Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In this world, omegas were treated differently to the rest of them, even more so in the world of Formula 1. Omegas were not allowed to race; they were considered too fragile to be even thought of to be put in a race car. The racing pack had a few omegas in, having presented a few months into their Formula 1 careers and the pack having got too attached to them to let them go, however, it was uncommon for anyone to present past their 20^th birthday.

Lando was turning 22 next year, only just 21, and he still had not presented. If he was being honest, he didn’t really want to. Racing was his life, and he didn’t want to lose his seat with McLaren or his pack family on the off chance that he could be an omega, so, he was glad.

Lando pulled down the zips on his fire-proofs as he entered the paddock, heading immediately in the direction of the pack room. Even if most of his pack hadn’t finished in the TV pen yet, he knew that at least two people would be in their waiting for them to return. When he pushed open the door, he found out that he was right. In their big pack nest in the corner, Charles and Max, the only omegas in the pack, were laying holding each other, waiting anxiously for the rest of pack to return from the evening racing.

Charles looked up from his pillow pile when he heard the door open, and smiled softly at Lando as he fully stripped of his fire-proofs and flung himself into the nest. He burrowed into Charles side, the older man manoeuvring him until he was lying in between himself and Max.

“Hey, puppy,” Charles said softly, caressing his cheek with a soft smile, “you did so well in your race today, chéri, me and Maxy are so proud of you.”

Lando smiled softly, snuggling deeper into his pack omegas arms.

“Thank you, Charlie.”

He could feel Charles smile, even though he was not looking at him. Lando felt a hand card through his curls, massaging his scalp. Max. Lando sighed; he really was in heaven right now. The door to the pack room opened again, and the rest of the pack trooped through the doorway, stripping off their fireproofs, with some of them heading off to the shower block, others to get food, and a few of them to join the pile in the nest.

“You trying to steal my man, pup?” Carlos said, smiling widely at the sight of his mate protecting their youngest member. Lando stuck his tongue out at him, before snuggling deeper into Charles chest. Carlos smirked, leaning over to ruffle the pup's hair affectionately, before lying down behind his mate, planting a kiss on his lips.

“Did you miss me, mi amor?”

“Yeah, but its okay, Maxy and I watched the race from here, and the surprise visit from this cuddle bug made it better all the more.”

Carlos smiled into his mate shoulder; he knew how much Charles loved young Lando, the whole pack did, but Charles even more than the others. It was probably because his last mentee, Oscar Piastri, was starting to get older now, recently having his 27^th birthday, while Lando was still only just 21. One of the things that made Lando so endearing compared to Oscar, who was the next youngest in the pack, was that he still remained very immature and childish, craving guidance from the pack, more specifically Charles. Another thing was that the young thing still hadn’t presented, despite most presenting at age 16, latest at 19. Lando was no alpha material; he was clingy, and needed support for pretty much anything, but still, he didn’t think that Lando would be an omega, because it was so rare, and he knew the young pup loved the racing sport so much. If the boy presented as an omega, he would no longer be allowed to compete, much like what had happened to Max and Charles all those years ago. So, Carlos thought he would be a beta, however time would tell, and if the little thing was to be an omega, it would only make him more protective.

-Time skip to next race-

When Lando woke that morning, he knew something was off. His stomach was throbbing, his muscles ached, and his head was killing. He knew he should probably skip the race today, but he tried so hard in qualifying, achieving his first ever front row start at P2. He had been over the moon, but with how shit he was feeling now, he kind of wished he had fucked up on qualifying so he could have an excuse to skip. He was about to drift off to sleep again when he heard a knock on the door.

“Lando, darling, time to get up and ready,” Charles called, pushing open his bedroom door and chuckling at the sight of the pup; his covers were all over the place, and all of his pillows had fallen off during the night. His curls were sticking up all over the place, and on the way over the boy, he grabbed a comb on his curl crème, before settling down next to his to begin brushing out his hair. The boy in question groaned sleepily and tried to roll away, but Charles pinned him down with ease.

“Uh-uh chéri, stay still for me. That’s it.”

As Lando settled down, Charles continued to work the comb through his knotted curls, finally applying his curl crème to keep them healthy.

