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vamossainz55 · 2 years

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Moonlight Ch. 3 | Carlos Sainz Jr. x Reader

a/n hey guys!!! here's chapter 3. i am literally blown away with the attention and the comments that both chapter 1 and chapter 2 got and i am honestly so so touched?? this chapter is a bit shorter than chapter 2 but we finally get reader x carlos interaction that is not just 2-3 words + carlando so i hope it's worth every word hehe. i am really excited bc i think i'm also getting more clarity where i want this to go and i can't wait to get more written out. as always constructive criticism is always appreciated !! and enjoy <3

warnings: none really? just angsty and a bit of mean carlos and mean reader but everybody's quite emotional in this chapter. a lot is going around.

summary: carlos has a little chat with lando about what's going on and he finally confronts you

Link to chapter 2 / all chapters / my masterlist

Chapter Three (3.2k words)

Carlos’ mind is spinning. He’s sat at the main table of course, next to Zak and Lando with Andreas too. Zak and Andreas are talking about some development that they are planning with management, but Carlos’ eyes are fixated on his cup, fingers slowly toying and tracing the rim of it as he plays the memory in his head over and over again.

The moment his eyes had landed on you he froze, mind going empty as he scrambled to think of any possible thing. As selfish or conceited it would sound- he really thought he would never have to see you again. Sure- you guys hadn’t broken up because of a big fall out or anything, but it had gotten a bit messy at the end of it. Because of that, the day Carlos had walked away from you he really thought that would be it.

Zak had been able to snap him out of the trance by asking if you both knew each other but before he could go and answer you had beat him to it. Why did you lie? He thinks to himself.

No- no we don’t. Your voice echoes in his head and he can’t help but to take a sharp breath, instantly sitting up and raising his head from the glass to snap himself out of it. As he does this he feels eyes on him and he realizes Lando is staring at him. “You good there mate?” Lando asks and Carlos simply nods, tapping his finger against the side of the cup as he scans over the room.

“Mhm yeah. Just tired I think.” He says eyes settling at your table, he tries avoiding it but his eyes are searching for you every once in a while and he can’t bring himself to stop. Lando doesn’t look like he believes him much and he follows Carlos’ gaze to look over at your table as well. He faintly remembers Zak joking about Carlos having a crush on the new intern. Haven’t ever seen you speechless like that. He had laughed, slapping Carlos’ shoulder in a way that even made Lando wince. Carlos laughed it off, but there was a flash of annoyance in his eyes that made Lando twist his brows slightly.

“Hey, what was all of that with Zak and your engineering team?” Lando asks, looking over the people at the table. He had met Tom already and a few others there, but he could spot three or four newbies. “Did they give you a bad vibe or something?” Lando asks but by the time he looks at Carlos the Spanish driver has his head down again, looking at his glass. Lando notices you looking over at them but the moment your eyes cross you quickly duck away too. Were you the one Zak had joked about?

The rest of the evening Carlos is distracted, and to everyone’s demise a distracted Carlos only meant a distracted Lando. The younger driver always fixated on Carlos and depended on him when talking with sponsors and bantering with the team. It’s not like he wasn’t capable of handling himself, but Lando had admiration for the older guy. He was experienced and carried himself with a serious demeanor that Lando tried to mimic. On the other hand, Lando managed to loosen up Carlos and bring up the child-like part of him that created a dynamic for the team.

Because of this, when Carlos was off, it threw Lando off too creating a completely different dynamic. Zak had given his usual pep talk speech, thanking the team and welcoming the new joiners for the upcoming season they were going to have because the team looked solid. It wasn’t like they were going to be the most competitive car but it was going in the right direction. Soon he was calling Carlos up for him to have a little talk and Carlos still looked just as dazed as he did earlier which made Lando nervous too.

“Um, well hey.” Carlos says a bit nervously, swallowing thickly as he brings the mic a bit closer to his mouth. He can feel all eyes on him and he usually doesn’t mind but the one person he was looking at was not looking back at him. “It’s amazing to see and meet all the new joiners and also amazing to see the whole team that’s worked so far on the amazing project. I was really excited when I got the offer for McLaren, and I’ve only got even more excited to get the next season started,” His sentence slows down as you lift your head up to look at him and he doesn’t know if this is better or worse. You don’t look away and his words are getting caught in his throat. The silence is loud but he can’t seem to get himself to speak, even when you look away, probably realizing you’re the reason he grew quiet.

