Lando walked back into his hotel room. It had been an exhausting day for him, having two practices and being surrounded by people all day because of his birthday. He appreciated all of the attention given and loved that so many people thought of him today, but it was honestly mentally exhausting.

He still had a dinner planned with the team, but he had about two hours to take a nap and get ready. He walked towards his bed, but something in the corner of his eye caught his attention. On his dresser a piece of apple pie and an envelope were placed.

"Dear Lando,

Happy birthday to you <3

I got you a piece of the only
pie you're capable of baking.
This time it's baked by
professionals though, I hope
you will enjoy it :)"

His eyebrows furrowed and he was confused for a second. This seemed like it was coming from Indra, but she was still in Germany, so how did she get it here? She didn't even know in which hotel they were staying.

A knock on the door shook him out of his thoughts. "Roomservice."

Had he asked for roomservice? Still he hurried over to the door to keep the person on the other side not just standing there. When he opened the door, it took him a while to realise what was happening. Right in front of him stood Indra, with some of the drivers behind her to film them. She held a small bouquet of orange flowers he didn't know the name of, but they were as pretty as she was.

Indra was smiling from ear to ear. She adored his reaction when he opened the door. The realisation only hit him when she softly cheered: "Surprise." The German girl opened her arms for him to hug her, and he did. They realised there were multiple phones and maybe also a couple of cameras as well so the hugs didn't last too long.

"What are you doing here?"

"Is that all you can say?" Indra replied with a smirk, implying that she was joking.

Lando remained somewhat serious though as he was questioning her about school. She said that her exams lasted till next Tuesday. "Don't you have exams?"

"No. I finished them today. Like I said, surprise!"

"I am so happy that you're here, thank you." Lando just took her answer for what it was, believing her. He really needed to get more faith in her, he knew that she was an honest person.

"Thanks to all these people behind me as well." Indra grinned, gesturing to among others Carlos and George. Everyone who was in the groupchat was there, as well as Charlotte and some other members of McLaren and some drivers who tagged along on the way.

The others were slowly backing away to leave the two in privacy. They walked into Lando's hotel room and closed the door. There, Lando hugged the girl again. Longer and tighter this time. "Thank you so much for coming, Indra, you have no idea what it means to me."

A couple of tears actually welled up in his eyes and Indra noticed, making her pout. "Don't cry for me, love. I would never be able to forgive myself if I didn't show up at your birthday." she whispered a gently wiped her thumb against his undereye to catch an escaped tear.
    "And I had my last test this morning, so don't you worry about that. It went pretty well actually."

A playful smile was drawn on her face and Lando was smiling as well. "That's good to hear. I'm happy for you. And these are happy tears as well."

"You're tired aren't you?"

A guilty expression washed over the Brit's face and he looked down for a brief moment. "A bit yeah, it's been a long day. Will you be joining me and the team for dinner by the way? That's the only remaining event in the planning today, then we can hang out."

"I will join you for dinner, it's a fancy dinner right?" She laughed a little as she thought it was funny how the team arranged a whole dinner at the fanciest restaurant of the hotel, while she knew that Lando wasn't the one for fancy dining at all. He laughed with her and nodded in reply, he knew what she was thinking.

"You brought your fancy clothes?"

"Most definitely."

"Good. Though I don't think Carlos would even be surprised if the both of us came dressed in our casual clothes though."

"Fair enough. No, I think he texted me at least seven times in the last four days to bring something fancy." It was true. He had arranged a lot of the events for Lando's birthday, as well as this dinner. Purely to mess with him, because Carlos too knew that Lando would much rather go to a small place less fancy.
    "So what about we just relax a little bit until we have to go, so that you can take a nap and I will have a shower to freshen myself up. Then we'll have dinner and walk around the area for some time. After that we'll just put up a movie and have an early night rest. You still have quali tomorrow."

Lando didn't have anything to add to her plan. He liked what he heard, but still that guilt trip for her coming all the way to Istanbul and then not doing anything. She seemed to notice and quickly added that they would do something fun for his birthday after Sunday's race. "I have planned Monday as well, as a birthday present. I used to come here for holidays a lot, so I know the area a little."

