And when he pleaded you, on your latest facetime call, to come to the race, you couldn’t muster the courage to update him on your latest findings. You’d always had tinnitus, but as the years passed, it became increasingly uncomfortable. The times you couldn’t endure prolonged outdoor exposure due to the persistent buzzing in your head, the inability to tolerate even slightly louder noises, and the growing burden it placed on you—all these had a cause and the cause was your ears.

You’d recently gotten diagnosed and had to wait many, many weeks for your hearing aids to finally arrive. In the meantime, all you could do to bear the outside noise was wear earplugs to muffle the sound and ease the sensitivity. Which is exactly what you did when you arrived at the paddock, thanks to Lando’s passes. The minute you stepped inside the hospitality suite, the reality of the event hit you.

There were people.

Like, a lot of them.

And so many sounds. The hum of engines, people’s hurried steps, heels, and the voices — god, the voices. With the earplugs, it all sounded like you were underwater which wasn’t really more comfortable but at least better for your ears.

Your pulse spiked as your eyes searched for your friend. You met a tall brunette's eyes, his brows slightly furrowing at your sight but immediately averted your gaze, nervousness gnawing at you. Heat rose to your cheeks as you steadied your breathing, trying to look casual.

The minute Lando spotted you, he jumped to his feet, mouthed something to his colleagues, and practically ran towards you.

“You came!”

You turned to the source of the faint sound—

Lando’s curls bounced with each of his strides, grinning ear to ear like a manchild. You sighed in relief, and walked into his open arms.

So dramatic, you chuckled to yourself. As always.

But as you breathed in his cologne and felt his laugh rumble through his chest, you couldn’t deny you’d missed him too. It’d been months since you last saw him.

When you broke apart, you noticed the earlier brunette man’s eyebrows shoot up. You averted your eyes again. He looked familiar.

“It’s been forever, oh my god, I had to practically drag you here myself!” Lando said as his hands rested on your shoulders.

“Ugh, drop the theatrics, Norris” you rolled your eyes not unkindly. “You know we’re both very busy”.

“Liar. I’m a professional racing driver and yet you’re always busier than me!” he complained, brows furrowing.

“I’m here now, aren’t I?” you sighed, feeling much too aware of the nearby people’s eyes on the two of you.

Just who were you, exactly? No one had ever seen Lando light up this way before around someone else.

You couldn’t talk too long though, as he had to go get ready for the race. He made you promise him you’d stay after it was over to catch up and meet some of his friends, and he’d insisted he wouldn’t forgive you if you left early. You promised him, chest tightening at his eagerness.

You’d really missed that damn boy.

You bit down your smile as you brought your phone out and settled in some corner to watch the race. Far from prying eyes, you hoped. And even further away from the constant noises.

You scrolled on social media, only to see a picture of you hugging Lando already going viral. You gasped, as you scrolled further down the comments and reactions, heartbeat turning sickenly quick.

You didn’t notice a figure approaching then hovering near you. Didn’t notice the brunette staring at you in the hope you’d meet his eyes.

He studied your figure, hunched over your phone, something like panic stretched on your face.

“That’s the worst PR mistake you can make” he commented, trying to joke about you reading the comments on socials.

You didn’t hear him. You were so caught up by it, and with your earplugs, the surrounding world had lowered down to a faint and distant hum.

He waited. A beat. Then awkwardly cleared his throat.

No reaction.

He scoffed to himself. He’d never been dismissed, no, disrespected like this before. You had met eyes earlier. Twice. How could you just ignore him like that?

He didn’t know whether he should double down or simply pretend it didn’t happen.

Another beat.

He opted for the latter.

He swallowed his pride and walked away, jaw clenching.

The race came and went in a blur. Lando won P2, his teammate — that’s who the brunette man was! Oscar Piastri! — P3.

McLaren was on fire.

Voices erupted in cheers, and the two drivers strode in, victorious smiles etched on their faces.

Lando immediately walked to you, hugging you almost too tightly.

“You’re my lucky charm!” he cheered.

You matched his grin and joy, congratulating him.

“You’re coming with us, we’re celebrating tonight”, he added, not open for discussion.

You had to give him that, right? At the very least, for all the times you turned down his invitations before.

You nodded. He kissed your cheek in his excitement, indifferent to the dozens of cameras pointing at your interaction.

Oscar saw it all unfold. The way you’d hugged, the way you didn’t even glance his way, or congratulate him.

But you were so caught up by the environment, so lost in the sea of noises and cheers and voices and cameras and cars— that you couldn’t take notice.

— ★

You arrived at the yacht party (the yacht was literally six times the size of your apartment) dressed in a white blouse and matching white shorts, the perfect picture of elegance.

