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The feeling of winning his first Grand Prix is not something Kimi could ever possibly describe. He doesn't have the words for it if he tried. Winning a Grand Prix with George, a man who has become something like a brother to him, finishing in second place is even more incredible. Add Lewis, someone he looked up to his entire life and perhaps the most caring person Kimi knows as well, and it's nothing short of a dream.
The cool down room is electric. There's not much cooling down as there are emotions running high and endless praise coming his way. Kimi allows himself to bask in the glory, in the emotions, just a little.
His eyes glide to Bono more than once, who looks like he's about to explode with pride. My son, he's said on the radio. It's something that had felt true for a long time now, but not something anyone ever dared to say out loud. It feels like a special reward for winning the race. It's almost better than any trophy could ever be.
When they get told to make their way to the podium, Kimi finds himself migrating towards George without a second thought. He does that often. Seeking the comfort of his older brother when the world gets too grand and too exciting. When it becomes almost unbearable to feel as much as he does.
"Will you walk with me?", Kimi asks quietly. Normally, George would probably make a joke about them walking in the same direction anyway, but it seems he understands the underlying question. Will you hold my hand?
George looks around for a moment, clearly conscious of the cameras surrounding them and the many staffs and important officials awaiting them, but then he grins, just a little.
"Of course", George says tenderly and reaches for Kimi's hand. Automatically, Kimi preens and tucks himself into George's side. They've done the same when Kimi won his first podium, back in Canada last year. It was so overwhelming that George had taken pity on him.
"But you'll have to go on the podium alone, alright big boy?", George tells him tenderly. If anyone else had heard them, they might be taken aback by his soft tone, but Kimi's familiar with the care. He nods.
"It's my win", Kimi agrees easily. Without making a huge deal about it, Lewis has positioned himself in front of the two Mercedes drivers, while Bono stands behind them. Like that, the two are shielding the intimate position of the two teammates from greedy eyes and hungry journalists.
Even though the way his short, Kimi truly feels more at ease walking protected by the little family he's found on the grid. He trusts that they'll care of him and in turn allow him to enjoy his win to the utmost. There's no one Kimi would feel safer with.
When they reach the end of the tunnel and are about to come into the eyesight of the crowd, the four come to a halt and George gently pries his hand out of Kimi's clasp. He smiles gently and pats Kimi's head playfully, almost invisibly to others.
"Your moment is coming", he says quietly, so that not even Lewis and Bono can hear them. "Enjoy it, alright?" Kimi nods eagerly, he doesn't think he could do anything else. Before he can reply, Lewis name gets called and the celebration truly starts.
If standing on the podium had been amazing before, standing on the top step now is beyond anything he thought he could feel. Hearing the national anthem of Italy play for him fills him with an endless amount of pride. For a moment, he feels connected to all his ancestors and all the Italians who stood on those steps before him.
When Germany's anthem for Mercedes plays, he allows himself to glance at George for a moment. His presence is as steady and unwavering as always, something Kimi knows he can always rely on. Something, someone, he trusts deeply.
He soaks in the cheers, listens to the crowd roar for him, preens under the proud looks of the crew, and feels more alive than ever before. Thousands of people cheer for him, and those that matter most surround him with steadying comfort. This, truly, is far better than anything he's ever allowed himself to dream of.
Not only has he fulfilled his dream of being a racer, of winning a Grand Prix as one, he's also found a family in this sport he loves so fiercely.
As sticky as the champagne is in his hair, and as much as it stings in his eyes, there's nowhere he'd rather have the liquid be. George, Lewis, and Bono shower him in it, and through the haze he can see their proud grins. He tries to retaliate as best as he can, but they're all far more experience in ducking away if need be. His proudest moment for sure is when he hugs Bono and drips champagne right down his neck.
Bono just grins and shakes his head affectionately. Brat, he mouths, just for Kimi. Kimi's fairly sure he could do whatever he wants, be as much of a little shit as he can fathom, and Bono would let him get away with it today. Just because today's so incredibly special.