He only snaps out of it when Lando gets up too, with a mic Zak had sneakily given him. “Um. Hi everyone. I think we just want to thank the team so far for all the hard work everyone’s put in.” He says, discreetly giving Carlos a nudge. Carlos simply nods, clearing his throat a bit. “And we are so excited to welcome the new and amazing members. We’re going to do amazing together.” Lando follows up and Carlos nods, muttering a thank you and making a quick joke about how he had spent too much time in the simulator and that his brain was fried followed with a forced laugh but it seems to fool everyone in the room. Almost everyone at least. They laugh back though and the tension is quickly forgotten and the two drivers slowly sit down. Carlos apologizes sheepishly but everyone brushes it off easily.

“Thanks Lando.” Carlos says sincerely because fuck, what just happened? He gives Lando a side smile and with the way Lando says it’s fine, as long as we are still up for golf? Carlos knows that this was probably not going to be the end of it.

The itch that Carlos had was right because it isn’t the end of the conversation at all. Lando finally takes up Carlos’ offer to learn golf and they both head to a driving range early in the morning after having breakfast together. Carlos wonders for a bit about the change in Lando’s heart but he realizes the younger boy has hidden intentions when your name suddenly gets brought up mid-conversation. It catches him off-guard as he almost loses the golf club after swinging it.

“Mierda,” he curses, catching the club as soon as he can and Lando is already ducking and covering his head, looking absolutely terrified for his life. “Sorry.” Carlos apologizes, looking at him and sighing. “What about y/n?” He asks, already uncomfortable to hear that Lando already knew your name. He definitely hadn’t been the one to tell him.

“Is she the reason you’ve been off?” Lando asks, leaning onto the golf club as Carlos looks across the field. There’s a brief moment of silence, only soft sounds of the others at the driving range hitting their golf balls. It’s almost therapeutic really, the sound tickles a part of Carlos’ brain and provides a comforting feeling in his chest.

“No.” he lies, looking over at Lando. It’s clear that the British driver doesn’t believe him, but he frankly does not care. He doesn’t understand why he needs to have the conversation at all. “How do you know her name anyways?” Carlos asks, slowly preparing himself to try for another swing. His legs spread a little and he fixes his posture.

“I talked to her yesterday,” and fuck Carlos almost misses again and his wrist moves in a weird way that causes a pain to shoot up his arm. He lets out a hiss and drops the golf club, seeing Lando now standing with his arms crossed over his chest and an unimpressed look on his face. “Seriously?” Lando asks, “So you both know each other? Because she said you didn’t.” Lando says and Carlos looks at him, trying to understand when Lando had the time to sneak behind his back and practically stab him (was he being dramatic? maybe).

“Yeah she’s been saying that.” Carlos says, and he leans the club against the wall with a sigh. It was clear that Lando wasn’t going to let this one go and at this point he could end up beheaded if Carlos continued to play. He stretches his arm a bit in hopes to loosen up a bit of the residual pain from the missed swing.

“So what? Did you guys use to mess around or something?” Lando asks and wow, straight to the point. Carlos rolls his eyes, cracking his knuckles as he looks across the field and seeing the golf balls flying across from all the other people actually hitting them. It's not him to avoid eye contact but he can’t help it, he can’t shake off the nerves that come up from you being brought into the conversation.

“You could say so.” He settles, looking over at Lando. Lando’s looking at him with his investigative face and Carlos can tell that he’s trying to link all the pieces together. It’s surprising how fast it happens, and if it weren’t to Carlos’ expense he would’ve given Lando a pat on the back.

“She’s your ex? The one you dated a while back? Weren’t you best friends?” Lando asks. There’s a mixture of surprise and cockiness to his question, and it's clear that he doesn’t need an answer to confirm his statement so Carlos decides to stay mum, simply staring back at Lando. “That’s rough.” He says and Carlos lets out a snort.

“That’s rough? Really? That’s it?” He laughs and the tension in his body suddenly dissipates. It amazed him how Lando could relax him so easily without even trying.

