Chapter Text
Logan arrived to the track alone, and early. He knew he needed to be ready for the tribute to Ayrton Senna on the 30th anniversary of his death at this race track. He didn’t understand why everyone was making such a big deal out of it. He knew that Senna was an amazing driver, but he had died before most of the current grid were alive, and those who had been born were barely old enough to remember watching him race. But Logan wanted to participate because it was Vettel who was organizing this tribute, and while Senna might have been before his time, Vettel was not. Vettel was Logan’s first celebrity crush, not that he ever admitted that that was why Vettel was his favourite driver. Everyone always assumed it was because Vettel was so dominant, and Logan never corrected them.
So there he was, wearing the yellow shirt with Vettel’s logo on the left sleeve, standing with all of the other drivers and other members of the paddock, grinning like an idiot, and hoping beyond hope to get the chance to talk to Vettel for two minutes. Would it be weird to ask for his autograph? He hoped not, because he had a Sharpie ready to go in his back pocket. He wanted the autograph on the same sleeve as Vettel’s logo on his new shirt. This one was definitely going to get a spot in his closet, even if most of the free shirts he was given ended up being donated to a charity shop a few days after he received them.
*****
After Seb has finished his speech and has told everyone about the plan to run, cycle, scoot, or walk around the track, there is a lot of grumbling and heads turning to look up at the sky. Seb knows that the clouds forming look rather angry, and like they are going to release their contents on the people below at any moment, but he hopes that everyone will still have a good time in the final part of his tribute. There is one face in the crowd that he notices, since the blue eyes are focused directly on him, and have been for most of his speech. Every time he looked over that way, this man was directly focussed on him.
Seb know he should know who this is, but he hasn’t been doing a very good job of keeping up with the current grid. He knows how ridiculous this sounds, he is the one who know every single F1 driver’s champion from the first year the contest was held, but he has been very distracted since his retirement with all of his passion projects. And it was hard to stay invested in the sport after the 2023 season was starting to show how uninteresting it was going to be.
Seb doesn’t want to be rude, and admit that he can’t remember the driver’s name, because he does know that this handsome man (what, he isn’t blind, or even that old, thank you very much) is a driver, and he would very much like to talk to him after the amount of staring he has done, so he makes sure he get’s to Lewis before he can take off on his scooter for the lap of the track.
“Hey, Lewis” Seb calls out when he sees Lewis grabbing his scooter and making moves to get on it. “Hold up a minute, will you?”
Lewis stops trying to mount his scooter and waits for Seb to catch up to him. “Hi Seb, what’s up?”
“Do you think the rain is going to hold off long enough for us to finish our lap?” Seb asks, not sure if he can follow through on his plan now. It has been a long time since his last relationship ended, and he is not sure if he is brave enough to put himself out there with another driver.
Lewis just looks at him, the long suffering look of a best friend who knows that that is not why he was waylaid.
“Ok, fine.” Seb shakes his head and takes a deep breath before asking the real thing he wanted to ask Lewis. “One of the driver’s was staring at me while I was talking, one of the young ones, and I wanted to talk to him, but I’m not sure what his name is. I was hoping you could tell me so I can go talk to him.”
Lewis looks at Seb in surprise. As far as Lewis knows, none of the current drivers are gay, but the way Seb is talking, one of them might be interested in the four time world champion.
“What does he look like? There are a few new guys since your last season on the grid.” Lewis asks, trying to keep any hint of his surprise out of his voice.
“Dark blond hair, blue eyes, square jaw…”
“Logan Sargeant.” Lewis cuts him off. There is no one else Seb could be describing. “He is American, races for Williams, this is his second season in F1, and if it doesn’t improve, it will be his last.”
Seb is saddened to hear that last comment, he likes the look of this Logan Sargeant kid, and he remembers how hard it was for him in his first few seasons in F1, even if they did turn out pretty well for him. He turns around to thank Lewis for the details, but he has already scooted off, shaking his head at his old friend.
