So that's the second chapter of the landoscar christmas series, I have literally no idea of how to make a link between this chapter and the first one, so if you want to read it then you'll have to search it yourself, but it is my last post so no big problem. You have probably realized it, but I got inspired to write this story by "All I want for Christmas", so the titles of the chapters are part of the lyrics. As always if you have suggestions or there are issues with the story don't be shy kidsss. Oh and if someone can tell me how to make the link I'd be grateful for my life. ENJOYYYY
Warnings: like one curse word at the start and one at the end (I don't even know if those are considered curse words), the littlest angst and fluff. Some words are translated with google because english is not my first lenguage. It's not beta read because I don't have the energy to do it right now as I had planned on finishing the series in 2023 but here I am.
Ship: F1 involved!Lando Norris × not F1 involved!Oscar Piastri (established relationship)
Summary: Max and Logan help Lando in his little gremlin plan to propose to Oscar during their christmas party.
Max's phone rang in the exact moment his dream was at its climax, waking him up without letting him know the finale of it.
Max looked at who was calling at such an hour in the morning.
It was Lando. Then probably it wasn't important.
Max deactivated the sound and left the vibration on, trying to fall asleep again just to see the end of his dream, but the buzzing wouldn't stop.
With a mix of frustration and malcontent for his not-well-started Wednesday morning, Max took the phone and answered his best friend.
"What do you want" he asked abruptly
"'Morning sunshine, I also miss my best friend so much" Lando answered sarcastically and Max could perfectly picture in his head the wide tooth-gaped smile his best friend almost certainly had on his face.
"It's not a good morning when it starts like this" Max returned.
Lando, on the other hand, laughed at his friend's distress. Max knew that, sooner or later, he would've killed his best friend.
"Anyways, I'm sorry for your pain, but I've just got an idea" it surely wasn't a good start. Every time Lando said stuff like that, it didn't end well.
"I want to propose to Oscar"
Suddenly Max was sitting on the bed, totally awake and vigile.
He didn't know what to say. Well actually there were too many things he wanted to say but couldn't choose which one to say first. Between the "when?" The"where?" and the "Why?"s.
Instead, his mouth (apparently not connected with his brain) deliberately and on its own expressed all his emotions at once.
"Yep it was pretty explanatory"
Neither of them knew how to behave. Obviously some people they both knew have got married before, but neither Lando nor Max have ever experienced a crazy idea like that.
"So… when?" The moment Max started to metabolize the news, he also began to like it in some weird way.
He knew the two have been together for some time and (at least for Lando) have also been pining over each other for even longer, so it was logical that one of them would've done the big step in a short time.
"Okay, well, that's my plan…"
Lando started to explain The Big Plan to his best friend, who was more excited every new sentence he heard.
Max had known him for so many years and has always thought of him as more immature and childish than other people their age, but he was sure Lando would've made the perfect husband to Oscar.
This train of thoughts continued and extended in every direction that included memories of Lando, the emotions took over him and made his eyes water a bit. But thinking about it, those words were good, he should've taken notes for his best man's speech.
"Let's recap it from the start once again" Max read on his phone. It was at least the 25th time Lando had asked him to repeat The Plan. He was sure he could've acted even other people's parts in the show.
"Dear god I only have to say yes when he asks me about the party" Max texted back.
"It's not difficult" then he added just to emphasize the pointlessness of Lando's worries.
"Don't you dare make fun of me I'm just anxious, it's normal I guess" Lando's answer arrived in no time
Max smiled to himself shaking his head. Some things never change, he thought while unfolding all the memories with his best friend and rewatching every time Lando acted anxious. There were a few.
"If your calculus are right, he's calling me in ten minutes, so maybe I should get ready to answer him?" Max asked, trying to find an excuse to not leave his friend on seen in this particular situation.
Lando texted just a "yeah you're right" and then left the chat.
Max sighed and closed his phone, just to get his hands on his face and rub his eyes.
