Chapter Text
“It’s nice of your brother that he got us these tickets.” Oscar says as he sits down, nachos in one hand, a soda in the other. “I know! And these are the best seats at the field!” Arthur responds cheerfully, sitting between Oscar and Logan who is already engrossed by the players warming up on the field. Ollie and Kimi sit on the other side of Oscar, giggling as they whisper to each other. After some stressful innings, apparently, Oscar didn’t know what the fuck was happening most of the time, it’s the bottom of the 9th and the Chicago Sparks are down 3-0. Everyone’s on the edge of their seat, besides Oscar. And well, Kimi and Ollie who have fallen asleep against each other. Kimi’s dad is legit the manager of this team, and his soon to be step dad plays on the team too, how is he not interested? Oscar thinks, furrowing his brow at the couple. He huffs a sigh, zoning out as the crowd chants someone’s name. The bases are loaded and if they get a home run, they win the game and break their 16 game losing streak. The crowd roars as someone steps up to the plate. Arthur slaps Oscar’s thigh repeatedly, pointing at the guy screaming.
“What?” Oscar sighs before looking over and his breath stops short. Chocolate curls that sit under a navy helmet, tan skin, and pure hazel eyes. God he’s beautiful. I think I’m in love, Oscar thinks. He keeps his eyes locked on the man as he swivels his long stick, a bat Oscar recalls Logan calling it, and he looks at the name on the back of his jersey. NORRIS is written in orange block letters and Oscar leans over towards Arthur, whispering. “Who’s this guy?” Arthur turns and so does Logan and looks at Oscar like he’s got 3 heads. “What?” Oscar questions, taken aback by his friends’ faces.
“‘Who is this guy?’” Arthur laughs with a surprised smile. “This is Lando fucking Norris. The firecracker.” Arthur continues to stare at Oscar in disbelief and Oscar just shrugs.
“He’s scored every single Chicago Sparks point this year. His batting average is .314!” Logan says simply and Oscar raises an eyebrow, not knowing if that’s good or not. “That’s like, really good. He has one of the best in the entire league this year. The only person who is better is Lewis Hamilton with a .344. And last year Lando got 410 runs. The entire team scored 814 last year.” Logan basically stares into Oscar’s soul and Oscar puts his hands up in defense.
“Okay, so he’s really fucking good, sorry I didn’t know. This is only my 3rd baseball game in my life, so.” Oscar just shrugs before returning his gaze to home base. The ball comes hurdling towards them and Lando swings the bat and misses the ball. “Strike one!” A big guy in all black screams and the crowds ooh’s before they focus up again. Another ball comes whizzing toward them and Lando misses it again. “Strike two!” The guy screams again and the tension is so thick in the field you could cut it with a knife. Everyone holds their breath for the last pitch. It flies towards Lando and he… misses. The field groans and Lando’s shoulders sags. “Strike three, you're out! And that’s the game!” Arthur slumps in his seat and Logan buries his face in his hands, groaning.
“17 straight fucking losses.” Logan complains but it’s just background noise to Oscar. Oscar swears “Careless Whispers” starts playing from somewhere. Lando’s walking back to the team dugout but it seems like slow motion to Oscar. His eyes scan the crowd and lock with Oscar’s for 1.5 seconds and Oscar almost passes out. He sighs dramatically and drops his head into Arthur’s shoulder, hand resting against his forehead. Arthur gently moved it off with a perplexed look.
“What?” He says hesitantly, scanning Oscar’s face.
“He just looked at me.” Oscar sighs, straightening up slightly.
“Hey, you numpties, wake up, games over.” Logan shouts and Kimi and Ollie just adjust in their sleep.
Oscar and Arthur stand up, stretching. Logan sighs walking over to flick the pairs temples. They both startle awake, blinking in the dim light of the stadium.
“So? He probably looked at me too.” Arthur says, grabbing his soda from the floor.
“But we locked eyes, Arthur, it was…” Oscar sighs, staring off into the distance with heart eyes.
Arthur pauses, hand resting on his cocked out hip. “Oh my god, is Oscar Jack Piastri in love?” He laughs smiling cockily.
Oscar sputters, blushing a deep shade of crimson and Arthur just laughs. Arthur shakes his head, smiling bigger as he moves towards the aisle. The group makes their way towards the exit merging into the flood of upset fans leaving too. They make it to the car and everyone climbs in, Logan driving with Arthur in the passenger seat. Ollie and Kimi take the captains chairs and Oscar is forced to sit on the floor between them.
“So, Oscar is in love with Lando Norris?” Logan asks, pulling out of the spot as somebody honks at him.
“Im not in love with Lando Norris!” Oscar whines but the flush that spreads across his cheeks says otherwise.
“Don't listen to him baby, he totally is. I saw hearts in his eyes earlier while he was staring at him.” Arthur places a hand on Logan’s upper arm while Logan uses the other hand to flip off the person who was honking. “Oscar, babe, it’s okay. He’s really hot so it’s not like you're saying you are in love with Max Verstappen.”
“Ew Arthur, that's my dad!” Kimi butts in, disgust written all over his face.
“And that’s also offensive to your brother, who is literally engaged to him.” Ollie add on, pointing a finger at Arthur.