And that was what they agreed on. Indra got into the shower as she felt gross from all the rushing this morning and from the airport. Something about them just made her feel like there were bacteria just stuck to her skin and she felt the need to scrub them off thoroughly.

The shower was already running and she put on her playlist. "Of course, it's Taylor Swift." she thought to herself. She had listened to a little too much of her songs the past weeks thanks to Maria, who put her on it. Honestly, she was enjoying the songs, but she had heard the songs so many times that she knew the lyrics to a majority of the songs.

She hummed along softly so that Lando wouldn't be bothered with a bathroom concert while he was trying to get some rest, but he heard the music nevertheless. He recognized the songs as Maria tried to get him into listening to them as well, and managed to accomplish her mission. He smiled to himself and shut his eyes to doze off into a deep sleep, "You are in love" still playing in his dreams.

______

When Lando woke up, Indra was already dressed and was now doing her makeup. The tip of her tongue stuck out of her mouth as she was in the deepest concentration he had ever seen. She carefully brushed a soft shade of gold on her eyelids, trying to get it just right.

Indra noticed the movement on the bed in the reflection of the mirror. "Hi, we have half an hour left. I was about to wake you up when I was done with my eyeshadow."
    "Aaah." she gasped. For a moment Lando thought she messed up and was about to do it all over again. "Done. Perfect." she added with a smile. "I did that."

Lando laughed at her self-praising, she was adorable. They stood up at the same time and his jaw dropped at the sight of her. He could now see her full outfit, and it was perfect.

She was mesmerizing.

"You look gorgeous." he breathed out, not thinking of his words and he was glad that they were the truth and still modest. She was the most beautiful girl in the world and all he wanted was to call her his, but that still seemed to be so far away.

Their relationship was confusing. To the outside world, but also to themselves. They were so obviously flirting with each other and the sexual tension laid thick in the air, especially in these kinds of moments, and right now it was killing Lando.

The lavender colored dress was made of a silk material and it hugged her body perfectly. The straps wrapped around her back as it was an open-back-dress, and it revealed a tattoo all the way down her spine.

Lando approached her slowly, still in awe of what he was seeing and he let his fingers slide over the tattoo. Indra shivered in the action, as the area was a little sore, but let him do it anyway as his touch felt nice on her skin. He had never noticed it before, even though he had seen her in tops that revealed her back. It had to be new, as it also still was a little swollen and red and the pigment was still vibrant. "What does it say?" he asked, as the tattoo showed a bunch of signs that seemed Japanese, and some flowers woven through the signs.

"It says "No rain, no flowers" in Japanese and the flowers are poppies. They are the first flowers to bloom after misfortune and destruction. I got it two weeks ago but it had been too cold to wear short tops, hence why you hadn't seen it yet."

"It's pretty."

"Thank you. Now get ready, they'll be waiting for us. Isa texted me that Carlos was getting on her nerves."

He nodded and hurried into the bathroom, leaving the door open so he could still talk to Indra. He could see her sitting on one of the stools, scrolling on her phone, probably catching up with Instagram.

"I dreamed of you." he suddenly said, getting her attention. She looked at him with squeezed eyes but a genuine smile drew her face.

"I hope good things only." Indra replied, she didn't know where this was going so she stayed observing his body language, which was slightly tense. For a second he was out of her sight but then he walked back into the bedroom shirtless and opened the closet to find a shirt to go with his suit.

"Yeah, of course. You were dancing to these Taylor Swift songs, I can't recall which ones, but you were enjoying yourself dancing around my living room. You pulled me along. We laughed a lot."

Indra was so invested in his dream that she found herself sitting on the edge of her stool and her head resting on her fist. "And then? Do you remember the lyrics?" She noticed him struggling to find his suit to lay down on the bed so she got up to get it off the door hanger. Lando must have seen it hanging there before, but for some reason he was too nervous to remember.

He shrugged in reply to her question, but spoke the lyrics he 'still remembered'. In fact, he knew damn well which song it was, but he didn't want to risk anything. Indra was standing close to him now as she laid the suit down on the bed. "It went something like, "Strange look on his face. Something, then says. You're my best friend."
Indra knew exactly which song he was talking about.

