Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Everything was beginning to feel distorted through his ears as he held out his left arm to lean on the cool surface of the wall inside the garage, he had given Bono a quick grip of the shoulder just to give reassurance that he was ok, he knew there were a few moments were he did not reply quickly enough in a conversation and may have blanked a few people, never on purpose but he could not show the weakness that something may be wrong. 

God forbid it.

He had to be a strong figure here.

Trying to remember when he had felt something had been wrong, yesterday he was fit as a fiddle, nothing to indicate something was coming but this morning as he had accidentally bumped into the women when he was leaving his hotel, she had dropped her bag and as a gentleman he had picked it up for her and given it back with a warm smile, an apology leaving his lips. She had smiled so brightly taking her bag back and when he tried to head over to the car waiting for him, she had gripped his arm, her voice bending to the wind around him.

“Little by Little, you will find all those who love you coming back to you”

When he had entered the car, it was like Lewis could still feel her grip on his arm and as he looked out the window to see where she had gone, he could not find her in sight. As they had approached the track, Lewis could feel the heat travelling over his body though many people were wearing coats.

Looking over his shoulder to watch as everyone had moved over to one of the cars and looking at the data on the screens, Lewis dragged his body round the crossroad of the hallway, it was empty and he tried to take a deep breath to ease the pain in his head but found it was like the breath in his body was being sucked out of his soul, Lewis dropped his helmut and he watched it roll a few feet ahead him before his vision began to turn black and soon his body fell forward, feeling heavy one second before feeling as light as a feather.

===============

Opening his eyes and the sounds of everything around him began to fill his ears, Lewis slowly pulled himself up and rubbed his face before looking around, slowly realising he did not know where he was but soon he could hear footsteps echoing behind him, he quickly took off down the hallway but soon he could hear footsteps coming from in front of him and there was no way he wanted to see whose footsteps they belonged to then he spotted the stack of tyres to his right and quickly slotted his body into the small gap behind them, he soon found himself following the small tunnel he had found there and was in the open outside of the garage, he was out of sight but he could see so many people walking around in different coloured uniforms. He clutched a fist to his chest trying to calm the beating of his heart like he had see the salsa dancing man pink had done one time before a race.

That when he remembered what his mother, well both of his mothers had said to him that one time.

Lewis if you ever feel lost and scared, go and find someone who feels safe and like home

He could do that.

Holding back the tears that were trying to escape his eyes, he clutched his hands to his chest and took a small deep breath in. Lewis stepped out of his hiding place and began moving around the other people by the garages, trying to see if he recognised the few people that felt like home and would make him feel safe just as his mothers had said to do.

Where was the cold Finnish man that always gave him the warmest smiles?

Where was the funny British man who always had the best snacks?

Where was the angry but silly Spanish man who told him all about the stars in the sky?

Where was the smiley German man who gave the softest hugs?

Where was the goofy Australian who sat with him when home was so far away?

And where was the soft German man who held his hand through the scary moments and stood by his side when nobody wanted to be his friend? The German man with the long blonde hair and the blue eyes that twinkle like the stars? Who always pushed him to do better and be the best.

The tears began to slowly creep down his cheeks and Lewis was struggling to keep his breathing steady, he fell onto his hands and knees when a man in red had run past him carrying a camera, shouting something funny sounding. He knew he had hurt himself as he could feel the pain in his hands and knees then suddenly he felt himself being pulled up and looking into the face of Lando.

“Hey are you ok?”

Lewis was in so much pain and all he wanted to do was hide away from it all so he did the only thing he knew would get him free from the grip of Lando. He threw his head back before bringing it forward with such force that the top of his head smacked hard into the nose of Lando who let go and Lewis took this chance, running away.

“Argh fuck that hurt, stop laughing Oscar”

“He fucking head butted you, mate hahahah”

Hiding behind another set of tires leaning on the wall, Lewis tried rubbing the tears out of his eyes but they would not stop falling and soon more were falling out. He was so scared but that's when the dark blue and red uniform with the silly yellow bulls on caught his eyes and hat's when he remembered the goofy Australian wore those colours. Lewis knew he could find him and everything would be better so Lewis quickly ducked into the garage on the left that was empty for the moment but he could hear people talking in the hallway at the end of the garage, he knew that people from the goofy Australian's team would be coming in to do work on the car and he did not want to face any more people as everyone who he had so far come across on his journey were so mean so Lewis quickly and carefully climbed up the car and ducked down into the seat, tucking himself into a ball and that was were he felt safe for a small second. 

The heat of the seat warmed his soul like a soft blanket during a rain storm but it finally dawned on him.

He was all alone.

And finally the last straw in him had broken and Lewis began to cry very hard  into his hands, smearing blood from the cuts on his hands onto his cheek.

Where was the safe and home feeling?

Where was everyone?

=============

Max stepped onto his side of the garage and sat down listening to GP talk about something about the data to do with the car, he rolled his eyes before peering his gaze outside to watch as George Russel ran pass looking worried about something, he turned to GP who looked at him with a shrug of his shoulders before continuing to talk about the data that's when he heard it.

Soft heartbroken cries.

He crossed his eyebrows in confusion when he stood up, wondering if a family had gone past the garage but he could still hear the small cries even over the shouts and laughs of his team who were filling out into his side.

“Quiet!”

Everyone had stopped talking and looked at him, thankful for the silence as the cries could now be heard loud and clear, his pit crew and GP looked confused. Everyone was looking around the garage to find out where the cries were coming from as there were not many small hidden spaces in the garage.

“I swear it's coming from there”

Calum from his pit crew pointed to his car so Max strided over to his car and was now sure that the cries were coming from his car, from the hole where his seat was. Carefully he peered over the halo and was shocked at the sight that greeted him.

“Hey little one”

He spoke softly and suddenly he was looking into dark coal eyes that were red from so much crying, it did not take him long to notice the small smears of blood on the cheeks on the child and the small cuts on the palms of his hands.

“Lets get those cleaned up shall we”

Max held his hands to the small child in his seat but the child in question shook his head and moved further back into the seat, looking so frightened at Max as if he was a terrible monster come to snatch him away.

“NO I WANT RI RI!”

The determined look that flashed through those dark coal eyes had looked so familiar to Max, it was like looking at….

“WHERE IS RI RI, THIS IS HIS CAR!”

It dawned on Max as he finally took in the appearance of the small child in his seat, the small braided hair and the tiny mercedes race suit that contained the british flag with the bright yellow 44 number. Also the nickname that was only referred to Daniel by one other driver.

Max turned to GP and told him to get someone from the Mercedes garage now before turning to Calum and telling his head pit crew member to quickly go and find Daniel. He watched as both men quickly shot out of the garage, Max turned back to the car and noticed the shouting had stopped but the cries had come back and each one sounded more heartbroken than the last and that pulled at his heart, he crouched down by the halo so he was not looming above as before.

“Hey its ok, its ok little one”

“Where.. Is.. every.. One? Why…have,,they,,,, left,,,,me?”

This was breaking his heart and it hurt that he could not doing anything to stop the small sobs coming from the child.

But Max was definitely sure.

There in his car was a small tiny Lewis Hamilton.

Chapter Text

Once GP was outside of the garage, he had slowed his steps a little and tried his best to put on a calm posture as he did not want to draw attention to the situation going on in the Red Bull garage. He watched as Callum had taken off like a rocket down the paddock to their sister team RB were it was likely that Daniel was going to be, well they hoped as Max had made it perfectly clear that they needed to get Daniel down there and GP could not gather an answer in his head as to why, the no brainer answer was to get Bono when the realisation settled in as to who the child was currently sitting in Max’s cockpit.

They had heard rumours of this happening in the MotorGP and Le Mans but never in the Formula 1.

He finally reached the Mercedes garage and could see there was a clear panic among its members, no doubt trying to find where their 7x world champion had gone. GP took a step underneath the arch and watched as George was throwing his arms in a rapid motion, the two crew members standing by him looking scared for their lives. He moved his sight to the computer desktop where he found Bono hunched over. A phone pressed to his ear, probably trying to reach his driver/friend that would go unanswered and a pure fear running across his face as Lewis’s helmet sat gently on the desktop.

Lucky enough Toto was not here this race weekend.

God knows what the team principal would have done.

“What do you want?”

GP turned to the voice of a random crew member and pointed to Bono, not moving a muscle more into the garage.

There were a few minutes before that person had moved over to Bono and whispered something into the free ear and soon GP found himself staring into the eyes of Bono who looked at him with confusion, GP waved his hand in motion to come over and Bono shoved his phone into his pocket before strolling over to him.

“Gian, not quite the time for a catch up”

“I can see, I need you to come down to our garage there's something you need to see”

Before Bono could reply to GP,  George had noticed the Red Bull engineer and had made his way over, standing tall and trying his best to look threatening at GP for thinking he could make his way into the Mercedes garage and talk to Bono while something was going on. GP rolled his eyes and the corners of his mouth twitched a little into a smile when he caught the soft chuckle from Bono.

“And what does he need to see at your garage mate?”

“That is none of your concern Mr Russel, as I said before Bono, you need to come with me now”

GP had turned to look at Bono and could see from the corner of his eye that this had frustrated George and he was glad, he now understood why Max was not keen on conversing with the second driver of Mercedes. He only turned to George when the other had raised his hand to jab a finger into his chest because clearly he was a baby throwing his toys out of his pram when suddenly Bono had grabbed George’s wrist before the finger hit its mark then with his free hand, gripped the left shoulder of GP, softly but firm grip.

“George that is enough, lead the way Gian”

GP had nodded and patted the hand on his left shoulder before it disappeared, turning around he began to walk back to his garage with Bono following next to him and George following behind them, he heard the soft sorry from Bono and shook his head with a soft smile before he nudged his right shoulder into Bono’s shoulder.

“Not everyone can be like your side of the garage”

This earned him a chuckle from Bono.

When they had made their way to the Red Bull garage, GP had noticed they had put up barriers to shield Max’s side of the garage and two of his pit crew were waiting on the outside. Once they saw GP, they moved over and let the three pass through before taking up their position. The three of them stood in front of Max’s car watching as Max had risen from the halo of his car, having put a Red Bull jacket around someone in the cockpit of the car and speaking so softly.

“There that should keep you a lot warmer while we wait for Ri Ri”

Once Max had stepped back, Bono and George got a clear view of the little child in the cockpit.

GP watched the confusion in their faces turn to shock and realisation as of who the child was in the cockpit.

“Like Le Mans?”

Bono had asked him and all GP could do was nod, he put a hand on his shoulder and felt the Mercedes engineer lean slightly into his touch. 

“What the hell!? Let's get you out of there Lewis”

Before GP and Bono could move to react to George matching his way over to Max’s car, getting ready to lift Lewis out of the cockpit however Max had stepped forward and blocked George’s path, a thunderous frown set on his face, he pushed a palm into George’s chest to push him back slightly.

“Back off now”

======================

He had taken off like a rocket down the paddock because when Max tells you to go get Daniel with a serious look in his eyes, there is no chance you are going to stroll casually about and take your time in doing so. Callum did not care for the odd looks he had gotten as he finally reached the sister team RB garage, he stopped for a second to catch his breath for a moment before he scanned the room, not caring if everyone was looking at him and it was  then he spotted Daniel looking at him with a raised eyebrow.

“There is an emergency and Max told me to get you”

Daniel nodded and quickly strided over to Callum motioning for him to lead the way, soon both of them were running through the paddock to get back to the Red Bull garage. Daniel could hear shouting coming from the garage and he looked at Callum for a reason but the head pit crew member shook his head as they slid past the barriers blocking the view of Max’s side.

The sight that was upon Daniel when they were inside the garage  was not what he was expecting.

George and Max shouting at one another.

“This is probably your fault, move aside now Max, this has nothing to do with you”

“Back off, you can see clearly he did not want to go to you”

While GP and Bono were standing next to Max’s car, speaking softly but large sleeves were swatting at them from below the halo in the cockpit.

That's when Daniel realised there was someone in Max’s car so he stepped to the side a little to look past Max and George. The cockpit came into view and there stood standing up in the cockpit wearing a Red Bull jacket that was 10x too big was a child who was swatting at the hands trying to get him out of the cockpit, tears running down his cheeks, trying his hardest to push the braids that were falling into the front of his face while holding back off people.

“NO I WANT RI RI”

That was probably why Max had asked for him, Max and only a few drivers who were no longer on the grid knew of that nickname.

However there was only one person that called him that, the only person he allowed to call him as it held a special memory between the two of them.

Flashback

There they were sat huddled together under a makeshift blanket fort in a hotel situated in the heart of Australia after a Did not Finish and Disqualified after race results. T he rain hammering against the window and the ringing of thunder was loud across the skies.

Daniel felt Lewis tense underneath his arm, ducking his head into his knees trying to block the sound out. 

“Tell me about England”

Lewis had looked at him with all his walls down, a scared young man looking up at him, Daniel giving a reassured squeeze in return.

A night of beers trying to forget those stupid race results ended with a trade of stories of home between the pair.

A bond forged through the fire that night, bringing the two closer than ever before.

“Thank you Ri Ri for being here when everyone else would of laughed at me”

Flashback

“Lewis?”

Daniel found dark coal eyes looking straight at him and a small smile made its way on the sad face in the cockpit.

There in that smile was a small gap in top set of teeth.

A little Lewis for sure.

“Ri Ri”

Soon the garage had gone quiet and Daniel found all eyes on him but he didnt care, he quickly approached Max’s car and rounded to the side where Bono and GP had stepped to the side. Lewis lifted his arms up as high as he could with the massive Red Bull jacket covering him and Daniel did not hesitate to lift the small 7x world champion out of the cockpit and soon found Lewis snuggling into his chest, small sobs racking his body.

“I was… scared when… you weren't… here Ri Ri”

This broke Daniel’s heart, hearing the soft sob, he slowly rocked Lewis in his arms and soon the sobs had slowed down to a stop. He walked over to a table and gently placed Lewis down, pushing down the hood to finally look at Lewis but frowned when he spotted the dry patches of blood on his cheeks.

“Where does it hurt?”

Lewis had showed him his hands and Daniel looked at the small cuts on them, the bleeding had stopped. He could see small rips on the knees in the race suit and before he could ask for a first aid kit, Callum had appeared with one. He opened it and began to work on cleaning the cuts on Lewis’s hands.

“Such a brave boy”

He whispered softly when he felt Lewis wince.

Once he had cleaned the cuts, Daniel carefully wrapped them in bandages and made sure they were gentle on the hands but firm to let the cuts heal.

“Right we are going to take Lewis back with us now”

He looked down at the widen eyes of Lewis who shook his head, ready to break out into tears again and the soft voice of Ri Ri dont let them take me, anger began to boil inside of him.

“NO!”

“No? Daniel mate…”

Daniel had shielded Lewis into his side when he had seen George approach them a little even with Max trying to push him away from the pair, he looked at the engineers with his face set with a serious expression.

“Bono can you bring Lewis’s stuff to Max’s drivers room after the race and ill talk with you and you only with what we are going to do”

The Mercedes engineer had nodded and finally dragged George away to let the rest of the Mercedes team know about Lewis and give that awkward call to Toto. Daniel scooped Lewis into his left arm and used the Red Bull jacket to cover the little boy, he walked over to Max who held out the key to his driver’s room, he thanked Max and the younger driver just gave him a smile before he looked softly at the bundle in Daniel’s arm.

There was no way he was leaving Lewis’s side.

Race be damned.

Chapter Text

Lewis was asleep by the time Bono had come over to Max’s small room, like Daniel had asked, he had brought everything that Lewis had brought to the track that weekend which was a small bag full of simple clothes, his phone and a small notebook, which had surprised Daniel as Lewis was known for his fashion walk through the paddock but this weekend it had no shine or glitz to it, just the normal team uniform. The mercedes engineer had explained that they were going to release a small statement that Lewis would not be racing for the remain of the season due to a personal matter, now Daniel knew this would raise a load of eyebrows and he was sure that Lewis’s phone would be blowing up soon after that, hell according it had already been ringing and buzzing due to the fact Lewis had not raced this weekend.

“We’re already made Lewis’s family aware what has happened and Ive explained to them at the moment he is with you so expect a call from them”

Daniel had nodded, he was trying to think of what he would say to the Hamilton’s.

God, would they come and take him away?

The thought of Lewis being taken from F1 and not knowing what would happen, it sent a shiver of sadness through his heart. He looked at Lewis curled up on the sofa, sleeping softly in one of Max’s shirts he had found lying around. After they had gotten to Max’s room, the first thing Daniel did was to get Lewis out of the race suit and check his knees, lucky enough the suit had protected his knees and they were only red and not cut up like his hands, he turned his attention to Bono who looked so downcast staring at Lewis. 

He knew Lewis and Bono had a great relationship, being together for so long in the Mercedes team so to have your driver not recognise you at all, must have killed the engineer.

“Bono… I..”

“Please… take care of him Daniel”

All Daniel could do was nod and watch as Bono left the room, taking a moment to himself, Daniel slid down against the wall and brought his knees to his chest. The reality of it all now finally crashing down on him.

Lewis Hamilton was a small child.

And the only person he knew out of all the people he had come across and seen in the paddock today was him.

He had only wanted Daniel.

So many thoughts had run through his mind and Daniel felt himself getting really overwhelmed. Was he capable of looking after his friend in this state? When his family came for him, would they let him still see Lewis? What if Lewis woke up not remembering him? When would Lewis return to his normal body? Would he return to his normal body? Would he remain this small?

Suddenly he was pulled out of the downward spiral of thoughts when he felt two small hands pulling away his hands from his face, tears slowly building in the corners of his eyes and he could only stare into the dark eyes of Lewis, Max’s shirt looking like a small dress on his frame, Daniel could see the frown on Lewis face and before he could say anything, Lewis’s wiped the few tears that had escaped his eyes with his small bandaged hands.

“Dont be sad Ri Ri”

Daniel could not help let out a sob that also came out as a chuckle then suddenly he felt Lewis throw himself into his chest and wrapped his small arms around his neck.

“It ok, it ok”

Fuck, even in his small state, Lewis was still being strong for him like the 7x world champion would do for any of the drivers during a bad weekend. This is what made Lewis great, no matter what was going on in the world of his, Lewis would look after everyone before himself.

Their cuddle was cut short as Daniel heard his phone going off on the table and the picture of Lewis’s dad flashing on the screen. 

Time to face the Hamilton clan.

===========

Lewis watched as Daniel paced around the small room with the phone pressed to his ear, he could see his friend was sad and he did not like that at all. His Ri Ri was talking softly to the people on the phone so Lewis could not hear a single word and that made him a little worried. He did not like it when the grown ups spoke to one another and he could not understand them.

Soon Daniel sat down on the sofa and let out a sigh, rubbing his hand over his face, Lewis watched as his left leg was bouncy and he knew that meant Daniel was really worried. His Ri Ri was always bouncy when he looked sad about something.

‘Mumma always said cuddles make people feel better’

He would have to give Daniel that biggest cuddle ever to make him happy and then he could be goofy, making Lewis laugh and maybe they could go looking for the others. 

The others would make everything alright.

But he was very angry at the others, where had they been and why had not come to see him and Ri Ri yet. 

Lewis did not like the tall man who had tried to take him from the car and the man with the glasses next to the man with no hair, he didnt know them really and his Dad had told him to never trust anyone he was unsure about. There was a knock at the door and Lewis looked over to Daniel who was still deep in the conversation with the people on the phone so he made his way over to the door and stood on his tiptoes to push the handle down and the door swung open revealing the leader of the yellow bulls.

“Daniel….Oh hi Lewis”

He pointed to Daniel on the sofa and Lewis moved back inside before turning back to wave Christian in. The man looked shocked at first but shook it off as he quickly entered the room, closing the door behind him. Lewis quickly made his way over to Daniel and tugged on his trousers, when the first attempt did not work, Lewis made sure to tug harder but Daniel had patted his head and Lewis pouted trying to shake off the hand on his head.

“Ri Ri”

Raising his right hand, he had smacked Daniel on the leg hard. This finally had gotten his attention and he smiled while Daniel was frowning.

“Hold on…. LewLew im busy, give me a second”

“But Chrin here”

Daniel looked up from Lewis and sure enough Christian Horner was there standing. Lewis watched as it looked like the two adults were having a conversation without talking like his first mumma and daddy did before his second mumma came along. He watched as Daniel tapped a few things on his phone and placed it on the table then he could hear his daddy and mumma’s on the phone.

He didnt understand what they were talking to Daniel or Christian about, he had heard his daddy sound angry and something about Toto not looking after him right and one of his mumma’s saying that they could trust in the Red bulls as someone called Bono had said. Then they had switched the call to a video call and Lewis could make out his family on the phone, he gave a small wave and explained to his Mumma’s that he had done what they had said when he was lost and found someone that was home. He noticed Daniel’s eyes had widened before a small smile had settled on his face then Lewis had heard them say he was 4, of course he was 4 and he could have easily told them that.

“We will come and get him….”

“NO, I dont want to leave Ri Ri and i still haven't found the others, I can't leave them”

Lewis did not in any shape of form want to go back home, he knew that if he left then Daniel would be sad and the others would be upset, maybe angry if he had just upped and left. 

“Lewis sweetie…”

“No, Mumma I dont want to go home”

He whined, shaking his head at the phone before he quickly clutched onto Daniel’s leg. Lewis watched as Christian had taken the phone from Daniel and turned it back to so only he could hear what his family were saying, he then watched as Daniel crouched down to his level, taking Lewis’s hand into his with a sad smile on his face.

“Lewis it would be better for you to go home, you need your family to look after you”

All Lewis could do was shake his head and throw himself into Daniel like he had done earlier before the phone call.

“No, I'm not leaving Ri Ri, don't make me go”

Daniel so wanted to be selfish in that moment and take Lewis away from it all and just hide. He could feel the small sobs coming from Lewis and this made him want to cry again, after a few moments Christian came back, crouching to their level and held the phone out to the pair.

“OK Lewis we have spoken to Christian and he has reassured us that Red Bull will look after you as will Daniel, we trust them since Mercedes and Toto cant be bothered with this except Bono”

There was no way he was hearing this.

“Thank you, Ri Ri i get to stay with you and Chrin with the yellow bulls”

“I will make sure to keep you guys updated and Daniel will make sure Lewis is taken care of, The Red Bull family will not let you down”

There were a few more things discussed between Christian and Lewis’s family before the call ended, Daniel was still in shock that Lewis would not be leaving but he would be staying with him. He looked at Christian as to almost question what and why he had done that while Lewis was still cuddling into him.

“Bono came to speak with me and I knew you would overthink a few things with this. Mercedes are not handling this as they should be, they talk of family but they have left him out in the cold. To be honest, not having Lewis in the paddock would not feel right plus having this little cutie in the Red Bull garage decked in our gear”

Daniel would have kissed Christian right there and then had it not been for the fact Lewis was on him. 

“Christian I owe you”

“Dont worry about it though we need to work on my name with him, being called Chrin….”

Both he and Christian chuckled at the name Lewis had called the Red Bull team principal was just funny, it made him wonder what he would call the other drivers. Did he have nicknames for them or would he butch their names like he had done with Christian.

“Ri Ri im hungry”

“Alright little man lets go get some food”

Chapter Text

When he had returned to his room after the race, Max had expected to find Daniel and Lewis there but just as he was making his way to his room, Christian had caught up to him and returned the key that he had given Daniel. The team principal explained that the pair had returned back to the hotel the aussie was staying at, it was probably for the best that the pair had left during the race to avoid the chaos afterwards. 

The media pen had been hell, either it was just before the race or during the race, Mercedes had released the statement regarding Lewis missing from the race.

Lewis Hamilton will not continue this season and further seasons are currently not on the table due to a personal matter.

The statement had been short and lacked any show of support, Max felt angry reading it and he knew the fans would not take this sitting. Lewis’s fans had shown such an uproar during the last moment of the 2021 race, his fans were not to be messed with. Of course every journalist had asked every driver about the Lewis Hamilton statement and it had taken all of them except for Max and George by surprise.

“What do you mean Lewis is not continuing the season?!” - Lando

“No we were not told about this, I need to talk to George” - Alex

“What!? I need to make a phone call” - Valtteri

“This is a joke right, there is no way Lewis would miss a race” - Carlos

Max had seen George not far from him and he looked tense, giving only short answers before he just walked away.  Max felt for the guy as he knew George would have to shoulder everyone coming for Mercedes as to what was going on with Lewis but only a little, he was still reeling from the attitude he received when the pair from Mercedes had come to their garage to find Lewis.

Debrief with the team was quick and he wanted to get out so he could find out where Daniel was to check up on the pair like he had wanted to after the race but Christian had stopped him and wanted to speak to him just for a second, Max nodded and waited till everyone had left.

“Christian…”

“He’s staying in the same hotel room as us and this is the room number, can you please take there? They are some clothes Gerri managed to wrangle up for Lewis and knowing Daniel he’s probably forgotten to get food so could you maybe grab something for them to eat”

“Of course”

He quickly took the bags off of Christian and promised he would get these to Lewis and make sure the pair would get some food. Max quickly ran out of the room and made it to his car in record time before leaving the track, pulling up some vegan places near the hotel they were staying at. He would probably just pick up a sandwich for Daniel but he knew about Lewis’s vegan stance when he was still an adult and how deeply the 7x world champion stood by it. Max would make sure to stick with it and remind Daniel about it, they would not let Lewis down. 

He did wonder what clothes Gerri had managed to get.

There was a relief that Red Bull was stepping up to provide the support because clearly Mercedes was not, they were acting as if it was something to sweep under the rug. He did not understand that notion as this team would portray themselves as a family yet nothing of this was family like. They had lost that family value to the team years ago, if Max had to pinpoint a moment or time it had died then unfortunately it was the end of the 2021 season and this caused him to let out a sigh.

How had it gotten so bad?

There was a moment in his life where he had thought Lewis would hate him and just blank him after that season but during the winter break where the 7x world champion had disappeared off the face of the world, Max had woken up to a voicemail from an unknown number.

Flashback

Normally he would just delete unknown numbers and voicemails as they would hold no importance but there was something inside him telling him that he needed to listen to that voicemail so Max had pressed the button and brought the phone to his ear.

“Hey… Max it's Lewis, to be honest I was glad this had gone straight to voicemail as I dont know if I would've gotten through this by talking straight to you. I just wanted to say….

I could never blame you for how the last race ended and I have been so damn proud of how hard you have raced through this season, true there were moments that were rough between us and some of those moments I would of like to taken back but the thrill you gave me racing you this season brought me back to when I was chasing Seb during my fourth and fifth also the first two years I raced with Nico with the mercedes team.

This rivalry has brought back my love of racing hard, I want to thank you for that. 

I know there are talks about the team questioning the results but Ive demanded that they let it go.

Celebrate hard and stand on top of the world like you should.

Your like us Max and you deserve the title of world champion.

I look forward to seeing what you will bring to the start of the fresh season and ill be coming back to fight for the title again, dont hold back”

He held his hand to his mouth as he could not stop the tears from flowing down his cheeks, Max felt the heavy burden lift from his shoulders.

Flashback 

It did not take long for him to pick up some food and get back to the hotel, Max entered the elevator and was glad that it was empty. He watched as the floor numbers lit up before it had stopped on the 7th floor. Exiting the elevator, he walked down the corridor till he finally stood outside the hotel room that Lewis and Daniel were inside.

443

Max couldn't help but let out a chuckle at the number on the door before he brought his fist on the door, the loud knocking echoing through the hallway. He only had to wait for a few seconds before the door opened to reveal Daniel whose hair had been tied up in really bad ponytails.

“I have food”

“Thank god, I completely forgot and Lewis wanted to put my hair up like his so we could be matching”

“Christian said you might forgot mate”

Closing the door behind him, Max followed after Daniel but stopped in the archway of the hallway, he watched as Daniel pulled the small coffee table closer to the bed and his vision drifted to the bed where a little Lewis was sat in the middle of the bed wearing one of his red bull shirts, of course he noticed that one of his shirts had gone missing. The little driver was staring at him with curious eyes but Max could see in the body language that Lewis was still unsure of him, he knew if he had moved closer to the bed that Lewis would of fled from the bed and he was sure Daniel would of tackled him to the ground with the way he could see Daniel eyeing him up.

“I brought food and Christian/Gerri managed to get some clothes for Lewis”

Lewis’s face lit up in a smile when he had mentioned food and he watched as the little child, quickly scrambled off the bed and sat down on one of the pillows Daniel had placed around the small coffee table, Daniel had taken a seat next to Lewis and Max took this as an ok to move over to the pair, he sat down on the last remaining pillow and soon began pulling out the different boxes.

“Beef steak salad for Daniel and Lewis a vegan mixed vegetable salad”

“Thanky you”

Max’s heart had melted at the soft tone Lewis had thanked him, he just nodded before opening his pork salad and taking a small bite, he watched as Daniel helped Lewis with his box before they started tucking into their food. This gave Max a moment to get a real close look at tiny Lewis. Now that he was very close, you could definitely see that it was Lewis Hamilton shrunk down to a child size but he looked so tiny, now Lewis was a small petite adult however as a child, he looked like you could hide him in your pocket. 

He was adorable.

Max’s attention was directed to a phone buzzing on the table bedside, he watched it buzz for a moment before it went quiet, he turned his gaze to Daniel who had stopped eating.

“You're not going to get that?”

“Its not mine, Its his phone”

“Statement?”

“Yup and after it was released his phone has not stopped buzzing and several people have tried calling it. His family are letting his close friends know the situation and Bono is taking care of his work outside of F1 with the help of Angela”

They fell into a silence as they continued eating and soon Daniel was looking through the bags of clothes, he pulled out a simple white pj top with shorts and once Lewis was done with his food, took him into the bathroom. Max listened as a tap began to run and small murmurs of conversation took place, he began to pack away the food containers and put them back into the bag he had brought them in then place it by the bin in the room. It wasnt long before Daniel came back out with Lewis who was still clutching the Red Bull top, he was trying to pry the top off of Lewis but the little child was having none of it.

“Come on Lewlew we have to give it back to Max”

“No i dont wanna”

This continued for a small period before Max had said that Lewis could keep the top, he had plenty more where that one had come from. Daniel had placed Lewis down on the bed and Lewis brought the top to his chest, clutching it hard in his grasp before snuggling into the pillow and soon his eyes began to flutter close. Max had taken a seat on the coffee table and soon Daniel followed suit, before he could say something, Daniel had beaten him to it.

“He’s 4 according to his mom”

“Thats young, the Motorgp ones they were a few more years older than that”

“We also have the theory that in his mind, he’s living through 2014 to 2018 because he trusted going to the Red Bull because I would be there”

Max had remembered listening to Lewis shouting for Daniel and saying that the car he had been in was Daniel’s though he was standing in Max’s number 1 car.

“That would make sense why he was confused in the paddock, half the cars we have now were not on the grid during that time and why he freaked out at George”

His eyes softened at the thought of Lewis trying to find something familiar in the paddock and he hadn't, only by some luck had a member of Red Bull crossed his path and Lewis knew that was the team Daniel had been on. Hell most of the drivers on the grid now were not there, only a few such as himself and Daniel, Alonso and Checo, the Haas boys and Valterri.

The rest of that grid had retired.

But in Lewis’s mind, who could he remember from that time?

He had instantly remembered Daniel but not a clue who Bono and himself were, Max would lie he felt a little jealous when Lewis had clutched onto Daniel like a lifeline. Turning to Daniel, he could see the aussie was tense so he placed a hand on his shoulder and kinda felt a little tension leave him.

“You’ve got Red Bull standing by you and I will make sure to help you too Daniel, your not alone in this.”

“Thanks Max, really appreciate it”

“He cute”

“So fucking adorable, my heart wants to burst out every time he does something”

The two men began to chuckle quietly to themselves before Daniel got up and slid into bed on the right side of Lewis, Max took this as his que to leave but just as he reached the archway, he heard Daniel call out quietly.

“Get into bed mate, It will be like when you both stayed at the ranch but this time it's not due to a leak in the guest rooms. Just turn off the light will ya”

Max turned off the light and soon made his way to the left side of the bed, he quietly got under the blanket and noticed Daniel had already fallen asleep. All of this must have been exhausting to an extent and probably needed a good night's sleep, Max turned his sight to Lewis and watched as the child had taken his shirt and buried it closer to his face, Max pulled a little of the blanket over Lewis.

‘I will protect Lewis’

Chapter Text

Lewis scrunched his face when the soft snores from behind had woken him from his sleep, he turned his head to glare at Daniel who was still sleeping, the aussie was star fishing on the bed, his arms raised above his head as he lay on his back, a peaceful look set upon his face. He let out a huff before turning back to snuggle close to the warmth, Lewis clutched the shirt he refused to part with closer to him and took a small deep breath, smelling the soft wooden fragrance from this new warmth bubble, the same smell as the shirt he was clutching. 

He pulled his head back a little and looked up at the other sleeping man, just like Daniel he was fast asleep but unlike Daniel who was a starfish, this other man had curled himself into a ball that had wrapped itself around Lewis during the night.

‘Mele likes to sleep like that too’

Carefully he pulled himself away from the sleeping man and made his way down the middle of the bed then slide off the bed, landing on both of his feet and a loud thud echoed in the room. He peered over the sheet to see if he had woken up the other two but all Daniel did was twitch in his sleep and the other did not move. 

Lewis made his way to the middle of the room but stopped when a thought occurred to him.

What would he do now?

There were no toys in the room and no paper or crayons to do some drawings, now this had made him sad but then he caught sight of the bags by the bin and remembered the yummy food he had eaten last night. The man who had taken Daniel’s car back at the garage did really good, he had been kind to Lewis when they found Lewis and gave him a jacket when he got a little cold plus he was very brave to stop the tall man who looked angry.

Staring at the empty containers, he felt his stomach grumbled and Lewis put two hands on his stomach to make it quiet, he was sure it had worked till his stomach had made another grumble and Lewis now knew he wanted to have some food so carefully he used the coffee table, swinging his legs over the top one at a time and using both arms to pull himself up then he managed to climb back onto the bed, he softly made his way over to Daniel and stood up on his legs only wobbling a little then he took a deep breath before he jumped…

Landing on Daniel’s stomach.

Daniel was having such a lovely dream when suddenly it was cut short when he felt his breath leave his body when his stomach had erupted in pain, he flung his arms out and his left hand had smacked into something, his eyes flew open to see Lewis sitting on his stomach.

“Le..w..is”

“What the actual Daniel!”

He looked to his left and it was then he realised that he had just smacked Max in the face when Lewis had jumped on him, Daniel was just about to blame it on Lewis when he felt the little man jump a little on his stomach again, causing him to groan so he turned his attention back to Lewis.

“Lewis that..”

“Im hungry”

And soon after they had heard the small grumble from Lewis’s stomach. Daniel patted the top of Lewis’s head before turning to look at Max who finally had sat up, his forehead looking a little red from the smack he had received.

“Food?”

“Food but Ive got to go change and grab some stuff, meet you guys downstairs?”

Raising a thumbs up to Max, Daniel watched as Lewis had smiled then flung himself off of his stomach and was climbing on top of Max’s lap, asking Max if he could bring some paper and crayons so he could do some drawings at breakfast. He was going to pull Lewis off when Max held out his little pinky finger to Lewis, promising he would do his best, it melted his heart when he watched as Lewis took Max’s pinky finger in his grip and shook it with a big smile on his face.

God Lewis’s hand looks so little compared to Max’s pinky finger.

Soon he and Max had climbed off the bed then made their way to the door, Daniel had managed to swipe the shirt off the bed when Lewis had trailed after Max but then moved back to his side before wrapping an arm around his leg as Max had opened the door, he held the shirt out to Max who took it into his hand.

“No Ri Ri mine”

“Lewlew like we said its Max, you cant keep it”

“Its fine Daniel, he can have it”

Max had bent down onto one knee and held out the shirt to Lewis who had let go of Daniel’s leg when he realised what Daniel had given to Max, he took hold of the shirt and brought it up to his mouth then walked over to Max, throwing his little arms around the Dutch in a hug.

“Thank you Max”

For a minute it was quiet then Max slowly moved his arms around Lewis to return the hug before standing up, he nodded to Daniel before walking out in the hallway and back to his room. Daniel closed the door and both he and Lewis walked back into the middle of room, he lifted Lewis up into his arm and walked over to the windows were he pulled back the curtain to reveal the sun shining bright.

“Right what to wear then”

================

The outfit he had decided for Lewis to wear was a pair of simple brown shorts with a black top and to finish the outfit was a pair of white trainers while he wore a pair of brown shorts and a white top and black trainers. 

They were kinda matching.

Daniel knew adult Lewis would freak out at the simple choice of clothes, maybe he could create some outfits based on the previous stuff Lewis had worn to the paddock.

They had managed to secure a table in the hotel restaurant towards the back, there were a lot of RedBull and RB team members among the ones seated, Daniel probably guessed that Christian would have had a word with both teams, he thanked the lucky stars that no one had stopped then to have a word or anything. He helped Lewis into his chair before taking a seat in the opposite chair and soon it wasnt long before Max had arrived in new clothes and there in his hand was paper and crayons, Lewis beamed happily at Max.

“Here you go, like I promised”

“Thank you Max”

It wasnt before Daniel went up and ordered some breakfast for them, when he got back to the table, Max was watching Lewis draw and the little man was explaining what he was going to draw.

“Ive got to make pictures for Rella, Batsy, Mi Mi, Cupso and I cant forget Mele”

Max had turned to Daniel and raised an eyebrow at the names Lewis had listed off like the pair should know who he was talking about but all Daniel could do was shrug. He knew Lewis had nicknames for other drivers but he had never heard those ones before, they were really odd nicknames.

Soon he and Max got in a conversation about the next race, often reminding Lewis to stop and eat some of his breakfast.

==========

Lewis stopped drawing when he had heard laughter, he looked around without really moving his head as he did not want to turn Daniel’s and Max’s attention on him then he heard the laughter again and he was sure he knew that laughter.

Cupso was near. 

Quietly he slid off the chair and followed the sound of where he could hear the laughter, he walked around many chairs and found himself near a table with lots of different foods on it, he peered his head to the end of the table were he saw a small group of people, two men were pointing at each other and talking very quickly with each other and next to them was a woman who was shaking her head and that's when he saw the person next to her.

