641.8 miles

Chapter 10 - Meeting

"Arthur's room is the second door on the left." Charles pointed down the hall and handed his suitcase back to Lando after he had helped him carrying it inside and up the stairs. "If you're bored or need anything, I'll be downstairs."

"Thanks." Lando smiled shyly. Arthur wasn't here yet, why was he already feeling so nervous?

When he opened the door to Arthur's room, Lando was a little surprised. It was much bigger than it had always seemed in the background of their video calls. And so much tidier.
Lando knew that Arthur was the most chaotic and lazy person when it came to his room, so he must have been cleaning beforehand. The Brit had to grin at the thought of Arthur tidying his room just because of him. He wouldn't have minded the mess, since his home didn't look much better, but it was definitely a nice gesture.

 -

Arthur's heart stopped when he saw that Charles' car was standing in the driveway. That meant Lando was already here. Lando was at his house in this moment. He couldn't quite believe it.

As soon as he opened the door, his brother came running towards him. "Je n'arrive pas à y croire! Arthur, you fucking idiot!" Oh no, was Charles mad at him? Was he mad at Lando? Had something happened between them?

Charles came to a halt right in front of Arthur and crossed his arms in front of his chest, a serious expression on his face. The younger brother gulped. This was definitely not a good sign.

"How dare you date one of my best friends and not tell me about it? I'm your big brother, I need to know things like that!" At the sight of Arthur's absolutely terrified face, Charles' expression suddenly softened and a smile crept onto his lips before he opened his arms. "Now come here and let me hug you, dumbass. I'm happy for you, Lando is great."

"You...you're not mad?" Arthur couldn't believe the sudden change in this brother's behaviour. "No, but if he hurts you, I will end his career. And if you hurt him I will end you." The older one grinned and patted his shoulder. "Now don't leave your boyfriend waiting any longer, he's upstairs already."

"Oh my god, Charles did you also use that word in front of him?" Arthur's eyes widened. "What? Boyfriend? Yeah, of course." Charles shrugged his shoulders.

"He's not my boyfriend, Charly!" Panic started to spread in Arthur's body now. What if Charles had scared Lando off with that? What if Lando now thought he had told Charles they were dating?

"Well, then it's about time you change that." his brother shrugged and went back to the living room.

Great, now Arthur felt about ten times more nervous than he had already felt before. He took in a deep breath before making his way to his room. It still seemed so surreal that Lando was actually here now.

-

Lando jumped and turned around when the door he had just closed behind him suddenly opened again.

"Hi." Arthur was standing there. Even thought he was smiling, his face and body language clearly showed how nervous and awkward he felt. This somehow made Lando feel a little more confident. Apparently the monegasque had not been exaggerating when he had told him about his fear and how shy he was in real life.

"Hey." Lando smiled back.
"Sorry I couldn't pick you up and you had to wait for me." Arthur closed the door behind him and sat on the foot of his bed, patting the space next to him, gesturing Lando to sit down beside him.
"No problem, I just arrived a few minutes ago, I haven't been waiting for long. And it wasn't your fault. Everything settled because of the accident?" When Lando sat down, Arthur looked down at his hands and started fiddling with the hem of his sweater.

"Yes, it's not that big of a deal. Only a few dents in the car. Worst timing ever for something like that though."
"Yeah. But at least now we don't have to worry about Charles' reaction anymore." Lando was actually really glad about this, otherwise the fear would probably still be twice as bad now.

"I...I'm really sorry if Charles calling you my boyfriend made you uncomfortable, I didn't-" Arthur stammered but was interrupted mid-sentence. "No, no, you don't need to apologize! I... I actually quite liked it.", the Brit admitted and could feel his cheeks burning within seconds after having spoken those words.

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Shy babies are shy
Probably not what you all expected, I'm sorry! But this story is tagged with #slowburn for a reason after all :D

Hope you liked it anyway!

xx