Chapter Text
Oscar should have known this was going to happen. He noticed that swelling heat under his skin and tightness in his spine after he did media yesterday. It looked like the stress was finally getting to his dynamic side as well. He finished the race, but not without his vision getting foggy, his throat getting tight, and cold sweat running down his spine. In haste, he pulled into the pit lane after finishing P5, radioing to Tom with a tone that was urgent and left no room for question or argument: “Tom, get Mark.”
Tom made a confused sound but seemingly agreed. Oscar wasted no time; he barely put the car in park before he stood up and very inelegantly fell out of the car. His only saving grace from the hot pavement beneath him was a very concerned but very determined Mark, who caught Oscar, wrapped an arm under his shoulder, and whisked him away from the busy paddock towards his driver's room.
Sophie followed quickly in step behind them, holding an iPad and seemingly typing quickly away at something, speaking very unintelligibly to Mark, who had a pinched, concerned, fatherly face. But Oscar didn’t understand what they were talking about because he could feel himself slipping. He could feel the fog settling. He was dropping.
They got him to his room and got the door shut. Mark got Oscar seated on the couch and for a moment, he watched as the other Australian squirmed in discomfort, his eyes shut tight and sweat gliding down his forehead. Mark chewed on his lip. He knew that face; he’d seen it on Seb when he started to drop. He looked over at Sophie, who looked borderline scared. They weren’t worried about the pheromones or anything; it wasn’t like Oscar was in a regular heat—he was just dropping, which meant he was stressed and needed a second to calm down.
Sophie looked at Mark. “Team photos are in an hour.”
Mark nodded in understanding. “It would be very odd if he missed those, but he certainly can’t go like this.”
Mark thought again as Oscar shifted in the couch, groaning a bit. Sophie sighed. “Who else knows about him?”
See, if Oscar just had some Alpha pheromones, it could bring him up and out of the drop. The problem was it had to be an unmated Alpha, which eliminated Sophie and Mark, and the number of people who knew about Oscar’s secondary gender was a very limited list already—especially if you excluded the mated ones and Betas.
“Is Logan here?” Mark Questioned.
Sophie thought for a moment before shaking her head. “Not this weekend.”
The silence of intense thinking stretched long, especially in the quiet of Oscar’s strained breathing. Then an idea popped into Mark’s head. “Riccairdo! He came this week, he knows about Oscar—if we can just find him.”
Sophie nodded quickly, and both of them, with a determined haste, told Oscar they would be right back with the help he needed and hurried out of the room, shutting the door.
Oscar’s mind was blurry, and he was losing his senses. He couldn’t see much of anything anymore, and his sense of touch was shot. There was a dull, metallic taste left in his mouth, and he barely recognized the soft knock and voice at the door.
“Oscar, are you ready to do some media before team photos?” A light voice, thick with a Maltese accent, sounded from the other side.
Oscar was there enough to recognize it as Maria. He tried to tell her not to come in—she didn't know what he was—but all the sound that came out was a pained moan. Maria didn’t hear a sound and began to wonder if the driver was in there at all, so she slowly opened the door. She got a quick glance to see Oscar in the couch, doubled in on himself, breathing heavy and sweating.
She rushed in and over to him. “Oh my god, Oscar? Are you okay—”
She stopped, assessing what she was seeing. Being a Beta, she couldn’t smell any scents, but based on the pinkness of Oscar’s skin, the sweat, the heavy breathing, and the way his eyes were glossed over, Maria started putting things together.
“O-Oscar, you’re an o—”
Oscar had done a good job at keeping his gender a secret; he never wanted dynamics to affect his work. So, he kept the knowledge of what he was confined to a very select number of people who had a reason for knowing. Mark, because he trusted him and needed someone on the inside who was there for him, not McLaren; Sophie, because she happened to be the one to schedule things around Oscar’s planned heats; Logan, because he was Oscar’s best friend and happened to be there when Oscar presented; and Daniel—well, Danny figured it out on his own. Oscar still couldn’t figure out how, but Danny seemed to have an intuition for those things.