“Cupso”

Lewis said smiling, his friend was here. He looked a little bit different but Lewis could still see it was his Cupso. Moving his little legs, he was ready to break out into a full sprint when suddenly someone had stepped up to the table and Lewis ran straight smack into a leg and he bounced back onto his bottom. 

“Are you ok little one?”

The person had crouched down and had shielded him from Cupso and the other people, Lewis was ready to smack this person as he had made him fall down but he was looking up at a familiar face.

It was the salsa man with the pink car.

“Co co”

“I hear your meant to be with Daniel”

Checo had not expected to find himself in front of Little Lewis so soon, Christian had pulled himside after briefing and after he had spoken with Max. Giving detail about what had happened to Lewis and what the Redbull and RB team were doing to help. This had not been something he had expected to happen this year and he kinda understood it when the team principal had explained that Daniel was looking after the7x world champion due to him only wanting the aussie.

He bent down and lifted Lewis into his arms before walking back over to the close off restaurant side of the hotel, Checo looked around before he spotted Daniel and Max deep in some sort of conversation, he shook his head and quickly made his way over.

Lewis looked over Checo’s shoulder and Cupso was no longer at the table.

“Daniel, Max”

“Hey Checo”

They had both replied back to him but the pair did not look at him, Checo looked down at Lewis who turned to look at him then to the pair at the table before staring at him again, Lewis’s eyebrows had been scrunched up.

“Missing something?”

He could not help but chuckle when both drivers had automatically turned to the empty chair and once they had found the empty chair, they looked ready to fly out of their chairs when they finally noticed Lewis was in his arms, staring at the two with a frown.

“Where…”

“He had managed to make his way over to the buffet table before running into my leg. You have to watch children, they are sneaky as ....”

“NInjas”

“Yes ninjas, thank you Lewis. I would know I have about 4 of them”

Walking around the table, he placed Lewis back into his chair and looked down at the drawings, seeing a few stick figures had been drawn but nothing else that would give indication of who he was starting to draw. Grabbing another chair, he pulled it to the table and took a seat in between Lewis and Daniel.

“Thank you Checo”

“No problem, I knew I would meet the little man soon since Christian filled me in on everything last night after debrief. Pink, this is good choice Lewis”

“Co Co car is pink so you need pink”

“Co Co?”

He twisted the pink crayon in his hand as he looked at Max who had questioned the nickname before drawing a pink line on a piece of paper Lewis had moved in front of him, Checo nodded at Lewis when the little boy had pointed to a circle he had drawn.

“Years ago, Lewis and I went out clubbing, we were up at the dj booth and he kept screaming my name in the microphone till it finally just started coming out as Co Co and it just stuck, he likes to tease me about it, my wife thinks its a cute name”

That had been a fun night.

Lewis always knew how to have a good time.

“You wouldnt happen to know these nicknames?”

“Batsy, MI MI, Mele and Rella?”

Checo shook his head as he had never heard of those nicknames, he tried to rack his mind if Lewis had ever mentioned anything like that but he was drawing nothing from the memories.

Chapter Text

“Daniel you can not miss another race”

“I know but I dont want to leave him”

He was watching Lewis sitting in Checo’s car looking in awe at the steering wheel, the little man was pushing different buttons as he made racing noises then grabbing the steering wheel, twisting it left and right. Checo was on his right while Max was on the left side, they both had taken it in turns to explain different parts of the car to Lewis. Today Lewis had been decked out in Redbull gear and they, meaning Daniel and Lewis had snuck through a back entrance to the paddock and currently were in the RedBull garage. Daniel had come by to say hello and Lewis wanted to make sure he got to see his friends Co Co and Max.

It made him laugh when Max had gotten upset that he didn't have a nickname which made Checo poke fun at it.

“Guess i'm the favourite, not number one in everything Max”

“He’s not the favourite is he Lewis”

“Top are Ri Ri, Mi Mi and Batsy”

Both Max and Checo looked at Daniel who was ready to gloat at being at the top but then Lewis had carried on with the conversation.

“Mele is number 1 above all”

The little 7x world had explained it like he had just spoken about the weather like it was general knowledge. After breakfast a few weeks ago, Daniel and the other two had printed out pictures of the past grid drivers and showed them to Lewis hoping that the little man would point out these people he had been name dropping often throughout the day but Lewis had shaken his head after seeing the pictures and refused to tell them who they were.

Mele, Mi Mi, Batsy, Rella, Cupso

Would remain a mystery.

It was just as Checo had placed Lewis in his car that Christian had pulled him aside, the team principal did not want Daniel to miss another race, well so far Daniel had missed out of two races looking after Lewis and he would never blame the 7x world champion as he enjoyed looking after Lewis, spending time with the little man had been a blast. Things at RB had been a little tense before Lewis had changed and spending time with Lewis had melted that tension and built up stress, he felt happy and free like when he had been driving with Redbull. He had missed hanging out with Lewis and it dawned on Daniel that he hadn't spent time with adult Lewis for a long time. 

How had they gone from being pillars of support to one another to barely having time for each other?

Hell, Lewis had reached out to him several times when he had no place on the grid yet Daniel had shut him out like he had done with everyone. Stood up for him when the rest of the world shot at him during his Mclaren days.

When they got adult Lewis back, Daniel would make it up to his friend but for now he would do everything to shield Little Lewis from all the hatred of the world.

“Someone will keep an eye on him, like Ive said, we are a team in this”

Daniel had been ready to refuse that. It wasn't like he didn't trust the team to look after Lewis but at the same time he didn't want anyone else to look after Lewis.

“Ri ri will i get to see you race too?”

Max and Checo both had a twinkle of mischief in their eyes as they leaned on the halo looking at Daniel with Lewis who was standing on his tiptoes, peering through the halo with a big smile on his face.

How could he say no to that face.

“Yeah, got to show Max and Checo how real men race”

This got a chuckle throughout the garage as Max moved over to Daniel, going on a tirade of his past wins, listing them off on his hand while Checo had spun a story of how he was the king of the street races. Lewis climbed out of the car with help from a member of the pit crew and he had moved over to a few others, they began showing him the different tyres and bringing out the wheel guns, Lewis let out a giggle when they had made the wheel gun spin. One of the younger members of the pit crew helped him hold onto the wheel gun to have a try at making it spin. 

“You better look after him then Christian”

“I will not let you down Daniel”

He had felt the tug at his leg and smiled brightly as Lewis had raised his arms up, motioning he wanted picking up. Daniel gently picked up Lewis and placed him on his shoulder, feeling Lewis lean his head onto his as the little man was getting excited to some racing, telling everyone in that garage he was going to be cheering on loudly for Daniel, Max and Checo. 

This then started another round of each of the men trying to get Lewis to admit who he was going to be cheering for the loudest.

=============

Lewis watched as Greg, he thinks that is the name,  the man that was looking after him while Ri ri, Co co and Max had gone off to do their work stuff. They had been in the garage for a little while watching the team talk through data and the track for practice. He had got bored sitting there on the counter at the back as everyone was busy so he asked if they could go for a walk around the paddock at the back.  Greg had taken him to the Red bull catering area  but he stomped his feet a couple of times after 10 minutes as he was getting bored just sitting down and finally the man had taken him out onto the paddock.

“You need to stay close”

He nodded as he stayed close to Greg as they walked down the back area of the paddock, Lewis watched as different people walked by them. Some of the people he had seen took pictures of the buildings around him and a few approached different members of the other teams. Soon Greg had stopped to talk to some other people from the Redbull team so Lewis took a seat on the wall by them, he swung his legs as he continued to people watch.

There was a women with a funny tall white hat, a few men with no shirts on with numbers painted on their stomachs and a few people with funny coloured tshirts.

It had been almost an hour of Greg talking to these people.

Lewis was frowning as he held his face in his hands, he had tried to get Greg’s attention but the man had just told him to be quiet and he would be done soon. 

He would tell Ri ri and maybe Max how Greg was not being kind.

They would tell Greg off.

Suddenly the women from a couple of weeks that had been standing at the breakfast table with Cupso had walked by. Lewis sat up straight watching her talk with the man with the camera then he was struck with an idea.

She could lead him to Cupso and then Cupso could look after him, not boring Greg.

He pushed himself off the wall and quickly turned to look at Greg but the man was still in the conversation with the other people so Lewis quickly followed after the women. He made sure not to be too close to the women and the man with the camera but had to quickly hide behind a plant bush when the pair had stopped and turned around, pointing to the buildings to the left before continuing on their path. It wasnt long till the women and man with the camera were approaching a few other people, they were all holding microphones and their was one of the guys he had seen at the table.

Then he spotted Cupso coming out of some sliding doors with a microphone in his hand too, he was waving to some in the small crowd. 

This time, nobody was going to stop him from reaching Cupso.

How wrong Lewis thought.

Because just as he started walking towards Cupso and the other people, getting almost so close to Cupso that he was getting ready to call out to him when Lewis suddenly felt himself being picked up quickly by a pair of arms that he did not recognise and before he could look at the face of the person, a jacket was thrown over him and he was gently pressed into the chest. Lewis struggled to try and pull the jacket off his head but the person was not budging so he pounded his tiny fists into the chest.

“Let me go! Let me go!”

It felt like a small journey to wherever this person was taking him and he heard the sound of doors sliding open then closing which meant he had been taken into a building. Lewis was put down and the jacket was taken off, he was greeted by a few people in green with silver wings looking shocked at him, he had turned around to look at the person who had dared ruin the chance he had at seeing Cupso when he noticed there were two people in front of him.

The man with the jacket in his hands and…

“RELLA!”

================

Fernando had been sat in the Aston Martin building, a black americano sat on the table beside him when Lance had raced through the doors with his hands clenched around his jacket over something that was wiggling in his arms, he had gotten out of his chair and approached the younger driver.

Who looked shocked and proud of himself all at the same time.

He raised his eyebrow at Lance and was about to say something when Lance set down the bundle under the jacket to reveal a little Lewis Hamilton.

Lewis was facing the other way at three of his pit crew before he turned around to look at Lance before facing him.

“RELLA!”

That was a nickname he had not heard in a long time.

Suddenly he found Lewis had thrown himself into Fernando, hugging the Spanish driver.

“You found me Rella”

Looking at Lance for an explanation before picking up Lewis and returning to his seat, shifting the little 7x world champion in his lap.

“I was coming from my interview with Sky when I caught him approaching the normal Sky crew and I remember what you had told me the other week and there was nobody from the Redbull in that area so I grabbed him and brought him here, I wasn't going to waste that opportunity”

“Greg was looking after me since Ri ri, Max and Co co had to got to work but he was boring, he only wanted to talk to people and ignore me so I went for a walk”

Lewis had explained looking from Lance to Fernando, the spanish driver couldnt help but wonder if this Greg person had finally noticed that he was missing the 7x world champion and he pitied the man for when he had to go back to the Redbull team telling them that. 

He was sure Daniel would murder the guy.

Fernando knew he should really be calling the Redbull guys that Lewis was safe here with them but he was not going to. He had been waiting for this a while since he had overheard George getting mad at Lewis’s engineer between the different driver rooms, hidden in sight.

There had been mentions of Redbull, Daniel and how unfair it was but that was not what caught his attention but the fact he had heard that Lewis Hamilton, 7x world champion, his former team mate was a 4 year old.

And that made the Lewis Hamilton statement about not racing for the season and others, make sense now.

He had expected that Daniel would have maybe come and told him about Lewis, asked for help but there was nothing which had made him angry for so many reasons, he had tried to understand it from a different point of view however screw that view so Fernando had told Lance about Little Lewis and explained to the younger driver that if he saw little Lewis at all through the paddock/hotel, basically anywhere to bring him back to Fernando.

“Lance thank you”

“Hey no problem like I said, Ive got your back”

Fernando smiled at Lance who nodded at him then they both moved their eyes to Lewis on his lap, who in question had now snuggled in Fernando.

“Rella found me”

Flashback

“You do know where you're going right Fernando?”

“Of course I do Lewis, the area should be right up here”

The pair had been walking through a small woodland area, passing a field or two before suddenly they had found themselves climbing up a hill and they both sat down at the top with a lone tree sitting not far from them.

Fernando looked at Lewis, drinking some water out of his body before handing it to him. The Spanish driver took a sip before passing it back. Throughout the day, he had seen Lewis talking about comet showers with several of the drivers but nobody had seemed interested and he watched as Lewis had looked so heartbroken that when he saw the driver in the lobby of the hotel he pulled him out into the open evening air.

“Right now explain why youve dragged me out here?”

“Because you wanted to see this right”

He had pointed to the night sky.

The black ink of the sky was dusted with thousands of sparkling specs of stars, a masterpiece of the heavens above them. 

“My father would take me stargazing, he taught me about the different stars and the stories behind them”

When he had looked back at Lewis, Fernando had found himself on the end of a soft smile that he knew a few drivers had tried to get, hell he was one of them at times trying hard to get that smile but it was easier to tease the young driver. A small blush flitted across his cheeks so he pointed to the constellation of Andromeda and Perseus, telling their tale of sacrifice and love.

===

It had become Lewis and Fernando’s thing to go stargazing during the different race weekends and each time, Fernando would tell Lewis a new story about a constellation in the sky. Currently they were lying down on a hill watching as the sky was lit up with a comet shower.

“What is a star in spanish?”

“Estrella”

“E..t..rella”

“No, Estrella”

“Rella”

Fernando turned to look at Lewis and was ready to tell him off for butchering the word but stopped his tongue when Lewis had continued.

“Your a star to bright for this plain world, my Rella proving those hateful people that you can do absolutely anything”

He knew he was blushing at that but he did not care as there was a warm sensation flowing into his skin and it made him feel like on top of the world.

Fernando was a star in Lewis’s eyes.

He would make sure to shine brightly for Lewis to gaze upon .

Flashback

“Your Rella has found you”

Chapter Text

“WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU LOST HIM!”

Max and Checo stood there in silence as they watched as their team principal, Christian had picked up a socket wrench and thrown it at the wall, it landed on the floor with a thud echoing throughout the garage. When the team member known as Greg had come back to the garage looking as white as a ghost, they knew whatever he was going to say was bad but they did not think it would have been this.

“He was with me and I stopped to talk to some people then when I turned back he was gone”

It had taken the wind out of his lungs and Max was trying to process what had been said, that currently at the moment Lewis was walking all alone in the paddock. He had to stop the voices in his head from making the thoughts worse. 

What if he had been taken by someone?

What if he was hurt and could not move?

What if he was not awake and lying somewhere cold as ice?

He turned to look at Checo who looked so furious and was ready to lay hands on this guy, having four children of his own and having that fear of losing his children, Checo was ready to murder this man, Greg who had not taken his role of looking after Lewis seriously.

“You said you would look after him”

The soft broken tone of the voice, they all turned to find Daniel standing in the hallway looking like he had his heart shattered. Daniel had a good sit down with his team and Yuki’s team about the different data that they had received from the simi racer before they had gotten onto the track, the car had felt really going down the straight and the curves were giving such good positive vibes. He had returned to the Redbull garage, hoping to see Lewis and have the little man tell him that he had raced really well.

But walking in on Christian shouting at this guy, it took a small second for his brain to catch up with what had been said and suddenly he felt like his whole world had come crashing and burning down at his feet.

“Literally I stopped for second that's all”

“More like an hour and the poor boy had gotten very bored so he wandered off to explore”

Everyone turned around to the entrance of the garage, shocked to see Lawrence Stroll standing there with his arms crossed over his chest. He was looking down at Greg before he turned to look at Daniel.

“Currently Lewis is in the Aston Martin catering with my son and Fernando, if you would come with me Daniel, Ill take you to him”

And there Lawrence Stroll moved away from the entrance like a bond villain, not giving a fuck for a response from them all, he was not waiting around and Daniel looked at Christian, Max and Checo before chasing after the man, unable to wait for someone to say something.

He needed to get Lewis in his arms.

Now.

“Did your chat exceed over an hour and meaning you were not watching Lewis, if you want me to consider a softer punishment, you better tell me the truth now”

Christian was rubbing his eyebrows in frustration before looking at the team member known as Greg. The man in question looked from side to side before shifting his vision to the floor and now Max knew that was a big universe sign for a guilty yes.

Before he could fly over and deck this man.

Checo had stormed over, pointing his finger at Greg as he snarled at the man in spanish.

“¡Cómo te atreves! Confiamos en ti para cuidar de Lewis, él es sólo un niño pequeño. Nunca quitas los ojos de un niño solo por esta razón. ¿Y si hubiera sucedido algo mucho peor?”

==========

Lawrence Stroll was a quick man.

It took Daniel jogging to keep up with the man before they entered the Aston Martin catering building and once he was inside, Lawrence had given him directions to an office room in the building. Quickly Daniel moved down the hallway, taking a left and then a right before he was finally in front of the office, grabbing the door, he swung it open to be greeted with….

Lewis sat down at a table, waving a crayon in his hand as he pointed to something on the paper in front of him and next to him was Lance who was colouring something on another piece of paper, stopping a few times to point something out to Lewis who nodded in agreement.

There was a cough to the left side of him.

Daniel turned to look and came face to face with Fernando.

Who did not look happy at all.

“Lewis, Ri Ri is here”

Lewis had looked up from his drawing and a big smile stretched on his face as he waved the hand with the crayon in it at Daniel.

“Ri ri, look, Lance is helping me with my drawings and Rella got me an apple juice”

Before he grabbed the apple juice carton and took a small sip before he began focusing on his drawings, this time he had picked out a yellow crayon and began drawing zig zags on the paper.

Daniel was ready to say something to Fernando when the Spanish driver grabbed at his arm but stopped looking at Lance and Lewis at the table.

“Rella’s just gonna have a word with Ri Ri then we be back”

He then pulled him outside the office, closing the door behind him, Fernando looked at Daniel with a glare before letting out a sigh.

“Fernando I…”

“No, we will talk about this over dinner tonight”

Fernando did not wait for Daniel to agree or to not agree to the dinner and stepped back into the room, he watched as the Aussie had approached Lewis telling him it was time to go but Lewis had shaken his head and bounded over to him, wrapping his arms around Fernando’s leg.

“Wanna stay with Rella”

Daniel had looked at him and then down at Lewis before looking at Fernando with a defeated look in his eyes.

“I will see you both for dinner tonight”

================

Entering the restaurant that was very empty, Daniel was escorted over to the table where he could see Fernando and Lewis. On the way past a few tables, he had spotted Lawerance and Lance sitting and eating at one of the tables. Of course, that was probably why it was quiet, Lawrence had probably brought out the restaurant as a favour to Fernando. Reaching the table, he sat down and watched as Lewis had wiggled out of Fernando’s lap and bounded over to him with a big smile, Daniel scooped him up into a big hug before he felt the wriggling and gently placed him down.

“Lewis why don't you see if Lance will help with your drawings again?”

Lewis had nodded, taking a small pile of drawings from Fernando and raced quickly over to Lance.

The Spanish driver smiled as he watched Lewis but it dropped off his face once he looked at Daniel. Fernando let out a sigh as he grabbed his glass of white wine and down the glass in one before he leaned back, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Fernando….”

“No, this time you just listen”

The Aussie driver just nodded, grabbing his glass of water with both hands.

“Having to find out about Lewis from hearing a conversation between George and Lewis’s glassed engineer is not great but then to know you knew yet you had not come to me, was like a slap to the face”

Fernando pointed to his empty glass, gaining the attention of the waiter and soon he was brought another glass of white wine but this time he had taken a small sip, leaning one hand on the table.

“I would have let people know..”

“No you would have not and it is why you had not. You wanted Lewis to yourself, we all have had a taste of Lewis in our lives and it is like feeling the rays of the sun warming you after a cold icy night. I would've done the same thing, kept Lewis just by myself however you know he is searching for particular drivers, he's been getting drawings made ready for Mele, Batsy, MI MI and Cupso. Lewis will not sit and do nothing”

“Do you know who they are? I didn't even know Rella was you”

“Yes I am Rella but that is my story with Lewis like yours Ri RI”

Daniel nodded, that night he had with Lewis had been something else and he told no one of that night. He would sell his soul to the devil before he told anyone that precious memory and looking at Fernando, he knew that the Spanish driver had his own special memory with Lewis that had resulted in a special nickname.

At least he had gotten a face to one of the five nicknames Lewis mentioned everyday

“He had drawn Cupso and it wasn't hard to guess who it was from the drawing”

They sat in silence for a couple of more minutes before Fernando had brushed a hand through his locks.

“You need to give George some slack in this”

“What do you mean?”

“Yes, the British driver can come across as a brute at times but do remember he is Lewis’s team mate and has looked up to Lewis since he was a little boy. Now imagine your ideal, teammate and friend can't remember you and looks at you with fear”

God now he felt really bad.

He had not thought of it like that with George, Daniel had gone into protective mode the moment he saw little Lewis sitting in the car, calling for Ri Ri. George had only wanted to look after Lewis like he and Fernando were doing and having Lewis not remember you must have broken bits of George’s heart. The second Mercedes driver had stayed away, respecting the decision of the Hamilton family and Little Lewis.

Maybe he shouldn't have been too hard on George.

He would talk to the British driver soon.

They both turned to look at Lewis who was sat on Lance’s lap, drawing something and looking up to Lance who was smiling, Lawrence was leant over to them, he was pointing to something on Lewis’s picture and in which Lewis nodded and grabbed a new crayon but stopped lifting his head up, his eyes catching theirs and soon a big smile lit up his face as he waved.

“He was heading to the Sky people, Cupso is one of those two”

Daniel didn't need to ask who Fernando was referring to.

There were only two drivers that had been in Lewis' life through the years that now roamed the paddocks with a microwave in hand and Sky name on their shirts.

One was cool and fun but the other had caused Lewis untold pain.

“Oh yeah one last thing, Seb knows and will be here at the next race”

He spat out his drink of water and looked at Fernando who had finished his glass of white wine and was now smirking at him, oh how he wanted to hit that smug face right now but his thoughts were being flood with one name.

Sebastian Vettel.

The way things had turned out with Fernando and the Lewis situation was bad,  the German's reaction was going to be ten times worse than the Spanish driver. He had already tried to contact Daniel a few times and the Aussie had simply ignored him. Not knowing what to say, look Lewis has changed into a four year, what do you wanna do about it. Daniel knew exactly what Sebastian would have done. He would have taken Lewis and hid him in the snowy mountains of Switzerland.

He was screwed.

Chapter Text

Sebastian was coming.

That was what Fernando explained to him, to the next race was when the former driver would be coming.

“He had been calling me a few times since it became aware that you weren't going to answer his calls and probably no one else had answers as to why Lewis had just vanished. So after Lance had brought Lewis back to the Aston Martin catering, I was not gonna at first but then I could understand how he was feeling so I facetimed him and before he could start his rant at me, I turned it around to show him Lewis and Lance colouring, saying this is why nobody is answering. He said he was coming to the next race and hung up”

Sebastian was always chatting and could out talk anyone so to know he had been short on the phone call with Fernando was not a good sign.

Neither was the fact he had received no message or call from him.

Daniel knew he was so screwed.

When the Germany driver got angry, he could get very angry and Daniel definitely remembered a few moments, such as when Sebastian had thought Lewis had break tested him in Baku 2017, he had moved around Lewis before swinging his Ferrari into Lewis’s Mercedes on purpose. 

But that incident had brought the pair closer together than before.

It was all because of Sebastian that they had started seeing more of the old Lewis and not the cold withdrawn Lewis that had been made by the year of the Silver war. 

Daniel knew he should of immediately contacted Sebastian the moment he had little Lewis, he knew the germany would of been able to handle talking to the Hamilton family a lot calmer than him, he would of known how to take care of Lewis since he was also a father but like Fernando had mentioned, he wanted to be selfish. Sebastian had been orbiting around Lewis for years and when the stuff between Lewis and Nico had exploded, he had gotten even closer to the Mercedes driver leaving every other trying to scrape at bits with Lewis.

It had just become Lewis and Sebastian in the paddock everywhere.

He couldnt really blame Sebastian a lot for it because he had been the only driver who had stepped up to be there for Lewis while everyone including himself had just shuffled around, not sure what to do or how to act around Lewis.

But this time, he was the one Lewis had wanted, it wasn't Sebastian in the Ferrari he had gone to look for but his Ri Ri in the Red Bull. 

And he wanted every moment with little Lewis.

It was like Lewis was a little bird he had caged.

Knowing that there were others that Lewis wanted to see even if he had no clue who they were, Daniel knew he couldn't keep Lewis all to himself and had to share him with the others.

It had annoyed him that it had been Fernando that made him see exactly how selfish he was and now he had to make amends with George but before he could do that he had to deal with Sebastian first.

=============

This was awkward as hell.

Max looked over to Daniel, Lance and Fernando standing there looking and probably feeling just as awkward as he was. They were currently standing in the entrance to a soft play that Lance’s father had rented out so it was just them, Lewis was standing in between Daniel and Fernando holding their hands as he smiled so brightly looking up at the colourful sign, soon they all entered the building.

The workers of the building had been given the day off and a few members of the Redbull and Aston Martin teams, the trusted close members of the pit crew, were here. The Stroll’s had made sure the owner signed a NDA and if there was any leak of Lewis being little, Lawrence had made it clear that he would end the owner, the guy had shown Lawrence and Christian that all working security cameras were disabled and turned off.

Then Lawrence had brought in a security guy who had checked for sure they had been turned off and that there were no secret cameras.

He was not a man to mess about.

Once they had been given the all clear, the different members of the team scattered around the soft play area while Max had taken a seat at a table and the opposite table from his was were Lance had taken a seat soon Daniel had stood next to Max while Fernando had taken a seat by Lance, they watched as Lawrence crouched down to Lewis explaining to the little boy that he had this all to himself. 

The joy that sprung on Lewis’s face had melted everyones heart there.

Giving Lawrence a big hug, Lewis shot off into the soft play but not before grabbing a member of the Red Bull and Aston Martin team.

Max looked at Daniel who was smiling at watching Lewis then both of them turned to look at Fernando and Lance who was smiling as well watching Lewis before all four men were looking at each other with straight faces.

How did they get here to this situation?

Breakfast was that answer.

Flashback

All four of them were sat down eating breakfast at the hotel restaurant, they were hidden away in a booth further towards the back of the restaurant and the tables near them were seated with a mix of their teams, trying to conceal the four drivers and Lewis.

“Rella let me jump on the bed”

Lewis had been explaining how much he had spending the night with Fernando and Daniel had been glad the little driver had fun, he could see the way that Fernando looked at Lewis that he had cherished the night with him.

He was learning to share time with Lewis.

“Can we go soft play Ri RI?”

“Unfortunately we can't Lew lew”

This had started the 7x world champion to stomp his foot and get a little angry that he couldn't go to soft play. Daniel and Fernando had tried to explain why they couldn't go but the little driver was not having it at all, he then turned to Max as Lance was on the phone, he was trying to get him to support the idea of soft play but the dutch driver had looked down at his plate, he didn't want to make the little driver sad but did not want to make the other two drivers mad.

Daniel was ready to get his strict voice on when Lance put his phone down.

“Dad says give him ten minutes and we can have a soft play all to ourselves”

Max and Daniel looked at Lance with shocked faces while Fernando had clapped his hand on the back of Lance with a grin, Lewis stood up before jumping up and down with a big smile on his face.

“Wooooo”

Flashback

It seemed like it was going to be a Aston Martin day with Lewis but the little driver had shaken his head when he noticed Daniel and Max were going to leave the breakfast table, he had told them he wanted everyone to go.

He wanted to play with them all.

And nobody could resist the small pout Lewis had given that morning.

Max let out a sigh as he leaned back on the table watching as Lewis was pulling faces at the different coloured mirrors with a member of Red bull before crawling into a tunnel were he was calling out to a member of the Aston Martin.

“He still hasn't given Lance a nickname yet”

Now this made Max smile as he looked at Daniel. He didn't know what he would have done had Lance had gotten a nickname before him, currently they both shared the roles of drawing with Lewis. He had some of Lewis’s pictures and from what he had heard from Daniel about the dinner with Fernando, that Lance had some drawings too.

Better Lance hadnt cuddle with Lewis asleep yet.

He was one up on Lance.

Max would get that nickname before him, the dutch driver was determined.

Soon one of the members had shouted to get their attention, waving both Daniel and Fernando to come up. Both drivers looked at each other before they took on the perils of trying to get to the top of soft play through the stairs and tunnels. Daniel laughed when he heard Fernando groan about trying to squeeze into the tunnel but this distracted him and he hadn't crouched down lower enough so he hit head on a pole.

“That's what you get for laughing”

It didnt take them long to reach the top area of the soft play and they saw Lewis was shaking his head at the Aston Martin member who had been pointing to the start of the slide that would lead him into the ball pit. Both he and Fernando crouched down to Lewis who looked up at them with tears building in his eyes.

“Hey what's wrong Lew lew?”

“I'm scared”

“Scared of what corazon?”

Lewis pointed over to the slide before turning away into the wall to hide himself, both Fernando and Daniel looked at each other before nodding. Daniel stood up and waved over to Max and Lance to get their attention.

“Can you guys stand at the bottom of the slide?”

Both young drivers did not hesitate as they climbed into the ball pit and made their way over to the bottom of the slide. 

“Listen corazon, your Rella and Ri Ri are going to go down the slide with you and Max and Lance are going to be at the bottom waiting for us”

The little driver looked over his shoulder to see both Daniel and Fernando smiling softly as they held out their hands to him. After a few minutes, he took their hands and together they walked up to the slide and sure enough as Fernando had said, both Max and Lance were down at the bottom, slowly Fernando sat down on the edge and Daniel helped Lewis up before joining them on the slide. 

Lewis had grabbed his hand while holding tightly to Fernando’s.

“All I wanted was for us all to play together”

Now this made Daniel feel so bad, since arriving here all he and the other three did was sit by the tables watching as Lewis had played with the team members of Red Bull and Aston Martin. The awkwardness of the four of them had overshadowed the fact Lewis had wanted to do this with them all, the little driver had just wanted to play with the people who were currently important to him.

He and Fernando could and would put their differences aside to give Lewis what he wanted.

“You can do it Lewis!”

“Yeah, got to beat those two down the slide”

Max and Lance were on the same page as well.

They could do this.

For Lewis.

========

It had been such a fun day at the soft play once they had all finally let go of that awkwardness and joined in with Lewis. Lance and Max had joined Lewis down the slide, at one point Fernando had been playing hide and seek in the ball pit with him and Daniel loved going through the light tunnels, watching the lights reflected off of Lewis's big brown eyes that looked up in awe.

They made sure to have an unforgettable memory with Lewis.

On their way back to the hotel, they had stopped at the beach and lucky enough it was empty so parking the car, the four exited the car with Fernando carrying Lewis in his arms. All of them sat down in the sand, watching the waves roll in and out, Lewis had moved his way out of Fernando’s arms and ran down to the shore line, watching in interest at the waves. Soon Max and Lance had followed after him, they had made it a game of chasing the waves out before running away when the waves came back, Lewis had scooped up a little bit of water and threw it at Lance before doing the same with Max.

Fernando leant back on his hands with a big smile.

“This is nice”

“It is”

Sometimes escaping the world of F1 where they could join the little things was nice, like a breath of fresh air. There was another car pulling up in their car park but the pair did not pay attention to it.

“You were right, I was being selfish. I'm gonna sort something with George and get Yuki to meet Lewis next race”

“That sounds good”

“Well not before me”

Both Fernando and Daniel looked confused for a second when the third voice appeared, slowly they turned their heads around and Daniel’s heart sank to the bottom of his stomach.

There stood behind them with his hands on his hips and a frown upon his face.

Sebastian Vettel.

Chapter Text

There was no way Sebastian was standing on that beach with them.

Fernando had said that the German driver would be here by the next race which was still 4 days away.

They did not expect him to come sooner.

How in the hell did Sebastian find them here?

“I called Lawrence and he told me about the soft play then that Lance had informed him that you guys had stopped by the beach”

Sebastian had moved to stand in between Daniel and Fernado.

It was sometimes freaky how Sebastian knew what they were thinking, he had done this a few times back when he was still driving, the germany could understand what people were thinking and would say without any conversation. 

Spending a few years with Kimi as a team mate would have probably helped with that ability.

There was silence and nobody knew what to say, Daniel had still been trying to form an apology in his head when he had found out Sebastian was coming and Fernando this was not his battle, he had played his part in helping Sebastian find out about Lewis. The Spanish driver only really got visiting rights, technically the custody of looking after Lewis was on Daniel so he left it for the RB driver to deal with whatever Sebastian was going to release on Daniel.

All Sebastian could do was watch as Max and Lance were swinging Lewis between the pair, the little driver laughing and shouting to go higher.

His frown turned into a soft smile.

The whole sight was clenching on his heart.

Daniel had finally gathered some words in his mind to say to Sebastian, to start the apology this man was owed but he watched as Lewis had turned his head around to look at Fernando and himself, probably to call them over to join in the water fun but the little driver caught sight of the third person standing in the middle of them, his eyes widening and a big smile breaking out on his face.

“BATSY!”

He ripped his hands out of Lance’s and Max’s before running up the sand shore towards the three, shouting Batsy over and over again. Sebastian had broken out into a grin and ran forward. Once in the middle between the four drivers on the beach, he caught Lewis when the little one had leapt off the ground into his open arms, swinging Lewis around before bringing him into a tight hug where he buried his head into the tiny shoulder of Lewis.

“Batsy here”

“I'm so so sorry I wasn't here before, I'm so sorry schatz ”

Sebastian could not stop the tears that were running down his cheeks the moment he had lifted Lewis into his arms. He pulled back to take a real good look at the little driver and could not help but let a sob come out of his lips when Lewis put his hands on his cheeks with a frown.

“Dont cry Batsy”

He nodded but more tears flowed out of his eyes and Sebastian could not help let the little sobs come out, Lewis looked so worried at him, trying his hardest to wipe the tears running down his cheek.

“No cry Batsy, it ok, im here”

Lewis had thrown his arms around Sebastian's neck and buried his face into the chest, the German had wrapped his arms around Lewis tighter and buried his face into the hair of Lewis, trying to take small breaths to break the sobs escaping him. He looked up and caught Daniel’s eyes and he gave the deadliest glare he could give to the Aussie.

How dare Daniel!

How dare he keep this about Lewis from him.

Finally stopping the sobs and the tears had finished running down his cheeks, Sebastian took a deep breath then made his way over to the small group. While he had embraced Lewis, Max and Lance had made their way to the other two but nobody could think of something to say so they watched the sweet moment between Lewis and Sebastian.

Watching Sebastian cry, it tore Daniel into two and the guilt was so heavy on his shoulders.

“Sebastian…”

“We are gonna talk now, me, you and Fernando”

Daniel nodded while Fernando had folded his arms over his chest, they both watched as Sebastian looked down at Lewis.

“Scatz, Lance and Max are gonna take you back to the hotel and the three of us wont be long after, i just need a small chat with them”

Lewis nodded and gave Sebastian a big hug before he was passed over into Max’s arms, Fernando had passed Lance the keys to his hotel room and mentioned they should be too long.

“No tears Batsy”

“Ill try schatz”

Soon it was just Daniel, Fernando and Sebastian on the beach with the sun now setting and the night sky making its way over, painting the hues of yellows, oranges and red into an inky dark blue.

“Daniel, look I-”

“I do not want whatever apology you have tried coming up with. You will listen to me. I'm so furious that out of everyone you were the one to keep this from me”

Sebastian was waving a pointed finger at him, all of his emotions was spilling out into his words and Daniel could not help but flinch at the brutalness of it and neither could Fernando, they knew the german could get mad but this was a whole new level they had never seen,

“Did you know, Lewis always messages me after each practice, qualifying and race, we did this in person when I was in the paddock and we kept at it when I retired so when I watched as Lewis was not racing and there was no message, I was concerned then to see that statement from Mercedes were he would not be racing for the season and the next”

He rubbed his hands over his face before running them into his hair then down by his side, Sebastian was trying to hold back a little but he was struggling a lot.

“I called and messaged Lewis so much when that statement dropped, so much that my phone could not handle it and broke. After getting a new phone, I tried calling everyone else when I couldn't get hold of Lewis. You were the first I contacted but you wouldn't answer, George wasn't answering, Bono wasnt answering. Finally I had gotten through to Charles to get an explanation but he was in panic saying that the drivers had no clue what was going on and did I know something. It was then I knew to call you”

Turning his attention to Fernando.

“But like everyone else, you did not answer then everyone was calling me to get some idea of what was going on like I knew where Lewis was. Mark, Jenson, Kimi, Felipe, Adrian. Hell even Nico had reached out if I knew. Having no clue as to what was going on and where Lewis was, it killed me. He is my closest friend, hell the term these kids use today, my best friend and it was like he had gone missing”

Daniel had not realised how bad it had been for Sebastian. Hearing that Lewis and Sebastian were still in so much contact after the German had retired, the guilt was clawing at him so badly. 

He wishes now he had picked up the phone and called him.

“I was getting ready to come down when finally you called me, I was so ready to let everything over the phone when he showed me Lance drawing with a kid. At first it didn't click till I saw that gap in that toothy smile. Seeing Lewis so little, it made everything click with the statement and why Lewis was not communicating but then it dawned on me. Nobody had called me to help, like I did not matter, like I hadnt been a part of Lewis’s life”

“Sebastian look there-”

“Do not try to justify it Fernando. I do not care for it. I have been dealing with the shit that Lewis has got going on with Mercedes at the moment cause clearly no one else cares like when the shit went down with Nico-”

“OK! I did because I was so god damn jealous of you, Sebastian you were always there for Lewis during some of the hardest moments in his life and a lot of us weren't. After Nico, Lewis’s focus was only on you and yes I will put my hands up and say I should have tried better. When it happened, he remembered me, Red Bull me and he only wanted me so yes I wanted to be selfish and take that time with him because I had lost those precious moments with him, it was realising a few weeks ago that Lewis has stuck by me through my hardest moments yet I had not for him so having the Hamiltons trust me to look after their son, I promised myself I would do everything to protect him. Then to have this guy be the one to point out how selfish I was being was a low blow. Coming from the most selfish man we know”

It went quiet for a moment till suddenly they were all laughing.

