Carlos had never been one for TikTok trends. He didn’t even have the app on his phone until Lando had cornered him after dinner one night, insisting he had to see a compilation of baby goats in pajamas. Now the app sat on his home screen like a silent trap — just waiting for a moment of weakness.

And apparently, a long, uneventful weekend was exactly that.

The hotel suite was quiet in the lazy way that came after too many race weekends in a row. Max was stretched out on the sofa by the window, long legs crossed, fast asleep with a book facedown on his chest. Charles had claimed the armchair, curled up with headphones on, watching what Carlos suspected was the third French romcom in as many days — the faint flicker of subtitles reflecting in his eyes. Lando and Oscar were on the floor by the coffee table, locked in a heated Mario Kart match that had already produced three shouted accusations of cheating and one threatened controller throw.

Carlos leaned back in his seat, halfway through an espresso he didn’t really need, letting the low murmur of background noise fade into nothing. His thumb scrolled lazily, the algorithm serving him cooking hacks, random memes, and one particularly suspicious video of a raccoon washing grapes.

Then it appeared on his For You page: "Calling my boyfriend ‘husband’ to see how he reacts ❤️."

The guy in the video had done it in a grocery store. They were just standing there in front of the canned goods when he’d casually called across the aisle: “Hey, husband, do we need beans?” His boyfriend had immediately turned pink, stammered something incoherent, and then kissed him like they were the only two people in the world.