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Esteban didn’t know about Lance’s crash near the end of Q1 until he had returned to the garage. He had already crossed the line at the end of the session and had been on his way back to the pitlane when the yellow flags came out and then changed to red. No one had told him what had happened. It wasn’t until he found replays in the garage of a green car crashing into the wall. For a moment, Esteban thought it was Fernando’s car until he saw Lance’s racing number on the front.He felt shaky all of a sudden and then his coach was right in front of him. The Frenchman had lifted his visor a little so that Tom could hear him.“Is he alright? No one told me about the crash.” Stuttered EstebanTom sighed.“It happened right at the end of the session, Esteban.”“Is he alright?”“I don’t know.”Esteban felt sick, he knew that he would have to get back into the car eventually for Q2 but he didn’t want to get back into the car. He wanted to check on Lance. He quickly rushed over to his engineers but they had no news on Lance. Tom rushed after him when he disappeared out of the garage to find anyone who could tell him news about Lance.The second part of qualifying was delayed so that Lance’s car could be removed from the track and so the wall could be checked out to determine whether it required repairs. Esteban couldn’t help but pace around the garage and then he was sent to the motorhome as he was annoying his mechanics.He was eventually given a time in which he had to return to the garage so that he could get back into the car for the next part of qualifying. He didn’t care about qualifying, he wanted to know if Lance was alright.Eventually, Tom came with news.“He’s in the medical centre, they’re checking him out. I’m sure he’ll be alright, Este.”Tom walked away and Esteban continued to pace. Lance was in the medical centre but Esteban still wasn’t sure if his boyfriend was alright. The Frenchman then had a plan. He knew that he couldn’t just walk out of the motorhome and walk to the medical centre himself. The team wanted him to jump back into the car for qualifying. Esteban knew that if he couldn’t go and see Lance himself then he would have to find another way of getting to see Lance.Since Esteban had been pacing for so long, his pulse was racing and because he was in Singapore, he was sweating due to the heat. Esteban knew what to do, he would pretend to faint.Esteban quickly looked around to make sure that no one could see him and he fell to the floor but cushioned his fall so that he didn’t hurt his head. He closed his eyes and waited. Sure enough, he could hear people shouting his name and it wasn’t long before he felt someone shaking him. Eventually, he opened his eyes and pretended to be groggy and confused. Tom was frowning at him and there were a few members of hospitality staring down at him with looks of concern.“Mate, are you alright?” Asked Tom.Esteban frowned.“What happened?”This time, Tom frowned.“I think you fainted, are you feeling okay?”Esteban grunted.“I feel really tired.”“I think I should take you to the medical centre, can you stand?”Esteban slowly stood up on his feet with the help of the team. As he was led out of the motorhome, he could hear the team members saying in the background to talk to management since Esteban would likely miss the rest of qualifying. The Frenchman did feel guilty about what he was doing and he didn’t even care that he was missing out on qualifying.Tom and Esteban made it to the medical centre where the Frenchman was checked over by a doctor. Esteban had walked past Lance’s room in the centre but his boyfriend was being checked over so he didn’t know Esteban’s presence.The doctor didn’t appear too worried about Esteban’s condition and the Frenchman was glad that the doctor hadn’t realised as yet that he had faked his fainting episode. If he did, then Esteban could only hope that the team wouldn’t find out.When Esteban was allowed to leave, he turned to Tom who wanted to head back to the motorhome.“I just want to check on Lance.”Tom sighed.“Don’t be too long.”Esteban smiled as he headed to Lance’s room with his bottle of water that had been given to him by the doctor.Lance was lying in the bed looking pale and he frowned when he looked up and saw Esteban smiling at him.“Este?”“Hi.”Lance was confused.“Isn’t qualifying still going on? Why aren’t you in the car?”Esteban made his way over to the bed and sat down in the seat next to Lance’s bed taking a hold of his hand.“I faked a fainting episode so that I could check up on you.” Said Esteban.He blushed as Lance gasped and then narrowed his eyes at him.“Este!”“Shh.”Esteban looked around frantically praying that no one had overheard him.“Why did you do that?” Asked Lance, quietly.“I wanted to check on you and no one was giving me any information. I knew that the team would want me back in the car so I figured that if I couldn’t check on you myself then I would put myself in the medical centre.”Lance sighed.“I don’t want you to get into trouble.”“I won’t get into trouble as long as you don’t tell anyone.”“I won’t.”“Anyway, how are you?”“A bit sore and tired.” Admitted Lance.“I saw replays of the crash, it scared me.”“I’m sorry.”Esteban sighed and leaned in to kiss his boyfriend’s cheek.“Don’t apologise, just try not to do that again, please?”Lance snorted.“As long as you promise not to scare the team again with a fake episode?”Esteban smiled.“I think I can promise that.”
