Work Text:
Kimi had liked Sebastian for 3 years now since 10th grade. They first met in their Science 10 class. Sebastian had helped him with his chemistry homework and Kimi completely fell in love with him.
Sebastian's hair shines like the sun when the weather's nice, and sets in the low lit classrooms of the school. He bites his lip whenever he's focused, and looks like a total snack.
Sadly, as they only have English 12 together this semester, Kimi doesn't get to see him often. But over the years, he's silently watched him from the back of the class.
Matter-of-fact, Sebastian never really noticed Kimi. Even though he was the captain of their school's hockey team, Seb was never one for sports as he always has his nose stuck in a book.
It sucks, really, but he doesn't mind. Kimi was fine watching Sebastian work his magic from afar.
Sebastian is one of those kids who have the answer to every question, though he wouldn't call Seb a teacher's pet. He doesn't like lectures or classes anyways, just likes being correct.
Tuning back to present time, Kimi was admiring Sebastian present his work in said shared English class. He talked a lot, Kimi noticed. But Kimi could listen to Seb talk all day.
whether he likes the subject or not, Sebastian always talks passionately about all his work. His devoted attention to his studies made him hot, Kimi thinks.
Jenson nudges Kimi's shoulder. "You're staring," he says. Kimi glares at his friend. He doesn't care that he's staring, and who wouldn't? Sebastian was talking through his analysis for A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Something about faries and forests he thinks, though Kimi was more focused on the way Seb slightly whips his head to get his hair out of his face.
He was beautiful and thoughtful, what else could you need from a person?
Kimi comes home from school to find a pile of homework stuffed at the bottom of his bag. Groaning, Kimi slowly works his way through all of it.
As if he couldn't take anymore homework, the pile seems to be growing every second he looks away.
To give up is to set yourself free, Kimi thinks, so he pushes the stacks of paper out of his face and back into his bag. Feeling exhausted, Kimi takes a nice warm shower, relieving himself from the stress of school.
A few strides and he's back at his desk. He thinks about Sebastian.
His hair that's brighter than the most polished piece of gold.
His warm blue eyes that sparkles like the morning dew.
His soft smile that spreads across his face whenever he gets—another—perfect grade.
His hearty laugh that crosses the cafeteria as his friends make funny jokes.
Why do homework when he can think about Sebastian. With too many feelings bottling up within him, he writes them down.
Dear Sebastian,
I'm not sure how to start this, but you brighten up my day. I think about your hair, eyes, smile, and laugh on repeat. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I can't handle it.
You make me want to be a better person, one that I hope you'll love one day. Some day we will meet, properly this time.
You'll probably never get this, but if you do, I hope you continue to be yourself, forever.
Sincerely,
Ice-man.
The note sounds stupid, lazy, lackluster, but Kimi doesn't care. He was never the poetic type.
He stuffs the letter into his backpack, hidding it. If he was going to give it to Seb, how on earth would he? He can't just outright give it to him, obviously that would contradict his anonymous persona.
Then he uses all his brain power—that's not focused on hockey—and creates a plan.
Kimi has been silently admiring the guy for long enough to know that he's chosen the same locker for all four years they've attended highschool.
Locker 57, the one beside Mrs. Jenkins art room. He's going to slide the note through the slit of the locker when no ones around.
Perfect idea, he thinks. Seamless.
After tiring himself thinking too much, he falls asleep at his desk.
-♡-
His alarm blares on his nightstand. Realizing he fell asleep at his desk, he stretches his back which aches from the terrible position he had slept in. The clock shows 7:50. He's going to be late to the bus.
More importantly, he's going to miss the bus Sebastian takes to school.
Hurriedly, he grabs random clothes, hoping he won't look a mess when he walks out the door. Rushing downstairs he takes an apple from the counter, bids his family goodbye, and runs down the street to the bus stop.
The bus comes the seconds he gets the time to rest. The bus is almost filled to the brim, to the point where he can't get a seat, but he notices Seb right away.
While greeting the people he knows on the bus, slowly but surely, Kimi discretely slides his way over to him. Not too close, but a few inches. He holds onto the bar next to him as the bus speeds up.
The bus stops a few stops down when someone rudely interrupts Kimi from his respectful admiring.
Aka, being too scared to talk to him so he silently glances over every two seconds.
"Kimi!" Someone yells as they get on the bus. As if he wasn't already interrupted by the other students he knows on the bus, Daniel Ricciardo, captain of the soccer team, comes rushing down the length of the bus.
He gives Kimi a playful nudge when he reaches him.
He starts talking about random stuff Kimi doesn't have the time for.
"-and then our goalie moves out of the way and lets the ball right in!.. Kimi?" Kimi flinches, "yeah?" Ignoring the fact that Kimi wasn't listening to him, he continues to ramble. "Okay, good, I was about to reach the climax of our game yesterday."
Kimi's attention span was not something to pay attention to. As his focus is solely on hockey and Sebastian Vettel, and sometimes his grade, if he focuses really hard.
A bus came to a halt at their school, and practically everyone shuffles out. Luckily, for Kimi's build he can't really get shoved.
But Seb does. That's why he always the last person on the bus. Headphones in, mindlessly scrolling on his phone, Seb let's everyone pass. He looks up at Kimi as their the only ones left on the bus.
"Hi Kimi," he smiles and walks off the bus. Kimi's heart stops, then speeds up again. Trying to slow his heart down, he thinks about the worst thing possible. Someone kicking a puppy. Then he thinks about how puppy-like Sebastian looks. Then he feels bad.
"Sir, can you get off the bus?"
"Oh, right," Kimi hops off, but he can't stop thinking about Sebastian. He knows his name! Well obviously he knows his name, they've been paired up multiple times for projects.
And, Kimi was a popular guy, he guesses.
But this was different, it was unprompted. This wasn't like when random people he doesn't know come up to him and give him a weird variation of a dap up.
Kimi is definitely born in the wrong generation, because why would there be a million different variations of a proclaimed handshake?
This time, it was the school bell that alarmed Kimi. Groaning, he makes his way to his dreaded History 12 class. I mean, what more do they even have to learn? Wayne Gretzky is still alive, Kimi is sure he has the only history he'll be interested in.
History class goes by in a flash as he wasn't paying attention at all. With his mind stuck on the way the vowels and the consonants slid off Seb's tongue, there was nothing else that was going to infiltrate his thoughts.
English class, his most beloved class. The class he shares with Sebastian. Walking in, he sees a new seating plan on the board, great.
Kimi has to sit next to an unknown and not his friend Jenson. People always try to grab Kimi's attention for some reason, trying to befriend him. Kimi's not really one for new friends, he has a few yeah, but he's known them for years.
Moreover Kimi has the looks. Kimi knows he's hot, he can see it in the mirror, but he's not up for grabs nor is he snob who thinks they're hotter than everyone. Either way, Sebastian has already stolen his heart.
He searches for his name on the board.
Kimi - Sebastian
Kimi's heart stops, in a metaphorical way of course.
How was he supposed to sit next to Sebastian? He can't even be near the guy without freezing up.
It's hard to keep up his Ice-man persona around Seb. Ironically, he sweats whenever Sebastian gets close. It's the ice melting, he likes to imagine.
Sebastian is already in his seat, per usual. He slowly marches his way over to his desk next to Seb's, accepting his fate. The chair screeches when he pulls it back. He gets some glares for it, but he just glares back which is enough to scare them off.
Sebastian doesn't look at him as he sits down, he merely pulls his headphones off and takes out some books from his bag, lightly placing them on his desk. Kimi frowns, but gets Seb's attention with a simple, "hi Seb."
Sebastian quickly turns his head, and sighs a sigh of relief. "Thank god, I thought I was gonna have to sit beside a random."
