LDR Ch 2

by reckless

Since Harrison’s and Leo’s families had known each other since they were very young, there were times when someone was home at Harrison’s house but no one was at Leo’s, and they would bring him over to look after him. It seemed Heather would now be home all the time for about three weeks, so Harrison had probably brought over the dog she had brought with her.

“I wiped his paws, too.”

Harrison lifted the paw of the puppy in his arms and gently tapped Leo’s shoulder with it. Leo took his puppy from Harrison’s embrace and held it in his own.

“So childish.”

With those words, Leo gently tapped the different colored ribbons that sat atop each of the three puppies’ heads. He wondered why they were all decorated like this.

“My mom did it.”

“Childish, I mean, you look young, you look young. Like when you were babies.”

As he quickly changed his words, the puppies, seeing Leo for the first time in a while, slowly crept up toward his face. Harrison reached out his hand as if to tidy them up, but Leo swatted that hand away with a puppy’s paw to stop him from touching them.

“You don’t touch them either.”

But even so, one of them was already heading over to Harrison. This was the problem with relationships that had started from too young an age. Everything was so entangled that it was not something that could end just because I was mad at him. Even the house they were in now was an example of that.

Even though he had been in the world of F1 for eight years, where he could crash into a wall at 350 km/h, and even though he did that sort of thing two or three times a month, and even though he had first set foot in the world of motor racing by riding a bike at the age of four, Harrison was bizarrely afraid of driving on public roads.

He especially hated driving at night, saying what if, even if he was paying attention, a sleepy office worker driving drowsy or a drunk driver who might have had a drink rushed toward his car. He also said that in F1, if there was an accident, the race marshals and doctors would immediately come running and an ambulance would be ready, but here, who knew how long it would take for an ambulance to arrive and which hospital it would take him to.

In line with that philosophy, unlike other drivers who collected supercars, Harrison owned only three cars, even including the one Leo had gifted him to commemorate Harrison’s F1 debut.

Now that he had moved to ABW—Ellington Racing, he was sponsored a car from Ellington, the engine supplier and the company of one of the founders, so that could be included, but Harrison did not use any of them equally anyway.

Knowing Harrison well, Leo, in the early days of their relationship, had bought the current house, which was a 5-minute walk from Harrison’s family home and a 7-minute walk from the house Harrison himself owned, while leaving the house he had actually gotten near the university abandoned. Of course, he could have just not used this house, so it was Leo who had come here despite being angry, meaning he was not in a position to blame others, but still, seeing that perfectly fine face as if he had never been sick, his irritation did not subside.

Judging by the eyes that had watched Harrison for a long time, Harrison is a pretty decent person, friend, and lover, if you take racing out of the equation. In fact, most of the drivers Leo had seen were like that. They were all somewhat, ambiguous. It was not Leo’s opinion, but the kind of ambiguous words that came out when you asked people who were close to somewhat successful drivers to evaluate them.

When evaluating them from a driver’s perspective, they would say he was a bold, fearless, and smart driver, but when it came to his personality, they would say he was a different person off the track, yet they found it hard to describe him in any particular way. They would say he had a peculiar side. A normal person might interpret that expression as them trying to gloss over it because they could not bring themselves to curse him, but Leo, having been a driver himself, understood that expression.

First of all, crossing countries and continents every one or two weeks made adjusting to the time difference a living hell. Add to that the excitement after a race, and sometimes sleep became something close to a luxury item. Just staying still was enough to drain you while going through a schedule of moving, interviewing, analyzing, giving feedback, doing media activities, attending briefings, participating in events, competing, and then moving to another place.

On top of that, asking someone whose engine blew up how it felt to have their engine blow up, and asking someone who was overtaken how it felt to be overtaken, while being confident that you were doing your best with the team, would find a solution, and would show a better performance in the next race, was enough to wear down your nerves. Of course, it was natural that the thing that made you most on edge was the racing itself. Repeating a life of experiencing that all year long and then experiencing it again the next year made it harder to stay sane.

So, taking that into consideration and speaking only of Harrison outside the track, he is a good person. But if he is of sound mind for about four weeks in a whole year and not in his right mind for the rest of it, then maybe not being in his right mind was his true nature after all.

Leo glanced at that face. He could not ignore the parents of his boyfriend of 20 years just because he had fought with his boyfriend, so Leo, who had come to Harrison’s family home for the first time in a while, had gone into the room pretending they had not fought after being told the two of them should go play in the room, but he kept Harrison at a distance so he could not touch him. He had been in a relationship with a guy like this for seven years already, so the fantasy had ended and a sufficient level of objectification had been established. In fact, it had been like that even before they started dating.

Leo frowned at the sight of Harrison stealthily approaching him. But Harrison paid no mind and carefully pressed his lips against his. Leo slapped that cheek, not hard enough to hurt, or perhaps just a little bit, and then held that face in his hands and gazed at it. Come to think of it, where did the idea that he was a good person if not for racing even come from?

“I told you not to touch me.”