“I mean, she’s pretty, congrats?” Lando says, and it’s clear that the younger lad probably didn’t think he was going to get this far and Carlos shakes his head with a smile.

“Yeah, yeah. She is.” Carlos says absentmindedly, “We haven’t talked in ages though so it caught me off guard to see her.” Carlos admits and he can already feel his stomach twisting at the thought of having to see you again. “She should’ve told me she was going to join McLaren. It annoyed me a bit that she didn’t but acting like we’ve never met?” Carlos murmurs and gives Lando a sheepish smile when Lando pats him on the back.

-------

You both manage to miss each other for the next few weeks. Carlos is mainly working on the simulator with Lando and whenever he talks with Tom you’re nowhere to be seen. He tries his best to push you to the back of his mind but it’s still slightly nipping at him the more the days pass. He finds himself looking around the room for you every time he walks in and he can never tell whether he’s slightly disappointed or relieved to not see you anywhere. A part of him wants to ask Tom where you are but he stops himself from doing so because that would be too obvious. At some point it feels like you’re avoiding him and the longer he thinks about your little encounter the more annoyed he feels himself getting. What was your problem anyways?

He swears the universe is messing with him because the next time you both bump into each other he’s in the elevator by himself and it’s far too early for human interaction, especially with you. The doors are closing and he’s preoccupied on skipping through instagram stories that when he hears someone calling out to hold the elevator door open he does so without thinking much about it. He’s selfish to think that if he had recognized your voice he wouldn’t have pressed the ‘OPEN’ button, he would’ve just let the doors shut (or even pressed close really), but you’re coming inside like a tornado, clearly late for whatever you needed to do and you don’t even spare him a look. It takes him a second to realize you don’t even notice it’s him as you thank him, going to press the 5th floor button just to see that it was already lit up.

“You’re welcome.” Carlos says shortly, and he notices you visibly tense up, good he thinks. At least he wasn’t the only person uncomfortable and there was a brief sense of satisfaction that maybe he was getting under your skin the same way you were getting under his. His thoughts get thrown out the window though when you turn to face him and, since when was the elevator this small?

“Oh, hi.” You say like it’s nothing, before turning to face your back towards him and that’s enough to make Carlos’ teeth grind. The annoyance that was simmering in him is suddenly overflowing and he can’t find himself to hold back.

“Seriously? Hi? That’s it?” There’s venom laced to it that has you both surprised and you look back at him like you’re about to say something but no he thinks. It’s his turn to speak right now. “What are you even doing here? McLaren? Really?” He asks, as the door opens and he can practically hear your thoughts, already planning to book it. He grabs your wrist before you even have a foot out though, ignoring the way you both almost flinch at the contact before shaking his head. “We need to talk.”

You both end up in one of the empty meeting rooms after you had reluctantly agreed by muttering a fine before following behind him. The tension is palpable and it’s clear you both did not want to be there but frankly Carlos didn’t care. The room is big and quite empty, the tables were lined up to form a square with an empty space in the middle where you both were. The clean and blank white walls make it difficult to avoid eye contact as there is nothing to focus on apart from each other. He’s rubbing his fingers together because his hand feels like it's on fire from having held your wrist earlier, but he tries his best to brush it off and ignore the feeling.

“So?” He asks, crossing his arms. “What the hell are you doing here? Why would you come here?” You’re both standing, on almost opposite sides of the room and it's comical really, but for some reason what you find funny is his question because you laugh bitterly, even shaking your head.

“I’m interning here Carlos. Did you not remember Tom introducing me? I just graduated and I got this opportunity. What are you doing here?” You say, matching Carlos’ tone and he realizes how he probably sounded but he’s annoyed and he doesn’t care.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” He asks. “You knew I would be in McLaren.” There is a tone of conviction in his voice. He knew you still watched races, that you still liked and followed the sport (especially if you were here right now). He knew you were invested and that you would know where each driver would go as soon as it was announced.

“I’m sorry Carlos, should I have called to ask for your approval? Ask if I can join your team?” You ask and he can’t help but cringe at that question because seriously? That’s not what he meant at all, but he’s so mad that you’d even insinuate that that he just decides to quip back at you instead of telling you that wasn’t the case.

