Archive of Our Own

Contrary to popular belief, Ollie was still a Ferrari fan. It just so happened that his favourite driver had changed to someone who he treasured a lot more than he’d ever believed. Seriously, if you told him the facts of the matter at the start of the season? Past Ollie Bearman would’ve called you a liar.

At the present moment, however, they were very far apart from each other. Ollie was slaving away over his university assignments while Kimi was gearing up for a race in Qatar. As much as Ollie wished to fly to the other side of the globe to kiss him senselessly, that wouldn’t be very rational and second year grades actually mattered. So there’s that.

What Ollie certainly didn’t feel was the ghost of Kimi by any means— if his relentless phone calls and text messages were anything to say.

The time difference wasn’t too huge, so when Ollie was settling down for the evening, it was closer to when Kimi was getting himself ready to sleep. Still, his voice didn’t indicate that whatsoever.

“—and they still haven’t said anything about my contract. It’s the second to last race of the season. Surely they have to say something this weekend, right?” Kimi ranted, exasperation clear.

There had always been a question mark around Kimi’s contract with Mercedes. He’d performed well, but some may argue not well enough. The team principal who had seen so much faith in him was now slandering him to the media. It was a lot to consider, and of course, it left the younger boy reeling about his potential replacements.

He was under the impression that he might be teammates with Max in the future, but never did he imagine that there would be speculation about the Dutchman taking his very own seat.

Ollie was sitting in the much bigger bedroom in comparison to what he’d been living in during his first year. “Kimi, they’d be stupid to replace you. There’s practically no one else that can do what you’ve done in your first year.” he explained, tone soothing.

“Ol, that’s the thing! You never fucking know. I thought I could trust people and then—you know.” He heard a sigh over the speakers, before the Italian’s voice resumed again. “Why are they leaving it this late?”

“Look on the bright side of things,” Ollie pointed out, “they still haven’t renewed George’s contract either. If anyone had signed him by now, there’d probably still be speculation, and I don’t think Red Bull would be particularly fond of making Max and George teammates.”

There was another sigh from Kimi over the line. Ollie thinks he can hear him slipping into the covers. “You’re just getting in your head, Kim. Focus on the racing, yeah?”

It was a sombre admittance. “You can’t get me to take my mind off it completely, but I’ll try.” The sentence was slightly contradictory, but at this moment in time, it was as much as Ollie could ask for. “I wish you could be here for the last two races.” There’s a slight lilt in Kimi’s voice, as if he’s pouting.

It reminded Ollie of how much he actually missed Kimi. There hadn’t been enough time for them after Kimi had brazenly made his way to Ollie’s hometown when he could’ve been doing practically anything else.

Then again, if he hadn’t had been so impulsive, Ollie would’ve never got to kiss him that night. Make out with him the next day, take him to meet his parents, and then have him fly away.

Like he said, a complete whirlwind. Not enough time.

Time was a social construct, anyway.

“Me too, but you know how much second year has been kicking my ass. At least recently.” Ollie hummed, thinking about the essay that he had to hand in by Friday. It was Tuesday.

“I can’t wait until you graduate and then you get a great job. Can you just be my manager or something? It’s like I have separation anxiety.” Kimi whined. Maybe the time was getting to him.

Ollie heard the sound of a pan clanking onto the floor below, followed by Dino’s scream that made its way up the stairs. He giggled briefly.

“What’s got you laughing?” Kimi enquired.

Ollie, still left with the remnants of his laughter, chirped up. “I think Dino dropped a pan onto the floor. I think it was empty, otherwise he would’ve been rushing up the stairs asking me to help him clean up.”

Kimi hummed in response, and it reminded Ollie of what he’d been saying just a moment before.

“Anyways, if I wanted to be your manager, I think I would’ve gone into law or something like that. It’s up to you when you want to make—well, us—public.”

There was a moment of silence over the line. Both of them had never actually talked about it before, but it would be a lie to say either of them had the specific desire to go public.

Ollie wanted to make the informed choice that was best for Kimi’s career, and as much as Kimi loved to tease him in public anyway, it would be a little different if those scenarios were recreated in the paddock.

Kimi’s voice was a little quieter, but keeping all of the fondness. “Is it something you want, orsetto?”

Ollie copied his boyfriend’s hum in response. “Every decision I make, I think of you. It’s your career, and I wouldn’t want you to throw it away. Especially when—well, with the situation you’re in.”

“It’s not something that would make you mad?”

“Of course not!” Ollie exclaimed. “Nothing you do could ever make me mad.”

The reassurance seemed to make Kimi feel the slightest bit better. Ollie could tell that he’d been on edge from the texts that he’d been receiving over the past days, anyways. It was either a long paragraph of a string of short ones when he couldn’t talk for long.

Ollie always did his best to listen. After all, Kimi was still the youngest person on the grid, and some people tread water with him. The British boy didn’t think it had to be like that, especially when you got to know Kimi, but that’s how some people are in the world.

He guarantees when Kimi’s situation is sorted out, and that he drives for the same team that he did this year, it will be less of an issue. He also thinks that the boy needs some sort of sleep, as maybe his brain was running on emotions that weren’t as healthy as they usually were.

It was a Saturday night for Kimi, and it seemed like he followed what Ollie was thinking in his brain as a yawn came over the speakers.

“Sorry,” he muttered absentmindedly. “maybe I should’ve warned you about this when we had our cute little date.” He could hear the faint noise of Kimi getting under what he presumed to be his hotel bedsheets for the night.

“You don’t have to apologise. I can tell you’re tired, so just make sure to get some rest. We’ll talk more about it in the week when I can get this deadline finished.” It wasn’t intended to be dismissive, but one more academic text and Ollie may be close to losing his mind as well.

There was a hum from over the line. “Vado a dormire adesso. Good night, Ol.” He could only assume it was something about going to sleep. He really should’ve chosen the optional Italian module in his first year.

“Good night,” Ollie responded warmly, waiting for Kimi to end the call. He slipped his headphones back on, trying to drown out the white noise made by his housemates.

The tone came about a couple seconds later, and Ollie stared at his screen one more time and decided he was done with words—at least while Dino was in the kitchen.

