12. LANDO AND OSCAR - Part IV

Regretting his inability to pay attention to the room numbers assigned at the start, especially Oscar's, Lando panicked when he hung up the phone on him. At that point, more agitated than ever, he rushed to the only friend's room he'd seen: Alex and George's, who had came after him. 
Lando threw himself on their door and began banging like a madman, anxiety gripping him at the knowledge that Oscar didn't want to listen to him, and perhaps even see him again. 
After something like 50 beats in 30 seconds, Alex opened the door, worried and exasperated, and once inside the first thing he did was shout dazed: - GUYS, I MADE A MESS! OSC WON’T ANSWER ME AND... 
He was going crazy and would have continued shouting for a long time if George hadn't put his hand on his face—literally—saying firmly and severely: - Shut up and be good!
The "I'll take care of it" was implicit. 
Lando stopped as if he'd been pulled a plug: he fell silent as if by magic and looked at him shocked, in an incredible and unexpected silence. His wide eyes were shining with tears, like two beacons in the night, even though they weren't outside enjoying the beautiful nighttime spotlights of that enchanting, evocative place. 
Lando and Alex remained silent, watching George—serious and composed—text someone. Not Oscar, since he'd the phone closed. 
- What room number does Carlos have? - he then asked after receiving an answer from the mysterious person. 
Lando told him, so George nodded looking at Alex.
- We had four booked, and I remember the numbers. Using a process of elimination, the remaining room is this one right next to ours. I'll go alone. Keep him in here and don't do anything until I tell him. - George was peremptory and spoke to Alex as if Lando weren't there, or as if he were a total incompetent idiot, which is probably what he thought. 
- George, please… - Lando begged, clinging to his arms. - Tell him that… - but George raised his hand placing again on his face, and chasing him away like a whining naughty dog, left the room closing the door behind him. 
What was he so annoyed about? Lando looked puzzled at Alex, who seemed to understand the silent question in his always expressive face, so he rushed to explain. 
- You made such a mess, you even involved us who had nothing to do with it, and now we're forced to intervene to sort out your bullshit. 
- Did you tell him? - it was a stupid question; from Alex's expression, Lando knew he had. 
- I didn't mean to create this chaos, but I didn't have time to plan anything beforehand. Carlos put me pressure and I had to improvise... 
Alex nodded and shrugged, going to open the still-closed glass door. The place was lovely, but it was scorching hot and for some unknown reason, as beautiful as it was, there was no air conditioning. The fate was sealed. They would all die. 
- Well, you could have told the people involved first that you wanted to talk to them; they would have understood and waited. So it looked like you wanted to go from one bed to the other, having fun with both of them without even asking their opinion. Carlos went from having planned something just with you to a vacation with six others he didn't care about... and then he even got dumped... how did that go, anyway? - Alex asked, stepping out into the small private garden, bordered by dividing walls of fake plastic rock on one side and a charming wooden porch on the other. In the center, a small pool partially overlooked the bedroom. Alex walked along the small edge, avoiding diving in as soon as he got out, and advanced toward the platform and lounge chairs at the end of the pool, near the fake rock wall. 
Lando followed him, sitting in one of the lounge chairs. He was nervous and couldn't stay still, but he was also tired and the stress was killing him. He was running out of energy. 
He told him roughly what had happened with Carlos, concluding with a generic: - I think it was okay in the end. He expected it, but not to happen like this. Neither did I, but I acted impulsively. I didn't want to hurt anyone, I didn't ask for this situation... Lando didn't finish speaking because suddenly two other voices caught his attention. They weren't voices in their garden, but in the one next. 
Oscar's? 
He and Alex realized it at the same time, looking at each other in amazement, but it was as if they were reading each other's thoughts because with a feline leap, Lando stood up to listen, rushing against the wall which was thinner than it looked. Alex did the same, grabbing him from behind and putting his hand over his mouth to silence him before he screamed. 
That was precisely his intention, in fact. 