"Hey Osc, long time no see" is the sentence Max and Lando have accorded for him to say, and he did it spectacularly. As if he hasn't repeated it for the past twenty minutes without a single stop.
"Yeah it has been a tough period. We were planning a christmas party at our place on wednesday, are you in?" Oscar asked him.
"But isn't Lando away?" He was trying really, really hard not to abruptly laugh and scream at Oscar's ear.
"Yeah, in fact we wanted to do this thing together, but then he was called away and we can't postpone it anymore" Max thought he sounded a little exasperated.
He felt his lungs expand and contract without an order, his cheeks had become red and swollen, in his eyes there were tears for holding it back, but then he couldn't take it anymore.
Max let out a soft giggle, but that giggle meant to him like the most powerful and exorbitant laughter he had ever had, mostly because he felt (he could literally touch it) the importance of his position in there.
"Yeah I think I'll be there"
"K, thanks mate" Oscar sounded pretty hesitant with his answer. "And you can come with who you want" he then added.
"Great, thanks. Bye" Max hung up just right before exploding in what he thought was one of the biggest laughs of his life.
He didn't know the cause of this, but that situation was so funny to him. Maybe it was just the stress. Most probably it was just the stress. But why should he be stressed? It wasn't even his proposal. What would have happened when it was HIS time to take the big step? Max didn't even want to think about it for a minute.
He jumped back to reality and immediately opened his and Lando's chat to update him.
Max rang the doorbell of his best friend's house and waited for his best friend's boyfriend (and next-to-be fiance) to open the door.
"Never saw you awake this early"
Oh right! Oscar's humor was something he could never forget about.
"I'm happy to see you too" Max stated with the biggest smile stamped on his face. He patted the boy's shoulders with both his hands and looked him down, trying to imagine the guy with a different surname (something like Norris) and a different look (a smoking might be ideal, and maybe a golden ring on that finger could be even better).
"Yeah" Oscar mouthed with a raised eyebrow and a confused expression.
Max entered the house without needing a welcome. He treated it like it was his, he didn't care if the actual owner was okay with it. At least he could say the same happened every time Lando and Oscar were at his place.
"What are you doing here?"
If there was another person in the room, they could've heard three voices ask the same question at the same time.
"No no no. I asked you first" Logan yelled at Max getting up pretty fast from the couch he was previously lying on.
"Well yes man, but really why are YOU here" he repeated.
"I'm here to help Oscar. And you?"
Max and Logan looked at each other with a slightly confused stare, narrowing their gazes and tilting their head to one side or the other.
Oscar cleared his voice behind them and just then he realized he couldn't tell Logan what he was about to. ("Well, actually I'm here to help Lando" would've been his response).
"Max, can I ask you to get away from my home? I already have enough help" The youngest boy looked exhausted. It must be tiring to project an event like this almost alone and with his boyfriend hundred of miles away from him.
He could not understand, but he surely could pity him.
"I'm very sorry Oscar, but I'm not leaving this house until tonight"
"Okay then" he looked more exasperated every sentence.
"Don't worry. This will be the best party you've ever been to"
"Do I have to remind you this is MY house? Maybe I should be the one preparing it" Oscar pointed out almost ironically.
"We will be better than you, trust me" Logan, who has been silent the entirety of the time, had stepped in the conversation to support him, and Max couldn't be more grateful.
With all due care, Oscar left his house in his friend's hands and headed to work.
Max and Logan had only six hours and a half to transform that house into a HOUSE.
"So why are you here really?" Logan broke the silence, leaning on the shopping cart as he pushed it.
The two were at the mall searching for cute items and classic christmas stuff to hang here and there in the house to make it look more comfortable.
They have given themselves a specific and perfectly timed list to follow religiously: the times were calculated per second and the both of them had certain works to complete.
"Lando wants to propose Oscar tonight" Max let out.
"LANDO WANTS TO WHAT?'' Logan cried out in the middle of the cheese island, standing up like he was electrocuted and launching three slices of gruyere into the cart.
"SHHH why are you screaming?" Max whisper-yelled at him.