It was slightly similar to the fear of missing out that found himself at his best friend’s side just mere minutes later. The fan of the stove was on full blast, and Dino was making…

“What are you making?” Curiosity got the better of Ollie. It seemed to be…a concoction of some sort of meat, but then there was something else frying in a pan next to it. He was pretty sure that the oven was on too.

Dino spoke, his attention not leaving the multiple components of what he had cooking. “You know when you get a random impulsive burst to go through all of the cooking videos you save when you think ‘Oh, that looks good. I need to make that.’, but then you just never do?”

Ollie blinked. “Cooking’s never been my forte.”

“Well, whatever.” Dino shoved him off, grabbing his phone from his pocket anyway. “Don’t you see how good this looks?”

It was a video of some woman showing how to make some sort of taco…pizza pockets? That’s what Ollie was getting, but apparently it had a much more sophisticated name.

He decided to keep his true feelings to himself. “Sure. Don’t feel inclined to share any with me though, I wouldn’t want to wreck your culinary masterpieces.” Ollie exclaimed. The other boy chuckled a little bit at that, turning the heat down on whatever was in the frying pan.

Putting his phone away, Dino turned a little more to face Ollie now. “What have you been doing all day, anyways? I saw you get breakfast earlier and then you just haven’t shown your face since. I heard you talking just now.”

The sensation Ollie felt was similar to ice going down someone’s back. Chills, amplified, if you will. After all, this is what he and Kimi were just talking about, and he didn’t know the walls were that thin.

His eyes flitted off into the distance before returning just after. “You didn’t hear anything, did you?” Dino shook his head.

“It was too loud with the fan on here, but I definitely did hear murmurs. There’s no one else here apart from me and you at the moment, so I thought you were either going clinically insane or talking to someone.” Dino recounted, and said recount made Ollie smile a little more. Breathe a sigh of relief, even.

The timer went off in the distance for whatever Dino had in the oven, so Ollie decided to go to the other side of the island. All he saw next was a rise of steam and oven gloves swatting everywhere, but in between all that chaos, Dino still managed to continue on.

“I heard you laughing though.” It came out less accusatory than Ollie would’ve thought. “I think I caught you saying that you think of someone too…what’s that all about?”

The tone of the conversation was casual, but Ollie definitely wasn’t off the hook.

After all, there were two ways he could go about this. He could either completely shield his and Kimi’s relationship by making up that he got in a fake relationship with some girl or something, but he doesn’t think Dino would believe that for a second.

Okay, scratch that—maybe there’s more than two ways. He could always just call Dino schizophrenic and that he was hearing things. The only thing about that was…well, Dino wouldn’t rest.

Anytime that Ollie would be in his room by himself, Dino would probably be walking by on the landing pretending to take his washing downstairs or something similar, subsequently catching Ollie in the act if he was able to.

It’s not that Ollie didn’t like where the stars were aligning, it’s just that if he goes back and tells Kimi that he’s just revealed their relationship to his best friend mere minutes after having a conversation about it, he doesn’t want to imagine the reaction.

He can’t exactly forget what Dino had said to him the first time he ‘met’ Kimi. “I’m so fucking confused. Is this Kimi’s attempt at trying to court you or something—don’t princes have to do that?”

Back then, Ollie had denied it like nothing on earth. If only he could laugh at his past self, because not even a couple of months later he was making out with said boy that was courting him.

Why did Dino use that word anyways? Is there something the Swedish boy wasn’t telling him? He knew his vocabulary wasn’t that advanced.

Ollie’s inner thoughts seem to have made him quieter for longer than he expected, if the pointed look on Dino’s face was any giveaway at all. Well, was there even any point evaluating the words in his brain anymore?

“I’ve been dating someone for a little while.” Ollie reasoned.

Dino’s gaze sharpened. “Okay. More, please? This is not what the fans want to see.”

Ollie laughed softly at his friend’s remark. “Um. How do I say this…I’m not exactly as straight as I thought I was either." Because—”

“You’re dating Kimi Antonelli?” Dino finished for him. It was Ollie’s turn to look surprised—in fact, Dino was never surprised. Was this a joke? “Ol, be serious. Anyone could tell that you would fall for him eventually, and I saw him from like metres away from you.”

Ollie could feel his face heating up in the slightest. Embarrassment, maybe? He wasn’t sure if he could call it blush because Kimi wasn’t right in front of him. “What gave it away?” he questioned. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.

Dino pretended to think. “I don’t know, maybe when he did a horrible attempt at a wink and you just stared at the spot he was standing for like 30 seconds even after he walked back to his own garage?”

It all makes slight sense to Ollie, because he does remember that. His brain definitely disassociated, but he remembers the speck. It’s not like he could’ve been any closer to Kimi than he was at that moment, anyway.

“Well,” Ollie sighed. “that ruined the climax of it all.” He then explained to Dino about how he’d been talking with his boyfriend about revealing their relationship, given that he’d vaguely heard them through the walls.

Dino had seemed to overcome the shock of Ollie’s serious tone to get back to plating up his dinner. (“Do you want some?” Ollie didn’t respond.)

Sitting down opposite each other, Dino went on. “I don’t think you should feel any sort of pressure. I mean, only if you end up in a place with cameras soon. I don’t think you’ll be attending any of Kimi’s races this year though. Unless there’s something you haven’t told me.”

Ollie rubbed the back of his neck. “Well, you know what happened when I went to Monza.” he responded offhandedly.

He heard the drop of a fork. “What the fuck happened when you went to Monza, Oliver Bearman?” his friend said, an almost icy tone coating his words.

Great.

જ⁀➴

Kimi finished P6 in the Qatar Grand Prix. It wasn’t the best finish, but it also wasn’t the worst considering he’d ended qualifying just outside of the points in P11. So he’d take what he could get.

George had finished P4, and Kimi spotted him as he was getting out of his own car as well. He was knocked out of the championship battle in Brazil, and it was just Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen that were vying for the title as of now.

The celebrations didn’t take as long as they usually did, hence why Kimi made it his mission to catch his teammate before he sauntered off to his driver room. Luckily, he was loitering around talking to Alex just outside the garages. He didn’t exactly want to interrupt their conversation, but—

“Alright, Kimi?” George called, seemingly noticing Kimi before he was able to slip past them both and abandon his competition completely. It was hard to decline a conversation from George, either, so he made his way up to the two.