“I had Lance kidnap Lewis just to get some time with my corazon”

“Of course you did Fernando, look I'm here now so please dont keep him out of my life. Let me help”

Daniel nodded as small tears began falling down his cheeks, he pulled Sebastian into a bone crushing hug. They would get through this, the Aussie knew there were so many people that cared about Lewis. Both of them tried pulling Fernando into a hug but he had managed to avoid being captured into that hug, he shook his head with a grin.

“No no, Lewis is the only one Ill let give me a hug. Both little and adult Lewis”

Laughter rang through the beach as the three made their way up to the car.

A little 7x world champion was waiting for them.

============

They were sitting in Fernando’s room with many take away carts stretched around the room, Max and Lance had left once the three older drivers had returned. Daniel sat in an armchair while Fernado sat leaning against a wall while Sebastian was leaning against the bed and in the middle of the room was Lewis arranging out his drawings.

“So just to catch me up, he had been talking about 5 different drivers but you guys dont have a clue who they are”

“Yup so we have Rella is Fernando and now you with Batsy but there is still Cupso, Mele and MI MI. Max and I tried showing him past and present drivers but he refused to point to who was who though you could see he knew”

“Well actually we might know who Cupso is”

Sebastian and Daniel looked at Fernando who stretched over to Lewis and pointed to one of the drawings, Lewis smiled and gave it to Fernando before he continued to move his drawings around, the spanish flipped the picture over and showed the other two, they could see the blonde lines for hair and the pink top with a blue and red microphone.

“Sky?”

“Yeah, he was trailing a Sky team when Lance got him”

“There potentially two of them and to be honest one of them I do not want to be calling”

Fernando nodded in understanding as did Sebastian so the Spanish driver pulled out his phone and swiped around till he found what he was looking for.

“So I tried what you and Max did but with Jenson and Nico but like you said he did not budge so I had to get creative. You guys remember how good Lewis was with picking out people just from their voices”

“Yeah”

“Watch this”

He pressed a button on his phone and a video could be heard, there was Crofty talking about something to do with the McLaren car when Jenson’s voice came over the speaker and Lewis’s head shot up from looking at his drawings and he looked around.

“Cupso?”

“Sorry my corazon just a video”

And there it was…

Another name crossed off the list of nicknames.

Just two more left.

Mele and Mi Mi.

Chapter Text

Cupso was Jenson.

But the real question was, were they going to let Jenson know about Lewis. Like keeping it from Fernando and Sebastian had been a big mistake but that was because Daneil had no clue how involved both drivers were with Lewis, yet none of them had a clue with Jenson like they had racked their brains for something but they were coming up short. Then Fernando was the one who suggested that they not tell Jenson and his reasoning for it was a good point.

If they told Jenson about little Lewis what would stop the blonde brit from talking to Nico.

Now that was something they all agreed at the moment.

Nico could not know about Lewis.

“So Batsy”

Sebastian looked over to Fernando who was wiggling his eyebrows, Daniel had popped out to take the takeaway boxes to the large bins outside the hotel, he rolled his eyes before looking down at Lewis who was curried snuggled into his arms, fast asleep.

Flashback

2016 had not been a good year for the Mercedes boys, watching as they tore each other apart and they had been childhood best friends, was hard. Sebastian knew he joked a lot with Kimi and a few others during the beginning of this Silver war about the pair taking each other out so he could pass but he had made those comments and jokes to be fun and light.

Not to hit where it could hurt.

In Abu Dhabi Lewis won the race but Nico had taken the championship.

Sebastian had thought the next year the pair could start repairing their friendship, he had seen their bond before the fights and it was something so unique and beautiful, there were times when he was jealous of Nico. 

Having Lewis’s attention, it was like having the sun on you.

Warm, Joyful, Loving

But then Nico had retired after winning the world championship and the Lewis that came back from the winter break was not the Lewis they knew from before the silver wars. He was reserved and kept to himself, he did not talk to anyone on the grid. And this had an effect on the drivers, there seemed to be more fights breaking out on the grid, Daniel wasn't cracking as many jokes, Fernando was behaving civilly and there was no mischief from him.

Suddenly their sun was gone and it was now raining all the time.

It hurted him to see Lewis like this.

This was all Nico’s fault 

However a thought occurred to Sebastian, he was jealous of the attention Nico was getting from Lewis but now the blonde germany driver was not here and that meant if they could get Lewis out of this funk, his attention was up for grabs and so far nobody had tried. That's when he could feel the cold hands of greed climbing into his skull.

‘You could have him all to yourself like Nico had’

Yes he was there with Ferrari colours but the need for winning and having the best from his Red Bull days still ran through his blood.

And selfish as it may be, Sebastian deserved to have the sun’s attention all for himself.

Sebastian had to wait for the perfect moment to try and grab Lewis by himself and he needed to take him somewhere away from racing then it happened, they had just finished a race and Lewis was catching a lift with Valterri to the next race.  He had waited in the area for the pair to arrive at the car and once they had with Lewis getting into the car first, did he then pounce. Running over and snatching the keys off of Valterri before sliding into the seat before starting the engine and taking off down the road.

“Sorry Valterri”

“What the hell Vettel!”

He was swerving around different cars and thankful there had been no police about for he was driving reckless that even Lewis was holding onto the door for dear life. It had not  taken him long to arrive at his destination and soon he was flying out the car then pulling Lewis out of the passenger side. The ocean view they had was beautiful, the sun was setting creating a beautiful display of oranges, red and yellow hues painted across the sky, the spot Sebastian had taken them to was a unknown ocean jumping cliff, the germany driver had made sure that Lewis had nothing of importance on him like his phone.

“Right take me back now Vettel”

“No”

And Sebastian had grabbed Lewis’s hand and with a sprint in his step and a lot of confidence. 

He had taken them both off the cliff and straight into the water.

When Sebastian broke the surface of the water, shaking his hair out of his face, his heart pounding loudly in his ears, he then turned to Lewis who had broken to the surface at the same time as him.

“You are crazy Seb, your looney as a bat, your batsy”

Being called looney may have upset Sebastian any other time but everything slowed down in that moment.

Lewis was smiling softly.

The smile you could see the gap in his teeth.

The smile as if the sun was sending rays towards you.

“I missed you”

It was silent in the water and even when they had gotten back to a small patch of beach, Sebastian was now starting to think he may have just screwed things up more and turned to Lewis to apologise when he noticed the Mercedes driver was looking at him, tears running down his face.

His heart broke into two.

Sebastian did not hesitate to pull Lewis into his arms and he deepened the hug when he felt the brit clutch onto him for dear life.

“Schatz I will always be here for you, you dont need to walk this life alone, I will walk through this hell with you, hand in hand”

When they pulled away, Lewis had stopped crying and he was smiling softly like before, there was life in his eyes. Sebastian grabbed Lewis’s face with his hands and vice versa before they were touching foreheads together.

“Schatz”

“Batsy”

Sebastian would do everything to keep his sun shining.

He was not going to share.

Flashback

And their sun had shined on for many years after that moment. 

Sebastian could not help but pull Lewis closer to him and a smile lit his face when Lewis had shifted a little, grabbing onto the collar of his shirt, mumbling in his sleep.

“Batsy”

He looked to Fernando who was smiling softly and then to Daniel who had entered the room quietly, Sebastian  raised his right index finger up in the air and the other two followed suit.

“To precious memories”

==========

With the race weekend beginning, Daniel and Fernando were a little busy and after the whole Greg situation that had been explained to him, Sebastian had been looking after Lewis in the special VIP area that was provided by Lawrence so the little driver got to watch and enjoy everything in the paddock but they did not have to worry about things like the Greg situation or running into other drivers. They all popped in from time to time, checking up on Lewis and getting their daily fix. Max had to pull Checo out of the door or they would have been late to their meeting which made Sebastian laugh, he could understand it. The Mexican had missed out on the soft play date because he had a promotion to shoot back in mexico.

Soon they were watching some of the quali Lewis was sitting on the floor, using the red crayon from his new crayon set that Lance had brought him. Sebastian could not help but laugh when he asked why he was using red and Lewis had pointed out the red cars on the screen looked so cool.

They were not far from the Ferrari building and Sebastian thought it would be nice to catch up with some of the guys. He had told Lewis he would only be a quick second and the boy nodded, he also let the Aston Martin team members that were in the VIP area he would be back quick.

Lewis had gotten bored of colouring and decided he was going to look for Sebastian, he had managed to get outside of the VIP area without anyone noticing. Co Co would be so proud of his ninja skills, he knew that Batsy was going to the building with the horse on the shield, he moved between the small driver rooms but quickly stopped and hide behind a large plant plot when he heard someone walk pass then he heard the sound of someone kicking a wall in anger so he peeked his head around and watched as a man in a red suit had pulled his foot away from the wall of the driver room, he clutched head with his hands before dropping down into a squatted position.

“How can I be so incredibly stupid, why can't I get it right”

He could hear the sadness and hurt in his voice. 

So Lewis did the one thing he knew would work.

=========

Carlos could not believe the quali lap he had just put in, how did he manage to put the car into the wall, not once, not twice but three times. The first two had been alright and there was barely damage to the car but the third time, the front right wheel had caved in on itself when he had connected to the wall.

He could hear the silence loud and clear from the team.

The pity looks from Charles and Sebastian who had popped out of nowhere.

Escaping it all behind the driver rooms, he had stopped and kicked the wall trying to release some of the anger out, his foot now hurt but it was a lot better than the sadness that was currently filling every part of him, threatening to spill over. He brought his hands to his head and crouched down, closing his eyes tightly almost wishing for this weekend to be over.

“How can I be so incredibly stupid, why can't I get it right”

It was quiet for a moment and Carlos was ready to let out a scream as it was now all overflowing out of  him but he stopped when he felt hands on top of his, small tiny hands. He opened his eyes and found himself staring into deep brown eyes that looked so worried.

“Not stupid, so brave”

And Carlos found himself being taken back into a memory.

Flashback

How had he fucked up so badly?

He could have had the podium finish today, he was predicted to be up there on that top step, listening to the spanish anthem but he had fucked up with the strategy in the pit stops and he had came into contact with the wall not once but twice. 

All Ferrari could do was look at him with pity while Charles was up there on the podium. 

Carlos had fled to a hidden spot behind the driver rooms, he had kicked a plant pot and punched the wall of one of the driver rooms and he let the tears that had built up towards the last leg of the race finally race down his cheeks, he dropped down into a crouching position, leaning his back on the wall as he brought his hands to his head, squeezing his eyes shut tightly.

“How can I be so incredibly stupid, why cant I get it right”

Suddenly he felt hands held tightly over his and when Carlos opened his eyes, he was looking into the deep brown eyes of Lewis who had his mouth in a tight line. The spanish driver tried to get a word out but the mercedes driver beat him to it.

“Not stupid at all. I see a driver who is hungry to chase that win and is so brave to take direction in his own way when his team is not pulling their weight to help him. I see many podiums in your future and will succeed in being champion one day, creating an inferno in your wake”

All he could do was let fresh tears run down his face but the overwhelming feeling of drowning was gone and he felt at peace so Carlos threw himself into Lewis, crying into the chest of the Mercedes driver who wrapped his arms around, pulling Carlos into a tight hug.

“Thank you Lewis”

“Ive got your back my habanero”

Flashback

“Lewis!?”

“Yeah Ba-ne”

Carlos let out a shaky sigh before he pulled the little driver into a bone crushing hug.

Thank the stars above it was nothing serious when they found out Lewis would not be driving for this season and potentially seasons after. When nobody could get anything from the Mercedes driver, he had gone totally silent like after the 2021 season, it had set panic in Carlos. Like he had said during his interview when that statement dropped, there was no way Lewis would miss a race.

Lewis lived and breathed these cars.

But he did not expect a little Lewis to be the rest.

“Ba-ne ok?”

“Yes, you helped me as always”

This earned him a toothy gap smile and those were some of the best smiled you could get out of Lewis. Now that he felt grounded, making sure Lewis was comfortable in his arms, Carlos stood up and wondered who was looking after the 7x world driver.

“Who’s caring for you pequeño?”

“Batsy”

Who the hell was Batsy?”

“That would be me”

Carlos turned around to find Sebastian not far from him, the German motioned for Carlos to follow and they ended back into the VIP area, the team members apologising when they noticed Lewis in Carlos’s arms but Sebastian had just waved his hand with a smile. He had a feeling Lewis wouldnt stay so he had stuck one of the phone tracker things in Lewis’s pocket and kept checking on his phone were Lewis was.

He placed Lewis down and the little driver ran over to his pictures then picked up the red car he had been drawing, bringing it over to Carlos who crouched down to be on Lewis’s level

“Look Ba-ne car, fast vroom”

Lewis had made the motion of a car flying with his hand and the little car sound coming out of his mouth was so damn adorable, Carlos looked up at Sebastian with an eyebrow raised.

“So it started back in…..”

Chapter Text

He could not believe what Sebastian had just explained to him.

Well in a sense he could. 

Carlos had grown up watching Fernando, Lewis, Sebastian, Checo and Daniel then was very fortunate to then work with them during his Torro Rossa years with Max, he had seen behind the PR smiles and it was a shark eat shark world back then on that grid, nothing like it was nowadays. No one was really friends with each other, well that was how Carlos had seen it, there was little respect among them all. 2016 had been the worst for it all, the silver wars, between Nico and Lewis but hearing Sebastian explain how he and Fernando reacted with Little Lewis, he understood it and though the grid before was a shark tank, everyone out for blood, there was one thing after that year, that brought the drivers together in agreement.

When Lewis was back to being the sun of the grid.

Lewis meant a lot to them.

Hearing the fondness in the way Sebastian spoke, maybe he had been wrong about the grid being a shark eat shark world. 

Behind the screens, they may have been more like family with each other and put up the front because the precious moments they had with each other, they wanted to keep to themselves and not share unlike the grid now who did not care about hiding, they all were about being upfront about it because they had legends backing them with it all.

Lewis and Sebastian

Fighting tooth and nail to change the world a little better.

Carlos looked down at Lewis who was currently in his lap, the 7x world champion was trying to colour in a picture he had drawn of the spanish driver, adding more yellow to the ferrari suit. He brought a hand up and brushed it through Lewis’s hair and this caused the little driver to lean more in the hand on his scalp, a relaxed sigh escaping his lips and this caused both Carlos and Sebastian to chuckle a little.

“So no one else other than Lance and Max on the currently grid knows about Lewis”

“And George but you're the first among everyone else to find out about Lewis”

Now seeing the way Sebastian had looked at him with eyes made of hard steel, he nodded in agreement to the silent question that hung in the air between them.

No one else would know.

Carlos would take this secret into a barrier on a race track.

“But you are the first he has nicknamed out of the other three which will be fun to see as Max and Lance have been trying so hard to one each other up on it”

A grin lit up his face as Carlos could not wait to see the fallen faces when Lewis called him by his nickname. He did feel a little guilty that he had this opportunity to meet the little driver before George and knowing the fact Red Bull were looking after him.

“Right come on then, you can help bring Lewis to Daniel”

At first Carlos was confused as to why Sebastian may need help but it wasn't till he carefully helped Lewis off his lap that once he stood up, Lewis was standing right in front of him with his arms stretched up and a pout on his lips, which made him look so adorable.

“ Pequeño?”

“Ba-ne no leave me”

He looked to Sebastian who was chuckling to himself as he watched before grabbing his jacket and an bag off one of the chairs, Carlos bent down and lifted Lewis into his arms, the little driver wrapped his arms around his neck and snuggled his face into his shoulder, Sebastian had taken a biscuit from the bag and handed it to Lewis before patting his head.

“Lewis tends to be clinging when he remembers people and afterwards those people do not want to let Lewis go”

At the mention of that Carlos had felt Lewis tighten his grip around his neck and the small mumble of Ba-ne, it lit his heart into an inferno and now he really understood the reactions of the older drivers in the story Sebastian had told him. 

The overwhelming love he had for Lewis in his arms.

He would not want to part with him either.

Once out on the grid, Sebastian had draped the jacket over Lewis so it hid the little driver but he could still see over Carlos’s shoulder. They were currently on their way to the Red Bull catering as that was where they were probably going to find the others, it was their meet up point though there had been some hidden arguments between Christian and Lawrence about it.

It was bad enough the drivers were feuding over Lewis and now these two.

Lewis had popped his hand with the biscuit in it out of the jacket fold but in getting it over Carlos’s shoulder, he had loosen his grip on the biscuit and it dropped to the floor, he was going to say something but the little driver lost his voice when he watched someone crouch down and pick it up his biscuit before staring straight at him.

Soft eyes staring into his deep brown eyes

His voice still lost to him as he reached out with the empty hand, tears building in the corner of his eyes.

The stranger had taken a step forward

Suddenly a large crowd of people had moved in between them, making Lewis lose sight of that person, he tucked his arm back in and snuggled his face into Carlos’s shoulder, feeling the spanish driver give him a squeeze.

“Lewis”

The name danced softly in the wind from the stranger, a heart wrenching softness to it.

=========

Fernando was sitting with Lance in the Red Bull catering with Max and Checo at the table while Daniel was pacing in front of them. They were currently waiting for Sebastian and Lewis, they had agreed to go out for a small picnic at the beach they had been at after the soft play date. 

“Where is he?”

“He’ll be here soon, Seb wouldn't of run off with him”

This had stopped Daniel from pacing but now all eyes were on Checo who raised his hands in front of him in defence.

Nobody could help but quietly think that, like they trusted Sebastian but what could stop the former driver from just upping and leaving with Lewis.

It wasnt long before Sebastian was stepping through the doors but watching the Ferrari driver Carlos following behind, had them all standing up in their chairs and Fernando could see Daniel looking over at Sebastian with a frown and a question in his eyes, they watched as Sebastian grabbed the jacket off of Lewis who was in Carlos’s arm till the other spanish driver had put him down then the little ran straight over to Daniel who picked him up with a smile.

“Look I found Ba-ne”

All eyes then went straight to Carlos who stood there awkwardly shuffling his feet but it was Sebastian who spoke first with a grin.

“Lewis found Carlos hidden by the driver rooms and it turns out this spanish youngest has a nickname already by little man”

“You have got to be kidding me”

They all turned to look at Lance and Max who had said that at the same time, they were frowning and suddenly the room was filled with laughter, Fernando knew both of them would be trying so hard now to get a nickname from Lewis. Daniel had finally taken a seat with Lewis in his lap before handing the little driver an apple juice who took it with both hands and a big smile.

“Thanky RiRi”

“So we just got our debriefs to do and then we can go have this picnic corazon”

Lewis had nodded, bouncing on Daniel’s lap very excited to be going back to the beach and with everyone. Fernando smiled as he rubbed the top of Lewis’s head and out of the corner of his eyes, he watched as Carlos had tried to sneak away but the little driver had seen and wriggled out of Daniel’s before running over to the Spanish driver and grabbing his hand, stopping Carlos in his tracks.

“No Ba-ne no go”

Watching Lewis pull Carlos over to Daniel, looking between the spanish and aussie driver.

“Ba-ne beach plees”

There was a long minute of silence between them all when Daniel stood up and clapped his hand onto Carlos’s shoulder, a big grin on his face.

“Of course, Welcome to the family”

============

Carlos had felt so much relief entering his body when Daniel had welcomed him basically into this strange family. He didnt know what he would have done had the aussie had said no, the spanish driver had thanked his luckiest stars he would not have to find out.

Currently he was sitting on the picnic blanket with Max sat next to him, watching the scene play out in front of them.

Stripped down to their swimming trunks. Sebastian, Fernando and Daniel were currently playing catch with each other, tossing Lewis gently between themselves and the little driver was laughing so loudly, a bright toothy smile lighting his face while Lance was standing on the shore line holding his phone up and probably taking some photos.

Hearing Lewis’s laughter ringing out on the beach, just set his heart on fire again and Carlos could not help but smile.

“Not fair you have a nickname before me”

Carlos turned to look at Max who was definitely pouting with his arms crossed over his knees, this made him chuckle before pushing the dutch driver.

“Im sure he has got one for you and Lance too, its suppose to be Habanero the nickname”

“Really”

“Yeah, I got this nickname from Lewis years ago during a low moment but he helped lift my spirits up, guessing habanero is too hard to say but Ba-ne is cute”

This caused both drivers to chuckle before Max patted Carlos’s back and soon the others joined them back onto the blanket, the dutch driver wrapped a blue towel around Lewis who had taken a seat in his lap. Food was being dished out and they began eating while watching the sunset over the ocean in the distance.

“Ri ri can I stay with Ba-ne?”

============

Carlos had made sure no one had seen Lewis when they had got back to his hotel room, he was still in disbelief that Daniel had allowed him to look after Lewis for the night, the spanish driver was very sure when Lewis had asked the aussie he would have straight up said no.

But who could resist Lewis.

Especially when the little driver was staring up with big eyes and saying please in that tiny voices.

Little Lewis could get away with murder.

Throwing the bag of clothes that Sebastian had given to him onto the bed, Carlos crouched down to ask Lewis what he wanted to do when suddenly his hotel door had been pushed open and someone had run straight into the room.

Carlos turned around quickly, pushing Lewis behind him and grabbing the hotel chair, lifting it ready to defend the little driver.

‘Protect, Protect, Protect’

A relief of sigh left his body when he noticed it was Lando who held up his hands in defence looking at Carlos before he noticed the movement behind him and the Mclaren driver peered his head to get a better look when suddenly his eyes widened and he brought a finger to point.

“ITS YOU”

“You”

Carlos watched as Lando’s hand flew from pointing at Lewis to cupping his nose and Lewis was pointing a finger towards the Mclaren driver as he popped his head out from hiding behind Carlos’s leg.

It then dawned on him.

Flashback

When he got the message to meet both of the Mclaren drivers at the medical centre he was very confused. 

There were no incidents on and off the track he had heard about.

Once there, Carlos was sent to the room the Mclaren boys were and opening the door, he found Oscar sat on a chair wiping tears out of his eyes with a large smile on his face while Lando was sat on the bed, his shirt was bloody and he had removed a bloody tissue from his nose to reveal the bluish bruising.

“What happened to you?”

“A fucking kid is what happened to him”

Carlos looked between them before looking back at Lando for an explanation.

“We were on our way back to the garage when this little kid in a mercedes race suit costumes had fallen over not far from us so I went to check on this kid, asking if he was ok, the little git head butts and runs off”

This caused Oscar to break out into a fit of laughter, probably remembering the scene in his head and this caused Lando to scowl while Carlos shook his head in disbelief.

There was no way a child had done this damage

Flashback

Lewis was the kid that had given Lando the black eye that travelled across the bridge of his nose.

He placed the chair down and looked behind him to Lewis who was currently looking at Lando with narrowed eyes, unsure if he could trust this new person then he looked to Lando who was looking at him motioning to Lewis behind him.

What the fuck.

Then suddenly the threat Sebastian, Fernando and Daniel had all given him when he left the beach with Lewis.

Do not let anyone see him.

“Shit”

Chapter Text

“Shit”

Lando was not meant to see Lewis.

He had promised the three older drivers that he would get Lewis to and from his hotel without anyone seeing him. 

They were gonna kill him.

Carlos had made sure that the little driver was concealed, he had used the back entrance and avoided everyone in the hotel. His own hallway was empty when he made it back to his room but he had forgotten to lock his door, Lando was probably lying in wait to ambush the Spaniard about his quali. All he could see in his mind was Daniel taking Lewis away from him and refusing the little driver to see him, he would be put in the same category as someone called Greg, a panic set his body alight before he turned to Lando.

“You will say nothing about pequeno, they will not take him from me”

“No leave Ba-ne”

Lewis had taken his eyes off of Lando and was now looking worried as he clutched on to Carlos’s leg, shaking his head at the thoughts that were crawling inside him. The Spaniard dropped down onto his knees and pulled the little driver into his arms, whispering reassuring words into his hair before pulling back to send him a smile to ease the worries he could see in the deep brown eyes.

“No, no, no”

“Lewis!?”

Both Lewis and Carlos turned their heads to stare at Lando.

He honestly thought Lando would take a longer time to make any sort of connection that this was Lewis.

How wrong he was.

The little driver nodded his head and suddenly Lando had dropped to his knees, there were a few tears running down his face and this had shocked Carlos for a second but then he had remembered how worried Lando had been when he had heard the statement from Mercedes, sometimes he forgot that like him and George, the Mclaren driver had looked up to Lewis in his childhood, watching the 7x world driving against the likes of Kimi, Fernando, Mark on the grid. The younger Brit wiped his cheeks and placed his hands on his knees, trying to calm his breathing a little, he looked from Lewis to Carlos.

“Like Motogp with Rossi years ago”

Carlos nodded and slowly made his way over to Lando, he placed a hand on his shoulder and gave a little squeeze.

“When there were people going on about retirement, I knew that couldn't be it, there was no way Lewis was leaving, he lives for this sport. Now it makes sense as to why Sebastian is here and he barely makes an appearance at any of the races, God who else knows?”

Lando began a small parade of questions, firing them off quickly to Carlos and soon the Spaniard was getting annoyed so he quickly covered the brits mouth with his hand and let out a sigh.

“There are a few others but you have got to keep this to yourself, you can tell Oscar is this clear”

He let go of Lando’s mouth once he saw the nod, Carlos dropped to sit on the carpet, they both looked at each other before turning to Lewis who was staring at them with a curious gaze, his head tilted to the left side suddenly Lando stood up and shot out of the room before Carlos could say something, they both listened to the door slam shut and the spanish driver got up and headed to over to close the door so the previous incident would not happy again but just as he reached out to twist the lock, the door swung back open and Lando had rushed in with something large and soft in his hands. Carlos tumbled onto his back and groaned when he pushed himself up when he caught Lewis’s shocked face and Lando crouched down holding….

A large plushie of a bulldog.

Looking a lot like Roscoe.

“At the track I had seen this fan with this, they wanted to give it to Mercedes for Lewis but they had ignored them so I took it saying I would give it to him”

Before Carlos could say something to the Mclaren driver, Lewis let out a shriek and launched himself at Lando and the plushie.

“Doggie!”

Lando was sat so still that he had held his breath in as he and Carlos watched as Lewis had taken the plushie into his arms as he sat on Lando’s lap, he was squealing as he pressed the plushie into his face before pulling it away and looking up at Lando, Carlos had gotten up and had moved over to the pair not before locking the hotel door,

“Pequeno?”

Next thing they knew was Lewis had wrapped his arms around Lando.

“Thanky Thanky”

The younger brit driver looked to Carlos who shrugged his shoulders with a smile on his face then they watched as Lewis had let go of Lando and was standing in front of the Lando, the little driver was looking down at his feet with a sad pout on his face before rubbing his foot into the carpet then he looked up at Lando, pointing to his own nose.

“I'm sorry”

Lewis was apologising for the headbutt incident, Lando waved his hands in front of him with a smile.

“No its ok, I shouldnt of picked you up without asking, its ok, all good now see”

This brought a smile onto Lewis’s face and Lando opened his arms up, hoping he could get another cuddle from the little driver and he was rewarded when Lewis had stepped into his arms and gave him a quick hug before turning his attention the the plushie, picking it up and bringing it over to show Carlos.

“Look Ba-ne, doggie”

“Very cute pequeno, just like roscoe”

Carlos picked up Lewis and the plushie in his arms before placing them onto the bed, he watched Lewis snuggle into the pillow, whispering into the plushie then the spanish driver who turned to look at Lando who was rising to his feet, staring at Lewis before turning his attention to Carlos.

“Came to talk about quali”

A sigh escaped his lips as Carlos sat on the bed facing Lando who had pulled the chair to sit in front of him, a concerned look spreading on his face.

“Not great but that's how I found Lewis, well more like he found me”

“Yeah?”

“It was like before, the story of how I got the nickname of Habanero from Lewis except rather than adult Lewis finding me it was little version”

Both Carlos and Lando chuckled before the Mclaren driver placed a hand on the Spaniard's shoulder, giving it a little squeeze and a small smile. Carlos nodded with a smile, he was glad to have a friend in Lando, their days of being teammates were fun times and he knew he could always count on his friend to support him through some tough times.

“Its tough and I know some of the others are struggling especially with Lewis not there”

“Yeah Zhou says Valterri is taking it hard”

The whole grid had been taking it hard but there had been others who were not dealing with the loss of the 7x world champion.

“So you're having a sleepover with him?”

“Yeah, Sebastian said that Lewis likes to cling to people and pequeno does not want to leave his Ba-ne”

Carlos turned his head around when he had felt tiny hands on his back, carefully he pulled Lewis onto his lap and smiled at the little driver. Letting out a relaxed sigh, he pulled Lewis into a hug before pulling back, seeing Lando looking softly at Lewis.

“He is cute being this small”

“You haven't seen the best yet of pequeno”

“So what have you got planned tonight”

“To be honest I hadnt really thought it through yet, we were ambushed by you”

“Yeah sorry about that but at least I wasnt gonna hit you with the chair, a chair really”

Both men started to chuckle and then it went really quiet between them, Lewis was sitting patiently on Carlos lap. He looked down at the little driver, Carlos was trying to think of what he could do with Lewis. He didnt want to leave the little driver bored and when Daniel picked him up in the morning, probably telling the aussie it was the worst night he had and didnt want to hang out with Ba-ne again, probably wanting to spend time with Max or Lance. Carlos was being pulled into his own mind so the smile on his face had dropped to a frown, Lewis was confused and tried calling out to Carlos but the driver was lost to his thoughts so he turned to Lando unsure what to say however Lando knew and with a smirk stood up and flicked Carlos on the nose.

“What the hell!”

“Blanket fort and movies”

Carlos and Lewis looked at Lando who was grinning taking a step back from the spaniard as the little driver had thrown him a very angry look when he had flicked Carlos.

“You are brilliant Lando”

“I know”

Carlos had moved to put Lewis down in the chair in the far corner when he started rearranging the mattress and blankets around to create some sort of blanket fort, Lando took this as his que to leave. However as soon as he was not far from the door, he felt a tug on his jeans and looked down to see Lewis and even Carlos had stopped what he was doing to watch them, not saying anything.

“Lando not staying?”

“I…”

Lando looked to Carlos with an expression that said help me, I dont know what to say to this tiny child.

“Pequeno? Do you want Lando to stay?”

Lewis looked between Lando and Carlos before facing the spaniard.

“Plees”

“Lando do you want to stay?”

The Mclaren looked to Carlos who was grinning and then looked down to Lewis who was looking up at him with those big brown eyes and a small pout on his lips, it was like an arrow had struck his heart, he closed his eyes and placed a hand over his chest before scooping up Lewis in his arms, the little driver squealing.

“Of course, this is your captain speaking, Flight Lulu is ready for take off”

“Heeheehee”

“Right Carlos go to my room, grab my sheets, Lulu and Captain Lando are taking over this poor blanket fort making”

================

Daniel was standing in the room with his arms crossed over his chest, a sigh escaping his lips and turned to Carlos who was looking at his feet, rubbing a hand at the back of his head.

“It was by accident, Lando bursted into my room last night and things went from there”

The aussie looked away from Carlos to see Lando laying on his back in a blanket fort, he was holding his phone reading a story to a Lewis who was snuggled into the Mclaren driver and the other side of him was a plushie that looked like Roscoe.

There was no more holding this back now.

He needed to do this now, the aussie could not have anymore drivers meeting little Lewis before this person, Fernando’s words ringing in his ears.

Daniel was going to take Lewis to meet George.

Chapter Text

“Where we going Ri Ri?”

Daniel turned his head to look at the little driver in the passage seat, strapped into the car seat that Christian had provided which the Red Bull team principal had been smug to have upped one over Lawrence. The Aussie could see Lewis was looking at him curiously before turning his attention back onto the road, taking a left turn and letting out a sigh.

“We are going to visit someone I should of taken you to see a lot earlier than this”

“Who”

“Someone who was special to big you but little you has forgotten, he’s been very sad”

“No like sad people, hurt here”

He looked out of the corner of his eyes, Daniel had watched Lewis point to over chest where his heart would be and this made the aussie choke up a little bit. Reaching over, Daniel took Lewis’s little hand into his and gave it a big squeeze before pulling over to the side of the road, he turned off the engine and turned to Lewis, quickly unclipping the little driver and pulling him into his lap.

“That is why we are going to go see George, we going to make him happy again”

“George”

“The tall man”

Feeling the tension still Lewis’s body in his arms, he knew that the first impression of George, little Lewis had was not a good one. George had reacted with all his emotions on his sleeve, this seemed to be a trait that all Mercedes drivers seemed to have. He could understand that all George wanted to do when he had been in the Red bull garage that day was to protect Lewis like the older driver had for him when George had first started out in Mercedes but he had not realised Lewis had forgotten several people and his mind was set back to the 2014 grid with a few exceptions such as Carlos and Checo.

“He only wanted to protect you”

“Like Mele, Ri Ri, Mi MI, Max, Batsy, Rella and Cupso”

Daniel nodded as he looked at Lewis, he felt happy that he had been named second in that list but yet again this Mele was always topping them all. He would have to tell Max that he had been given a fourth name drop in the list of people who would protect Lewis and then right by his name was Mi Mi.

Who were these people that Lewis regarded so highly?

“I know it will be scary but we gotta be brave, Ri Ri was scared to see him and now I'm trying to be big, can you help me”

Lewis nodded with a smile so Daniel gave him a quick squeeze before strapping him back into the car seat then they were back off on the road. Now Daniel was a little worried as to how George was going to react, the aussie had tried to message and call the tall brit before Sebastian had turned up but he was met with silence and that he could understand, he had been unkind to George with the whole Lewis and having Fernando bring up his selfishness was not fun. 

Daniel had managed to get Lando who had contacted Alex as to the whereabouts of George.

After a kind of long drive, Daniel found himself pulling into a car park and was looking into several different tennis courts. Getting out himself before getting Lewis out, he placed a pair of sunnies on himself and then on Lewis, holding his hand as they moved quietly around the tennis courts lucky enough the people who were playing seemed to be stuck up rich snobs, the aussie couldn't help but chuckle to himself, he knew Lewis would of made some sort of ridiculous joke. Finally they had made it to the court that held George.

“Cant see”

Reaching down he picked up Lewis and held him to watch George serve a powerful backhand to his opponent who failed to reach it on his side of the court.

“Wow”

“Yeah bud wow”

They both watched as George clenched his fist in victory, grinning but that fell straight away the moment the tall Brit had locked eyes with Daniel as he had turned around. The aussie gave a little wave before approaching the fence but George did not move from his spot and now this was starting to make him nervous.

“Be brave Ri Ri”

That's right, he had to show Lewis it was okay, Daniel had to show Lewis that George could be trusted and he wasn't the scary tall man back from the start so slowly taking in a deep breath.

“Can we talk George?”

George’s opponent had left the court already, sensing something was going to go down and they did not want any part of it. The tall brit looked down at his racket before motioning for Daniel to come in and headed to the small bench. Daniel took this small victory and made his way in, he gently put Lewis down and the little driver had been distracted by the yellow tennis balls lying around the court, the aussie made his way to the bench and took a seat next to George with a good enough gap between them.

“Your a hard man to talk to”

“Because Red bull made it clear to stay away”

This had shut down his joke quickly, Daniel brought his hand up to his neck to rub it, he could see George had taken a sip of his drink but had not looked at him rather he was watching Lewis who was running around trying to pick up the tennis balls, the little drivers laughter ringing around when one of the balls escaped his grasp and was rolling away. A soft smile gracing the tall brit’s face, Daniel let out a sigh before placing both hands onto his knees.

“Look I just wanted to apologise to you George, I've been selfish with Lewis and I did not take into account your feelings about it all. You were only trying to protect your teammate and friend. So this is me extending that olive branch to you however this is still on his terms but Lewis only remembers a lot of the 2014 grid with a few exceptions”

It was silent for a second only with Lewis’s laughter filling in the background.

Daniel was ready to flee as the awkwardness was starting to feel a little bit too much.

“Thank you Daniel, it's been hard at Mercedes, everyone is suddenly looking to me to lead and I can't be like Lewis, they expect me to be him. Last season I suffered a lot of anxiety and private mental stress that Lewis has been helping me through so to lose that support and suddenly he cant remember you, looking at you with only fear it took my soul and left an empty shell”

“George…”

The tall brit raised his hand to stop the aussie, he let out a small chuckle before pushing his hand through his hair.

“Like Alex knows a little but not the whole story like Lewis does. I understand like where you came from, hell some of us youngsters were envious how easy it was for you guys, the old grid to be around Lewis, you could command his attention with so much ease yet we had to work hard to get it. Like you should have seen how angry Charles got of Sebastian. Guessing he’s around because of Lewis”

“Yeah Fernando overheard you and Bono talking, managed to get hold of Lewis and then let Sebastian know. Be glad you werent on the end of that fury”

Both chuckled together before a calm wind breezed through the silence, Daniel turned to look at George and finally the young brit looked back at him.

“I want you to be there to help George, Ive been selfish because of mistakes and regrets in my past but I'm learning that Ive got to share this Lewis love. Will you be there?”

“Of course Daniel, I wouldnt want anything else”

The aussie held out his fist and the young brit tapped his fist on his, all problems forgiven.

“LewLew!”

George watched as Lewis had looked up and turned to Daniel before running over to the pair, he stopped by Daniel and the aussie bent down whispering something into the little drivers ear before moving back, he watched as Lewis shuffled towards him, George could still see a little fear in his deep brown eyes and it broke him, he watched as Lewis was about to say something but he quickly landed on his knees in front of Lewis.

“I'm sorry for being mean and yelling loads at Max and Daniel and the other people”

“George you don't have…”

Holding his hand up to stop Daniel, George kept his eyes on Lewis who looked a little shocked. Adult Lewis had always told him to own up to his mistakes first, to take the first step and the tall Brit did not want Little Lewis to be walking around him on eggshells.

“Can we be friends?”

“Yeah”

This had lit a bright smile on Lewis’s  face in front of him and George couldnt help but smile back then what shocked him next was Lewis had approached him, wrapping his small arms around him, giving him a cuddle and whispering into his chest.