Lando introduced you to his friends, some familiar faces and some new ones too. You met Charles, Alexandra, a few engineers whose names had escaped you.

As you walked further down the yacht, you noticed Oscar, a glass in hand, wearing a white blouse and black pants. Your heart stammered at the sight, and you were so caught up in your own thoughts that you didn’t even register that Lando was guiding you to go meet him.

“Osc, I want you to meet a very dear friend of mine”, Lando started.

Oscar’s eyes went from curious to… annoyed? His gaze was cold, almost robotic.

A chill went down your spine. You tried to smile.

“Hi, nice to meet you” you introduced yourself and presented your hand.

He looked… unimpressed. Granted you’d never met the boy, he didn’t owe you anything but still… Some politeness could go a long way, you thought.

He let your hand hang in the air. For a second, you thought he was going to ignore you. But eventually he moved his own hand and shook yours, very briefly.

“Hi” he simply said. So low you almost didn’t hear it with your earplugs.

“Mate, what’s up? We just fucking won!” chuckled Lando, aiming for uplifting but landing somewhere baffled.

Oscar smiled politely, though it didn’t reach his ears. The boy didn’t like you, that was pretty clear.

As the evening unfolded, you talked more openly with Lando and his friends. You realized they were actually pretty nice, and altogether funny. You even cracked jokes with them, and although Oscar was still pissed about your earlier interaction — or lack thereof, actually — he couldn’t hide his own smirk from time to time.

The darker the sky turned, the more his eyes lingered. He’d wanted to ignore you entirely tonight, but you were just impossible to not see.

You weren’t loud, weren’t demanding. But you were there. You listened. You didn’t talk much but when you did, it was always relevant. Or too funny to ignore. So he observed you, like a genius trying to crack a complex code.

You met his eyes. You gave him a small smile.

His pulse quickened in response. He cleared his throat, bringing his glass to his lips and looking away.

Disappointment settled over you.

You excused yourself from the table and retreated further away from the crowd. It was already more quiet, further down the yacht.

You watched and breathed in the sea breeze. Even with earplugs, you could feel a headache starting from the noise. You’d have to leave soon.

Oscar’s eyes hadn’t left your figure since you’d stood up.

He didn’t know why, he couldn’t resist staring at you, each time your eyes caught his sent a jolt of electricity coursing through him.

A few minutes went by, when you saw something out of the corner of your eye.

You turned, jumping in surprise.

“Jeez, you scared me!” you said.

It was Oscar. He looked angry. Again.

“What, you didn’t hear me talking to you right now, just like you didn’t hear me earlier in the hospitality?” his voice was quiet, almost too quiet. You had to lean in to make out the words, shock stretching over your delicate features.

What the hell was he being so rude about?!

“Wait, no, I didn’t hear you. Neither now nor earlier, what are you talking about?”

“I was literally a few feet away from you, though…” he said slowly, his anger making way for doubt. “You were scrolling on socials”.

Had he misread the situation…? But he was standing close enough for you to hear though!

You were about to snap back before you realized.

Shit.

Fuck.

Is this what your life's gonna be like from now on?

“Wait, uh…” you tucked your hair behind both ears to reveal the earplugs. “I, uh… I wear earplugs. I have a hearing disability but I don’t have my hearing aids yet so…” you looked away, embarrassed.

You felt so silly. You fidgeted with the glass in your hand. Is this how it's going to be everyday, now?

You hadn’t even had enough time to adjust to a diagnosis that would probably change your very near future, so you hadn't even brought it up. Hell, even Lando didn’t know yet!

Oscar wanted to jump into the sea and never come back. His stomach dropped. He’d never felt more stupid.

“Fuck, I- I’m so, so, sorry, I-…” he sighed, frustrated, as he stepped closer for you to hear more properly.

The movement sent heat rising to your neck, as you stood up straighter.

“I apologize, really-“

“No, no, it’s me, I haven’t told anyone yet, I’ve just been diagnosed and it’s a little-“

He closed his eyes.

Your diagnosis was still recent.

God, he hated himself.

“Please, don’t. It’s me. I was an asshole.”

Silence settled over the two of you for a few seconds as he studied your face. The corner of his lips twitched. Yours did too before you could stop yourself.

You both burst out laughing at the absurdity of the situation. His eyes lingered longer than necessary on the corner of your lips, the crinkles around your eyes. His mind short circuited at the sight.

When your laugh died down, you felt suddenly very aware of his eyes on you, the sea breeze gently playing with your hair, your white shirt under the purple and orange lights of the yacht. You shifted your weight on your feet and braced yourself for your next words.

“Do you wanna… start over?”

He blinked, mouth slightly open.

“Y-yeah, please” relief washed over him as he realized that perhaps, all chances of getting to know you weren’t gone.

— ★

part 2