Chapter Text
Sleeping Beauty
[Part 1: The Crash]
It started out as a regular weekend in Hungary.
Lewis was driving hard and fast, just barely outpacing Nico in both practices. Just the way Fridays normally go for the Mercedes pair. They weren’t even worried about the Williams or the Ferraris. After the scare that was Silverstone they’d proven that despite a bad start they were still far in front of the pack. Even Lewis knew that his only competition would come from the other Mercedes.
Saturday was a disaster waiting to happen. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong for Nico and Toto was furious. There wasn’t any grip at all, Nico barely hung onto P3.
Lewis looked at Nico, eyes glued to the screens to figure out what went wrong with his car, and felt a stirring in his gut.
Then he remembers Austria, remembers Nico’s bad Qualifying before winning the race and waves it off. “Probably just a bad morning” he had said to Niki when he asked what Lewis thought of it.
Lewis was right. Come Qualifying, Nico was placed firmly in second. His car was driving smoothly again, like a dream. And the team dismissed the morning screw up like last year’s news.
When it was time to leave, Nico stayed behind. Lewis gave it a moment, two minutes, twenty minutes.
Nico just stood there and shook his head. “Too good to be true” he had muttered, stalking out of the garage and back to his hotel.
The churning was back in Lewis’ gut, a maelstrom of anxiety.
“Must be time for dinner” Lewis shrugged, driving back to his suite and eating the meal his physio put together for him.
The churning didn’t stop.
“Watch out for Turn 4”
“I know!” Lewis cursed, Nico was right behind him. And to think he had felt bad about letting Nico race today. Stupid, he should have known better. Nico never had bad race days.
“Abu Dhabi” a voice in his head reminded him, he groaned. Now that was a disaster.
He braked, banking wide on Turn 11. He let out another curse. Nico was gaining on him, he could feel the steely gaze of his rival taking a peek on the inside.
“Not today” Lewis muttered. “This race is mine”
Lewis turned sharply, beating Nico on the inside of Turn 13 and shooting ahead at the straight. Lewis felt a grin spreading across his face before he shook it off. Now wasn’t the time to celebrate. They still had half the race to run and Nico was less than a second behind him. There was still a bit of work to do before he can box.
Lewis misjudged the braking time on Turn 1 and Nico was next to him again, gaining almost a second at Turn 2. They were wheel to wheel now and Lewis has no idea how that happened, he spots Nico’s tyres. They looked fairly new.
Shit. Nico boxed early.
Lewis gritted his teeth, he wasn’t about to let Nico have the satisfaction of this win. Not if he could help it. He shifted gears, both Mercedes drivers pushing their cars to the limit down the short straight after Turn 3.
“Lewis! Watch out for-”
“Shut up!” he yelled, they were wheel to wheel. Neither were going to give in and for a moment Lewis thought he might have to brake before Nico did, letting Nico enter the corner before him.
“No” Lewis waited, he knew Nico. He was going to brake early. Nico always braked too early, that was his weakness. Lewis knew it.
So he waited. The squeal of their tyres ringing in his ears as they approach the corner and-
THERE.
Nico braked, just as he predicted. Lewis accelerated just enough to get in front of the other car before turning left. He was going to make it, he was sure of it.
“Thanks a lot, Princess” he mused in his mind, banking gently into Turn 5 when loud thump and an explosion tore him from his happy thoughts. He turned his head, catching sight of a car spinning behind him before his vision was blocked by the track wall.
“No” Lewis thought, his thumb pressing down on the radio button as he struggled to maintain his composure on the next turns.
“What happened? Who was that??” He asked pleaded, a flurry of possibilities flashing through his thoughts. The marshals in front of him waved yellow flags as he passed and Lewis cursed. Why the hell wasn’t anyone answering him?
“The yellow flags are out, we are standing by-”
“I know the yellow flags are out! I need you to tell me who the fuck it was!” Lewis screamed, slowing his pace for half a second. Just a little more, half a minute before he gets back to Turn 4.
He turned his head, praying that Nico would be behind him.
His prayers are unanswered. Lewis had to struggle to keep his breathing even.
“Lewis, you need to calm down. They might be broadcasting the radio live.”
“I don’t need you to tell me to calm down, I’ll calm down when I see what happened.” Lewis said firmly, increasing his speed as he entered the straight. He gasped.
The marshals traded in their yellow flags for red flags.
