#to explain himself to Kimi and only then came back and celebrated with his mechanics | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

charanteleclerc · 5 years

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find your way into my world

For mercys-adam, who requested "Seb joins Valtteri on one of his rallies". I can't find the original prompt in my inbox (I know it was there yesterday, so I may have accidentally deleted it, I'm so sorry, but I hope you enjoy!

Update: Turns out it was spidey-charles all along! Thanks for the prompt!

There was nothing like the thrill he got from rallying. It wasn’t that he didn’t love F1, the sheer speed and adrenaline rush he got from racing in his Mercedes was like nothing else. There was just something about getting into a car and driving dangerously close to the tree just got his heart going, it made him feel so alive. He didn’t have to travel thousands of miles just to race. There was no press to deal with. It was just all about the racing, pure and simple. He needed it, every so often, to race and focus on only that. It was freeing, almost.

It was so disconnected from the rest of his life, he could do nothing but star when he saw Sebastian Vettel walking towards him, looking more relaxed than he’d ever seen him. And Seb was walking towards him.

“Hey! Valtteri!” Seb waved at him, grinning. He could feel his jaw drop open, blinking a couple of times.

“Oh - shit, shit…” He panicked, clutching his mug to his chest. “He saw me, didn’t he? Oh fuck…”

“Hey!” Suddenly Seb was in front of him, looking happy and relaxed and wow, did he always look like that when he was relaxed? Was that how any of them looked relaxed?

If so, he probably hadn’t seen anyone look relaxed at the Paddock ever.

“Huh?” Was all he could manage, still blinking. “What are… er… here? You? Here?”

Seb laughed, eyes crinkling at the corners. “I needed a break, and I heard from someone you were racing, and it’s an excuse to leave Kimi’s house for a little bit.”

“Kimi’s not here is he?” He looked around wildly, half expecting Kimi to be suddenly stood behind him. Seb laughed again, shaking his head.

“No, he’s got both the kids by himself today, and they were yelling something about going swimming. I didn’t stay long enough to get roped in.”

“Oh. Right. Okay.” His brain was still struggling to catch up, trying to piece together the information of Seb and here and now. He wasn’t totally sure he wasn’t hallucinating, half tempted to grab someone and ask ‘is Sebastian Vettel really standing in front of me?’.

“So, you just came?” He said dumbly. Seb nodded, seemingly not noticing his confusion, or if he did he was too kind to say otherwise. “You just came here?”

“Yes.” Seb said, nodding. “I realised I don’t actually see much other racing, and figured this was a good place to start. Plus, you’re here, you can walk me through all this.”

“Uh… okay. I’ve got to get in the car soon, but I can give you a quick tour? If you want?”

“Sounds great!” Seb replied cheerfully. “So where’s your car?”

“In the tent.” He made a gesture behind him. “It’s not fancy though.”

“I can see that.” Seb said matter-of-factly, walking towards his tent. “Can I have a look?”

“Sure.” Valtteri shrugged, bemused. It was no secret that Seb was interested in cars, he wanted to know how they worked inside and out, but a rally car was a very different to the finely tuned car Seb was used to. With those cars mere millimetres mattered, rally cars were solid tanks of machinery. These were designed to be thrashed around, not glided. These cars controlled you, rather than the other way around.

“Wow.” Seb breathed as he looked over his car, face alight in wonder. “It’s beautiful.”

“I have never heard it described like that before.” Valtteri laughed. “Powerful, yes. Never beautiful.”

“You don’t think?” Seb sounded almost wounded. “It might not be elegant, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s perfectly designed for its environment, almost like it’s part of it. You wouldn’t call that beautiful?"

“I never really thought about it.” Valtteri said honestly. “I just always thought of it as part of my relaxation, part of my home. We don’t have beautiful exotic locations, it’s just… life.”

“You should open your eyes more.” Seb said absently, still circling the car. “How long is the stage today?”

“25km, not the longest stage, that’s at the end this year.” Valtteri explained.

“Around the forest?”

“Yes.”

Seb hummed, eyes narrowing as he crouched down. “Speed?”

“Solidly about 70? If you get a good stretch then you can do about 80 or 90, but you don’t usually get a lot of long straights.”

“It’s no Abu Dhabi.” Seb joked. “It’s impressive, the car.” He looked up, nodding in appreciation. “Can you win with this?”

“Doesn’t matter, I’ll try anyway.” Valtteri crossed his arms. “Don’t we always want to win?”

“Can’t deny it.” Seb agreed, standing up.

“Bottas, you need to be getting ready.” An official walked into the ten, headphones on and clipboard out. “You’re due out in thirty.”

“Thanks.” Valtteri called, putting down his coffee. “Sorry, I had better listen to him. Are you staying around after the race?”

“I suppose I could.” Seb teased. “It would be stupid to come all this way otherwise, no? I’ll see you at the end.”

“Enjoy it. The rally.” Valtteri said, as Seb retreated out of the tent. “You’ll get to see some real racing.”

“Maybe I will.” Seb said, looking a little haunted, and then he was gone, the tent silent once more.

