Formula one sickfics/oneshots

Caring side

Drivers: Sebastian Vettel, Kimi Räikkönnen

Ages: Sebastian Vettel (29), Kimi Räikkönnen (36)

AN: 

this one-shot was requested by @_ima_jin_ 

I'm sorry that it took a while for me to finish it, but I hope this was a little bit what you wanted. It was definitely fun to write

- POV Sebastian -

The minute I stepped into the Ferrari hospitality, I realized this was going to be a very long day. The sounds made my head pound, and it took a whole lot of effort to try to constantly hold back my coughs and sniffles. I was one of the first in the meeting room, along with some of the engineers. I coughed into the crook of my elbow, trying to hide it, but I still got some worried glances from around the room.

"Morning", said Kimi, who let himself fall back into the seat next to me. "Morning Kimi", I muttered back, sneezing loudly after I was suddenly forced to speak. Kimi didn't speak a lot after that, and soon enough, the head-engineer started up the meeting. I'm not sure what exactly was discussed, but I sure hope it wasn't anything too important. I kept zoning out, no matter how much I tried to focus, I failed miserably each time. My sick state was making my mind feel foggy and I decided I'd just ask Kimi about the details afterwards.

After the meeting ended, I walked in the direction of my driver room, but before I could sneak away and be miserable on my own, I was interrupted by Kimi. "Do you know what they said in the meeting? I didn't really pay attention, but you're always on top of it, so...". I honestly should have known; Kimi never pays attention during the strategy-meetings. "Uh...I was actually *sneeze* going to ask you the same question", I chuckled slightly. "Why? Didn't you take notes like you always do?".

Kimi looked genuinely surprised, as I usually never slacked like that. I shook my head. "No, I'm not feeling well, so I wasn't really paying attention this time". I was very honest with Kimi, knowing he never showed a lot of emotion, so I assumed he wouldn't make too much of a fuss about these sorts of things. Kimi arrived at his driver and I was about to walk away, but he told me to come join him, so I stepped in. "What'd you mean? You never get sick", Kimi said, hands on his hips, as he stared at my pale face and sunken eyes.

"Not often, no. Seems I didn't get so lucky this time", I groaned, rubbing my temples in an attempt to relieve my brewing headache. I flinched when a small box was suddenly thrown in my direction. Normally, my reflexes would've made it easy for me to catch it, but they seemed to have taken the day off today, causing the box to fall to the floor. "Bwoah, you're really sick huh?", Kimi said, raising an eyebrow, handing me the box that I now noticed contained painkillers. "Thanks", I muttered, taking 2 pills before handing the rest back to Kimi.

"Headache?", Kimi assumed, to which I just gave him a curt nod. "My throat hurts too, and I keep coughing and sneezing", I complained. "Oh, sucks. Why you still here then?", he asked, and I frowned. "You told me I could come in here, right? I can go if you need", I said, getting up and heading out the door. "No, sit". I sat back down again, now completely confused.

"I meant, why are you at the track?". "To race. Don't know if you remember, but that's our job". "Not when you're sick", he said, and I looked up in surprise when he didn't use his common indifferent tone. This tone was lighter, carrying something that slightly resembled...concern? I wasn't used to this softer tone from shrugged it off almost immediately. I had probably imagined it anyway. He then handed me a cough drop, which I was, once again, very thankful for. My throat was feeling pretty awful and I hoped this would help a little.

"Seb, just go to the hotel. Rest up or something", Kimi said. The look in his eyes was soft and comforting, tempting me to give in to his request and just go back to my hotel room and relax for the rest of the day, but I still had 2 free practice sessions to drive today. "I need to drive". "No. Ask the team and they'll all agree with me", Kimi argued his case. "It's not even that bad. It's just a cold or something", I told him, playing down my symptoms to make it seem like a mild illness. Then, Kimi placed the back of his hand on my forehead, the ring he was wearing feeling cold on my skin, making me shiver slightly.

Kimi just raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Just a cold my ass. You're sick", he told me, shaking his head. "Kimi, it's nothing". "You have a fever. Shut up", he said, but not in an insulting way. He seemed to genuinely care. "So, you gonna listen or...?". I shrugged. I was torn between my duties as a driver and my health. "Come on", Kimi said, practically dragging me with him, allowing me no choice but to follow. He led us all the way up to my driver room, where he knew my manager Britta would be.

She looked up and frowned when she saw Kimi giving me a little shove into the room. "Sebastian? Are you alright? You don't look well", she asked. "Do I seriously look that bad?". "Seb, you look half-dead. So yes, you do look that bad", she filled me in. I didn't know where to start with explaining myself, but it turns out I didn't even need to. "He's sick. He can't drive today, but he's too stubborn to listen to me", Kimi told her.

Britta frowned as she took a step towards me and put one hand on my forehead and one on my shoulder, steadying me. "Kimi's right. You definitely shouldn't be driving like this. You really should've told me, or at least Antti about it sooner", she scolded. I sighed but nodded, knowing they were both right. "Now come on, you go to the and I'll inform the team you can't drive this weekend". "But Britta, I need to race. It's my job". "Hush. Right now, your job is to rest up and get better". I turned around and started walking the long distance through the paddock, all the way towards the parking lot.

I sluggishly got in my car and left off towards the hotel. Later that afternoon, my trainer Antti dropped by to check up on me and scold me about not telling him that I was feeling unwell. I solemnly swore to him that it wouldn't happen again, and he luckily left me alone after that. I dropped back on the bed and without even properly tucking myself in, I already drifted off into a deep slumber.

*

My peaceful sleep was interrupted by a knock on my hotel door. I groaned and turned around in bed, ignoring the noice, but the knocks didn't subside. "Open up, you little shit", Kimi threatened, but even without seeing his face, I could tell his tone was still softer than normal. I trudged over to the door and let him in. "Finally, took you long enough". I rolled my eyes, not anticipating that this would worsen my headache. I grimaced in pain, which Kimi of course noticed. "Get into bed. I'll look after you". I stopped in my tracks. Did Kimi really just tell me he'd look after me?

Kimi had a firm grip on my bicep and led me to the bed, guiding me down onto the soft mattress and covering my shivering form with the duvet. He sat down as well, staring at me from his position at the other end of the bed. "Stop staring", I told him. "No, I'm worried". "Since when are you ever worried about people?". "Rude", Kimi mumbled. "Sorry, but I mean...you usually don't express your worry so openly".

"Well, maybe I just care about you", Kimi suggested. I was speechless for a second, before managing to finally regain my composure. "Wh-What? You care about me?". "No shit. Of course I do". "Thank you". Kimi gave me a light, friendly shove. "Always. Now get the fuck to sleep. You should be resting". "Well, I was asleep before someone decided to almost knock down my door". "Hey, I was worried", Kimi said defensively. "I'll head out. I'll see you later". "Thanks mate". "Yeah yeah, enough of that now. Just focus on getting better". Kimi was obviously feeling a little ashamed of having showed me his caring side.

A caring side I would've never expected the stone-cold Kimi to even have