“Ri Ri say you sad lots, no sad”

George could not help the tears that flow out of his eyes as he looked down at Lewis, he could make out Daniel calling out his name and dropping next to him as sobs began to rack through his body, he watched as Lewis pulled back to look at him and his small deep brown eyes widening before bringing himself back into a hug, the squeeze Lewis had on him was a lot tighter than before.

“Cuddles make it better, no sad no more plees”

He had felt Daniel’s hand on his back and the soft whispers of its ok from the aussie so slowly he lifted his arms up and wrapped them around Lewis, waiting a second just incase the little driver did not like it but Lewis had not move rather snuggled closer to him so George brought him into a firm hug, burying his face into Lewis’s hair.

“Happy tears big guy, not sad, happy that we are friends”

After the small emotional cuddle and George had wiped his tears away, both him and Daniel reassuring Lewis that the tall brit was happy now and no longer sad, they were playing with the tennis balls, the aussie was carefully batting them over the net and the two mercedes drivers were running to grab them quickly.

“Too quick for me big guy”

“George very slow Ri Ri”

They sat down on the side, taking a breather for a moment. Lewis was laying his head on Daniels lap as the aussie was running his hand over the little driver's nose and his eyes were starting to flutter close, Lewis was holding onto George’s hand in a firm grip, not wanting to let go of the tall brits hand.

“So what do you have planned for the two week break?”

“Max’s got a small yacht that we are gonna sail around monaco for a bit”

“Sounds good, He’ll love being on a boat”

“We’ll try and arrange a small little play date, I've got a few others to schedule in but you’ll be top list”

“Thank you Daniel, means a lot”

Any guilt that Daniel had before was now gone, now that was sorted with, next mission was to figure out Mele and MI MI.

Chapter Text

“Daniel you have to put suncream on, he stills needs it”

“Nah he will be fine Max”

“We all can't tan like you and he’s a child, he still needs it”

Max shook his head as he pushed Daniel out the way before crouching down in front of Lewis who was looking between them, the dutchman was holding a bottle of suncream and squeezed a little onto his hands before carefully rubbing some of it onto Lewis’s face and then his arms. He turned frowning to the Aussie before snatching the green bucket hat that Lando had given them just before the two week break, currently they were back in monaco and for a couple of days, Max had rented out a yacht to enjoy cruising around the waters with, having invited Daniel and Lewis to join him.

Gently he placed the bucket hat on Lewis with a soft smile.

“There all protected from that sun”

“Thanky Max”

He watched as the little driver moved over to the white sofa, pulling himself to watch the other boats sailing by. Max stood up and moved next to Daniel with a sigh, the aussie bumped into him and the Dutchman looked at him.

“You’ll get that nickname”

Soon he was sat next to Lewis as they watched Daniel jump off the side into the water, he asked did he want to go swimming with Daniel but Lewis had shook his head, clinging to the bulldog plushie that they had brought onboard, they had tried to leave it at Max’s house but the little driver had broken down that he couldn't take it with them and straight away the two of them caved and bought the plushie with them as they hated seeing Lewis cry. Max had laughed when he watched as Daniel had tried a handstand but failed. He turned to look at Lewis to say something but stopped when he noticed the little driver was quiet, just staring at the boats sailing in the distance.

This was very unlike Lewis.

He was way too quiet for this.

“Hey you ok Lewis?”

He received a little nod and a smile before Lewis turned back, Max waved at Daniel with a frown and the aussie had noticed something was amiss so Daniel swam back to the platform and was straight back to them with concern gracing his features.

“Everything ok?”

Max tipped his head into Lewis’s direction and he watched as Daniel crouched down to Lewis and was talking to the little driver who pointed to the boats in the distance, soon Daniel placed his hand onto Lewis’s forehead before standing back up.

“Lets get some food”

Both he and Daniel moved over to the table, where he began to cut up some watermelon before turning to Daniel who was cutting up some strawberries to add to their bowls.

“He’s never not like this Dan”

“He doesnt feel warm Max, maybe where we arent racing and by the cars, hes calmed down”

Watching Daniel shrug before walking into the open room, to look through the fridge for a chill bottle of water. Max was still convinced something was not right, so he turned to look at Lewis before standing by the open patio doors to watch Daniel who was looking for a small sippy cup for the little driver.

They had not noticed Lewis was waving to another yacht in the distance.

The few men on the yacht waved back except for one who had stood up and looked over to their yacht.

Lewis smiled when the people had waved back to him, he was standing up on the sofa, looking at the boats. He noticed the one man who did not wave back, pull off his sunglasses off his face but the little driver could not make out any features of the man other than the short blonde hair. He then watched as this man had jumped off his yacht, popping out the water to talk to his friends before pointing this way. Lewis tilted his head in confusion as he watched as the man was swimming towards Max’s yacht. 

He looked over to Max and Daniel who were still talking by the patio doors. Lewis climbed down the sofa and slowly moved across the deck and towards the steps, taking one more look behind him before making his way down the stairs slowly to the platform Max and Daniel got on when they went swimming in the ocean. When the little driver got to the bottom of the stairs, he stayed by the bottom step clutching the rail, waiting to see if the man had appeared and it wasn't long before the man was pulling himself up to the platform in a half kneeling position, looking up and finally Lewis could see who he was.

“I knew what I saw”

“Mi Mi”

Lewis had whispered the nickname before making his way to the man, he was pulled into strong arms and he rested his head on the shoulder, wrapping his arms around the neck. He felt the firm rub on his back to let him know it was ok.

“Where”

Pointing back to the stairs, Lewis felt the man stand up with no ease and soon the pair were back upstairs where Daniel and Max hadn't moved from their position by the patio door, still in conversation but Lewis watched as Max had turned around, eyes widening.

“Daniel…”

“What Max?”

“Ermm”

Daniel had closed the cupboard door and held the sippy cup in his hand turning to look at Max who just pointed out to the deck so he followed where the dutchman was pointing to and the sippy cup fell out of his hand. 

There on the deck was Lewis and he was being held by.

Kimi Raikken 

That was not a sight he thought he would ever see.

“Look Ri Ri, MI MI found us”

This was not who he thought Mi MI could be.

“When”

“Start of the season”

“Who”

“Me, Max, George, Fernando, Lance, Sebastian, Carlos, Lando” 

“Care”

“Im looking after him, the Hamilton family have put their trust in me and Red Bull alongside Aston Martin are helping with resources and the race accommodations” 

After the shock of having Kimi on the yacht and going through the questioning that felt like an interrogation,  the Finnish driver had taken the water sippy cup Daniel had finally prepared for Lewis, he had sat down on the white deck sofas stretching out his limbs. His arms stretched out horizontal on the top of the deck sofa  and Lewis was sitting on his lap facing the finn. Max and Daniel stood by the table, unsure what to do as when they had approached to sit next to the pair, Kimi had looked at him with cold blue eyes and straight away they backed off.

“I didnt think Kimi and Lewis were close on the grid”

“No not at all”

Daniel can not recall at any point seeing the two drivers close other than when on the podium together. He would have to ask Sebastian about it but the aussie had a feeling that the germany had no idea of this. 

All he could do was watch Kimi and Lewis.

Kimi turned his head to Max and Daniel before letting out a breath through his nose then turned to look at Lewis who was fiddling with the hat on his head, he placed a hand on Lewis’s back, soft dark coal eyes looking at him.

“You are happy”

“Ri Ri looks after me, Max too”

“The Others too”

Lewis nodded with a soft smile, Kimi was rubbing his back and he felt happy to find him.

“Happy to find Mi Mi, was scared when I couldnt find everyone”

“Have you found everyone”

The little driver shook his head and looked down at his hands in his lap, Kimi held him firmly with one hand as he moved to sit up more straight, a frown appearing as he looked down at Lewis.

“Who have you not found”

“Mele and Cupso”

Kimi had caught the side eye look towards the two drivers at the patio doors.

“Tell me what's wrong Muru”

The finnish driver pulled Lewis to lay his head on his chest, making sure the little driver was facing away from Daniel and Max, he felt Lewis snuggle his head into his neck. Small breaths blowing hot air on his neck, Kimi rubbed small circles on his back.

“I saw Cupso lots but they all hide me”

Kimi knew that meant they had been keeping Lewis away from Cupso and he could not believe the others did not notice that of course Lewis had noticed. Lewis was very switched on as an adult, he wasn't a 7x world champion for nothing but as a child, he was more switched on than before. He knew the others were blinded by the young appearance but not him, seeing Lewis this little had been a shock. When his friends were waving to a little boy from another yacht who had been waving to them, he had to take a double look at the boy. 

Upon swimming over, he had clearly seen a young Lewis Hamilton and seeing those soft coal eyes look at him and a nickname he had not heard in awhile. He could not wait to hold his Muru and find out who was caring for the little driver. 

He had seen something lurking in those deep coal eyes.

A look he had seen a few times with Lewis.

When the driver had carried so much anguish.

“Ri Ri and Batsy say I forgot others, make them sad”

“What about Mele”

“I can't find.. him, I…cant.. f..in..d”

The Finnish driver turned his head and placed a kiss on Lewis’s head when he could feel Lewis shake in his arms, the feeling of tears running down his neck.  Soon he slowly rocked the little driver in his arms and he felt Lewis go limp, light snores coming from him as the sandman had claimed him for the land of sleep. He stood up carefully and made his way over to the pair, Kimi passed Lewis over to Daniel who with Max took Lewis in to put him down on Daniel’s bed.

Kimi moved over to his phone that he had gotten from his friends when they passed by, he pressed a button and held the phone to his ear, hearing the short hello at the other end, the finnish driver looked back at the doors with a frown.

“Hei, sinun täytyy nyt päästä veneelleni”

Chapter Text

Kimi refused to go.

It had been awhile since Daniel and Max had both returned from putting Lewis down, after his short phone call he found himself sat down on the sofa with his sunglasses resting on the top of his head, the two other drivers sat down on the sofa opposite him and all he could do was stare at them with his cold blue eyes with his arms crossed over his chest. In all honesty, Max had thought the finnish man would of left by now but Kimi was refusing to move and the mood that had been circling round the yacht since the iceman stepped aboard was starting to get worst.

“We should ask him to leave”

“We cant, if Lewis wakes up and Kimi is not here, god knows what the reaction might be”

Both men turned to each other, whispering quietly before turning to Kimi who had received a message on his phone, he had typed out a reply but was looking at them as he did it. Daniel rubbed the back of his neck before putting his hands on his knees.

“So Mi mi…”

“Yes”

The look they received ended any conversation about the nickname.

Suddenly there was a little cry echoing through the yacht and Daniel shot up, running back inside through the patio doors. Max and Kimi had also stood up but remained where they were, both men were looking at the doors before turning to each other and the mood now felt cold like the antarctica, the dutchman and the finn glaring at each other. Max took a step forward, had this been himself maybe back in 2014, there would be no way he would be squaring up to Kimi, the iceman of the grid but he was a 3x world champion and he would not back down.

Definitely not when he had heard the names of Mele and Cupso in snippets of conversation between Lewis and Kimi.

There had always been confusion in the face of every driver so far when they had heard the 5 nicknames however not with Kimi, there had been a look of knowing.

He knew who they were.

Of course they knew who Cupso was but Mele was a mystery.

“You know”

“Of”

“Mele and Cupso”

Daniel had been too afraid to say anything but Max was not. Kimi had taken a step forward and the men were almost bumping chests, the Dutchman looking slightly down at Kimi and that he was glad he had a little bit more height to the Finnish man.

“Tell us”

“No”

This brought out a small growl from Max as he narrowed his eyes at Kimi. Of course they had agreed that they would not be contacting Jenson and they all had their own theories about who Mele could be but they were all sure that there was no way Mele was Nico Rosberg at all. It was summarised that Lewis was somewhere remembering the 2014/2015 grid and at that time, his relationship with Nico was spiralling into a dark pit so there was no way that Mele and Nico were the same person. 

All Max wanted to do was to help Lewis, make the little driver happy, to see him smile.

Being at the end of a Lewis Hamilton smile was everything.

“Max, Mi MI”

Max turned his head and watched as Daniel had stepped out of the patio doors with Lewis in his arms, the little driver was rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and a yawn escaping his lips then a small smile spread on his lips. The aussie put Lewis down and the little driver moved his little legs over to the two men, the dutchman crouched down and opened his arms just as Kimi had stepped back. Lewis threw his arms around Max in a tight hug before pulling back to look up at Max.

“You ok? Bad dream?”

“Yeaa”

“Its ok, we are all still here”

Lewis had nodded and went in for another hug with Max before turning to Kimi with his arms raised up and the Finnish man did not hesitate to pick up the small drive, Kimi looked at him  with a warm smile.

“hän on tulossa”

“Who?”

“Metsä”

Both Daniel and Max looked at each other with concern in their eyes, neither of them spoke or understood the Finnish language but when Kimi had said that small sentence to Lewis, the little driver had turned to Kimi with an understanding of what had been said. 

Since when did Lewis know Finnish.

Max had stood up and took a step forward while the Finnish man had taken a step back, Daniel had now moved closer to them as well. 

There was now the worry of Kimi doing something they would not agree on.

The dutchman looked ready to rip Lewis out of Kimi’s arms as was Daniel but they knew in doing so that they would upset the little driver and the iceman would literally kill them with his bare hands if they did that, they could see it in his eyes. Suddenly there was another yacht pulling up next to theirs which Max had recognised as Kimi’s, they could hear below, that they were connecting the two yachts with a walkway. 

“Hold on”

Daniel and Max frowned for a second when they heard Kimi and Lewis was clutching tight onto Kimi when suddenly the finnish man had darted to the left, Max had seen small movement and dived to take Lewis but was met with the sofa, Kimi had side stepped Daniel and was flying down the stairs, both Max and Daniel scrambling after him.

They were in a shock of panic, there was no way Kimi was going to take Lewis from them. 

Daniel was frantic while Max was ready for murder.

Soon they were on Kimi’s boat, trailing after the man in question. The Finnish man was quick and thankful they could hear Lewis laughing, the little driver was thinking this was a game between them, so unaware of what was really going on.

“Raikkonen!”

The man in questioned had pulled a stack of chairs over behind him which Daniel had jumped over and Max had slide over the railing to avoid, Kimi had turned left and made his way up some stairs but just as the two others were going to follow up, a crate came rolling down the stairs and Max had pulled Daniel back to avoid being hit. 

“Thanks”

“Yeah no problem”

Taking two steps at a time, Max and Daniel had found themselves at the top very quickly and reached a small deck area that could not be seen from Max’s yacht. There stood in the middle was Lewis who was looking forward with Kimi crouching next to him facing the stairs, the Finnish man looking ready to tackle them and both Max and Daniel were ready to take on Kimi, missing the fourth person standing with them on the deck.

“Lewis?”

Daniel and Max had stopped still,  finally noticing the fourth person on that deck with them.

Valterri Bottas

A silence was settled on that deck before the sound of feet running on the deck echoed.

They all watched as Lewis ran forward and threw himself into Valterri who had crouched down and take the full force of the little driver, Valterri had buried his head into Lewis’s little shoulder as he wrapped his arms around. Daniel and Max looked at each other before turning to Kimi who had stood up and made his way over to them, he was breathing a little heavy as were they.

They were made for race cars not running and chasing one another.

“How…”

“I called him”

“Why?”

Kimi had turned to them with such a heated gaze and this was the first time Max and Daniel had ever heard Kimi, the iceman of the grid, a person who barely spoke to anyone.

“When that statement had dropped, Valterri got in touch with me, panicked in his voice asking if I knew anything about Lewis. Since then, it has been hell for him not knowing anything. Did you suddenly forget Valterri had been Lewis' teammate for about 5yrs? That they are close friends. Seb wasnt the only one who was there for Lewis after the whole Nico saga. He may take credit in pulling him out but Valterri was there too as was I, we helped in getting him out of that darkness”

They all turned to look at the previous Mercedes teammates.

Valterri still had not removed his grip from Lewis and neither did the little driver. They could see from where they were standing that the sauber driver was shaking, probably crying and this drove a stake through Daniel’s heart. God not another one, Daniel was not sure how many more hits he could take like this and the aussie was now sure, he would have to sit down and go through the current grid pictures with Lewis.

“I didnt know…”

“We made it that way. We arent as open as Seb is”

“Im sorry”

“I dont want it, I dont need it but you will get on your knees for Valterri”

Max was about to say something but Daniel shook his head turning to look at Kimi who was looking at him as if he was hell itself. 

This was not how he had pictured his two weeks with Lewis and Max going.

Definitely not reuniting with two Finnish drivers.

Chapter Text

Valterri had not expected the call from Kimi.

Definitely not Kimi telling him to get to his boat, thankfully he was in Monaco so he could, originally he had been invited by the other finn to join him but Valterri had declined as he was not in the mood. He knew his friend was trying to help, the loss of Lewis was affecting him and the fact he couldn't get hold of him which was never an issue. When he had departed from Mercedes, Lewis had made sure that their friendship would not get lost in the move whereas Valterri was prepared to lose that closeness.

There was no way Lewis would want to stay friends, sometimes it was a given that friendships did not last in that sport.

Lewis however was determined to prove him wrong.

Flashback

It was during a 2 week break that Valterri had decided he needed to escape the loud noise of everything. Things were not going well within the team and the car had been fighting him had left a bitter taste in his mouth and to top that he had decided to distance himself from Lewis, the slander the mercedes driver got for his friendship with the finn was putting so much doubt and after several weeks, Valterri had stopped responding to the 7x world champion.

His mental health was taking a nosedive.

So he packed up his things in Monaco and escaped back into the cold snowy land of Finland. 

The noise of everything was dying down in his head and for once he felt at peace. Valterri sat down on the sofa holding a cup of coffee as he enjoyed the warmth of the fire in front of him, the snowstorm batting against the window to his left.

Suddenly there was a banging behind him, Valterri looked to the window before staring at the door when the loud banging began again.

Who the hell was out in this snowstorm?

Placing his mug of coffee down onto the table, Valterri moved to the door but grabbed his hockey stick in case it was an attack of some sort. He wrenched the door open with as much strength as he could due to the wind pulling the door to stay in its closed position. Valterri looked at the person standing at his door and the hockey stick fell out of his grip, a thud echoing over the raging snowstorm.

“Lewis!?”

There was no way the 7x world champion was standing there at his door, this had to be an illusion of some sort. 

Never would Lewis Hamilton trek through a snowstorm for him.

Hell travel to FInland, Lewis had always brought up his hatred of the snow.

“Metsä”

Suddenly Valterri found himself being pulled into a large hug from Lewis, the Finnish man could not help but bury his head into Lewis’s shoulder, ignoring the snow and the few tears building up in the corner of his eyes. He had never thought he would hear that nickname, a memory of him teaching Lewis some finnish words while they were in Spa that weekend, explaining that Metsä was forest and suddenly Lewis deciding that was going to be his nickname, Valterri had turned to Lewis with a raised eyebrow and a question of why on his lips.

‘Your strong like the trees, as peaceful as the wind in the leaves and you bring me comfort as if I was standing in a forest, listening to everything as to ground my core’

Valterri had coughed trying so hard to hide the blush that was spreading on his cheeks, Lewis had slung an arm over his shoulder with a sunny smile on his lips asking for more words.

After the hug, they were both back inside the cabin. Valterri stood by the sofa as Lewis was standing by the fire to warm up, his coat and bag were slung by the door. The finnish man had so many questions on his mind but did not have the voice to speak, he still couldn't believe Lewis was here.

“Like I haven't heard from you in weeks, you've been ignoring me and I was trying to think of what I had done wrong and when Kimi informed me you had gone to Finland for the break, I knew I had to fix what ever the mistake i've done that made me lose you, I stopped and got your favourite brand of coffee like there's only two small bags of it in my backpack but back at the hotel, Ive got a suitcase full of it and I know that would never be enough”

Lewis was rambling on, waving his hands around looking so small as he tried to explain how sorry he was.

Lewis had thought he had done something to upset him.

Lewis was here trying to make amends.

Valterri could not help but let the tears fall from his eyes as small sobs broke from his lips, this had stopped Lewis from his rambling and the 7x world champion had crossed the room quickly and brought Valterri into a hug.

“I am so sorry, I'm sorry if you need me to leave…”

The Finnish man threw his arms around Lewis and kept him there, no way was he going to let Lewis leave him after the 7x world champion had flown to Finland, brought by the sounds of it a load of his favourite coffee and trekked a snowstorm for him.

Finally Valterri had found his voice.

“You have done nothing wrong, nothing wrong, you could never do wrong Lewis. Its me who can't get on with this car, with a team piling on the pressure to perform high since I was a Mercedes driver, a team mate who looks at me with such high hopes of learning. A whole world who thinks I dont deserve you as a friend, that I screwed up 2021 for you”

“Is that why youve been ignoring me?”

All Valterri could do was nod and suddenly he felt his face being pulled up to look at Lewis’s deep coal eyes, a burning fire in them.

“2021 is on me, not you and not the team. Fuck the world. Valterri you are my friend, One of my closest friends and I dont care what they think. To have you fighting in my corner, to have had you as my teammate. It has been everything to me and still is, to have come out of such a dark place with others and you, especially you the finn who did not give a crap and pushed your way into my life, into my circle. Pulling me up and pushing/supporting me through my greatest years. You are my Metsä and that will never change, no matter if we arent on the same team”

Valterri could only start to laugh, how stupid could he be. Lewis had told him that nothing would change between them regarding teams, he should have believed in Lewis and blocked everyone else out. He should have had more faith in his friend and he would never doubt him again, not since Lewis trekked a snow storm for him.

“I would trek a thousand snowstorms just to make sure you were ok Valterri, we are together through thick and thin for each other no matter what”

Nodding, Valterri buried his face into Lewis’s neck as the two tightened their hug.

Flashback

So when he did get onto Kimi’s yacht and left the marina, Valterri was slightly confused as to what was going on. The finnish man had found himself waiting on the deck, he had thought Kimi would be on the yacht with him but Valterri was alone. Soon enough they had pulled alongside another yacht which Valterri was now sure he had recognised as one that Max would rent out from time to time, definitely from the photos Yuki would show Zhou.

Was Kimi with the dutchman?

Suddenly he had heard a crash below deck and was ready to go see what the commotion was when Kimi had flown up the stairs not far from him, he watched as the iceman had taken hold of a small crate by him and thrown it down the stairs, Valterri had noticed there was someone in Kimi’s arms and soon enough Kimi was crouched not far from him, placing said child down now.

“Look Metsä”

And now the child was looking up at him with Max and Daniel now at the top of the stairs, he had heard the growl of Kimi but that did not matter at all.

“Lewis!?”

There standing was Lewis.

A small 4yr Lewis.

Lewis was looking at him with wide eyes and again Valterri could not find his voice to say anything like that day in Finland then before he knew what was happening, Lewis was running at him so Valterri had dropped down with his arms open, the tiny driver throwing himself into his arms and Valterri straight away buried his face into the crook of Lewis’s neck, sobbing as the past month or so had finally caught up to him.

“Sorry Metsä, sorry Metsä, sorry Metsä”

Listening to Lewis's own little cries had broken him, he tightened his grip around the little ting driver, feeling his shirt and chest began to be damp.

“No no no no. its all ok, its all ok”

Soon he heard a cough and Valterri had looked up to see Kimi had pushed Daniel over, glaring at Max to try anything. 

“Val Im..”

Valterri stood up quickly with Lewis in his arms and pulled Daniel into the small hug that was going on, he had a tight grip on the aussie’s shoulder as he leant his head on both Lewis’s and Daniel’s head. It made sense now to Valterri as to why Daniel had been at the Red Bull garage more often, why suddenly Sebastian was back on the grid with no reason to why, why Fernando was hanging out with Daniel, why Carlos and Lando had been talking about buying some better outfits for Daniel to give.

“Thank you, thank you. Thank you”

Daniel had not expected this reaction from Valterri, he had half expected the finn to knock him out like everyone else had been but here he was thanking him and the aussie couldnt keep his why back.

“You've been looking after him. Knowing he has been cared for has lifted some stress from the hell i've been torturing myself with. Yes I care this was kept from me but Lewis is safe, he hasn't left us and that's all that matters to me”

The Aussie buried his head into Lewis’s head, repeating the words sorry over and over while Valterri chuckled, patting his head telling him it was ok. Suddenly Daniel had pulled away from him and pointed a finger to Kimi, having pulled his courage out of nowhere to face the iceman.

“Where the hell have you been keeping your secret friendship with Lewis from? How the fuck does Lewis understand Finnish? I need answers man”

Chapter Text

Kimi looked at Daniel with an unfazed look, the finnish man gave a shrug of his shoulders and walked over to the small mini fridge he had installed on this deck, opening the door, Kimi pulled a bottle of vodka out and flicked the cap off with his finger before taking a swig out of it then he sat down on the sofa, he looked at all three of the drivers staring at him before looking at Lewis who was giving him a soft smile.

A small smile graced his lips as he leant his head back on the soft.

Letting the memories consume him.

Flashback

Kimi couldn't care less of the others around him, all he wanted to do was just wanted to drive the car around the track, do the stupid media stuff that the team wanted to do and then head back to his room to finally settle down in his bed with the ac cranked up blowing cold air and a bottle of vodka that was waiting for him.

He moved around the driver rooms in the paddock when he crossed a walkway, noticing the two Mclaren drivers were sitting apart, he couldn't hear the conversation and Kimi saw no point in going over to them.

Fernando was Fernando, still the weird Spanish guy.

While Lewis Hamilton was an enigma to him. 

This young boy had come up from god knows where and was competing with them and at times was showing them up. Hell the kid was proving to be a pain in the ass for the Spanish 2x world champion. In his team, they had scoffed at the boy but one random member of his pit crew had turned to him and told him, just you wait, he’s gonna be rising to the top.

To be honest he didnt really care.

He did care when he got back to his hotel room and the vodka he was so sure he had put in there was gone. Kimi was furious, all he wanted to do was relax and drink. He had stormed down to the counter and was trying to get this lady to tell him where the nearest shop was, the finnish driver didn't exactly want to go back out and definitely not to a shop but there was no way he wasn't going to survive this evening without vodka.

“Here, you can have it”

Kimi looked to his left and had watched as an expensive bottle of quality vodka was placed in front of him, he looked at the person and was surprised to find Lewis though he didn't show it on his face, he raised an eyebrow in questions to ask why the Mclaren driver was handing him vodka.

“My uncle likes to collect vodka so I tend to try and collect different varieties to take back home for him. I couldn't help over hear you looking for a shop that might sell some, thought I save you the hassle of going out”

There was a smile on Lewis’s face as he rubbed the back of his neck and Kimi watched as the Brit had walked away before bidding him a good night.

The finn had snatched up the bottle and quickly made his way back to his room where he opened the bottle straight away before putting it to his lips. The burning he felt rushing down his throat was so delicious and he looked at the bottle, Kimi smiled with a nod as he sat down on the bed, thinking of Lewis.

Maybe the kid was alright.

Flashback

That bottle of Vodka was currently sitting in his house on a shelf with a few framed photos of different memories he held with Lewis. 

It was that night that had kicked off the start of his friendship with Lewis, though neither of them would have come out and said they had some sort of friendship. Kimi had built up this cold exterior and nobody wanted a part of that to begin with, he was fine with getting on with the stuff to do about the car and races, he didn't need that close friendships all the other drivers went on about.

But somehow Lewis had managed to wiggle his way into Kimi’s life.

Lewis had become the exception.

Kimi took another swig of the vodka like it was juice and he watched as Lewis had wiggled in Valterri’s arms before the finn had put him down, the little driver had ran over to him before climbing up the sofa to sit next to him. He could see the tear marks on the cheeks of Lewis and brought a hand to the little driver's hair before bringing Lewis to rest into his chest.

“Muru”

Flashback

He was sitting out under a tree in the paddock, it was a hot day and Kimi was not enjoying it at all compared to the other drivers who were happy to see the sun out for once. The Finn on the other hand was hoping for the rain, he could deal with the cold and damp but not this heat.

Suddenly a door slamming had echoed over to where he was sat and Kimi watched as the Spaniard had stormed out of the Mclaren building, Ron was seen not long after leaving with a frown on his face. There had been trouble brewing between the team and anyone could see that, hell most of the teams had been hoping for it as Fernando and Lewis team work from before had suddenly vanished and now they were fighting each other rather than with the rest of the grid. Kimi had not cared for stupid politics in the grid and made sure to stay away from that stuff.

He had not seen Lewis come from that building yet.

And Kimi did not want to run in with anyone from that building or that team.

Moving from his tree, he had hopped over the barrier to head back to his driver room when he stopped because five feet away from where he landed, sitting with his back on the barrier was Lewis.

The brit had his hands in his face and was clearly sobbing.

Kimi’s body had refused to move and all he could do was stare at Lewis unsure what to do, that's when he watched as Lewis looked up with his teary eyes. The Mclaren driver caught his eyes and suddenly jumped up, putting his hands out in front of him.

“I'm sorry I'll just go”

This was the boy that had given him extremely good vodka.

Saving his evening.

It was in that moment, Kimi had felt his body move without him realising and suddenly he had pulled Lewis into his chest, his hand resting on the top of the brits head. Both men had come to a stand still before the Finnish driver felt Lewis began to shake again, he was sobbing, Kimi made no sound other than he hand on top of Lewis’s head began to move.

“I dont want to fight him, I want to be the good teammate”

This sport did not accept the weak, it only accepted the strong and those willing to cut throats. 

Kimi walked into this sport with no friends and he was sure that he would walk out of it the same.

Maybe with an exception.

“Fight”

Was all he could say to Lewis.

Flashback

And sure enough Lewis had fought back against Fernando, that year they had been so close in taking the world championship to Mclaren but again politics got in the way and Kimi was the winner of that year.

Kimi looked up at Daniel, Max and Valterri who were all staring at him looking for answers but all the finn did was drink before pulling Lewis into his lap, earning a giggle out of the little driver.

Since when did Lewis understand Finnish?

Now that brought a smile to his face.

Flashback

All Kimi could see was red, this was not how his race was supposed to go. He could just make out, he had thrown his gloves at someone, his gloves smacking them in the face and he had stormed off somewhere deep in the paddock. People had jumped out of his way, there was no way anyone  was going to stand in the way of the iceman who was close to breathing fire.

He had found a quiet corner in between two driver rooms, Kimi was crouched down and hands pulling at his hair.

The red mist he was feeling was not budging and the more he tried, the more the race came to mind and it made him more angry.

“Ole..tko kunn..ossa”

Kimi had narrowed his eyes when he had heard that mis-pronunciation and turned to find the source of it.

Only to find a concerned Lewis looking at him.

“Oletk..o kun..nossa”

“Oletko kunnossa”

“Sorry am I saying it wrong”

“Why are you?”

“You dont talk much so I thought if I learnt finnish, you could have someone to talk to, i didnt realise you spoke english sorry”

The red mist he had earlier was gone, the thoughts of the race were far from his mind. Here stood Lewis who was learning finnish so he had someone to talk with, it had taken him by surprise and Kimi rubbed his hand over his face before looking at Lewis.

“What are you learning from”?

“The internet”

“No that won't do. I will teach you”

Lewis had looked at him with a bright smile and Kimi felt like it was looking at the sun but for once he didn't hate it, it reminded of the low light sun that would skim across the peaceful frozen lake back in Finland. Suddenly he noticed what Lewis was carrying in his hands, their were his gloves and now Kimi had realised he had thrown them at Lewis, looking up he had noticed the small cut probably from the pin badge he had in his glove.

“Anteeksi”

“Erm..”

“Sorry”

He nodded to the gloves and Lewis shook his head with a smile.

“Its ok, no harm done, Ante..eksi”

Kimi nodded with a smile slowly making its way to his face.

Flashback

He had started teaching Lewis the Finnish language and compared to the interviews the British driver had given about being slow and wouldn't really be able to pick another language up, Lewis had picked it up very quickly.

Kimi still wasnt vocal during the podiums and the room before them but when it was him and Lewis, the British driver would quietly stand next to him and speak to him in finnish. He would reply with face expressions and nods that the camera never would catch.

He remembered catching up with Mika one day with Lewis and the Mercedes driver had surprised the older Finnish man when he joined their conversation in Finnish, this had caused MIka to fall over in the snow.

Now that had been a good day.

He had been by himself and now suddenly he had a friend in this cut throat world, something he had never imagined himself doing. Having this secret friendship with Lewis had been delightful and he had found it amusing when he watched the other drivers fight over each other when they had wanted to spend time with Lewis not realising he had been taking up the sun’s time.

However the period with Nico had been hard.

Flashback

Kimi had warned him about friendships in this sport, that they would not survive long in this cut throat world, you could not be friends with someone when you were competing for the world title. He had not put his friendship with Lewis in that category, it was in their own category that would remain untouched.

Definitely not childhood friends, best friends, everything bar lovers.

The Finnish man had watched the two drive on separate teams to suddenly they were on the same team, things had looked fine at first, things looked good and Kimi would never say that he felt jealous of the German who seemed to have taken all of Lewis’s attention. He could see the jealousy from Daniel, Fernando and Sebastian however deep down, he hated that he was missing out on time with Lewis.

He had found an unlikely friendship with Sebastian and Kimi was ok with that, the man could talk for the both of them.

Then the silver wars had hit.

It reminded him a little of when Lewis and Fernando had been fighting but this was worse, there was no Lewis who had been crying about not wanting to fight rather a Lewis who remembered Kimi’s words of Fight and hell did Lewis fight but so did Nico.

They tore chunks out of each other, there was no way you would look at them and think they had been childhood friends.

But they had dug their claws into each other with knowledge that nobody would know other than someone who lived with a childhood between them.

Kimi had watched the sun dim in Lewis and he had wished he had the words to help him but he was not that person, Lewis was always that person doing it for Kimi.

Then suddenly it was over for the silver wars.

Some say Lewis won and others would say Nico.

But in Kimi’s eyes, no one had won. 

Two little boys who dreamed big of being champions together were consumed by this cut throat world, this sport taking more blood than it needed.

Nico had retired and Lewis had come back a shell of himself, barely there.

Kimi wanted to hit himself, he like the others had done nothing, all he had done was watch Lewis and he hated it. The Finnish driver was thankful when someone had mentioned that Sebastian had kidnapped Lewis one evening and when they had gone to the next race, Lewis was smiling and chatting to Sebastian. There was jealousy among them, that Sebastian had the balls to do what they couldnt but now it was like the German driver had the sun all to himself. 

Letting out a sigh, Kimi made his way to his driver's room and opened the door before slipping in, letting the door close but he stopped when he saw Lewis sitting on the floor, knees drawn up to his chest, tears running down his cheeks. The finnish man strided quickly and sat down next to the british driver, pulling him into his side, Kimi was trying to find the right words to say.

He always felt lost with stuff like this.

“En halunnut taistella, vihaan tappelua, en halunnut menettää häntä, halusin todistaa sinulle ja muille, että tämä urheilulaji ei aina halunnut verta, minä ja nico aioimme todistaa kaiken väärin. Tämä urheilu antoi minulle Nicon ja vei hänet minulta, se ei ole reilu”

Kimi just tightened his grip around Lewis and let the British driver sob into his chest.

This had been the Lewis he had expected at the beginning of the silver wars as it had been with Fernando. 

“Halusin näyttää, että sinulla voi olla ystäviä tässä urheilussa, mutta ehkä et voi, olit oikeassa”

He felt the cold grab on his heart. 

“No I was wrong Lewis, you can have friends in this bloody sport. Youve got Sebastian, Daniel, Valterri, hell even Fernando. You're my friend, you were my first in this stupid sport, Mi MI is your friend and always will be”

Suddenly rather than a sob, Lewis chuckled looking up at him.

“Mi MI?”

Kimi hadnt realised rushing out that sentence he had messed up saying his own name, he was ready to take it back when Lewis lit up like the sun before everything had gone down.

“Mi Mi I like it, my MI MI”

He had been given a nickname, a lot nicer than the iceman one he was titled. Kimi would wear it proudly if that was the smile he got out of Lewis every time he said it.

Flashback

Finishing the bottle of Vodka and tossing it into the bin not far from him, nodding when it landed in with a successful plonk. 

“So Kimi care to answer”

He looked at Daniel who was still waiting for an answer to his questions, Kimi looked down at Lewis before looking back up.

“No”

The cry of come on mate echoed on the boat and Daniel had turned to Valterri to try and convince Kimi. 

“Mi Mi”

Lewis had stood up on his lap and was giving him a cuddle, Kimi wrapped his arms around the little driver, he smiled softly into the hair of Lewis, out of view from everyone else.

His memories would stay with him and Lewis.

No one else.

Cherished and locked away in his heart.

Chapter Text

Lewis brought his hand up to his throat and began to scratch it.

He let out a small groan before a water cup was held out to him, Lewis smiled at the Red Bull mechanic that handed him his water. The little driver took the water cup and took a big sip of the water, at first it cooled down the hot feeling in his throat but then all he wanted to do was scratch at his throat again. Lewis took another drink of his water before sitting on his hands, he was currently sitting in the Red Bull garage watching Max and Checo getting ready for a quali lap, the little driver had been with Lance and he was suppose to go to Daniel in the RB team garage but there had been some deep grown up talk there and another driver called Liam was supposed to be there so his Ri Ri had messaged Lance to take him to the Red Bull garage.

“Little Ninja you are ok?”

With a nod and a smile on his face, Lewis looked at Checo who was standing in front of him looking a little concerned. The little driver did not want to tell them his throat was starting to feel weird so Lewis nodded and gave his Co Co his biggest smile, in return he got a head pat before Checo had left him to get in his car.

Letting out a sigh, He watched as Checo had gone out first then followed by Max, everyone was focused on the computers so he carefully climbed down onto the chair and grabbed the small blue blanket and the Red Bull top from the bag Daniel always had prepared for him whenever they went out, like his mummies had done. He brought both up to his cheek, Lewis could still smell Max on the top and the blue blanket had been given to him from Kimi from his Mi MI’s boat. He felt sad for a second as Kimi and Sebastian had gone back to their home away from him for a little bit, they had promised they would be back. Turning to lay on his right side, Lewis sank into the chair, his throat still not feeling good.