“I mean, you technically are in my team now.” He can’t help himself to say. He feels a pool of satisfaction settle in his chest when it’s clear that you are fuming. “A heads up would have been nice. That’s all.” He follows up when you don’t say anything back. “You knew I’d be here, at least you had a choice to show up. Did you just want to throw me off or something?” He knows how he sounds, accusatory and bitter but he’s mad and his words are rolling off his tongue faster than he can think. The way you roll your eyes makes him even angrier.

“How conceited are you to think I chose to be here to get at you?” You ask and Carlos can’t help but scoff, muttering a whatever. “I didn’t even know I would be working under your team,” You say, using air marks when you say your team. “I dislike this as much as you do.”

“Regardless you could have told me. It’s basic decency y/n. It’s not like you don’t have my number.” Carlos says sharply and what you say surprises him.

“No, I don’t actually. Deleted it. Didn’t need it anymore.” He’s staring at you now in complete disbelief, because no way you deleted his number. He’s about to open his mouth but he can’t even accuse you of lying because he can’t even remember the last time you both exchanged words. Was it really that long ago?

“I see,” He settles with instead and this time he needs to lean back against the table, crossing his arms over his chest as you both silently stare at each other. “You still could have given me a heads up still. We both have instagram.” He knows he’s picking at straws now but he doesn’t care.

“Yeah and get lost in the sea of DMs you get? You’re Mr. Big Shot now” You scoff, also crossing your arms over your chest and he can’t help but sigh again.

“Why did you lie?” He asks now, deciding to ignore your jab at him. “When Zak asked if we knew each other- we could have said we were frie-'' Carlos says but he’s soon cut off. Your words are almost deafening.

“That’s the thing Carlos, we aren’t friends.” And Carlos doesn’t know what to do except to laugh. You’re looking at him unimpressed and he just shakes his head. He didn’t know what to expect really, because you were right, but he can feel an emptiness spread in his chest as your words decide to settle in there with it. It’s like a cold slap across his face.

“You know what y/n? Fuck you. I am trying to have a decent conversation with you.” He knows this isn’t true. The way he had confronted you had already set a sour tone. He finds himself pushing himself off the table though to properly stand, deciding that the conversation was already over. “Whatever. You do you. I do me. Just stay the fuck out of my way.” He says as he turns to go to the door.

He forces himself to not look back when he hears you say back a fine, shutting the door behind him before heading to the engineering team, already late. A few heads turn to him once he walks in but nobody really bats an eye, it was rare for Carlos to come late so letting it slide once wasn’t an issue.

He doesn’t even realize that you’re supposed to be there until you stumble in almost fifteen minutes later, murmuring an apology as you keep your head down and head to the back.

He tries his best to keep his mind focused on Tom, nodding along with the different suggestions he had on how he could possibly be running the car in tests. The moment he finally finds himself relaxing for a moment, Tom is saying something about how someone had really good insight on a few things. His jaw tenses when your name gets thrown into the conversation and at this point it felt like a sick joke. Of course Tom is already saying he’s going to call you over and Carlos decides to just nod, straightening his back a bit as he rests his arms on the table. He watches Tom get up before letting out a sigh to look back at the screen. He rubs his temples, tired already.

“Hey,” You say and Carlos nods, not even looking at you. The tension is there, but it's mixed with something else that leaves a sour taste in Carlos’ mouth when he greets you back. Thankfully Tom sits between you both, completely clueless at the discomfort you both felt before pulling out a few other files that he had.

You both glance at each other quietly before turning to the screen as Tom begins to point at a few things.

This was going to be a long season, Carlos can’t help but think.

________________________________

Link to Chapter 4

a/n: again ty ty ty for reading!!! i am open for suggestions or comments and constructive criticism. i hope you enjoy and i hope i can get a chapter out next week too. work has been eating me alive lowkey but it is what it is. aaaah,

taglist (y'all literally own my heart and i hope y'all enjoy): @luvrboygaslys-interacts @mossafiato @animesimp2 @gridmetro @iamasimpingh0e @ihearttheoriginals @panicforspec @wildflowertaste @hammyknight @im-an-overthinker @serialkillertbh @pierre-gasssllyy @lostinketterdam @organasith @sarasturniolo @azenpal @sukunasrealgf @imsoconfused2903

as always here's my masterlist i am taking reqs atm <3

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