Chapter Text
It is Sunday, the day of the Monaco Grand Prix. Oscar will be starting second on the grid today and he’s feeling good! He got out of bed early, went on a short run, then quickly showered.
He now enters the paddock as one of the first racers.
The Australian is walking at a brisk pace, enjoying the sunny Monégasque weather, spacing out slightly. Oscar’s focus comes back full blast when he hears soft, but quick footsteps and then feels two tiny arms wrap around his leg.
“Mister!” Oscar looks down and sees a little toddler look up to him with big shiny eyes. “Mister, I lost mommy”.
The McLaren driver tries to shake his surprise. He crouches down to be more at eye level with the boy. “Where did you see her last?” he asks. The kid just shrugs. He looks close to tears.
“Hey, it’s alright mate. We will look for her together.” He holds out his hand, and the toddler immediately grabs onto it.
Oscar looks at the kid a bit more. He looks quite young but seems to be able to talk fine. He has short brown hair, which looks brushed but not specifically styled. He is wearing tiny overalls, which Oscar finds quite cute, a green long-sleeved t-shirt and a Lightning McQueen backpack.
The racer softly squeezes the child’s hand. “My name is Oscar, what is your name?” The boy looks up at him and quietly says: “Luka”. Oscar nods and kindly smiles.
“Do you know which direction you came from?” He points to both ways to make it clearer. Luka looks around and then points in the direction of the paddock entrance. “Alright, let’s walk that way then.”
Oscar walks slowly, still holding onto the kid’s hand. He is starting to find the whole situation a bit weird. It’s Sunday, race day. It does not make sense for a kid to be there on race day. Access is strictly limited to the teams, sponsors, media, and employees of F1 and the FIA.
Maybe a guided tour. But Guided Paddock Access tours don’t start this early in the day. So, Luka can’t be a fan’s kid. At the same time, employees are not allowed to take their kids with them, same for those with the media.
Reaching the entrance, Oscar realizes that Luka can theoretically only be a driver’s kid, but that does not make sense at all. After his rookie year he knows all the drivers and their families. He has seen all their children before and he is 100% sure that Luka looks like none of them.
He catches the attention of the security guys chilling at the entrance. The guards nod at him in recognition. “Hey, have you seen a woman walk in with a child today? I’ve found this kid,” he points at Luka, “he lost his mom. Do you guys have any ideas?”. The guards look at each other with surprised faces. “No, sorry, mister Piastri. It’s quite early as well. It does not really make sense for a mother and a child to be here,” the guard with the beard says. “That’s what I was thinking. But then how did the kid get here?” Oscar replies.
Both men shake their head. “Not a clue, my friend, we have been here all morning.” The McLaren driver frowns and looks down at Luka, who is looking up at him expectantly. Oscar sighs. “Sorry mate, I guess we will have to keep searching. Want to go with me to McLaren?” Luka gives a little nod.
Oscar thanks the security guys and turns around.
Halfway to the McLaren complex, Luka tugs at his arm. “Osca, ‘m tired…” The driver looks towards him and sees him do grabby hands. Oscar suddenly has a flashback to when his sisters were still young and tiny. Little grabby hands mean ‘uppies’. “Alright, alright. I will carry you the rest of the way.” He tries not to roll his eyes fondly.
He carefully scoops up the kid. Luka instantly snuggles into him and wraps his arms around his neck. Oscar keeps walking and tries not to think too much about how people look at him carrying a child. He curtly greets some of the people that walk past him.
“Do you see your mom yet?” Oscar asks Luka. Luka looks around and then shakes his head. “Do you remember what she was wearing? Maybe the color of her shirt?”
It takes a bit for Luka to reply. “Pink.” “She was wearing a pink shirt?” A tiny nod. “Okay, alright mate. Let’s look for anything pink then”. The driver scans everyone walking around. The only team on the grid with a little pink in their livery and clothing is Alpine this year. And it’s only a little…
No pink shirts anywhere. The kid is awfully quiet, and Oscar does not like it. He decides it’s time to distract Luka, and himself. “How old are you, Luka?” “Tree!” Oscar gets three small fingers shoved in his face. “Three years old, woah!” He keeps going. “And what is your favorite color?”
“Red.” Of course it’s red. Oscar should have seen that one coming with the Cars backpack. After some more questions, Oscar now knows that Luka’s favorite animal is a tiger, and he likes to eat pancakes.
Oscar is happy he got the child to relax a bit. To be fair, ‘relaxed’ sounds like too big of a word right now. But Luka is finally talking somewhat. When they reach the first cars in the paddock, Luka starts asking questions.
Is that a race car? Does it go fast? Faster than Lightning McQueen?
The last one Oscar leaves up for debate, not wanting to ruin the kid’s daydream with facts about how Formula 1 cars are definitely faster than NASCAR cars, because those cars are heavier and the downforce of a Formula-
While mentally stomping down the race nerd inside him he reaches the McLaren paddock.
The moment he walks in the group of engineers already in the garage react to Luka in two different ways. Half of them lose the ability to talk completely, and the other half start asking questions all at the same time.
“Wow! Wow! Calm down,” Oscar says as he feels the kid bury his face into the crook of the driver’s neck out of fear. “I’ve found him walking around the paddock. I’m trying to find his mom.”
A collective sigh of relief. “Oscar, for a moment I thought we were meeting a secret love child of yours,” one of the engineers says. “God no,” the racer replies with a deadpan face.
“Does anyone recognize him?” A lot of headshakes and some no’s. Oscar tried not to sigh in disappointment. “Hm, okay. Let’s go upstairs, Luka, I think it’s time for a break.” He squeezes his arms tighter around the poor child. His little face is still hidden away, but he feels a tiny nod against his collarbone.