Maria looked around frantically. As a Beta, she was always taught to turn a blind eye as often as she could when dynamics flared, out of respect. She didn’t know what to do. Obviously, Oscar wanted to keep it a secret, seeing as she was only just now learning of his presentation.
“Okay, okay, everything is going to be okay.” Maria got the feeling she was telling that to herself more than Oscar.
Then she heard a voice from down the hall. “Osc! What a great race once again! What do you say, mate, shall we walk to media together like usual?”
Lando said it while rounding the corner to the room she had so foolishly left the door open to.
“Wait, Lando, don't!” Maria shouted, making a go for the door to block Lando’s path.
Just as he turned the corner, he only caught a glimpse of Oscar before Maria placed herself in his line of sight. “Oscar’s not feeling well. He needs a few moments to recover, then he will be down there.”
Lando stared for a moment with confusion at Maria before something in his eyes shifted—perhaps darkened. “Osc… you’re…”
The word was left unspoken, but it didn't matter because Oscar was completely gone now, left folded in on himself as sharp pain surged through his body.
“Lando, you should go now, okay? I’ll handle Oscar and he’ll be right and ready for team photos, okay?”
Lando glanced over at Oscar squirming and groaning. Something in Lando shifted, his own Alpha instincts settling in. “He’s dropped.”
Lando spoke with certainty.
“Then I’ll get a doctor,” Maria said—another attempt to get the Alpha away from the room and a sign of her desperate lack of knowledge on what to do.
Lando looked at Maria, stepping a little closer, eyes locked on Oscar. “I can help him.”
Maria pushed a hand on Lando, frantic. “No, a doctor would be best.”
A small strand of Alpha instinct—short-tempered anger—surged through him. “He’s fucking dropped, Maria. He needs an Alpha, not a fucking doctor.”
He stepped closer, trying to get by her.
“No!”
A sound rumbled low and protective out of Lando’s chest. Something instinctive said there was a suffering Omega right in front of him and he needed to help, but that was dulled by suppressants. Instead, his logical side saw his teammate—his Oscar—in pain, and he had the ability to help him.
“Maria, just step aside. You’re a Beta and, no offense, but I think I know better than you what Oscar needs.”
“But—but—” Maria stammered.
But Lando pushed by her and entered the room anyway. Maria turned around fast and frantic, watching as Lando approached Oscar slowly and knelt down beside him.
“He doesn’t even know who you are, Lando!” Maria said, desperate.
“Osc…” Lando said it gently, but with vigor.
Oscar’s eyes were glossy and distant, but there was a flash of recognition at the sound of Lando’s voice. “L-Lando?”
Lando smiled softly and put a hand on Oscar’s leg. “Yeah, it’s me, Osc. I’m here, okay? I’ve got you.”
Oscar exhaled a shaky breath. “L-Lan…”
Oscar said it in a way that sparked something in Lando. He reached up for the scent patch on his neck. Maria immediately stepped forward. “Wait, what are you—”
Lando exhaled sharply in annoyance. “Look, I’m just going to bring him up. It’s not like I’m going to mate him or anything.”
Maria still had a deep look of concern as Lando picked at the corner of the scent patch. “Osc, I’m going to take my patch off, okay?”
Oscar just nodded in response; apparently, it was all he could manage. Lando removed the patch, and a minty pine scent slowly filled the room.
Oscar immediately gasped, breathing in, taking progressively less shallow breaths. He leaned towards the source of the smell. Lando sat down on the couch next to Oscar. Maria, freaked out and with no idea what to do, ran out of the room to find Mark and Sophie, who would know better what to do now that their driver was in a room with a dropping Oscar and Lando doing… well, whatever the hell he was doing.
Lando let Oscar lean closer before eventually pulling the Australian into his lap in a sort of hug, where Oscar could better bury his face in the bend of Lando’s neck.
Lando spoke soft and soothing as if he were guiding Oscar out of the dark.
“Thats right Osc deep breaths..” Oscar was shaking and his fingers were gripping onto Lando so tightly as if he were the only thing holding him to the earth.