What.
Does Seb view them as friends?
Kimi freezes again while Seb stares at him. Sebastian waves a hand in front of his face, "earth to Kimi?" He pulls himself out of a trance. "Are we... friends?" he trails off. Sebastian looks at him weirdly, "I mean, I hope we are?" He has a guilty look on his face, like a kicked puppy. "Unless I misinterpreted it?"
Kimi rushes to lift Sebastian's mood. "Of course we are! Or i-if not I wouldn't mind being friends!" Surprising Sebastian, he laughs. Oh god, Kimi could talk on and on about Seb's laugh, but for now he had to actually talk to Sebastian.
"Didn't think you'd be the kind of guy to get flustered, or anything at that, Kimi." Please keep saying my name, he thinks. "You look so stone faced all the time!" Kimi doesn't care that he just called him stone faced or implicitly said that he doesn't feel emotions.
Kimi simply shrugs and Sebastian goes back to prepping for their English class.
Teacher walks in remembering they switched seats, "Shakespeare!" he yells. Great, another lecture about how great Shakespeare was. This is just History 2.0. Nonetheless, Seb has an excited look on his face, cute.
Their teacher rambles on, Shakespeare this, Shakespeare that, whatever. Sebastian still notes down everything he says.
The boring lecture ends and the teachers hands out a worksheet. It's deconstructing characters types. Kimi slumps down onto his desk, head hitting the surface with a thump. Seb pokes him, which causes him to tense up.
Sebastian laughs at him again.
Hands shake Kimi awake, hoping it's Seb, he opens his eyes. He finds Jenson towering above him. He swats Jenon's hand away, sighing. "Sebastian left a while ago, mate," Jense mentions.
Pulling Kimi up, Jenson pushes him to the cafeteria. Kimi has his off block with Jenson, Mark, Fernando, and this kid in the lower grade, Max.
They all continue as usual, speaking on whatever argument someone created.
"Clearly baseball is superior," Mark argues.
This one seemed to be on sports, so nothing out of the ordinary. They were all captains of one of their schools sports team, not Max though, he spends too much time karting after school.
Kimi fishes out for his lunch, when his hand finds the letter he wrote to Seb.
Sebastian doesn't have 3rd period off, so this is the perfect time to drop it off. Kimi stands up, "I'm gonna go to the washroom." None of them pay him mind, so he rushes off, letter in hand.
He walks his way down the long hallways till he reaches Sebastian's locker. Just as he's about to reach it, Lewis rounds the corner in an apron splattered with paint.
Lewis seems to be coming from Mrs. Jenkin's art room next to Seb's locker. As he is the head of the art department. Kimi quickly leans against a locker, hiding the letter behind his back, in hopes of looking normal.
"Hey Kimi," he says. Kimi nods at him. He internally praises himself for looking and acting so normal. This letter in his hand will either swoon Seb or make him extremely worried he has a stalker. That's something Kimi is willing to sacrifice. Basically, in short, it's a 50/50 chance that Kimi ends up with Sebastian as his boyfriend.
Or a 0% chance, if he chickens out obviously.
Feeling worried, he finds a pencil on the ground and quickly scribbles something on the other side of the paper.
When Lewis turns a blind eyes, Kimi moves in for action. The action, which is Kimi hesitantly slipping the letter through the lockers slit. His heartbeat speeds up, and he dashes down the hallways leading back to the cafeteria.
Looking incredulously at Kimi, Max asks, "you good?" Kimi nods frantically and sits back down.
Sebastian blinks himself awake in his math class, realizing schools over.
Seb treads his way through the abundance of students, until he reaches his locker. Pulling some books from the overhead shelf, a piece of paper lightly floats down.
Sebastian's confused, because he keeps all his paper neatly placed in his folders. Picking it up, he realizes that it's a love letter as he scans over the words on the folded piece of paper.
Sebastian had a secrete admirer? or at least that's what the letter is implying. He shrugs and shoves the folded up letter into his pocket.
When he gets home he places his backpack on the ground, lays on his bed, and pulls out the letter from earlier. He reads the full thing now.
Dear Sebastian,
I'm not sure how to start this, but you brighten up my day. I think about your hair, eyes, smile, and laugh on repeat. You make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I can't handle it.
You make me want to be a better person, one that I hope you'll love one day. Some day we will meet, properly this time.
You'll probably never get this, but if you do, I hope you continue to be yourself, forever.
Sincerely,
Ice-man.
Well, it's most likely a man as he signed it as Ice-man. Sebastian doesn't really mind, he's not one for preferences.
He gets lost in thought. How much did this guy know about him? Is this a secrete admirer or a stalker? Does he know him? Well it did say in the letter that they've met, so that calms him down a bit.
No one he knows would really be a stalker, or at least he hopes.
There's a note found on the back.
P.S I swear I'm not a stalker, I just can't confess like a normal person.
Okay, well that sorts out some of Sebastian's feelings for this anonymous letter. He lazily places the letter on his nightstand and passes out. Hopefully he doesn't have homework, he thinks.
-♡-
Waking up, Seb sees his clock show 7:16. That gives him about 30 minutes to get ready. Throwing on some clothes, Seb brings the mysterious letter back to school with him, wanting to show Nico and Lewis.
He has Science first period, but that flies past. Sebastian excels in Science, especially physics.
English next. He enjoys his time with Kimi. Funny guy, Sebastian thinks.
History. Boring, but whatever, it's easy.
His off-block comes 4th period. Finally. He rushes to find his friends, who are usually near their shared locker. Said shared locker came to be, because Lewis forgot his locker code and can't access his at all.
He runs up to them and shoves the note in Nico's hands. "What the hell is this?" he says, opening it. He and Lewis are both shoulder to shoulder so they read it at the same time.
They stare at Seb after reading the full thing. "Is this like, for real?" Sebastian shrugs, "I don't know, but it seems legit. Not like some sorta prank or whatever." Lewis steals the paper and inspects every inch of it. "Nothing," he says, "nothing to trace it back."
"Well, it does say Ice-man." They both look back at the letter, searching for it. They make both make an 'o' shape with their mouths.
"Ice? Man? Who would that even be?!" Nico yells out. They get a few stares, but that's the least of their worries.
Ice-man is all they've got. "You think it's someone on the hockey team? Y'know, ice and all," Nico asks. Sebastian puts in, "yeah but their all idiots with no brain, it's all hockey this, hockey that." "What about Kimi?" Lewis adds in. "What about Kimi?" Seb says confused.
"Is he a proclaimed 'idiot with no brain'?"
Sebastian didn't think about that. He liked Kimi, though, he was different from the rest of his team. He wouldn't mind if it was Kimi, he thinks.
But, nevertheless, Kimi probably isn't the kind of guy who likes a guy like Seb. He's probably some super model kind of guy.
"I guess no? I like him, he's different."
"I saw him near your locker yesterday, y'know?" Lewis says. Sebastian merely hums in response, adding to the idea of it actually being Kimi. Maybe he'll ask him about it tomorrow.
They all ponder on the letter, until Nico asks, "wanna go to the mall for lunch?" Seb's stomach grumbles, he was kind of hungry.
They let the topic of the letter go for now as they go eat.
The sent letter is eating Kimi alive. Had Sebastian gotten it yet? Had he thrown it away? Whatever the answer is, Kimi can't stop thinking about it.
He's sat in PE, waiting for his turn to play. Luckily, their class is in the floor hockey unit, Kimi's specialty.
Once he gets a hold of the ball, his mind forgets all about the letter. Scoring at least 4 goals for his team, whereas the other team's goalie sucks, he decides to play another round. Just for fun.