“Okay, up now, Lando. The pack is meeting downstairs in 20 minutes to head to the track.”

“Noooo. Don’ wanna.”

Lando heard Charles sigh, and he then and there that it wasn’t up for negotiation.

“Now, pup.”

Lando grumbled but allowed Charles to swing his sheets back and help him to his feet.

“There you are,” he said smiling, “go and get changed, I’ll pack your bag for you.”

He watched as Lando shuffled into the bathroom, having fisted some random clothes from a pile on his suitcase. He reached for his backpack and began to fill it with all the things his pup would need for the race. Eventually, after Lando had taken 18 minutes of their 20 to finish up, they had ended up in the foyer, with every other member of pack waiting for them.

“Hey, the late riser finally emerges!!” Charles calls as they walk into the room.

The pack breaks out in applause and Lando ducks his head in embarrassment.

After a few seconds, Lewis, the pack alpha, calls.

“Okay, guys, let’s go racing.”

Lando didn’t know it then, but he would never see the inside of a Formula 1 again.

Chapter Text

Lando knew that as soon as the bus turned on he definitely shouldn’t be racing, the swaying motion of the car and rumbles of the engine was making him feel sick to his stomach, and the ache in his abdomen was just getting stronger, and he wasn’t even pulling any g-force like he would be doing in his car today.

Lando was sitting in his own row towards the front of the bus which the pack travelled in, with Carlos and Charles behind doing mate things, with Oscar next to him, because apparently the ‘pups’ needed to be supervised by trust worthy pack members. It was strange for Oscar to have been sent to front with him; the alpha was 27 now, but Lando guessed it was because everyone else was talking about something extremely inappropriate at the back of the bus, which was gross in Lando’s opinion.

He breathed out a pained sigh and lay down across his seats, trying to angle his face closer to the air conditioning. He closed his eyes for two seconds and….

“Hey, Lando! No sleeping! Open your eyes and sit up.”

Lando groaned as Charles and Carlos reached over the back of his seat and yanked him up by his shoulders back into a sitting position. Charles quickly moved to sit in the seat next to him while Carlos held his head to keep him up straight.

“He feels warm, Charles.”

Charles cupped his cheeks and held the back of his hand to his forehead. Lando sighed at the coolness and burrowed closer, his eyes shut.

“You’re right, he’s a little warm. Lando, cheri, did you sleep well last night? You seem very sleepy this morning.”

“I went to bed straight after….. dinner, yeah dinner.”

Charles glanced at Carlos anxiously.

“Are you sure it was after dinner, carino? We had dinner early yesterday, about 5:30pm?”

Lando nodded.

“Mmm…… was real’ tired…”

Another worried look.

“Are you sure your ok to race today, pup? You could always stay in the paddock with me and Maxy?”

“Mmm…. No, got p2….. need to race.”

“Not if you're feeing ill, Lando. You’ll get p2 another time.”

“No! I hafta race!”

“Ok, carino, if you're sure.”

But he still sounded uncertain. Then, the bus stopped, and there was movement form the back of bus, and suddenly, the next thing he knew, he was sitting in his car, the lights gone out, and he slammed his foot on the accelerator. He knew it was a bad start; he had already dropped to p4. Then, just as he got round the first corner, someone knocked him from behind. It wasn’t enough to stop him, just damage the back end of the car slightly. He could hear Jon in his radio asking if he and the car were alright, but he didn’t respond, his head felt super cloudy, and all of his muscles hurt, and he felt like he was gonna throw up. Instead of taking his foot off the accelerator and correcting himself back on course like he would do normally, he kept on the gas and pulled harshly on the wheel. There’s was a loud screech, and then he was rolling, over and over and over before he flew into the air when he hit the tyres and crashed into the fence above the barrier, before falling down, with his head landing sideways and the car wedding itself deep between the tyres and the fence. The last thing he heard were the screams and sirens before everything settled into black.

