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Charles was freaking out. He had been trying to calm Ollie down for the last ten minutes, but it wasn't working. To make things worse, he was in a hurry, and Arthur hadn't shown up yet.
"Shit, Arthur, why aren't you picking up?" Charles muttered, glancing at his phone screen for the umpteenth time. Arthur was supposed to be in his motorhome fifteen minutes ago, and qualifying was about to start! Where was he supposed to leave Ollie? His brother had promised to look after him, but now he was nowhere to be found.
With Arthur missing, Charles had to think of a new plan. He couldn't leave Ollie with anyone on his team since they were all busy preparing for qualifying. His family wasn’t there except for Arthur, who had vanished.
Charles looked at Ollie, who was sitting on the edge of the couch, tears streaming down his face. His son’s quiet sobs tore at his heart. Charles walked over and scooped Ollie into his arms, holding him tightly.
"It's okay, Ollie. It's okay," Charles whispered, rocking him gently. Ollie buried his face in Charles’s shoulder, his small body trembling. Charles rubbed his back, trying to soothe him, but the boy’s sobs only grew louder.
Charles’s mind raced. He needed to find someone to look after Ollie, but who? He scrolled through his contact list with one hand, holding Ollie securely with the other. Just as he was about to give up, his eyes stopped at one of his contacts. A glimmer of hope sparked within him.
He pressed the call button, whispering, "Please pick up," as he glanced at Ollie, who peeked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "Please pick up."
As the phone rang, Charles continued to rock Ollie, murmuring reassurances. He could feel the seconds ticking away, each one bringing him closer to the start of qualifying—finally, the call connected.
"Hello?"
"Hey, it's Charles. I need a huge favor..."
_______________________________
Seb was relaxing with Kimi. They’d been invited to the F1 weekend in Imola as guests, and since they both had time (retirement was boring as hell), they decided to take the invite and maybe stay in Italy for a few days afterward as well. The organizers were nice enough to give them a room where they could stay without worrying about being bothered.
They were currently lying on a small bed, cuddled together, both already half asleep. Moments like these were rare; Kimi wasn’t the most affectionate person, especially outside their home. Seb wished he could freeze this moment forever, savoring the warmth and quiet companionship. The soft hum of the air conditioner blended with the faint scent of lavender from the sheets, creating a cocoon of comfort around them.
Just as Kimi tightened his hold on him, his usual prelude to falling asleep, Seb’s phone rang. The sudden intrusion was like a pin dropping in a silent room. Seb groaned and turned over, burying his face in Kimi’s chest. He hoped the caller would give up, but the persistent ringing continued.
“Seb,” Kimi muttered sleepily, “your phone.” His voice was a blend of irritation and drowsiness.
Seb rolled over and wiped his eyes, squinting at the name on the screen.
Charles Leclerc
A knot of worry tightened in his stomach. Why is Charles calling now? Is something wrong? Is he hurt?
The phone rang again, snapping him out of his thoughts. With swift fingers, he finally answered the call.
“Hello?”
“Hey, it’s Charles. I need a huge favor…” Seb could sense the stress in the younger man’s voice, so he listened intently.
“I’m all ears, Charlie.”
Charles took a deep breath. “Right, Arthur was supposed to look after Ollie, but now he’s not answering my calls or texts, and qualifying is about to start, and I can’t leave Ollie alone. There isn’t anyone else who could look after him, and—”
Seb interrupted Charles’s frantic rant. “Charlie, take a deep breath and calm down. Like this.” He demonstrated taking a deep breath and smiled a little when he heard Charles mimicking him on the other end. “Now, tell me what you wanted to ask me.”
“Right, okay. I wanted to ask if you could—hey, shh shh.” A loud cry was heard from the other side. “It’s okay, Olls, shh. I wanted to ask you if you could watch Ollie during qualifying, but you don’t have to say yes. Seb, I completely understand if you don’t want to—”
“I’d love to.”
“Really? Oh, thank you so much, Seb. You’re a savior. We’re in the motorhome, second room on the right on the second floor.”
“Kimi and I will be there shortly.” They quickly said their goodbyes before Seb turned around to see his husband staring at him.
“Get up, we have to go.”
“Where?” Kimi asked in an uncaring voice.
“Ferrari,” Seb answered, standing up and tugging at Kimi’s hand. “Charles needs someone to look after Ollie, now get up!”