Lando instinctually place a hand on the small of Oscar’s back to pull him closer wrapping him closer into a tight hug. Oscar lets out a few frantic breaths and sounds that fast and desperate.
Somewhere in the McLaren paddock—
“Daniel!”
Mark spots the familiar mess of dark curls and oversized hoodie across the paddock.
Danny turns around with an easy smile, almost skipping at the urgency in Mark’s voice and the sight of two visibly stressed people rushing toward him.
Mark opens his mouth to explain, but Sophie blurts it out before he can.
“It’s Oscar. He’s dropped.”
Danny’s smile vanishes instantly, replaced with sharp concern.
“Where is he?”
It’s phrased like a question, but it sounds more like a demand.
Danny had seen this happen before on the grid. Formula One was brutal on anyone, but especially omegas. The constant stress, the travel, the pressure, the suppressants—it could wreck a body over time. Fatal drops weren’t unheard of. Rare, but not unheard of.
Mark doesn’t waste time explaining further. The three of them hurry back toward Oscar’s driver room, only to nearly collide with a frantic Maria halfway there.
She immediately launches into panicked rambling about Oscar, words tumbling over themselves so quickly they can barely keep up.
All three of them answer in exhausted unison.
“We know.”
Maria blinks, somehow looking even more alarmed now. Then, with a sharp inhale, she remembers the more immediate problem.
“Lando,” she blurts out. “He knows. He’s in there with Oscar.”
The tension in the group instantly spikes.
Because the problem wasn’t that Oscar had dropped in front of an alpha. Drops themselves weren’t dangerous to alphas.
The problem was who the alpha was.
Lando learning about Oscar’s presentation was already a disaster waiting to happen. But beyond that, this was a potential nightmare for McLaren.
The four of them exchange knowing looks.
When Oscar woke up, he was probably going to be furious with all of them.
Maria is still spiraling beside them, talking too fast and too loud.
“What are we gonna do? If Zak finds out, he’ll—”
“Maria.” Sophie grabs her gently by the arm. “Breathe. Come on, let’s get water.”
Then she looks toward Mark.
“Mark. Danny. Photos are in thirty. Figure this out.”
She practically drags Maria toward hospitality while Mark exhales heavily and motions for Danny to follow him.
The two Australians hurry down the hall.
When they round the corner, they freeze for a moment at the sight in front of them.
Oscar is practically wrapped around Lando, clutching him tightly like a koala to a tree.
Mark just sighs, already feeling a headache coming on.
Well. This was going to be trouble.
Danny approaches slowly. He’d helped Oscar through more drops than he cared to think about over the years. Probably too many. But Danny wasn’t a doctor—just someone who’d stumbled into becoming part of Oscar’s support system after catching traces of his scent beneath the blockers and patches years ago.
Since then, Danny had always had a soft spot for him.
Honestly, now that he thought about it, somehow there were three Australians tangled up in this mess. They could probably start their own tiny rebellion against the lone Brit in the room.
Danny leans over the couch, trying to catch sight of Oscar’s face, but it’s nearly impossible considering the omega has buried himself completely into the reigning world champion’s chest.
Danny gently places a hand on Oscar’s back.
Lando’s eyes immediately snap toward the touch, intensely watchful, though he doesn’t say anything.
“Osc… mate, can you hear me?”
A soft purr rumbles out in response instead of actual words.
Lando instinctively tightens his grip around Oscar. Danny notices immediately but keeps his attention focused on the younger Australian.
“I’m just gonna let him know who I am, alright?”
Slowly, Danny peels back one corner of the scent patch on his wrist and carefully lifts it close enough for Oscar to recognize him.
Oscar shifts weakly against Lando.
“D-Danny…?” he mumbles, barely audible.
Soft, woodsy eucalyptus begins filling the space around them.
And somehow, Lando holds Oscar even tighter.
Daniel smiles gently. “That’s right, mate.”
Danny cared for Oscar like a little brother. If his pheromones helped calm the younger Aussie during drops, then he’d always give them willingly.
But if Danny’s instincts were right, Lando’s alpha instincts had already started waking up.