~*~

His heart was still pounding as he clambered out of the car, Timo mirroring him. There was really nothing like it, drifting so close to the trees that if he leant out of the car he would touch the branches. The adrenaline was racing through his heart, he could almost see the world clearer, sharper. His emotions were rawer, he felt more alive. He never felt like this in the glitz and glamour of F1, where you were more celebrity than racer.

Seb was walking over to him, hands in his pockets, looking every inch the average fan. He was half-expecting crowds to be following the guy, there was no doubt he’d been recognised, but he also wasn’t likely to have a lot of fans here either. Wrong type of racing, and the people here were loyal to their own, this was Kimi’s crowd, not Seb’s.

“That was a good drive.” Seb remarked as he drew closer. “I’m impressed.”

“Have you ever seen a rally race before?” He asked, quirking an eyebrow.

“No,” Seb admitted, “But that doesn’t stop me being impressed.”

“I’m not the best guy out there.” Valtteri pointed out. “Not even close.”

“I don’t care.” Seb shrugged, leaning up against the car. “Are you done for the day?”

“Probably not, there are still guys running, this goes on pretty late.” Valtteri shrugged. “Getting bored already?”

“Of course not.” Seb flushed a little, eyes dropping. “I was just going to grab a drink, if you wanted?”

“I’ll stay on coffee, but I’ll let you know when I can have a real drink.” Valtteri chuckled. “I’d better go and check-in, I’ll see you in a bit.”

“Okay.” Seb said, heading back down the Paddock again. That had been weird, but the entire day had been weird. He hadn’t expected to see Seb at at all today, let alone for Seb to come here for him, and then to offer to get him a drink. It was an offer he was going to take up though, because if it was some kind of olive branch of friendship, he didn’t want to reject it. Seb was so private, and only had ever really had a couple of friends in the Paddock. It must have taken a lot of courage to come here by himself, he had to at least meet Seb halfway.

~*~

He found Seb lurking in the back of his tent, looking uncomfortable. The mechanics were fussing around his car, giving Seb a deliberately wide berth. He hadn’t been lying when he said that they were dangerously loyal up here. Seb wasn’t necessarily the enemy (he’d managed to stay in the tent, which was a vague miracle), but he was just not Kimi Raikkonen. It wasn’t his fault, but he just wasn’t.

He headed over to him, holding out a plastic cup filled with cold, cheap beer. “I think you were after one of these?”

Seb jumped a little, looking relieved when he realised who it was. “Hey. Oh yeah, I was. Thanks.”

“Well, you owe me one now, so…” Valtteri trailed off, chuckling at Seb’s expression. “You offered first.”

“I’d better sort that out today, can’t have the press finding out that I bought my rival a beer.” Seb smirked, cradling his cup to his chest. “What kind of beer is it?”

“Shit beer.” Valtteri shrugged. “It’s not a top bar, there’s one type and you just take it.”

“Not exactly the champagne bar we’re used to seeing.” Seb joked, taking a gulp of his drink. “It is beer. Just."

“Sometimes it’s just what you need.” Valtteri said, sitting next to Seb. “Why did you come here?”

“I was in the area, I said that - ”

“No, why are you really here?” Valtteri interrupted. “I know you’d rather spend your time with Kimi and his kids, rather than sitting around in a cold tent drinking terrible beer. So why are you here?”

Seb was quiet for a moment, staring intently at his beer. “Looking at my options for the future. Both you and Kimi really enjoy this, and Fernando, and I thought maybe…” He trailed off. “I don’t know what I thought.”

“Seb, you don’t need to do anything else. I only do this for fun.” Valtteri explained. “You have never shown interest in this before.”

“The retirement rumours have been following me since I was twenty-six.” Seb said, sounding angry and sad and tired. The tension he was used to seeing in the other man was back, his shoulders hunched. “Eventually they’ll get it right.”

“Then you can do something you love, rather than trying to force this into your life. I said this feels natural to me, you need to find what feels natural to you.”

Seb didn’t say anything for a few seconds, then he straightened up a little, and smiled, looking a little more at ease. “Thank you. That was much better advice that Kimi gave me.”

“What did he say?”

“Something about me being a fucking idiot, and if I wanted to retire I might as well be an old man and stay in my garage.” Seb gave a small laugh. “I think he meant it as an insult."

“At least he’s honest.” Valtteri snorted. “But if you ever want to come on a rally again, let me know before? I’ll take you out in the car.”

“Well, I can’t turn that down, can I?” Seb grinned. “Might be worth freezing my balls off for.”

“We’ll convert you yet.” Valtteri teased, downing his beer. “Do you want more shit beer?”

“Yeah, okay.”

“So, the bar is that way…” He pointed down the Paddock, giving Seb his empty cup.

“Sneaky, Bottas!” Seb laughed, jumping up and walking to the front of the tent. “I’ll ask them to give you the really shit beer!”

“You wouldn’t!”

“We’ll see about that!” Seb winked, disappearing into the night, leaving Valtteri to stare at the empty tent.

“Well, fuck.”

So sorry it took so long! (I'm going to be saying that for a while I think!) As usual, crossposted to my AO3 (Charante_Leclerc), and prompts are always open (there's just a bit of a waiting period!) Enjoy ❤️

#valtteri bottas #sebastian vettel #f1 fanfic #mercys-adam #if anyone has their new url it'd be much appreciated - thank you!#spidey-charles

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