- Shut the fuck up, let them talk and don't get in the way. Do you want him to never talk to you? Don't you understand how Oscar feels? - Alex hissed threateningly in his ear, forcing him to remain there between him and that wall that looked like it could fall at any moment. He succeeded, thanks in part to the height differences. Those ten centimeters were apparently enough to neutralize the crazed little ferret. 
Lando's brain had completely shut down, and there was no way to turn it back on. He understood what Alex was saying, he understood that he was right, but he only calmed down when he distinguished Oscar and George's words, beyond the two-meter panel between them.  
- Fuck him. I don't care what he has to say! You don't do things like that! He grabs us at different times, days, and places and talks to us. You don't do things without thinking, randomly, as it happens. To hell with him! Go tell him that, if you can. I'm leaving for KL tomorrow, you can continue without me!
They heard Oscar's loud voice, and Alex tried to drag him away as quietly as possible. Lando, however, was resisting, and although shorter, he had considerable strength, especially since he was now nervous at the thought that Oscar was really leaving and ending things with him. 
- Lan, if he knows you're listening to him, you're done! Come away, trust me! - Alex said through gritted teeth, dragging him back. 
He couldn't take it; Lando knew he was right, but he absolutely needed to hear the rest. Something that was lost in the small struggle with his friend, which ended with a crash backwards, right onto the deckchair behind them, one on top of the other. 
Lando got up from Alex holding back a curse, but stopped himself from returning to the wall when he saw his friend pressing his face into the cushion of the lounger, twisting and curling onto his side. He saw Alex's hands between his clenched thighs and saw his face take on a series of colors, each more worried than the other. 
Alex was in pain, and in real pain. Only on the second train did Lando realize that he had fallen on his balls and that perhaps it had rendered him impotent, and feeling sincerely sorry for him and his future offspring, he crouched down, trying to comfort him with pats that were supposed to be his apology. 
All in complete silence and only with gestures, to avoid sending Alex's sacrifice to hell so as not to be heard by them on the other side. 
Lando remained monitoring Alex's vitals for a while, thinking he had truly killed him, but when he saw his color return to normal and his hands loosen on the traumatized jewelry, Oscar and George's voices began to be heard again. 
- So when this thing with Lando happened, I was happy. He just wanted to fuck, I could only fuck. It was perfect. But then… 
Oscar paused and Lando slowly stood up, moving as if in zero gravity for fear of missing other important parts, knowing that there on the other side, right at that precise moment, was the crux of everything he'd wanted to know for months. It was all there. Everything in that moment. That sentence. That revelation. That admission. 
His breath held, his heart pounding. 
- But then you fell in love with him? - he heard George say. The answering silence crushed Lando, his stomach tightening in an excruciating iron grip, he almost found himself throwing up the dinner he'd eaten on the plane, which wasn't so good by the way. 
The world vanished: the garden, Alex, the night, the humid heat, the pool. Every detail vanished, even the wall he'd placed his hands against and his forehead, closing his eyes intent on hearing his answer, which took agonizing seconds to wait. 
His heart felt like it was about to explode, along with terror and hope. 
- I think so. It's just that he fucks half the world, Carlos first, and I know he loves someone and I don't know who, I assume Carlos, and… - and at that point he couldn't keep quiet any longer. Alex, too far away to stop him from reacting, couldn't do anything. 
- But look that it's not Carlos, and that's an old story! - 
Lando remembered perfectly the conversation he was referring to, when he'd mentioned Charles without mentioning his name. He'd imagined Oscar had someone else in mind, he'd never figured out who, but since he hadn't asked for further clarification, he'd taken advantage of the opportunity. 
Impulsively declaring that his love for Charles was "old story," he felt himself explode with joy. He had truly gotten over it and had just realized it. 
But from the stars to the stables, Lando fell in an instant when heard George explaining to a probably shocked Oscar what had happened.  
- The idiot's there and he heard everything. - his voice was clearer now; he even heard him knocking on the wall where he was still leaning. -  Imbecile, do you think that'll convince him to listen to you? - his compatriot shouted at him from the other side of the panel. 
Lando's vein closed properly, and in closing it also cut off his remaining capacity for reasoning. 
