Chapter Text
He kept staring at the job postings on his phone, his eyes moving across the screen over and over again.
Every few seconds, he reloaded the site as if a completely different job would suddenly appear out of nowhere and somehow fix everything that had been going wrong.
His headache was getting worse.
A dull, constant pressure sat behind his eyes, lingering there since morning and refusing to go away no matter how many times he ignored it.
Lando rubbed his temple tiredly before looking back at the screen again.
Sales Assistant. Rejected.
Administrative Clerk. Rejected.
Customer Service Representative. Rejected.
Another email sat unread in his inbox.
He didn’t need to open it. He already knew exactly what it said.
'Thank you for your interest…
We regret to inform you…'
Lando locked the email without reading the rest.
There was no point.
Those words had become familiar months ago.
He had seen them so many times that he could practically recite the entire message without opening it.
He refreshed the page again.
Nothing.
Just more job listings asking for qualifications he didn’t have.
A university degree.
Three years of experience.
Industry references.
Professional certifications.
Lando had none of it.
After finishing school, he’d spent years helping his father run their small restaurant.
Taking orders, managing suppliers, handling customers.
Sometimes even doing the accounting when his father became overwhelmed and needed help.
The restaurant had survived because both of them worked themselves half to death trying to keep it running.
But companies never seemed impressed by any of that.
To them, it wasn’t experience. It was just helping family.
'We’ll contact you.' Lando hated that sentence.
Because they never did.
A customer entered the restaurant.
Lando barely looked up from his phone before returning his attention to the screen.
His father was in the kitchen cleaning. The old television hanging in the corner played some business program that nobody was actually watching.
A familiar face appeared briefly on the screen.
Young CEO. Fastest growing company
Lando looked away before hearing the name.
He didn’t want to hear that name.
It somehow always made something twist painfully inside his chest.
It always made him want to disappear into his room, shut the door, hide from everyone, and cry where nobody could see him.
His father walked out of the kitchen carrying a box. “You still looking?”
Lando let out a sigh. “What do you think?”
His father placed the box down on one of the tables.
“You know your mother would hire you tomorrow.”
There it was.
The conversation again.
Lando immediately looked back at his phone.
His mother owned one of the biggest companies in the city.
A giant office building.
Hundreds of employees.
More money than any of them could realisticaly spend in a lifetime.
His brother had moved in with her years ago.
He had chosen to live with the money, the comfort, and everything their mother could offer.
And he had accepted all of it. Accepted the opportunities she offered.Accepted the future she planned for him. Accepted the life she wanted him to have.
Lando hadn’t. And he wasn’t going to start now.
His mother had never understood that.
Every few months she’d call and offer him another position.
Another opportunity.
“Come work for me.” She always said it the same way.
Not as a question. And never as a suggestion.
As if it was the obvious solution to all his problems.
As if eventually he would stop being stubborn, give up, and admit that she had been right all along.
Lando would rather keep getting rejected. at least then the failure would belong to him. At least it would be his own mistake and nobody else’s.
His father didn’t push further.
He never did.
Unlike his mother.
The silence stretched comfortably between them.
Neither of them seemed in a hurry to fill it.
Lando refreshed the page again.
A new posting appeared.
'Executive Assistant.'
He almost scrolled past it without a second thought.
Then he saw the salary.
His thumb froze against the screen.
It was ridiculous. Far more than he would have expected. Far more than most of the jobs he’d looked at during the last few months.
Enough to help his father with the restaurant.
Enough to replace the old equipment that seemed to break down every other week.
Enough to stop worrying every single time business slowed down.
For a moment, he allowed himself to imagine it.
The leaking freezer finally replaced with a new one. The old kitchen equipment upgraded.
His father taking a day off for once.
Actually resting.
Actually sleeping in.
Maybe even enjoying himself if they could finally afford to hire someone to help them.
Lando swallowed hard.
Then he let out a quiet laugh.
None of it mattered. They probably wouldn’t hire him anyway. That was usually how it ended.
He opened the application. Attached his resume.
