Chapter Text
Sebastian huffed and graciously face planted the hotel bed, shortly bouncing before enjoying the softness of it. Behind him, he heard Kimi laughing softly, the Finn gently sitting beside the German driver and running a hand through his curls, massaging the scalp. The Aston Martin driver groaned shamelessly and pushed his head even further into the welcoming embrace of his lover.
“Briefing that bad?”, the Finn asked, slowly moving his hands over the tense shoulders. He kneaded away knots and massaged over the whole back, gentle hands resting on his waist before cheekily squeezing the firm bum. Seb just hummed, appreciating the tender moments with Kimi before turning around. Blue eyes met green, the German’s hand traced the beautiful face in front of him.
“It was okay, don’t worry. But it just dragged on way too long. Poor Lance wasn’t feeling too good either and had to leave early. Hopefully, he didn’t catch anything. The only good thing, the next race isn’t for another week. So with enough rest he’ll probably feel better soon”, he replied, sitting up and closing the distance to Kimi.
The Finn smirked before he closed the last few centimeters and kissed the other, hands tangling in each other’s hair. The next few minutes were spent shamelessly making out and exploring the well known paths. Hands tugging on hair, pulling and pushing closer and Seb straddled Kimi’s lap, rocking and moaning without a care in the world, head thrown back and totally lost in the moment.
Kimi pulled away, pecked Sebastian’s pouty lips once more and appreciated the view in front of him: full of relish looking eyes, disvehelled hair and in general a hot mess was sitting on his lap whose attention was purely focused on him. He couldn’t get enough of this.
“You might take a picture, it’ll last longer”, Seb murmured, smirking and laughing at Kimi’s expression.
“You little…”, Kimi began, ready to pounce and show Sebastian who’s the boss here, but a knock on Sebastian’s hotel room door interrupted their discussion. The Finnish driver just groaned, unhappy about the disturbance.
He looked at Seb and said: “I swear, if it’s one of your grid kids again, I’ll not keep quiet this time.”
Confusion crossed the others face. “My kids? What about Antonio? Wasn’t he like knocking on our door twice last week because a brush got tangled in his hair? Charles only comes over if he wants to talk about Ferrari or just needs a shoulder to cry on”, he snapped back. His grid kids were very dear to him. After all, they trusted him completely and them still appreciating the fact that Sebastian will help him, made him feel a little better at the end of the day.
Kimi looked unimpressed but he still placed a small kiss on the other’s cheek.
“But Antonio had a real problem. His hair needs a lot of care, you know? Charles once came over - while also interrupting us if I may add - because someone messed up his pizza order, remember that?”
Seb grimaced. He nearly forgot about that incident. Hopefully, Kimi won’t bring up the time Mick turned up, crying and nearly hyperventilating, because he lost his keycard. The poor kid was so scared that his team will now talk bad about him while constantly running circles in his hotel room, completely unaware that one room away, Kimi had tried to secretly get dressed again and had hid in a closet. Luckily, the lost card had been found (“Mick, could it be, that the card sticking out of your back pocket is the one you’re searching for?” “Sebastian. You are my life saver! Thank you”) but ended with Mick passing out on the couch, in Sebastian’s room. And with Kimi still in the closet. Back then, Kimi hadn’t been that amused that their shared time got interrupted… again.
A more hesitant and quiet second knock was heard again. Kimi huffed and gently pushed Seb off of his lap and onto the bed. Sighing a bit, the older of the two swung his legs over the edge of the bed and marched into the direction of the door. With enough force to knock the door nearly out of its hinges, Kimi could barely make out the retreating form walking down the hotel corridor. That was definitely no Charles or Tonio but this person surprised him even more.
“Nico?”, he more guessed than actually knew. After all, there weren’t many tall and blond persons running around the paddock at the moment. But Kimi definitely must have guessed correctly because the person seemed to further shrink into himself at the question, making himself even smaller.
Nico slowly turned around and looked also quite surprised to see Kimi at Seb’s door. The two of them staring at one another, not saying anything and an uncomfortable silence settled between them in this awkward situation.
“Nico?”, at the mention of Nico’s name, Sebastian got confused, stood up (and made himself somewhat decent looking) before he stepped up to Kimi, a hand on the Finn’s shoulder.
“Nico? Are you alright?”, he asked hesitantly, trying to make out something in the dim corridor light. He knew that Nico was supposed to come to the Aston Martin facility in the upcoming week but he wouldn’t have guessed that his countryman would visit them so soon.
“Sorry Seb. I didn’t mean to disturb you two. I don’t know why I even knocked on the door. Goodnight and see you tomorrow”, the other stated, turning around and … limping away?