He walks up the stairs with the kid in his arms, which is a bit harder than Oscar expected. In the common room it is way less busy. Oscar still looks for a quiet spot. When they pass through the kitchen, he decides he wants a cup of coffee.
He hoists Luka to the side a bit to hold him with one arm and grabs a coffee mug from one of the top cupboards. Mug underneath the coffee machine he asks Luka if he wants something to drink too.
Another nod. While the coffee runs, Oscar opens the door of the fridge to find something for Luka. A whole stack of Monster Energy cans greets him, but after some digging, he finds some Capri-Suns in the back.
With a Capri-Sun and coffee in one hand and a child in the other he walks further towards the end of the common room. It has ceiling-high windows that overlook the pitlane and Oscar hopes it distracts Luka a bit.
It does, because the kid finally releases the stranglehold around Oscar’s neck. The driver sets the coffee and the juice package on a close by table.
“Is it okay if I set you down, Luka? My arms are getting tired.”
“Okay.”
With both feet on the floor again, Luka apparently feels safe enough to walk around a bit and goes to stand in front of the window. When Oscar sees that the toddler is fine, he turns to the drinks.
While fighting with the paper straw from the Capri-Sun his PR manager Charlotte greets him. “Good morning, Oscar. I don’t know it was ‘bring-your-child-to-work’-day today?”
Oscar sighs and finally jams the shitty straw into the package. “Not you too… I’ve found him walking around the paddock. No parent in sight. His name is Luka, he is three years old. Nobody we’ve met on the way here seems to know him…”
“Oh, that’s weird. Why is he even here? Fans aren’t allowed in the paddock this early in the morning.” Before replying, Oscar walks towards the kid with the drink package. “Here Luka, I got you something to drink. Hold it on the flaps up top, like so.” The kid mumbles a thank you and grabs the package as told.
Oscar retrieves his coffee from the table. “I know. There’s something very strange about this. The security guards have not seen him come in as well. I’m starting to think he spawned here or something.”
Charlotte snorts at his desperate joke. “I will ask around for you. He must have come from somewhere.” Oscar thanks her and tells her about the pink shirt the mom should be wearing according to Luka.
While talking to Charlotte, his teammate Lando Norris abruptly walks in. “Oscar! They just announced there is going to be an extra driver briefing-”
Luka spooks and immediately hides behind the younger driver. Lando stops in his tracks.
“Oscar, what is that?” he says while pointing towards the other driver.
Oscar, being absolutely done with everyone’s dramatic bullshit, goes: “a cup of coffee…”
Lando squeezes his eyes shut in annoyance. “Osc. Please. Explain.” Oscar rolls his eyes. After a year of being teammates he should be used to Oscar’s deadpan replies by now.
The Australian puts his hand on top of Luka’s head in the hope to calm him down. “I’ve found him- no, he found me in the paddock. He was all alone, Lando. Can’t find his mom. I decided to help him look, but no success yet.”
Oscar crouches down next to the kid. “Luka, that is Lando, my teammate. He races cars just like me.”
The kid shyly looks up to the older driver. Lando, stunned out of his confusion and annoyance gives a little wave. “Hi Luka, nice to meet you”. He unexpectedly gets a shy wave back.
“You were saying something about a driver meeting?” Oscar reminds the older driver.
“Oh, yeah. They are expecting us in fifteen minutes.”
“What, why? We’ve had a driver briefing yesterday.”
“I don’t know, bro. It’s the FIA. Expect the unexpected.”
This time Oscar does allow himself to sigh. “Alright, I guess we will have to cut our break short then.” He looks at Luka who is still drinking his Capri-Sun.
“If you want, I can look after the kid,” Charlotte says. Oscar kind of forgot she was still in the room. Luka looks up at him with big puppy dog eyes.
The idea of leaving the toddler does not sit well with the younger driver. The kid has basically imprinted on him like a little duckling. Leaving Luka to Charlotte, who is a stranger, might make him feel abandoned again. The kid is nervous enough already.
“No thank you, it’s okay. Maybe one of the other drivers recognizes him. I will take him with me.”
Charlotte just smiles and nods. Lando is staring at him with interest.
Luka finishes the drink and holds the empty package out to Oscar, who stands up and throws it away in a close by trashcan. “Alright, ready to go, Luka?”
After he gets a nod, he scoops up the boy and walks towards Lando. “Lead the way, mate.” The older driver softly smiles and starts walking.
Once outside, the two drivers walk side by side in silence for a while. Oscar still gets some looks because of the kid. Luka looks around silently from the vantage point in Oscar’s arms. The younger driver looks towards Lando who seems deep in though. Great, two quiet companions. God, he needs a distraction.
He gets one, because Charles Leclerc joins them. “So, now I am granddad as well?” the Monégasque jokes. Oscar’s mind goes blank for a second. With the Luka situation taking up all his attention he had forgotten about the adoption joke. The joke that has gotten completely out of hand this week.
He hears Lando wheeze next to him. “The Leclerc family is expanding at a rapid rate, innit,” the British driver says with a grin.
Oscar shakes his head and explains the situation to the Ferrari driver. Charles introduces himself to Luka but does not get much of a reply. “Sorry Oscar, I haven’t seen him before. I will keep an eye out for a lady in pink for you. But I don’t know how much I can be of help.”
“We also need to focus on the race today. Especially you, Charles. This is your home race after all,” the youngest McLaren driver says.
“You both start on the front row,” Lando mentions, “BOTH of you need to stay focused.”
“Yes, you better focus too, Oscar. I want a 1-2 Leclerc podium today,” Charles adds.
“I will, I will. I’m just hoping to find Luka’s mom before the race.”
In the corner of his eye he sees Lando pull a face. Oscar is starting to worry that finding Luka’s mom is not going to happen anytime soon.