Read through everything one last time.Then pressed send.
Done.
Another rejection waiting to happen.
Another email that would probably start with 'Thank you for your interest.'
His eyes drifted away from the screen.
A business magazine sat forgotten on one of the nearby tables.
The same face from the television smiled from the cover.
Young CEO of the Year.
Oscar Piastri.
Lando immediately looked away.
How fucking lucky he was to see that name and that face everywhere. It felt impossible to avoid sometimes.
Lando had never really paid attention.
He never cared about how successful Oscar was now.
Never cared about his company.
Never cared about his achievements.
At least that was what he always told himself.
So he ignored the magazine.
Ignored the name.
Ignored the company.
For five years he had done a surprisingly good job of avoiding anything related to Oscar.
Never searching for him online.
Never reading articles about him.
Never listening to business programs long enough to learn what he was doing these days or where he was.
It had become a habit at some point.
A name appeared somewhere, and Lando looked away.
Simple as that.
He locked his phone and dropped it onto the chair beside him with a tired sigh.
Maybe he should’ve paid more attention.
Maybe he should’ve looked up the company before sending his application.
Maybe he should’ve spent thirty seconds reading the information instead of applying without thinking.
Maybe the name 'Oscar Piastri' would’ve made him stop.
Maybe he would’ve laughed and moved on.
After all, he’d spent years ignoring it. Years pretending it meant nothing. Years acting like it belonged to a stranger.
But five years ago…
When he had first heard that name…
It had meant something entirely different.
⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆
2021:
Lando tightened his fingers around the strap of his red backpack as he stepped into the unfamiliar school yard.
Everything felt new. Everything felt unfamiliar.
But he wasn’t nervous. At least not enough to care.
He didn’t care that he knew nobody there.
He didn’t care that the school year had already started two months ago.
Making friends had never been difficult for him anyway.
Lando had always been loud. Confident.
The kind of person who could walk into a room full of strangers and start a conversation without thinking twice about it.
People usually liked him.
Teachers liked him because he studied hard and actually paid attention in class. Students liked him because he somehow made everything feel less boring.
Even his brother used to joke that he was annoyingly easy to love.
Lando always rolled his eyes when he said it. But secretly he liked hearing it.
And he tried hard to deserve it.
He studied late almost every night.
Took every opportunity seriously.
Worked harder than most people around him.
Did everything he could to succeed. Because he knew he had to. There wasn’t really another option.
His mum had money.
A lot of it.
Enough money to solve problems before they even became problems.
Lando could’ve gone to live with her after the divorce. Just like his older brother had.
A bigger house. A more comfortable life. Everything would’ve been easier.
But Lando still remembered the look on his dad’s face that day.
The way he’d tried so hard not to cry.
The way he’d smiled even though his eyes looked hurt.
The way he’d quietly expected Lando to leave too.
To choose his mother.
To choose the easier life.
Lando remembered all of it.
So he stayed.
Because his father was kind. Because he was good. Because he had been the one left behind.
Lando knew his mum could be cruel. She never seemed to care enough.
Never seemed to think about how her choices affected other people.
His dad told him all the time that she wasn’t that bad. That she wasn’t a terrible person. That things were complicated.
But Lando remembered.
He remembered how badly she had treated his dad. He remembered the arguments.The coldness. The distance.
And he remembered how casually she had decided to leave.
One random morning during breakfast.
As if she was discussing the weather.
As if she wasn’t destroying their family.
Lando had chosen to stay with his dad because deep down he didn’t like the woman his mother had become.
Not that he didn’t love her. Of course he did. She was still his mum.
That wasn’t something that disappeared overnight.
But loving someone and thinking they were a good person weren’t always the same thing.
So Lando and his dad moved out of the house that had once belonged to both parents.
They bought a much smaller place near the little restaurant his dad owned.
The move meant Lando had to change schools.
The school he used to attend with his brother was far too far away now.
His mum was still paying for his education. Something Lando hated. But he couldn’t really complain. His dad wasn’t in a position to pay for that right now. And despite everything, his mother never hesitated when it came to writing a cheque.
