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Logan watches as the two fans quickly walk away, whisper-shouting and squealing at each other, holding their signed caps like they’re the royal jewels, and then he turns to Alex who is already staring at him, an amused smirk playing on his lips. “Bro. Dude.” His American accent is atrocious, Logan finds it both annoying and strangely endearing.
“What?” Logan narrows his eyes at him.
“You got like, no game, mate,” Alex finally bursts out laughing. “Those poor girls ran away because of your bad flirting.”
Logan frowns and slaps at his teammates shoulder as he walks past him. “I wasn’t trying to flirt, I was just trying to be nice.” And he isn’t even lying. He doesn’t flirt with fans, that’s weird. And he’s introverted, acting all casual doesn’t come naturally to him. But he is not bad at actual flirting, when he does try. “You’d be swooning if I actually tried to rizz you up,” he declares. Alex raises his eyebrows, so much so that they’re above the frames of his sunglasses. “Sure thing, mate.”
“I am deadass serious,” Logan argues but it comes out a little whiny. “You’d be asking me out in no time.” Alex shakes his head, not believing a word that comes out of Logan’s mouth which only makes him more upset and he wants to grab Alex’s shoulder and shake some sense into him; he has so much game.
“You’re just scared you’d fall for me,” he suddenly blurts out and Alex looks at him over the frames of his glasses. “Am I?”
“Petrified,” Logan nods. The older racer clicks his tongue at him, then licks his lips. Logan watches it move like a hawk. He swallows the lump in his throat. Alex’s lips stretch into a shit-eating grin. “Prove it then. Woo me.”
And well, Logan has never backed down from a challenge.
~*~
“I fucked up big time,” he fake cries on Oscar’s shoulder. The McLaren driver gives him the side eye, then takes another bite from his sandwich, dropping crumbs all over Logan’s new jacket. “What did you do this time?” Logan gasps theatrically, just because he can. “Fred said the same thing!”
“Of course he did, we know you,” Oscar shrugs, making Logan’s head jump. “So, how did you fuck up this time?” There’s no malice behind his words, just genuine curiosity with an edge of concern.
“I told Alex that he would totally fall for me if I flirted with him… and now he wants me to prove it and woo him.”
Oscar laughs but his face falls once he realizes Logan is dead serious. “You’re for real? You wooing Alex? The Alex Albon that you’ve had a crush on since we were in Prema?”
“Don’t remind me,” Logan whines. “I don’t know what to do! He’s literally so cool, how could I ever pull someone like him?”
Oscar nudges him with his shoulder so Logan sits up. His face is void of any emotion, like usual. “You like reading young adult novels, don’t you? Just take some inspo from there to court him.”
Logan purses his lips. “They are all dystopian novels. I’m not bringing him grilled squirrels as a token of my affection.” Oscar laughs, then shrugs again. “Don’t sweat it too much, mate. It’s all in good fun anyway. It’s not like Alex actually wants you to seduce him.” And Logan knows that, he does, but it still stings to hear that. He knows that there’s not a chance he and Alex could ever date, so obviously, he doesn’t need to actually take this seriously, or even do it in the first place, but he still wants the experience of flirting with Alex, since that’s the only time he’ll ever get to.
Oscar notices his change in demeanor and bumps their shoulders together. “Come on, lover boy! Just get him flowers or something. Dudes never get flowers. You’ll score some points with that.”
Logan forces himself to smile and nods. “You’re right. This is supposed to be fun, so why should I stress over it?”
~*~
“Fred said that carnations are great flowers for a first date.”
Oscar squints at his phone to see what Logan’s showing him on the grainy screen. “You’re taking him out on a date?”
Logan’s face changes color, like a chameleon. “Well, no. But I got his favorite food so that we can have lunch together before the meeting.”
Oscar whistles. “Damn, you’re really not hiding your crush.”
Logan looks around, panicked. “Shut the fuck up, bro! What if someone hears?”
Oscar rolls his eyes. “You have airpods in, you walnut.”
Logan feels dumb. He puts the flowers down on the desk next to the take out containers. “Is it too much? Am I doing too much?” Despite knowing Alex is not serious about it, he doesn’t want to come across as completely lame. He was dared after all and his pride won’t let him back out. He wants to give it a try at least, and best case scenario, they’ll have something to laugh about in the future.
“You are overthinking it. You got him food and flowers, that’s nice even if he doesn’t actually want to fuck you.”
Just as Oscar finishes that godforsaken sentence, Alex steps into the room. Logan hastily says his goodbyes to Oscar and ends the FaceTime, turning to face Alex, who’s already looking at him. “Hey.”
“Hi, Alex.” He tries to sound casual even though he’s extremely nervous to just exist around his teammate. Alex looks over Logan’s shoulder at the bouquet. “What’s that?”
Logan clears his throat before grabbing the flowers and walking over to Alex. “These are for you. I saw them, thought they were pretty and thought of you.” He shrugs nonchalantly as if his heart is not literally beating all the way in his throat. “Also got you your favorite food, if you’re hungry.” He pushes the flowers towards Alex, who carefully takes them. Their hands meet and Logan lets his fingers linger for a second too long. The older racer looks a little taken aback so Logan chuckles and ruffles Alex’s hair. He’s screaming on the inside, never having thought to be able to touch Alex like this. “What’s up? Cat got your tongue?”