-Charles pov-

He knew he should have been more insistent to Lando not racing when Lando had a terrible start, taking him from p2 to p4 in seconds. Lewis had agreed with Carlos and said that if Lando said he was fine to race, then he could race, but Charles knew that Carlos only said that because he hadnt wanted to make Lando cry, and Lewis had only agreed because he had also been trying to stop Daniel from pushing Oscar into a water feature outside the paddock. Charles knew he should have fought more for his pup, should have taken matters into his own hands and insisted that he would’nt race, that he would rest with his pack omegas in the nest room and watch the race with them, that he could get a front line start another time, since he was so young.

However, when he saw Lando get tapped by George, and him not correcting himself instantly to be back on course, he knew something was definitely very wrong with his pup. He sat, as did Max, increasing the volume on the TV.

“And that Russell just back ending Lando Norris there, what’s strange is that Norris hasn’t corrected himself yet. Hamilton is leading, then Sergio Perez, then…. And a BIG CRASH has happened down at turn one….”

Charles felt his breath catch.

“I think that’s Lando Norris…. Yep and that’s a red flag, all cars to return to the pit lane with a full safety car.”

Charles watched the replay with wide eyes. Lando had turned the wheel sharply at the last second to correct himself, but the car had skidded off the track, spun a few times, before catching the gravel and rolling all the way to the barrier, where the back end of the car snapped off, and the front air flew into the air, still spinning, colliding with the fence and wedging itself between the tyres and the fence.

“Two of the drivers have stopped to see if they can help, safety cars are struggling to get on the track with the cars returning to the pit lane. I think that is Carlos Sainz there running over with…. Lewis Hamilton, to see if there pack mate is okay.”

Charles was frozen to his seat. He watched at Carlos and Lewis leaped onto the tyres and then lay down as the tried to reach Lando from where he was stuck in the car. Safety cars and ambulances raced onto the track, the first guys leaping out and rushing to the scene, signallling to Carlos if Lando was ok. Carlos returned with a very urgent thumbs down. The TV sound burst to life with the sound of Carlos’ radio as he rattled off to the paramedics.

“He’s not responding, fully unconscious and there’s blood coming from somewhere. And he’s gone into….”

The TV cut out again, returning to reporters. Charles felt like he was going to throw up. He quickly stood up and pulled on his shoes and a jacket, and his keys, Max doing the same, and they raced out the door, towards the pits. Nobody questioned their being there this time, as they had done in the past. No one stopped them as they ran towards the McLaren pits where Oscar was slumped against the wall with Daniel and his trainer, everyone else huddled inside to see information on the crash. Max raced inside to check if everyone else was okay, especially George, who was probably thinking that this was a result of him backendign Lando. Charles hurried over to Oscar and Daniel.

“Is he okay, Daniel?”

Daniel glanced up.

“They only just managed to get him out, he’s going to medical, maybe even hospital straight away.”

“Are they restarting the race.”

“No, the FIA cancelled it. He was in real rough shape man.”

Good. Now he could go straight to medical to see if Lando was okay.

“I’m going to medical.”

Oscar stood up quickly, grabbing his arm.

“I’m coming too.”

“No pup, it’s not appropriate. Lando is really hurt.”

“I’m not a pup anymore, Charlie, Lando is my best friend, I just want to see if he’s okay.”

Charles could see the sincerity in his eyes, and how scared he looked.

“Okay, c’mon, quickly.”

Chapter Text

Charles and Oscar sprinted as fast as their legs could carry them towards the private car park that was reserved for the pack, all but throwing themselves into a waiting car that somebody must have called for them, probably Daniel. After the shutting their doors and strapping themselves in, Charles quickly told the driver to go to the medical centre while he called Carlos and Oscar tried Lewis. Lewis didn’t pick up, but after a few rings, Carlos’s worried voice filtered through the speaker on Charles’s phone.

“Charlo, they’re moving him from the medical centre to the hospital as soon as they can. Please tell me you’re on your way?”

Carlos sounded like he was very overwhelmed, and Charles quietly shared a worried look with Oscar.

“Yes, Oscar and I are on our way. We’ll meet you at the medical centre. What happened? How badly is he hurt?”

There was a few second pause. Charles could vaguely hear Lewis in the background talking loudly about something, and he caught Carlos’s quiet swear in Spanish before he answered.