- II’ll scream if I have to! - he blurted out, his frenzy skyrocketing, the need to act. Act immediately. It didn't matter how. - Alex, come here, help me! - he ordered the poor guy who probably couldn't even stand. 
Seeing that he didn't seem inclined to help him, Lando jumped to grab the top edge of the panel and climb over it alone. Faced with the very real possibility of seeing him break everything, Alex stood up with strength he didn't even know where it came from. Before hanging him like a monkey, he placed his clasped hands under one foot, giving him the push to climb without causing too much damage. Probably in a few moments he had chosen the lesser evil.
- Alex, don't help him! - he heard George shout. 
- How can I? He'll do it anyway, but we've seen that if he does it himself, it's much worse! We might as well help him and limit the damage right away, rather than rushing to fix his shit! - Alex shouted back, with Lando's feet on his shoulders.
Thanks to the 186 centimeters of the human trampoline, Lando easily emerged with half his body on the other side. As soon as he was up there, he immediately looked for Oscar's light brown head; he found him sitting stiffly on the edge of the pool, his back to him, seemingly lost in another world. What was wrong with him? Why wasn't he glaring at him exasperated? What did he have? 
- Lando, if you hurt Alex, I'll kill you! - George threatened. Lando dimly focused on him below him, he too was just a few centimeters below the edge he was swinging on.
- Oh, George, how sweet! - Lando took a second to comment tenderly, careful not to say he'd already done enough damage to his Alex. Then he moved his legs to the other side and without ceremony placed them on George's solid, broad shoulders, easily reachable thanks to his 185 centimeters. 
Lando—completely out of his mind and utterly convinced he had no choice but to climb the other side to reach his Osc, which was somehow strange and worrying—thanked his height, while George cursed it. He had no choice but to take him, even though having Lando sitting on his shoulders, one hand strangling him under the chin and the other tearing his shirt off, wasn't the most edifying thing to do in his life. 
Lando was unbalanced forward, bent over his head, enduring George's threats below him, but precisely against this insane backdrop, Oscar stood up, turned toward him, planted his feet on the ground, looked at him proudly and coldly, and like a magnificent marble statue, straight and rigid, he uttered low and piercingly: - You and I are done!
With that, he turned heading towards the room. 
“He'll leave! He'll take his still-packed suitcase and leave and never speak to me again. If I let him go now, it's over.”
Lando thought of nothing else, his mind completely focused on stopping him in any way. Even force, if necessary. 
And that he used. 
Completely out of his mind and triggered, he jumped down from George's impressive shoulders, who lowered to avoid killing himself and his friend. As soon as he was down, rushed to Oscar, who was walking near the edge of the pool, grabbed him by the arms and held him back, desperately begging: - Osc, wait, you have to listen to me…
But at that it was Oscar's vein that closed and it did in a sensational way.
Before Lando even knew how, he found himself violently yanked. 
The next second, he was in the pool. In the water. Dressed. And Oscar was locked in his room with the glass door slammed shut, almost breaking.  
Lando didn't drown, obviously, but it took him a few seconds to realize what happened. When he realized Oscar had thrown him into the pool, he found George crouched in front of him, crying with laughter, trying to hide it out of tact towards a furious Oscar. In fact he had one hand over half of his face, covering his profile facing the room where their colleague had entered, the other was toward Lando in the water. 
- Please, how do you always make situations worse? It's an art, you know? I can't do it even if I try hard! 
Lando stared for a moment at him as he stifled a laugh and then at his hand, which felt the insane urge to bite, but thinking that would be a perfect example of 'situation getting worse,' he simply sighed and took it for help. 
Once outside, soaked from the tips of his hair to his underwear, Lando ignored his condition and rushed to the closed glass door, banging and yelling for Oscar to let him in. 
Oscar, in response, stood up and closed the long curtains that would have served to shield from the morning light. 
- OSC! OSCA! OSCAR PLEASE! 