As he whispered quietly so that no one outside could hear, the face held in his hands blinked blankly. It was certainly a handsome face. Harrison had received attention right from his F1 debut. In fact, he had been the same in F2, and even when he was karting.

The reason he was famous among people in the industry was, of course, his skill, but even people who did not know F1 always remembered that face when they saw a commercial Harrison was in.

“Are you getting ready to go to the park?”

At the sound of Harrison’s dad, William, knocking on the door, Harrison and Leo answered while still looking at each other.

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

Leo lightly pressed the piercing above Harrison’s eyebrow. In fact, he had put it in himself when Harrison came to wake him up this morning, so it was understandable that his claim of being angry until now might lack credibility.

It probably was not any different now, but at that time, he really had no foresight. Back then, Leo had started dating Harrison knowing full well he was busy and had no time, and he had even accepted a confession that openly asked for sacrifice.

But when Harrison said he would return to the UK on a non-race week, Leo, knowing full well he would go to the headquarters, had said he would send a private jet, thinking that he would at least see his face for a moment, but Harrison had said something infuriating like he would go straight to the headquarters on the team’s private jet anyway.

That was what his lover of only about half a year had said, so he had finally exploded and gotten angry, asking if he would even have time to see him in his life from now on.

Then, what Harrison had brought was a piercing. It was a given that piercings were forbidden when you had to wear a balaclava and then a helmet on top of it. So it was an application for reconciliation, which, thinking back on it now, was ridiculous, saying that while he had this piercing in, he would step away from racing and focus only on you. Of course, his younger self at that time was too young to not fall for it.

Since it would take at least four weeks for the piercing to heal, Leo himself had pierced Harrison’s eyebrow during the summer break that year. Of course, it was under the watch of a professional, but since Harrison had asked Leo to pierce it, he had done it himself. After practicing for several weeks, filled with worry, it still ended up a little crooked.

Leo, who was looking at the now fully healed proof of clumsiness, met the brown eyes that were looking up at him with a docile pretense from beneath it. If he had known back then that even with this piercing, he would not really be looking only at him, and that there was never a moment when racing left that head of his, and that he would inevitably soften up when he saw this, he would have had the piercing done in a place that was at least not visible.

Leo finally let out a sigh and, as a sign of forgiveness, gently pressed his lips against his. Then, Harrison’s hand came to rest on the nape of his neck. As he willingly parted his lips, a rather tender tongue entered and slowly explored the inside of his mouth. He thought he had forgiven him too easily, but in the end, it was Harrison who had been in pain, so he still felt sorry for him.

“You paid too cheap a price to seduce me.”

As he spoke while looking at Harrison, who had by then laid him down on the bed and was on top of him, Harrison rubbed his cheek gently against Leo’s as if apologizing.

“I didn’t have much to pay back then. Still, I paid everything I had.”

At those words, Leo grabbed Harrison’s cheek and turned it toward him.

“I was the one who went to you.”

In reality, back then, Harrison, despite being the one hitting on him, would call Leo every day and tell him to come to where he was. He would tell him to come see him too while he was at it to watch the race. Despite the terrible convenience of having Leo be the one to fly and travel even though he was the one making the moves, he had really gone to see him several times.

Although there had been about half a year between Harrison’s first confession and his acceptance, thinking back on it now, he even wished he had dragged it out longer. Even back then, it was only Leo who had been confused; Harrison had not even seemed anxious.

That made it even more absurd. Seeing Leo’s expression, Harrison smiled and was about to say something, but suddenly, a scratching sound was heard from the door.

“Don’t disturb them.”

Then, at the faintly heard voice of William, Leo instinctively pushed away Harrison who was on top of him. A puppy had clearly been trying to come in just now, and the one who stopped it was Harrison’s dad. He had even added the words not to disturb them.

Of course, all of their families knew about their relationship, but it was still embarrassing. But in complete contrast to Leo, Harrison pulled Leo back toward him again. Leo mercilessly pushed Harrison away, stood up, and quickly straightened his clothes. On top of that, they had been dawdling with the door closed even after being told to get ready to go to the park, so what on earth must they have been thinking outside.

“Whenever I come to your house and close the door, I feel like I’m doing something bad.”

Besides, their first time having sex had been in this room. Of course, his parents had not been home. With those words, as he got Harrison up with the intention of going outside now, Harrison naturally kissed Leo’s ear and whispered softly.

“Let’s do something bad when we get back.”

The low voice sounded as if it were plotting something dangerous, and a laugh burst out of him reflexively. Their families all knew each other, they had been adults for a long time, and they had been lovers for several years. Even though Leo had been the one to use the word first, the word ‘bad’ was so absurdly funny.

Leo was about to kiss his cheek, but thinking that William and Heather, who must be waiting downstairs, would really misunderstand if they delayed any longer, he quickly grabbed Harrison and started walking out the door.

Then, the thought that he should not have forgiven him this easily crossed his mind, but there was nothing he could do about it now. To think that being angry was this difficult.

Leo, who had come to Switzerland because it was around his dad’s birthday, found Harrison with his younger brothers attached to one arm and one leg respectively.