"Oh ya know? It's just my best friend getting married to yours, why aren't YOU screaming?" Logan replied in the same voice tone.
"I've already had my screaming session a week ago" he explained.
Max looked at his clock and calculated there were two minutes of delay in their schedule.
Logan looked around himself in disbelief, pinching his own cheeks to make sure he was not living a dream.
He looked at Max right in his eyes for the first time in their entire lives.
"Then we have to make sure we do the best of it" Logan stated resolutely, speeding even more than before, driving his shopping cart like a formula 1 car.
"You go bake the cookies, I'll get the house aesthetically ready"
Max nodded at his newfound friend and sprinted into the kitchen to prepare all the ingredients he needed.
Right after putting on his freshly-bought apron, his phone started vibrating.
Max boringly looked at the screen and would've even hung up, but noticing Lando's nickname on it, he thought it was preferible answering, after all that work.
He accepted the call and put on the speaker while calling Logan to make him participate at the "meeting".
"Everything's okay?" Lando's altered voice sounded more worried than Max had ever heard him.
He took a moment to appreciate the fact that his best friend was giving this plan all his soul. You could know how much he cared about Oscar (or generally about his loved ones, even if he didn't show it that much) just by hearing his preoccupied voice.
"Yep, we're almost ready" Logan answered, just as joyful as Max.
"It's Logan. I know everything and I couldn't agree more with you on this decision" his face was stamped with a smile from ear to ear and his eyes shone brighter than the stars.
"Oh hey Log sorry, didn't know you were there too. Does he suspect anything?"
"There is absolutely no way he could. We were silent as a grave" Max answered, almost kicking his feet like a schoolgirl.
"Well then-" Lando's sentence start was interrupted by a not a little hasty Max, who was sure he was about to scream.
"Now that you have secured yours and our wellbeing, can we finish our work? We have a pretty full agenda to follow"
"Oh okay then, I'm halfway there anyways"
"Yeah yeah, you know where I keep my second set of keys" and without another word, he hung up the phone just as fast as they both came back to their respective jobs in the house.
"Hey that chocolate dough looks fantastic" Logan laughed entering the kitchen, looking at a totally covered in chocolate dough Max.
"Where? I thought I cleaned everything" Max responded.
Logan sighed and continued his laugh, then threw a clean kitchen towel at him, telling him where he was still dirty while taking a seat to taste what they had prepared during the evening.
"It's not that bad" he exclaimed, chewing the biggest bite of cheese and ham toast Max had ever seen.
Logan raised the volume of his phone when he heard the first bits of "Last Christmas" were playing.
By then, the trust between the two was near to the one in a years-long friendship, after all those hours spent together and a common goal in mind. For this sole reason, Logan felt confident enough to start singing his favorite Christmas song.
Max turned around with a shocked look. Not because Logan's singing skills were terrible, well not only because of this, but because he didn't think Logan was one to start singing around what was a stranger until a few hours before.
And again his emotions changed, his heart melting a little. Logan singing like this in front of him meant that he trusted him enough to show him his silly side.
Max decided to match his energy and start wiggling his hips and dancing a little around the room.
The two were so lost in the moment they couldn't hear the owner of the house entering firstly the place, and then the kitchen.
"What in the world you two?" Oscar looked totally agape.
Max and Logan fastly looked at each other and the american jumped between his best friend and his new one to try protecting him from any crazy action the Aussie could have done.
Max and Logan both knew Oscar wasn't one for physical contact, (everybody around him knew it) and because of it they were used to him never touching them. This was why, when they saw him coming this close so fastly, they were scared Oscar was about to stab one or both of them with a random pointy ornament found in the home.
It must've been a particularly shocking period for Max.
First Lando's announcement, then Logan's new friendship, and now a hug from Oscar.
"Thank you for everything" Max and Logan heard Oscar's muffled voice buried in their clothes and both moved a little because of the little gesture.
"That's no problem mate, really" Max assured him.
"C'mon now, there's people arriving here to party" Logan tried to lighten up the mood, receiving the tiniest and cutest laugh from Oscar.