*****
Logan is walking along the track slowly, hoping to see Vettel run by so he can strike up a conversation, and hopefully get the autograph he so desperately wants, when he realizes that someone has fallen in to step beside him. At first he thinks it must just be Alex or Oscar, the only people on the grid who usually talk to him, but then he catches a glimpse of a blond head next to him, and he feels himself stop breathing for a minute. When he finally manages to breath again, he turns to the side and sees Sebastian Vettel, his childhood hero and first celebrity crush, walking next to him. Vettel turns to look at Logan and smiles when he sees that he has realized who it is who is walking with him.
“Hello Logan, I’m Seb” Vettel introduces himself. Logan can’t comprehend what is happening. Vettel is talking to him, Sebastian Vettel knows who he is! How is this happening?
After Logan manages to remember how to use words and that he does, in fact, know how to speak English, they have a pleasant conversation chatting about various things, but not racing, Logan is happy to report, because he doesn’t want to come off as just another fan who wants nothing more from the world champion than an autograph.
After a few minutes pleasant chatting, for Logan at least, he hopes Vettel, no Seb, that was what he keeps asking Logan to call him, also enjoyed their conversation, but then he gets dragged off in to another conversation, and Logan continues on his way around the track on his own. At some point, the rain that had been threatening is released, and Logan is drenched.
Once he makes it back to the paddock, he realizes that he hasn’t gotten the autograph that he was desperate for before, and he hopes that he will have the chance to see Seb again later and get it from him then.
*****
Qualifying did not go well for Logan on Saturday, and to say he was disappointed was an understatement. He had had all three of his push lap times deleted for track limits, he didn’t even know how that kept happening, but there he was, qualified in P20, again. He didn’t want to go back to his hotel yet, he didn’t want to be around anyone, he didn’t want to deal with questions, he just wanted to be alone right now. So that was how he came to be sitting in an alley in between two hospitality units in the paddock. He was wearing a dark hoodie, hoping no one would see him, or if they did, hopefully they wouldn’t recognize him. He just wanted to be alone.
He didn’t understand why he couldn’t put together a good, clean qualifying lap. Why was it so much of a struggle for him when… “Logan?” His head shot up at hearing his name, but is wasn’t a voice he instantly recognized. That was odd, he thought the voice sounded familiar, but whose was it?
*****
Seb had seen the figure hunched on a crate in between the two motor homes and was going to keep walking, assuming whoever it was wanted to be alone, but something about the figure was familiar to him, and pulling him towards them. He took a few steps in to the alley before he realized who it was. “Logan?” he called out, and when the figures head shot up, he knew he was right. He hadn’t been watching qualifying, he was busy elsewhere in the paddock, but he knew it wasn’t over yet, so if Logan was already here, out of his race suit, he imagined it hadn’t gone well for the young driver.
“Is everything okay Logan?” Seb asked, pulling up a crate to sit down next to him.
Logan nodded his head, but the way it was moving, Seb knew he was lying. Seb decided to stay and chat with him, and as they talked, Logan’s head slowly came up more and more. After they had been talking for a while, Seb felt his phone vibrating in his pocket rather insistently. When he pulled it out, he was Lewis’ name on his screen. He had forgotten, he had made plans to go out with Lewis for dinner after qualifying, and, looking at the time, he was now late for that. He had really enjoyed talking to Logan, and while he didn’t really want to stop, he also didn’t want to explain to Lewis what he was doing that would stop him from meeting up for their previously arranged plans.
“Logan, I’m really sorry, but I’m going to have to go. I am supposed to be going out for dinner with Lewis tonight.” Seb excused.
Logan looked up at him, some of the resignation returning to his face that had been absent as they chatted. “Okay,” he said. “Enjoy your dinner.”
Seb thought that Logan looked like he was being blown off, and that was definitely not how Seb wanted to end this conversation, but he really had to get going if he wasn’t going to get awkward questions from Lewis, so off he ran.