It wasn't till a hand that landed on his shoulder gently, did Lewis come out of his daze state. He turned his head up to look at Max who had now crouched down by him, the dutchman was frowning as he placed a hand on his forehead.

“Lewis?”

“Sleepy”

Max had lifted him up and Lewis flopped his head onto the Dutchman's shoulder, he snuggled his head into the neck of Max. He felt a small pat on his back and soon they were moving, the little driver could hear people talking but he did not want to look up, he clutched Max’s race suit. It wasn't long before they were in Max’s drivers room, Lewis was placed down on the small sofa in the room and a blanket was laid across his body. He turned his head to look up at Max who was smiling softly at him, he felt the dutchman run his hand across his face and soon he fell asleep.

Max looked down at the little driver with a frown, when he had come back from his first attempt on the track, he was trying to find Lewis at the back of the garage and was about to go into a panic when Adrian had pointed to the chair by the unit, that's where he found Lewis curled up on the chair clutching at the blanket and top, there was a dazed look in his eyes.

It had concerned him.

When he had made his presence known to Lewis, he was about to ask if the little driver was ok but Lewis had beaten him to it by stating that he was sleepy so Max had decided to take the little driver to his room before he had to go out and do his second attempt. The dutchman hoped that the sleep would do Lewis some good, Lewis was never quiet, he always had this bubbly energy to him, always talking to everyone in the garage. His trainer was stood guard at the door as Max did not feel good about leaving Lewis on his own even if he was napping, he gave his trainer his key and made sure that he knew to check on the little driver every 10 minutes and once Lewis was up, to immediately come and find him or Checo or Christian if the he and the mexican driver was not free.

Max was a little worried, of course had checked if the little driver had a temperature but his forehead had felt fine and there was nothing else pointing to Lewis not being well but there was something nagging at the back of his head suggesting otherwise.

==========

Second and third attempts at quali had finished, everyone in the cars had started to return back to their garages.

Lewis woke up in a lot of pain, his throat had felt like he had been drinking fire and he was trying to breathe but it was hard. His stomach was going in and out very quickly with each breath, the little driver tried to sit up but it hurt to move. He watched as Max’s trainer came into the room, he looked down at Lewis, the smile that was on his face had disappeared quickly and replaced with a deep frown. He felt himself being wrapped up in the blue blanket and lifted up, Lewis hated how he was bounced up and down by the movement of Max’s trainer running from the drivers room to the garage.

Christian was walking with Max and Checo to their building when they watched as Max’s trainer had darted out of the side, looking in a panic.

“Max!”

There was a worry iin his voice and Max had felt a shiver travel down his back.

The four had met in the middle and Max’s trainer pulled back the blanket to reveal Lewis to the other three, the little driver was sucking in quickly and he was sweating lots, very clammy to the touch, he was scratching at his throat and his eyes looked dazed again.

“Get him to Daniel now”

Max looked at Christian quickly then did not hesitate to take Lewis from his trainer, making sure to keep the blanket around Lewis, he broke out into a run towards the RB building. 

“Its going to be ok Lewis, we gonna get Ri Ri”

“It hurt .. Ma…x”

A cough broke out from Lewis and Max could hear the pain it was causing Lewis, he was so focused on getting Lewis to Daniel that he had not noticed the small group of people he had passed.

The Sky logo on their microphones.

Turning the corner, Max saw ahead of him that Daniel was about to walk into the building with Yuki.

“DANIEL!”

The dutchman did not care if he attracted lots of people to look his way, all that mattered as of right now was the little driver bundled up in the blue blanket, coughing into his chest. Thankfully the aussie had heard him and stopped walking to turn around when he had heard his name, their eyes caught each other before Daniel’s looked down to the blue bundle in his arms and Daniel broke into a sprint over to him, almost skidding to a stop in front of Max.

“Whats going on?”

“Its Lewis”

The pair had moved quickly out of view of the paddock and they were hidden behind the building of RB and Ferrari. Max pulled back the blue blanket to show Lewis to Daniel, the aussie felt his heart sink to his stomach when he took in the sight of Lewis.

“How long has he been like this?”

“He was quiet when he returned from Lance and when I got back from my first attempt, he was curled up on the chair and said he was sleepy so I put him down in my room, my trainer had been checking on him and brought him like this, Christian said to find you. He wasn't warm when I put him to sleep.”

Daniel had taken the water cup from Max early on and was about to offer Lewis some when another hand shot out between him and the dutch driver, smacking the cup from his hand and it sailed straight into the wall. The aussie looked at the hand and his eyes travelled up the arm, to find a white shirt and a face with a thunderess expression on it.

They heard Lewis cough but the little driver was reaching a hand out of the blanket to the third person.

“Cupso”

Suddenly Lewis was being ripped out of Max’s arms by Jenson who tilted the little drivers head back to look at his neck before turning to look at Max and Daniel.

“With me now”

Jenson had carefully covered Lewis with the blue blanket before sprinting off into the direction of the Sky building. Daniel and Max followed behind him, they ignored the odd looks they had received by Ted and Will when they had entered the Sky building and soon they found themselves in a room that had been marked with Jenson’s name. Both drivers wanted to yell at Jenson but their voices died in their throats as they watched as Jenson had dove straight to his bag, rummaging through the bag with one hand while holding onto Lewis with the other. He had pulled out a box, placing it on the floor in front of him and then he pulled the blue blanket off of Lewis, carefully removing Lewis’s top and that's when Daniel had noticed the small raised rash spreading across Lewis’s chest and on his neck. He felt his breath leave him and he started to panic, he took a step forward as did Max who had found his voice.

“What the hell is going on Button, give Lewis back”

But Jenson had ignored him, taking a bottle out of the box and a small springe, he had filled the springe with the white creamy liquid from the bottle and carefully moved Lewis in his arms so he was lying diagonal.

“Cup..so”

“Got to take it my Yorkie Tea, make all the hurt go away”

They watched Lewis take the liquid from the springe in one go, Jenson had thrown the springe down and quickly stood up, switching Lewis to lay on his chest, he slowly swayed side to side and rocked the little driver. Soon the coughing had started to die down and Daniel had watched the pain look in Lewis’s face had lifted slightly before the little driver had fallen asleep. Jenson looked down at Lewis and carefully laid Lewis on his back, down into his coat that was resting on the sofa. The ex mclaren driver rummaged through his bag before pulling out a grey tub and crouched next to Lewis, carefully rubbing cream on the rash that was on Lewis’s chest and neck.

“Jen-”

“What water was in that cup”

“What?”

“I'm not going to ask again, what water was in that cup now”

“Maybe Evian or hotel bottled waterI think”

There was a glare from Jenson directed at Max who looked ready to throttle the ex driver before Daniel moved slowly over to the sofa, he noticed Jenson had turned his attention to him and was watching him like a hawk, Jenson had scooted closer to Lewis, a hand hovering over the little driver in a protective manor. The aussie crouched down, he looked at Lewis with soft eyes then to Jenson.

“What was this?”

“Lewis is allergic to different types of branded water and sourced water through taps”

Daniel’s eyes flitted to Max who wore the same shocked expression before the aussie looked at Jenson who was looking at Lewis.

Lewis allergic to water.

Flashback

Jenson could not help but poke fun at Lewis with Mark when they had snatched his team mates water during the grid parade and when Mark had taken a sip of the water only to spit it out, his face scrunching up.

“God that is salty, what you got the ocean in there”

When they had finished quali, Jenson and Mark had switched out Lewis’s salty water for the cheap Evian water they had taken from Mark’s team mate Sebastian. The pair could not hold back their smiles when they watched Lewis drink from his bottle during the briefing with the FIA, once it was finished, Jenson had walked out with Mark, the aussie telling him to keep him in the know if Lewis had noticed the switch and Jenson nodded heading to the mclaren garage to head to briefing. 

He patted his car but stopped when he heard a tool box hitting the floor on Lewis’s side of the garage followed by an aggressive cough, he moved around the computers to find Lewis kneeling by the table, gripping side of the table with his right hand and his left hand was at his throat scratching, Lewis turned to look at him.

Thats when Jenson had noticed the red angry rash clawing its way up Lewis’s throat, the dazed look in his eyes and the beads of sweat rolling down the side of Lewis’s face. Jenson had quickly dropped to Lewis’s side, throwing an arm under Lewis.

“Lewis what…”

“My … r..oo..m”

All Jenson could do was nod and helped Lewis up before they slowly made their way to Lewis’s room, they had passed no one in the hallways and Jenson had felt lucky, he had no idea how to explain this situation. In Lewis’s room, the driver leant against the sofa and pointed to his bag, Jenson quickly grabbed it and pushed it onto Lewis’s lap, he watched as Lewis had pulled out a bottle that looked like medication and took a springe of it. They sat there for a while but slowly, Lewis’s breathing was starting to slow down and his eyes no longer looked dazed.

“Can you.. Get my … water”

He pulled out a bottle of water from the mini fridge and handed it to Lewis, he watched as the driver took small sips of the water before putting it down. Soon Lewis reached into his bag and pulled out a small tub of cream and applied it to his neck, making sure the rash was covered.

J enson felt the guilt crawl into his skin.

He knew this was his fault, he had caused this.

Flashback

“That was the day I found out Lewis was allergic to water and why he had such salted water, I was the only one who knew from the grid, he told no one about it.”

Jenson stroked a braid out of Lewis’s face, watching the stomach of the little driver before turning to look at Daniel.

 “Like the team knew and now it made sense as to why we only had acqua panna water in the garage. Knowing that I and Mark had done that to him, caused him that pain. The guilt of it ate at me, all my apologies would never be enough but Lewis had forgiven us so I decided that I would always carry another set of cream and medic with me, I did that through our years as teammates and it stayed in my carry bag even when he left for mercedes and I left the grid as a driver”

The ex McLaren driver turned around to face Max.

“When you ran past our press group, I recognised the cough and heard Lewis’s name. I followed you then to behind the buildings and watched as you were giving him the water cup. I knew what the reason was straight away”

“Thank you”

Jenson turned his attention back to Daniel who had scooted closer to Lewis, his fingers brushing at the top of Lewis’s head. The Aussie was thankful that Jenson had picked up on Lewis with Max and what was happening because seeing Lewis like that, he did not know anything about that allergy. Lewis looked in such a state but he did not know why, Daniel would have taken him to the medic office they had at each race.

The shock, fear and panic finally slowly drifting from him.

Daniel held his breath.

Lewis had gotten his Cupso

The one ex driver they had agreed not to let know about Lewis knew now.

Chapter Text

“So how long will this last?”

“Normally for Lewis it only ever lasted 2 hours top, the medicine would cool the burning in his throat and the cream would numb the pain of the rash but for a child, it might take a lot longer to go. He will probably sleep through the healing, his body is trying to fight it off as if it were a cold”

Daniel watched as Jenson had gathered up all the bits and carefully put it all back into his bag, the aussie would need to know what the name of the medicine and cream was so if this ever happened again, they would be a lot more prepared than they had been, Daniel could not stomach the thought of what would have happened had Jenson had not been around. The ex driver grabbed the blue blanket off the floor and examined it before laying it gently over Lewis who’s breathing had now evened out.

“Jenson…”

“You do know Aston Martin, Lance to be exact is not as crafty as he thinks he is”

Daniel and Max looked at each other before turning to Jenson who had pulled out some photos from his bag and handed them to the aussie before he had stepped to the window, pushing the blind down and watching the people walking out in the paddock. The dutchman had stepped next to Daniel and they both looked at the photos in his hands, there was Lance scooping up a Lewis and in another, throwing his jacket over the little driver. Daniel had recognised the outfit on Lewis as the day when he had been lost by Greg.

Wait, that meant…

“Ive known about Lewis since almost the start as Naomi has pointed out that the same adorable child has been seen many times trying to approach us, it wasn't till Will had come to us with the photos of that day that we all understood it all”

“But-”

“Why do you think no one in the media has picked up the fact our 7x world champion is a child and still roaming in the paddock at races? Sky has made sure no one and I mean no one knows about Lewis”

“If you have known about Lewis why havent you said anything to Daniel? 

Jenson sent a death glare at them as he turned away from the window but his face softened when he looked down at Lewis before turning to look at Daniel.

“I am not soft like Sebastian, I will not beg and demand attention for someone WHO was my team mate, who is MY friend. You may be his caretaker but the people in his life do not come at your beck and call Daniel, clearly I was not considered worth mentioning as from the looks of the nickname you knew who Cupso was. You may have had him in his mercedes years, made hard by the knife of F1 but there are a few of us who had him in his mclaren days, were he was bright eyed and where we all mattered to him”

This had a similar vibe to when Kimi had found them in the Monaco harbour during the 2 weeks off. 

“Does he know?”

That had been their main problem if Jenson knew about Lewis.

But if Jenson had known from nearly the beginning and if he had told him then they would have already heard something from him but there had been nothing. 

Nothing from the other blonde german.

“Now that you know I know, you do not get to decide to keep him away from me. I will be present for my Yorkie Tea”

“Yorkie Tea?”

Flash back

Jenson had looked at the different branded tea, the team had set up on the table for whatever promotion he and Lewis had to do. None of them had taken his fancy but he had to choose one because he very much wanted a cup of tea before the work day would start.

“I just want a good cup of tea”

“Yorkshire?”

He jumped in surprise at the voice that had come from his left, Jenson turned around to find Lewis holding a box of Yorkshire tea bags with a smile on his face.

The best brand for top elite british tea.

“Oh thank god someone has good taste in tea”

“Yorkshire is top, I always make sure to have some on me”

Jenson smiled as he took a tea bag from the box and began to make a cup of tea in his very own tea mug that travelled with him everywhere. No other cup could hold the liquid gold known as tea, this cup made every cup of tea taste like the gods had crafted it.

“Your own cup, so very british”

He winked at Lewis as he held the cup up to his lips ready to drink his tea when he noticed the confusion in his face that suddenly turned into a grin”

“Cupso”

“Yorkie Tea?”

They both had said at the same time, Lewis and Jenson looked at each other with frowns before they started to laugh. Jenson threw his arm around Lewis and moved them away from the table towards the area where they would be doing a few promotions for the team.

“Come on Yorkie Tea”

“Of course Cupso”

Flash back 

“What!?”

Jenson had noticed the frown on Max’s face as the dutchman had crossed his arms over his chest, like a child pouting.

“Dont mind him, he’s still upset Lewlew hasnt given him a nickname and he’s struggling to come up with his own one for the little man”

A chuckle escaped Jenson’s mouth and the ex driver couldnt help but smile at that, he leant forward on the sofa, smirking at the two men in front of him.

“Dont worry it will come for ya, maybe or not depends how  important you end up being to my Yorkie Tea”

Max was ready to leap and take out the ex McLaren driver for that comment and the smirk he was wearing was not helping things but feeling Daniel’s hand on his shoulder, he pressed the rage down, maybe take it out on a golf course later in the week. Soon there was silence in the room as they had all taken up different spots, all eyes on Lewis who was sleeping still. Daniel had been thankful that Jenson hadnt kicked them out of the room but the ex driver knew not to try and keep Daniel away from his LewLew.

It wasnt long before there was movement from the sofa, they all quickly stood up as Lewis’s eyes fluttered open, the little driver pushed himself up and rubbed his closed fist over his eyes.

“Sleeping beauty has risen”

Lewis knew that voice so he looked at Daniel and Max making sure they weren't tricking him like his Rella had done the other time and then he turned to the other person in the room, his eyes widened and suddenly he was launching himself off the couch, straight into the arms that were waiting for him.

“Cupso!”

“Hey my Yorkie Tea”

There was that toothy gapped smile Jenson loved seeing, he gave Lewis a gentle squeeze in his arms before pulling the little driver away so he could take a look at his neck and chest.

“How you feeling now?”

“It no hurt no more”

“Good, you gave us a scare there. Max and Ri Ri were very worried”

“Sorry”

Jenson put Lewis down and watched as the little driver ran over to Daniel, throwing his arms around the aussie neck, giving him a big cuddle. He watched as Daniel shook his head and whispered something into his ear before Lewis turned and ran into Max, giving him a big cuddle as well. Watching the dutchman start to tear up was not what he expected and watching Lewis wipe the tears away was touching, Jenson passed Daniel Lewis’s top and blue blanket.

“Thank you”

“I meant it, I want to be there for him, you and the others will not shut me out”

“We won't Jesnon, give me ya number, we can arrange for something later in the week”

Daniel had promised himself that he wouldnt shut out people from Lewis's life, past and present, well not all of them. He made a note to make a call to Fernando and Sebastian, letting them know that Jenson had met Lewis and the fact the ex driver had been aware of it from the start. The aussie was grateful towards Jenson and the rest of the Sky team for making sure nothing got out into the media but it made him think about being more caution around the paddock, they would have to let Lance know about the photos and he would have to see if Jenson had anymore photos of the other paddocks.

He would have to make sure that he did not make an enemy out of Jenson and the Sky team.

"So who wanted first dibs out of Will and Crofty to see Lewis first?"

"Oh you know Will was ready to throw hands at everyone to get first dibs though Naomi looks like she will take action to get some cuddles in"

Both he and Jenson laughed, this felt good but Daniel could see the tension still in Jensons's shoulder, the aussie wanted to reach out and place his hand on the ex driver but knew it would do no good.

Right what was the body count up to now of people knowing about Lewis.

Chapter Text

Fernando rocked from side to side, mumbling a spanish lullaby under his breath as the wiggling in his arms started to die down, he looked down to watch as Lewis’s eyes began to flutter, the little driver resting his head into the crook of Fernando’s neck, holding tightly onto the blue blanket and Red Bull shirt. He turned his head to look at Daniel who had taken a seat on the deck chair. Currently they were at the Stroll’s country home before the next race weekend, it was Fernando’s time with the little driver and he could see the stress on Daniel’s face so he invited him to talk. Lance wanted to stay and sit with them but Fernando had waved them off when he noticed the nervousness of Daniel, this was between the older drivers, he had seen Daniel bring up Sebastian contact on the phone a few times before shoving his phone in his pocket.

Something was clearly on the aussie mind.

The younger driver had disappeared inside the mansion, not before trying to take Lewis with him but Fernando had scooped the little driver up with a growl at Lance.

This was still his time with his corazon.

Finally Lewis had settled down into slumber, he carefully moved the blanket to be draped around the little driver then Fernando moved over to the chair next to Daniel.

“Talk now”

Daniel let out a sigh as he rubbed a hand over his face before looking at Lewis who looked so peaceful.

“Did you know Lewis was allergic to certain types of water?”

“No, but I know he was very particular about his water. There was a moment with Mark stealing his water and saying it was like drinking the ocean”

“Well last race, someone had filled his cup with water he couldnt have and had a horrible reaction, Max and I didnt know what was going on then out of nowhere Jenson appears, coming in like a knight”

“Jenson as Jenson Button”

“Yup and turns out he’s known about Lewis since you had Lance kidnapped him, turns out the whole of Sky knows and has been keeping this out of the media”

The aussie pulled out photos and handed them to Fernando, he looked down at them and couldn't help but chuckle at the sight of Lance, he would make sure not to let the younger driver know about this. Lance had felt proud that he had found Lewis without being seen and this would crush him, Fernando felt relieved when Daniel had taken the photos and thrown them into the fire pit they were sitting not far from.

“So..”

“Like I know we and Seb mentioned not letting Jenson know and that's backfired in a way…”

“Has he spoken to him?”

“Max tried getting an answer out of him but Jenson just completely skimmed it, if he did know dont you think he would of made some appearance already”

Fernando shrugged his shoulders before looking down at Lewis who was curled up on his chest sleeping.

“Who knows with that german, is this why you look shit”

“Thanks Fernando, vote of confidence there”

“What, you look like shit my friend”

“No it has nothing to do with him, its more of the fact that more people are popping out with the Lewis thing, that I never considered and Im trying to make sure im not hogging his time but with Kimi and Jenson I feel like the villain. Like I didnt know how badly it affected Valterri till Kimi had basically almost tried to steal Lewis from us in monaco”

“But thats the thing”

“What?”

“You didnt know, how can you know who is close to Lewis without getting onto his phone. We’re all close to Lewis but we didnt know each other were that close. Lewis made sure to give us our time without blending it all together, he prioritised each of us. It not on you to know everything, Lewis  as little as he is, is bringing out everyone he holds dear. It just the fact of letting it fall into place”

The Kimi thing had been a surprise but the secret chat he had with the iceman, mark, sebastian had been great, listening to a drunk Kimi shouting in a voice note to Sebastian about not being let known about Lewis was pure bliss. Fernando was going to keep to himself that Mark knew, he didnt want Daniel freaking out.

“Since when did you get smart”

“I've always been smart”

“Do you think we should tell the others about Lewis?”

The others being the rest of the grid, Fernando let out a sigh as he leaned his head back onto the chair while he rubbed his hand across Lewis’s back in a circular motion. This had been a conversation that seemed to float between the ones who knew about Lewis, there was a split down the middle of wanting to let the others know and the ones who did not.

But no matter how much they all talked about it, nothing was agreed about it.

“You know I dont, The more people we let know the more we have to share time and the fact im already having to fight time with Lewis with the likes of Max, no”

He would not share any more time with anyone else.

Lewis was his corazon.

Fernando would get more time with him, he did not care who he stabbed in the back to do so.

“Thanks Fernando”

“No problem”

He felt the small movement and looked down to watch as Lewis’s eyes began to flutter open, Fernando gave a small smile and stood up before standing in front of Daniel who looked confused for a second, the spaniard carefully passed Lewis over, he had heard the whine of Rella.

“Ri Ri needs a cuddle right now”

Daniel had mouthed thank you before wrapping Lewis closer who wrapped his little arms around the aussie.

=========

“So we are doing this?”

“Hell yes”

Lando had felt the confused stare from behind him as he was on the phone to Carlos. The ferrari spaniard had explained to him about how the others, well mainly the older grid hadnt wanted the rest of the grid to know about Lewis and Lando had kicked off big time.

How was that fair!

Ok yeah he only managed to get some time in when he was with Carlos as Daniel and mainly Fernando did not trust him to be able to look after the little driver. It had been George who had messaged him about slowly introducing Lewis to the rest of the grid which he and Carlos had taken on board. Of course Carlos had wanted to let Charles know first but the other Ferrari driver had been away so the next choice during Carlos’s time with Lewis was him and Oscar.

The second half of Mclaren would get to meet Lewis.

“Right Daniel has just pulled up with Lewis, ill call when its clear but you need to make sure you are not seen”

“Right see you soon”

He swiped at his phone before shoving it in his pocket before looking at Oscar who had stopped walking with his arms crossed over his chest looking for an explanation of what they were doing.

“So you going to explain where we going?”

“To Carlos”

“Lando Im not gonna hang out with you two and almost feel like a third wheel”

“NO trust me, youll want to come”

Suddenly he felt the vibrate from his phone and Lando looked around, feeling a little panicked, he pushed Oscar over into the bush and dived in with him. He layed there with Oscar who he was pinning down, the younger aussie was not happy at all.

“Get off me Lando”

“NO shhhh, he will know”

Lando didnt know how long they had taken cover in the bush for but soon his phone buzzed, he carefully pulled it out of his to see a message from Carlos saying he had the little driver and there was an instagram post from Daniel. He opened the post up to see a picture of Daniel arriving at some restaurant with people he didnt know, this was put up about 45 minutes ago so Lando lept up and dragged Oscar with him.

“Right lets go, its all clear”

“Slow down Lando”

He would not, the excitement of Oscar getting to meet Lewis was taking over his body.

Soon the two Mclaren boys found themselves being pulled into a hotel room by Carlos.

“What took you so long?”

“Had to make sure not to be seen”

Oscar was so confused at Lando’s behaviour in wanting to show him something with Carlos, he was not happy with being pushed into a bush by his team mate and being dragged had made him angry so he was ready to leave the hotel room. Not caring what the two other said but he was now being dragged further into the room only to be greeted by a child crossed legged on the bed.

“Lewis this is Oscar”

He turned to Lando before looking back onto the child who was staring at him. 

This was definitely the child who had head butted Lando right back at the start of the season but there was no way this was Lewis Hamilton, their 7x world champion, no way at all however the more he stared at this child, the more he could see Lewis.

“You have got to be joking me, this is Lewis?”

The three drivers watched as Lewis crossed his hands over his chest with a pout, staring at Oscar with such a glare.

Then the tears began to fall.

Oh shit, Oscar’s eyes flew wide as Lewis began to cry.

Chapter Text

It was like his body had been submerged into arctic water.

His body froze from the panic.

Large tears were rolling down Lewis’s cheeks.

Oscar watched as Carlos and Lando had flown straight down onto their knees in panic trying to calm the little driver who was bawling his eyes out on the bed. His team mate was pulling silly faces to try and cheer Lewis up while Carlos was whispering softly to try and calm the little driver, the Spaniard had tried to reach out to Lewis but the little driver slapped his hand away.

“Carlos what do we do!”

“I'm trying Lando, shhh its ok pequeno shhh its ok”

But all three drivers could do was watch as Lewis’s cries got louder and Lando was starting to panic more, throwing his hands in the air but accidentally caught Carlos on the cheek and the Ferrari had turned onto the McLaren driver with a sharp gaze.

“What the hell Lando!”

“I'm trying to cheer him up, you're in the way!”

“You think that will cheer him up, you have got to be joking!”

Suddenly the pair in front of him were beginning to argue with each other, Oscar stared at them before looking at Lewis who was rubbing his eyes with his tiny fists.

He could not believe he had just made Lewis cry.

This would be Lewis' first impression on him, the little driver would want nothing to do with him.

No he could not have that happening.

The Aussie McLaren driver shot down onto his knees, smacking both Lando and Carlos to the side but Oscar had not judged the distance from where he was standing to the bed very well and he hit the bed frame with his forehead.

“Argh Fu-”

His hands shot up to grab his forehead and Oscar bit his lip to stop the swear word coming out of his lips due to the little driver on the bed. He opened one eye to check he hadn't gotten Lewis caught in his accident and noticed the little driver had stopped crying and was now looking at him with large red rimmed eyes, his lip wobbling a little. Lewis moved closer to the edge of the bed and reached out a hand to touch where Oscar was holding his hand on his head.

“Ouchie, O-ca ok?”

Oscar had felt his heartbeat spike and ignored the quiet what the hell from Lando and Carlos slapping Lando on the back of the head, both drivers watching him and Lewis carefully, ready to move if the little driver broke down into tears, trying to ignore the pain blossoming on his forehead, Oscar gave him a small smile.

“I'm a good bud, nothing to worry, see. Are you ok?”

Moving his hand away from his head to show Lewis he was ok, Oscar had taken the small hand into his, rubbing his thumb gently across the back of the little driver's hand, he watched as Lewis shook his head, a few tears escaping his eyes.

“O-ca not think me, me”

This had caused Oscar to stop his movement with his thumb and his eyes flew wide, he had heard the small gasps from the other two. He felt like someone had crushed his heart, Oscar had thought maybe Lewis had been upset because he didn't recognise Oscar and he was a stranger but not because of what he had said, Oscar placed his head down gently on the bed in front of Lewis.

“I'm so sorry, I didn't not mean to make it sounds so horrible, just surprised”

He takes a small breath in to control the sudden urge to cry, Oscar then feels Lewis pat his head gently.

“It ok O-ca”

“There's our sun”

Oscar turns his head to briefly look at Carlos who is staring at Lewis with a soft smile on his face so the Aussie McLaren driver brings his head up to look at the little driver, Lewis is looking down at him with his toothy gap smile. 

The same smile, adult Lewis gives when he is happy and proud of them on the grid.

The smile that shines like the sun.

Their glorious sun of the grid.

Oscar soon found himself laid on the bed with Lando and Lewis hovering by his forehead, playing doctors. Lando had given him a cold compress from Lewis’s day bag, it had been in a small bag with an ice pack, he had given an raised eyebrow to the cold compress but Lando had shrugged his shoulder, saying that Daniel had been told by Christian to always pack to be prepared for anything with small children. Lewis was wrapping some toilet paper around his left arm, pointing out he had a fish in it and that they needed to get it out.

“I agree with you doctor Lewis, definitely a fish there ”

“Lando mate…”

“Shhh, doctor Lewis is fixing it”

He felt the cold compress being taken off his forehead and watched as Carlos took off into the bathroom with it. The running tap had given that the Spaniard was cleaning it before he placed it back into the small bag with the ice pack.

“Thats gonna be a shiner for sure”

“Shhh Lando, got to fix O-ca”

“At least everyone can say the mclaren boys always match even with bruises”

Lando and Oscar both turn to glare at Carlos who is laughing, the Spaniard brings a chair over to watch them on the bed, this movement catches Lewis’s eyes and the little driver stops with the toilet paper on the arm and crawls over to Carlos, he lifts his arms up in the air and the spaniard does not hesitate to pick him up, placing Lewis into his lap, earning a whine both from Lando and Oscar who has sat up from his position, Carlos is smirking and Lando crosses his arms over his chest, pouting.

“Not fair at all”

“Hey I've earned this from my pequeno, if we were around any of the others, I would be in your position so I soaking up being the favourite for the moment”

“Right so can someone explain this to me”

=========

After Carlos had caught Oscar up on everything to do with Lewis and the people who knew and who didnt. He and Lando explained that with George they wanted to try and get all of the grid in the know about Lewis as they did not think it was fair to keep this from everyone.

“But I can kinda understand why though”

“It shouldnt be like that though, they got to have Lewis a lot longer on the grid than we have so it should be fair that we all get to see little Lewis”

Oscar was looking at Lando who was currently looking through Lewis’s day bag as the little driver had wanted to draw some pictures while Lewis was being entertained by Carlos who was holding the little driver in the air, flying him around like an airplane. Then Oscar notices Lando looking a little panicked as he’s searching through the bag again before turning to him a frown, he’s about to ask what's wrong when Lando puts a finger to his lips so Oscar stays quiet as Lando mouths out what's wrong.

No crayons and No paper.

This was not good.

When Lewis asked to draw, Carlos had told them about all the drawings he had made already, how Max and Lance were the proud owners of lots of drawings with Lewis. Lando had turned to Carlos who had taken notice of the silence from the pair, catching on to the issue at hand.

“Pequeno, how about we read a story?”

“No draw now”

The little driver was still smiling as he had been placed down onto the bed by Carlos but they could hear in his voice that there was no way they were going to change Lewis’s mind about drawing. If they told him no or mentioned that Daniel had forgotten to pack the paper and crayons, they knew deep down the little driver would burst out into tears and they did not want that happening. 

“Shall we go to the shop?”

======

Daniel would kill them if he found out they had taken Lewis to a supermarket not far from the hotel. Currently Lando, Oscar and Carlos were standing in an aisle looking at the different packs of paper and crayons that were lined up on the shelves. Lewis was strapped in a baby carrier on Carlos' back, they had a game of paper, rock and scissors to see who would carry Lewis as they all had wanted to carry the little driver on their back.

“We should go for these ones”

“No this pack is bigger than that pack”

“But this one had more colours in it”

Lewis watched as the three were being silly about the different crayons they had in their hands, he turned his body slightly to look down the aisle and saw the pretty lady with the long blonde hair who had been down the aisle with the vegan food, she was hiding slightly behind a lone stand that had some sort of cans on it. He pulled his arm out and lifted it through the top part where his head was and waved at her. A big grin made it on his face when she waved back and Lewis watched as she carefully pushed her trolley down the aisle, the little driver was about to say something when he watched her put her finger to her lips, Lewis nodded smiling, the pretty lady with the long blonde hair moved passed him and carefully removed something from her bag to give to him, the three drivers not noticing the transaction behind them, she softly whispered that only she and Lewis would hear.

“Bye Lewis”

He waved at her and watched as she turned the corner to the next aisle, Lewis looked down at his gift.

A brown bear teddy with the German flag over where its heart would be.

The little driver pressed it to his chest, closing his eyes, smiling. Not noticing that the three drivers had finally agreed on one of the crayons.

===========

It wasnt long before they got back to the hotel and soon Carlos had received the message from Daniel that he was coming back to get Lewis. Oscar had felt a little sad as that meant he and Lando had to leave before the older aussie came by. 

“Remember you cant tell Ri Ri that you saw us too”

“O-ca and Lando?”

“Yeah buddy”

“It will be our little secret pequeno, you’ll get to play with them again soon”

Both Mclaren boys had left the room and made it outside, Lando had then pulled Oscar behind a tree and he was about to say something when he watched as Lando pointed to the car park, they watched as Daniel had arrived and was heading into the hotel. Neither of them moved and soon it didnt take long before they watched as Daniel had walked back out of the hotel with Lewis on his shoulders.

Oscar now understood Lando's point about getting all the drivers involved with Lewis because knowing he couldnt openly see Lewis, it tugged at his heart. Playing doctors and going on the small shopping trip with Lewis had been fun, having the little driver smile at him, he needed that in his life, he wanted more of that.

They both watched as Lewis was looking around and suddenly caught their eyes, he lifted his hand to wave, Lando and Oscar waved back with smiles then soon they lost sight of Daniel and Lewis getting in the car and driving off.

“Lando…”

“Dont worry, he’ll be decked out in our papaya orange soon, after all Lewis was mclaren first”

Chapter Text

“If your here to spy then-”

“No, people have been interrupting my time so I do the same”

Jenson looked at Fernando who was walking beside him down the path towards the building the Sky people had been set up in, he switched the umbrella into his left hand, shading them from the scorching sun. The ex british driver felt small hands gently tug at his hair and with his free hand, Jenson patted one of the legs on his shoulder. 

“Rella see me”

“Exactly corazon, Red Bull need to share more”

Laughter escaped his lips before he felt Lewis lean his chin onto the top part of Jenson’s head, his small hands now fiddling on the ex-driver's ears. Jenson looked at over to Fernando who readjusted Lewis’s bag on one of his arms, he felt Lewis remove one of his hands off his ear and was making grabbing motions towards Fernando, the spaniard nodded and pulled out the small teddy with the german flag from the bag and handed it to Lewis who quickly pulled it to his chest. Nobody had any clue where the small teddy bear had come from and tried asking Lewis where it had come from but all the little driver had told them about the small teddy was its new name.

“Vivi”

There had been attempts to remove it from Lewis while he had been sleeping but everytime they had taken it from Lewis and the little driver had woken up, he threw the small blue blanket and the Redbull shirt, demanding Vivi back.

“Hold on Yorkie Tea”

Carefully Jenson folded the umbrella down before opening the door to the building and stepped through with Fernando, he moved over to the small catering section and could see the eager smiles of Will, Simon, Martin and Naomi. Placing the folded umbrella down by the chair, Jenson carefully lifted Lewis off his shoulders and placed him on the floor, making sure to crouch down next to Lewis who looked at the new people with unsure eyes, the little driver had gripped Jenson’s arm and moved closer, the little driver looked from Jenson to the new people then to Fernado who had dumped Lewis’s bag onto the table and had dropped himself into a chair. The Spaniard looked at them, he watched as their smiles had dimmed down a little at Lewis being scared and Jenson was trying to find the right thing to say, Fernando let out a sigh and mouthed something to the 4 across him. The three men looked confused while Naomi nodded, she had crouched down onto her knees and lifted her right hand to point.

“Who is this special guy?”

Lewis looked down at where the woman was pointing and pouted before shaking his head.

“Her Vivi”

“Vivi that's a lovely name, I've been told she’s very special”

Jenson smiled softly as he watched Lewis pull away little from him, the little driver was holding out the small teddy out to Naomi, telling her that Vivi was very special and Naomi had asked if she could see, Lewis had nodded and took small steps over to Naomi but stopped so there was still a little gap between them, he held out Vivi and was pointing to the german flag. The ex driver moved to sit on the chair behind him and looked to Fernando, mouthing a thank you to the Spaniard who smirked.

“Perks of being the originally team mate”

“Sure there were others before you mate”

“Not in F1, now where is the coffee?”

There was laughter among the men before someone had come over to the small group, asking Jenson and Fernando what they would like. During that moment, Lewis had moved away from Naomi who got back up into her chair, the little driver made his way over to Fernando and the Spaniard had picked him up into his lap, giving a smirk when he spotted the pout on Jenson. He made sure Lewis was comfortable on his lap before reaching into Lewis’s bag, he pulled out the water cup and held it out to Lewis but stopped when he felt Jenson’s hand shootout and grab it before the little driver could.

He was not going to have a repeat of what happened last time.

“Can he…”

“Yeah it's that salted purified water stuff like back in the mclaren days”

“Ok, had to check after the incident with Daniel and Max”

Jenson removed his hand and nodded to Lewis who looked unsure at the cup now but seeing the nod, he took the water cup in his hands and began taking big sips of the water.

“Daniel had mentioned, asked if I knew but wasn't sure other than remembering during the mclaren days we only had one type of water in the garage also yours and marks try at the water”

Jenson smiled when his coffee was brought over and he couldn't help but laugh when he saw Fernando sigh in relief at the sight of his cup. He then watched as Lewis had climbed off Fernando in such a rushed motion that he almost made the Spaniard spill his coffee, his vision followed Lewis who looked in awe towards Will who had pulled a pack of glitter pens that sparkled from the sun peaking through the windows.

“Thats cheating Will”

“That's called being smart and using information to gain an advantage Martin”

When Will had said they were for Lewis, the little driver's face broke out into a big smile and he clambered onto Will’s lap to have a look at the new pens he had and cheered when Ted had pulled out a blank page book for him to draw in. Lewis looked between them all and was trying his hardest to draw the new people his Cupso had introduced to him, he couldn't wait to show Max and Lance his new glitter pens.

=========

“So did you have fun with Jenson?”

“Yup, meet Cupso friends, Will give me glitter pens and Ted new draw book”

Lewis held up his new book and glitter pens to Daniel with a big smile on his face, a few of the pens slipped out of his fingers when he tried to open the book to show his Ri Ri the new pictures he had drawn. Daniel scooped up Lewis and the little driver giggled as he placed onto Daniel’s lap, they were currently sitting in Daniel’s driver room, Jenson had brought him back after a small nap in Jenson’s room in the Sky building.

“Theses are really good Lewlew”

“Ri ri?”