As Kimi is about to shoot the ball, when suddenly Sebastian walks past the entrance of the gym. Stealing Kimi's attention away from his game, Seb waves at him. Kimi pauses and waves back.
The other team steals the ball and scores in his goal. His whole team groaned, but he didn't care, Sebastian had just noticed him. Again.
-♡-
The next day, in English class, Sebastian and Kimi are working on their—stupid—deconstructing character types worksheet, when suddenly Seb starts talking to him.
"Hey, can I talk to you for a second?" He prompts. Oh god, here it is, he's figured it out, I'm doomed for life, "sure what's up?" "I don't want to out the guy but... I've got this thing, hold on-"
Sebastian rummages through his back, throwing a piece of paper onto Kimi's desk. It's his letter. "I got this yesterday, and I kinda don't know what to do..?"
Kimi's stares down at his letter. "Well, uhm, someone definitely likes you, for one." Seb nods, listening. "And you don't know what to do about someone liking... you." Seb nods again, agreeing.
"Well, firstly, do you want to figure out who it's coming from, or do you them to stop sending letters?"
Sebastian thinks hard on this one. Frown on his face, deep in thought.
"Well, yes I wanna know who this Ice-man is, and I kinda want to wait to see if they send another one. I wished they weren't so discrete though."
Kimi was going to write another letter.
He simply nods and wishes Seb his best regards on finding his secret admirer.
The split second he steps foot in his house, he immediately abandons his homework and rushed to find another piece of lined paper.
He tries to think about what Seb said, I wished they weren't so discrete, though.
Kimi cleared his throat with a cough as if he was gonna start speaking, which was stupid because he's writing a letter.
"Ehem,"
Dear Sebastian,
I am aware this is my second letter to you, but I feel I should make this clear. I do not want to make you uncomfortable with these letters.
I now realize how weird my first letter looks unprompted. It was merely a way to tell you how much I aspire to be like you. How much I love you.
You brighten up everyone's day with your presence, or at least you brighten up my day. Sorry this isn't some intricate poem, I'm not that kind of guy.
Also, I don't really know much about you, and I'm trying to get to know you. Just so it's clear, we do know each other, just not as much as I hoped.
P.S I'm a dude. (If that wasn't clear.)
Sincerely
Ice-man.
Kimi cracks his knuckles as he rereads his letter to Sebastian a million times. He sighs, love letters are supposed to be beautiful, poetic, but Kimi's are a bit lacking.
Kimi decides to be more thoughtful about his letters, and shoves it into an envelope. Sealing it with a bit of water from his water bottle, and not his tongue, because he's no freak.
On the envelope he writes out a 75, which is his locker number.
He gets that it's risky, so he's accepted that he's never going to use his locker ever again as he's cursed it.
His pile of homework stares at him and he stares back. Then he goes to sleep, because who cares.
-♡-
Back at school, Kimi does the same thing as he did to the last letter. Slip it in during his off block, hoping Lewis doesn't see him.
"Kimi!" Someone calls out to him as he's inches away from slipping the letter in, arm raised and everything. Are you serious? He incredulously turns around to see whoever was disturbing his spy mission. Or so Kimi likes to think of it as a spy mission.
"Yo," he greets whoever he sees when he turns around. It was the last person he expected, or people?
"Carlos, Jannik, hey," he says.
The school's best tennis players had come up to him, but Kimi didn't think anything of it. All the athletes had some sort of connection in this school.
They come to a halt infront of him, "congrats on the win by the way," Jannik says.
Kimi's hockey team had won provincials clearing their rivalry school's 9 year streak, not letting them hit their 10th year. It was probably the best moment in his entire life, other than meeting Seb.
"Thanks," he says with a sly smile on his face. "And what about you guys? Aren't you guys against each other in the finals?" They both nod at him, "we've been ready for this moment our entire lives," Carlos smiles.
"What's that behind your back, Kimi?" Jannik asks, clearly eyeing the envelope behind his back. Oh wow, thanks for that. "Eh, it's nothing, just a uhm- note to my girlfriend of course!"
Carlos and Jannik look at each other, confused, but Kimi doesn't understand why. They both smile at him, "nice one Kimi, hope she's nice!" "And you better treat her nice!" Carlos adds in. Kimi nods.
"Anyways, we gotta go. Mr. Darren is gonna kill us if we take another 30 minute washroom break." Jannik mumbles the last part, looking away.
They walk away and Kimi shoves the letter into the locker as quickly as he can. Hopefully Seb doesn't know Carlos or Jannik, because they basically caught him with his hand in the candy jar. Though, he did say he has a girlfriend, and rumors spread life wild fire in this school.
The bell rang, telling Kimi he has to makes his way to Math. Numbers don't work well with Kimi's brain.
Sebastian finally made it to his off block. He's been checking his locker every period to see if a suspicious letter pops up.
As his locker door swings open, he still doesn't find a letter, he sighs. Until, he sees something caught in the slits of the locker door. An envelope. He internally cheers, that's what surprises Seb.
When was he so hyped about this whole thing? The anticipation, he guesses. Nothing else.
He snatches the envelope and shoves it into his bag. Well now he knows which block the person is dropping the letters off. 3rd, he thinks, his friend Charles has that block off.
He pulls put his phone.
-Charles-
Charlie come see me after school!!!
My locker!
11:03
Putting his phone away, he rushes to find Nico and Lewis.
They're not near their locker, so he goes to the next place Nico and Lewis hide out. The student council room.
Seb pushes the door open with a swoosh. "What took you so long?" Lewis asks. He practically throws the letter at them. They look at it for a while until they realize what it is.
"He wrote you another one?!" Sebastian nods, enthusiastically. "Well what are you doing? Open it." Nico impatiently says.
Ripping the envelope open, he notices something on it. "75? What does that mean?" "That's a problem for later."
Dear Sebastian,
I am aware this is my second letter to you, but I feel I should make this clear. I do not want to make you uncomfortable with these letters.
I now realize how weird my first letter looks unprompted. It was merely a way to tell you how much I aspire to be like you. How much I love you.
You brighten up everyone's day with your presence, or at least you brighten up my day. Sorry this isn't some intricate poem, I'm not that kind of guy.
Also, I don't really know much about you, and I'm trying to get to know you. Just so it's clear, we do know each other, just not as much as I hoped.
P.S I'm a dude. (If that wasn't clear.)
Sincerely
Ice-man.
The three of them sit silently as Sebastian reads out the letter.
"Okay, so one, for sure a guy. Two, we know said guy. Three, he's not a stalker?" "Well, I kind of already assumed all of these things." Sebastian slumps down onto the large table and groans.
"This isn't going anywhere!" Nico announces. "No shit Sherlock..."
Sebastian feels as if he's forgetting something, but it's probably some project due date coming up, so he leaves it stored in the back of his mind.
"Well have you asked Kimi?" Lewis asks. "Yea, he just told me to keep looking?" Sebastian told them about the conversation he had with Kimi.
"No, did you ask if it was him?" Seb was about to say something before stoping himself. "... no, I didn't actually ask him." Nico snaps his fingers at Seb, "well then ask him, if it was him and all." Sebastian merely hums in response, thinking about the possibility of it actually being Mr. Captain-of-the-hockey-team-Kimi.
Sebastian feels butterflies at the idea, him and one of the hottest athletes at their school? Who would've believed it.
"Are you blushing?!"
"Shut it Lew."
The final bell of the school day rings and Sebastian goes to his locker as usual, waiting to see Charles.
"Hey, so what did you want to talk about, Seb?" "You have 3rd period off right?" He prompts, and Charles replies with agreement. Sebastian shows Charles both his letters from Ice-man and tells him about his master plan.
