing in the seat beside him. His omega hadn’t slept a wink the night before, and Oscar hadn’t fared much better. Facing their fear together was the only thing that got him to leave the nest that morning.
Adam would be meeting them in Dubai, then Cisca, Artturi, and Jon would be meeting them at Heathrow. For the first stretch from Melbourne, however, they were on their own. Booked into a private first-class suite, armed with medication, they’d be well looked after for the journey.
Oscar couldn’t stop fidgeting. They had scent blockers on for the first time since the hospital, but they were wearing each other’s hoodies anyway. They’d be privately escorted onto the plane so they didn’t have to face the public and were currently waiting in the private lounge.
They could watch them all take off and land, but Oscar had elected to sit with his back to them. Lando had quickly joined him. Max’s recommended streams had helped get them to the airport. He didn’t fancy ruining things by getting all in his head over statistics.
When their escort prompted them to follow, they shared a quick hug before heading towards the huge plane hand in hand. The cabin crew greeted them, guiding them to their suite. More than gracious in the face of their evident anxiety, he was quick to reassure them and helped them settle.
The real test was the runway.
Lan had his camera out. Whether being used to document their achievement or as a fidget toy, Oscar wasn’t sure, but he smiled as his boyfriend snapped some of him looking out of the window. Once the plane started moving, however, the camera was back in its bag, and their hands were squeezed tightly together.
Holding his breath and closing his eyes as they left the ground, he heard Lando quietly crying beside him.
The flight passed with relative ease. They even spent a couple of hours napping together, the pair of them feeling safe enough in their private cabin to let the lack of sleep from the night before finally catch up with them.
It wasn’t until they touched down safely in Dubai that they were both in floods of tears. Standing up and hugging while they taxied, kissing as they pulled up to the gate, Lando drew back and took both of his hands in his. Tear stains clear down his cheeks.
“We did it!”
~
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