Kimi nodded. “I’m okay. What are you two up to?” he queried.

George looked in Alex’s direction before looking back to Kimi. “We were just catching up on the race. After all, Albono here has had quite the season.”

Alex threw his hands up in front of his face. “Don’t be so flattering, mate. I’m not even sure how I did half of it.” he jeered lightly. Kimi just nodded, taking in the situation, but it must’ve become clear that there was something off about him.

“Are you alright, Kimi? You don’t look 100.” George noted, causing Kimi to look up ever so slightly again. There’d been the tiniest pool of anxiety ever since he’d come to talk to George and his best friend, and it was only expanding.

Kimi fiddled with the curls in his hair. Ollie would notice this. “Do you think you have…a moment or two?” he asked, before turning to Alex slightly. “I don’t want to pull you away from your conversation, but—”

Alex interrupted him with an understanding tone. “We were just about finished anyway, I’ve got to head back for my debrief.” He exchanged goodbyes with both of them. George shouted to Alex to tell Lily that he said hi, and Alex responded with a wink.

Kimi decided that wasn’t something to analyse now, as George made the suggestion of going back to one of their driver rooms anyway so that they could have a moment to talk before their own debrief.

They ended up settling on George’s, as Kimi was pretty certain that seeing some of the photos in his driver room would make him handle the situation a lot worse than he is right now. He was already treading on ice, at least in his mind.

The British man prompted them to both sit down. “What’s on your mind? Is it something about the team? Something else?” His tone reminded him of the one Alex had adopted just moments ago, and it provided a bit of comfort to Kimi.

“Something else, kinda…it depends how you look at it.” Kimi answered truthfully. George just stared at him as if to continue, so he tried to explain it as best as he could.

“It’s just been plaguing my mind. Recently, I found myself in a relationship with this person and they make me really happy. They really do. Our lives are extremely different though, and we had a conversation earlier today about if we’d ever reveal our relationship to the public. Or, well, to reveal it to other people in general. I don’t think they’ve told anyone but maybe their best friend, but that’s for me to know later on I guess. Of course I want to be able to tell people but I don’t want it to infringe either of us or the people around us. It’s just pretty tedious..? Is that the right word?”

George nodded. “Is there any reason why you’re scared of it? Is the person you’re with a private person, or does he have a job that is…not secretive, but maybe something that he doesn’t want to share?”

Kimi shook his head. “No, nothing like that.” The silence after that stretched between them, and it’s like you could hear a pin drop. Neither of the two made any sudden movements, yet thoughts in Kimi’s brain were spiralling.

It wasn’t hard for George to catch on, who rubbed the younger’s back affectionately. “Hey, if it’s hard for you to say, we can move past it. You know I won’t judge you for whatever it is though.” he reminded Kimi. “Unless it’s like, a criminal?”

The tone of George’s voice came out so confused that Kimi couldn’t help but snort a laugh out. “You won’t judge me?” Kimi pressed, his tone slightly hopeful.

“Of course not. I want to be able to help you, you know that.” George stated, and Kimi suddenly felt a lot more grounded. Not at ease to blurt all of his confessions to the world, but enough to get the ball running.

Even then, he took a deep breath in. “The person I’m seeing…he’s a boy.” Kimi whispered, although the way it was said came off strong. “It’s always been different growing up. Having to hide myself away from my family and other people because— I don’t think I even need to explain, actually. You know the places we race in, mate.”

It was then he turned to face his teammate, and where he expected a shocked look on his face was instead one of…fondness?

So that when George reached in to hug Kimi, it was why he saw it coming. Well—half—because it didn’t stop his eyes widening, let alone the further few seconds it took for his brain to catch up.

“I’m proud of you for telling me, and thank you.” George started. “I don’t want to make this about me, but I can relate to what you’re saying.” He coughed slightly. “In a way—but that’s for another time, hey?”

The Italian’s mood shifted, wanting to know all about how George could possibly relate to homosexuality, but he decided to keep that in the part of his brain that was reserved for when he wasn’t emotionally repressed over his boyfriend.

It seemed pretty weird to say it like that, but that was how it was. Surely he could handle long distance, it hadn’t been that long.

They pulled away, and Kimi just sat there, a solemn smile tugging at his lips. “Thank you, George. Um. I don’t know where to really begin with the rest of it…” he trailed off, even though he could probably string a sequence of events in his brain if he needed to.

The older shuffled a little closer once again, as the distance had increased once they’d come away from their embrace. Patting his leg, George spoke. “I’ll go and tell the guys that we can do the debrief in half an hour, yeah? Hold on.”

He walked off just then, hearing the slight commotion that came from the rest of the place. Kimi’s breathing eased slightly, finally enveloping himself in the relief that was telling somebody about who he actually was.

It reminded him of his summer crush. Fling, could you say. When they both realised that their attraction didn’t revolve around the opposite sex, it was like a weight off his shoulders. That he could be truly himself.

Kimi would say that he’d had to keep his guard up mostly before Ollie came into his life. As poetic as it sounds, there was a little too much flirting going on at the celebration after Mercedes got their double podium in Canada.

To have nobody that Kimi could tell when a girl with dark locks approached him at the bar, trying to get his number—it made him feel a little uneasy. He could try and make up a cover reason, sure, but it would never be who he was unapologetically.

He didn’t have much time to go over that, however, as the door clicked open and George made his way in. “They’re fine. Apparently they had some more important things to discuss anyway, so we can go whenever the time’s right.”

“That sounds awfully cryptic.” Kimi noted. George only chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.

“Enough about that, though. Have you had time to think it over?” George questioned. It’s not that Kimi didn’t think about it—he was thinking about how he’d met Ollie when George had asked him the first time. It’s not like he’d been focused on it the entire time George was gone, however.

What the British man didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him—and so Kimi got to explaining. How Ollie had showed up to Silverstone, their ‘date’ (hey, they both consider it a date now!) when Kimi got to stay around in London, the events at Monza—but even before that, the endless phone calls and video calls.

“…and then do you remember when I sorta went MIA in the break between Mexico and Sao Paulo?” the younger recounted, to which George nodded. “Well, I went to his home karting track to beat a record that he set. Then he showed up just as I beat it.”