George, who had meanwhile managed to let out a laugh to avoid dying of a stroke by holding it in, heard him shouting all his nicknames, and when he noticed strange noises coming from the banging the glass, he decided to intervene for the umpteenth time. He grabbed Lando's throbbing wrist and, preventing him from actually breaking it, pulled him in his place. 
Lando remained behind, on the small platform between the pool and the portico, dripping wet and with his heart in his throat threatening to come out into his mouth. He couldn't even breathe well, from all the screaming and getting agitated for so long. 
George knocked softly and normally; he didn't even have to call him. Oscar realized it was him and, opening the curtain, looked at his colleague hesitant. He was furious, but slightly softened and took pity on him for being left out there: he'd already been involved without any part of it, now did he have to be stuck there too? 
Finally, with a huge sigh, Oscar decided to open the door. As soon as he did, Lando tried to run over George and enter, wet as he was, but Oscar grabbed his friend and, using him as a human wall, stuck his arm from his side, causing Lando's face to collide with his palm, effectively blocking him out. 
- You won't come in until I give you permission to do so. And you won't get in that wet anyway!  
Realizing that this was a huge, one-off possibility, Lando straightened up moving away from George's hard, strong back—now soaked thanks to him—and backed toward the side platform that served as the edge of the pool. 
As soon as he was free, George slipped inside and ran away, having had enough of those two—presumably rushing to check on his boy. Lando, however, followed his Osc's instructions to the letter and took off his wet clothes. 
All of them. 
Once that was complete, he stood at attention a meter from the entrance, awaiting permission to speak and do whatever his master ordered. 
"Please, please, please, don't make a mistake this time. Make sure I get it right. Please enlighten my stupid ADHD brain!"
He would do anything, anything! Even put on a muzzle, if necessary, to get him to listen and forgive him. Anything but give in. 

Oscar watched stunned, as he undressed as quickly as a soldier under court-martial. 
Standing in front of the door, he watched Lando strip off his soaked clothes and straighten up, waiting for his order, presumably to speak. 
Finally he remained silent and still. 
When he realized this, Lando, more than a cat, appeared to him as a naughty little dog who, after having caused a big mess, hoped to gain his master's pity just by sitting good and quiet.
"If I give him an order, will he obey?" Oscar was momentarily distracted, but decided not to move on to that stage before truly forgiving him, if that were even possible. 
He remained silent for a very long moment, struggling not to look down at his completely exposed groin. 
The damned man was naked. Completely naked. Wet. Guilty. Pleading like he had never been before. And there, with his repentant puppy eyes, he was beautiful. 
“You’re a fucking piece of shit. But the fact remains that you don’t deserve my love. He’s listened too much, so there’s no point continuing down that stupid ‘I don’t know how to love’ path. It might have worked if he couldn't hear me. Damn idiot.” 
After an interminable amount of time spent challenging him with his gaze—serious, rigid and with his hands on his hips—Oscar climbed out of the glass door, sat on the wooden ledge that separated the pool from the bedroom, and putting his legs in the water as before, crossed his arms over his chest, staring at him sternly. 
The feeling of well-being he’d felt when he’d done it while talking to George returned to him. 
He couldn’t believe something like that had happened. He’d admitted to loving Lando and decided he couldn’t do it, that such an asshole like that didn’t deserve his love. So why was he in that ridiculous situation? Why did he have to listen to him? 
Did he have to convince Lando to leave him alone? But who could convince him to do something he didn’t want to do? He'd literally thrown himself into his garden jumping over a wall, trampling Alex and George just to get there. How much more was he willing to do to get what he wanted? For a moment, Oscar was tempted to test him, but decided to start by listening. If he eventually changed his mind, he'd decide what to do with him. 
- Speak. - he ordered sharp, continuing to stare at him impassively and sternly. Without the order to move, Lando remained standing a meter away from him.
Without moving he took a deep breath and lit up with hope—a hope that was all too easy to see in his always expressive face—Lando began. 
- Before I spoke to you, I had to speak to Carlos, because you're someone who wants actions, not words.
Oscar frowned, uncomprehending. He spoke as if he should know what he was referring to, but George hadn't told him what he was supposed to say to both of them, and it wasn't entirely obvious what it could be, considering it was Lando. 
