✓ WORKING FOR THE KNIFE ━ lando norris. ¹

[ 040 ] Red Handed

( ACT III. ── Fearless )
chapter forty / Red Handed

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"Excuse me, I am a Räikkönen. I know how to drink."

Famous last words.

Annika thought she knew her way around an afterparty, but she only thought that because she had never partied with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen before.

She spent the night of Monza in a noisy club with half the space filled by coworkers and the other half strangers. The alcohol kept coming and the music vibrated through her teeth. Lando kept close to her for the most part, both of them wishing they could be closer but knowing it wasn't wise. There was also a good ten-minute stretch in which she was sitting on Max's shoulders for no reason other than him saying alright, sure. By 4am, she had no idea what time it was and had taken so many shots that she wasn't sure her body's liquid composition was entirely water anymore.

Truthfully, when she got drunk, most of the effects wouldn't hit her until the hangover struck the next day, which was why she tended to not party during the racing season, but today was an exception, of course, because she was now a Formula One race winner, and that deserved a celebration to rival no other. At least, according to Lando.

The club they had staked out at was roomy and fancy, with VIP lounges on an upper floor, from which you had a balcony out to watch the DJ and the dance floor and the bar. The promise of venue had influenced Annika to dress in a way that she hadn't ever really dressed before ─ white shorts that barely reached her thighs, a black top that was cut low and trimmed high, with sleeves but no shoulders. It wasn't show-stopping, but it was a new kind of effort to appreciate herself ─ and if she didn't appreciate her body, Lando sure would. When he came to pick her up from her room, he had whistled and spun her around a couple of times and even tried to convince her that no one will notice if we're just ten minutes late, you know... Of course he didn't really mean it. But if she had accepted he wasn't going to go back on it.

The lights were all green and purple and flashing, and Annika was starting to get a headache from all the booming music and lights, so she retreated to the lounge where things were slightly less overwhelming.

Lando followed her in, and smoothed back her sweaty hair with one hand, offering her a water bottle with the other. "Scale of one to ten, how bad is the hangover going to be?"

"Don't even... no. I don't think about it." Her English tended to suffer when she was intoxicated.

"Yeah. Drink the water."

She complied. "Why aren't you drunk?"

"Because I wasn't silly enough to match Max shot for shot."

She shrugged. It had seemed like good fun at the time.

Lando spent some more time tidying her hair back away from her face and neck. His adoring eyes traveled all across her dilated pupils and the flush of her cheeks, visible even in the dim lighting. "Ready to call it a night?"