George’s mouth opened slightly in shock, both of his hands behind his head from where he was laying. “Mate, that sounds too poetic. He can’t just be there!” Kimi only laughed, as he still dreamed heavily about the events that happened after. Even if he could get them at certain points in his life nowadays.

He didn’t even try to keep it a secret from George either. “Then he admitted he liked me and…we kissed on the side of his karting track. I think it was a good decision, no?” Kimi whistled cheerily, the cocky edge to his voice showing no sign of resignation.

Nudging Kimi on the shoulder, George only snickered. “I can’t believe you, Antonelli. Who would’ve thought?” He waited a little bit, looking around before turning to Kimi again. “You’ve never even told me how you and this lucky boy met.”

Something went off in Kimi’s brain that, well, he hadn’t. It’s not even like he’d tried to avoid it. Now, however, there was this parallel that George actually knew who his boyfriend was and that he was there just before they met for the first time.

Talk about poetry.

“You’re about to find me really fucking weird, but I promise you it was all in good intention.” Kimi pre-warned, his voice giggly.

George’s eyes sharpened, but he didn’t say a word. In theory, it should’ve made Kimi scared, but he didn’t really think that George would care all that much when it came down to it.

“Do you recall…just before Silverstone when we had that meet & greet thing in London? It was like a Q&A and then we went to sign a bunch of stuff?” George nodded. “Remember when I ran past you when we’d finished and asked you about that boy in the Ferrari shirt, and whether you got his name?”

George’s hand was splayed across his head. “I know what you mean,” he uttered, in the most British way possible. Then the pieces began to click. “I was the one that gave you his name—hold on. Is that your boyfriend?”

Kimi’s laughter was particularly loud, and he didn’t even know why he found it funny. After all, George Russell met his boyfriend before him and got his name. In hindsight, he was seriously lacking.

“You can’t remember his name?” Kimi asked. Maybe this is what they meant by grey hairs.

George’s eyebrows raised. “No, I can—I remember his last name was really specific. It was…” he dazed off, before it seemed like a lightbulb went off in his brain. “Bearman.” He clicked his fingers. “I remember that part.”

Kimi only had the look of puzzlement, because why Ollie told George Russell his last name is beyond him. “Does Ollie Bearman ring a bell?” He decided to save George the misery—and if it was even possible, George looked like he’d just figured out how gravity worked.

“I can’t believe it…that’s really why you asked me for his name? You thought he was cute?” George pondered.

As if it wasn’t obvious, Kimi thought, but George wasn’t there. “It was a cute boy in a Ferrari shirt who told me he didn’t have tickets to Silverstone.” That’s when he realised he’d been talking for too long, clasping his hands over his mouth.

“You said that he was at Silv— Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Don’t tell me you did what you did.”

Kimi’s voice raised. “I told them it was for my extended, really angry Italian family! How do they know?” he explained. It was at this point that he really should be wary of who’s around.

He felt a pat on his shoulder from George. “Fair play to you, mate. I’ll have to see him sometime if you bring him to a race next year? Oh, but that’s what your—”

“Yeah.” Kimi said affirmingly. “He’s only a student, but I don’t want to have him live a life that isn’t his just because I’m a racing driver. He’s studying bioscience and although he tells me he wants to kill himself half the time, I can tell how passionate he is for it. I don’t want to reduce him to WAG status.”

George acknowledged this, coming back with his own opinion. “I mean, some people may say that WAG status is hardly a downgrade, but I get what you mean.” His tone was slightly joking, and that made Kimi feel even more at ease.

“If I’m being serious, though,” George continued, “I think you guys should try and see each other in person before you start making any rash decisions. There’s a lot that can be miscommunicated by a telephone call, so to say.”

It was a pretty wise thing to say, if Kimi was being completely honest. It was only the end of November, and Abu Dhabi would be over in a week’s time, Ollie breaking up from his university studies to come home. Surely his family would give him some lenience to go to the UK the week before Christmas?

“You seem to be thinking it over pretty hard, so if you want, I can leave you to it.” George suggested.

That deep part of Kimi’s brain, though? Never left. “Stay right there. What do you mean by you can relate to me? I need details.” It was nothing shy of the truth, and he could see a flush rise to George’s cheeks. Whether out of embarrassment or endearment—well, he’d soon find out.

As if the chair seemed to be made of nails, George sat down opposite Kimi this time. “Well, I might as well just rip the band-aid off. There was a holiday that Alex and I went on a few years ago…”

જ⁀➴

After Ollie had found out that Kimi had told George about their relationship around the same time Ollie had mentioned it to Dino, it was almost comical how neither of them felt as bad as they did while they were re-telling it. It was slightly funny to look back from where they were currently, Kimi being able to find an off-week before Christmas to visit him in England.

Just days ago, Kimi had been announced (along with his teammate) to be driving for Mercedes next year, and he put in a stellar drive in the last race of the season to uphold his position of P4 the entire way. While it was slightly off the podium, Ollie couldn’t be prouder.

It was funny how contrasted he was off-track. Kimi was just laying down, staring up at the ceiling at 8pm like his life depended on it. They’d just retreated after having dinner with Ollie’s family, and they both agreed that they needed the rest.

“Hey,” Ollie began. “we never really got around to finishing our conversation about…well, us. After you told George and I told Dino. It just sorta laid there.”

Kimi hummed in acknowledgement. “I know, and I want the decision to be right for us. If you want to go public, then I don’t have anything against it.” His voice went a little quieter then. “I just don’t want to be alone if…”

Ollie knew what his boyfriend was getting at, and instead turned over to wrap his arms around the other’s neck, leaning ever so close to his shoulder. “You know I’ll be there for you. I don’t know how much help I’ll be but—” the older boy made an effort to look Kimi dead in the eyes, “this is a mutual relationship, and you know that.”

“I know, I don’t doubt it for a second, orsetto.” Kimi remarked. “I think I’ll have to consult the media team before pre-season testing or something if we want to. We’ll figure it out closer to the date.”

“Didn’t you basically reveal it after the last race?” Ollie jabbed, light and teasing. Kimi only did his best to unwrap Ollie’s hands from where they currently were around his neck, which ended in kicking and screaming just mere seconds later.