George and Lewis wrapping him in sticky hugs might be the one thing that tops the feeling of dousing them in champagne. Or getting doused in champagne, either way truly. Maybe they should be upset about not winning themselves, but if they are they don't let Kimi feel even a hint of it. There's nothing but earnest pride in all their actions and glances.
The rest of the day passes in a blur. Kimi gives a ton of interviews, signs more objects than he can count, and gets congratulated twice as much. It's a constant wave of ecstasy that keeps him going. Honestly, he doesn't even mind speaking to journalists. They tell him statistics that feel unreal and give numbers that he can barely believe belong to him.
And throughout it all, he can feel caring eyes on him. Not all the time, and not oppressively, but continuous enough. It's George watching Kimi give an interview from behind him, it's Lewis glancing in Kimi's direction when their paths cross on the paddock, it's Bono not packing up as normally but keeping close to Kimi. It's all those little things that remind Kimi of the people in his corner.
When the paddock quiets down and the adrenaline finally starts to wear off, Kimi decides to retreat back to his driver's room. He half expects that George already went home, but when he walks past it, the door is opened a smidge and light shines through. Upon knocking, Kimi gets called inside immediately.
"There's our race winner", George smiles and beckons him closer. Kimi closes the door behind him and drops down on the couch next to George. Without thinking much about it, he rests his head on George's shoulder and looks up his older teammate with trusting eyes. George coos and ruffles his hair gently.
"Aww, are you tired baby?" Kimi nods, not even protesting the nickname. It makes him feel all fuzzy inside, like when he's about to regress. And George knows that his little petnames have that affect on him. So, he allows himself to just enjoy the feeling and nuzzle closer.
"I have a little present for you. It's back in the hotel, though. Wanna go?" At the mention of a present, Kimi perks up and nods immediately. He had assumed he'd party all night with the team, but the idea of going home with George, getting a present, and maybe getting to regress after such an important day sounds just as nice, if not better.
"Can we?", Kimi asks, his voice already wavering at the edge of slurring. George just chuckles kindly nods.
"Baby, you can do anything you want today. Let's just pack our things up and we'll go." Contrary to their words, they don't actually get up immediately. Kimi enjoys cuddling up to George far too much, and George happily lets him. Kimi doesn't allow himself too often to indulge in his urges to cuddle up to someone he sees as a protector, so when he does, the people around him welcome it eagerly.
In the end, it's mostly George who packs up both of their things, with a clingy Kimi never leaving his side for more than a split second when George needs more agency to grab something. It makes Kimi feel even smaller. For a moment he ponders if this is a good idea, if he shouldn't try harder to make sure to stay big in such a public space, but he's with George. George will protect him. George will take care of him. If George didn't think it was safe, he wouldn't encourage Kimi to regress like this. So, Kimi decides to simply trust his older brother.
Perhaps Kimi shouldn't have been surprised that George has organized this meticulously, but he had simply not expected to see Lewis in the drivers seat of the car George is leading him to, carefully shielding him from lingering fans.
George and Kimi settle into the back row together, and once the door is closed, Kimi cuddles right back up to George. It's easily one of his favourite places in the entire world. Lewis reaches back and ruffles Kimi's hair, just as George likes to do.
"Are you tired, pup?" Kimi shakes his head immediately. He is a lot of things, but tired isn't one of them. He's excited to play with George and Lewis, mostly. And he's really, really looking forward to that present George's promised him.
"Alright", Lewis appeases him gently. "Then I should better get driving, right?" To that, Kimi nods. That's a really good idea. Kimi loves driving cars, even if he's not the one behind the wheel. It's uniquely calming to have the gentle swaying of a moving car under him. Lewis puts on an audio book, one about a little car exploring the world, and turns his engine on.
