Chapter Text
After that awkward brush with Lewis, Nico continued his mission, marching through the hotel, straight to Max Verstappen's room. It was barely any issue to convince the receptionist to give him the key to Max's room, considering she was a Formula 1 fan and he signed some photo for her.
He made his way into Max's room, uncaring to announce his presence before marching up to the Alpha (who hurriedly pulled on his usual skinny jeans), grabbing the younger man's shoulder. "Max Emilian Verstappen, you let a pup get a win? You've had a pup in a Mercedes for this past season? What the hell are you doing? He's nineteen, Max, he's ready to present at any moment because he hasn't presented yet! And you're letting him drive around and you're fucking blowing kisses at him?" Nico snapped, eyes narrowed, his worry for the pup - because Kimi was somehow still a pup - coming through, unfettered.
Max, utterly panicked for several seconds - because the omega who was like a father to him, who he hadn't spoken with since he was eighteen - was shouting in his face and berating his way of leading the pack.
"Kimi is a special case! He's...he has George, and you know how Mercedes are like with their pups presenting. I mean, you...well, you didn't go through it with Lewis, but you know." Max sighed, running a hand through his hair, leading Nico to sit on the bed.
"I think Kimi likes being a pup, so he isn't forcing the presentation, and we are not going to force it either. It's going to happen, I'm not going to take him around the paddock on a leash." Max explained, frowning, since he too was troubled by Kimi not presenting, but he liked having a pup. And he remembered how Nico got about presenting. When, during some of Max's FP1 testing sessions near the end of 2014, Nico had hovered around Max rather intensely for three weeks because he was so convinced Max was about to present. Spoiler alert, Max didn't present until a few months later.
Oh well, it was time to pester Arvid's parents into letting him take Arvid under his wing (or rather, in his den). He couldn't keep Kimi a pup for forever.
Nico huffed, rolling his eyes, broke Max out of his empty-nest-dilemma. "Idiot, what happens if Kimi presents in the middle of a race? Or when he's in the middle of Italy, with none of us there?"
"If, if, if, if my mother had balls she'd be my father." Max said, rolling his eyes, hard. "If Kimi presents in Italy, he has his biological parents, beyond the fucked up grid dynamics. And if he presents in the middle of a race, he retires the car. Honestly, Nico, you worry too much."
"And if you're so concerned about it, maybe you should hang around the paddock more often." Max said, head tilted, doing his best to not look like he was plotting Nico's downfall. Nico, prideful as ever, narrowed his eyes, frowning at Max. "I just might, Max. Don't play around with me. I'm sure once I tell Sebastian about how...loose you're being, he'll be more than happy to join me in convincing the FIA to set up a pups-and-omegas board, dedicated to protecting pups and omegas in motorsports. With no alphas."
Max just smiled, helping Nico back up. "Enjoy that, Britney." He said simply, since a thing like that would just take some work off Charles' plate so he'd be able to steal more of Charles' time all for himself.
"I will." Nico intoned sharply, though just before leaving the room, he quickly but thoroughly scented Max. "I still remember when Michael talked about you as a pup. I can't believe you're Pack Alpha now. Don't fuck up."
Max still remembered how overprotective Nico had been when he presented, not letting anyone touch him for a whole week. Not even Jos had been allowed to touch him, though Max did have vague memories of Fernando, Lewis and Seb bringing them food and water while Max presented.
He didn't like to brag, but he was pretty sure his presentation was where Seb got the idea of a pack room on every racing circuit, and when he started properly pressuring the FIA to give them one. Not that Seb hadn't been trying before, but the effort he put in was incredible.
Max didn't doubt that if Seb joined forces with Nico, they would have a pups-and-omega protection board in no time, but Max didn't think Seb would be interested in joining the grid again. He was busy dong...God knows what. Last they spoke, Seb was advocating for more accommodations for pups who were skiing competitively, and he seemed pretty into the whole skiing thing.
Max finally fixed his skinny jeans (which had been half-ready to fall off his ass while Nico shouted at him), leaving his hotel room to have breakfast with the others.
When he got down to the buffet, he was informed that one Nico Rosberg had stolen his car. He didn't particularly mind - he was sure that Nico would get it back in perfect condition, and he could just hitch a ride in Charles' Ferrari. Besides, it's not as if Max's private plane was going to take off without him, as he liked to joke.
"Hullo, Charles, I see you've already bankrupted the hotel." Max teased, grinning, as he dropped into the empty seat besides Charles, all of them gathered around a round table that Charles had dutifully piled with literally everything the buffet had to offer, making a mini-buffet, localised to their massive round table.
Charles merely rolled his eyes, huffing. "You'll thank me when you're so full you won't need any lunch. And Kimi's a growing pup, he needs all the food he can get." Kimi hummed happily, never saying no to extra food.
Besides, they had a little lull coming up, with two cancelled GPs, so Max just huffed but allowed the deviation from their meal plans. And if he himself cleared out half the table, then that was between him and God (and Charles).