When they’d both calmed down, breathing a little faster than usual, Kimi turned to Ollie. “Hey, you know I wouldn’t be the only one with homosexuality in the Mercedes garage, even if we did go public.”

Ollie’s eyes widened, his body language slowly catching up when he put his hand over his mouth seconds later. “Come again?” it reminded him of how George sounded like a Brit, and Kimi could only laugh.

“It’s a really intricate story between him and someone else. I’m kinda surprised that he even had the time to explain it all to me.” Kimi recounted. “That’s not the topic of conversation anyway. I was going on about us, and how we met at that little thing in…where was it?”

“Shoreditch,” Ollie reminded him. “and I can’t believe you only told me literally last week that you had to ask George Russell for my name.” There was a scoff at the end, and Kimi could only whine at that statement.

“How did he even get your name?” Kimi questioned. “What the fuck did you talk about in that time?” Kimi asked.

Ollie thinks back to said conversation. There were a lot of parts he left out, partly because it was the first time that he met Kimi, but there were certain things that came back to him…

“Then again, I can’t say too much about…you know?” George finished, as he was signing Ollie’s cap based on where he’d taken it off just a second ago. Ollie put a finger over his lips before the driver continued. “Hey, is the bear meant to represent something?”

Ollie nodded. “It’s part of my name. Ollie Bearman. My sister-in-law runs a printing business so it was like… a cute memento she gave me for Christmas. I don’t have endless amounts of money to spend on Ferrari merch.”

George nodded, smiling at him. “That’s sweet. All the best, okay?”

“It really wasn’t anything much when you look at it, but like, what if he never got my name? Would you have just asked me over text?” Kimi turned away and nestled into the pillow. There was a muffled sound. “Hm?”

“I said,” Kimi’s voice came out clearer, “you wouldn’t like to know the ways in which I would’ve gone to find out your name if it hadn't been for that.”

Ollie giggled. To anyone else, it may seem a little crazy, but he knew that he had the same effect on Kimi as the Italian did to him. It was push and pull. “Are you saying that’s how much you love me?” Ollie teased.

Then the silence was deafening. It struck Ollie then—even though they’d been dating for a while, none of them had actually said—well, that. The three words. The phrase that everyone wants to hear and something you definitely shouldn’t say on the first date.

So, he could understand the silence. Therefore, he was about to backtrack his sentence. “Forge—” However, he was cut off abruptly by the sound of a voice in the room.

“No.” Kimi said firmly, turning to face Ollie, his posture less flat than it was a moment ago. “You’re right, Ollie. I think I do love you that much.”

Kimi’s tone was filled with such a genuine tone that it knocked the wind out of Ollie for just a second. Not even the phrase, but hearing the word love come out of his mouth so sincerely, like he wouldn’t trade it for the world…

“I hate you,” Ollie cried, “because I love you even more.” All the while, Kimi was just staring at him. “It was meant to be my huge redemption after I left you crying in Monza, and if I said I love you first then you’d say it back and everything would be just peachy but now it feels like—mmh—”

The rest of his rant died down in his mind when Kimi leapt forward and kissed him square on the lips. It didn’t take Ollie long to respond, cupping Kimi’s cheeks where the other had laid his hands on his nape, feeding every inch of love that he had—that they both had, even.

It didn’t take long for it to get slightly more intoxicating. Ollie found himself pressed up against the headboard, while as much as he fought, eventually let Kimi in to do something that they’d been deprived a lot of since that time in the hotel room together.

They didn’t end up sharing any sort of intimacy or affection when Kimi had landed, Ollie had just given him a hug. Not even a kiss on the cheek, and maybe that was the younger’s revenge for being dismissed in front of his parents. Especially when they knew!

It wasn’t much to ponder over, as Kimi’s hands were all over the back of him, tangling in the curls that laid at the back of his head, pushing him closer so their body heat was shared as one. Ollie could only let Kimi do all the work, the sounds of their lips moving against each other the only thing that could be heard.

For once in England, he thanked the weather for not being so abysmal in the winter.

Both of them kept at it for as long as they could, getting into more comfortable positions and enjoying each other being close as they should be. At some points, Ollie could feel Kimi smiling into their kisses—the two having enough experience to not bash teeth anymore—and if it hadn’t already been decided before, Ollie thought that he wouldn’t trade this for the world.

They had to come apart to breathe, and Ollie hadn’t been counting the time, but he didn’t exactly care when Kimi looked like such a dream after they’d been kissing each other senseless.

He’d come to learn that Kimi’s cheeks were naturally blushy (thanks to the fanpages on Twitter), so having that and more wasn’t even enough to satisfy Ollie’s greed. His lips shone under the dim light of Ollie’s bedroom lamp, and the sparkles that he’d seen once before had come to life again.

Absent-mindedly, he wondered if there was a full moon tonight.

“You’re crazy,” Ollie croaked, a little bit breathless from what he’d just found himself tangled up in. Kimi only giggled, a stark contrast to what he’d initiated at the same time.

“You love it.” There was no denying that, and as far as Kimi’s cocky tone went, he knew it too.

The time had gotten on from when they first started their conversation—enough for the other members of the family to start clambering their way up the stairs from where they’d all been in the dining room, presumably. He saw Kimi yawning out of the corner of his eye too.

While he’d love to stay up and talk with his boyfriend, as much as said boyfriend would probably want to as well, he knew when there was a limit.

“Should we talk about this going public tomorrow?” Ollie suggested. Kimi could only nod in satisfaction, nuzzling up to Ollie’s shoulder like he’d done once before. “You’re not falling asleep on me without brushing your teeth.”

“What’s that insult you use when someone’s being a cunt?” Kimi quizzed.

Ollie didn’t have much to think about. “Wanker?”

Kimi shoved him before getting off the bed and into the ensuite. “That’s what you are. I will brush my teeth in peace and if you hear the shower running, do not attempt to join me, Oliver Bearman.”

“You know the door has a lock, right?” Ollie told him.

Kimi only leered at him. “Come in and I’ll just scream the house down.” It was a threat, definitely not an empty one. So Ollie just took his losses and decided to leave the bedroom to make himself a cup of tea. “I’ll have what you’re having!”