“Still think he’s ugly and that Charles can do better.” Arthur says simply, shrugging as he stares out the window.
“That’s rude my love.” Logan comments, merging onto the highway to go back to Arthur's apartment.
“But it’s the truth.” Arthur points out, looking at his boyfriend. “But seriously, Oscar, babe, you can't even deny it. You fawned over him looking at you for like half a second.”
“It was actually a second and a half and it was spectacular.” Oscar corrects, grinning at the thought of Lando’s earthy olive eyes meeting his warm chocolate ones. He swears that Lando’s lips twitched up into a slight smile too. “You should have seen the look on his face.” Oscar sighs, looking out the window with heart eyes.
“I did. He was frowning and his eyes looked tired.” Logan replies dryly, trying to pull Oscar out of his haze. “Dude, you can do way better. The other day he wore a shirt that said, ‘eat pussy, it’s vegan’. There are 8 ish billion people out there. Fine some better, please.”
Ollie’s jaw drops, pulling out his phone, “So the rumors were true?! I need to find a photo of this.”
Oscar’s shoulders slump and a frown appears on his face. “Oh.” Not only do I have no shot with him but he’s probably straight. Of course he is, most pro sports people are.
Arthur slaps his boyfriend's biceps before scolding him in a hushed tone. The rest of the car ride is ridden in an awkward silence before they all make it to Arthur and Logan’s apartment complex. Everyone gets out of the car and says their goodbye to each other. Arthur holds onto Oscar a little longer than necessary before letting go with his knowing smile. Ollie and Kimi hop into their car and Oscar hops into his, waving goodbye to his friends. He plugs in his phone and opens up Apple Carplay. Oscar boots up Spotify and plays his main playlist. The first song that plays is “Love Story” by Taylor Swift and the only thing that goes through his mind is Lando. How perfectly this song would represent their relationship. But then he thinks about his last relationship. Oscar and… him belting this song while they drive to Dairy Queen on a random Tuesday night. Tears well in his eyes at the memories, how he used to say to Oscar that he was going to propose to Oscar with this song in the background. How that was what he proposed to her with. And it was their first dance song. He shakes his head, pulling onto the highway, trying to get those thoughts out of his head. The next song comes on and it’s “Orbiter” by Noah Kahan. He mumbles the lyrics weaving around the slower cars, going a little too fast. He’s halfway through belting the chorus when he gets a call from his sister, Hattie. He groans, upset that since he was just at the best part before answering.
“What’s up, Hattie?” He asks, one hand on the wheel.
“Nothing, just wanted to check on my brother.” Hattie answers, sounding like she’s making lunch.
Oscar hums unconvinced, changing lanes to pull off the highway. “Sure. You never call unless you want to talk about something. Drama usually.”
“Fine, okay, I have tea.” Hattie replies, a little more enthusiastic.
“I told you, if it’s work drama, I don't want to hear it.” Oscar says dryly, tired of her complaining about her corporate job and shitty coworkers.
“No, it’s about Mae and Jackson.” Hattie reassures her older brother.
Oscar focuses more on the conversation now, replying with, "I'm listening.”
Hattie goes on to tell him all about how Jackson proposed and Mae said no and they got in a huge fight and ended up breaking up and blah blah blah. Oscar lost interest almost 5 minutes in and was just humming to assure his sister that he was listening, even though he wasn’t. Soon, not soon enough Oscar thinks, Oscar pulls up to his own apartment complex and parks the car.
“Sorry, Hattie, I got to go. Love you.” Oscar turns off his car and grabs his phone.
“Oh okay, bye osc, love you.” Hattie responds before hanging up.
Oscar blows out a breath before stuffing his phone and keys into his pocket and makes his way into the complex and up to his apartment. After way too many staircases he makes it to his place and grabs his keys out of his pocket. He unlocks his door and swings it open, letting out a sigh of relief. Oscar steps through the threshold before taking off his shoes and making his way to his bedroom. He flops onto the bed, arms spread wide. He turns over so he is laying on his back and grabs his phone from his sweatpants pocket. He opens up instagram and searches, Lando Norris and his account pops up. Oscar clicks on it, scrolling through the various photos of him with his jersey, a branded sweatshirt, no shirt, or a tuxedo on. Each one his hazel eyes sparkle, creased with his smile. Oscar can't help but sigh, examining each photo with great intensity. In the ones where he’s wearing his jersey, his features shine more, making him look like he’s glowing. The ones where he’s in sweats and a backwards baseball cap, his dimples pops out and his curls have more definition. When he’s in his tux, it brings out his eyes, making them look almost emerald to sometimes clear sky blue. And when he’s shirtless… we’ll, there's a lot more to look at. His 6 pack that looks like it’s carved out of stone, his tanned skin that glows in the sun, and the V cut of muscles that goes into his bottoms, usually swim trunks. Oscar admires every photo, from today’s game to back when he was playing at the college and high school level. After probably hours of scrolling, Oscar’s eyelids grow heavy and he puts his phone on the charger, deciding to stop for now. He gets up to brush his teeth and put in his retainer. Oscar makes his way back to his bed, arms stretched over his head as he yawns. He gets comfy under his duvet and before he drifts off one thought pops into his head.
Maybe my shot hasn’t been lost just yet.