“Yes Lewlew?”

“When Batsy and Mi mi coming back?”

“Not for another few weeks, believe me they are trying to come and see you. Lewlew?”

The little driver had lifted his head up from resting onto Daniel’s chest and noticed the aussie was looking a little bit sad, Lewis tilted his head to the side and looked a little confused.

“Would you want to stay with the others longer than with Ri ri?”

The longest Daniel had ever gone without Lewis was maybe a night when the little driver had sleepovers with a few of the drivers such as Fernando, sometimes both of the Aston Martin drivers and Carlos with Lando tagging along and it made him wondered whether or not Lewis wanted to stay longer with them, those thoughts then always opened the pathway for the dark ones.

Did Lewis actually want to stay with him? Would he be happier if he was with maybe Kimi or Seb?

He had noticed he was lost in his thoughts when he felt a tight squeeze around his neck, Lewis had climbed further up his chest and wrapped his small arms around Daniel’s neck burying his face into his shoulder.

“No, always want Ri ri”

That made any of the horrible thoughts disappear, Daniel smiled as he wrapped his arms around the little driver. There was a knock at his door and a shout for him to be at the garage in 5, the aussie let out a sigh before laughing when he had heard Lewis ask did they have to go.

“Unfortunately Lewlew, gotta make that money some how”

The Red Bull garage was the first stop, Daniel wanted to take him to the RB garage but they hadnt quite introduced Lewis to Yuki yet, the aussie was going to make sure after today, the japanese driver would meet the little driver so Lewis could be hauled up with the RB team instead. He planted a little kiss on Lewis’s forehead, waving to Christain on his way out. Lewis smiled when the team principal handed him a small box of orange juice, he watched Christian go to talk to someone else, the little driver sat in the chair watching everyone when something caught his eyes. He placed the orange juice down on the table and climbed off the chair, he moved closer to see it. 

Small wings twitching, very red with blue spots.

“Butteerflee”

The butterfly escaped his grasp and danced on the wind out of the garage door, Lewis was determined to catch this butterfly and followed it out of the garage, the small insect danced a little further away from the RedBull garage, every time he got close to grabbing it, the butterfly flapped its wings higher and now Lewis was getting angry.

“Come here blutteerflee”

Lewis watched as it fluttered near a stack of tires outside the red looking garage, he stuck his tongue out ready as he was concentrating to make a big jump to catch the butterfly when a loud bang caught his attention, the little drivers eyes widened when the stack of tires he was stood by were now falling towards him, Lewis flung his arms up over his head to protect himself but he knew that would not help, he had seen one of those tires land on a Red Bull mechanic leg last race because it had slipped out of his hand trying to put it back on the shelf and the guy had to go hospital.

Suddenly Lewis was pushed to the ground and an arm had brought him into a chest, a flash of red before the little driver had his eyes squeezed shut, he grabbed onto the shirt and buried his head into the chest, a small whimper escaping his lips.

Someone was protecting him from the tires.

“I got you little one”

Chapter Text

Lewis did not know what was going on.

One moment he had been following the butterfly with the pretty red wings with blue dots then next thing he knew, car tires were about to fall on him and someone had shielded him, wrapping their arms around him, making sure the little driver would come to no harm.

“I got you little one”

He could hear worried voices being spoken at once and the person holding him was standing up. Lewis turned his head a little and opened one eye. It was then he noticed he was in a garage similar to the Red Bull  but rather than the blue he saw often, everything was red, there were lots of people crowding him and his saver, Lewis noticed some of them were holding tires looking worried, he then felt a hand cover his head. The little driver pushed back against it to look up at the person holding him and his deep coal eyes were staring into forest green eyes.

“Dont worry guys, Ill get him checked out”

That was Ba-n’s voice, Lewis felt the jolt through his saver and suddenly the noise of the garage was getting quiet as they were being pulled away from it all. He had felt the bounce of going up some stairs when they were pushed inside a small room, Lewis looked up at the forest green eyes before turning around to the sound of a door slamming shut and he saw Carlos looking so worried as he leant his back on the door, rubbing a hand over his face before he took his phone out and shot off a quick message.

“Definitely do not want them panicking and finding out this”

Lewis was set down onto a table but he refused to let go of the shirt he was holding onto, all he could see flashing through his eyes was those tires falling at him, a small whimper escaped his lips and the tears were building up in his eyes, he felt the person brush their hand over his head a few times.

“Ive got you little one”

He looked into forest green eyes and a smile, Lewis could see the hurt he was trying to hide and this made the little driver feel really badly about it, he rubbed his eyes with his tiny hands.

“Sorry I hurt you”

“No, you didnt, more the tires”

“But me why they fell”

There was a shake of the head and Lewis carefully watched as this person brushed the tears off his cheeks with the softest touch.

“That shelf was old and needed replacing, why no one has done it yet. I dont understand. Lewis its not your fault, I would never let any harm come your way, never”

“Charles how…”

This Charles person had stood up and faced his Ba-ne with his arms crossed over his chest, before nodding his head to Lewis.

“The moment I caught sight of him, how could you not know it was Lewis”

“O-ca didnt know it was me”

Both Ferrari drivers turned to look at Lewis who had placed his hands onto his lap, the tears no longer falling down his cheek, the little driver took in a small deep breath and carefully let it back out. Charles had moved to sit next to Lewis on the table and placed a hand on his back, rubbing small circles.

“O-ca?”

“Oscar”

“Carlos explain now”

Lewis moved closer to Charles and rested his head on the Ferrari's lap, watching as Carlos began to explain everything like he had done with Lando and Oscar, he sighed softly as he felt fingers running over his nose and soon his eyes began to flutter shut.

=======

He woke up to a different room and not the office room , he had been in with Carlos and Charles, this caused a small panic to build up then he felt the hand on his back, Lewis turned his head to look up and saw Charles smiling at him.

“We’re in Carlos’s driver room”

Thats when he looked around and noticed Carlos was off to the side, cutting up fruit on the kitchen top. In a chair not far from the sofa was his bag that everyone carried. Charles noticed Lewis looking at the bag on the chair, he reached over and pulled out the water cup, he watched as the little driver sat up and was making grabby hands at the water cup, he chuckled a little and gave Lewis his drink. The little driver took big gulps of his water and snuggled into the ferrari jacket wrapped over his shoulder, soon Carlos joined them and offered Lewis a small bowl of cut up fruit.

“Thank ya Ba-ne”

There were grapes, pineapple, strawberries and blueberries in the bowl. Lewis slowly munched at his food while Carlos had handed Charles a coffee, there was silence before Carlos looked from Lewis to Charles.

“Max is annoyed he hasnt received a nickname yet”

“Well if he knew Oscar had one, he would be flipping tables everywhere”

Both men chuckled at the thought before taking a sip of their coffee.

“I think Oscar’s comes from that Lewis can't really pronounce his name”

“All done Ba-ne”

“Good job pequeno”

Carlos placed his cup down on the table and grabbed Lewis’s empty bowl, he put that down next to his cup and grabbed Vivi from the bag, passing it to Lewis who lit up with a giggle, pulling the small teddy quickly against his chest before moving over to Charles were he climbed onto his lap, snuggling into the chest, the spaniard raised an eyebrow at the sight.

“What?”

“From what Ive heard, Lewis has taken to those he cant remember not very well. I saw it when Lando bursted into my room and Oscar made pequeno cry so for him to be doing this, Its surprising”

Charles shrugged his shoulders while he was rubbing circles into Lewis’s back. 

He was absolutely over the moon hearing that from Carlos but he wouldn't let that on, Charles was overjoyed at Lewis being so affectionate to him. Looking down at the little driver he watched as Lewis mumbling to the small teddy in his arms, the sight was cute. Seeing Lewis like this was a shock but the 7x time world champion was such an adorable 4yr. When he had been in the garage going over the data on the laptop, he had not expected a child to be jumping in the ferrari garage trying to catch a butterfly and it was quick when he realised it was Lewis but then the groan of the shelf the little driver was by had slowed time down, Charles watched as the shelf had collapsed and the tires were now falling, their path heading straight on top of Lewis and Charles flew out of his chair as Lewis was bringing his arms up protect himself. The Ferrari driver had dropped to his knees, hunching over Lewis and bringing the little driver into his chest, feeling the heavy impact of the tires on his back. He had held back the groans of pain when he could hear the small whimpers of Lewis, Charles had felt the tires on his back being taken off quickly by the team, their worried voices coming from every direction.

He didnt care about his back, only about Lewis, had the little driver been hurt.

Thankfully Lewis had come away without any mark on him.

He was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard Carlos phone ring, Charles watched as the Spaniard lifted the phone up to his ear.

“Hey, yeah we are just in my driver room, yeah Ill bring him over, no problem Daniel”

“Time to go Ba-ne?”

“Unfortunately pequeno”

Both Ferrari drivers felt sad that their time with Lewis was ending and the little driver was pouting as he didnt want to leave them either. Charles did not want to end his cuddle session with Lewis but knew if Carlos didnt get Lewis back to the Red Bull garage, Daniel would be suspicious so he gave the little driver a big squeeze before passing him over to Carlos who already had his bag on his shoulder.

“Pequeno you cant…”

“Secret like O-ca?”

“Yes but dont worry, we’ll make sure I get to spend time with you”

Lewis nodded as Charles rubbed the top of his hair, he watched as Carlos left with Lewis and he sat down back on the sofa. He would wait till Carlos to come back, Charles opened his phone and opened his camera gallery, he couldnt help but smile at the sleepy photo he had taken of Lewis curled up under his ferrari jacket.

The 7x time world champion always looked good in red no matter the age.

===========

Lewis was sat on the bed in his pj’s waiting for Daniel to come out of the bathroom so they could watch a movie before they went to bed, he had Vivi cuddled into his chest and the blue blanket and Red Bull shirt laying next to him. He looked at the bathroom door for a second before he put Vivi down and slide off the bed, heading straight for his bag that was on the floor. He opened it up and pulled out the item that had been placed in his bag when Carlos had been walking him back to the Red Bull garage.

Carefully he made his way back onto the bed and looked down at it with a big smile, pulling Vivi to sit next him.

Flashback

He was resting his head against Carlos’s shoulder as they were headed back to the RedBull garage, it was very busy in the paddock and he had felt a few bumps into Carlos, it was then the next person that bumped into Carlos had slipped something into the bag with the spaniard not realising it.

Lewis had tried to look up but Carlos had pushed his head down gently so all he caught was the shimmer of long blonde hair from the corner of his eye.

Flashback 

“Right what shall we watch”

Daniel flicked off the bathroom light and stepped into the room but stopped, his eyes flying wide at the sight he had.

“Where the hell did you get that from Lewlew?”

Lewis was on the bed, he was smiling at Daniel as he was munching on cereal from a small blue box that had a tiger on it.

Kellogg’s Frosties

To be exact.

Chapter Text

There was no way this was happening.

Daniel slammed his laptop and moved over to Max who was typing away furiously at the computar, the Aussie then looked over at Christian who was on the phone, waving his hand around as he narrowed his eyes at the person on the other side of the phone. This was not looking good at all,  Daniel ran a hand over his mouth, he then looked over to Checo who was sat down on the sofa reading a story to Lewis who was curled up on the mexican’s lap, the little driver held Vivi to his chest as he took small quick breaths in. 

Flashback 

The little driver had finished the box of kellogs frosties half way through the day and had asked for more. 

Daniel didnt think much of it and had taken them both to the supermarket to go buy some but once getting there, that stupid tiger was nowhere to be seen at all. The brand of kellogs was there but not the one Lewis had been stuffing his face with. He had brought the plain looking kellogs thinking it would be the same and once they had returned to the hotel, Daniel had held the box to Lewis trying to open the bag for the little driver but Lewis had smacked the box out of Daniel's hand with such a glare.

“Lewlew its the flakes”

He had grabbed a few in his right hand to show Lewis it was the same, the flakes were the same.

“NO!”

There was a foot stomp and that had surprised Daniel, Lewis was starting to get really worked up about a box of cereal, he was about to start explaining to Lewis it didnt matter, the flakes were the same but stopped when he saw the tears rolling down the little driver’s cheeks.

“Its… NOT …right…ones”

Then came the high pitched cry as Lewis threw his head back, his arms thrown to his side and fists clenched on either side. Daniel had seen Lewis cry before but this was on a whole nother level, it was not a tantrum but something else.

It was heart wrenching. 

He quickly scooped Lewis and held him to his chest, trying everything he knew that would normally calm the little driver down but the cries got worst and Daniel began to panic so he picked up his phone and dialled Christians’s number.

“Hey Daniel-”

“Help me”

Flashback 

Christian had given him his room number and Daniel did not waste any time, he grabbed the day bag and ran straight out of the room and to the hotel room. Lucky enough they were in the same hotel, he had taken to the stairs as he could not wait for the slow box to come down from whatever floor. It had been Checo who had been standing in the hallway waiting and ushered the pair into the room, Lewis was taken off him by Max who had tried his best, even offering new crayons but that had no effect.

He had turned to Christian and the team principal asked what had set it off so he explained it all.

So that's how it came to be himself, Christian and Max were searching high and low for somewhere that had kellogs frosties. Checo had taken it on himself to try and calm Lewis down, the Mexican had worked his magic and Daniel let out a sigh of relief, the cries were still ringing in his ears and it crushed him at how heartbreaking they sounded. 

“No luck over here”

Looking at Max who had pushed away from the desk who was frowning, the dutchman had stood up and walked to stand next to Daniel, they both turned to Christian who had finished his phone call with a sigh, Daniel knew that was not a good sign.

“Right exactly where did you guys get that box from?”

“Like I said, I went to the bathroom with Lewis on the bed and came back to find him munching on the box. What did your guy say?”

“That brand of Kellogs, the one with the tiger has been discontinued and has been for ages, they dont make them anymore”

What the hell.

So where the hell did Lewis get that box from?

Christian walked around Daniel and Max, he stopped in front of Checo and Lewis, the team principal crouched down and tilted his head with a soft smile. The mexican driver had lowered the book down but he placed a hand around the little driver, watching carefully Christian carefully.

“Lewis, where did you get the kellogs from?”

The little driver looked at each of them in the room before looking at Vivi before shaking his head.

“We cant find them so it would be very helpful if you could tell us”

Daniel watched as Lewis shook his head again and curled up further into Checo who was now looking ready to punch Christian as the man was getting close to Lewis, now Daniel was about to fly over and pull the team principal away but then the little driver spoke softly.

“I don't know, they were there in the bag”

Lewis did not have a clue where they came from.

It wasn't long before Daniel had left with Lewis asleep in his arms, Max and Checo were behind him as they walked down the hallway. It had been voiced by someone that maybe Daniel should refill the box with the tiger with the other kellogs but the aussie knew deep down if he had done that, Lewis would know the difference.

“Its… NOT …right…ones”

The little driver would know.

“You know there might be another way we might be able to find some”

He stopped walking and looked at Max who was currently looking down at his shoes with a frown on his face, Checo had placed a hand on the dutchman shoulder, Daniel would do anything to find a box with that stupid tiger if it meant making Lewis smile again and he knew Max would do anything as well.

“Stroll”

Now he knew why Max looked so reluctant to say it.

If there was anyone who could find something that no longer existed, it would be Lance and Lawerance Stroll.

All it took was one text and the younger Stroll had replied back stating they would find this cereal. 

Daniel looked at Max with a determined look.

“If they do find some, I will make sure Lewis knows it was you that succeeded in getting it”

“Thanks Daniel”

Sometimes he didnt really understand the little competition that Max and Lance had going on but then his memories would take him back to the years, he was competing the same with Fernando, Jenson, Sebastian and most of the grid for Lewis. It made him chuckle, he would do his best to help Max out and he knew that Fernando would be helping Lance out when he wasnt trying to steal Lewis for himself. Back in his room, Daniel gently placed Lewis down on the bed and covered him with the blue blanket before sinking into the chair next to the bed, he glared at the blue box of cereal on the table.

 He was sure the tiger on the box was laughing at him. Daniel pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled a number, lifting the phone to his ear. 

“What”

“He needs you”

The other person hung up but Daniel knew he was on his way, the aussie brushed his hand gently on Lewis’s cheeks before bringing his head in his hands, trying so hard not to cry.

He never wanted to see Lewis in that state again.

========

Lewis woke up to voices in the room, too many voices just to be Daniels so he opened his eyes and pulled himself up to look, his eyes flew wide and a smile lit up his face as he watched as Sebastian had wrapped an arm around Daniel who had shaken his head at what ever was being said.

“Seb you bring way too many bags”

He turned his head quickly and watched as Kimi had walked into view, dropping all the bags he had onto the floor. 

“MI MI!”

The little driver had flung the blue blanket off and scrambled across the bed before jumping at Kimi, the finn caught him quickly and gave Lewis a smile before tossing him into the air which Lewis let out a sound of glee. Placed down on the floor, Lewis then ran at Sebastian who picked him up and gave the little driver a big squeeze.

“Batsy, what? Ri ri said not in 2”

Lewis held up two fingers, the little driver was sure Daniel had told him that Kimi and Sebastian would be coming to visit him again in 2 weeks time. 

“Ri Ri called Kimi asking for us to come sooner, Ri Ri told us about the frosties and how sad you were so we came as quick as we could, we gonna help Ri ri for a bit”

He looked from Sebastian to Daniel to see if that was true but he frowned when he noticed his Ri ri looked really sad, Lewis watched as the aussie nodded before bringing his hand to wipe his eye.

“Daniel its-”

“NO cry Ri Ri”

Lewis struggled in Sebastian's arms as he reached out to Daniel, wanting to make the Aussie happy and not sad. Sebastian passed Lewis over to Daniel with a smile and watched as Lewis threw his arms around Daniel, the little driver kept on saying sorry as did Daniel and Sebastian couldnt help but laugh a little, he patted Daniel on the back.

“See I told you, he wouldnt be mad at you”

“But you should of seen it Seb, it looked like the world had ended when I told him there was no more”

“That doesnt make you a failure at all rather someone who tried his hardest, there are going to be things schatz will ask for and we will say no”

“Yeah right”

Both Daniel and Sebastian looked at Kimi who stood looking at them with a raised eyebrow and the tiniest of smirks on his face, this had brought a chuckle out of Daniel and Sebastian shook his head trying not to laugh.

But they knew what Kimi was insinuating.

There was no way any of them would say no to Lewis.

Chapter Text

This had thrown the plan a little.

George knew that Kimi and Sebastian would be back to spend some time with Lewis but Daniel had mentioned it to him and the others that they would not be coming not for awhile so when he had gotten the text message from Lando that he had been told from Max during a gaming session that the finn and german were here already and the dutchman had complained that the other two were taking up a lot of the little drivers times. He had a feeling something had happened that Daniel had called on the two so earlier on and with how protective Kimi and Sebastian were being around Lewis and Daniel, it must have shaken the Aussie to the core.

He felt a little mad with Daniel but George had seen how deflated the aussie looked and Lewis was not leaving his side even with Kimi and Sebastian with them. There had been a moment he had seen Lando tried to go in for a hug with Lewis but the little driver had dodged the hug and pulled Daniel away, the aussie had tried to apologise to Lando but the mclaren driver had shaken his head saying it was ok but George knew Lando was very upset by it.

The McLaren driver would gloat that Lewis loved his hugs, that moment must have felt like a knife to the back.

George leant back in his chair before turning to look at Carlos who was whispering to Charles in the chairs next to him then he looked to Oscar who was sat on his left staring at the catering building of Red Bull, they had just watched Kimi and Seb walk in with Daniel.

“So what the hell do we do”

Lando had dropped himself into the last chair available at their table, he had placed the drinks down. Suddenly George had all eyes staring at him and he rubbed the back of his neck before grabbing one of the cups and taking a sip of the cup of tea Lando had brought over.

“I dont know, hell I overheard Lance trying to calm Fernando down, he’s not getting his Lewis time either”

“Maybe we should just be upfront and talk to them”

Both McLaren drivers turned to look at Charles who had shrugged his shoulders, Lando rolled his eyes before leaning forward.

“Yeah and let them know about the two of ya, yeah great idea. You and Oscar know about Lewis when you shouldn't. We tell them, thats it Lewis isnt being seen by anyone”

“Maybe it might be best just to leave it for a bit”

“No Oscar, it's not fair”

George was unsure what to do, the next part of their plan was to have Alex meet Lewis and followed closely by Pierre, Oscar had argued for Logan to be next as it would make sense for the Williams drivers but Charles had argued a good point that Lewis knew Pierre a lot more than he did Logan however this had gotten the aussie mclaren driver a little upset.

“But Lewis wont remember who Pierre is, he doesnt know half the grid now”

It had started a small argument with them, Lando had joined the fray with Carlos, both boys backing up their teammates' ideas.

He hated being the lead in all of this.

All George wanted to do was get the whole grid in knowing about Lewis, that they could all be there and help the little driver.

He wouldnt have to be hidden.

The grid would protect him from the world.

Was this how Daniel felt when everyone started getting upset and coming at the aussie.

Maybe he would have to get the guy something for the trouble, now understanding in a sense.

Soon they all had split up to head to their garages for practice, on his way back to the Mercedes garage, he had stumbled onto Jenson and Sebastian talking. It looked rather heated, the ex mclaren driver was waving his hands about and his expression looked thunderous while Sebastian was just frowning, taking in all of what Jenson was telling him and it didnt take long for the german to point, his eyes narrowing then Jenson stormed off, George hid behind round the corner and watched as ex mclaren driver stormed right pass him without noticing him at all.

“Fuck you Seb”

He watched Jenson pull out his phone and dial someone, George turned around and watched Sebastian start to walk off. Knowing he should of walked back to his garage, there was something telling him to follow Sebastian so carefully he followed behind the german, making sure not to be spotted and soon enough Sebastian had led him to Daniel’s driver room and a smile lit up his face at the sight,

Lewis was sat on the grass by the steps leading into Daniel’s room, the little driver was pushing some cars along. 

Now he knew there was no way he could walk over, not without probably Sebastian flying out of the room to attack and there was a cold dread that went down his spine, Kimi was probably in there two. George did not want to take on the Finn and the German so George  walked back where he had come from and then turned to head to another drivers room, he thanked the person who had designed their drivers room as they were always situated next to each other. Not caring who’s driver’s room he had arrived at, George dropped to the floor and began crawling on his stomach underneath the drivers rooms. He felt the buzz in his pocket and stopped for a second, pulling out his phone and looking down at the message.

‘Where are you? - Bono

‘Be over soon, Lewis situation’

George stuffed his phone back into his pocket and began his crawling again, it wasn't long before he could hear the sounds of a child playing and making car sounds. A grin appeared on his face and soon through the small gap towards the end in front of him, he could see Lewis sat on the grass pushing two cars, a mclaren and a ferrari around. Pulling himself the last bit, George stopped so he couldnt be seen from anyone standing near Lewis or further back, he strained his ear to hear if there was anyone outside with Lewis but all he could hear was the muffle sounds of people in Daniel’s driver room.

“Psss Lewis”

Lewis had stopped playing when he had heard his name and looked around to see where it had come from but could not see anyone so he went back to playing with his cars.

“Pssss Lewis”

Now he was sure he had heard someone and looked around again but no one then he had felt a stone tap his leg so Lewis carefully bent his head down to look underneath Daniel’s room and smiled. The little driver moved over and crouched down onto his stomach to look at George, he was about to crawl underneath but George had told him not.

“Why George under there?”

“Well it's the only way I could come see you, are you ok?”

The little driver pouted a little and looked up at the room, Sebastian and Daniel had been having lots of talks, his Ri Ri was getting very sad so he had been making sure to make him happy, it had been hard, his other friends like Lando wanted to hug him but Ri Ri needed him first. 

“Ri Ri big sad, I make him sad, trying to make him happy”

“What did you do to make him sad? Im sure you didnt Lewis”

“Ri Ri think I want to spend more time with everyone and wanted frosties but Ri ri couldn't find more, got angry. Made him sad”

Lewis little explanation kinda made sense as to what was happening and why the little driver was giving Daniel all of his attention. It touched him that Lewis was still looking out for drivers when they got in such a funk but George could see in those little eyes that Lewis was blaming himself, the little driver was trying to make it right.

“Im sure Daniel doesnt blame you. Everyones just very sad they cant see you, Lando really wanted that cuddle, Oscar and Charles were looking forward to spending time with you”

The words that had come out of George’s mouth were meant to be comforting to Lewis however they did not have that effect rather the opposite. 

George frowned when he watched Lewis’s eyes glaze over quickly, the little driver had gone still.

Flashback 

Lewis had moved around to hide behind Daniel’s leg when he had seen Lando had come over for a hug from the little driver, he grabbed Daniel’s left hand and started to tug the aussie away, he had heard the two drivers talk a little, Lewis had turned his head to look back at Lando, he had seen the hurt across Lando’s face.

In the Red Bull garage, Max had tried to offer some crayons to draw with but Lewis had shaken his head and moved over to Daniel who had picked him up, looking over the aussie’s shoulder, he had seen the sadness in Max’s face.

When they had made it to Daniel’s room, Lewis had been on the sofa, drinking his apple juice when there had been a hard knock on the door. He watched as Sebastian answered it to Fernando, there had been a heated talk before Kimi had joined the fray to move the Spaniard away from the door, he had seen the tears in Fernando’s eyes.

Flashback

A lone tear rolled down his left cheek.

Followed by another on his right cheek.

Soon they were rolling off as he began to silent sob, Lewis stood up quickly and his eyes darted quickly around him before bringing his hands to hold his head.

‘Making everyone very sad, only make everyone sad’

George felt something cold grip his throat as he watched Lewis began to cry, he had started to crawl forward when the little driver stood up, the Mercedes had managed to pull himself out from underneath the driver’s room.

“I hurt everyone”

Then suddenly Lewis took off running away from the spot he had been standing in. 

“LEWIS!”

He quickly stood up ready to take off after the little driver when the door to his left had slammed opened, George turned his head to see Kimi, Sebastian and Daniel had all stormed out with worried faces when they had heard the shout of Lewis’s name, the mercedes driver had watched Daniel looked down at the cars on the floor by George’s feet before looking back up.

“Where is Lewis”

All George could do was point in the direction Lewis had run off and not wasting another minute there, George had taken off and it wasnt long before the other three drivers had followed behind him.

============

Lewis’s breathing was all over the place, he was struggling to see through the amount of tears that were rolling down his face, there was snot running down from his nose and he had tried his best to wipe it off with his hand but more came. 

‘Hurt everyone, everyone sad, I make everyone sad’

The little driver had finally come back onto the paddock but was pushing past people, he did not know where his little legs were carrying him but he needed to get away from everyone. Lewis tried wiping his eyes which caused him to stumble a little but he had kept himself up without falling over like at the beginning of the season when he had head butted Lando.

Everyone’s sad and hurt faces kept flashing through his mind.

Bringing his hands up to cover his ears.

‘Hurt everyone, everyone sad, I make everyone sad’

He wanted to make the sadness go away, he wanted everyone to be happy. 

Everyone would be happy if he didnt make them sad.

He stopped running for one moment and Lewis closed his eyes as he gripped his head tighter in his hands, one thought running through his mind,

‘If I go, nobody will be sad, I wont hurt everyone’

Now with that, Lewis opened his eyes and took off running towards some buildings then soon he found himself making his way to the fence that lined up against the track, the little driver followed the line of the fence till he had found an opening and crawled through the hole, once on the other side. Lewis had looked around and noticed no one was around so he carried on following the fence and soon the fence had turned into the tire barriers then grass had turned into gravel. 

Turn 3 Turn 3 Turn 3

He ignored the whispers biting at the back of his head, Lewis ignored the slow setting sun of spain and soon his feet met grass again, looking down the wall of the tire barrier, the little driver felt drawn to one spot and stood there in front of the tire barrier before turning around to sit down, he leant back and brough his knees up to his chest, making himself small as he gripped his hair and began to pull, the tears now flowing out of him harsh and hot.

‘I want Mele, I want Mele, I want Mele’

“MELE!”

===========

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO RUSSELL!?”

Daniel, George, Kimi and Sebastian had splitted up, looking around the paddock for Lewis and it wasnt long before they had met back up outside of the Mclaren building, The mercedes driver had been trying to catch his breath, when he had felt the rough push and looked up to find a furious looking Kimi who had raised his fist up but was caught by Sebastian who had stepped in quickly before it had got worst.

“I didnt do anything!”

“What happened George?”

“I saw you talking to Jenson earlier and decided to follow you, that when I found Lewis outside playing and I decided to try and talk with him without being seen by crawling under the driver rooms, we were talking, I asked if he was ok, Lewis told me how Daniel had been sad, that he was trying to cheer Daniel up because he believed he had made Daniel sad so I tried to tell him that he hadnt but everyone was sad because they werent getting to see him. For a second he frozen and thats when he took off”

He had waved his hands around trying to explain all that had happened to Sebastian and Kimi before looking to Daniel who had brought his hands to his mouth.

“Oh my god!”

“What Daniel?”

“Lewis thinks hes made everyone sad, that hes hurt everyone”

Time had stopped still for the four drivers, there had been a cold wind that had passed through them and George brought his hands to his head.

“No no no no no, I didnt mean…”

“George’s its not your fault”

There had been a scoff from Kimi, both Daniel and Sebastian had thrown deadly glares at the finn. 

“I caused this…”

“No I did, I let my insecurities get the best of me, Lewlew had been trying to cheer me up”

“As much as it would be fun to watch you both try to out blame the other, schatz is out there by himself, thinking the worst of himself”

Daniel and George looked at Sebastian who had crossed his arms over his chest, they could see the panic in his eyes and they knew they probably had the same look.

“WHAT do you mean by that! MY Corazon is missing and your standing here doing nothing”

They turned around to find Fernando and Lance had approached their little group, the Spaniard looking furious, demanding an explanation and then another voice piped up behind them.

“What is going on! What do you mean Lewis is missing”

Lando stood with Oscar behind Kimi, both of them looking worried and before Daniel could say anything Carlos had run over with Charles behind him.

“We saw Sebastian running around the paddock looking scared, whats going on? Where is pequeno”

And it wasnt long before Max and Checo had joined his side, the dutchman grabbing his shoulder.

“Daniel”

Daniel looked at them before looking at everyone else that had joined this group and soon the aussie began to notice the other drivers of the grid were dotted around them, watching, looking on and curious at the small gathering of drivers. He was thankful that the public had left the paddock, this would cause a media panic if they had seen all the drivers like this. He looked over his shoulder to see the sun was starting to set and his mind went into a panic, Lewis was out there all alone, probably thinking everyone hated him, that he made everyone sad. 

It was like a hand had grabbed his heart and was squeezing it so tight, Daniel watched as Fernando began to argue with Sebastian, Kimi looked ready to take on a fist fight with Max and Checo was starting a heated talk with Carlos and Lando with Charles and Oscar looking ready to back up there team mates. He looked to George who looked back at him, the mercedes driver looked so unsure what to do about the group and thats when Daniel decided, he stepped forward and took a deep breath, bringing his hands to his mouth.

“Right Lewis has turned into a 4yr old and currently is missing somewhere on this track!”

Suddenly the rest of the drivers who had been standing at the side, watching the group had flocked straight towards Daniel, there had been a load of questions shouted him, demanding answered and Daniel was starting to feel overwhelmed when there was a sharp whistle causing everyone to stop then Kevin had stepped up to him, lowering his hand from his mouth.

“Tell us what to do Daniel, Lewis is the heart of this grid, we will find him”

The fighting and yelling had stopped, everyone was nodding with what Kevin had said and Daniel had felt such pride in seeing it. Lewis never knew how much hold he had on the drivers on the grid, he was the sun they all turned to and even better with how Kevin had worded it.

He was the heart of the grid.

“Right Pierre and Yuki, go find Jenson and the rest of the sky team, explain the situation. Max and Lance go inform Christain and your Dad, Hulk and Zhou go see if you can find security and get them to check cctv and the rest of us will fan out, looking for Lewis”

Everyone had taken off the moment Daniel had stopped talking except for Sebastian and Fernando.

“We will find him Daniel”

Chapter Text

The first place they had gone to check was the Red Bull garage, it had been unlikely that Lewis had gone there if he was trying to get away from everyone but Daniel knew it had become a safe haven for the little driver, it had been his safe place when the 7x world champion had turned into a child. He had been hopeful that maybe Lewis had taken to going there; however by the looks of frowns on Fernando and Sebastian, he was not here. They had looked in both sides of the garages, every small nook and cranny was checked, anywhere a 4yr could squeeze himself into before looking inside the few offices in the building, the three had entered back onto the paddock and suddenly the flood lights had switched on with such a brightness, Daniel had shield his eyes from it before he could hear footsteps and found Lance and Max running towards them.

“Christian’s got any left over mechanics from all the teams searching for Lewis”

“Dad said he would get all lights lit up around here including the track, it should help everyone with the search”

It definitely would help a lot, trying to search for Lewis with the limited light they had was hard. They had been on their way to the Aston Martin garage when Zhou had skidded round the corner, he stopped placing his hands on his knees trying to catch his breath before looking up.

“Cctv?”

“The cctv we watched with the security wasnt helpful but when Ted and Martin arrived from Sky, we watched the footage by any of the exit gates and not once did Lewis appear. Hulk is still with them going through of other areas”

He hadnt left the circuit.

That meant Lewis was still here.

“Thank the heavens”

Daniel looked at Sebastian who had placed a hand over his heart looking relieved, he knew that was something they had all been worried about. The what if of Lewis leaving the circuit and being out in the world all by himself, the fear that clenched around his heart was leaving a vile taste in his mouth. He thanked Zhou and watched the Stake driver nod before heading back to the security team, soon enough Lance and Max had pulled out their phones, they were calling the others to let them know the news that Lewis was still here, the fact they had Ted and Martin from Sky helping them meant that Pierre and Yuki had found Jenson and had informed the ex mclaren driver, Daniel knew it wouldn't be long till they would run into Jenson or the fact he would find them, knowing Jenson, the ex mclaren would be demanding answer of why Lewis was out here by himself.

Before he could go into a pity blame party like he knew George was probably going through, Daniel had felt a smack to his head and turned to look on the left side of his shoulder to find Fernando lowering his hand down, a glare on his face.

“Now is not to start the blame game, we need to find corazon, those clouds do not look good”

He followed Fernando’s pointed finger to the sky and finally noticed the dark clouds that had rolled in, Daniel could smell the faint aroma of rain dancing on the wind and he knew it would be a matter of when the rain would fall. They needed to find Lewis quickly, the little driver had been wearing an all white Mercedes shirt and shorts that George had found a while ago, he had dressed Lewis for the sun, not the rain that was going to arrive soon. 

Daniel pleaded to the heavens that Lewis was somewhere dry and sheltered.

There was no luck in the Aston Martin garage and Max had gotten a message from Lando and Charles saying that the Mclaren and Ferrari were a no go then Sebastian had mentioned that Kevin and Valterri had checked the Stake and Haas garages too. 

“He wont be at the other ones either, maybe the catering buildings?”

Lance had suggested and it wasnt long before they took off, when they got to the area with the catering buildings, they had noticed Christian was on the phone outside the Red Bull and when he noticed the small gaggle of drivers he waved them over. Daniel had found a radio shoved into his hands and soon he watched as the team principal had done the same as everyone else.

“Lawerance with Fred managed to grab all available radios from all the teams, everyone has one, this way its easier to contact one another. Alex and George are currently over by the drivers room with Oscar and Lando checking underneath with a couple of the mechanics from Ferrari and Haas. Kimi has been storming through these buildings with Valterri and the Mclaren team”

Suddenly the radios in their hands began to crack with static.

“No go on Ferrari, Alpine, RB and Mercedes buildings”

Valterri’s voice had been clear over the radio, there was still no sign of Lewis. Fernando had pressed the button on the side of his radio and brought it to his lips, his eyes narrowed looking across the paddock.

“Martin! Ted! Tell us youve got something on those stupid cameras”

“No sign on anything of the east side nor the north side of the paddock”

“Hulk I dont want to know what is not but rather-”

The crackle of static had cut off Fernando and Hulk’s voices sounded over the radio, telling them that they were trying then suddenly Hulk’s voice had been cut off as if someone had taken the radio away from him.

“We got visual of Lewis running through the west side of the paddock by the small group of trees during the 6 hour mark”

Max had been the first one of them to flew towards the west side of the paddock, Sebastian had instructed Lance to help out with the two finn’s while Daneil had taken the the radio, telling everyone his small group was on there way to the area and that everyone needed to keep to their areas as it wasnt a definite that Lewis was still in the west side of the paddock. They had found the spot with the grouped up trees and straight away, Max, Daneil, Fernando and Sebastian had taken to calling out for Lewis but only there echoes replied back to them suddenly as if the weather had been waiting for its moment to show its hands, the heavens opened up and rain fell from the sky.

“Shit this is bad”

Daniel looked to Max who had gripped his head with both hands and the aussie would agree with the dutchman, he had smelled rain in the air but he had been praying that it would not rain. 

“Schatz would of found a sheltered place”

“But would he”

“Lewlew would of hidden himself just like Max’s car”

“Corazon doesnt hide when hes upset, he has never done that even as an adult”

They had all looked at each other, there being a slight disagreement dancing in the air. 

In tough times through Lewis’s life with F1, he had taken to dealing with his emotions and situations differently by the sounds of it. From what Sebastian and Daniel had experienced, Lewis would curl into himself and would often hide in the smallest places even as an adult but Fernando had experienced the complete opposite, Lewis had been one to go places that connected to him on a deeper level of meaning and a lot of those places had been open spaces.

‘Catering buildings are a no go, all have been checked, the teams are double checking’

Fernando had picked up a stone by his foot and had aggressively thrown it at a wall, shouting in anger, Daniel frowned as he stared at the radio but it was Sebastian that had replied to Valterri over the radio. 

Suddenly they heard footsteps coming towards them, these did not lift their spirits as they sounded too heavy to be the footsteps of a child, the four had looked up and saw Jenson running to them with his ear pressed into his phone, the ex mclaren driver had skidded to a stop in front of them and Daniel was ready with apologies at the tip of his tongue when Jenson had pointed to behind them, Sebastian and Max followed where he was pointing to while Daniel had opened his mouth ready to ask what when Jenson had beaten him to it.