He knew how to make himself at home, that was for sure.

જ⁀➴

It was the weekend of the 2026 Australian Grand Prix. Ollie didn’t know how he’d done it, but the memories of attending a F1 race just six months ago were all coming back to him. This time, however, it would be to accompany his boyfriend.

As exciting as it was, it was also nerve racking. They’d been on and off the phone to each other all throughout Christmas, New Year’s, the pre-season testing. You name it. Even if it was just a sneaky 2 minute call when Kimi got a chance in the day, everyday they had been devising what they were going to do.

Truth be told, amongst all of that, they were still pretty lost. Kimi was pretty set on just winging it, but Ollie had wanted things to be a little more planned out.

They seemed to reach a slight happy medium when Kimi had told Toto and everyone alike at the Mercedes factory that he was in a relationship with a boy. He’d had multiple talks with the media managers within the team, and they both agreed that it was okay for Kimi to confirm it if he was asked about it.

Of course, with Ollie and Kimi’s relationship potentially being revealed by the end of this weekend, they’d discussed the possibilities of Kimi getting a bunch of questions about their relationship.

Kimi had responded bluntly. “Mate, who gives a fuck? I’ll just tell them to stop if they start asking sensitive questions or something. If anything, I’ll break their fucking microphone—” That’s where Ollie had started shouting and telling Kimi to be at least the tiniest bit ethical about the entire situation.

It’s not like Ollie wasn’t used to being public—British schools had some sort of hierarchy by how many Instagram followers you had, and although he’d moved on from that, there was still the abysmal photos that his old secondary school had posted of him when he gained an achievement or did an event for whatever reasons.

Thinking about it now, Ollie’s old secondary school books either got burned or kept by his mother in a secret stash. As long as he didn’t see them again.

Ollie was never the type of person to consider himself an overthinker either, but there’s a lot of things that you have to think about when you advance to publicity on this scale. He knows about the fans that are hyper focused on the different WAGs and how they go about their lives—the amount of times he’d seen Rebecca Donaldson on his Instagram feed was uncanny.

He doesn’t know what the situation will be like for him. Of course, there will be certain restrictions in the countries that don’t recognise and support homosexuality, but Ollie will be more than comfortable watching from home either way. He doesn’t have the time or the energy to attend every single race that Kimi goes to either, as much as he’d want to.

So much so that he was trying to follow along with his online lectures and assignments that he was missing over the weekend, week—whatever you wanted to call it—while he was on the plane. Kimi had ever so graciously paid for the plane WiFi for him, so he was peachy.

The younger had also tried to insist on upgrading Ollie to business class since it was such a long haul flight, but they compromised on a premium economy seat instead. He didn’t want to feel like he was being a nepo baby. He enjoyed his normal life, but who doesn’t like a little bit of fame now and then, right?

Speaking of which, there were some people getting on the plane that were wearing motorsport attire, and it made Ollie wonder if any of them were like the fans on Twitter, or Instagram, or any type of social media really that would know about his situation that was bound to happen.

After all, he and Kimi had both agreed that they wouldn’t try to hide anything. So that meant Kimi would probably want to hold hands with him, speak softly with him—it’s not like they were trying to get people to ask questions, but if it happens, so be it.

He shut his laptop then, after he’d managed to finish writing notes on the lecture that he was meant to be at today. He saw that there was around 3 hours left on the flight to Melbourne, so he figured that he’d try and take a nap while he could.

Ollie had learned from a very young age that he wasn’t really the best at sleeping on travel, but he might as well try. Anyways, airplane socks were meant to provide some sort of comfort, no?

Two hours went by and he found himself waking up again. It was pretty surprising considering he might’ve taken about 30 minutes to actually fall asleep due to all of the commotion in the cabin, but he woke up due to the sound of the seatbelt signs and the pilot over the tannoy saying that they would be landing soon.

He remembers Kimi telling him something about there being somebody from Mercedes to meet him. He didn’t know their name, but they knew his, and it would bring him directly to where Kimi was staying. It was a Saturday, which meant that Kimi wouldn’t respond immediately because he was probably in qualifying.

It was hard enough to see when he landed in Monza last year. Maybe he should rebook that eye test, given that he can’t remember when he had that last one. He sends Kimi a text to say that he was landing, just so that the other didn’t get shocked if he was there before him.

Before he knew it, people were emptying off the plane and Ollie had to slip his earphones in to tune out the crying baby who was obviously not dealing well with the change in altitude. His luggage was meant to be coming out on the belt (his mother had made him overpack), so he had only a backpack to carry as he made his way off of the plane.

Unfortunately, it was not as smooth as the time he went to Monza. Arriving a day earlier meant that the airport was in commotion due to the amount of bags that people were bringing, even though it was only for a weekend. Well, all that he knew, anyways.

He stood around waiting in the airport for what seemed like forever, but by the time he made his way to the arrivals area just past the baggage belts, he checked his phone to see that it had been something like two hours.

Just as he was about to squint his eyes to try and find a board with his name on, he felt his phone buzzing in his pocket. Pulling it out, he read the contact name that he’d saved for Kimi displayed on the screen.

“G’day?” Ollie chimed, as he heard Kimi’s smiley tone come through as clear as day over the other end.

“Hi!” he beamed. “I just got told by someone off-track that someone’s waiting for you outside…the revolving doors? The guy doesn’t want to stand outside because it’s too hot, but I’ll text you the numberplate. He shouldn’t be too hard to find.”

Ollie breathed a sigh of relief. “Mate, thank god. You don’t know how stressed I would’ve been if I had to find a piece of laminated paper with my name on it again.” There was a cackle from his boyfriend.

“It’s all official now, I can’t just send my comrades to come and pick you up, orsetto. Did Lolo not try hard enough?” Ollie didn’t know how to respond, deeming the question as rhetorical in his head. “Sorry I didn’t respond to your texts, I was in debrief. I’m about to start quali though, so I’ve gotta dash.” Kimi rushed, although he didn’t seem half as stressed as Ollie would imagine.

Ollie hummed. “Okay. Good luck, Kim. You know I’ll be cheering for you. I might not be able to watch it though.”