Charles basically just camps Seb's locker during his off block, trying to catch the culprit. "Easy enough," says Charles. "But, mon ami, shouldn't I like, I don't know, not stay right infront of your locker? He'll just leave if he sees me there."
Sebastian thinks about it, then tells Charles to discreetly sneak around his locker, hide behind a wall and what not.
Charles laughs, "m'kay, I'll play out your little rat." Seb thanks him, this will catch whoever is planting letters in Sebastian's locker.
Kimi was at his local recreation center after school to do some skating as he was still procrastinating. Luckily for Kimi, there wasn't many people at the rink on some random Friday in March.
Kimi has missed skating so much after the season ended. He warms up by doing some laps, then calls one of the employees to ask if he could use the hockey nets. They easily let him.
Shooting a few pucks, he hears someone enter the doors leading to the rink. He's expecting some random figure skater, wanting to practice a few routines, which was fine, they just needed to split the rink. Then he hears an unexpected voice.
"Hey, Kimi!" Kimi hears someone call out, but he doesn't have to turn around to see who it is. He knows Sebastian's voice.
"Seb, hey," he says with a close lipped smile, not wanting to seem overly excited. "What are you doing here?" He asks, noticing Sebastian is holding rented hockey skates in his hands.
As Seb struggles to tie his skates, he says, "oh, I was going to the library, to study and all, and I saw you! And I wanted to skate with you." Wanted andYou, is all Kimi heard, and it was enough. Sebastian was talking about wanting to be with him.
"Can I help you with that?" Kimi says, pointing at the laces on Seb's skates. He nods, embarrassed. Kimi lovingly laughs at him.
Kimi leans down infront of Seb and pulls his skated foot onto his knee. If Kimi was lucky, he could say that Sebastian was slightly blushing, but he was probably just cold from the chilled ice.
Pulling the laces extremely tight so Seb doesn't break and ankle of something, he finishes with the both of them.
"Thanks," Seb says standing up as he wobbles a bit.
"You've skated before right?" Kimi prompts, running onto the ice.
"Of course, Kimi. How dare you question my skill." He huffs and quickly hurries after Kimi. In the proccess he almost gives himself a concussions, but he steadies himself.
Kimi makes his way back over to Sebastian, and lightly holds his sholder. Sebastian gives him a warm smile, and Kimi can feel his whole body heat up. At this rate, the ice rink is going to turn into a pool if Kimi keeps expelling heat.
When Seb finally warms into being on the ice, Kimi passes him a hockey stick that's next to his duffel bag.
They pass a puck around, and Kimi lets Sebastian try to get a goal on him.
Kimi might've gone easy on him, but that's not for him to say.
"So kimi, about the letter I got..." "yea?" Kimi says, as gently as he could. "I got another one, and I was wondering if it was you who gave me them?" Kimi feels himself close to confessing right there. He wouldn't mind confessing to Seb on the ice, it's a second home to him. He feels relaxed.
"But you've got a girlfriend and whatnot. So it's probably crazy." What? Then Kimi remembers he told Carlos and Jannik that he has a girlfriend. He just had to tell some of the most social people in his school.
"Ah, right, it can't be me, haha," he says incredulously. Sebastian looks sad, but he can't find a reason why. "Off topic, but how'd you know I have a girlfriend? I- me and my girlfriend have never interacted at school before?"
"Oh of course, I heard it from Nico... who heard it from Lewis, who heard it from Charles, who heard it from Carlos, Sainz to be specific, who heard it from Lando, who heard it from Alex, who heard it from George-" Kimi paused him, he didn't have to hear how his "secret" got passed around like a puck.
Why can't those two keep a secret? He complains to himself.
The two continue to play around with the actual puck, slightly awkward. It was probably from Sebastian hoping it was Kimi, to Kimi having a secret girlfriend he doesn't want anyone to know about.
They were both getting kind of tired, so they implicitly agreed to get off the ice. Kimi had to help Sebastian untie his skates, which are tied as tight as a guitar string, which embarrasses him again.
"Thanks, Kimi. It was nice seeing you." He gives Kimi the same smile from before, but there was something missing that Kimi couldn't quite place.
They see each other off at the entrance of the recreation center and part ways.
-♡-
Throught the entire weekend, Kimi does not stop thinking about the way Seb's face had a slight frown on it after he mentioned Kimi having a girlfriend.
He had asked Kimi if it was him. He knew, and Kimi's excuse had actually worked. Maybe a bit too much as it obviously spread like wildfire after only a day.
Maybe he should just come clean, and stop making Sebastian wait for such a long time. He's clearly caught up in all of it, as it's been one of the few things he speaks to Kimi about.
-♡-
"Does Kimi have a girlfriend?" Jenson asks Fernando during 1st block. Fernando looks at him weirdly then say, "no? We all know Kimi isn't into women." Jenson is flailing around his arms. "Then why am I hearing that he has one?!" Fernando shrugs and tells Jenson to ask Kimi himself.
Jenson sits in Sebastian's seat next to Kimi. Sebastian was late, which was unusual, so Jenson took it upon himself to ask him now.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Kimi pauses, obviously the news would've made it to his friends. He sighs in response, not wanting to explain it there. "I'll tell you at lunch."
"Uhm," Jenson and Kimi hear a sleepy voice call out infront of then. It was Sebastian, and he was patiently waiting for Jenson to move out of his seat. "Oh- sorry Seb," Jenson gets up and moves back to his desk.
"What's with you?" Kimi asks, "what?" Seb says confusingly.
"You're never late." The statement made Seb wake up a bit more. Surprised by Kimi's words, he replies with "a lot on my mind, just woke up late." Kimi nods it off, assuming Seb was just tired.
"Edgar Allan Poe!" He hears his teacher yells. Great.
"Okay speak up." The usual group has gathered around a table to hear Kimi's explanation for why everyone is saying he got himself a girlfriend.
Kimi takes in a big breath, getting ready.
"Okay- I have a really big crush on Sebastian and I wrote him a letter-two infact-and I shoved them in his locker. Lewis almost caught me the first time, but Carlos and Jannik caught me shoving the 2nd one into his locker and I started panicking, so I came up with the excuse that it was merely just a letter to my girlfriend, which I dont have."
Kimi breaths.
"Then, I hung out with Sebastian yesterday at the rec center and he asked if I was the one sending him the notes, but he remembered I have a girlfriend so he shot the idea down. I'm kinda relieved but also I feel kinda bad because he was a bit awkward after he asked."
"I told you," Fernando laughs.
"Wait. Sebastian, as in Sebastian Vettel?" Max asks. Kimi nods humming along. Max's eyes widen, then Kimi says, "I'm not into women." Max makes an 'o' with his mouth, then playfully lets out a low whistle.
"Anyways, Kimi, What are you going to do?" Kimi buries his face in his hands, groaning. "I have no clue."
"I say write him another letter!" Daniel says hugging Kimi from the back. Kimi yelps at the surprise, "what the hell-" Daniel has a cheerful smile on his face. Daniel always sees the best in things. Kimi is kind of jealous.
"I mean, you've liked the guy for, what, three years?" "Wait how'd you know that? I only told Jenson." Daniel shrugs, saying it was sort of obvious.
Kimi would write another letter, just if he didn't-apparently-have a girlfriend.
Kimi will just have to clear everything up in his last letter. "I'll write another letter, more feelings or whatever." Kimi's story wasn't the only thing that was going to surprise the group.
Kimi was never the type of guy who was good with feelings, and his friends knew that. So something like confessing to someone was unlikely for Kimi. He's never has a partner before, even if he's had multiple confessions from other people.
They all started talking about what Kimi should put in his letter.
"You gonna stay anonymous?" Mark mentions.