“Nico wait! Hold up. Come on in”, Sebastian called out and urged the other into his room, inviting him to take a seat. He even went as far to push Kimi a bit away in order to make the entrance wider, more welcoming for the blue eyed man.
Seb’s whole posture was very tense and literally screamed concern. All the while Kimi looked curiously at his lover but made no comment about it, just crossing his arms over his chest.
Fighting with himself, Nico struggled to make a decision. But in the end, no one could say no to Sebastian, right? Reluctantly, Nico shuffled along the corridor and walked past the two, not meeting their eyes even once.
Inside the hotel room, with actual well working light, Seb gasped a bit: “What happened to you?”
Nico looked, to put it kindly, worse for wear. He had a split lip and a swollen eye that would probably would turn blue soon. On top of that, he was hunched into himself and holding his stomach. It also looked as if he collided with a brick wall, the skin on his cheek rubbed raw and worst of all, his beautiful blue eyes looked so sad, dried tear tracks were still visible on his cheeks.
“I’m gonna get something for it”, Kimi mumbled helpfully, patting Seb curtly on the shoulder, grabbing his coat and disappearing.
“Thank you Schatz. You are truly the best”, Seb thought to himself, glad that the Finn realized that Nico probably felt more uncomfortable with him here.
“Come here. Let’s sit down, shall we?”, Sebastian told the unusual quiet German, taking charge. His original and first grid kid needed his help. Now.
Even during their youth, the two of them always sticked together. They were each others greatest rivals on track but best friends after a race. Along the way, Sebastian took over the role of the protector and helper because young kids could be very… let’s say mean.
***
It all had started very slowly. Sebastian always had the urge to help others and make them happy. During school for example, he’d always help the children who were struggling in class or he’d help cleaning the classroom after the bell had rung. His parent for one part were very proud of their child but they had always warned the young boy, that being too nice could be a disadvantage, too.
And Sebastian had experienced this. Not on himself but with another person.
It was during a carting event as he watched how another young German boy with chubby checks and round glasses cleaned his most prized possession: a freshly won trophy. Although Sebastian didn’t know him, he was very happy for the other after all, he deserved to win, being the fasted kid on the track that day.
He was about to leave and go to his parents when he heard another boy crying. The winner that day - he was called Nico - also heard the sound and went over to console the other. Judging from the gesture, the crying person wanted to win so badly because he just wanted to hold a trophy for once. Sebastian still remembered the look on Nico’s face and how he battled with himself before gently offering the other to hold his trophy for a bit.
Of course the other had accepted this, eagerly nodding his head and Sebastian turned around to leave. But a sudden crash spooked him and he turned around again. There, on the muddy grass, laid a broken trophy with a laughing boy pointing fingers at Nico, enjoying the pure sadness and shock on Nico’s face.
Instead of fighting, Nico let his emotions run free and some tears rolled down his cheeks. Of course, this added to the total amusement of the foreign child before he decided to leave, pushing Nico out of the way.
Sebastian still had this clear imagine in his head, the devastation written on Nico’s face. The tall boy kneeled on the floor and had tried to pick up the pieces, sniffling and softly crying while doing so.
Sebastian wasted no time and went over to help him - the start of their friendship.
And since then, Sebastian swore to himself to show others that kindness is no weakness. It’s a gift others should appreciate more than ever, especially in the world they’re currently living in.
***
But why was Nico Sebastian’s first grid kid? The shorter of the two was probably the first person to see right through Nico’s facade. He knew that behind the smiles and the fuckboy attitude, a very gentle soul hid away and tried to shield himself off against the bad results, the irritation of the team, disappointed fans, annoying interviewers or rumors, a F1 driver had to suffer through.
Somehow, Nico took this all very to his heart, he would start overthinking or over analyzing situations and after a race, he would often hide away, suffering alone and it also wasn’t unusual for him to start crying about it. Sebastian took him - metaphorically speaking - under his wing and would often console the other and offer an open ear or a soft hug.
Yes, Nico was a grown up man but Sebastian would do anything to see the handsome face glowing and laughing, so he tried to be as supportive as he could be.
(For example: What Nico didn’t know, he was the one who asked (begged) Aston Martin to take on Nico as a reserve driver. The phone call of a very happy and giddy Nico made the long discussions worth it…)
Sebastian gently guided Nico to a couch and sat right next to him, invading his personal space. But the other still wouldn’t look at him, too busy smoothing out his wrinkled jeans.
“You know, you’re always welcomed here? I like having you around, Nico”, Seb began. He didn’t like the way the other tried to walk away earlier as if nothing happened.
