LDR Ch 1

Hungarian Grand Prix

Budapest, Hungaroring

The moment two cars entered the corner side by side, the car that had taken the inside of the track line collided with the car on its outside. At the same time, the car that was hit lifted into the air and then overturned, scattering sharp debris across the track.

The accident happened so instantaneously, without a moment to prepare for anything, that a complete silence fell over the garage.

— Harry, are you okay?

The broadcast, which would normally show the accident screen until it wore out, seemed to recognize it was a major incident and avoided the accident zone, instead showing the reactions of other drivers. But everyone, their eyes glued to the monitors, waited for that reply.

— My goodness, that is a very big accident. We have to hope that Harry is okay. We are in a safety car situation under a yellow flag (a flag signaling an accident has occurred. Drivers must reduce speed). All cars must slow down, line up behind the safety car, and are not permitted to overtake until the track is completely cleared.

— Who is it?

— Harry.

— Is he okay?

— He’s still in the car, and the radio is,

— He can’t get out of the car?

— I think we’re going to need a red flag (a flag signaling the suspension of the race. Drivers must withdraw from the track). The driver hasn’t gotten out yet….

— Ah, the red flag is out. The drivers are coming into the pits (the area where cars are checked before and after going out onto the track).

— Was that Harry just now?

— Yes.

— Is Harry okay?

— I’ll let you know as soon as I hear anything.

The radios and commentary from various teams blended together, and then footage was broadcast of the marshals urgently approaching the battered car. The side of the impacted car was heavily damaged, and there was no movement visible from the overturned cockpit. Then, the screen successively showed the ABW Racing pit wall (the area between the pit lane and the track where team personnel analyze data and manage the race) and then the garage.

— Harry, can you hear me? Harry?

And at that moment, through one side of the headset that could pick up the team radio, the voice they had been waiting for so desperately, which had been silent until now, was heard.

— Yeah.

— Harry, are you okay?

— Not comfortable, but more or less okay.

— People are coming to get you out now. Just wait a little, Harry.

— Sorry.

— Just hang in there. We’ll get you out right away.

The broadcast showed the other drivers one by one listening to their engineers, and soon after, an image of Harrison getting into an ambulance appeared.

— Harrison Turner has, thankfully, been extracted from the car, and we’re told he is fully conscious.

Leo reflexively looked to his side. Harrison’s mother, Heather, was watching the monitor with an expression far calmer than his own. In the footage, Harrison, wearing a brace around his neck, waved to the cameras and fans even as he was being loaded into the ambulance.

“Harry’s okay, but we thought it would be better for him to go to the hospital rather than the medical center (the medical facility within the paddock), so he’s on his way now. The medical team with him reported that the neck brace is just a precaution, and a simple check showed no injuries and he’s in a good conscious state. He’s gone to the hospital for a few more detailed examinations, so please don’t worry too much.”

Simon, the team principal, who had approached them at some point, reassured Heather and, comforting her, squeezed her hand once before heading back out of the garage to speak with the engineers again.

At the sight of Heather finally letting out a deep sigh, Leo was engulfed in a sense of guilt he did not know how to handle. It was Leo’s grandmother who had put up the money to build the car that had sent Harrison to the hospital. The sponsor who had provided the solid support that allowed Harrison, who already had an aggressive driving style, to be even more reckless was Leo’s other grandfather. And it was Leo himself who had actively encouraged him to leave his original team of five years and move to his current team, ABW.

“I’ll go see him.”

As he spoke cautiously, Heather’s gaze, which had been on the monitor where the race was resuming, shifted to Leo for a moment.

“If you go now, you’ll only hear unpleasant things. You know Harry.”

At those words, Leo was unsure for a moment how he should react, before finally saying.

“He’s probably just disappointed. He was doing so well.”

Heather smiled at the pointless defense, but a pale quality still lingered on her face. Leo realized how inappropriate his words had been to a mother whose son had just been in an accident, a mother who had another son who had been involved in a major racing incident and still lived with its aftermath. He quietly took off the headset he had been wearing with one ear uncovered and looked at the monitor.

In it, as soon as it was confirmed that the driver was safe, the broadcast was replaying the accident footage from every angle and perspective it could find. Leo watched his best friend, his family, his beloved partner overturn again and again in that footage, before he finally began to walk.

When he arrived at the hospital, Harrison’s trainer, Richard, and his race engineer, Manuel, were already there. They all waited anxiously upon hearing that Harrison was undergoing brain-related tests as soon as he got to the hospital. Soon, Harrison entered the hospital room. Seeing him walk in on his own two feet eased the tension, if only a little.

“Manny, did you analyze the accident?”

But at the words that came out at the same time, Leo was left speechless. Harrison headed toward Manuel as if he had no idea that the car he had just been in had overturned, that he had barely escaped with the help of several people, and that if things had gone slightly differently, the side of the car could have been completely crushed, leading to a major accident too terrible to even imagine.

“It wasn’t my fault, was it?”

