Work Text:
2011
“You should come see me race!” Sebastian’s bright tone makes Kimi smile as they both walk back to his tent after his race.
“Oh? You want me to be a guest of Red Bull?” Kimi asks, nudging his side.
“I do! Please? It would be nice to see you.” The younger driver lowers his ears, making himself look cute for Kimi. “Please?”
Kimi can feel himself crumbling when Sebastian turns that look on him, he’s not immune. “Okay, okay. I will come, when is the next race?”
“It’s next week!” Sebastian beams at him. “I’m so happy you said yes!”
“Well after you’ve taken the time to come see me while rallying, it’s the least I can do.” Kimi answers, smiling.
“You won’t regret it! I will make sure I’m on the podium for you!”
Kimi doesn’t doubt he will be.
Sebastian doesn’t expect his race to go to shit, but it does.
He’s chasing Mark for the lead, and he’s almost gaining on him when they collide, Mark’s car sending Sebastian’s spinning into the barriers.
The world spins dizzyingly around him before he hits the barriers with a bone jarring thump.
There’s a low whining sound in his head, the straps of the seatbelt digging into him. He feels trapped, rabbits don’t like being trapped.
There’s a noise over the whining, voices? He doesn’t know what they are, he just knows he’s trapped. His head thumps painfully in time with his heart and he just wants out, he needs to get OUT.
He unconsciously shifts into rabbit form, the smaller body getting jumbled up in his race suit but no longer trapped by belts. He wiggles frantically for a way out, he has to get out.
He finds an opening and wiggles his body out of his suit, looking around the cockpit before he jumps out onto the rim of the car and leaps out onto the track.
Where the race is still ongoing.
He’s aware of humans coming towards him, arms outstretched as if to catch him and he thumps in warning before he takes off right onto the racing line. He’s confused and disoriented and doesn’t realise that he’s on the prime path of the safety car’s wheels.
Kimi has never felt fear like this in his entire life.
He had been watching the action from the Red Bull garage and had witnessed the collision between Webber and Seb. Seeing his best friend go into the barriers was horrible.
But seeing what happened next was worse.
One second Sebastian was there, moving around in the cockpit, the next he had vanished. Kimi knows what has happened, Sebastian has shifted.
One thing they're taught not to do after a shunt.
Fuck.
“VetTell has shifted! He's shifted and he's getting out of the car! Oh my goodness, he doesn't look right!”
Martin Brundle’s panicked commentary makes Kimi's blood freeze and he watches the little rabbit stumble out of the cockpit and onto the track. He doesn't look right, he's swaying on his paws.
The rabbit hops to the middle of the track and Kimi slams the headphones onto the station and he runs.
He runs out into the pitlane and he shifts, his clothing shredding as he runs and leaps onto the pit wall and onto the track. He's running faster than he's ever ran in his entire life.
He's aware of screams, of the red flag flying, and of the tiny bunny ahead of him flattened to the ground as the safety car comes towards him.
He dives for the little rabbit, grabbing him as carefully as he can in his jaws by his neck as he races across the other side of the circuit, feeling the hands of the marshals grab him and pull him behind the barrier.
Sebastian is frighteningly limp in his jaws.
He wiggles out of the marshal's hold and gently lies the little rabbit on the ground, butting him gently with his head and letting out little cries of distress that every mashal there that day swears they won't forget.
Kimi presses his head against Sebastian’s chest, feeling his heartbeat and he sags on the ground as the medical car arrives and the doctor jumps out.
Kimi wants to snarl and flatten himself over Sebastian, but he knows the doctor is going to help, so he backs away, eyes only on Sebastian.
Sebastian is coming around, looking dazed in the doctor's hands. But it doesn't soothe Kimi's heart.
The doctor carefully bundles Sebastian in his arms before going to the medical car.
Kimi wants to go with them, but he looks up to discover someone from the FIA in front of him and he knows he's screwed.
Fuck.
Kimi is finally let go after a lecture he didn't really listen to and a ban from coming to the next few races. But he doesn't really care about that, he wants to see Sebastian.
It turns out that Sebastian had ended up slightly concussed after his shunt and was being kept in hospital to keep an eye on him. Thankfully the FIA had given Kimi this info so he hadn't been driving himself mad while they yelled at him.
He goes straight to the hospital once it's over.
Sebastian is sitting up when he enters his room, and his smile steals Kimi's heart. He all but runs to his bed and grabs his hand.
“I hear I have you to thank for saving my life.” Sebastian asks, squeezing his hand.
“Light concussion, that's why you were wandering the track.” Kimi replies, looking at their joined hands like they're a lifeline.
“And you saved me before I became roadkill.” Sebastian looks at him. “You risked your life to save mine.”
“I had to, you mean too much to me.” Kimi whispers, his eyes filled with tears.
“I'm okay. I promise, I'm sorry I scared you.” He shuffles over in the bed, giving him some space to join him.
Kimi takes the offered space, curling up with him on the bed.
“I'm sorry I didn't win the race.” Sebastian whispers, voice small.
“I don't care about that, I care that you're alive.” Kimi tells him, his hearing picking up the steady thump of Sebastian's heart.
“Still, I'm sorry I got you into trouble.” Sebastian sighs, biting his lip.
“A ban from attending the next few races.” Kimi gives a wry smile. “That doesn't bother me. So long as I can be on the grid next year.”
“Wait, what?” Sebastian blinks at Kimi, thinking his brain is still muddled and he's hearing incorrectly.
“I'm coming back to F1 next year.” Kimi grins. “I was meant to surprise you with the news.”
“Kimi…” Sebastian breathes out, his ears upright and eyes filled with joy. “You mean it?”
Kimi nods happily. “I do. I will be back on the grid next year.”
Sebastian makes a happy sound and it makes Kimi's ears and tail twitch happily. He loved seeing him happy.
“So you're coming back to me next year?” Sebastian asks, Kimi not noticing the slip that Sebastian said “to me” and not “F1”.
Kimi nods softly, grinning at him. “Yes.”
“This is the best news I've heard so far.” Sebastian whispers, unable to stop smiling.
Kimi silently places his hand over Sebastian's chest and thinks that him being alive is the best news he's heard all day.
“Survive the next few races, then I will be back. Go get that title.” Kimi tells him gently.
“For you? Anything.” Sebastian answers, giving Kimi adoring eyes.
Kimi briefly looks at Sebastian's lips, before he leans across and presses his lips to Sebastian's head.
He misses Sebastian's disappointed look entirely.
“Rest for now.” Kimi tells him, “I won't leave.”
Sebastian nods, giving a deep sigh. “I'm glad you're coming back.”
Kimi watches him snuggle in against his chest, his heart filled with love.
“Me too Seb, me too.”