Kimi scoffed. “It’s fine, but hey. What have I told you about calling your boyfriend ‘mate’?” The younger’s tone was accusing, but Ollie could name about a thousand times that he’d done the same thing. He brushed it off for now.

“Get to quali, you,” Ollie said sneeringly, but with no malicious intent. “You need to do me proud if you want to show me off.”

“Wow, okay.” Kimi breathed. “OKAY. I’m going. Bye, love you, see you soon!” Kimi replied sweetly.

Ollie blushed slightly. The effect he had on him would never change. “I love you too. Buona fortuna!” The line went dead shortly after as Ollie had pressed on the hang up button, just as he was coming up to the revolving doors. There weren’t many Mercedes outside—so, taking his earphones out, he embarked on the first step towards being at his boyfriend’s first Grand Prix.

As his boyfriend.

જ⁀➴

By the time Kimi ended up getting back to his hotel room last night where his boyfriend was waiting for him, there wasn’t really much to be done before the early start that they had.

They kissed—made out—whatever happened, happened. That took up more of their evening than they’d liked, both deciding to get food in their hotel room rather than go out. Kimi had qualified yesterday with a very impressive P5, George just behind him in P6.

It was one of the only times that he’d been able to outqualify George, so it was a great feeling. He did amazingly in Australia last year too, so having Ollie by his side should act like a good luck charm if anything else.

At the current moment, however, he and Ollie were on their way to the racetrack. George had left a little earlier than them, they were informed, so it’s not like they would have any sort of buffer. They were just diving in headfirst, and Kimi hated that this was the time that the nerves were settling in.

He’d acted confident about it all week, but part of him remembers that there will be people that support him after this, but there will also be the people that throw death threats at him, calling the sport too woke, saying that he’s ruining it.

Of course, he knows that—but he doesn’t find it all that believable at the moment. Ollie seems to notice this, however, as Kimi feels a hand reach out on his right thigh.

“Amore mio, is everything okay?” Ollie questioned. He’d also gotten his tongue wrapped around the Italian nicknames. “You seem a bit tense.”

Kimi shook his head. Whether to say no to Ollie or to say no, everything was fine? He wasn’t exactly sure. “I’m okay…just nervous. Not because of you, but because…” his sentence came to an abrupt stop. Ollie’s hand moved from his thigh to where he could reach the small of Kimi’s back.

He felt a slight sense of comfort when Ollie started comforting him with his hand. “You don’t have to explain yourself. You know, just by doing as much as inviting me to this shows how brave you are. You’re setting an example for many other people who might think that they can’t get into it.”

“What if people are going to say I have no skills just because I’m gay and I have a boyfriend? They’ll blame every single mistake that I make on my sexuality, when that’s not true—”

Ollie put a finger to his lips. “Think about what you just said. That’s not true. Your sexuality isn’t something you can choose, Kim. When I first met you I didn’t exactly have a choice on whether or not I was attracted to you, I just was. Even if I didn’t know it then,” he reasoned sheepishly, to which Kimi could only chuckle at. He didn’t like when his voice sounded whiny.

“Look where we are now, though.” Ollie continued on. “Well, you. This is all a product of your hard work, and how much people have believed in you regardless of your sexuality and who you like. Think about what Max Verstappen would say,”

“Why Max?” The question came out of Kimi’s lips, but then a flash of realisation crossed his face and he clamped his lips shut promptly. Ollie laughed breathily, before leaning on Kimi’s shoulder. They laid there, enjoying the heat of the sun that was coming through the windows combined with the air conditioning that was on towards the back seats.

The journey wasn’t too long, as they arrived at the venue just 5 minutes later. Kimi wasn’t as nervous as he was before—he had Ollie Bearman beside him. The boy that had talked to a random Italian number after he’d sent what was probably the worst looking selfie of himself.

The boy that was his friend, before his lover. Who he’d taken to meet his aunt in her restaurant, where he was blushing under the dim light of the restaurant and offhandedly adopting the same habits that Kimi himself had. Adjusting the curls on the top of his head, licking his lips whenever he got nervous.

“You know how lucky I am to have you, right?” Kimi asked. He heard the driver get out of his seat, indistinctive chatter surrounding where they’d parked.

Ollie kissed him square on the noise. “As am I. Are you ready?”

They weren’t really in a predicament to squeeze hands, but Kimi could only imagine that Ollie would want to. When they’d both made their way out of the vehicle, Kimi did so, and turned to smile at his boyfriend.

He nodded at the same time. “Time for the world to realise how amazing you are,” pinching Ollie’s cheek. The other boy blushed as he always did.

Are you ready? Ollie’s question echoed.

There’s no turning back now, he thought, as he heard the commotion of the paddock just beyond the turnstiles. I’m ready.

જ⁀➴

P3. He’d done it.

On his first race of the season, he’d managed to get to the podium, all while remaining ahead of his teammate. The car was definitely in a better shape, or perhaps Kimi had just found himself adjusting to it more. It was one placement up on last year, too.

As he was completing the second half of his cooldown lap, thanking Bono and the guys at the factory for all of their work, he heard something else.

“What did I say?” his boyfriend’s voice crackled over the radio. Kimi was in disbelief, and the Melbourne heat shining down on him just made his cheeks even more crimson.

Kimi breathed out in disbelief. “How did they even let you on the radio, hm?”

“That doesn’t matter, silly.” Ollie retorted. “Get back here quickly so I can give you a proper celebration, okay?”

The cooldown room was fading away in his vision now, and instead, there was a picture of Ollie wearing his merch at the Mercedes garage, waiting with open arms and a face of glee.

Kimi giggled. It was slightly childish. “Thanks Ol. See you soon, okay?” There wasn’t much else to be said as Kimi pulled in just behind the third place post. It was Charles who had taken the first win of the season, much to everybody’s surprise. Max was just behind him in second.

There was only a blur as he ran up to the stands where his team were located and got a bunch of hugs and praises in turn for his position. Vaguely, he registered that Max and Charles had made no movement to do the same thing, or maybe they’d done it before. They were just talking away after Kimi had gone to congratulate them both.

He returned to them soon after, though, as the post-race interviews were taking place. He didn’t get any questions about Ollie like he thought he would, but he could only reserve that in the back of his mind for later. No one knew anything about it apart from the people that were watching, anyway.