After spitting out those words, Harrison suddenly looked at Leo. The moment their eyes met, something surged up from deep within his chest. Those straightforward brown eyes, not yet free from the excitement of the race, always took Leo back to a certain time when he was six years old.

Back to the moment when he had first seen that young, six-year-old Harrison. They had met by chance at a go-kart track they had gone to see, after having watched F1 together since childhood, the one thing their two grandfathers, who agreed on absolutely nothing, both loved.

“What happened with the penalty? Did he get one?”

It figured that he had apologized as soon as the radio connected, but after coming to his senses and thinking it over, it seemed he was incredibly frustrated that he had apologized for something that wasn’t his fault.

“Mr. Turner?”

At the voice that suddenly came from behind, he shifted his gaze to see a doctor looking at them all. At that look, Leo first pulled Harrison over and sat him on the bed.

“Is there anything wrong?”

“I can go, right?”

At the questions from Richard and Harrison that came out in unison, the doctor looked at Harrison.

“Sir, you cannot leave the hospital for at least 24 hours.”

“Is there a problem?”

This time, Leo asked, and the doctor replied gravely.

“The tests just now were basic and simple, so we cannot accurately determine any brain damage. However, there could be aftereffects, so we need to run more detailed examinations.”

“But I can still go out, right?”

At Harrison’s question, which followed the doctor’s serious voice, everyone’s gaze momentarily turned to Harrison.

“I just need two to three hours. I’ll get the tests right after that, so I’ll just be gone for a little while.”

“Mr. Turner, as I just said, you require detailed examinations.”

“Yes, so just for a moment…”

“Harry, shut your mouth.”

Leo, speaking curtly to Harrison who was about to argue with the doctor, answered the doctor on behalf of the crazed patient.

“Yes, please do whatever tests are necessary.”

“Rick.”

And at Harrison’s voice calling for his trainer, clearly trying to scheme something, Leo suppressed his emotions as best he could and spoke as calmly as possible.

“I need to talk to Harry alone for a moment, just for five minutes. Could you please give us some space?”

At his words, the doctor and Manuel went outside, but Richard was still being held by Harry.

“Rick, please step out for a moment.”

When he spoke lowly, Richard also cleanly shook off Harrison who was holding him and left the hospital room. Once they were finally alone, Leo looked at Harrison coldly, with nothing left to hide.

“I gave him space.”

Harrison immediately started his excuse, but if that was the best he could do, he would have been better off keeping his mouth shut.

“It was a lock-up (a phenomenon where the wheels lock up due to braking failure), so there was nothing Lorenzo could do there either.”

“Then he should have braked earlier.”

The later one braked, the easier it was to claim the desired position in a corner, but it also meant braking that much harder, creating the risk of the brakes being unable to handle it and locking up the wheels. This accident was exactly that case.

The driver of the car ahead had been Leo and Harrison’s friend, Lorenzo. After a long straight, entering the corner was all about who could brake later. So he had delayed his braking as much as possible, and he braked too hard, exceeding the car’s limits. As a result, the wheels locked up, spewing smoke, and they collided.

That much was confirmed from the broadcast. While coming to the hospital, Leo had separately checked the footage from Lorenzo’s perspective; at the moment of impact, Lorenzo had tried to avoid the collision by turning the steering wheel as hard as he could in the opposite direction, but with the wheels locked, he couldn’t change direction. And so, they collided.

“And before that, he tried to push me off the track. Did he get a penalty?”

Both of them had retired from the race because of this accident anyway. Furthermore, while Lorenzo and Harrison may have been fighting for position on this particular track, they were in different places in the overall driver standings competition. So, for Harrison right now, Lorenzo’s penalty, which he would receive in the next race if he got one, was not what was important. He just needed proof that he had done nothing wrong.

“I don’t know yet, but we’re going to appeal. So you just stop worrying about things like that and get the tests they told you to get.”

“Leo.”

He looked at Harrison at the sudden call of his name. The face that sponsors were so drawn to wore a rather serious expression.

“Get me a different doctor.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.”

“I’m not saying I won’t get the tests. I’ll just go out for two hours. I’ll sign a waiver saying I won’t hold anyone responsible if something happens, so just get me a doctor who will allow me two hours.”

At those words, Leo’s expression hardened completely. Suddenly, all the time they had spent together flashed before his eyes. Leo had been looking at that handsome face since he was six years old. Starting from then, he had spent over a decade by his side, attending all sorts of races together.

Then, Leo realized being a driver wasn’t his path and quit, while Harrison remained. While Leo was belatedly preparing for university, confusedly figuring out what racing was and how normal people lived, Harrison had made it to F1. The next year, with his university acceptance confirmed, he went to watch a race and was blindsided by a love confession from Harrison.

“It wasn’t a severe accident. Leo, you know that too. It’s not like I hit a wall.”

At the time, he thought Harrison’s mind had gone haywire with the joy of his first podium, and even his method of pursuit was hard to see as sane, but Leo couldn’t push him away. Eventually, he kissed Harrison, who had returned after finishing his first season. Leo still remembers that day.

