Work Text:
George smiled as he tapped his hotel card to the doors of the basement gym, entering to see Lewis already there doing his warm-up stretches. He took a moment to admire the muscles of Lewis’ arms as he stretched them across a solid chest.
“Ah, George.” Lewis greeted as he saw his partner, lowering his arms and walking over to him, catching his lips in a chaste kiss.
George hummed into it happily - evening workouts were the best because the hotel gyms were almost always empty, and so they could get away with the little declarations of affection that they couldn’t do in public.
The two finished their warm-ups before getting into their usual routines, with Lewis going to the weights for strength training and George heading for the treadmill. Despite the difference in their routines, George felt his breaths sync up with Lewis’ regardless, and found the grounding pace comforting. After a bit, George turned the speed up on the machine and picked up his pace to something more intense, enjoying the slight burn in his chest as he pushed himself harder.
As he continued running, George’s thoughts began to wander to Lewis. It had been some time since they began their secret relationship, and despite George wanting to keep it a secret as much as Lewis did for a myriad of valid reasons, he also couldn’t help but feel somewhat sad that he couldn’t hold Lewis’ hand out in the open like he could with his previous girlfriends. He wanted to be able to kiss Lewis when they got podiums and wins. To post the cute pictures he and Lewis always took together onto their main Instagram accounts. He wanted to be able to call Sir Lewis Hamilton his, and give a massive ‘fuck you’ to anyone who dared to say otherwise.
But, at the same time, George felt a shocking sense of possessive triumph at being allowed to see a side of Lewis that nobody else would, and somehow that made keeping this secret more than worth it.
“Hey, you almost done with your run?” Lewis’ voice came from the other side of the room, slightly breathless.
“Yeah, almost. Let me just get a quick sprint in.” George replied, similarly out of breath and upped the speed a few more notches, now running at full speed.
George only had a moment to process the twinge in his calf when the muscle twisted up into a painful cramp, causing him to cry out in pain and fall off the treadmill with a loud thump.
“George!” Lewis yelled out, and he could hear rushed footsteps coming his way as George curled up on the floor, his head throbbing from the fall and holding his calf tightly, the sharp pain burning through his nerves and making him grit his teeth to suppress pained whimpers as tears came to his eyes.
George let out a pained noise as Lewis gently, ever so gently, moved him into his arms and away from the still-moving treadmill. Tentative fingers moved lightly along the spot where George hit his head and Lewis made a soft noise.
“Oh, love. Are you alright?”
“I– yeah– fucking— cramp– hurts so bad–” George hissed out through strained breaths as he kept holding his calf, the muscle stiff and painful.
“Shh– I’ve got you. Just keep massaging it just like that–” Lewis soothed as he reached down to help George massage out the tight muscle, kissing his temple gently as George let out pained whimpers.
Eventually, the muscle cramp eased up and George let out a relieved sigh, slumping against Lewis as he panted softly. Lewis held him close, rubbing gentle circles into his shoulder.
“Alright?” He asked softly and George nodded, reaching up to wipe his eyes.
“Yes, thank you. Head just hurts a bit.” George replied and Lewis nodded.
“You had a pretty nasty fall. Come on, let’s head back to the hotel room, yeah?”
As much as George loathed to cut their session short, he agreed that he wasn’t really in the right headspace to keep going anymore and, after Lewis quickly turned off the treadmill and wiped down the equipment, allowed him to help George up and to the elevators where they went to his hotel room.
George let out a soft groan as he sank down into the sofa in the hotel room, laughing a little as Lewis ruffled his hair a bit before sitting next to him and pulling George against him.
“Sorry our workout ended up being short.” George said softly and Lewis shrugged.
“No big deal - there’ll be other workouts. I’m glad you’re okay. Do you need anything for your headache?”
Shaking his head a little, George cuddled against Lewis. “No, thank you. Just need you.”
Chuckling, Lewis kissed the top of George’s head. “I can definitely do that.” He replied and George smiled.
Tomorrow, they’d have to deal with more interviews, more of them putting on their professional personas and being unable to hold hands and kiss. But for now, George could enjoy Lewis’ comforting presence, just as each other.