Lando checked the numbers on the classroom doors again.
Then checked them a second time.
A third time.
His pace quickened.
He was late.
Very late.
The hallways were almost empty now since classes had already started.
Most of the classroom doors were closed.
The distant voices of teachers echoed faintly through the corridors.
“Fuck, where is it?” he muttered under his breath.
He looked down at his watch.His eyes widened immediately.
Then he broke into a run.
His shoes echoed loudly through the hallway. The sound bounced off the walls as he rushed forward.
His backpack bounced against his shoulders.
His breathing became uneven.
But he kept going.
His eyes remained fixed on the classroom numbers ahead.
Which was exactly why he didn’t notice someone walking toward him.
Not until he slammed straight into them.
Lando stumbled backward.
Lost his balance completely.
And crashed onto the floor. “Shit…”
The word escaped before he could stop it.
He looked up instinctively.
White Converse.
Cream uniform trousers.
A loose tie hung carelessly around a white shirt, as if he couldn’t be bothered to wear it properly.
Then finally, Lando’s eyes moved higher.
Light brown hair.
Sharp eyes.
And an expression that looked far too calm for someone who had just been crashed into.
The boy crossed his arms loosely over his chest, watching him.
“You usually don’t look where you’re going?” he asked casually.
Lando stared at him in disbelief for a second.
Then a short laugh escaped him. “You’re the one standing in the middle of the hallway like a statue.”
The boy raised an eyebrow slightly.
Interesting.
Most people either apologized immediately after bumping into him. Or they got nervous the second they recognized him.
Some even started stumbling over their words.
This beautiful one looked irritated instead.
Lando pushed himself off the floor and brushed the dust from his trousers.
His backpack had slipped halfway off one shoulder. He adjusted it absently while looking at the other boy again.
Now that he was standing properly, he noticed two things immediately.
First: The guy was annoyingly attractive. The kind of attractive that was almost irritating.
Second: He definitely knew it.
There was something effortless about him. The expensive watch around his wrist.
The perfectly fitted uniform. The relaxed posture.
The complete lack of concern about anything happening around him.
The kind of confidence that usually came from growing up adored.
Like nobody had ever told him no and actually meant it.
“New student?” the boy asked.
His eyes moved over Lando several times.
Taking in the unfamiliar face.
The backpack.
The uniform.
The fact that he’d clearly never seen him before.
The body...
Lando narrowed his eyes slightly. “Wow. You’re so smart.” His voice dripped with sarcasm.
He wasn’t usually mean.
In fact, most people would describe him as friendly.
But there was something about the way the other boy kept looking at him that made him want to talk back.
Maybe it was the confidence. Maybe it was the fact that he looked far too comfortable with himself.
Or maybe it was the way the boy was looking at him up and down.
A laugh escaped the other’s lips this time.
Short.
Not forced at all. If anything, he looked even more amused than before.
Then he tilted his head slightly. “I’m Oscar.”
He smiled faintly "Oscar... Piastri"
He said it like that alone should explain everything.
Like he was expecting recognition.
Like the name carried meaning by itself.
Like he was some sort of celebrity.
Lando only rolled his eyes. “Congratulations.”
For a second, Oscar simply stared at him. Then the corner of his mouth twitched. He looked genuinely entertained now.
Lando suddenly remembered he was still late.
His eyes widened slightly.
Shit.
He immediately glanced toward the classroom numbers again.
Searching.
Searching.
Then finally finding the right one.
Relief washed over him instantly.
Without saying another word, he walked past Oscar and stopped in front of the classroom door.
His hand closed around the handle.
Behind him, Oscar watched quietly.
The small smile never fully disappeared from his face.
His eyes followed Lando all the way to the classroom.
“We’re classmates then,” he murmured quietly to himself.
For some reason, the realization made him smile a little more. Strangely, he didn’t seem bored anymore.
And that day…
Was the first time Lando heard the name 'Oscar Piastri'.