Just as the little car has finished its trip through Tokyo, the trio arrives at their hotel. Something deep inside Kimi wants to ask to get carried up to the room, but he's still big enough to be aware that there likely are fans all around the hotel, and that no one should see them like that. So, no matter how much he yearns to, he walks next to George to the entrance, and even carries his own backpack. Lewis said he'd drive the car around to the car park and meet them in George's room.
As soon as George unlocks the room, Kimi wants to run inside and get his present, but George calls him back.
"Take your shoes off first, sweetheart", he instructs and Kimi obeys unhappily. Or rather, tries to. The shoelaces keep gliding out of his hands, which causes him to grunt in frustration. Rationally, he knows it's because he always loses control of his fine motor skills when he regresses, but it's frustrating none the less.
George coos pityingly and undoes the laces for him.
"It's okay, buddy. That's a big boy task. You can leave them to me, alright?" George gently taps Kimi's right ankle. "Up", is all he says, but Kimi obeys regardless. George takes the shoe off Kimi's foot without much fanfare, and then they repeat the process on the other foot.
"Well done", George praises, which is ridiculous because Kimi hasn't done anything, but he accepts it regardless. He'd never turn down something so precious, offered to him ever so gently.
George also helps Kimi to take his jacket off and puts his backpack next to the shoe rack, before finally allowing him to truly get in the room and linger around the armchair in the corner of the room.
"Wait there for a second", George tells him before getting a little package out of the closet. "I figured it would only be a matter of time before you won your first Grand Prix, so I decided to get this for you and bring it with me to the races." Kimi preens and reaches his hands out in a grabby motion towards George.
"Greedy", he chimes playfully, but gives the package to Kimi anyway. "There you go, sweetheart. You really deserve it."
"Thank you", Kimi mumbles, his words slurring in the way they always do when he regresses. George was kind enough to not tape the package shut tightly, so Kimi's easily able to rip the paper off.
The first thing he grabs is a beautiful pacifier. It's light blue, just like his cap, and has a Mercedes logo on it. Above the logo is Kimi's race number. On either side of the centre is a little cartoon sheep, perfectly adorable and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Kimi. He clutches it close to his chest before popping it in his mouth.
"You look so pretty, sweet boy", George tells him gently. "The paci looks very nice on your pretty face." Shyly, Kimi blushes and fists his hand in his T-Shirt. Immediately, George grabs his hands to stop him.
"Ah, ah", he scolds kindly, "We don't do that, do we?" A little ashamed, Kimi shakes his head. "Good boy, you can keep unpacking if you want." And how Kimi wants.
While sucking on his paci, he produces a huge piece of fabric out of the package. George helps him to pull it apart, and once they do, it presents itself to be an adult sized onesie. It looks like a cartoon version of their race suits, and proudly shows off the number 12 as well.
"On on on", Kimi chants immediately and reaches his arms towards George. The man just chuckles and nods. It seems he very much figured that this would be the reaction he'd get. Normally, changing Kimi can be quite he hassle as he doesn't like the sensation of clothes scratching over his skin, but this time, he follows every single one of George's requests easily. He's beyond eager to wear the race suit onesie.
"Such a cute little racer", George comments, and Kimi grins brightly. This is almost as good as wearing his real race suit. Maybe even better, because he gets to be small and wear a race suit. George really knows him very well, Kimi thinks happily.
Before he can reach in the package again, there's a knock on the door.
"That must be Lewis", George informs Kimi. "Stay here for me." As much as Kimi wants to see Lewis now, George has been nothing but kind to him, which Kimi wants to honour. He wants to be good so he can play a lot.
"Who's this pretty baby?", Lewis asks in mock surprise as he steps into the room and his eyes land on Kimi. The boy reaches his hands towards Lewis and gurgles excitedly.
"LewLew", he shouts, his paci falling out of his mouth. Lewis just smiles, and for once doesn't chide him for raising his voice. Instead, he steps closer and wraps his arms around Kimi's shoulders. Happily, Kimi snuggles into Lewis and breathes his scent in. He must've changed before coming over as he's not wearing his Ferrari T-Shirt anymore. Instead, he's adorned in a very soft light blue shirt.
