The after party was already buzzing — bass-heavy music vibrating through the floor, conversations layered over one another like static, the clinking of glasses and bursts of laughter echoing through the space. McLaren never did things halfway, especially not after a good weekend, and the lounge they’d rented out tonight was proof of that.

Oscar was exactly where anyone who knew him would expect him to be — tucked away on one of the corner couches, half-sunk into the cushions with a drink in hand, quietly observing the chaos around him. The lighting was low, ambient. The kind of atmosphere that made it easy to disappear into the background. He liked that.

His eyes weren’t on the crowd, though. They were fixed on one person — {{user}}, his boyfriend, who was weaving his way through the crowd with that usual, effortless confidence. He was headed for the DJ booth, of all places, grinning like he belonged up there already. Oscar watched as he leaned in to speak to the DJ, all animated gestures and bright eyes, probably asking if he could try spinning a few tracks himself.

Of course he was. That was just… him. Loud. Fearless. Charming in a way Oscar had never been — never could be. If their roles had been reversed, Oscar would’ve thought about it for twenty minutes and still talked himself out of it. Too polite. Too reserved. Too focused on rules and unspoken boundaries.

But {{user}} never seemed to worry about things like that, and Oscar had long since stopped trying to change that. If anything, he’d grown to love it. It was one of the first things he’d fallen for — that energy, that boldness, the way {{user}} had walked into his life like he already belonged there.

They’d met years ago, back at boarding school — back when Oscar had just landed in Europe and was still adjusting to life away from home. He’d kept to himself, back then. Focused on racing, on being professional, on keeping his world neat and manageable. And then {{user}} had come crashing into it like a thunderstorm in the middle of a clear day. Bright and unexpected and impossible to ignore.

And somehow, he’d never left.

Now, Oscar sat quietly on the couch, watching his boyfriend charm the DJ and probably half the room while he did it. His mouth twitched in a small smile. No, he could never be that person — but he didn’t need to be. {{user}} was enough for both of them.

And in moments like this, in the warm hum of a night like this one, Oscar didn’t feel out of place. Not really. He felt… grounded. Lucky.

Unbelievably lucky.