And that was dangerous.
Danny slowly looks up at Lando.
“Thanks, mate. We’ve got him from here. You should go cool off and get ready for team photos.”
A low rumble suddenly vibrates through Lando’s chest.
The sound startles even him.
“Sorry,” Lando says immediately, visibly unsettled by himself.
He slowly loosens his grip on Oscar like he’s genuinely going to let go. But the second Danny reaches forward to take him, Lando instinctively pulls Oscar back against him.
Mark sighs deeply.
“Lando, you need to let Daniel take him,” he says carefully. “Oscar has an approved list of alphas for dynamic care, and you aren’t on it.”
Lando hesitates for a second before letting out a distressed little whine low in his chest.
“But he knows who I am…”
“That may be true,” Mark replies, “but that doesn’t mean he’s aware enough right now to actually choose you.”
That visibly hurts Lando. His face twists painfully.
“But I can help him.”
Danny cuts in before the situation escalates further.
“And so can I. I have before, and I will again.”
His tone stays calm but firm.
“And right now you’re too emotional to think clearly yourself. You need to calm down too, mate.”
Lando scoffs quietly, frustrated and overwhelmed.
Mark rubs at his temples because somehow this day had managed to become even more complicated than it already was.
Lando was young. Young and riding the high of podiums and champagne and championship fights. A single alpha in the absolute prime of his life.
And now there was a dropping omega in his arms—an omega who was not only his teammate but one of his closest friends.
Not that any of them had missed the way those two looked at each other long before this.
But none of that mattered right now.
Because Mark had seen situations like this before. And after living through the disaster of Brocedes, he refused to let another emotionally charged rivalry explode under his watch.
Lando’s instincts were already screaming at him that Oscar needed protecting. His alpha was starting to get possessive. And if an emotionally unstable alpha scented a vulnerable omega deeply enough, things could spiral very quickly.
Danny sighs and glances toward Mark.
The two silently communicate in the way people do after years in the sport together.
Because realistically?
The chances of separating them right now were probably very low.
And honestly, the damage had already been done.
Lando already knew about Oscar’s presentation.
And Oscar had already buried himself far too deeply in Lando’s pheromones.
Mark sighs, rubbing his temples more aggressively. “You kids are going to give me an early grave. Just leave them, Dan. Oscar might be pissed when he comes to, he might not. Can’t do anything about it now. Let’s just wait.”
Lando sneers at the remark. He didn’t like that Oscar thought he had to hide this from him in the first place, but he didn’t like the idea even more that Oscar would be upset by being brought up by Lando’s pheromones.
Daniel sits down on the couch next to the two, laying his head back against the wall and breathing out deeply. He wished he could do more for Osc, but the truth was Oscar, even before suppressants, was unstable. His heats were irregular and his pheromones were unpredictable, and the suppressants and blockers only exacerbated the problem. Danny’s been telling him to go to the doctor and get it fixed for years, but the kid won’t listen. His guess was that Oscar figures they’ll just tell him to get an alpha and it’ll solve the problem, and to their credit, it probably would. But Oscar is Oscar, and he doesn’t want his gender to have anything to do with how he performs in his work or socially. So he ignores that side of him entirely.
Danny turns his head and looks at him. His cheeks are red, and he’s still breathing unevenly with soft whines distant in his throat. It’s getting worse — the drops, the imbalance. Oscar’s in pain. And there isn’t much Danny can do about it. But he can’t help but see his little brother suffering, fighting biology while it fights back, and feel helpless. At least when he could bring Oscar up from his drops, he felt like he could do something, but right now…
Danny exhales. Mark steps closer and says quietly to Daniel,
“If he doesn’t solve this soon…”
The words hang heavy in the air, unspoken. The simple fact that if Oscar doesn’t solve this, it will kill him.
“You should talk to him, Dan… he listens to you.”
Daniel lets out a scoff of a laugh. “I’ve been telling him for years to see a doctor, and if he has, he’s clearly not following the advice.”
“Then stop telling him to see a doctor and start telling him to get an alpha…”
Daniel laughs incredulously. “Are we talking about the same Oscar Piastri?”
