Chapter Text
Lewis woke up in an all too navy hotel room, a warm body in the bed next to him and...fuck, what happened last night?
He remembered...the last thing he properly remembered was comforting Max and then getting drunk with Max and Charles before nothingness. He groaned, stretching, untangling himself from the warm body in his arms, and finding Charles laying on the bed below him.
A spike of fear went through him at the idea that him and Charles could have...but his worries were assuaged, since they both were entirely clothed in what they were wearing last night, barring shoes.
Head pounding, Lewis did his best to keep in any groans of pain, but his hand searched blindly for the edge of the bed, his thoughts broken by a quiet, Dutch voice, pressing a glass of water and a pill into his hand.
"Painkillers. For the hangover." Max explained, the normally loud Alpha's voice quieter, the ozone of his scent barely present, overshadowed by the calming scent of forests and rain.
Lewis mumbled his thanks, swallowing the painkiller, dragging himself to his feet. Max's arm came around his waist, and Lewis didn't even protest while letting the younger Alpha take him to the bathroom, gently shutting the door to give Lewis some privacy.
Going over his memories of the previous night, Lewis tried to remember how much he drank, though he lost count after the eight shot. He was just glad that Max had the maturity not to drink - Charles seemed to be accounting for Max's sobriety that night by ordering more than enough to get both him and Max spectacularly drunk.
Outside the bathroom, Lewis could hear Max and Charles talking in hushed voices, and as he splashed some water on his face, the memories of last night came flooding to him. Specifically the way both him and Charles had been giddily clinging to Max, overjoyed over Lewis' first podium in a season and Ferrari actually having a decent car.
Max didn't seem to mind, if the fact that they'd both woken up in the Pack Alpha's bed was anything to go by.
"Lewis? Are you okay?" A concerned Charles asked through the bathroom door, gently knocking on it. That shocked Lewis out of his state of reverie, and he stumbled out of the bathroom to find Max had lowered the lights in the hotel room to account for the hangovers.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine, just got distracted thinking." Lewis explained, smiling, though that - naturally - prompted Max to mutter a quiet, "Checking yourself out in the mirror again?"
Lewis rolled his eyes affectionately at Max, though he didn't dignify the other Alpha's teasing with a response. Lewis gently squeezed Charles' shoulder instead, tilting his head. "More importantly, are you alright? You drank enough to kill a horse last night, your hangover must be killing you."
The omega simply chuckled, smiling. "I am not fifty, Lulu, I can handle a bit of drink." And God, didn't that remind Lewis of their age difference. He was in his forties, while Max and Charles were barely past 25.
Sometimes, Lewis felt bad for letting Max become the Pack Alpha instead of taking up the mantel himself, but he had to admit, 2016 was a rough year for him and he needed to step down, and most other alphas on the grid. Kimi (Raikkonen, not Antonelli) was the only Alpha other than Max for whom 2016 was maybe alright, but he had no interest in the duties that came with the position.
And so, at the bright old age of 18, became Pack Alpha. Charles had a better time of it, only becoming Pack Omega when Seb retired in 2022, but that was more controlled, and Charles had been a respectable 25 when that happened.
Lewis was (once again) broken out of his thoughts by Charles' gentle hand on his arm, Max and Charles exchanging worried looks. Charles opened his mouth to say something - probably something roundabout and gentle - but was interrupted by Max's straightforward, "Is this because Brit- Nico is coming to the paddock today and you don't want to see him?"
Lewis' heart stopped.
He hadn't known Nico was stopping by. Why would he be stopping by? The omega no longer hung around the paddock, and it was almost ten years since he retired. Nico had no reason to be on the grid, but clearly, he was going to be there, according to Max.
"What!? No! No, Max, no, this isn't because of Nico! I didn't even know he was coming to the paddock today! Besides, he can visit when he wants, I'm sure Mercedes are happy to have him. And Nico's his own man, I'm not his Alpha, why would I care about where he goes? Max, don't start, it's not-" Lewis tried to defend himself, knowing the look in Max's eyes.
Max just gave an overdramatic sigh, nodding at Charles. "You stay with Lewis, I'll stay with Britney. I still don't trust either of you to not fist-fight each other on sight...or start fucking in one of the drivers' rooms."
Charles giggled quietly, greatly amused by the disdain Max had for Nico, and happily linked his arms with Lewis. "I'll take him to congratulate Ollie. He's taking the plane back with George anyway, so he can talk to Mercedes then."
And that seemed to be the end of that, with a bouncing Charles leading Lewis out of Max's hotel room and to the buffet, happily eating the equivalent an entire family of four's dinner for his breakfast, all on the hotel's (and Redbull's) dime.
"He looks so stupid when he gets all worked up like that. His nose scrunches up and everything, and he looks even more like a lion with his hair all puffy. Mon petit lion." Charles said, smiling, as he ate the bacon, apparently not at all inconvenienced by the massive amount of alcohol he drank last night.
Lewis spent the rest of breakfast responding with quiet noises of agreement while Charles went on his usual love/hate tangent about Max - complimenting his driving in Australia, complaining about the lack of battles on track they've had and Max's DNF, complaining about Redbull, etc.
He managed to give Charles the slip by pretending to go some scent patches. Lewis' one were working just fine, but everyone knew how little Lewis liked his scent to be available to everyone to smell, so Charles didn't think anything of it.
In the few steps outside Redbull's hotel and towards the exit (with the intention of calling a cab), Lewis stopped dead in his tracks.
Nico Rosberg.
Climbing out of a Mercedes. Hand in hand with Kimi Antonelli and George Russel. Heading towards Redbull. What the fuck.
Lewis stood there, frozen, before impulsively waving George over, Kimi and Nico quietly following. "Hey, how're you doing, mate? You as well, Kimi...and Nico...?" He asked, doing his best to remain cheerful, though Nico's face was entirely unreadable to him now.
Lewis' heart sank a little as Nico pulled Kimi behind him a little, but George answered with enough enthusiasm for all of them. "Oh, you know, it's going good, Kimi wanted to see 'other dad' and Charles, so here we are. And Nico's just visiting, giving some advice on how to be competitive teammates without needing the papaya rules."
George did his best to keep everything light, but Lewis could hear the little dig in his voice. The 2016 Silver Arrows war was...something else entirely, and Lewis was glad Nico was preventing it from happening again in 2026, since he knew both Kimi and George would want to contest the WDC.
"That's...that's really good, Nico is the best person to ask that, yeah. It's good to see you, Nico, Kimi, George. I'm having breakfast with Charles right now, if you want to join us?" He offered, the words spilling out of his mouth before he could help himself.
Kimi brightened up, untangling himself from Nico and hugging Lewis tightly, earning a chuckle out of George. "Thank you, thank you so much! I'm so glad everyone's here - dad, other dad, other dad's mate, grandpa, grandpa's mate! All that's missing is Ollie, and Toto and Susie." He said, smiling brightly.
Nico shook his head, giving Lewis a small smile. "I'm going to have to decline. I need to find Max, and I had breakfast already, but you have fun." And promptly disappeared inside the building.
A small burden was lifted off Lewis' heart - they weren't talking, not really, but at least they could talk. He distracted himself by ruffling Kimi's hair and smiling, leading the pup and the omega to Charles. "C'mon, I'm sure Charles has gathered enough food to feed a small village."