"Is Georgie spoiling you?", Lewis asks with a look towards the package. Kimi giggles and nods.
"Says I deserve it", he explains proudly. "Cause Race good."
"Is that so? Then he must be right, after all you are my little winner", Lewis says after a little consideration, and presses a tender kiss to the crown of Kimi's head. "Do you think you have room for one more present?"
"Yes", Kimi all but shouts, which makes both Lewis and George laugh. Kimi does his best to glare at them. How dare they laugh? He won the race, he's allowed all the presents he wants. It's not nice to laugh at someone. Kimi tells them as much, which makes George hum to appease him.
"You're right, baby. That wasn't nice of LewLew and me. You do deserve your presents." With that, George hands the next item to Kimi. He peals himself off Lewis and inspects the little plushie in his hands carefully. It's a little dog, designed in a very similar art style to the sheep on his new paci. After a moment of consideration, Kimi decides that he likes it very much and hugs the little dog close.
"I'm glad you like it", George says gently. "There are also some toys in there, but I think we can look at them together later. Is that alright?" Kimi looks at George, then at Lewis, then at the dog, and nods. He'd much rather play with them than with whatever toys George picked out for him.
"I do have something for you as well," Lewis says and hands Kimi a little box. When he opens it, there's a wooden race car in it. It looks pretty much identical to the car in which Kimi won the race today, even down to the number.
"You're wearing such a cool race suit, and every racer needs their car", Lewis explains as Kimi looks up to him disbelievingly. He cradles it carefully, almost in disbelief. Not even Kimi himself can say for sure if it's about the general existence of the car or the fact that Lewis got it made for him.
He loves his race car, and by extension he also loves the little wooden thing in his hands. The wheels also turn, just like in his real car. And Lewis is making the correct noises, so it really feels like Kimi's race car. But if he wants to win with the car, then he needs-
"Papa?", Kimi asks. Lewis looks confused at Kimi, then at George. The older Mercedes driver has a slight smile on his face.
"He means Bono", George tells Lewis quietly. "Think you can call him and ask to come?" To his credit, Lewis doesn't take more than a second to adjust to this new information. He nods immediately and takes out his phone. Lewis gently unwraps his arms from Kimi and steps out to make the call.
"LewLew?", Kimi asks sadly. George kneels in front of him, and gives him his paci back.
"Don't cry, pretty boy. He's calling your Papa to ask if he wants to come play." Kimi grins brightly, and takes his new paci. He happily suckles on it and tries to put the little dog on top of the car, entirely distracted by this new possibility.
With that, he doesn't even notice Lewis coming back in the room and informing George that Bono will be there in ten minutes. The duo looks adoringly at Kimi as the boy plays with the items and par-tout refuses to give up, even if the dog doesn't want to fit in the car.
Luckily, he manages to entertain himself with that until Bono arrives. Kimi doesn't even notice Lewis getting up and getting the door to let the race engineer inside.
"There's my little race winner", Bono announces himself and kneels down in front of the armchair that Kimi still resides on. Upon seeing Bono, both the toy car and the little dog are immediately forgotten. Once again, the paci falls out of his mouth as he calls for the new arrival.
"Papa! Papa here", Kimi cheers happily and reaches out towards Bono. The man hums lowly as a means of agreeing.
"I am. A little birdie told me you want me here?" Kimi nods immediately and points towards Lewis. "Birdie!", Kimi calls out.
In the meantime, George, once again, collects the fallen pacifier and moves to clean it off. Before he can leave, Bono beckons him to come closer.
"Can you or Lewis get a water bottle and some snacks ready?", Bono requests, and George nods immediately. It'd be get to get some food into Kimi, given that he barely had time to sit down and eat as much as a protein bar after the race win.