“He- he’s got a bad concussion, carino, and his right leg is broken in two places. They’re also worried about his back, but Charlie, that’s only some of the things we have to worry about right now.”

Charles caught Oscar’s eye; the young alpha looked scared, his eyes wide and a confused expression on his face and his whole smell just reeked of scaredterrifiedconfused. Charles tried to let out some comforting pheromones, but he’s pretty sure all that came out was anxiousanxiousanxious.

“What do you mean Carlos? W-what’s wrong with him?”

“Charles, Lando presented in the car. That’s why he couldn’t control it. He fucking presented in the race.”

Charles sat frozen. Lando had presented in the race? That couldn’t be right. He had only had his last presentation check up a few weeks ago, and they had said the normal; that he showed no signs of presenting in the near future, and he should know because he was in the room with him. Charles’s mind suddenly flickered back to earlier in the day when he was trying to keep Lando awake, remembering insisting that he shouldn’t race, because he looked absolutely terrible. But Carlos had said it was Lando’s decision, and Charles had given in because as the omega Charle’s had to do what his alpha said, but he did complain a lot about it. Now he was feeling stupid that he hadn’t pushed harder for Lando to sit the race out. He was such a shit guardian for Lando; he didn’t even fight for his kid, even when every instinct in his body was telling him not to let the boy race, and yet he did it any-

“Charlie!”

Oscar’s paranoid voice broke his internal rampage. He blinked a few times, focussing in on the younger Alpha.

“What?”

Carlos’s voice came over speaker phone again.

“Charlo, Osc, Lando has presented as an omega.”

“What the…. What do you mean he presented as an omega?”

“I mean, Oscar, that Lando has presented as an omega. He will no longer be allowed to race.”

“That’s not right! Lando is one of the most talented drivers out there!”

Oscar lent over his knees, putting his face in his hands. He whispered softly.

“It’s gonna kill him…. Not being able to race.”

Charles pulled him into a side hug.

“I know. It was the same for me too. But I got through it. And Maxie got through it. And I will stay by him every step of the way until he’s better and able to see this as a blessing and not as some curse.”

Oscar whimpered softly.

“But he only lives for driving. He loves it so damn much. Oh my god…. What if he thinks we don’t want him in the pack anymore? Because he can no longer drive?”

“We’ll just have to ram it into his heads that we don’t care about what he does, we only want him for him. Nothing more or nothing less.”

Carlos hummed through the phone, things in the medical centre having seemingly calmed down for a minute.

“We are waiting for you to get here before transferring him.”

Suddenly, a crash of metal dropping to the floor echoed through the speaker, and Charles and Oscar both sat up straighter.

“What was that?! Carlos?”

“It’s Lando. He’s woken up and he’s freaking out a bit! I think Lewis is trying to calm him down, but he really needs you, omega.”

“Ok, ok, ok. We’re here now. We’ll be inside soon.”

Charles said, hanging up the call.

The car slowed to a stop outside the entrance to the medical centre, and Charles and Oscar both leapt out the car, racing inside. As soon as they got into the reception, they could hear screaming and sobbing. The lady at the reception instantly knew who they were there for and pointed them in the direction without a moments hesitation. The ran down the hallway, only slowing down when they saw Carlos, who was sitting slouched against the wall outside of a room, which the crying was coming from. Charles could smell him from where they were; it was similar to what Oscar had smelled like in the car. Scaredanxiousterrifiednervous all rolled into one. Oscar crouched down beside Carlos, talking to him quietly. Carlos looked up at Charles for a second.

“Go in, please, he needs you. I don’t know how much longer I can listen to him crying before he breaks my heart.”

Charles needed no further invitation. He pushed the door open and felt his heart break as he observed the sight. There were no medical staff in the room. They had probably been scaring Lando more; he had always been scared of doctors. There was a bunch of machines and equipment with a heart rate monitor going noisily in the background. There was a bed and a chair in the room, but nothing else. On the bed was Lando. His leg was braced in one of those emergency leg braces that were super bulky and rendered his movements to zero. His neck wasn’t in a brace, but there was one haphazardly placed on a trolley full of medical equipment, as it had just been removed. His face was mostly obscured by an oxygen mask, but Charles could see the tear tracks on his face and the way his chest was hitching as he sobbed. However, the biggest difference was his smell. Lando’s smell had changed; instead of smelling like the laundry detergent that Charles liked to use in the pack laundry, he smelled like fleshing baked cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing, which was oh so omega, as well as the all too familiar smell of omega in distress AND heat. Lewis was huddled down by his head, carding his hands through Lando’s unruly curls, whispering sweet nothings in his ear to try and help calm him, releasing comforting and calming pheromones, despite being neither of them himself.