“It’s nothing Sebby, I didn’t mean to get in between you and Kimi”, Nico replied and … were those tear tracks? What or who could make this gentle giant cry?
Determined, Sebastian softly took Nico’s chin in his hand and turned the other’s head around. Uncertain eyes met his own. With the other hand he smoothed out the ruffled hair and planted a soft kiss on his forehand. This was the last straw for Nico and he began to cry softly.
“Oh sweetheart…”, Sebastian quickly wrapped the other in his embrace and hugged him close. Fingers grabbed his shirt tightly and he felt tears soaking the material of his shirt. Strong sobs wrecked the body in his arms, shoulders shaking due to the erratic breathing.
“I- I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to apologize for, Sonnenschein.”
Nico pushed away from the gentle embrace and looked up. Teary eyes, a reddish nose and a cute pout greeted Seb.
“I’m not blind, Sebastian. Why else would Kimi be here?”, the taller of the two replied, hiccuping a bit after his crying episode.
Sebastian tutted and brushes away a tear that escaped his eyes: “Don’t try to distract me. What happened Nico? You don’t look too good, sweetheart.”
Nico laughed out loud but quickly had to stop and hold his stomach.
“Nico”, Sebastian warned, on the edge with the way his friend was behaving. Sure, the other tried to often hide his real feeling behind a beautiful smile and cheeky jokes, but this appearance had never fooled Sebastian, who knew all to well what went through his countryman’s head.
Nico just smiled sadly and answered vaguely: “I guess not as many persons as I thought are happy so me on the track.”
This made Sebastian even more confused. His fingers were softly brushing over Nico’s cheek until he hissed a bit and flinched away from the touch. Seb clicked his tongue and put on his “you will talk” face, knowing how effective this one was.
And it seemed to work out well because Nico huffed sadly.
“I got the message that Lance wasn’t feeling too well. The team wanted me to come over sooner, to test some stuff and maybe drive in the upcoming race if Lance’s health didn’t improve. So yeah, took my car, drove over fifteen hours to get here because the next flight would have been too late and I arrived a few hour prior. Anyways, somehow a rumor of me replacing Lance permanently, started, spread around and of course I ran headfirst into a Lance fan group. Let’s just say that after the drive I wasn’t as observant as I should have been and they kind off surprised me…” At the end, Nico trailed off and looked away, ashamed of himself.
He was, for crying out loud, a grown up man. He should have been able to defend himself. But with the headphones in his ears, sports bag in one hand and with the the other scrolling through his phone contacts, he barely noticed the large fan club standing next to the parking lot.
At that time, he also hadn’t known about the fact that Lance posted about him not feeling too well and jokingly indicating that the number 27 would drive his car the next time.
He also wasn’t aware of someone starting a rumor, involving him taking over Lance’s seat. And somehow this all jumpstarted this situation.
To keep it short: this group was kind of extreme, they cornered him and kind of made it clear what they thought about him.
Just as some other team members or mechanic was heard whistling in the distance, they started to retreat, leaving him bruised, cold and broken on the ground.
Nico had then pulled himself together and instinctively searched for Seb, hoping the other could help him.
On the other hand, Sebastian was mortified. He couldn’t understand why anyone would do such a horrible thing, let alone do this to Nico who was one of the kindest persons on the grid. Too occupied with his thoughts, Sebastian just understood the last few sentences of Nico’s continuation.
“…And the worst thing was actually the fact that they were right. I mean, I knew I wasn’t good enough to stay in F1 and this reserve driver position was just a nice addition to my résumé. But without this? I’m nothing”, Nico rambled on. He was gripping his denim jeans quite hard, fingers turning white already. His head was bowed and a fresh wave of tears streamed down his face. The raw skin of his cheek shining and taking over a bloody red color.
Immediately, Sebastian took charge and hugged the injured man close to his chest and tucked the head under his chin. He was horrified to hear these things out of Nico’s mouth.
“You don’t deserve to end up like this and you definitely don’t deserve to hear such bullshit. Nico, you are a wonderful person and you are way more than they want to give you credit for. Did… did they just decide to throw punches? We have to report that! They aren’t allowed to get away with that”, Sebastian replied with a stern voice, leaving no room for arguments.
“Also”, he continued: “Why do you doubt yourself so much? They wanted to drag you down, make themselves feel stronger. I know, fan clubs are a very critical thing but if they were real supporters of this sport, they wouldn’t have done that!”
Sebastian was fuming and he wanted to continue, make Nico see the truth behind his words but it was apparent that the other German didn’t believe in his words, mind still too caught up with the recent events. And Seb knew, once he had this mindset, there was no way to change his mind besides waiting for the next day. He knew, Nico would think over all the things like the incident itself or his words and come to realize and accept that Seb was right in the end. Hopefully.