"'Gie", Kimi welcomes George once he returns, "want race! LewLew said have cars! And Papa help me race, so we win!" Indeed, Lewis has brought two more cars. They aren't as detailed, but they do have the 63 and the 44 on them.
"We can race", George agrees, "but only after you've eaten something. And drunken some water." Kimi pouts, but it's no use. With all three men around him in agreement, it'd be a losing battle to try and argue himself out of eating and into racing. They end up compromising on George feeding Kimi.
George does so happily and without any complaint. Kimi obediently opens his mouth for every spoonful, and barely complains at all. Food just tastes better when his older brother is dutifully feeding him bite by bite.
Finally, finally, the plate is empty and he's drunken enough water from his sippy cup for Bono to be happy, and they're about to start their little race. While George and Bono were feeding Kimi, Lewis made a little race track in the hotel room. It has a suspiciously similar looking layout to the Shanghai track.
Bono has taken Kimi's place in the armchair and is able to overlook the entire track like that. Kimi, George, and Lewis line up on the grid just like they have in real life. Kimi grins at Bono, who returns it with a much more gentle smile.
"Five", Bono begins the countdown in place of the traditional lights, "Four, three, two, one, lights out." With that, Kimi launches his car of the line as quickly as he can, crawling along the race track. Lewis and George are closely behind him, currently battling for P2. Kimi is far ahead of them already in the first lap.
After five of twelve laps, Bono tells Kimi that it's time to pit in the next lap. George and Lewis politely pretend that they can't hear the engineer, just like in real life. Neither of them have someone to engineer their race, so Kimi already has a huge advantage. Just like he always does when his Papa is with him.
The pretend pit stop is quick, and George comes after him in the pits. But Kimi has track advantage. He's out of the pit lane before George has finished pitting, and Lewis hasn't pitted yet. He just has to be fast and neither of them will be able to catch him.
"Pace is good, sweetheart", Bono tells him. "Be a tiny bit more careful with the track limits. Don't want a penalty, now do we?" Kimi just whines in response, of course he doesn't want a penalty. Silly Papa.
In the end, Kimi is first to cross the line, just like in real life. He cheers, just in real life. "Well done", Bono says, just like in real life. "I'm proud of you, my son", and Kimi feels fuzzy, just like in real life.
As it turns out, winning a play race is almost as exhausting as winning a real race. Lewis chuckles softly at him as he yawns and ruffles his curls. Kimi grimaces at him as disgruntled response, but Lewis doesn't even pretend to be irritated by that.
"Looks like it's sleep time for a certain race winner", Bono agrees. Kimi scowls at him as well. How dare his Papa betray him like that?!
"Let's make a deal", George offers. "We'll get you ready for bed, but you don't have to sleep yet. You can be awake more and play more, but only with brushed teeth." After a moment of hesitation, Kimi nods. That sounds fair enough. He doesn't want to have to get up again, anyway.
Bono is the one helping him take care of all those things. He gets a spare toothbrush from George, sits Kimi on his lap and brushes the boy's teeth for him. Then, he makes sure that Kimi's used the toilet and that his race suit onesie is good to go for sleeping in it. Bono and George agree that since Kimi has just put it on, he can use it as a pyjama.
By the end of the bed time routine, Kimi is yawning over and over again. George coos at him, and presses a little kiss on the top of his head. He himself has also gotten ready for bed, so that he doesn't have to disturb once Kimi wants to sleep.
Kimi and George play a little more with the tiny dog, but after a few minutes, Kimi can barely keep his eyes open. He's all but leaning on George, half curled up on his lap. He doesn't even protest when Lewis and Bono manoeuver him into the bed, especially when George settles in next to the boy.
He wraps his arms around Kimi and allows him to snuggle into his warm and protective embrace. It's perfect, absolutely perfect.
"Story?", Kimi asks sleepily, and Bono nods without having to get asked twice. Thus, Kimi falls asleep to Bono's calm voice telling him about a brave boy that defyed all expectations to win a Grand Prix in Formula 1.