First Kiss (Race 10)
A strollonso AU where 18 year old rookie Lance Stroll falls helplessly in love with the notoriously mean world champion. (1.4k words, slight description of car crash) [@v3lnys @biancathecool] {I KEPT ADDING TO THE BIRTHDAY CHAPTER INSTEAD OF WRITING THIS,, SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG}
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Fernando and Lance made their way onto the paddock together, laughing as they spoke. Their teams having booked the same hotel for the first time all season. Before arriving at the hotel the day prior they hadn't seen eachother since their dinner in Canada two weeks ago, it was nice, Lance knew all the good places (that were both ridiculously expensive and ridiculously beautiful.)
"No, Lancito, I swear, am convinced someone else has a key to my hotel room!"
"Nando, I don't think that's allowed" Lance laughed, Fernando complaining about losing a handfull of his things since arriving
"Exactly! Is not allowed, so how am I losing stuff if no one else is in my room?" He asked, not giving the Canadian time to even process his words and answer "Is not possible! Am being stalked."
"Okay, Nando, Stalked is a little much" Lance rolled his eyes, arm finding its way across the World Champions shoulders
"I think your hotels are bad luck, Lancito, maybe this is why we never have the same one, is cursed!" He spoke enthusiastically, purposefully being more dramatic in an effort to make the boy laugh.
"I'll protect you, Nando," He hummed, patting the Spaniards shoulder "If you win"
"Ay, will be no problem! You know I am good" He winked, watching as Lance rolled his eyes, moving his arm to slightly push the Spaniard away, both exchanging looks that truly should've revealed how they felt right then and there but both drivers were far too oblivious to even consider the reality of how their eyes shined as they stayed so close, practically beaming with joy on the way to their garages.
Quali was over almost as fast as it started, Fernando upset with himself because of a p5 finish, knowing he could do so much better but for some reason hadn't.
"Nando, good job" Lance said from behind him, absentmindedly patting the Spaniards ass
"Ha ha ha" He laughed dryly, shaking his head at the rookies words
"What! You did good, Nando" Lance frowned, not meaning to sound sarcastic
"Thank you, Lancito, am just not happy" Fernando shrugged, aware Lance got 12th but not hesitating to express his disappointment with 5th.
"I know you'll do better tomorrow, you always do" Lance smiled, moving his arm to ruffle the Spaniards freshly cut hair "You look nice, by the way" He added before wandering back to his garage, leaving a very flustered and messy haired Fernando standing alone.
The race finally started, Lance managing to make up two places right away, ending up behind Kimi. The tires were already decently warmed up from the formation lap so all he had to do was pass Kimi and points would be one place closer.
He stayed behind him through turn 1, then turn 2, and turn 3. It was annoying. Kimi was good so it wasn't surprising that it was hard to overtake him.
As they came up to turn 4 Lance saw an opprotunity and took it, Kimi hitting the brakes earlier than Lance had expected and the two collided, Lance completely losing his front wing and helmet being smacked with debris from the underside of the Mercedes.
Kimi's car was practically thrown into the grass, Lance sliding the opposite direction into gravel, head pounding and ears ringing as he quickly exited, the race continuing without them.
"Who crashed?" Fernando asked over the radio, he didn't usually care as long as it wasn't him but this time he was curious.
"That was Räikkönen and Stroll"
"Lance crashed?" Fernando asked, the gap to the car behind wide enough for him to lose focus for a second
"Lance crashed."
"Mierda" The Spaniard muttered, the word barely picking up on the radio as he moved his focus back to the track
Fernando had another disappointing result, managing to make up no places by the end and finishing 5th. It was weird, not going to the cooldown room right after, not looking forward to the podium and seeing Lance's eyes on him.
He debriefed with his team, annoyed at the outcome of the race and acting colder to the Renault engineers than he meant to, he just couldn't help it. It was a very disappointing result.
Lance had been waiting all race to see where Fernando ended up, seeing him finish in 5th was a shock but part of him was excited. He left his garage a few minutes after the race ended and headed to Fernando's, hoping he was done debriefing by now.
As he reached the blue and yellow garage he spotted Fernando right away, his now short hair poking up sporadically.
"Nando" He spoke, smiling as the Spaniard turned his head, face lighting up as he confirmed the voice was Lance's
"Lancito, mi sol" He stood up quickly, rushing over to the boy and grabbing him by his shoulders, turning him in a full circle before placing both hands on his cheeks "Are you hurt? Is everything okay? I haven't rewatched the crash, was it bad?"
Lance smiled softly, leaning into the touch as Fernando asked him questions "I'm fine, Nando. It was my fault, I think Kimi's car is more fucked up than mine anyways."
"The engineers were saying he saw you and moved over on purpose, did your team report him? Are they talking to the FIA about it?"
"I'm not hurt, Nando, the car's fine too, we just needed a new front wing but besides that theres no damage, we don't want to cause unneeded problems"
"Is not fair, should be looked at, you were close to the points, no?" Fernando was more frustrated with the outcome of Lance's race than his own, his team behind him surprised at how adamant he was about Lance saying something because as long as Renault did good Racing Points places didn't matter.
"Shush, let's talk about sonething else, I'm fine, you finished the race, and now you aren't on the podium so let's get something to eat."
"Again?" Fernando asked, not protesting the topic change
"Wow, Nando, do you not want to eat with me?" Lance frowned, pouting slightly at the Spaniard
"Ay, Lancito, I never said that, let me treat you." He smiled, more than happy to return the favour.
The two didn't go far, they just decided on something easy and not insanely priced that they could only have in Texas, Whataburger.
Lance had never had Whataburger before and Fernando was shocked, changing his plans of going to a nice sit down place to just going into the drive-through and eating in the Spaniards car.
"Still cannot believe you have not had Whataburger before, is so good" Fernando gushed as he ate, Lance not being able to help himself as he gazed lovingly at the man
"Well I'm glad I'm losing my Whataburger virginity with you" Lance laughed, not fully thinking about his choice of words
"You are a virgin?" Fernando asked, sounding genuinely shocked
"I'm not talking about sex, Nando" Lance laughed awkwardly, wondering if it was obvious
"You poor boy" Fernando shook his head, hand leaving his food to pat Lance's shoulder "You really should spend less time racing and more time looking for a girlfriend"
"I'll have to pass on that" Lance rolled his eyes, lips slightly curved up as his eyes fell back on Fernando, their eyes locking as the Spaniard moved his arm, his eyes flickering down to the Canadians lips then back to his eyes.
Lance felt his heart skip a beat, licking his lips slightly, wondering if maybe there was sauce on his face, how embarrassing.
As he did so Fernando looked again, his eyes lingering this time, slow to find their way away from the Canadians narrow lips.
"Is good, no?" Fernando spoke, desperately changing the topic to stop his mind from wandering farther, not wanting to have such thoughts about a boy who was as innocent as the one in front of him.
"Si" Lance responded, nodding as he took a bite of his sandwich
"Si?" Fernando smiled, pleased with the random Spanish response from the boy
"It means yes, Fernando" Lance teased, explaining the Spaniards language to him
"Ahhh" Fernando nodded, a smile still on his face as he pretended the boy taught him something.
It was nice, this, whatever this was. Both of them enjoyed it, eating together, speaking together, they hadn't realized just how attached at the hip they'd become since Bahrain but neither man was complaining, they loved eachothers company.
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