"Yeah."
This factor makes it sort of hard for them. How was Kimi supposed to express his feelings without sounding weird.
"Well, say you like his hair or eyes or something." Fernando puts in while Jenson takes notes. They all start taking the conversation very seriously.
"His personality, you have to find that attractive. Honestly, guilty as charged, he sometimes make me swoon for him." Daniel says questioning.
"I've seen you with Seb. Last year, your big History final. The play you put on, about the forbidden lovers in a war, he honestly looked ecstatic that it was you who was chosen as his partner." Kimi really doesn't want to remember the performance he put on last year, but Mark just had to remind him.
"He's too perfect to put it into words." Kimi lays his head on the table.
"Y'know, you could always just, I don't know, tell him." Max simply says.
Kimi has considered that option way too many times to count. He was too scared. Too scared to lose a friendship he's spent so much time building up.
Kimi wasn't even sure if Seb was into men like he was. It wasn't impossible, but it also wasn't probable.
By the time the ideas start to die down, the bell rings. They all disperse to their proper classes.
Sebastian comes up to Charles at the end of the school day, hopeful.
"Nope, no one."
Sebastian's shoulders drop, he sighs.
"You'll find him soon, I can feel it, mate!"
-♡-
Kimi lied, and he doesn't write another letter.
For some reason, when Kimi comes home, he heads straight to finishing his homework. He didn't want to think about the letters, about his longing feelings for Seb.
Upon finishing his homework, his mom calls him down for dinner. It was his favourite.
Apparently, doing homework wasn't the worst thing in the world and Kimi forgot all about the letters. Falling asleep, he sees Seb behind his eyelids. This causes him to toss and turn in his bed, debating whether he should just simply tell him like Max had said.
After around 30 minutes of thinking back and fourth, his mind gives out and he falls asleep.
Sebastian doesn't find a letter in his locker for three days straight. He wonders if his secret admirer had given up.
He's a bit disappointed. It was amusing trying to figure out who was giving him random love letters. Then he thinks about it, was it all a prank?
No, it couldn't have been. They were all too intricate. But then again, was there really someone who liked Seb like that?
He's never had a girlfriend before, nonetheless, a boyfriend.
He wasn't sure what it was supposed to feel like. Love.
It's all to many emotions for Sebastian. That's not how his mind works. He's smart, but not so smart with feelings.
"Mr. Vettel?" The teacher calls out.
"Oh, uhm, C?" he answers incredulously.
"Correct!"
What the hell?
Sebastian was never once out of his school game. He had every answer at all times.
Why was this taking such a toll on him.
He pushes his thoughts to a very specific part of his mind, which was yet to be filled.
Feelings.
"So... how'd the letter go?" Max asks.
"I didn't write it."
Jenson spits out his drink, "what?! Why!" Kimi was too scared that's why. He didn't know the outcome of all of this.
He was good at predicting. Predicting someone's moves was an important part of playing sports, but no one can predict feelings.
"You'll never get anywhere with this Kimi." Jenson was right, which usually wasn't the case. Courage does not come to those who wait.
"This might seem crazy, but Sebastian hasn't exactly been his usual self lately." Which makes Kimi think. He doesn't continue to show up late, like on Monday, but he's mind seems somewhere else.
"He got an answer wrong in French yesterday, and trust me, he doesn't get anything wrong in French." Mark says with a weird look on his face.
"Any letter yet?" Seb shakes his head, disappointed. "Maybe we should just forget about this whole thing, Seb. Midterms are coming up soon." The things is, Sebastian didn't want to forget about it.
"It's been a whole week since the last one," he sadly says. Those letters made Sebastian feel wanted. Obviously Seb was wanted in a lot of places, his outgoing personality brought him up to that point, but the letter talked about looking up to him.
Wanting to be more like him.
He felt special in a way top grades could never make him feel. But the whole disappearing act made those feelings go away, more quickly by the hour.
-♡-
By Friday, Nico and Lewis hated seeing Seb so down. Even though he doesn't show it on the outside, they know him. This was something important to Seb and they weren't about to give up on it.
In their PE class, Nico mentions something about the things that have happened since last Thursday, since the last letter.
Luckily, they were both benched for the time being. "Okay. Thursday, Seb gets the letter, and Charles has been scouting around his locker since. Clearly nothing has happened." Lewis huff, "maybe they really just lost interest."
Nico disagrees, "how could you send two letters to someone about how much you admire someone, to just stop?"
Neither of them can comprehend it. Was it really just cowardice.
"I can't believe Kimi has a girlfriend, and he was the only lead we had. I'm not even sure if we were actually serious about it being Kimi?"
"Seb definitely was." Pause. Lewis thinks about what Nico just said. "Why was Seb so excited by the fact it might've been Kimi."
They couldn't disagree that Kimi was hot, but neither of them have ever really talked to him. An outsider, like them, just see Kimi as this cool guy who is prodigious in hockey. Maybe Seb knows a different Kimi.
"Do you know who Kimi's dating?" Lewis demands. "No actually..."
A popular guy like Kimi who practically the whole school would die to be with, could hide a relationship. Vice versa, he could have a girlfriend, but how would she be keeping it a secret. "If I had a boyfriend as hot as him, I'd be talking about him non-stop." Nico says.
Lewis hits him on the back of his head "Excuse you, I'm right here," he huffs. Nico nudges his shoulder and laughs. "I would kiss you right now, but we're in PE, and it was your idea to keep our relationship private."
He laughs awkwardly at Nico's remark.
"Who's Kimi dating?" Nico asks Jenson in their last block of the day.
Jenson starts sweating, not knowing if he should tell the truth, or just lie. "He doesn't have one..?" Nico just incredulously stares at him. "Why are you saying that like a question?" Jenson waves his hand, telling Nico to forget about it.
"Does Kimi even have a girlfriend?" Lewis asks Fernando while they collectively decide to not pay attention to their boring Science teacher. "Yeah, what are you talking about." He simply replies. "I'm just saying, he seems like the guy to bring attention to those kind of things." The two men feel a pair of angry eyes on them, so they turn their attention back to the lecture.
After school, Lewis and Nico naturally fall onto Nico's bed. "I swear, these school days get longer every year!" "Or you're just getting old," Nico pokes Lewis' cheek. He swats his hand away, glaring at him. Nico knows he means no harm so he simply just chuckles.
"Oh right, I asked Jenson earlier. Kimi doesn't even have a girlfriend!"
"Well that's impossible, because Fernando says he does?"
They both stare at each other, it was lovingly for a split second before they remembered their problem.
"How the hell could he have a girlfriend and not have one at the same time?"
They both think about it. Fernando says he does, Jenson says he doesn't. Obviously both of them were close enough to Kimi to know something like this, but why did they have different answers.
Lewis continues to complain. They're trying their hardest to cheer Seb up by finding his secrete admirer, but the letters don't give them any hints.
-♡-
Kimi is sat on his bed, not wanting to do homework over the weekends. He's scrolling mindlessly, when his eyes quickly wipe over the pencil and paper sitting hopelessly on his table.
He needs to write Seb a letter. He can't just leave the guy waiting, if he was waiting. But the look on Sebastian's face whenever he's in English sort of breaks him.
He looks sad, or disappointed. Moreover, he's not the usual Seb he always is. He has a full weekend to write it, but he decides to get it over with here and now.
Sitting up slowly, Kimi makes his way over to the single peice of paper.
Dear Sebastian,
I am so sorry for not writing this letter sooner, but there is a reason I haven't sent any letters lately.
I'm scared. I've worked myself up to becoming your friend, and I don't want to lose that. You're the reason I look forward to going to school.
