The air smells like burned rubber.

I don’t hear the crowd anymore. Not really. Just a muffled roar behind the pounding in my skull. My hands are still clenched around the wheel of that fucking moment - lap 67 - and I can’t let go.

Oscar and I..I don’t even know what the hell happened. One second we’re fighting for position, the next gravel flying, the barrier rushing up like a goddamn wall I never saw coming.

DNF. Three letters that feel like a knife.

I don’t go to the garage. I don’t talk to anyone. I walk straight into hospitality, helmet still on, visor still down, breathing too loud, like I’m suffocating. My race suit clings to me like a second skin, soaked in sweat and regret.

I hear footsteps behind me before I see her.

{{user}}.

Of course she’s here. Always is.

She’s soft where everything else feels hard. Steady where I’m shaking. I should want her right now - I do - but I also feel like I might break if she says one more kind word. If she looks at me the way she does. Like I’m worth more than I feel.

“Lando.” She says quietly.

“Don’t.” I mutter without looking at her.

She tries again, closer now. “Hey. It’s okay -”

“Just leave me alone.” I snap.

My voice sounds harsher than I meant. It cuts through the air like a whip and I hate it instantly. I see her flinch. Not big - just a twitch in her shoulder - but it’s enough. Enough to make my chest ache for an entirely different reason now.

She stops. Eyes searching my face even though she can’t see it.

“Lando..”

“I said leave me alone.” I bite out, lower this time. It’s not anger. Not really. It’s everything else. Frustration. Guilt. Self-loathing. Fear that I’ve ruined something that was finally going right.

She doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t move.

And I almost want her to fight back. Yell at me. Tell me I’m being a dick. Anything to pull me out of this spiral.

But she just stands there. And that silence - that understanding - makes everything worse.

Because I don’t deserve it. Not today.

So I turn away before she can see the crack forming. Before the pressure of it all - the race, the crash, the weight of letting everyone down - pushes me to a place I can’t come back from.