“Bwoah, do I have to go?”
“Yes. You’re the kid’s grandpa, you need to be there.” Seb snickered. Kimi gave him his typical stoic look.
“Since when am I his grandpa?”
“Since always. Now, we need to hurry,” Seb said as he took Kimi’s hand and dragged him out of their room, towards the motorhome.
__________________________
Charles was pacing back and forth trying to calm Ollie who was still sobbing in his arms. For some reason unbeknownst to Charles, his son chose this exact day to be a little menace and not calm down.
“Shh, shh,” whispered Charles, doing rocking movements in hopes of smoothing Ollie. Just as he thought he had succeeded Ollie let out a long cry. Charles sighed, he ran his hand over Ollie’s back still rocking him back and forth.
“My sunshine, please calm down. Please.” He said into Ollie’s brown curls, hoping the child would grant his wish, but the crying never stopped. He stopped his pacing when he heard a knock.
“Come in,” he yelled. The door opened and in stepped Seb and Kimi. “Thank you so much, I owe you.”
“No problem really. Now, what’s troubling this little man, huh?” Seb asked, leaning down a bit to be on the same eye level as Ollie. The toddler stopped his crying momentarily when he noticed the two intruders, but upon realizing the attention was on him again his eyes watered.
“I don’t know, I’ve tried everything to calm him but nothing works. He’s been inconsolable.” Charles explained sorrowly.
Kimi, who had been standing behind Sebastian, stepped forward in the view range of the toddler who, when he saw him, stopped sobbing and extended his arms toward him. Kimi sensed what the child wanted and moved his hands where Ollie could touch them.
The young child took hold of his hand carefully, examining his hand with big eyes, that were no longer filled with tears. The other two adults in the room were stunned, standing in silence and watching the scene.
Soon Ollie got bored of just touching Kimi’s hand and started to try to pull him closer. Kimi once again sensed what the child wanted so he looked at Charles, a silent question on his mind, who gave a short nod and carefully transferred Ollie to Kimi.
Kimi held him as if he were made from porcelain, cradling him softly in his arms watching the kid finally calm down.
“I don’t know how you did that,” Charles uttered in awe.
“He has a way with kids, don’t you,” Seb added looking at Kimi smugly, while the latter rolled his eyes.
“Bwoah, he wanted a change in the scenery,” Kimi replied his voice as usual carrying no emotion. He was looking at Ollie the whole time, not sparing his husband and Charles a glance, until he looked pointedly at Charles. “Aren’t you in a hurry?”
“Uh, yeah. I should really get going. Thanks again for agreeing to look after him,” the younger man responded while he opened the door, not before kissing Ollie on the head.
“No problem, good luck,” Seb yelled after him as he walked away. He swiftly closed the door again and turned around to see his husband cradling Ollie as if he were his child, making funny faces at him to make him laugh and smiling at him, in a way Kimi usually doesn’t.
This will be better than Seb originally thought.
—------------------------
Turns out Kimi really had a feeling for kids, a bigger one than Seb originally thought. They sat on the floor as Seb watched the other two play with some of Ollie’s toys, currently his toy cars. The soft hum of the air conditioner blended with the occasional giggles and the sound of toy cars zooming across the floor.
Seb smiled as he watched Kimi entertaining Ollie, making car sounds and racing with him. They had already played with Ollie’s blocks, building towers that now stood proudly by the side, and his coloring book, which Ollie refused to color alone, insisting the couple help him.
“Good job, Ollie,” Kimi praised as Ollie skillfully led his car through the obstacles Seb had set up. Seb grinned at Ollie, who had now left his toy cars, and started walking toward him.
“Hello, sweetie.” Ollie stood before Seb, who extended his hands. “Do you want to cuddle?”
“Mhm.” The young boy mumbled, nodding. He tried to climb onto Seb’s lap, who took pity on him and helped him up. As soon as he was settled, Ollie leaned against Seb’s chest and yawned. Seb gently petted his hair, cooing softly.
“Do you want to sleep for a bit?” At the mention of sleep, Ollie grew uneasy, not wanting to waste his time with them sleeping. “It’s okay, Ollie, you can sleep for a while,” Seb tried reassuring the child.