In the past, this happened a lot too and most of the time, Nico would come over the next day and the two of them spent the next hours cuddling and eating stuff they actually were forbidden to eat. They worked out this routine and it worked out well until others like Charles or Mick started to come over too.
Somehow, during the last few months, Sebastian realized that he may have neglected the friendship with Nico a bit. Sure, they still talked with one another but he now had to admit that he often turned down Nico’s invitations or spontaneous ideas because Charles, for example, stayed over.
Only after the other lost his Renault seat and got accepted by AM, they slowly got closer again.
“Maybe that’s the reason he doesn’t trust me completely”, Sebastian thought bitterly to himself.
Sighing, Seb rubbed soothing hands over Nico’s back, carefully avoiding the right side. They must go to Aston Martin and report this … also a trip to the medical center had to be done.
He will mend this, he’ll gain Nico’s trust again, no matter what.
“Besides, you are a very talented driver and if there is a person who deserves a seat then this would be you”, both Germans jumped at the sudden voice. Kimi stood on the doorway and with long strides walked to the two on the couch. He placed an ice pack on the slightly blue and swollen eye and offered Nico some painkillers.
Both Germans had been too caught up with each other that they hadn’t heard the opening hotel door. The Finnish driver looked at the bruised Nico and huffed quietly.
“I’ll prepare the spare bed for me, okay? You two go and relax. I’ll order us something. The pizza around here should be good”, he mumbled and tried to walk away.
But Nico was having none of this and stood up, hissing at the stinging pain from his side.
“Absolutely not Kimi. If there is someone who should use the spare bed, it would be me. Please, I don’t won’t to intrude”, wide blue eyes literally begged Kimi to obey. But the oldest was just laughing softly and ruffled the taller driver’s hair, glad that Nico wanted to stay with them for the night.
“Don’t argue with me and lay back down. We’re doing it my way.”
Sebastian crossed eyes with Kimi, gratitude shining in them. Kimi quickly kissed him and shuffled out of the room, having understood the importance of this situation. But he still was planning to ask Seb about this when the time was right.
Meanwhile Nico stood in the middle of the room, looking so lost that Sebastian had to muffle a laugh. But he took pity on him and also got up. He went to fetch a glass of water and in combination with the pills, gave it to Nico. After making sure the other took them, he guided him to the bedroom, searched for some loose shirts and trousers and made Nico change his clothes.
The sight of Nico in clearly too short clothes was too much for him and he had to laugh. And Nico? He smiled for the first time today, an improvement and Seb melted at the young look on the other’s face.
Like two puzzle pieces, they quickly got under the covers, Seb being the big spoon, and the sleep made them forget about the incident, at least for now. Both of them knowing, the next day they’ll have to talk about it some more.
A short time later, Kimi walked over to them and had to smile at the sight. The two friends were in each others embrace and sleeping soundly.
Smoothing a gentle hand over Sebastian’s mop of hair, he looked sadly at Nico. The eye will probably be completely blue by tomorrow and the ragged breathing may indicate a bruised rib. He couldn’t understand these people and he never will.
A knock on the door made him look up. Huffing slightly, he silently went over to the door before opening it.
There, on the other side, stood Charles and Lance. Before the Finn could say anything the other two started.
“Hey Kimi. We don’t want to interrupt for long. Can you maybe tell Seb that we found this and that it belongs to Nico? We heard about the rumor and an Ferrari mechanic saw some people leaving the parking lot hastily. He went over to check it up and found the bag. Lance here then saw how Nico limped up here”, Charles said and gave Kimi a sports bag and a broken phone.
Lance, who looked ready to either pass out any second or burst into tears, continued: “I just wanted to make a joke. But then I found this post. I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to cause … this!”
The Canadian then opened his phone and showed a recent post from a fan group, proudly stating that the problem of Lance losing his seat had been taken care of.
Charles gently placed a hand upon Lance’s shoulder and muttered: “We combined the pieces and yeah… How is he?”
Kimi looked dumbfounded at the two. Maybe Seb’s kids weren’t too annoying. Clearing his throat he briefly explained them situation before looking at Lance expectedly. The younger man had very glassy eyes and looked quite exhausted.
“It’s not your fault. We’ll take care and deal with this incident. But you should really rest now. Seb will talk with you two soon, but for now: sleep and relax. Alright?”
Charles rolled his eyes and quietly muttered a sarcastic “yes dad” before grabbing Lance and pulling him along.
Kimi blinked. Did … did he just gain two more kids now?
“Bwoah, Tonio won’t be happy about that”, he groaned before closing the hotel door.