- What the hell are you talking about? What did you say to him?
Lando was surprised he didn't know or hadn't understood. So he stepped forward, demonstrating the limits of his "block." Oscar glared at him, and that was enough to remind him that he hadn't given him any permission to move, so he curled up on the ground, sitting on his heels, more and more like a dog that can’t wait to jump on him, but still keen to please his master. 
“Don’t let him start meowing now. If he does, I'll be the one to jump on him. I'm much weaker than I thought." 
Despite himself, he remained still, impassive, sitting on the edge of the pool. 
- I just want to be his friend and never fuck with him again. And I don't want to fuck with anyone but you. Because I did it this summer, but I didn't like it. I felt like shit and guilty. I only thought about you, I only wanted to do it with you. It wasn't as good as it used to be. I didn't want anyone but you. - then he remembered what he'd said earlier to George and added, raising his tone. - And I never loved Carlos. Carlos wasn't the boy I was telling you about. And anyway, it's an old story. Nothing ever happened, it never will and in any case I'm over it. I don't love him anymore because I only love you, Osc. - then he leaned over, resting his hands in front of his knees, in a pose similar to the one he'd used to when he'd seduced him in their bedroom two years earlier. This time, however, the intent wasn't the same; Lando was spontaneous and agitated, trembling with terror at not being understood or believed. 
With that, he raised his tone again, panicking. 
- And yes, I'm sure of it! I don't have a single doubt! I fell in love with you, Osc, but I didn't know how to tell you, and I was convinced you didn't reciprocate, and then I was afraid I wasn't ready to be only with you. And when I tried to do what I'd always done, I realized it disgusted me and I wanted to do it only with you, and I knew I was ready. - then he stopped abruptly. He straightened back on his heels and dug his nails into the flesh of his thighs, almost hurting himself. 
With every muscle tense and an expression that was a masterpiece of anxiety and hope, he concluded. 
- I love you, Oscar. I messed up and didn't know how to fix it all. I didn't think, I acted on impulse. I didn't mean to do it like this. If I could go back, I'd change everything, but now I can only beg you to believe me and forgive me and give me a chance. 
Oscar, sitting still not far from him, realized he'd been holding his breath, and when he realized Lando's torrent had stopped, he closed his eyes and opened them again, desperately trying to control himself, to remain still and steady and do the most logical and sensible thing of all. 
He had to protect himself and push him away. Lando was a crazy person, now he wanted to try, but in reality he'd just decided to do it. Yes, he'd spoken to Carlos, but it wasn't enough to prove he was truly ready. Who knows how many guys he'd had on vacation in August!
He couldn't risk that much. 
He was in love for the first time in his life and he was blindly throwing himself on an idiot like him? 
He needed more, much more than that. He needed certainty. Certainty that Lando couldn't give him in a measly minute. 
So no, he knew what had to be done. He knew what he had to say to him and he knew how he had to behave. 
The point was to do it. Succeeding now that he was looking at him naked, wet and sitting before him like a slave waiting to be transformed into his adorable personal whore. 
Because he knew exactly what he'd do as soon as he told him those beautiful words weren't enough. He knew it perfectly well. So he had to be ready and strong and push him away, remaining impassive. Hard as a statue. A fucking statue. 
"I can do it because I only look at him in the face; if I go down on his body, it's over. Imagine if he starts to..." 
- Meow? - suddenly, a moan that became a clear meow, came as if summoned by his thoughts. 
What was he doing, was he even reading his mind?
- Damn bastard… - hissed Oscar, aware that the task had just gone from difficult to impossible. 

NOTE: Obviously, like my other fics, I'm currently posting them on my site, and when AO3 comes back online, I'll add them there too. We left Oscar venting to George, admitting he loves Lando, and with Lando hearing and jumping into his garden to make amends. This ends with Oscar throwing him into the pool, announcing he was breaking up with him. Let's see what Lando did with Alex while Oscar vented to George. And then let's see how Oscar handles a kamikaze-like Lando. See you next time. Kisses, Akane.