But his attempt to comfort sadly didn’t work, and Ollie’s face scrunched up before he started crying. The sudden wail filled the room, contrasting sharply with the previously serene atmosphere.
Seb and Kimi exchanged looks, before Seb started running his hand up and down Ollie’s back shushing him softly. Kimi watched them from across the room with sad eyes. He felt sorry for the kid, he didn’t want him to feel sad and scared. He stepped closer crunching down next to them and touching the kid’s shoulder. The young boy turned to look at him.
“Hey Olls, I got an idea, okay?” the kid nodded. “How about we get you dressed more comfortably and then we can go cuddle and watch a movie on the couch. How does that sound?” Ollie seemed deep in thought before he nodded slowly.
“Okay good. Let’s get you dressed then, yeah?” Seb added standing up and still holding Ollie close to his chest. Together with Kimi, they walked to the couch where Seb softly placed Ollie down. The young child grumbled but didn’t complain further.
In the meantime, Kimi found Ollie’s pajamas in a small bag. He took out two different ones, deciding to let the kid choose which ones he wanted. Seb was staying close to Ollie, bringing his favourite blanket from a chair in a corner and talking mindlessly about random stuff that came to the child’s mind.
“Look, Ollie. Kimi found your pajamas, which ones do you want?” Seb asked pointing toward Kimi who was holding pajamas with elephants in one hand and pajamas with bears in the other.
Ollie brought his hand to his face, looking deeply in thought. Just as the couple thought he wouldn’t be deciding and they would have to choose for him, he pointed toward the pajamas with bears.
"Bears?” Seb asked for confirmation and continued when he got one. “Good choice sweetie.”
Kimi quietly passed him the pajamas and safely stored the other ones away. Seb changed Ollie while Kimi turned the TV on and found Disney Plus. Once Ollie got comfortably settled in the pajamas Seb wrapped him up in his fluffy blanket and sat next to him, allowing Ollie to cuddle up to him. Kimi joined them some seconds later on Ollie’s other side, remote in hand.
“What do you want to watch Ollie?” asked Kimi scrolling through the list of movies.
“Aa!” Ollie yelled as Kimi scrolled onto Cars.
“Cars?” he checked again. After receiving confirmation in the form of a nod he clicked on the movie. “As you wish.”
Halfway through the movie, Kimi felt a weight pressing on his side. He looked down and was not surprised to see Ollie fast asleep, drolling on his shirt. He nudged Seb who turned to look as well, looking pleased to see the child calm and happy.
Not wanting to wake him up neither Kimi nor Seb moved, instead relaxing more on the couch, Seb even leaning to rest his head on his husband’s shoulder. Kimi smiled and wrapped his hand around his shoulder, lifting Seb’s chin up with his other hand to kiss him softly on the lips. They pulled away slowly, staring into each other's eyes lovingly before Seb giggled and turned to look back at the TV. Kimi smiled again and rested his head on top of Seb’s, reaching his free hand down to pet Ollie’s soft and wild curls.
______________
Charles was tired. The qualifying went fine, but the media duties were exhausting. Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to just take Ollie back to the hotel and have a good night's rest. He just hoped Ollie had calmed down since he left because he really didn’t want to stay up all night soothing him.
He opened the door to his room, and to his pleasant surprise, he saw Seb, Kimi, and Ollie cuddled on the couch, his son asleep, leaning on Kimi.
“Hey,” he said quietly, not wanting to wake Ollie.
“Hey,” responded Seb. “How did it go?”
“Okay, how was he?”
“He was great. He’s a really sweet child,” Seb said with a smile. Charles stepped further into the room, closing the door behind him.
“Thank you again for looking after him,” Charles said, reaching for Ollie and placing him on his hip, leaving a kiss on his hair. Seb and Kimi both stood up and picked up their things.
“No problem.” This time it was surprisingly Kimi who responded. “He’s a great kid.”
Charles smiled and turned his gaze back to Ollie, who stretched his hands before snuggling into Charles’ chest. The feel of Ollie's soft hair against his lips and the warmth of his small body brought a sense of peace to Charles. The couple moved toward the door, both reaching to pet Ollie’s hair before they walked out. Just as Charles moved to close the door, Kimi stopped and turned, staring at him.
“If you need someone to look after him, call us.” He didn’t wait for a reply as he walked away.
“I will,” Charles whispered, closing the door softly behind them.