As soon as Charles walked through the door, Lando’s eyes were on him, and he could barely hear the weak little “Charlie…” that Lando managed to push through his sobs. Charles felt his heart break just a little bit more.

Chapter Text

Charles instantly rushed towards Lando’s bed and stroked his head in a comforting manner. Lando instantly relaxed, nuzzling his head into Charles hand with a pained sigh. He heard the door click, and saw Lewis had quietly left, probably to go and comfort Carlos, or get more info from the medics.

“Hey cheri. Don’t cry, please don’t cry.”

Lando’s breath hitched as he tried to control his sobs, but he was obviously struggling. Charles kept stroking his hair calmly, letting out pheromones to help relax him. Lando eyes were fluttering; he was obviously very tired, the combination of his heat and the pain from his crash taking him to exhaustion.

“Go to sleep, darling. We’ll all be here when you wake.”

Lando needed no further invitation and succumbed to the darkness of sleep quickly. Charles stroked his hair for a few more moments to be sure he was deeply asleep, before standing and slowly closing the door to Lando’s room behind him. Carlos was quietly talking in the corridor with Lewis and a doctor, and Oscar was standing to the right of the door, leaning against the wall. Charles smiled sadly at him.

“You can go and sit with him, Osc. Be quiet though, he just fell asleep.”

Oscar offered him a relived and thankful look, with a quick nuzzle to the scent glands before opening the door to the room and shutting it quietly behind him. Charles quickly approached the other group, taking Carlos’ hand gently and squeezing it comfortingly.

“Is everything ok?”

The beta doctor tried to give him reassuring look.

“He’s got a nasty concussion and a badly broken leg, however, those are the only real problems we are looking at here. Other than the obvious, of course.”

Lewis intervened. “Can you set his leg here? We want to get him comfortable as soon as possible, and, no offence, he doesn’t really like hospitals.”

“I’m afraid he will have to be transferred to the hospital for some quick x-rays before getting a cast, and none taken.”

“Is there no x-ray here?” Charles asked.

“Unfortunately, no. we also don’t have the materials for the type of cast Lando needs.

It was Carlos’ turn for a say.

“Let’s get him transferred while he’s sleeping then. I don’t want to wake up in the ambulance and freak.”

“That is probably a good idea. His hormones will be crazy right now, and I’m sure he’s in a lot of pain. Let’s get him loaded into an ambulance. I do have to say, omegas are not allowed in hospitals as visitors.”

Charles face dropped.

“Why not? He’s my pup.”

“I’m sorry, its just policy. We’re stretching it by letting you in here.”

Carlos put a hand on Charles’ shoulder, his scent relaxing him.

“Don’t worry, Cariño. Osc can stay outside with you. It shouldn’t take too long, then you can get him settled in the nest.”

Lewis then stepping in.

“I’m heading back to the track, I’m trusting you with him and Charles, Carlos. Ill be telling them what’s happening and what to expect when you guys get back. Is that ok?”

Charles and Carlos both nodded, and Lewis quickly left.

In the blink of an eye, Carlos was sitting in the ambulance with Lando as Oscar was climbing in the driver seat of a car with Charles. Charles clenched his fists. Lando would be ok.

Lando pov:

When Lando woke up, he felt a bit floaty, and definitely very strange. There was deep ache in his abdomen, and he was sweating like a fever. He turned his head to the left slightly, and an arch of pain shot down his neck. Lando hissed. Blinking open his eyes, he took in his surroundings. He was in the pack room back at the hotel, surrounded by the familiar smells of his pack, and a new one, which was freshly baked cinnamon rolls. He had been settled into freshly made nest, covered in a mountain of blankets, of which he snuggled into, sighing in relief from the tension and pain in his head it gave him.