The road to meet Harrison in person when he returned to the UK after the final Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi, the sight of him after almost two months since all the later Grand Prix races were held on other continents, the gaze he felt from the passenger seat on the way home, the warmth that took his hand, the lips that carefully pressed against his in front of the house. And.

Leo, for us to be together, it will require your sacrifice. The words he had finally uttered.

“I’ll just do a quick interview and come back. It’s not like there’s another race, it’s the break now. You know how much speculation there is during the break, too. There’s no harm in showing my face on camera looking fine.”

A relationship with Harrison was truly just as he had said. In the first place, Harrison has a profession that makes it impossible to have a relationship with an ordinary person. He had to travel to over twenty countries a year, so even coordinating their schedules was difficult. It was an industry with such highs and lows that it was hard to watch him go through those dramatic emotional shifts.

Leo had also been a driver once, but being a driver’s partner is a completely different matter. He couldn’t say all that time had been happy, but still, counting by years, they had been dating for seven years now, and had known each other for twenty years before that. So he knew well what kind of person Harrison was even before they started dating, and he loves that unchanging side of him. But, no matter how much that was true.

“Harry, you are really.”

To think that even for a moment, after losing consciousness, after sustaining an impact great enough to destroy and overturn the car, after showing all of that to me, after hearing that he needed detailed examinations, he would insist on going back to that place.

“The worst boyfriend.”

At the voice that fell coldly, without any thought of tempering it, Harrison finally shut his mouth.

— You can’t say it’s a good result. Especially since the pace was good up until then. I’m more disappointed that I couldn’t finish the race than not getting any points. The race itself was important, but I was also looking forward to confirming the results of the updates, so I don’t think we were able to gather much data. Still, the pace in this race was definitely better than the last, so I’m confident we’ll get a better result next time.

Leo listened to the voice flowing from his earphones as he stared at the screen in his hand.

— Although I couldn’t finish, this race confirmed that we can improve many parts of the car and increase our competitiveness, so now I’m looking forward to the Belgian Grand Prix which will be after the break ends.

— And finally, Harry, how are you feeling? I heard you went to the hospital.

At the interviewer’s question, a perfectly painted smile appeared on the face that had been speaking with such a calm and composed demeanor that no one would have guessed he had just been in an accident.

— I’m fine. Thanks for your concern.

As that sentence ended and the next driver’s interview began, Leo stopped the video and took out his earphones. He looked to his side, and the face from the video was lying there quietly with its eyes closed. The voice he had just heard, saying he was fine, echoed in his ears.

The Harrison in the video, who had stubbornly returned to the paddock (the area encompassing the garages, pits, as well as rest and interview facilities) to do an interview, had answered the questions so clearly and articulately that he seemed to have no problems at all. But in reality, as soon as that presentable face was away from the cameras and reporters, it turned deathly pale, and he was rushed to the hospital via a pre-arranged helicopter.

Who could believe that only thirty minutes separated the man who had been nauseous until he finally fell asleep after being belatedly diagnosed with a concussion, and the face that smiled saying there was nothing wrong with his body? And who could believe that there was also no significant time difference between the man who wouldn’t listen even when everyone told him to stay at the hospital, and the composed demeanor of the one being interviewed about the race results?

Leo gently placed the back of his hand on that forehead and leaned his body in slightly. He couldn’t even gauge how long it had been since he had been this angry, yet he couldn’t tear his eyes away from that face.

In a familiar contradiction, Leo ended up stroking that hair softly. Still, the greatest comfort was that there would be no races for about a month. The start of the break had been unnecessarily grandiose.

Summer Break

“Wake up, young master.”

Leo tried to recall what on earth he had been thinking when he bought this house, but he couldn’t remember at all.

“It’s time for your morning workout.”

At the hand that tapped his cheek and gently shook his ankle, Leo swung a pillow at that shoulder.

“Ouch.”

The voice, pretending to be in pain when it clearly wasn’t, was loathsome. Leo took off the sleep mask he was wearing and spoke coldly.

“I told you not to touch me.”

Just yesterday, Harrison and Leo had been discharged from the local hospital and had come to the UK. But still not feeling reassured, his personal doctor had examined Harrison again as soon as they arrived, and they were told he should avoid strenuous exercise and slowly reacclimate.

But that relief was fleeting; looking at that face, the same old anger welled up. Harrison’s condition improved quickly, but as soon as Harrison felt a little better, he stubbornly held a virtual race debriefing for the one he missed the day before, even though the team had already packed up and left.

Because of that stunt, he had told him not to even speak to him on the private jet to the UK, so touching his body was far beyond the acceptable limit.

“I wasn’t the one who touched you.”

Harrison made a strange excuse and subtly lowered his gaze. His eyes reflexively followed, and he saw the dogs from Leo’s family home. One was held dearly in Harrison’s arms, and two were huddled together by Leo’s side.