Your work inspires me. You put your full effort into everything you do. Your smile cheers me up whenever I'm having a bad day.
I'm currently mustering up the courage to ask you out, but for now, please accept these letters.
Some people may see me as this cool, 'nonchalant' guy, but really I don't want to be seen like that. I don't like people coming up to me, but I like being able to freely talk to whoever I want, like you.
I'm not fully positive that you'll even like me back, but I want you to want me.
I'll just say, I would do anything to be your boyfriend. Become a new person, iron out any wrinkles within me, just for you to like me.
This might be my last letter, but it depends if my love for you powers through my fear.
Sincerely,
Ice-man.
-♡-
Monday roles around and Kimi has to plant-once again-another letter. Though, he still has 1st and 2nd block to get through.
"Hey Seb," he says while sitting down beside him. Sebastian smiles at him, which melts Kimi on the inside.
They've gotten another project and Kimi honestly has no clue what he's doing. He forgets about his project and decides to spend his class time observing Seb while he rests his head on his desk.
Sebastian is mindlessly talking to him about the work he's doing in Science. He even shows him his project. It's a circut board with calculations on it, showing the current through every resistor and battery.
Kimi isn't quite sure what most of it means, but he knows Seb enjoys doing it, so that's all that matters. He admires Seb some more, before Sebastian asks him a question.
"Right, how's your girlfriend?" Yikes, Kimi thinks. He completely forgot about that whole thing.
"Uhm, she's doing good. Took her out on a date this weekend, Breadstix." Sebastian smiles, but it seems different from his usual smile, the smile he has when he's talking about something he feels good about.
"So... what's her name?" Seb asks, wanting more information on Kimi's partner. Kimi chuckles, "you're not trying to steal her from me, right Seb?" Sebastian playfully laughs and shakes his head, disagreeing.
"Y'know, I just think we're close enough to the point where you'd tell me these things." Sebastian lays his head on desk on top of his paper, now staring directly into Kimi's eyes. This makes Kimi freeze up as it feels too intimate, but he quickly recovers, not wanting to ruin his cover. Though, his face does feel a lot hotter.
Sebastian's eyes soften when he sees Kimi's pigmented face.
Sebastian thought they were friends, now he thinks their close. Kimi's life really can't get any better.
"Her name is Michelle, you probably dont know her." Kimi's proud of himself for creating such a good story. Seb closes his eyes, and puts on his thinking face. He hums, "nope, doesn't ring a bell." "Thought so," Kimi simply responds.
"Well I hope she's nice to you," Sebastian says, which is different from what other people have told him. People usually tell him to treat her well, not the other way around.
He turns his head so his face is in his arms instead of looking in Seb's direction. He reassures Seb by mumbling a quiet "mhm."
"Kimi, Sebastian, get back to work."
Kimi throws an envelope on the small cafeteria table surrounded by their small group.
"You finally wrote it?" Kimi nods, "I'm gonna put it in his locker now." Jenson smiles, feeling relieved Kimi actually did what he said he was going to do, and not making Seb wait longer.
Kimi makes his way to the hallway where Seb's locker is located and pauses. Charles was standing ground at the locker. What is he doing there, Kimi thinks. Charles had given up on trying to discretely watch Seb's locker, and decides to stand right next to it. He obviously can't get to the locker if one of Sebastian's friends is near it, but Charles has already spotted him, so he can't turn back.
He decides to walk up to his locker, number 75. It was near Sebastian's, so it didn't look suspicious as to why Kimi was heading this way.
Charles eyes secretly follow Kimi the entire way, still suspicious of anyone who comes close to Sebastian's locker. Charles didn't want to disappoint him, he likes Sebastian, but everyone probably does.
After Kimi is done looking at absolutely nothing-other than cobwebs-in his empty locker he rushes back to the cafeteria.
They all incredulously look at him, wondering why he still has the letter.
"Charles is camping his locker," his shoulders slump down. But Daniel straightens him up, "we'll just have to distract him!"
Daniel hauls the group to the hallway right before locker 57. They all peak around the corner, staring Charles down.
"Here, I'll talk to him about Formula One. That oughta get his attention," Max says.
Max walks up to Charles. "Hey, Max," he smiles. "Ferrari is never winning another championship, it's clear RedBull is dominating and will dominate for years to come." Charles gasps and his initial smile disappears. Then he spits a bunch of random words in French. Clearly very angry French words.
Max shrugs his shoulders, unbothered, and starts to walk down the hallways. Charles incredulously follows him, needing to prove that Ferrari is better than RedBull.
Max sends a little hand signal their way as he rounds the corner with Charles rambling in his ear.
Mark pushes Kimi, wanting him to hurry up, and potentially giving him motivation.
Kimi sprints down the short hallway and slips the envelope through the slits of the locker. He makes his way back to the group, sweating slightly.
Daniel laughs throughout Kimi's entire journey. "Does this really take that much mental capacity?" Kimi glowers at him, which shuts him up. Daniel raises his hands in surrender.
Sebastian walks out of a boring history lesson, not expecting anything, so he was startled when he sees the envelope in his locker on top of his AP Physics book.
Seb dashes to find the two. He was pretty excited to read the letter. They were at their locker, talking about what information they had learnt from Jenson and Fernando.
"Seb, we found out something weird about Kimi's relationship," Nico mentions, but Seb shuts him up. "Look, I got another letter! Wait what about Kimis relationship?" he questions, caught by the mention of Kimi. "Nothing, well tell you later."
Sebastian pulls them into an empty study room in the library, as the student council room was being used. He rips open the envelope, revealing the letter inside it. Sebastian decides to read it in his head before showing Lewis and Nico.
Dear Sebastian,
I am so sorry for not writing this letter sooner, but there is a reason I haven't sent any letters lately.
I'm scared. I've worked myself up to becoming your friend, and I don't want to lose that. You're the reason I look forward to going to school.
Your work inspires me. You put your full effort into everything you do. Your smile cheers me up whenever I'm having a bad day.
I'm currently mustering up the courage to ask you out, but for now, please accept these letters.
Some people may see me as this cool, 'nonchalant' guy, but really I don't want to be seen like that. I don't like people coming up to me, but I like being able to freely talk to whoever I want, like you.
I'm not fully positive that you'll even like me back, but I want you to want me.
I'll just say, I would do anything to be your boyfriend. Become a new person, iron out any wrinkles within me, just for you to like me.
This might be my last letter, but it depends if my love for you powers through my fear.
Sincerely,
Ice-man.
As his eyes read over the letter, he blushes slightly. Lewis throws Nico a knowing glance.
Sebastian sighs as he finishes reading, and passes the letter over to the guys across from him. "He's apparently your friend, Seb." Nico says surpisingly. If it was one of Sebastians friends, then how could he have not figured it out by now. He goes through his list of friends, which was kind of endless from Sebastians perspective. He can't pinpoint any of them, because no one seems like the lover letter kind of guy. Plus, he's never really been atracted to any of his friends, though some of them are really attractive.
Then Seb remembers that he asked Charles to camp his locker to see if he could spot this mysterious figure. He'll have to find him after school. Hopefully Charles saw something, then the hunt would be over.
"This guy seriously likes you, Seb." The blush on his face accentuates. Now that there was more than one letter, Seb knows that this was serious to whoever was sending them. He's also become more serious about this, because it really piqued his interest. Who would go out of their way to write him letter?
"You wanna know something weird?" Nico asks Seb.
He nods his head, intrigued to what Nico has to say.
"This may or may not be a little off topic from your letter, but Kimi apparently does and doesn't have a girlfriend." Seb thinks about what Nico has just said, confused. How could someone not have a girlfriend but at the same time have a girlfriend? He makes a confused noise, demanding an explanation.