What was he doing to her? She felt excited yet weird in her stomach. Did he even know what effect he had on her? She finished the part of the lyrics in a whisper as her voice cracked from the nerves taking over her body.
      "And you knew what it was, he is in love."

Indra looked up to his eyes and discovered that he had been staring at her all this time. Secretly she had felt his eyes burning through her head long before, but only now had she dared to look into those blue eyes which seemed to have turned into a deeper and slightly darker shade.

Lando could hear her swallowing and he honestly didn't know what that meant. The silence was so loud and he couldn't take it much longer if Indra didn't come clean about what was going on inside her head at this moment.

Luckily for him he didn't have to hold his breath much longer as Indra stepped forward, almost pressing their bodies against each other. Her hand lingered in front of his still bare chest, clearly hesitant if she should do this, but she did. Indra pressed her hand against his chest while the other cupped his cheek so that she could lean in and connect their lips.

Thousands of things happened inside both of their bodies, feeling like fireworks were exploding in their stomachs. It felt amazing.

They had secretly been waiting for this moment to happen for so long now, but it never happened because both of them were too scared of the other's reaction. But when Lando kissed her back, his feelings towards her were also clear for her. His hands found their way up from her face into her hair and he played with it.

Lando could feel Indra smile against his lips and he went along with it. He was so happy right now. Nothing could ruin his day now, even though it was only lasting for a couple more hours. He was the happiest man on earth and he wouldn't want to share this moment with anyone other than her.

Their intimate moment was interrupted by an impatient Spaniard who was knocking on their door. "Come on, Cabrón. We all know it's you who is late."

The pair broke apart in shock of the sudden voice and they both took a step away from each other, as if someone had just exposed them and saw them kissing.

"I'll hold them up, get dressed quickly." Indra said and she turned around to head towards the door. But as she walked off, Lando slapped her but, making her jump into the air.

She gasped and her mouth stayed wide open as she turned 180 degrees to face him, only to see a boyish grin printed on his face that he was sure of wouldn't disappear any time soon. "Watch what you're doing, Norris. We're attending a formal dinner, people are not waiting for us to play around." Indra tried to sound stern, but both of them knew that she actually had to laugh.

"Or are they? Also, admit that you didn't mind that at all." Lando replied cheekily and it took a lot of Indra to not rush back to him to make out with him and skip dinner.

If this was how they were going to act around one another for tonight, she was sure that things wouldn't go unnoticed and comments were going to be made.

Indra walked out of the hotel room in a bit of a hurry, afraid that being in a room with only Lando would make her do things she'd regret later. Her cheeks were still deeply flushed and her lips a little plump from the kissing, and the Spanish couple seemed to notice.

Indra decided to ignore the looks they were sharing and asked Isa if she could help her with adjusting the necklace, turning her back to the Spanish woman so they wouldn't have to make eye contact.

"I knew it would happen this weekend." Isa mumbled under her breath, but it was loud enough for Indra to pick it up, as intended. "Also, you look absolutely stunning, lavender is your color."

The dark haired girl was still at loss of words from the first comment and she was happy when the door flew open to reveal Lando. He received the same looks from Carlos and Isa and knew what was happening.

He avoided walking next to his teammate and having to spill everything and grabbed Indra's hand so that she would walk next to him.

"I don't want to go on that walk after dinner." He softly said, leaning a little over to Indra so that the couple walking in front of them wouldn't be able to eavesdrop.

Indra chuckled as she knew exactly what he was intending on. "Slow down cowboy. You have a car to drive tomorrow. We will go on that walk and will go to sleep right after, you need the rest."

Lando huffed in disagreement though he knew that she was right. He needed to be in topform to be performing well and he needed all the sleep he could possibly get for that.

But he also knew that they were not going home single after this weekend. He was sure that he was going to be hers and he had until Monday to accomplish this.

_____________

author's note: sooo that just happened...

AAAAH THEY FINALLY KISSED. IT WAS ABOUT DAMN TIME!!

i am so hyped over my own work, it's not okay lmao. these two have really grown on me and i couldn't be happier for them right now