"I don't think it's the worst idea you've had until now" Max whisper-screamed at his phone in his best friend's kitchen while everybody else, including Oscar, in the living room was living their best life.
It was at least the fourth phrase he had heard from Lando about what he thought could be the best starter of his proposal-speech.
"Well, at least not the weirdest" he continued.
"Ehy!" Lando laughed at him, but still his stress wasn't relieved, not even a bit.
Max, for the fiftieth time, didn't know how to act.
Like, what did he have to say? Something funny to let the pressure decrease? Or something meaningful to be That One friend for once?
He decided that saying nothing was the best option. For both, him and his friend. He was, actually, not a hundred percent sure about it, but on the spot he failed to think about anything better.
"I think it's better if I go now" Max admitted after a few moments of silence.
He received a "yeah" as an answer and immediately hung up.
Max was totally sure there were more mature things to do than he, seconds after, did. But, unfortunately, less mature things are usually the more spontaneous ones.
This is why, when his phone turned on again, seeing the new message from Lando and texted him back, the only natural thing to do that came to his mind was to start jumping and giggling, just like a schoolgirl.
He got only one thing not calculated in his mind: the fact that Oscar might be keen on entering his own kitchen for whatever reason.
So when he turned around to face the exit, he found there on the door an astonished Oscar staring at him.
Max couldn't tell what was open wider: Oscar's eyes or his mouth.
Anyway, he had to think about a not-too-much- suspicious reaction on the spot. And surely he had never been good at thinking on the spot.
That's the reason why the first thing Max did was rebuking him, closing the door on his face.
Just a single moment after he thought that maybe his actions were more suspicious than anything else he could have done.
With a worried expression folding his eyebrows, Max took his phone from the marble table's surface again and fastly texted to his friend he might have done something wrong.
This was the message he had been waiting for the entire time, but now that Lando had sent it to him, Max was starting to get agitated again, knowing exactly what it meant.
"Is everything ready?" Was the following text he received, to which he answered with a "gimme 5 mins"
The only three things he had to do were: inform Logan, inform every other guest and prepare Oscar.
The guests heard the news with surprise and loving eyes, while Logan started to sweat a bit.
Last point on his list was to take Oscar in front of the entrance and then his work would be done perfectly.
But where the hell was Oscar? He had asked Liam, Max (the other one) and even Niran, but they knew less than him. So he searched in every room of the house, even the bathroom, but when he had knocked on the bathroom door, Logan's voice had answered him.
Max asked his and Lando's long time friend to text the next-to-be fiance and tell him to wait.
He tried to think about what could have happened: Lando would have rang the doorbell and Max would've opened the door instead of Oscar and Lando would've found his best friend instead of the love of his life in front of him (already on one knee and with the ring box open and about to repeat the speech he had been talking about for weeks) and then Lando would've asked him "what the hell?" and then he should have answered him with something like "I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but we have lost your future husband, we apologize for the unease" and what could've been Lando's reaction to it all?
Max's morbius thoughts were taking such a part of his brain, he didn't realize Logan had taken Oscar all the way in the living room, just right before entering the entrance.
When Max turned around and saw him, immediately looked at his friend Niran, winking at him as a way to give him the signal for Lando to ring.
All the guests were ready with their phones in their hands, faking sending and receiving messages or searching for something on google. Actually they were all about to flash the lights of their phones to make the atmosphere, using the devices just like in the 70s they used lighters.
Except for Charles: he was the one in charge of recording the video, in fact he had the best position of sight.
Max got out of the kitchen as the doorbell rang and Oscar (in a new outfit) rushed to open the door.
"My guest must've arrived" he announced looking at the young Aussie.
From his point of view, Max couldn't properly see all the scene, so he moved through the tangle of guests to crouch down one step away from Charles.
From there, Max could see everything perfectly: Oscar's (flabbergasted, he might add) expression, the fabulous ring, and most importantly his kneeling best friend and the biggest smile he had ever seen on his face.
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