That was before he caught sight of his leg. It was in a papaya orange cast all the way from the tip of his toes, and he fumbled around under the blankets, feeling that it ended at a section that wrapped all the way around his waist. He felt his breathing pick up. Why was his leg in a cast? Why couldn’t he remember anything?

 The cinnamon bun smell disappeared and was replaced with the new, harsher scent of omega in distress. Lando pulled at his hair. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t breathe. The door slammed open and Lando was greeted with the noise of multiple feet hurrying towards him. He caught sight of the scents of both of the omegas, as well as Lewis and Carlos. Somebody lifted him by his armpits and settled down behind him, wrapping him up in blankets like a burrito before cradling him in their arms. Someone stroked a hand through his hair comfortingly, and calming pheromones were being released by both of his pack alphas. Lando felt his breathing calm and he slumped back into the persons arms, exhausted from all the emotional strain. The cinnamon bun smell returned again.

“Who has cinnamon buns?” He murmured quietly.

He felt the body behind him chuckle, before nuzzling Lando’s scent gland gently. Lando pouted, confused.

“I’m not joking! Someone tell me who has cinnamon buns and why I am in this stupid cast!”

“Cheri, nobody here has cinnamon buns. It’s your scent darling.”

Lando blanked. His scent? He didn’t have scent. They must be joking. When he was feeling a bit better, he would argue more.

“You’re lying, but whatever. What happened to my leg?”

“I’m not lying, Lan, but your leg was broken in the crash, don’t you remember?”

Lando focused on clearing his fuzzy brain, not even aware that he had started purring.

“No.”

“That’s ok, honey. You had a crash when you went into heat in your car. You have a nasty concussion, and you broke your leg in two places. Here-“ A hand dragged a hand over his casted thigh, “-and here.”

Lando refused to acknowledge the ‘heat’ part of that sentence. It couldn’t be true, anyway. And even if he did present, he was definitely not an omega.

“Why is around my waist?” He said, miming vaguely to the bar around his waist.

“You broke your leg really high up your thigh. To stop your thigh moving, you got the bar around your waist.”

“How long until I can drive again?”

Anxious and concerned looks were shared around the group.

“Lan- “

Lewis held up a hand. “No, don’t. He’s not really coherent right now, he wouldn’t understand.”

The voice hummed behind him. He still couldn’t figure out who it was for the life of him, but he knew it was one of the omegas, and he snuggled deeper into their arms.

“Go to sleep, love.”

Lando needed no further invitation and felt his eyes flutter shut within a matter of seconds.

Carlos POV:

Carlos gazed sadly at Max, who was supporting Lando in his arms while Charles talked to him. Lando hadn’t remembered the accident; there was a chance that he wouldn’t, considering how bad his concussion was, but what was worse than that, much worse, was that he refused to acknowledge what they were telling him about him presenting. It would make breaking the news to him when he was actually coherent much harder, and it made Carlos’ hurt heart with the fact that he might have to see his pup upset.

Lando was purring softly in Max’s arms, which told Carlos that he was completely out for the count, as there was no way if he was in his right state of mind that he would purr willingly.

“What are we going to do about his memory?” Charles asked hesitantly.

“It may come back with time, but our main focus right now is keeping him relaxed, especially when we tell him that he’s no longer a driver.”

Lewis was right; as soon as the information of Lando’s presentation had reached the FIA, Lando’s super licence had been terminated, and his seat with McLaren removed. He had been told by a few others who had still been at the track that Zac and the rest of McLaren were devastated, but were no looking for a new driver to finish the season, as it was only the third race of the season.

“Who’s going to replace him?”

Everybody looked down, eyes sad.

“I’m not sure. I haven’t spoken to Arthur yet, so I don’t know if any of the F2 drivers have had a call.”

“Will we let them into the pack?” Max asked.

“Lando will be uncomfortable with them in the pack, especially having replaced his seat. I was when it happened to me too.” Charles added.

“I know he will be, but it would be unfair to the new driver to block him out. You managed to get through it as the only omega on the grid, I’m sure you can help him.”

That left Carlos thinking. Who would replace Lando?