“Shut up, mate.” Logan thinks he sees Alex blush a little but that might be wishful thinking on his part.
~*~
A few days later, they have another meeting. It’s fairly late when they’re finally free to go. Logan walks behind Alex, lowkey checking out his flat ass when the older racer turns around as he’s about to unlock the door to his car, says goodbye and gets into his Honda. Logan quickly struts over to his own car and leans against it as he watches the man start the engine and- nothing. The car jostles and shakes but the engine won’t start. Logan hears muffled cursing. Logan looks inside the car and breathes out a sigh of relief when he remembers that he cleaned his car a few days prior.
He walks swiftly to Alex’s car and swings open the door. “Want me to take you home?”
Alex looks at him, relieved. “If you don’t mind. The car is fucked, it seems.”
Having Alex in his car is like a dream come true to Logan. He’s so tempted to just reach out and put his hand on Alex’s thigh when they stop at a red light. Alex is muttering something about his own car and how pissed he is that it broke down on him out of the blue. Logan keeps stealing glances at him while checking for the light to turn green. Finally, with bravery he didn’t know he could muster, he pats Alex’s knee. “I know you have two other cars but if you don’t want to drive around in an Aston Martin, you can carpool with me until your car is fixed.” He then puts his hand back on the steering wheel and mentally pats himself on the back for sounding so calm and collected. “I got you, bro.”
He feels Alex’s eyes burning into the side of his face for the rest of the way, but he doesn’t turn to meet Alex’s eyes.
When the GPS announces they are at their destination, Alex unfastens his seatbelt and reaches for the door but pauses, hand hovering above the door handle. He sighs and looks over at Logan. “Do you wanna come in? I’ll get us dinner as a thank you for taking me home.”
Logan smiles so wide he worries his mouth might tear at the seams.
“Only if you don’t mind,” he says and Alex rolls his eyes at him.
“Of course I don’t, that’s why I offered.”
~*~
Alex’s apartment is very minimalistically furnished yet feels cozy and homey. It’s in details; the fluffy throw pillows on his loveseat, framed photos on the walls, colorful cups in the cupboards.
Alex orders them takeout and Logan sits on the tiny couch, stiff as a board.
“Relax,” Alex chuckles as he places a glass of water on the coffee table. “I won’t bite.”
“Maybe you should,” Logan blurts out before he can even register what he’s saying.
Alex pauses, then smirks. “I bet you’d like that.”
Upon seeing Alex’s reaction, Logan relaxes a little. “And I wouldn’t be the only one.”
There’s something in Alex’s eyes, a glint of something Logan can’t quite name. He looks down at Alex’s lips, then back up to meet his gaze. An unfamiliar feeling settles in his gut as the sudden urge to kiss his teammate overwhelms him.
Alex’s phone rings and rips them out this little bubble, the atmosphere shifts between them. Alex jerks away from Logan, neither of them realized that he was leaning in. “I’ll get the food,” he announces and books it.
Logan deflates a little. He feels like whatever spark they had disappeared. But then Alex comes back with their food, sets it on the coffee table and then straightens up and looks at Logan. The younger man wants to ask what’s wrong, but Alex takes two steps and sits down on Logan’s lap, who in turn lets out a very embarrassing squeal. “Alex?”
“Fine, you got me. You were right,” Alex says cryptically. Logan is even more confused now. Alex pokes his forehead. “You got game. I liked the flowers and I liked the food and you took me home and you flirted back at me and the bar is on the fucking floor because that’s apparently all it took.”
That does answer some of the questions Logan had, he still doesn’t quite understand how he came to have Alex on his lap though. “So I win?”
“Yeah yeah, whatever,” the other man feigns annoyance. “You won. What do you want?”
“You,” Logan says, like it’s so simple. Alex’s relief is visible, he slouches down and leans more into Logan who finally feels brave enough to place one of his hands on Alex’s hip. “Good, I hoped you’d say that.”
Alex kisses him like a man starved, licking into his mouth and nipping on Logan’s lower lip. Logan grips his hips tightly and tries to kiss back just as feverishly, groaning when Alex pulls on his hair. “How long have you wanted this?” He breathes into his lips. Alex bites at his jaw, gently. “A few months. Now shut up and kiss me more. And if you’re a good boy, I’ll let you stay the night.”
Logan flips them over, pushing Alex into the cushions of the tiny loveseat. “I’m always good,” he pouts before diving in for another kiss and Alex sighs into his mouth, clearly agreeing with him.
~*~
“I can’t believe you told Fred before you told me, your best friend!” Oscar pokes Logan’s chest. “You got laid and I heard that from Fred?”
Logan slaps his hand away. “I didn’t get laid! Alex wants to take things slow. As if I didn’t wait for literal years,” he groans exasperatedly. Oscar chuckles menacingly. “He already knows that. I accidentally told Lando and he accidentally told Alex. He told me a few days ago..”