Nico nods it off to Lewis. "Well, Nico asked Jense, and he said yes. I asked Nando, and he said no...?"
Now he was extremely confused, because one, what? and, two, what does this have to do with his letters. Then it leads him back to their only lead being Kimi. Jenson and Fernando are some of Kimis closest friends, so how could they have had different answers.
"Maybe Kimi broke up with her?" Which could make sense, but its only been one week, and Kimi had just told him earlier that he was still in a relationship. "Do you know any Michelles?" Sebastian tells them the name of Kimi's proclaimed girlfriend, but it doesnt sound famililar to either of them.
Sebastian thinks about asking Kimi again, maybe he'll push a little harder this time. Kimi wouldn't lie to him, would he? He's never mentioned his girlfriend before though, only when Seb brings her up.
They all stare at the letter again, trying to decode some secret message or something. Maybe if they look hard enough, there will be some binary code.
"I'll just ask Charles if he saw anyone, I really can't find anything in this letter."
"Charlie!" Seb yells out to Charles from down the hall.
Charles approaches him, giving him a half smile, half frown. "sorry seb, nothing today either..."
Sebastian stops, then pulls out a letter, "then whats this?"
Charles' jaw drops to the floor, how could he have missed anyone. He was literally there the entire block. "Are you sure you didnt look away for a second?" Seb asks him, he says he never took his attention off the locker, then a thought appears. Max started to annoy him with his garbage opinion. He never liked Max for his ideas anyways.
"Ah... I may have left to talk to Max." Sebastian sighs, "are you sure you saw no one?" He thinks about it for a second. "I saw Kimi? But he was looking in his locker, nothing more."
As Charles mentioned Kimi, his suspicion heightens.
"Anyways Charles, I gotta catch a bus."
"Mhm, sorry for the incident, but im glad you finally got a letter."
They part ways.
Sebastian thinks about all the clues he got from the letter and potentially Charles. He was getting close, he could feel it.
He opens his front door with a click and enters. Greeting his family, he makes his way to his room. He sits at his desk and takes out the letter, maybe being in a different environment will give him hints.
"Ice-man"
"Friend"
"Nonchalant"
The last confuses him a bit. What nonchalant guy would like Seb, he was practically the opposite of nonchalant.
He slides the drawer of his nightstand open, revealing the two other letters. He pulls them out, finding an empty envelope underneath the letters. He wonders why he had kept that one, then he sees the number on it. 75.
Sebastian goes back to take a seat at his desk, thinking about something. It's a number, of course, but a number to where? Seb thinks about his school to find anything that holds a number.
Math homework? Probably too vague. Room number? No, it's mixed with letter. Student IP? Too low of a number.
Then it hits him. Locker numbers go that low, even his was 57.
Locker number 75 was right next to his, or at least it was close. Sebastian pulls out his phone from his back pocket and messages Charles.
-Charles-
Hey Charles,
What locker was Kimi at?
4:05
Eh idk somewhere near yours, probably 75? Why?
4:07
It's nothing, just wondering
4:07
Kimi was the one sending love letters to him, he figured. Sebastian goes through the small bit of information he's gotten from the letter to try to link it all back to Kimi. Obviously, Ice-man could easily be Kimi. Ice hockey and the little emotion he shows. He could be considered nonchalant, from someone else's perspective. The locker number is an obvious clue, and he's definitely Sebastian's friend.
It's clear now that Kimi is Sebastian's secret admirer.
He can feel the heat crawling up his neck, slightly spreading across his face. He didn't mind that it was Kimi. Not at all, actually. Kimi always acted differently around him, it was sort of cute? He always looks so bored and robotic with anyone else other than his usual friend group, but even with them he doesn't seem that interested.
Around Sebastian he was more smiley, thoughtful, just more emotion shown in general. Kimi's pale skin accentuates his blush whenever he's flustered.
He thinks about what it would be like to date Kimi. It was no doubt that Kimi is attractive, Sebastian thinks.
Attractive, nice-to Seb at least-athletic and funny? It's a short list but that's a whole package in his mind.
But then again, he's not fully sure that it's really Kimi. He'll just have to test out his new discovery tomorrow.
-♡-
Sebastian sees Kimi get onto the bus and he moves his bag off the chair he was saving. "Kimi!" He calls out and Kimi's head searches the bus to see who called him. Sebastian points at the seat beside him when he spots him.
Kimi looks flustered that Seb wants to sit next to him.
He takes his seat next to Seb, hesitantly, and obviously, Seb notices. "Good morning, Kimi," he smiles. Kimi tries to avert his gaze, knowing he'll die from Seb's smile alone. "Morning," he says simply.
Sebastian sighs a very exaggerated sigh, wanting attention. It gets Kimi's attention, so clearly it worked. He looks at Seb with a slightly worried look. Sebastian wants to giggle, Kimi's always worried about something when it comes to him. But no, he must keep his cover.
He puts on a sad face, "I don't think I'll ever find the person sending me letters." He sighs again. He looks Kimi dead on, trying to figure out the look on his face.
He's surprised, and maybe guilty. Sebastian might've actually been right about this.
"I mean, what's taking them so long, I want to know who they are."
"Maybe they're scared?" Kimi adds.
Hah! Seb thinks. That's part of the letter, him being too scared to face Seb.
"Hey Kimi?"
"Yeah?"
"You don't actually have a girlfriend, do you?"
Kimi's face drops, not in a noticeable way because he wasn't smiling before, but slightly. Enough for Sebastian to notice. He looks back at Seb, confused and startled. "What are you talking about?"
Sebastian obviously wonders why Kimi was lying about a relationship. Was he really just insecure about being single? "I asked Jenson and Fernando, y'know, they had two different answers. Just wondering?"
Kimi says something incomprehensible in Finnish and looks down at his hands. "No." Seb laughs, not in a rude way though, just surprise. "No what?" He asks, slightly teasing. "No, I don't have a girlfriend, Seb," he says sternly, which sort of scares Seb.
"Why didn't you tell me before?" "Because I was too far into the act, it seemed impossible to deny the rumor."
Sebastian asks how the rumor came about, but Kimi doesn't explain, mentioning stuff about Jannik and Carlos snooping around again, per usual.
Sebastian didn't want Kimi lying to him, in more ways than one, so his feelings were a little hurt by Kimi lying about having a girlfriend. "You don't have to be scared to tell me, y'know?" Seb puts an arm around Kimi's broad shoulders and leaves it there.
Kimi slightly tenses up, but then melts into Sebastian's touch. He nods his head, showing his understanding. Then he falls into his own thoughts, so Seb looks out the window, admiring the good weather.
They sit in peaceful silence on their way to school.
-♡-
They meet again in their English class, but their teacher decides to have the longest lecture in the world, so they couldn't get a word to each other. Though, Seb does turn his head from time to time to smile at Kimi. His face reddening each time.
Seb waves to Kimi as they split way after the bell, and Kimi waves back.
"Oh my God, I think I'm gonna die."
Kimi is-once again-complaining.
The group already knows this is about Seb, so there's no need to ask. The point is, they don't know why he's so depressed this time. "Why? You've already gave him a third letter, what's it this time?"
Kimi feels like Seb knows and has already figured it out. He was talking weirdly earlier on the bus, exaggerating his words. He doubts he was even actually sad, Seb was really bad at acting.
Then he has the audacity to confront Kimi on not having a girlfriend. Who just assumes someone doesn't have a girlfriend? Well, he hasn't been seen anywhere with a certain "Michelle," and Seb asked Jenson and Fernando.
The two were definitely becoming closer.