Actually, that might be quite a lot of people.

As he made his way out to the podium after being in the cooldown room (which was filled with way too much race talk from the other two for his mind to even process), he could hear the cheers from the people below. Thank god that his eyesight was perfect, too.

Not only did he see Toto and Bono down in the crowd, but Ollie was standing right up against the barriers from where people could stand, looking up at him with nothing but pure joy on his face. In that moment, it could’ve made him the tiniest bit emotional, but he tried his best to grin back while not making it too obvious.

He didn’t exactly want to get blinded by looking up in the sun, anyways. That was his excuse.

The Monégasque and Italian anthems played, and he found himself absentmindedly singing the words while the instrumental played along. It went by in a flash, and soon enough, he was getting sprayed by champagne from all angles.

There was laughter and joy from all three of the podium finishers, and Kimi even caught Charles having to wipe champagne from his eyes after he’d gotten particularly soaked by none other than Max Verstappen. That’d be one which their fans would enjoy.

After taking one last photo on the podium, Kimi couldn’t have dashed out of there any faster. He knew that Ollie wouldn’t stick around at the podium, either, if his radio message was anything to go by.

He barely had time to exchange any pleasantries with anybody before getting to his driver room. Of course, he took care not to run while he was inside, but the view when he finally got there was worth more than anything.

Unfortunately, Ollie had not taken on the luxury of wearing the number 12 this time, but he was just smiling, his eyes smiling—every part of him looked happy. For once, Kimi let the internal doubts subside about everything that happened today.

He tackled Ollie from where he was sitting into a hug, the other boy screaming in lowercase at his weight on top of him. Kimi peppered kisses all over his face before finally catching his lips once again, pecking them over and over before Ollie brought his face closer to his.

They interlocked lips just like they’d done the night before, leaving no room for breathing between them. Ollie’s hands were all over him just as they were this morning, in a less comforting way…a more romantic way, so to put it. Kimi tangled his fingers in Ollie’s hair, as it seemed more like second nature.

Their mouths parted and closed with nothing but love for each other, and Kimi was thankful that he’d remembered to shut the door before he’d pounced on Ollie. For what it was worth, it did something to mask the sounds that Ollie was doing a terrible job at masking himself.

In fact, the British boy was the one to push him off after what seemed like too little of a time for Kimi. He whined at the loss, but Ollie just sprung up from where he was. “As much as I love you, you’re covered in champagne and you have duties to get to. That involves getting changed, so I need to get out of here.”

Kimi complained again. “You can stay for a little while? Please? They might ask me how much I love you when I go to the other reporters and I need to be a little bit mentally sane for that.” Ollie sighed, before sitting back down next to Kimi.

The aroma of the champagne probably stuck to him, and part of Kimi wished that maybe Ollie wouldn’t wash that specific shirt to keep it as a treasure of the memories they’d shared here.

જ⁀➴

Transcript of Kimi Antonelli’s press interview after the Australian Grand Prix, 8th March 2026

ANTONELLI: I mean, I’m really happy with how the race went. It can’t be compared to other stellar drives which have had mountains of placements made up, but to outqualify George is no mean feat. So I think I’m really happy with myself in that part.

REPORTER: Do you think that there was a particular reason for this? Perhaps how the car felt in free practice, was there any build up to this moment?

ANTONELLI: Mercedes usually has the best looking car but then other cars will have just the slightest edge on us. I think that everybody has done really well this year, to keep up with the pace of other teams alike.

REPORTER: We saw that you almost had an interaction with Piastri during the race when you overtook him in the straight just towards Turn 11. Have you two managed to clear that up now?

ANTONELLI: I spoke to him briefly just now, actually. I’ve seen Piastri do the same thing on Norris multiple times, especially last season, so he was understanding to say the least. It was surprising not to see him on the podium either way, but part of me was a little happy that Leclerc made it to the top to hear my home anthem, even if only briefly.

REPORTER: Kimi, one final question before you go. Some of the media outlets today have reported that you’re walking hand in hand with a male individual. Is there anything that you’d like to expand on there?

ANTONELLI: [seemed slightly hesitant by this question] Yeah. I guess the secret’s out, right? Me and him couldn’t exactly plan it very well, and I told him that I’d just do what we usually do. I’m surprised that nobody’s found his Instagram or anything yet.

REPORTER: Do you care to share a little bit more, well, before that happens?

ANTONELLI: Scusa, I mean…I probably should, because he might have fans of his own soon. His name is Ollie, we’ve been dating for about 4 months now. We met at a signing that he came to last year in Silverstone, actually, and…I’m gonna stop myself there. What I can say is better kept hidden for his sanity and mine.

REPORTER: Do you think that having this sort of relationship will affect you in any way forward?

ANTONELLI: I thought you said my final question was two questions ago.

REPORTER: Well, if you don’t mind, we’d prefer you to elaborate than it get misconstrued through other media sites.

ANTONELLI: Well, race wise? Not at all. Now that we’re together, he could be considered a lucky charm. He was around at…some races last year, but I don’t want to expand on them. Either way, I hope I can be of inspiration to some people that think just because of the way they are, they can’t compete in motorsports or whatever. Ollie actually told me this before we came in here today, because I was really nervous. That it was all a product of my hard work rather than because of who I’m attracted to. So if people don’t like me because of that, they’ll have to endure it for a while. [slight pause] Are we done now? Okay, thank you, goodbye. I’ve got to get back to him, after all.

[An Instagram post with five pictures. The first picture is of Kimi’s celebration after getting P3 in Australia. The second picture is a photo of his car on the track. The third photo is him in the garage talking with his engineers. The fourth photo is a picture taken of him, Charles and Max on the podium. The fifth photo is a photo of him and Ollie standing outside the Mercedes hospitality, the picture seemingly taken by some sort of press.]

kimi.antonelli First race of the year, first podium of the year 🇦🇺 I felt really good in the car this time around, hoping to keep the pace for the rest of the year. Thank you to everyone that’s believed in me! Lots more to come 🙌

P.S. Can someone please tell me who took this photo of @olliebearman and I? Thanks 😊

olliebearman lucky charm you say?
↳ kimi.antonelli Focus on the photo, amore mio