<Harry, can I try a sip of that too?>

It was not difficult to find Harrison, who was with his other sibling, Nora. As he walked slowly with Finn on his arm and Adam on his leg, Nora, who did not yet know her older brother was approaching, was looking up at Harry and asking. He could not see her expression, but it was obvious she was pleading.

<Yeah!>

With those words, Harrison handed the champagne to Nora, and Leo intercepted the champagne in the middle and drank it all in one go.

Then, as he handed the empty glass to Harrison, Nora looked at Leo with an expression full of bewilderment and unfairness.

With those words, Nora looked at Harrison as if asking him to take her side. Harrison usually did not even pretend to listen to what others said and had little interest in people, but he had a particular soft spot for Leo’s family. Especially the younger siblings, he said, because they looked so much like Leo, he ended up giving them everything.

So, whatever they asked Harrison for, they would usually get their way, but the situation was different when Leo was around. No matter how weak Harrison was to the siblings who resembled Leo, the original was right next to him now.

At those words, Nora looked at Harrison with an expression that looked as if she felt betrayed, but still, Harrison was Leo’s boyfriend. Of course, he would take Leo’s side. At that natural outcome, Leo gently patted the head of Adam, who was dozing off while clinging to his leg, then stood him up and put down Finn, who had been in his arms.

If it were up to him, he would have liked to carry them both to their room himself, but even if his younger siblings were being clingy to their brother whom they had not seen in a long time, it would be a big problem if this became a habit. Adam was already 6 and Finn was 5, so if Leo was not there, Nora could not carry them either.

<Adam, Finn, you two should go to bed now.>

Leo patted the heads of his sleepy, nodding siblings once each and then looked at Nora.

<Nora, you can take the kids, right?>

At Leo’s question, Nora naturally nodded her head. It was almost 10 o’clock, so it was obvious Adam and Finn were sleepy, and Nora, who also went to bed early, was starting to look sleepy as well. The three of them looked exactly the same, pretending not to be sleepy and staying at the party.

When Harrison asked naturally, Leo and Nora answered in unison.

<It’s okay.>

Then Harrison looked back and forth between Leo’s and Nora’s faces.

At those words, this time Nora and Leo looked at each other. Even so, they could not see their own faces, so they did not know what kind of expression it was.

He was about to ask what kind of expression, but at that same moment, as if it had turned 10 o’clock, the sound of fireworks exploding was heard. And then, at that same moment, Harrison pulled Leo into his arms.

<Ah, fireworks.>

With those words, Harrison loosened his grip on Leo. Leo leaned his cheek against that chest and blinked, then soon lifted his head in bewilderment.

<You’ve come every year, so why all of a sudden?>

Today was Leo’s dad’s birthday, and there were always fireworks, and since Leo came every year, Harrison of course came every year too. But such a fresh reaction. Nevertheless, in fact, Harrison’s reaction itself was not new to Leo.

Whenever Harrison thought there was some kind of dangerous situation, he would reflexively protect Leo before even grasping the reality of it. It was strange to even try to recall when Harrison had started to always protect Leo first. It seemed he had been like that even before they started dating.

At those words, Leo lightly pressed the piercing above Harrison’s eyebrow. It seemed he had forgotten there would be fireworks and had reflexively pulled Leo in when he heard the loud noise. It was a relief that it was only Leo’s family here now. It would be a big problem if he did this outside. Not that Leo would tell Harrison to fix that part of him, though.

At the voice that was suddenly heard, Harrison and Leo turned their heads at the same time, and Nora was standing there sullenly, holding Adam’s and Finn’s hands in each of hers. Leo, suddenly embarrassed, tried to speak calmly.

<It’s late. Go in and sleep now.>

<I’m going to, you think? What am I doing here anyway.>

Leo watched until his siblings disappeared upstairs, then finally turned his gaze to Harrison.

“What do you think you’re doing, giving a fifteen-year-old alcohol?”

He had not given her alcohol, but remembering that he had intended to, he questioned him, and Harrison replied nonchalantly.

“We drank alcohol at fifteen too.”

That was true. Thanks to that, he had learned that there was nothing good about drinking early, which was why he had told Nora it was not okay yet.

“By the way, did you say hi to your dad?”

“Yeah. Just a quick hello. We couldn’t talk.”

<Leo, have you seen the kids? It’s time for them to sleep.>

At the sound of his dad’s voice that came just in time, Leo and Harrison turned around at the same time. Leo’s dad, Johan, had been in the garden just a moment ago, but it seemed he had come to look for the kids after the fireworks ended.

<Really? Nora said she was going to stay until the very end today.>

<She’s still a kid.>

At those words, Johan smiled and nodded his head. Nora said she was all grown up and could drink alcohol, but she was just a kid in the middle of puberty. Of course, only Nora was unaware of that.

Leo looked at his dad suspiciously. Leo’s mom and half-siblings in England were family to Harrison as well, but Johan in Switzerland and Harrison were not that close.

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