“He will be on the track”

They were about to question it but Jenson had given them a determined look so Max had brought his radio to his lips.

“Has anyone been on the track yet?”

A chorus of no’s had echoed through the radios.

‘We are checking cameras on the track now’

‘Lando and I are heading to the grandstands now’

‘George and Alex are heading to turn 13 and Kevin, Esteban and Pierre to turn 8’

Soon their small group of five was now heading towards the track, they had gotten to the fence but had halted in their movements, looking to the left then to the right.

“This is a long track, where the hell do we start?”

Max had been right, this track was a long one and had so many open areas and closed off grandstands that it would make it difficult. What direction should they go down? It soon became an argument between Fernando and Sebastian which direction they should go down, the dutchman had tried to get in between the two older men as there shouting had started with them getting closer together, Daniel could not deal with them starting a fist fight when they had bigger things to deal with, the aussie turned to look at Jenson except the ex mclaren driver had not put his phone down and was nodding to whoever was the phone to him.

“Are you sure? Why would that- Ok I tell”

“Jenson?”

“Turn 3, he should be there”

This had stopped the fight between Fernando and Sebastian, Daniel had frowned at Jenson, wanting an explanation as to why he thought Lewis would be at turn 3 and who the hell was on the other side of that phone.

“Everyone is checking the other turns, if we take the right, turn 3 isnt that far from here”

Max was right about turn 3 being quite close to them, Daniel let out a sigh and nodded, soon they broke up into a run, running along the fence passing a spot when there had been a hole in the fence. Finally the fence had turned into the tire barrier and Daniel vaulted over them with ease as did Jenson and Max, Fernando and Sebastian climbing with care.

“Yeah i aint no parkour person”

There was a small chuckle among them once they all had made it on the side with the track and all of them broke out into a run, heading towards turn 3 of the track.

It wasnt long till they could see turn 3 with the gravel. 

Daniel narrowed his eyes, trying to see if he could spot Lewis at all in the turn but even with the flood light, he could not see the little driver.

There was a feeling of hopelessness when Max suddenly lifted his hand, pointing to the middle area of the barrier.

“Look! There”

There sitting against the barrier, absolutely soaked to the bone because of the rain was Lewis, the little driver had shielded himself with his knees and from a distance they would have not seen him, the white of his Mercedes clothes had blended him into the white colour of the advertisement on the barrier. Sebastian had grabbed the radio and brought it to his lips, pressing down on the button with shaky breath exiting his lips.

“God we found him, we found him. Turn 3 by the barrier”

Daniel and the others had started running on the gravel, they watched as Lewis looked up when he heard the noise.

The heartbreak look that ran through the little driver's eyes, it broke everyone's soul right there and then.

Lewis opened his mouth and only one word had exited those small lips with a small sob following after.

“Mele”

The nickname  had stopped everyone completely in their tracks except for one person who was walking slowly behind them and soon passing Daniel and Sebastian who had been ahead of the others when they had broken out into a run on the track. The aussie could not believe his eyes at the sight of the person when they had passed him on the left, the aussie looked over to Jenson for an explanation  but the ex McLaren driver was looking at the scene in front of him.

Nico Rosberg.

“God I havent heard that nickname in a long time, last time was at the start of 2016”

There had to be no way that the famed Mele, the one nickname that Lewis held in favour over everyone, was Nico but they all watched as Lewis had unscrambled himself and had stood up on shaky legs, rubbing his eyes as fresh tears fell from his eyes. From his spot, Daniel watched as Nico’s shoulders shook and from the tone in his voice, the German was crying.

“Of course…you… would find… haven… in the…. Place we… crashed”

“Mele”

Soon Nico was at the edge of where the gravel met grass, the German dropped down on his knees, ignoring the sharp stones digging into his knees.

“Meine Leibe”

“Mele!”

Less than a second later, Lewis had thrown himself into Nico and the German driver had wrapped his arms around the little driver, burying his face into Lewis' hair. Their sobs dancing on the wind, Daniel looked over to Sebastian who had narrowed his eyes at the pair and he could take a guess whatever Nico had said, the other german did not like it at all, turning around he spotted the frowns of Max and Fernando but Jenson had a small smile on his face.

He turned back to look at the pair.

Daniel bit his lip, now how were they going to navigate through this.

Mele was Nico.

Chapter Text

From the beginning…

At first he had felt confusion when Vivian had called him, no polite greeting or witty joke between the separated couple like normal, the first thing that had greeted him on that call, was did he or Jenson know what was going on. He remembered asking Vivian what she had been on about as clearly he was not sure what she had meant by that.

‘Have you not seen the statement from Mercedes?’

Her voice was soft, a little too soft as if she was approaching a wounded animal. Nico narrowed his eyes as he pulled his phone away from his ear and without closing the phone call, he had pulled up twitter and found the Mercedes official account had posted something that was clearly blowing twitter up with how many times it had been retweeted.

Lewis Hamilton will not continue this season and further seasons are currently not on the table due to a personal matter.

He had felt his heart drop to the floor.

Lewis was not racing.

This couldn't be true, this had to be a joke or something though they had not spoken in years, Nico knew for a fact that Lewis would never give up racing.

Lewis Hamilton bled racing.

A notification had popped up from Jenson.

‘Have you seen this!? Martin’s confirmed it but we cant get anything out of the Mercedes camp to go into more detail, trying to get something, will keep you updated’

‘Nico,talk to me, do you know something?’

There was a ringing in his ear as he dropped his phone onto the floor, Nico covered his ears and screwed his eyes shut, repeating in his head this was not true and that this was a very bad joke someone from the Mercedes camp had to be playing. Vivian’s voice calling out to him and the constant buzzing of his phone, let the cold dread take hold of his body, this was not going to be a nightmare he was going to wake from and that everything was going to be fine, he would see Lewis smiling on podium with a trophy in his hand. Opening his eyes, he slowly bent down and picked up his phone then lifted it to his ear, Vivian had gone quiet when she had finally heard Nico’s breathing down the phone.

“No I don't, Viv, I dont know”

Nico hung before she could say anything else to him, the german walked from his kitchen to his bedroom and sat down on the bed before opening the top draw, he carefully pulled out a album and began to flick through the pages, letting each of picture of him and Lewis as children take him back down memory lane.

Ignoring the tears running down his face.

Racing did not exist without Lewis.

==========

Nico had received a message from Jenson about having dinner and the German had accepted as the ex McLaren had kept on bugging him through calls, emails and the once or twice threat of just popping up at his house. Now he had set down the place mat when the door rang, he let out a sigh as he brushed a hand through his long locks before moving over to his door, opening it to reveal a tired looking Jenson, he could only imagine he looked as bad if not worse.

“Hey”

“That better be some good stuff Jense”

Pointing to the bottle of red wine that Jenson was holding in his left hand while his right was clutching his over the shoulder back.

“With what Im gonna show, I definitely got the good stuff”

Now this piqued his interest.

Sitting at the table, Nico had taken the wine and popped the cork off before filling both of their glasses up, he took a seat opposite Jenson who had lifted the glass to his lips before stopping when he spoke.

“So I managed to get through to Seb the other day and he doesnt know anything about Lewis”

“Seb spoke to you?”

“A simple message of No I dont know”

He had been surprised that his pestering had actually got the other german to reply to him, it had been a shock that he didnt know and when Nico thought that Sebastian had maybe been lying to him to cover what was going on with Lewis, those doubts had been put to sleep when Mark had called him during their catch ups that Sebastian had been down the phone panicking that he knew nothing about Lewis. Nico looked at Jenson who had placed his cup of wine down onto the table, Nico looked over to his balcony, watching the sunset starting to set over the ocean when out of the corner of his eyes, he had noticed that Jenson had brought his bag up to the table and was pulling a few bits of paper.

“Here”

Nico had raised his eyebrows as he slowly took hold of the bits of paper that Jenson was holding out to him, he turned them over and realized they were photos.

Photoes of the paddock to be exact.

Looking at them, they didn't look like anything out of the ordinary. There was the normal Sky crew talking to one another, Lance was exiting out of the building, a few mechanics or crew members of the different teams and the small child.

The same small child in all the photos.

The small child that looked exactly like Lewis from the memory of Lewis’s Dad showing him and his Father Keke a few photos of little Lewis as his dad had done with his own photos.

It was like a carbon copy of Lewis.

There was no way.

He looked up to Jenson with wide eyes, turning the photo around and pointing to the small Lewis lookalike in the picture.

“No…”

Jenson had leaned back into his chair as he rubbed his hand over his face before looking at the photo then to Nico.

“This was taken a few weeks ago but Naomi had noticed this child popping up a few times around us, a few times by the Red Bull garage and it wasn't till Will had brought these photos to us then it clicked. Its like the motorgp incident a few years ago. The statement with those photos, Lewis had turned into a child again”

“No…”

“Nico Ive seen pictures of little Lewis and I know for a fact you have too, This is Lewis”

Lewis was a child again.

Nico had turned the photo around, he let his eyes burn the image into his mind before he turned to Jenson.

“What else do you know?”

“Where to begin? Oh lets start with the fact, He’s being looked after by Daniel Riccardo”

========

Sky had done a damn brilliant job of keeping this news of Lewis Hamilton turning back to being four out of the media, hell it had been helpful in the form of Lawrence Stroll. LIke Jenson had said, the ex McLaren driver had kept him updated with everything going on with Lewis from what they could see.

He had explained this to Vivian about who knew and by the looks of who did not know about the 7x world champion.

“Would explain the sudden appearance of Seb and Kimi at the track, has Jenson made an approach yet?”

“No, he said he isnt going to beg to see Lewis like probably Sebastian had done”

Nico had seen her finger twitch a little before she had picked up her cup of tea, he let out a sigh before shaking his head as he stood up and made his way to the window. The German could feel the roll of her eyes, a few weeks ago, Vivian had approached him about going straight to the aussie and demanding to see Lewis but Nico had shot that down straight away with no room for any argument about it.

There was no way Lewis would have remembered him.

And if he did, it probably wasn't in the nicest of lights.

The fact, no one had sent him anything about the fact that Lewis had become little showed him that they did not want him to know, they wanted to keep little Lewis clear of Nico.

He had felt pure rage at it first, Lewis had been his friend first, his best friend through it all. 

Nobody had put a team together so they could race with Lewis, Nobody invited Lewis on family holidays to Greece, Nobody would sit with Lewis stuffing their face with frostie kellogs, Nobody had the dreams of being world champions together, Nobody had the honour of being the first to receive a nickname from Lewis

But then he remembered the Silver Wars.

And he understood why they kept Lewis from him.

Nico would not push against it, no matter how hard Vivian would argue with him.

============

Photo had all he had been able to see of Lewis.

Tiny adorable Lewis.

Sometimes Nico wished that he would somehow stumble upon the little driver, it was his guilt secret that he refused to let Jenson and Vivian know.

It was like the universe had heard his wish, deciding today was it.

Nico had remembered he was visiting Jenson on the paddock, there was a moment were the place was not crowded and he had stepped away for some fresh air when he had noticed Carlos and Sebastian walking away from him then he watched as a hand had popped out of the jacket draped over Carlos’s shoulder, a biscuit had fallen out of it. He bent down to pick the biscuit up and that's when he had felt the pull to look back at the shoulder of Carlos.

Two small deep coal eyes greeted him.

Lewis

The German stood up, his eyes not leaving Lewis as he watched as the little driver had reached out a hand to him, the glistening of tears in his eyes, Nico had felt himself take a step forward as his heart had lurched forward in his chest.

“Lewis”

Suddenly a large group of people had appeared before him and Lewis was no longer in front of him.

===========

“I'm going to absolutely throttle him, no i'm going to murder him”

“HIm who?”

“Daniel that who”

“Jense what has happened?”

Nico had to take a walk to the beach after Jenson had explained what had transpired with Daniel and the idea that no one knew Lewis was allergic to certain types of water. He had roughly bent down and picked up a large stone before throwing it into the ocean with a fuming deep throat scream. The anger he could feel from Jenson had slowly built up in him, Nico had picked up another stone and repeated, he did not care if he was scaring the few people who had been walking on the beach behind him.

They were not looking after Lewis right.

He had to press down the urge to march right down to where they were and swiftly take Lewis away.

Nico would have never let any harm come to Lewis at all but then he had been someone who dealt so much harm to Lewis during their last year of Mercedes together.

“They asked if you knew”

“And what did you say?”

“I didnt answer them”

========

Nico had been sat down on his sofa, reading through the reports of his company when Vivian had bursted through the door with the biggest smile of her face, he pushed down his glasses to look a her with a raised eyebrow, she had thrown herself onto the sofa next to him and was pushing her phone into his face.

“Look who I spotted at the market”

There on the phone were several photos of Carlos, Lando and Oscar with a little Lewis strapped to the Spaniard’s back down the aisle of the market. Nico had turned to look at her but he was unable to find his voice to ask the thousand of questions that ran through his mind.

“So I had to double take when I first saw them and I followed them around the market once I knew it was definitely Lewis. They were arguing down about crayons when I took another peak at him and Lewis waved to me, I got to see that toothy smile of his again”

Vivian had swiped to the left and just as she said, there was a picture of Lewis waving to her with a big smile.

“I then decided to take the risk and I walked down that aisle, it looked like Lewis wanted to say something so I held my finger to my lips for him to be quiet and handed him the bear”

“You did what!?”

Nico had wanted to be mad at her, Viviain had no reason going through his box of memories that contained everything to do with Lewis, especially not a small teddy that had the German flag over its heart. A gift he had given to Lewis when they had been little, a time when they had to go back to their own respectable countries, Nico had brought it so Lewis would never forget him when he returned home. He had known Lewis had treasured that teddy so much, it had travelled with Lewis through his Mclaren days and when they were both at Mercedes, though towards the end of it all, Nico hadnt known whether the teddy was still with Lewis or had been thrown away but it broke his heart even more when he was sat down in his parents living room during the winter break after a year since he had announced his retirement when his Father had entered with an open package and soft saddened look in his yes.

Flashback

“What is that honey?”

Nico had watched his father turn to his mother and tilted the package to show her, his mother had brought a hand to her mouth and she looked at him with tears building in the corners.

“Wha…”

“I'm so sorry Nico, I know how much this meant to you, to both of you”

His father had placed the package into his hands and Nico looked down, the slow healing of his heart that had taken over the year, all breaking and shattering to the sight of the teddy bear with the German flag over its heart.

The teddy he thought may have been thrown away like rubbish.

Nico had remembered thanking his father and bid both of his parents a good night before making his way to the room they had set up for him. He had sat down on the bed, clutching the teddy to his chest as he silently cried to himself.

Flashback

Nico had let go of his anger at Vivian when it had gotten back to him from Jenson about how Lewis had not let go of said teddy, it had become the little driver's favourite thing.

He would no longer sit back and do nothing.

=========

It had been busy in the paddock, he had been thankful for the small get up that hid who he was and he was lucky no one had noticed him, Nico was looking out for any sign of Lewis, he clutched the small box of cereal in his hands.

Frostie Kellogs

How his Father still had the brand of the discontinued cereal at home, he would never question it.

Now he didn't really know what his plan was if he came across the little driver.

Suddenly he had caught Carlos walking towards the Red Bull with said little driver in his arms, nobody really paying attention to the pair. Nico didnt know what took over his body and he found himself on the path that would at some point connect all three of them. When it had happened, Nico had lost his voice as Carlos had pressed Lewis’s head gently down to shield the little driver, the Spaniard not realising who he had bumped into and all Nico could do was slip the cereal into the bag the spaniard was carrying.

===========

Spain

Why did it have to be Spain?

He had decided that the next race, he would go down and finally march up to Daniel and the others to finally see Lewis but Nico had not realised where the next race was.

Of course it had to be Spain when he decided to push through.

Nico could feel the vile, bitter memory trying to push its way through his mind, to stop him but the German had decided he was done hiding away. He looked down at the satnav and noticed he wasnt far from the track when his phone began to ring, he pressed the button of the loud speaker.

“Fuck them all”

“Jense?”

“Something has gone down with Daniel and fucking Seb isnt letting anyone see Lewis, hell not even Fernando, you need to get your butt down here and pull the rug out from underneath them”

“Jense im 10 minutes away from the track”

“You are?”

“Yeah..”

“You stepping up?”

“Yes”

Suddenly Jenson had gone quiet but there were a few other voices in the background of the call, Nico had finally parked up and managed to get into the gate with his phone to his ear when the ex McLaren spoke again.

“Lewis has run, they cant find him”

Nico had felt his world collapse at those words.

He had to take a few breaths to calm himself down, that's when he realised Jenson had yet to put the phone down on him. His friend had informed him quietly that they had all drivers looking for the little driver and it was not long till the information of Lewis had not left the track. Nico had looked around, trying to think of where the little driver could have run to.

The rain started falling and Nico had found himself at the track.

He knew where Lewis would be.

“Jense, he will be on the track”

Nico had jumped over the barrier and had started running down the track, he was at turn 5, heading towards where he and Lewis had collided together here in Spain, back in 2016.

“Turn 3, Lewis will be at turn3”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, Turn 3 is where he would of gone for safe haven”

“ Why would that-”

“Jense just tell them!”

“Ok I tell”

When he got to turn 3, Jenson and the others were on the gravel making there way over to Lewis who was huddled at the barrier, the same spot the little driver had stopped spinning on the gravel on when they had collided. It broke his heart to see Lewis like this but there had been an awful part of him that found joy in the fact little Lewis had found safe haven in the spot they had collided together.

Nico had watched from his place from behind the others when Lewis had lifted his head up at the sound of everyone.

He found deep coal eyes looking at him,

“Mele”

This had stopped everyone in their tracks except for him, Nico did not care about the looks he was getting from the others when he passed by Daniel and Sebastian, he had to push his leg to move. When he had heard that nickname, all Nico wanted to do was just collapse.

“God I havent heard that nickname in a long time, last time was at the start of 2016”

Tears were now rolling down his cheeks and Nico could feel the small sobs breaking out of his lips as he watched Lewis scramble to stand up, still looking at him and not anyone else.

“Of course…you… would find… haven… in the…. Place we… crashed”

“Mele”

He had finally reached the end of the gravel and stood a foot away from Lewis who was looking up at him with such big eyes, red from all the crying the little driver must have done. Nico had dropped down onto his knees as finally his legs gave way, no longer able to hold himself up.

Fuck what they thought of him.

No, he only cared about Lewis in front of him.

“Meine Leibe”

“Mele!”

Lewis had thrown himself at Nico and the German driver had automatically wrapped his arms around the little driver, burying his face into the hair of Lewis. All he could do was cry hard as he felt tiny hands grip his shirt, Lewis was shaking in his arms and Nico tightened his grip, taking a deep breath in.

“Mele dont leave me again”

“Never Meine Leibe Never”

Chapter Text

“We need to get him out of the rain”

Slowly and carefully Nico stood up with Lewis still in his arms, he turned to look at Jenson who had finally moved closer to him and the little driver, the ex mclaren placed his hand on Lewis’s forehead before they both turned to look at Daniel and Sebastian, the aussie was unsure what to do in this moment and looked to Sebastian, hoping he had some sort of answer, they definitely needed to get Lewis out of those wet clothes and into warmer ones, wrapping him up with blankets and taking him far from Nico and Daniel knew that Sebastian would be delighted to take Lewis away from Nico but everyone standing there at turn 3 knew for a fact, the moment they tried to take Lewis away from Nico, Lewis’s Mele, the little driver would scream his heart out.

“The Red Bull catering now”

Nico had looked down at Lewis then to Jenson who had nodded to him, a small conversation passing through their eyes. The german took one step at a time before he was passing by Daniel and Sebastian, refusing to make eye contact with them but he could feel the heated glare coming off the other german, Nico ignored Fernando and looked at Max.

“Lead the way”

All Max could do was nod, there was a moment he wanted to look at Daniel and Sebastian but his worry for them was eclipsed by the amount of hurt, worry and pain he felt for Lewis, the dutchman took off back the way they had come. Everyone else keeping up with them, it wasnt long before they found themselves back to the Red Bull catering and Christian had ushered them in before leading them to one of the larger offices in the building, where several towels and blankets were waiting for them, Lewis’s bag was sat on one of the table too with Kimi stood by in, a change of outfit ready in his hand. The Red Bull team principal had told them, he had already sent everyone else back to their hotels/homes, that everything to Lewis would be explained at the next race by them all, well mainly Daniel.

The aussie would have to send out a message to everyone thanking them for helping out tonight, the next race explaining it all would not be fun and Daniel was not looking forward to it.

Max had grabbed a few of the towels and handed them out while Nico had moved over to Kimi, he didn't want to hand Lewis over as it felt like the little driver would disappear if he left Nico’s arms but Lewis needed to come out of those wet clothes however the moment Kimi had hooked a hand under Lewis and was lifted between the two men, the little driver had let out a heartbreaking scream that pierced everyone to the bone.

“NO NO NO NO!”

“Meru we ne-”

“NO LEAVE MELE!”

“Meine Leibe, Kimi needs to change your clothes, look ill be right here, not going to let go off your hand”

Lewis had looked from Nico then to Kimi, the finn nodded confirming what Nico had said, the little driver had let go of Nico’s shirt and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly and digging his nails into the German's hand. Nico winced a little but gave Lewis’s hand a little squeeze to let him know it was ok, he was not going anywhere. Soon Lewis was out of the wet clothes and was in fluffy clothes then wrapped in a blanket sat down on the sofa in the room, the little driver had been watching Nico and the German driver had reassured Lewis he was not going anywhere, this had silent any doubts the little driver had at the tip of his tongue, Lewis had then turned his attention to the Daniel and everyone else in the room. The others had changed out of their clothes as well, Christian had brought their bags from the driver rooms while Jenson had got his, the ex McLaren driver had lent Nico so of his clothes, the room had gone quiet as they all looked at each other before all looking at Lewis.

No one wanted to be the first to speak.

Fernando had let out a sigh as he stood up from his spot and walked over to Lewis’s bag, he had grabbed the blue blanket, the red bull top and the teddy Vivi. The Spaniard moved over to Lewis and crouched down, offering all three comfort items to the little driver who had stuck both his arms out and smothered the comfort items to his chest. Fernando gave Lewis a smile before standing up and moving back to his place by the table.

“When you said he didnt go anywhere without that bear, I wasnt sure to believe what I was hearing Jense, will have to thank Vivian for being stubborn”

“Why?”

Nico had turned to Daniel who had voiced his question out loud.

“Vivian had taken that teddy from a box of important stuff from my home and during a market trip, she had spotted Lewis with Carlos, Oscar and Lando, she had slipped by them and given Lewis the teddy”

Daniel had raised an eyebrow at the fact Carlos had taken Lewis out to the market, the younger Spaniard had never mentioned anything like that and definitely not hanging out with Lando and Oscar.

“Seems like your younger drivers have been having secret meetings trying to get time in with Lewis”

“God should of done that instead”

Jenson and Fernando had looked at each other before chuckling, Daniel would at some point get Carlos to explain what had happened, the aussie couldnt help but smile at the thought of the younger drivers trying to sneak time with Lewis, he turned to Nico, wanting to ask more but Sebastian had beaten him to it.

“What do you mean?”

“That teddy I gave to Lewis back when we were karting together back in italy, there will be a hidden stitch by the right ear were Roscoe had gotten to it once, it was so Meine Leibe never forgot me when we were younger”

“Dont call him that!”

“Thats been my nickname for him since we were little so why shouldnt I call him that”

“You have no right to do so”

Sebastian had pushed himself up from the chair he was sitting and was now stalking forward to Nico with a thunderous expression on his face and soon the other german had pushed off from the chair he was sat on near Jenson and the sofa with Lewis on it, Nico and Sebastian were now a foot stood apart in the middle of the room, glaring at each other, the ex mercedes driver crossed his arms over his chest and leant back a little.

“And why do I have no right to do so Seb”

“2016”

Sebastian had jabbed a finger into the chest of Nico, venom dripping on that one sentence that had come out of his mouth, the others had watched as Nico had uncrossed his arms and shoved Sebastian.

“You! Dont know shit Sebastian”

“I know plenty Nico, Hell we all here watched how you dug your claws into Lewis and tore chunk after chunk during the 2016 period, destroying his heart and soul just for a chance at gold. How long were you at Mercedes for before getting a taste victory? Couldnt get it done with MIchael so when you finally had Lewis at your side, you thought this was your chance to prove you were good but Lewis was always just that better than you so when the team turned their light on Lewis, you couldnt handle it as always. You tore him from us and then discarded him like he was nothing. You have no right to call him My Love”

Jenson had quickly stepped in to pull Nico back who was about ready to throttle Sebastian while Kimi had taken Sebastian by the left bicep to hold him from Nico. Daniel had not expected this from his ex teammate, Sebastian was always the gentle soul, well after his years at Red Bull. People tended to forget the german could be spiteful and when he smelt blood, he was like a shark on the prowl. The Aussie looked at Fernando, hoping maybe the Spaniard would step in like he had done with Daniel a few times but Fernando was sitting looking between the two with a grin on his face.

The Spaniard was enjoying the two Germans fighting.

“Nico now is not the time for this”

“No Jenson, Seb wants to fight then lets fight. Dont act all high and mighty Seb, I didn't tear him from you guys. Ive always been in his life way before any of you have, I will always mean a lot more to him than any of you guys”

“Yeah so much, that he won't utter your name at all and I was there with him when we sent that teddy back to you”

“Sebastian thats low”

“FUCK OFF JENSON! You werent there with Lewis after 2016, you ignored  how much damage Nico had done, you were too busy with Nico to give a damn. You weren't there to see schatz lose all light and love of racing, you weren't there to hold him while he cried his heart out, didnt watch how his demons ate at him, how he questioned everything he ever did, how he pushed everyone away”

There was a moment of silence.

Before everything had exploded.

Jenson had let go of Nico, he was now furious at Sebastian and was now gunning for the German and Daniel had to quickly step in the middle to prevent the ex McLaren driver from hitting Sebastian, hell even Fernando was now getting involved in arguing but he was aiming at Kimi and the iceman had let go of the bored persona, he was pushing at Fernando, waving his hands around as he shouted in finnish while Fernando had now moved from english to spanish.

Years of pushed down anger for each other now spilling out like an erupting volcano.

“STOP!”

Suddenly a chair had hit the wall behind them, smashing into broken pieces, they all turned to look at Max who was furious. The dutchman had lowered his hands to his side, trying to control his breathing before stepping to the left a little to reveal Lewis had fallen asleep on the sofa.

Fuck they had been talking about Lewis but had forgotten the little driver was in the room.

Guilt had flooded that room heavily.

“It doesnt matter what we think of each other, hell I would rather crash my car in the wall than be in the same room as some of you and the other drivers but I put that aside for the fact Lewis wants all of you. You all have a special nickname from him, you all have a space in his heart and for him, you have to find a way to be around each other for him. He shouldn't have to listen to you all fight, he will think it's all his fault again. Hell this is why we are even in this situation and the fact with his childhood, no child should be able to fall asleep to the people he cares about fighting and screaming at one another, Ive got experience in that department”

Someone from their small group had stepped forward and straight away Max had scooped Lewis up, moving behind the sofa to put distance between Lewis and the others. Baring his teeth at the older drivers while Lewis stayed asleep on his chest. No way he was going to let them anywhere near or hold Lewis after they had dug their claws into each other.

Small movements had caught their eyes.

Lewis, still sleeping, had snuggled closer to Max, reaching his arm around the neck of the dutchman, mumbling.

“My…Lion”

Chapter Text

The tension in that office had been so thick, that Max could no longer stand to be in that room with them all and he definitely was not going to let go of Lewis, not with the way they had all behaved, the little driver did not deserve to be in the middle of all that hatred. How the older members of the grid had thought that hatred was an answer to anything, how cruel they had been to one another yet had the nerve to call one another friends. Max’s heart could only weep at the thought of what adult Lewis had to go through, he could understand why Lewis kept all the younger members of the grid at arms length yet providing them with care and love. He was protecting them from the heavy burden of that hatred, Lewis was shielding them from the deep cruel hands of the craft they all bled for day in and day out. Max tightened his grip on Lewis and giving each person a cold stare from behind the sofa, he had noticed a few were still trying their luck to inch closer but the dutchman would have none of it, he turned to Daniel.

“Im taking Lewis back to my hotel room, you may come”

He then turned to Nico.

“And you may come but the moment either of you go at each other in the slightest, you will leave and will not come back. Lewis does not need that”

Max did not wait for any replies as he grabbed Lewis’s bag and stalked passed them all, he flew down the stairs and with his coat now gently over Lewis, the dutchman had made his way through the rain towards his car and he had been thankful that Lewis’s car seat was in his car. Carefully he put Lewis down into the seat before climbing into the driver's seat, turning the engine on, he made it out of the track side garage and was now on the road. Slowly the frustration and anger that had been buzzing throughout his body and began to cool off then soon tears had began to roll down his cheeks as he turned off to the side of the road, killing his engine and leaning his arms and forehead on the steering wheel, taking a deep breath in, he sat back up before looking over his seat to Lewis who’s lips had parted as he slept.

My Lion

Finally he had received a nickname, his heart leapt for joy in his chest and Max felt so over the world with having received one. The joy he had felt had the same firework exploding feeling as if he had won his first championship, god he had wanted to hear his nickname from Lewis over and over again. Then there was the gloating he would have to do when he let Lance know that he had gotten the nickname first, Max knew the younger Stroll would ask how and when he had gotten the nickname however that thought of it had left a bitter taste in his mouth and soon the anger that had simmered down to a small fire and begun to climb back into a large blazing fire.

It was not fair that he had received the nickname from being protective in the thick tension of the older grid.

Something so wonderful had been tainted with such fury.

Clenching his fist tightly, Max let out a shaky breath before grabbing his phone and sending off a text before he pulled the car back onto the road. It wasnt long before he had found himself parking the car and walking through the lobby with Lewis curling into his chest, the elevator ride had been short.

Back in his hotel room, Max threw his bag and Lewis’s bag down on the sofa in his room before stalking into the bedroom, carefully he placed the little driver down onto the soft mattress before covering Lewis with a blanket, the dutchman looked at the little driver with a soft smile before brushing away a loose braid from his face.

“Do not worry, I will protect you liefje, you will never need to carry the burden of hatred and anger of those you care deeply for on your shoulders. There is a whole grid of drivers who have looked up at you, myself included that will protect you from their bitterness”

Max quietly exited the room, leaving the door slightly opened and was headed to the kitchen for a glass of water when there was a soft knock on his door, letting out a sigh, the dutchman walked over to the door and opened it to reveal Daniel and Nico standing there looking awkward.

At least the others were not there unless they were hiding round the corner.

Straight away Nico had put his hands up when he noticed the dark flash in Max’s eyes.

“Just me and Daniel, like you said, just us. The others are back at their own hotel rooms as such”

“Yeah just me and Nico, mate”

Letting out a sigh, Max stepped to the side to let them through and once both of them were in, the dutchman peaked his head out of the door, looking to the left then the right before shutting the door behind him and making sure to lock the deadbolt of the door. He was not risking any situation that could happen like when Lando had bursted into Carlos’s room that one time. Stepping into the living room space of his hotel room, Max nodded his head to the sofa and watched as both Nico and Daniel took opposite sides of the sofa, the dutchman headed to the small kitchen area of his hotel room to grab his water, stopping to look over his shoulder.

“Ive got water or Red Bull, maybe some orange juice?”

“Water please”

“Just water thank you”

 Max grabbed two bottles of water from the small fridge, heading back into the living room and handed each bottle to Daniel and Nico before quickly popping his head into the bedroom, Lewis had turned over in his sleep, the dutchman carefully closed the door behind him before making his way to the chair opposite to the sofa, sitting down, he leant back into the chair and looking down at his phone, noticing he had received a reply from his message earlier. He would reply back after Daniel and Nico left, Max looked up at the two on the sofa, the dutchman noticed the aussie wanted to say something but was unsure how address what was on his mind.

“I dont want to step on toes, especially how youve been given the green light from Lewis’s family but what happened in that office back at catering was not ok Dan, it was toxic as anything”

“I know Max”

“That's why I think Lewis should stay with me for a little bit”

The Dutchman could see the gears turning in both of their minds and Max put a hand up to stop them.

“I'm not stopping either of you from seeing him. Hell I think he have a meltdown if I did that but at the same time he needs space from all that anger you guys have aimed at each other”

He stood up from his chair and grabbed his bottle of water on the table, taking a small sip before heading to the balcony, he looked out the window, watching the cars passing down on the street then he turned around and faced Nico.

“I get this probably has been hard on you and all the other stuff with adult Lewis. Having him call you something from your past that means a lot to you, you probably have a tone of questions swirling in that mind but you need to get your stuff straightened with them first”

Max had pointed to Daniel before waving his hand in a circle motion to indicate the others as well, the Dutchman would have thought the German would have argued with him but Nico had nodded, his shoulders slumping as he turned to the aussie as well.

“Yeah, I have such resentment towards all of you for reasons and I dont want to be left to the side during this however I understand why you guys did but Lewis means so much to me”

“I know, maybe we should talk about it all”

He had honestly thought the two would have started brawling at each other and he would have the honour of kicking them out of his room but Daniel and Nico were being respectful of what he had said, the dutchman knew they were doing this for one reason only.

And the current reason was sleeping.

There was a silent conversation discussed between Daniel and Nico before they stood up from the sofa, looking at him.

“Can we see him?”

Max nodded and walked over to the door, opening it quietly, both Daniel and Nico peaked their heads into the room and the dutchman watched as soft smiles graced their faces as they watched Lewis sleeping. Soon Nico headed to the door, waiting for Daniel who stood next to Max, the dutchman had his arms crossed over his chest watching the aussie.

“What happened was so wrong on so many levels and thank you for being there for him when we couldnt see what we were doing. I trust him with you Max, Ill check in the morning with a phone call if thats ok”

Nodding, Max watched the tension leave Daniel’s shoulders and soon they had left through his door. The dutchman let out a sigh before he headed into the bedroom, Max carefully climbed onto the other side of the bed, looking up to the ceiling, trying to process everything and soon he felt Lewis had rolled over and was curling into his so Max turned on his side, wrapping a protective arm around the little driver, he noticed the small flutter of eyes and Max brushed a hand over Lewis’s nose.

“Shhh liefje, sleep little one”

“My Lion”

Max bent over slightly and pressed a small kiss to the top of Lewis’s head before he let the small snores from the little driver lull him to sleep.

Chapter Text

It was truly odd and not once had Daniel imagined sitting in a car with Nico.

Leaving Max’s hotel with the little driver still there, had been hard for Daniel. Not once had he left Lewis in the care of another due to any other reasons other than spending time with the others however it was done because the decision had been taken away from him, there was a simmering angry at the dutchman for doing that but he had been grateful that Max has stepped up, the fight between the older members of the grid had been so bad and again Daniel felt frustrated that he had not done anything, he had stood there and watched the others go at each other with barbed hurtful words, they always had been good at that back in the day, when you had to hard and ruthless because the track took and took from you, bled you dry and the the taste of victory had been sweet.

Again it had something to do with Lewis.

He was not sure whatever argument Kimi and Fernando had but for it to get so heated that the pair almost came to blows, Daniel knew he would need to see what that was about however the main concern of the arguments was between Sebastian and Nico. 

Daniel had not seen that side of Sebastian since his days back at Redbull, people tended to forget that Sebastian could and would plunge a dull knife into you and keep turning, he was always out for blood and more. The aussie looked over to Nico who had been quiet since in the taking the car away from the hotel, Daniel had also experienced how viscous and cut throat Nico could get as well, just look back at 2016 and what it had done to Lewis afterwards.

“Take the knife, draw the blood you want too”

Turning to look at Nico with his mouth open wide from the shock, the german was still staring at the road but Daniel could see the tiredness reflected in his eyes. Here was Nico giving him the chance to hurt him, to air any anger he had towards the german like Sebastian had done. Nico of 2016 and before that would have never done that at all, god so many people would've jumped at this chance but Daniel was not like that.

“No, its not in my DNA to be like that. Probably why I stuck out as a sore thumb among you all back then. Like yeah, I had my moments with Max but never like you lot. If I had, maybe I would of stepped up in 2017 and been there a lot more for Lewis, not just Seb”

“It was bad?”

“Yeah, he cut everyone off. The track had been the only thing he lived for. It had taken Seb kidnapping Lewis after one race to break through the ice wall he had built around himself but as much as Seb takes credit for it all. Valterri did a lot of the ground work through those years and apparently Kimi too”

“I left because I couldnt race knowing I had destroyed our relationship all for that gold, I had hoped leaving and enough space, it would be the start of picking up the pieces and building it all back up, I didnt know Lewis….”

“Did you not watch 2017 season?”

“To be honest, no I didnt, the 2017 season I refused to watch. How could I watch something that had always been my dream take and destroy my soul, had caused me to choose it over Lewis, watch it take Lewis from me. To watch someone else take my place next to him, to watch them win, celebrate together”

Daniel watched as Nico’s grip had tightened on the steering wheel of the car, his eyes narrowing and the aussie could only swallow the words on his tongue as he watched the few tears roll down the German's cheek.

“I will gladly stand proud and take whatever Sebastian wants to carve out of me for what I did but I will not lie down and have people dismiss what I meant to Lewis, they did not live through our karting days to know what we meant to one another”

“I think thats what made everyone including myself jealous”

“Jealous of what?”

“You and Lewis”

Daniel laughed softly when he watched as Nico had turned to him with a confused look on his face and the aussie lent his left cheek into his hand as he turned to look outside the window.

“Lewis was like the sun so full of joy and love, everyone wanted him to look their way and we had to try so hard to get him to do that but with you Nico, you never had to fight or work hard for that sun to look at you. You guys had that history, no one else did back then really. Like Sebastian can say he did for a bit but nothing like what you had”

Nico had pulled the car off the road into a car park that was looking over some hills. Once he had cut the engine off, the german wiped his cheeks and rubbed his eyes before leaning his head onto the steering wheel and letting out a sigh. Daniel turned from the window and looked at Nico, he grabbed his phone and started swiping through the different apps before he found his gallery and opened the folder marked Little Lewis.