Lando watches the exchange, then looks down at the shaking, shallow-breathed Australian in his arms. Concern settles heavily in his chest.
“Is something wrong with Oscar?”
Lando couldn’t fully hear the older alphas’ conversation, but he caught enough to know they were talking about Oscar’s condition in hushed tones. The two men glance at each other, debating how much to tell him.
Mark sighs. “Look, Lando, if you want to know, you’ll have to talk to him yourself. You probably shouldn’t even know about his presentation.”
Lando tightens his hold on the hot body in his arms, staring down at Oscar with unmistakable worry.
Oscar lets out a pained hum in response.
It isn’t long before Oscar starts to regain his senses. First comes sound. He can hear the faint voices of the two older Australians in the room. There’s no voice coming from the warmth beneath him, but he can hear gentle breathing.
Then comes smell. First, a minty chocolate scent. Then, distant and familiar, woodsy eucalyptus.
Then feeling. Someone is holding him, his cheek pressed against their shoulder. It feels warm. Sturdy. Safe.
Eventually, he can see, slowly opening heavy eyelids. Danny instinctively turns toward him.
“Hey, Osc. Easy, okay? You back with us?”
Oscar doesn’t answer. His thoughts are scrambling, trying to piece things together. Where was he? What time was it? When did Danny get here? And who—
He jerks upright, a sharp gasp escaping him.
“Osc, it’s okay—”
Lando doesn’t even get to finish before the omega is frantically trying to stand. His legs buckle instantly, giving out beneath him, and he hits the floor hard.
“God, Oscar, calm down, kid,” Mark says, rushing over and placing a hand on his back instead of trying to force him up. Danny kneels beside him too, while Lando approaches cautiously, hand slightly outstretched as if that would calm Oscar at all.
“Fuck. What happened? Fuck, he knows?! Who else knows? What did I do?”
“Calm down, mate. Take a deep breath,” Danny says, squeezing his shoulder.
“Osc…”
Lando takes a step closer, and Oscar immediately flinches away. “N-no.”
It wasn’t that Oscar didn’t like Lando. Quite the opposite. But he didn’t want Lando to know. Not now. Not like this. And now he did, and it wasn’t on Oscar’s terms. It was out of his control. Fuck, this was all out of his control.
“Oscar.”
The firm voice on his right cuts through the panic.
“If you don’t take a deep breath and calm down, you’re going to drop again, and it’ll be even worse, alright?”
Oscar focuses on Mark’s words and forces himself to breathe. Inhale. Exhale. Again and again until he feels his heartbeat begin to slow.
When he opens his eyes, Lando is still standing there, keeping his distance. He has this pained expression Oscar can’t quite make sense of.
Mark sighs deeply. “You boys are going to be the death of me.” He rubs at his temples. “Look, you two need to talk about this, but I’d really prefer it be after team photos. Oscar, can you stand?”
Oscar pushes himself upright, Daniel holding out an arm in case he falls again. He manages to get to his feet, but immediately wobbles like his legs might give out again. Daniel catches him, though Oscar notices Lando instinctively lurch forward too.
“I’m fine.”
Daniel gives him a worried look. “Mate…”
Oscar snaps. “I said I’m fine, Daniel. Drop it.”
Daniel raises a hand in surrender.
“Oscar, do you need more pheromones to stabilize before photos?” Mark asks, gesturing toward Daniel’s missing scent patch.
Oscar glances at Daniel, who silently lifts his wrist. Oscar leans in and takes a deep breath. He can feel his legs strengthening slightly, but the weakness doesn’t fully disappear. Neither does the nausea.
Daniel’s scent had always been comforting, but it was never enough to truly fix the problem. More like a big brother’s reassurance than anything permanent. Helpful, but temporary.
Still, Oscar straightens up, forcing himself to look steadier than he feels so they won’t notice the lingering dizziness, the blur in his vision, the unsteadiness in his legs.
“Let’s go. Team photos,” Oscar says quickly, already moving toward the door.
Daniel and Mark exchange a knowing look behind him.