೨ when your boy best friend turns eighteen, both of you feel something shift in your relationship. you start seeing him as less of a friend, and more as someone you know you're in love with.
STARRING ೨ lando norris (ln1) x fem!reader
WARNINGS & TROPES ೨ fluff, IMPLIED childhood friends to lovers, confession, kissing (the longing kind!!), skinship, reader realizes she's attracted to lando romantically, teenage lando x teenage reader, cuteness overload
ARI SPEAKS ೨ ummm this polaroid picture of him just sparked this whole idea so 🥰🥰🥰 perfection at its finest am i right...anyways enjoy all! thanks for ur patience with me :)
ARI'S PLAYING ೨ sugar, brockhampton
WORD COUNT ೨ eight hundred-thirty two (832)
eighteen felt different—for both you and lando as you sat at the table, dining room darkened as the candles on lando's birthday cake flickers.
everyone's singing happy birthday to the freshly-turned-eighteen year old, but your words stop moving at the second "happy birthday to you", watching the way lando's hazel eyes reflect the dancing flames atop each candle. he still has the familiar boyish look to his face, but you can see the creeping maturity in his eyes, the hard set of his jaw.
he's watching you too, almost too deep in his own thoughts to hear one of his friends yell "blow out your candles, lando!". he does what is demanded of him, and the table interrupts into applause as the lights flicker back on.
while everyone is dividing cake into slices, you're slipping off into the quiet darkness of the night sky. the november air is crisp, and you do your best to ignore the cold air biting your skin.
a pair of footsteps make their way onto the wooden deck a few minutes after your own, and you turn to come face to face with the birthday boy himself. his cap is on backwards, and the small smirk he has on his face instantly warms you up.
"the party's in there, silly." lando says as a way of greeting, and you smile, turning away from him as you reply, "i know. just wanted to see how the moon looked tonight."
lando comes up beside you quietly, turning his attention to the sky. his eyes sparkle with the movement, porch lights catching his hazel gaze easily. his eyelashes are so long, you notice, and your breath almost leaves your body when he blinks.
"happy birthday." you say softly, and lando turns to you, smile wide on his handsome face as he shrugs. "thanks."
"eighteen. wow." you say aloud, and lando laughs, the sound holding no true excitement to it. lando's chest tightens at the look of nostalgia on your face, and steps a few inches toward you, now just inches away from your face.
"crazy, right? just yesterday i was trying to learn how to drive a go kart." lando's laugh is more of a surprised huff, and you stare at him, a bit of a smile to your voice as you nod. "and failing miserably, might i add."
"shut up," lando rolls his eyes, voice warm as the two of you chuckle softly. the night sky swallows the sound up, and the two of you fall silent, eyes on each other's face.
something definitely felt different. lando's cologne smelled heavier, and your perfume clung to your body in a way it didn't do years ago. lando's jaw had sharpened, and the look in your eyes wasn't so starstruck anymore. both of you had changed, and noticed the change in each other just the same.
"you feel it too, don't you?" lando asks lowly, now just centimeters away from your lips. you don't remember how he got there, but he's there now, towering over you as he sighs aloud.
"i do," you nod slightly, cheeks warming with the thought of confessing to your boy best friend. "i feel the overwhelming need to kiss you."
lando flushes red quicker than you can blink, and you match his expression, just as shocked as you stammer, "that is what you were asking about, r-right?"
"that too, yeah," lando replies sheepishly, and you nod once before your lips are on his. he has you trapped against the guardrail of the back porch, hands on either side of you as you wrap your arms around his neck.
soon, his hands are on your waist, and you're kissing him like you've known him for twenty eight years instead of eighteen. he's hot to the touch, and before you know it, the biting cold isn't even there anymore. if anything, you can ignore it completely with lando in front of you like this.
when you pull away, you look just as stunned as lando does—his thick eyebrows have disappeared into the dark curls of his head, lips kiss swollen and cheeks flushed.
"happy birthday, by the way." you say as a way to break the awkward silence, and lando just huffs out a half-laugh.
"you already said that once." his voice lowers, dropping into that husky range you always tried so hard not to replay over and over again.
"sorry...can you tell you messed me up big time?" you ask shyly, and lando's grin is impossibly wide as he answers, "not as bad as i messed up with trying not to kiss you all night."
"it's your eighteenth! live it up a little." you shrug, and lando chuckles lowly, eyes softening as he looks to you. "as long as you'll live it up with me."
"you're the birthday boy. i can't say no to that." you whisper the last few words, perfectly cut off with the wonderful pressure of lando's soft lips on yours.
arinote: oh my gosh the childhood friends to lovers trope with lando is my FAVORITE....the whole eighteen motif is one of my favorite ideas i've ever come up with i think.