“Im so-”

Nico had held up his hand to stop Daniel from speaking.

“Dont be, I get were you all came from, keeping it from me. Like why would you tell the person who hurt Lewis the most about him turning little. I kept my distance because what right did I have to come and see him, the biggest fear was he would look at me with such hate and fear to put myself through that again, I couldnt but when Jenson told me about it all and seeing Lewis from a distance, reaching out for me. Here had be hoping deep down that I was still Mele in his eyes”

The german had placed a hand over his heart, lifting his head up from the steering wheel to look at Daniel.

“God the amount of times that name came up, Lewis held you above everyone else even his Ri Ri”

They both let out a small chuckle before silence drifted in the car.

“I want to thank you for being there for Lewis”

“All credit goes to Max unfortunately again hahaha, Max was the first to really find him like that”

“Definitely living up to the mantle of my lion. Protective animals, lions are”

“Bet Max is over the moon with that, finally getting a nickname, he and Lance had been competing with one another to get a nickname from Lewis since everyone that was popping out of the wood works already having one, should of seen how mad he was when Carlos had one before him”

Daniel held his phone out to Nico who had raised his eyebrow a second before noticing the photo of Lewis and the German's eyes softened, taking the phone with both of his hands, mouthing a thank you to Daniel as he began looking through the photos the aussie had collected of Lewis. There were a few photos that Daniel had explained the story of what had happened before the photo being taken or during the photo being taken, Daniel looked at Nico who was now smiling. The aussie couldn't hold any anger towards him, Nico had been a key point in Lewis’s life, yes the german had hurt his friend so badly but from what they had talked about in the car, Nico had regretted it all and wanted to make amends.

“There’s something I want to show you”

Nico had handled his phone back and nodded to Daniel though he looked a little unsure.

It hadnt taken them long to get back to the hotel Daniel had been staying at and once in his room, the aussie had motioned to Nico to sit on the bed before he had moved to the cupboard where his bags were, digging around Daniel pulled out what he was looking for and smiled turning around to face Nico.

“A bag?”

“Lewis’s bag from the day he turned little”

Of course Daniel had kept it on him, always washing the clothes that were in it in case Lewis had turned back from being a child into an adult again. He had only wanted to look through it for the clothes to keep them fresh but then Daniel had gotten curious about what was in the bag and yeah he did have a snoop around. The aussie had been disappointed that there was nothing good or juicy in the bag through his snoop and he was ready to give up when a velvet box had caught his eye.

Pulling said velvet box out of the bag, Daniel dropped the bag before walking over to Nico and taking a seat on the bed next to the german, holding the box out to Nico who took it into his hand very slowly.

“When I opened the box, I knew what it was, I had seen it a few times. Lewis sometimes wore it underneath his race suit. I questioned him about it but he would never say anything except smile fondly at it”

He watched as Nico frowned at him before the german opened it to reveal a small flower pin.

An Acanthus also known as Bear’s Breeches.

Daniel leaned back onto his hands as he looked at the ceiling, catching the shocked look from Nico, he could see the tears building up in the german’s eyes again.

“I had to ask a florist what the flower was, the fact she understood how I described it. Told me its name and how it was the national flower of Greece then I knew what it meant to Lewis. Sebastian may have been there and the force behind the teddy bear but Lewis had held onto that Nico, everyone and myself included pushed you out of his life but deep down, Lewis wanted to keep you in his life and I think he wanted to reach out to you at some point”

He looked away from the ceiling back to Nico who had pulled the pin out of the velvet box and was holding it in his hands.

“I got this for Lewis on his first trip to Greece with me and my family, I had wanted to give him a holiday that he would never forget, to remember the trips, the ice cream, the talks underneath the stars and I had been in this shop trying to find him something but was unsure what would be the perfect gift so the lady behind the counter asked and I explained it to her then she pulled this pin out and told me it was the national flower, that my friend would never forget greece and its memories”

“Did you know the flower is the symbol of Strength and Healing?”

Daniel gave Nico a soft smile when the German shook his head.

“You gave Lewis strength through that pin, he still held you in his heart and I think deep down he may have wanted to heal the rift between you guys. A florist may have told me its meaning but any other flower I came across, wondering, Lewis told me. He defintly knew what yours meant”

There was a thank you on Nico’s lips but this time it was Daniel’s turn to hold up his hand with a shake of his head.

“I will not push you and definitely not let the others push you out of his life, Lewis needs you more than ever now and Im not taking away his Mele”

Nico nodded before looking down at the pin in his hand then curling his hand around it before bringing it up to his lips, closing his eyes and losing himself into the memories that he had pushed down.

One slightly mended bridge.

Daniel could do this.

Lewis’s happiness meant everything to him.

Now he had to somehow fix the acid burning bridge between Sebastian and Nico.

Chapter Text

It was all pitch black around him, nothing but emptiness.

He could not see anything but he could hear.

Angry voices, shouting over him and at one another.

Lewis crouched down on the spot, covering his ears with his hands and screwing his eyes shut tightly.

“NO! STOP! PLEASE!”

The voices got louder and closer to him, Lewis could feel a pressure on his chest and suddenly he found it hard to breath, taking sharp quick breaths in as tears began to run down his cheeks.

“Pl..ea..se…st..op”

Suddenly he felt two warm hands on his shoulders before they brought him into this warm glow that surrounded his whole body, the little driver felt safe and clutched hard onto the warm glow, large sobs coming out of his mouth but his breathing had started to slow down slightly.

“Lewis, its ok, I got you”

The little driver opened his eyes and found himself looking at a bare chest, his eyes travelled up to see the very worried blue eyes of Max who had tightened his hold on Lewis and was rocking him a little, Lewis looked around and realised that the room was not black but was Max’s hotel room, there were no angry voices shouting. He buried his head back into the chest of Max who had begun to brush his hair and brought his knees up to encircle Lewis even more.

“Shhh its ok, I got you, I won't let anything happen, I got you”

Max watched as Lewis’s eyes began to flutter close, still rocking the little driver in his arms. The dutchman had been woken up by thrashing next to him and his eyes had shot open within a second, he had scooped Lewis straight into his arms and it broke his heart when Lewis was shouting in his sleep, whatever the little driver had been dreaming about had been really bad. He would at some point have to thank his mother, Max had remembered when he had terrible nightmares about his father, he remembered how he would wake to be in his mother’s arms, her rocking him and whispering soft words into his hair and he was thankful it had worked with Lewis.

He brushed the tear marks off of Lewis’s face before placing a small kiss on the top of the little driver's head.

“Ive got you”

========

Max held Lewis in his arms as they walked down the small gravel path into the small wooden land  area. During his call with Daniel this morning, he had explained that he wanted to take Lewis out to explore some of the nature and the aussie had said it would be a good idea, other than the one time trip to the beach and the soft play area, they hadn't really taken Lewis out anywhere, they didn't want to risk Lewis being out in the world but the dutchman knew the little driver would need some time out in nature, adult Lewis was always out, going on runs and doing lots of environmental work with different charities. Max had kept quiet about the nightmare the little driver had and about who they were going to go meet up in their little walk.

During the facetime, Lewis had asked Daniel why he was with Max and not his Ri Ri. He had been ready to answer for the aussie as Max was sure he wouldnt be ready with an answer but Daniel had beaten him to it and with something he didnt expect.

“Ri Ri is spending some time with Mele, got lots to talk about”

Seeing Nico’s face pop up in the facetime had been a surprise as well, Max had raised an eyebrow towards Daniel but the aussie had ignored him and reassured Lewis that Nico wasnt going away, the pair told the little driver he was going to spend a few days with Max before they went to the next race.

Where everyone was finally going to meet Little Lewis.

Soon they were coming up to a clearing and Max could see George talking to someone, he got on with the younger mercedes british driver but he wasnt exactly friends with the guy and after the first encounter he had with George in the Red Bull garage when they first found Lewis, it had left a bitter taste in his mouth with George but when Jenson had mentioned that some of the younger drivers had been meeting Lewis behind Daniel’s and the others back, he knew there was only one person who would organise that.

He felt Lewis wriggle in his arms once the little driver had spotted George so Max had put Lewis down and he watched as the little driver took off down the path towards the opening with a smile on his face.

“Georgie!”

This had caught the attention of George and the other.

George had crouched down with a big smile on his face and soon found his arms full of Lewis who was hugging him so the british driver scooped Lewis up in his arms before tossing him in the air as he stood up, catching the little driver who was giggling as he had came back down into George’s arm, Max joined the small group and nodded to the other who only had eyes for Lewis in George’s arms

“My god he’s adorable”

“Who that Georgie”

Lewis had turned his head around when he had heard the other voice and noticed someone was standing with Max, he had turned to George before pointing to the other person.

“This is Alex, Lewis”

“I thought it was just you we were meeting”

“I had plans with Alex when you messaged it was an emergency, couldnt exactly lie to him, dont-”

The dutchman held his hand out and this stopped George from continuing his conversation, George raised his eyebrows at Max but watched as Max held his arms out and Lewis almost flew from his arms into Max’s, he watched as Max put Lewis down and looked between the little driver and Alex.

“Why dont you show the flowers we passed by to Alex, maybe he can help pick some with you”

Lewis’s eyes flew wide and a massive smile lit up his eyes, the little driver shot next to Alex and had grabbed his hand, dragging the Williams driver back to the path he and Max had come down.

“This way Alex, I show you”

Both Max and George had watched Alex look a little dazed before he broke out into a smile, letting Lewis guide him down the path to where these flowers were, George had turned to Max ready continue with the conversation, feeling annoyed but stopped when he saw the hardened look glaze over the dutchmans eyes.

“When we had brought Lewis back to the Red Bull catering building during that night do you know what happened? Sebastian, Nico, Jenson, Fernando, Kimi and Daniel all broke out into a verbal fight with one another about Lewis, not little Lewis but adult Lewis. They all stood there arguing and Lewis had fallen asleep to them fighting”

“Max…”

The dutchman had moved to sit down at the bench in the clearing and George sat down on the opposite side of the bench, he watched Max but Max was watching Lewis who had picked a flower and was showing it to Alex who had crouched down, his hands full of flowers then the little driver had put the flower into the williams hair which had caused Alex to blush a little.

“They were vile to one another and they had forgotten Lewis was with them. People Lewis cares about and they were hurting one another. Growing up with something like that, you never want to watch anyone else go through that but there I was, in that moment I took Lewis away from them. I took that decision from Daniel and the next few days he’s in my care. We arent friends George and I know for a fact we dont see eye to eye, probably never will but I will not be like them. I messaged you because these next few days, I want Lewis to be surrounded by love and those who care for him. Nothing toxic. I know a few of you were always jealous of adult Lewis spending a lot of time with the older grid back then especially Charles haahaa so Im giving us that chance but with little Lewis”

Max took a deep breath in and turned to George, holding his hand out towards the British driver.

“Truce?”

He didnt need to think about it at all, George grabbed Max’s hand with his and shook it.

“Truce”

Chapter Text

Max sat leaning against the dressing table in the bedroom as he watched Lewis focused on colouring in something in his book in the middle of the bed, sticking his tongue out in concentration as he grabbed a light green crayon from his pack, who knows which driver had brought him the pack of crayons, seemed like the small driver owned about 5 millions packs with how many packs sat in Lewis’s carry bag. The dutchman let out a soft sigh as he looked down at the watch on his wrist, it was almost time before the others would be arriving soon. During his day out with Lewis, George and Alex, one of the two had received a call from Lando, they never got out the reason as to why the mclaren driver had called as during the facetime call, Lando had caught Lewis was on his screen and whatever he called for was completely forgotten as he began to fuss over Lewis and the small driver over the moon to be talking with Lando, pointing out the flowers in Alex’s hair that he had put there and it wasnt long before Lewis had taken the phone into his hands and was showing the mclaren driver something on the nature path they were walking down. Max could not resist taking a picture of Lewis as the small driver was explaining something to Lando, he had this bright smile that showed off his teeth including the small gap between the front top set. The conversation lept from one thing to another till suddenly there was talk of Lando telling the small driver he missed him and Lewis telling him that he missed the pillow fort they had created last time staying over with Carlos.

“We should have another one, a large sleepover with almost everyone then we can build a massive fort”

And now Max was waiting for several of the younger drivers to turn up to his hotel room to have this massive sleepover that Lando had created.

Of course George and Alex agreed on the spot and Lando had straight away mentioned Oscar and Carlos which in turn would mean Charles, that's when Max had taken to telling them no one else. Like Daniel had mentioned, he would meet with the other drivers at the next race, silently communicating with the others that this would be just a young drivers get together. Knowing if he had invited any of the older drivers, hell would break loose and that was not what he was looking for, Max wanted to take away all negative feelings that surrounded Lewis. He had messaged Lance about coming round, not really giving out the information it was a big sleepover as he knew the younger

Stroll was quite loyal to Fernando but Lance had messaged back that he was back in Canada for something.

Suddenly he heard a knock and pushed himself off the dressing table, Max took one look at Lewis and the small driver was still focused on his drawing so he left the bedroom to go answer the door. Rubbing a hand over his face, Max pulled the bedroom door to almost a close before he strided over to the door leading out into the hallway, the dutchman pulled it open to reveal George, Alex, Lando with Oscar. He stepped to the side to let the others in but made sure to motion to the sofa, quietly the four had entered and placed their bags/pillows/blankets on the floor, all of them taking in the large room that Max had.

“Geesh this is massive dude”

“Something out a movie, living up that royal life”

“More like world champion life, Lewis once had a room like this back in Brazil”

Max couldnt help but chuckle as he watched the four look around the living but his attention was taken away when he heard a knock on the door, this time it was Carlos behind it and the spaniard had joined the others in the living room, everyone was sat down and it was quiet, nobody knew what to really say. Max had turned to Carlos and asked if he had heard anything from Charles but before he could say anything there was a knock at the door, pushing himself off the arm of the chair, Max headed over to the door and pulled it with a sigh.

“You know your la- what is he doing here”

The others in the living room couldnt see the door and were definitely sure they had heard Charles mumble a sorry about being late but the dark tone from Max had indicated that Charles had brought someone with him, Lando and George had been the ones who had gotten up to try and take a peak but quickly moved back to their spots when Max entered the living room looking livid and following him was Charles and Pierre. The dutchman had turned around and pointed his finger at Charles before looking at the door to the bedroom and then back to Charles.

“I said no one else, everyone else would meet Lewis at the next race, Charles what the hell!”

Max kept his voice very low, not wanting Lewis to hear him and the tone. He was angry that Charles had basically ignored what he had asked, the ferrari driver had no right to bring Pierre here but before Charles could reply to Max or for anyone in the room to say anything, the bedroom door opened and out ran Lewis holding a his book in his hand, looking down at whatever was on the page.

“My Lio-”

They all had watched as Lewis cut his sentence short when he looked up to Max but had realised the dutchman was not alone, the small driver looked at everyone before stopping his vision on Pierre. George was ready to leap off the sofa and go to Lewis, ready with an explanation of who Pierre was but slowly they all watched as the small driver had tilted his head with a confused look.

“Pew pew?”

Suddenly all eyes were on Pierre who turned to Charles with narrowed eyebrows.

“You said he only remembered a few people from like 2014?”

“Yeah thats what Carlos explained to me, Pew Pew?”

“Pew Pew is Lewis’s nickname for me when we game together, mainly its COD, hence Pew Pew”

Pierre had raised his fingers into guns and motioned shooting, looking to Charles before turning to Lewis who had slowly made his way over to Pierre, the frenchman crouched down onto his knees so he was the same eye level as Lewis and raised his arms up in motion of a hug, the small driver did not hesitate to enter Pierre arms and smiled softly as he felt the frenchman wrap him up in a small hug.

“How is it, I only got my nickname literally three days ago and you plus Carlos have had one for ages”

All eyes were now on Max who was shaking his head with his hand on his forehead, for a second it looked like the dutchman was going to be mad but the smile then followed by a laugh said otherwise. This had caused everyone in the room to laugh and soon Lewis wriggled out of Pierre’s arms, moving over to Max with his book with a big smile on his face. The dutchman picked Lewis up and tossed him into the air earning himself a giggle from the small driver, Max would not lie that he was still really angry for Charles bringing Pierre like George had with Alex the other day but he was not going to be like Nico nor Sebastian, he would smile through it all just for Lewis.

Even if that meant housing a sleepover with some of the most chaotic members of the grid.

Soon enough Lando had leapt off the sofa to scoop Lewis away from Max, taking the small driver to his bag where the mclaren driver began pulling out different blankets from his bag and then Oscar followed by Carlos came over to pull out even more blankets, Lewis looked so amazed by the amount of blankets. It wasnt long before all three drivers began covering Lewis in the blankets, the amount of giggles that were coming from the small driver had everyone clutching at their hearts at how cute he sounded. 

“Help heehee help me”

“You cant escape the blanket monster now”

Lando was ready to scoop Lewis up in the blankets but felt himself being pushed into Carlos and the pair had tumbled into Oscar landing in a pile on the floor next to their bags then suddenly the blankets had been thrown across so quickly they popped their heads out and watched as Pierre had slid across the floor, throwing Lewis onto his shoulders with a grin on his face and holding one of his hands into a shape of a gun.

“Dont worry Pew Pew will protect you from the blanket monsters”

“Hey thats my job”

“I dont think so my friend, Im his protector”

Max and Charles looked at each other in surprise before they narrowed their eyes at each other, slowly crouching down as if they were ready to break out into a run and Pierre took a big gulp when he found their gazes on him, holding Lewis steady on his shoulders, he took off quickly behind the sofa with Charles and Max hot on his trail then it was long before finally both mclaren drivers and Carlos got into the fray trying to reclaim Lewis back. The small driver had gone from being on Pierre’s shoulder to suddenly being slid carefully across the floor on a pillow between Lando and Oscar who had snatched Lewis up when Max and Charles had taken Pierre down to the floor but before Lewis reached Oscar, he was scooped up by Alex and taken over to one of the chair, Carlos’s hand was almost in reach of Lewis but was taken out by a pillow, he looked up to see George getting another pillow ready as Alex hide between the chair with George, both of them turning to Lewis.

“Dont worry we got you now”

“No one can get pass George’s pillow skills”

Suddenly a pillow fight broke out between all drivers.

Max ducked behind the table he had flipped over to protect himself and grabbed the pillow that had come from Oscar’s direction, he lifted himself up and watched as a pillow from Charles that was aimed at Lando had missed and hit a lamp, causing the lamp to fall to a thud on the carpet. Normally Max would have freaked out about this as he didnt want the hotel to come at him for damages then to hear about it from Christian but seeing the bright grin from Lewis was worth all the damages in his hotel room.

Seeing the small driver enjoying himself and being a kid after the horrendous past few days and technically weeks.

The dutchman would wreck a thousand rooms just to see Lewis smile.

With the fort of blankets and pillows built in the bedroom, all the drivers had changed into their own version of pj’s currently lying in a circle within the fort with Lewis was asleep in the middle of the circle tucked under the blue blanket and with Vivi cuddled into his chest, there was a peaceful lull of silence among them all as they watched the small driver sleeping, Max couldnt of wished for a better sleepover for the small driver, he knew the older drivers would come for him and potentially the others but he did not care, this thing had got Lewis giggling and having the time of his life.

“I miss him”

Everyone had turned to Charles who had spoken as he lifted himself into a seated position, the dutchman had opened his mouth to ask the ferrari driver what he had meant by that but Lando had beaten him to it.

“What do you mean Charles? He's right in front of us”

“No no no, I mean adult Lewis. The grid doesnt feel the same without him here though he is there”

Chapter Text

Charles groaned quietly as he tossed and turned in his sleep, his face scrunching up as a wave of sadness ran through him, a few tears escaping his closed eyelids when he felt hands on his stomach, shaking him. Opening his eyes with a soundless gasp, the ferrari driver found himself staring into the concerned eyes of Lewis who was sitting next to him, the little driver's blue blanket sat next to him on the floor. Lewis took his hands off of Charles and took hold of his blanket and Vivi the small bear that was hidden behind him, Charles sat up and brought a hand to his eyes, wiping away the small evidence of the tears and turned around to find that he and Lewis were the only ones awake no one else had stirred awake from his nightmare, the ferrari driver turned to Lewis, ready with an apology on his lips for waking the small driver but had noticed that Lewis had stood up, holding his hand out to him.

Slowly Charles stood up and placed his hand into Lewis’s hand, the little driver carefully led the both of them around the other sleeping drivers and out of the bedroom into the living room of the hotel room. The ferrari driver was confused when Lewis had pointed to the small fort they had built during the chaotic fun time of the sleepover, Charles sat down on the pillow and watched as the little driver had moved away towards the kitchen, Lewis had opened the small fridge and pulled out a carton of oatmilk, bringing it over to him before moving back to the kitchen were he pulled open a cupboard door then pulled one glass cup, placing it gently on the floor then grabbing another glass cup and setting that on the floor before closing the door of the cupboard.

His heart melted at the sight of Lewis walking over very slowly as he clutched one of the glass cups to his chest. 

The little driver placed the glass cup in front of him before heading back to grab the other glass cup. 

All Charles could do was watch Lewis carefully pour the oatmilk into both glasses before handing one of the glasses to him, the little driver sticking his tongue out in concentration to not spill any of the oat milk. Charles took hold of the glass and watched as Lewis sat down in front of him, taking hold of his. 

The little driver looked down at his oatmilk before looking up at him.

A sudden flash in Lewis’s eyes.

“Sorry.. I can't warm it up”

Flashback

He just couldn't catch a break, could him.

Nothing seemed to be going right with the car.

A DNF, spinning out on the gravel, engine issues etc.

Of course he had gotten pole position and as always during the first turn of the track they were at, he had Carlos pushing from one side and behind him was George pushing right up his ass then next thing he knew, he was spinning into the gravel, the ferrari colliding into the barrier. 

“NO! NO! NO!”

Slamming his hands down on the steering wheel as he ignored the calls over his radio, slowly Charles climbed out of the car and crouched down, placing his head into hands before standing up and walking off pass the barriers were someone was waiting to take him back to the paddock but the ferrari shook his head and walked off down the path towards the paddock by himself. 

He needed this time to cool down.

Had it helped?

No, not one bit as by the time he had reached the paddock and all the pity looks he had received, had made his mood a lot worse. Lucky enough Charles had kept his helmet on so no one could see the scowl and the tears rolling down his face. Out of view in the paddock, Charles had taken his helmet off and wiped his face with his hands before taking a few deep breaths in. Making sure he was PR ready for the interviewers who were waiting for him like the hungry wolves they were but he would not be feeding them today. On his way, a screen took his attention as he had watched Lewis not only overtake George but Carlos too on a difficult turn, the Ferrari driver couldn't help but smile at the karma that had taken place.

Charles had made his way through his interviews as if he was on autopilot and soon found himself back in his drivers room when everything from today and all his failures had crashed down onto him.

He started picking things up and throwing them around, his eyes blurring as the tears rolled down his cheeks rapidly, his breathing came out fast and unsteady.

Picking up his phone, Charles was ready to throw it against the wall but stopped his throw when there was a knock on his door.

The anger bubbling in him, Charles tossed his phone onto the small sofa and stomped across to the door, pulling the door open with such force.

“WHAT!”

All anger had left his body so quickly at the sight before him.

Lewis Hamilton

Standing there with a concerned look on his face and holding two cups.

“Sorry.. I couldnt warm it up. No cooking equipment in the room”

Of course the 7x world champion would come and check up him like he always did.

With of course, the milk.

A fresh set of tears began to roll down his face and before Lewis could say anything else, Charles threw himself down the stairs and straight into Lewis who had dropped the cups to catch Charles in his arms, the Ferrari driver sobbing into his chest. Carefully the 7x world champion led them back into Charles’s drivers room, ignoring the mess and lead them onto the sofa.

“I cant get anything right, I just fuck up again and again”

“Charles there are days we all aren't at our best”

“You are, your a 7x-”

“And before that I was not, I was a young rookie, who had multiple dnf’s and even in champion fights I was retiring at races because of the car. I have my good days and bad days, nobody is perfect even those who have made history in our sport”

Charles could feel Lewis’s hand rubbing slowly over his back and the ferrari driver felt his breath begin to even.

“You Charles are on your way to becoming someone great in this sport. You are a world champion in the making”

Flashback

“No cry”

Charles put the glass down to the side of him quickly as Lewis scrambled from his seat to climb into the Ferrari’s driver lap, using his small hands to wipe away the tears that were rolling down his face. He didnt realise he was crying, Charles looked down at Lewis who looked so worried, the sudden flash from earlier gone from Lewis’s eyes. All Charles could do was let out a small sounding sob as he brought the small driver into his chest, burying his face into the hair of Lewis.

For a small moment he thought…

Had doubted himself however Charles was sure of it, he had seen the small change in Lewis’s eyes.

A second ago he had been staring into the eyes of Lewis.

The Lewis who he raced against on the track, the Lewis who talked about his music and would in turn listen to him about his own music, the Lewis congratulated him on his wins and was there to pick him up during the DNF’s and crashes.

For one second, he had adult Lewis staring at him in that small body.

It had Charles thinking about if anyone else had experienced this but there was a small niggle in him that said he was probably the first. Everyone was so wrapped up in the tiny driver but not him, sure Charles was a little excited to experience little Lewis however the Ferrari driver missed the Lewis he raced with, the driver he looked up to more. 

He wanted his Lewis back.

And for one small moment, Charles had gotten him back.

“No cry, plea no sad no cry”

Charles pulled back and carefully placed his hands on Lewis’s cheek, noticing the little driver was beginning to cry as well. The Ferrari driver shook his head and smiled as he placed a small kiss on Lewis’s forehead.

“Not sad, these are happy tears mon cheri”

Lewis looked confused at him before Charles rubbed away a set of tears falling from the little driver's eyes with his thumbs, carefully and gently.

“You have given me something precious, something that no one else has had mon cheri”

This had pulled a smile from Lewis.

Together cuddled underneath the blanket fort, enjoying their glasses of oatmilk, did Charles feel at peace. Soon he was running his fingers through Lewis’s hair and the Ferrari driver could feel the even breathing of the little driver on his chest, looking down, Charles couldnt help but smile at the sight of Lewis sleeping, carefully he moved so that he was lying down on his back and Lewis was at the centre of his chest. Letting out a deep breath, Charles brought his hands gently on the back of Lewis and slowly he found himself falling asleep, the sadness earlier that plagued his dreams gone, replaced with the warm memories he shared with Lewis.

=======

Lando had been the first to wake up and turned to look at Lewis, ready to cause some mischief with the little driver however the spot in the middle of their sleep circle was empty, the mclaren driver shot up to his feet but got tangled in his blanket causing him to fall and land on Oscar who yelled at the impact on his back, swinging his arm and hitting Alex in the face who kicked his legs out and caught George in the stomach who yelled and this woke up Max, Carlos and Pierre.

“What the hell is going on?”

Max had sat up, not happy that his sleep had been disturbed by the other drivers, waiting for an explanation of what was going on.

“Lewis is gone”

All eyes landed to the middle of their circle and just as Lando had noticed, no Lewis asleep in the middle.

Suddenly it was a mad dash of all the drivers getting up from their sleeping areas to look for the little driver.

Chapter Text

Charles was not happy he had been woken up by several loud voices, slowly opening his eyes, he looked down at the small driver curled up on his stomach and could not help but smile softly at the sight and soon he found himself bring his arms to cuddle Lewis into him more, he could feel Lewis was burying his face into his chest and was moving quite a bit for a child who was sleep and it was then Charles realised that the loud voices outside the pillow fort were in fact working their way into waking up the 7x world champion from his slumber.

He was not going to let that happen.

Slowly twisting his body within the pillow fort and making sure not to jolt Lewis from his position on his stomach, Charles stuck his head out.

“Will you be quiet”

The room went very quiet and Charles had several pairs of eyes on him, George was the first to step forward among them.

“Lewis-”

“Is currently sleeping and all your shouting is going to wake him”

Using his right hand, Charles lifted up the duvet hanging across the chair to reveal to the other driver's Lewis was sleeping on his chest, the small driver had stopped moving when they had stopped being loud and had a content smile on his face. The ferrari driver watched as the panicked faces of his friends soon vanished and relief had found its way on instead.

“We woke and Lewis was gone, we panicked”

“He woke up in the middle of the night so I took him out to have some milk and we fell asleep in here that's all”

This answer was accepted among them and soon Lando followed by Carlos, Alex and George headed back into the room however Max and Pierre had stayed out in the living room looking as if they didn't believe that story completely. Charles let out a small sigh and through his eyes communicated that he would explain later when the others were not here, this had earned him a nod from both of them, Pierre had moved into the kitchen to most likely prepared some coffee while Max had stood there looking at the small driver on his chest before heading back into the bedroom, were the other drivers had probably had taken to falling back to sleep as the clock on the wall indicated that is was only 5am. He looked down to Lewis down on his chest and couldn't help before carefully stroking his back gently with a smile on his face, the events of last night repeating through his head however there was a snap in front of his face and Charles looked over to Pierre who had brought his hand away from his face and carefully slid a cup of coffee to him. Leaning on the sofa, Pierre took a sip of his coffee and exhaled a sigh of relief before looking at Charles with a raised eyebrow.

“What?”

“Charles…”

He looked away from Pierre and looked down at Lewis, sighing softly.

“I was going through a night terror and it woke him up so he woke me up before bringing me out here. He got me a glass of milk like adult Lewis normally does…”

However, as close as he and Pierre were, Charles was not going to share the little moment where for a second, he had been looking into the eyes of adult Lewis, his Lewis and not the small driver. Pierre took a sip of his coffee and stared out to the balcony before stretching his legs out.

“You do know, it isnt just you who misses him”

“Well it feels like i'm the only one, everyone is wrapped up in this small version of him”

Charles picked up his coffee with his left hand and slowly drank it, the tiredness leaving his body and a small pain starting to flare up on his lower back from the position he had been laying in. Placing the cup down and very carefully trying not to wake Lewis up, Charles shifted into a sitting position but stopped moving when he heard a small yawn and looked down to see two coal eyes looking up at him.

“Good morning”

The little driver nodded before pushing himself up into a sitting position on Charles’s lap, he looked at Pierre and the alpine driver gave him a small smile. Both drivers couldnt help but coo to themselves when they watched as Lewis rubbed his eyes with a yawn escaping his lips, he turned to Charles.

“No cry?”

“No mon cheri, only happiness”

Lewis smiled showing off the small gap in his teeth and threw his arms around Charles in a hug which the Ferrari driver returned making sure not to squeeze too hard.

“Hey where’s my hug? I feel left out”

Both Charles and Lewis looked over to Pierre who winked at them with a pretend pout on his lips and suddenly the small driver leapt out of Charles’s arms and onto Pierre who had not been ready at all and his coffee had been thrown on the sofa behind. Lewis landed in his lap and Pierre held back the small cry of pain as the small driver threw his arms around him and the French driver couldn't help but laugh.

“Sorry Pew pew”

“I can say at least I got the second cuddle of the day”

Next thing they knew, Lewis was climbing off of Pierre’s lap and running straight into the bedroom where the other drivers were and probably sleeping.

“Lion!”

Charles and Pierre could only laugh when they heard Max’s excited voice and he was probably the third person to get a cuddle off the small driver and soon it was followed by a collection of groans that changed quickly when they had noticed it was Lewis who had woken them all up.

“Hey I want my cuddles”

“No get in line Lando, Im first”

“Im his team mate, i should be next”

Standing up Pierre looked at the sofa and frowned before letting out a laugh as he held a hand out to Charles who took it and the French driver pulled his friend up before Charles hit him in the shoulder.

“Hey what was that for?”

“I was enjoying my cuddles with him and you sent him packing off to the others”

All Pierre could do was laugh as he and Charles walked over to the bedroom to involve themselves in the chaotic energy that was going on.

—------------------

Where had the time flown by?

Max let out a sigh as he looked down the corridor, they had arrived at the paddock early to avoid all the cameras and thankful Lawerance had sent some more bodyguards to hide them from view. The Dutch driver looked down at Lewis who was holding onto his hand, smiling as he swung their hands, muttering to himself. The small driver was iin a simple plain white top and shorts as today was that day.

He was going to be meeting everyone on the grid.

Christian had been the voice of reason for the clothing, saying that they didn't want to show Lewis wearing any team kits as this could come across rude to everyone else. Max was ready to scoff and show him his phone where there were several messages, telling him to dress Lewis in particular team kits. Stopping at the office door he had been told to go to, Max pushed the door open to reveal Daniel sat down on one of the chairs scrolling through his phone with his left leg bouncing up and down.

“Ri Ri!”

Lewis had let go of Max’s hand and ran straight towards Daniel who had dropped his phone and scooped Lewis into his arms, throwing him up in the air before squeezing him to his chest gently.

“Hey Ive missed you”

“Miss yoo”

“Have you had fun with Max?”

The small driver nodded with a big smile on his face, retelling Daniel all the fun stuff he had done with Max and all the different food they had eaten. The Aussie driver looked at Max with a soft smile and mouthed a thank you which Max nodded before taking a seat.

“How has the stuff been going?”

“If stuff you mean getting Nico and Seb in a room to talk then nope, that is still a work in progress however Kimi and Fernando are kinda on talking terms so little steps”

“You ready for it?”

“As ready as I can be for it, they been turning up really early today and it wouldnt be a surprise if they are all in that conference ready. Like it will be great to have the whole grid seeing Lewis but I dont want to overwhelm him with so many faces”

Max nodded understanding watching Daniel sit back down on the chair with Lewis on his lap.

“Ri Ri? LIon?”

“Yeah Lew Lew”

“Today everyone?”

Both he and Max nodded as they looked at Lewis, the small driver looked down with a frown as if he was thinking about something then he looked up with a small smile.

“Ill be brave, we do this”

Daniel ruffed Lewis' hair with a smile, soon there was a knock on the door and Christian poked his head through the door.

“All drivers are in the conference room, ready when you are boys”

Carefully Daniel set Lewis down on the floor before standing up with Max following suit, the small driver grabbed both of their hands, the aussie and dutch driver gave Lewis’s hands a squeeze as they walked through the door and headed down the corridor with Christian leading the way, after a few turns and twists and a set of stair they walked up, they could hear the conference room and Lewis slowly stopped causing Daniel and Max to stop, they both crouched down to look at him at his eye level.

“We dont have to do this if you dont want to Lew Lew”

“Be brave like Ri RI and Lion”

The noise that had been coming from all the drivers in the conference room had stopped as the three had stepped into the room, Max had let go Lewis’s hand and stepped next to Checo while Daniel had carried on walking towards the table set up at the front were the director of the races spoken when they had the drivers meetings. 

Soon Daniel picked Lewis up and set him on the table.

Where everyone could see Lewis.

Chapter Text

There had been a message from Daniel on the group chat that at the Singapore GP that they were all going to meet Lewis.

Little Lewis.

During the Spanish GP towards the end of the weekend were the fact little Lewis was missing around the track and the paddock was not something some of the drivers had been expecting. Of course everyone pitched in to help, what happened on the track stayed there, they were a team and being told that Lewis had turned little and was lost somewhere in the dark and with storm clouds rolling in, there was no way in hell that any of them would of said no.

However it was frustrating that several people on the grid had already known about the small driver as others did not know.

Esteban had been fuming and was ready to complain to Lance about it all but one small look from aston martin driver had let the french driver know he had been one of the few people who knew about Lewis, it had hurt that his own best friend had not said anything to him and he had not stayed at all to have lunch with Lance, ignoring his pleas to talk about it.

“You know he is sorry, that it was Fernando making sure it was kept behind locked doors”

“And have you accepted George’s, the mercedes team and Bono’s apologise that they kept it from you, hell even Seb and Kimi had ”

Pulling into his driver's parking spot, Esteban looked at Mick with a raised eyebrow and a tilt of his head to get a point across. Mick sighed before getting out of the car, the french driver felt bad however remembered how broken the switz driver had looked when he had found out that his own team had kept this secret from him, that he was not important enough to know that the 7 world champion had been turned little and currently was being supported by the Red Bull team. That night they had decided not to give a fuck and were sat down on the sofa eating ice cream, just reminiscing about some moments they had with Lewis.

Lewis was important to them too, not just the others.

It wasnt fair.

Esteban climbed out of his side and closed the door behind him before catching up to Mick as they walked into the paddock. It wasnt long before they were pointed towards the conference room by a red bull employee, entering the room, the two drivers spotted Kevin and Nico sat down in the chairs with Zhou and Logan behind them. 

The only other drivers who did not know till spain.

Sitting down next to Logan, Esteban leaned forward as MIck sat in the chair in front of him though turned around to join the conversation.

“So you think any of them are gonna feel bad about it?”

“Like hell they are”

“Kev-”

“No Nico, according to the others including the older ones didnt think we had the right to know, that apparently we wouldnt of been helpful”

“Valterri apologised to me, explain he had been kept out of the loop for a bit”

“Same with Alex”

“At least you got an apologise, I still havent from any one from the team nor Seb”

The small group of drivers looked at each other before letting out a collective sigh, Kevin looked away to the door they all had come through before turning to look at Esteban.

“And even if we meet him now, what is the chance we are actually gonna spend time with Lewis without others crashing or staying”

“Im sure-”

“No Zhou, Ive gotten agree with Kevin on this”

Suddenly they heard the click of the door and the six drivers stopped their conversation flow to look at who was entering the door. Pierre and Charles walked into the quiet and being stared out by the others sat down, slowly the pair moved around the chairs and sat towards the left side near the table that sat in front. Pierre took a sip of his drink, watching Charles pull out his phone to look at something, he could see the frowns on Kevin and Esteban faces, he let out a small sigh as he leant back into his chair, ignoring the sound of the door opening again.

“So how do you think this is going to go?”

Tilting his head back, Pierre looked at Yuki who had taken a seat behind him and Charles, placing his backpack on the chair next to him.

“Ermm it-”

“An honest opinion, it's not going to go well”

Both Yuki and Pierre looked to Charles who had placed his phone back in his pocket before leaning closer to the other two. Pierre motioned with his hand for the ferrari to explain further why he had thought that.