“Lewis, we need you to box now.”
No, no please. Please not him. Anyone but him. Let it be Sebastian or Kimi or Valterri. PLEASE.
He turned again, no one was behind him. Maybe it was a good sign. Maybe he slowed down with the others.
‘Or, maybe he crashed’ he cursed at his traitorous thoughts and turned right at Turn 1.
There were smoke clouds pouring from the car sitting crumpled against the side of the wall. The car was crushed like a stretched out accordion and the marshals were huddled around the driver’s seat trying to free the poor person inside the machine.
“Holy fuck.” He muttered, his racing engineer chastising him for his bad language. “Who is it?” he hissed, barreling down the short straight after Turn 3. The last place he saw Nico.
“Lewis, I told you to box.”
“Who is it???” he screamed again, not caring if he sounded like a petulant child. But he didn’t need an answer. The smoke cleared, as if waking from a dream he caught sight of the machine and stared. The car by the side of the road was silver and teal.
“It’s Nico”
Watch out for Turn 4.
He doesn’t notice that his car has stopped, he looks down at his fingers working to free himself from the straps without knowing it. A minute later he’s free, he’s free from his car and he’s flying out of it. His race engineer is screaming in his ear.
“What are you doing?? Get back in the car! Box, Lewis. Box!”
He lifts his visor and tries to speak with the marshal but anything he says is muffled by the helmet. He curses, prying his helmet off and peeling off his balaclava.
“Is he okay? Is he breathing-” he starts shooting questions at a speed he can no longer keep track off because the only thing running through his mind is Nico Nico Nico Nico.
“Sir, Sir Hamilton. May I call you Lewis?” the marshal asked, speaking in soft tones. Lewis nodded, his gaze still lingering on the group in front of him trying to get Nico out of the mangled Mercedes.
“Yes, how is he?” He asks and he knows the marshal isn’t supposed to be divulging sensitive information especially to drivers but he sees something in the way Lewis begs for the information. It’s probably because he’s desperate to know.
“He’s in a bad way” he explains, trying to convey his thoughts into English and struggling. “We have an ambulance” he says, gesturing to the truck parked just outside of the barrier.
“Can I-” Lewis hiccups, reaching up to feel the tears that fell down his face without him knowing. “Can I help?” he tries again, this time the marshal visibly hesitates before letting out a sigh.
“Okay, Lewis” he smiles, turning to guide the racing driver towards the car where the marshals have unstrapped Nico from his seat.
“1, 2, 3!” the marshals lift Nico onto a stretcher and roll him towards the ambulance. Lewis struggles to keep up, carefully taking Nico’s helmet and balaclava off so that he could breathe. He helped hoist the stretcher onto the ambulance and turned back around. He wondered if he could really just leave.
“Lewis” he turns, it’s the marshal from earlier. “You’re disqualified”
Lewis blinks and looks at the nearest TV Screen. He is disqualified.
“Your team, they can change their mind. Change the decision, yes?” the marshal asked, head tilted in lieu of a question. But Lewis shakes his head.
“I want to go with Nico” he says firmly, staring at his teammate’s limp form lying on the stretcher. He felt a hand pressing down on his shoulder.
“Your Nico would want you to win, yes? He will be sad to wake up and see you disqualified.” The marshal smiled at him and patted Nico’s helmet, still clenched within Lewis’ grasp. Lewis stares at him, he’s not about to give up.
“I wouldn’t be happy to win without him”
The marshal blinks but is quick to smile, he even helps Lewis onto the ambulance.
“Will tell your team you are leaving and to bring you clothes.” The marshal winks and Lewis is thankful that at least someone understands.
“Thanks, for understanding” Lewis says, hugging Nico’s helmet. The marshal nods in response and his smile widens into a grin.
“I have a daughter, she likes to watch this cartoon of Hercules. And they have a saying-” the marshal stares Lewis in the eye and says.
“People do crazy things for people they love” he says before shutting the ambulance doors.
Love, Lewis lets the word sit in his thoughts and reaches out to hold Nico’s hand.
“Don’t worry, Nico. You’ll be fine.” He mutters, a mixture of guilt and worry hazing over them and cloaking them in nervous tension.
Lewis realizes that the churning in his gut is fear. He realizes he’s afraid.
He realizes this is probably the most scared he’s ever been in his life.
People do crazy things for people they love.