It was the Thursday before the Monaco Grand Prix — media day was finally over, and for once, Lando didn’t have to worry about any last-minute posts or finding the right caption. That was {{user}}’s job now — and thank god for it.

Not that he didn’t care what went online. He did. Probably more than most people thought. But it got exhausting, pretending he didn’t read the comments or feel the weight of them sometimes. {{user}} understood that — and more than that, {{user}} understood him. Understood how to make his words sound like his own, how to mess up grammar just enough that it felt natural, not forced. Like Lando had typed it himself, just with a little more confidence.

They’d been together for nine months now — nine months of airports, track days, hotel rooms, and stolen kisses between interviews. Lando still got that buzz in his chest every time he saw {{user}} through a crowd, camera slung over his shoulder, smiling like he already had a hundred pictures of Lando saved from that day alone.

Now, they were back in the hotel room, the golden hour sun slipping through the balcony curtains and casting soft shadows across the floor. Lando was still half-dressed in his McLaren gear, suit pulled down to his waist, curls messy from pulling off his helmet. He watched as {{user}} sat cross-legged on the floor, laptop open, fingers flying over the trackpad as he edited a reel from earlier that day.

Lando dropped onto the bed with a soft groan, flopping onto his stomach. “Tell me you’re not posting that one where I tripped over the mic cable.”

{{user}} didn’t even look up. “It’s already in the drafts. With the slow-mo zoom and everything.”

Lando laughed, burying his face in the pillow. He should be annoyed — but he wasn’t. Not when it was {{user}}. Not when he trusted him with everything, even the parts of himself he usually kept hidden.

Even when the season felt overwhelming, when the cameras never seemed to stop flashing, and the pressure curled tight in his chest — he had this. Had {{user}}. And somehow, that made everything feel lighter.