"I think Seb knows it's me who's sending the letters," he mumbles slowly. That catches the attention of the group. Kimi explains everything that happened on the bus this morning. Very clearly trying to show that Seb is catching on, or already caught on.
Jenson and Fernando implicitly apologize for ruining the illusion that Kimi has a girlfriend.
"How were we supposed to know what to say?" Fernando asks. Kimi just ignores it.
"You can never be so sure, maybe he's just testing the waters?" Jenson adds in. "Or he's trying to get the confession out of you." That was probably the case, Mark had a point. "Then why doesn't he just ask me? I would probably tell him then." Kimi confesses.
He would most definitely tell Seb straight out, only if he asks him.
No one has an answer for that.
Kimi feels as if Seb is sort of making fun of him, but he would never do that to him.
Sebastian waits outside the class of Lewis as he was let out a little before the bell for 4th period. When Lewis exits after the bell, Seb pulls him along to go find Nico.
"Jesus, Seb. Where are we going?!" He asks as their running down the halls.
"If you'd hurried up, you'd know sooner!" He said with a smile on his face. Sebastian was paces ahead of Lewis.
They quickly made it to Nico's Science class, and dragged him along aswell. Narrowly dodging all the students, the three men made it to the council room.
They all stop, trying to catch their breaths. "Okay, what is it? What's got you all smiley?" Nico wheezes. They looks at Seb, anticipating.
"I know who Ice-man is!"
Lewis' jaw hits the ground, "what!?" The two men gaping at Seb's new found information look incredulously at each other.
"Well?" Lewis asks.
Sebastian looks at him confused.
"Who is it you daft?" Nico half shouts.
Sebastian practically hops like a bunny, hurrying to tell them. "It's Kimi! We were right all along!" He shouts, triumphant. Sebastian was ecstatic at his discovery, finally knowing who is in love with him. It's a pretty welcoming feeling for Seb.
Lewis' jaw breaks through the ground and hits the ground of the floor below them. "How can you be so sure?" Nico asks. Sebastian tells them about his morning, and wanting to test Kimi some more.
Nico takes a sandwich out of his bag for him and Nico to eat whilst Sebastian tells them his plan. Sitting down. Seb asks Lewis why he didn't make Seb a sandwich, but Nico mentions being more special. Mock offended, Seb continues planning.
"Then I could probably lean my head on his shoulder, or something. Try to get a reaction out of him," he says smiling. "Mhm," they both respond, collectively nodding along. The fact that Seb was completely different from last week made them happy, satisfied.
Nico and Lewis both obviously know the feeling of longing and love, so watching Sebastian go through the same thing made them feel like proud parents.
Sebastian pauses his rant, "are you crying?" He asks Nico. "No, it's the rain," he responds. They were inside. A single tear runs down the side of Nico's face. "You're just so happy, it's bringing me to tears." He wipes his eyes with his arm, in an exaggerated way.
Sebastian merely laughs at the two of them, seeing how emotional they are about all this. This was the biggest thing to happen to Seb since Michael Schumacher won the championship for Germany when he was younger.
After all the emotions pass, Lewis thinks about something. "So," he says, pulling the vowel. "You like Kimi, I'm assuming," Lewis asks. Sebastian thinks about his wording for a minute. Really thinking about his feelings for Kimi.
"Yes. I like Kimi." He says, simply.
Kimi makes his way home, clearly thinking about Seb. It's about time he writes Seb another letter. He doesn't want to make him wait again.
He's feeling brave and courageous, so when he gets to his desk he pulls put a piece of paper and writes six words and a date.
Meet me behind the school, bleachers.
23/03/2026 3:20
No special note, talking about his feelings. Not even a Dear Sebastian, or a Sincerely Ice-man note. Just a plain message. Telling where and when Sebastian will meet him. kimi felt as he was ready to tell Seb about his feeling, right in front of him. Sebastian probably already knows, so why hide anymore?
He decidedly finishes his homework, feeling good about himself.
Courage does not come to those who wait, Kimi thinks. He's doing this for mostly himself, and probably also for Sebastian.
Jenson was right about how doing nothing will get him nowhere.
-♡-
Kimi slips the little note into Sebastian's locker.
He breathes, quietly thanking the universe that Charles isn't guarding Seb's locker anymore.
Boom, bam, bop.
It's been done.
Kimi is officially confessing to Sebastian. Well, at least he is on Monday, five days from now.
He scurries off down the hallways.
It's become a routine for Seb now. Every day during the 4th block, Sebastian checks his locker, in search of a note from a certain Kimi Räikkönen. Though, this time all he finds is a folded up piece of paper. No envelope this time, weird.
He unfolds the mysterious letter, and stills.
A date and a time.
It's happening. Kimi was going to confess to him. His heart skips a few beats before speeding up. Kimi will finally meet Seb head on with his feelings. It's next Monday, only five days from now. Sebastian's hands feel clammy. He didn't know if he was ready for the day to come. What if it wasn't even Kimi in the first place and all his assumptions were dumb and not thought out?
He couldn't do anything but wait it out. March 23, Monday. Right after school, behind the school on the bleachers, he was going to see if his hypothesis was correct or not. This is something Seb has got to mentally prepare himself for.
Five days from now, he could be dating Kimi.
I didn't even get the time to play with him... Sebastian thinks, a bit sad not being able to solve the entire mystery by himself.
-♡-
Thursday, four days till the confession.
"This is like- legit, right?" Sebastian excitedly nods his head. Nico and Lewis stare at the letter in awe, not being able to believe someone like Kimi would do this kind of confession.
Sebastian rereads the letter a million times, remembering the exact date and time. Sebastian is all smiles at this point.
-♡-
Friday, three days till the confession.
"Fuck, I seriously underestimated how ready I was for this shit." Kimi hides behind his hands.
Daniel peels his hands away from his face, smiling. "Mate, this could be the best thing in the world if you go through with it!" He shouts, but Kimi hurriedly hushes him.
"Think about it," Max adds. "You do this, Seb is most likely all yours. Probably already is." The statement makes Kimi's entire face go red. Jensons and Mark laugh at him, and Daniel just smiles an extremely wide smile, seemingly trying to hide his laugh.
-♡-
Saturday, two days till the confession.
"Are you sure you don't wanna come?"
Nico asks Seb through the phone, they were inviting him to go bowling.
"I'm sure. I'm mentally preparing for a life changing event to happen, thank you."
He can hear Lewis laugh on the other side of the line. He hangs up the phone staring up at his ceiling. He's imagining seeing Kimi face on the bleachers. Under the new spring sun, letting the emotions flow. It seems like a fantasy to Seb, or more like a coming of age film set in the 90s.
He sighs, happily.
"Seb! Lunch!" His brother shouts as he swings the door open. He makes a weird face at Seb, "what's got you so smiley? This is weird." Sebastian throws one of his pillows at Fabian, "it's nothing!"
He shrugs and hops back downstairs, wanting to eat. Sebastian lays still in his bed for a little, before he gets up to follow his brother downstairs.
-♡-
Sunday, one day till the confession.
Kimi need to take his mind of his big confession, so he heads to the recreation center for another skate. Luckily for him, it's only partially spring, so the ice rinks are still open.
He ties his skates and hops onto the ice. Letting his body do all the work, not needing to think about it. As the ice easily slides beneath the blades, his mind inevitably wonders to Seb.
He thinks about the possible outcomes of his grand confession.
1. Seb is totally into him and wants to be his boyfriend (Good ending).
2. Seb is utterly disgusted by all his letters and wants nothing to do with Kimi after this (Bad ending).
3. Seb politely rejects Kimi, wanting to stay friends (Okay ending?).
One way or another, Kimi's doing this. Sebastian has already shown his desire to find out who's been sending him letter, so why not?
He pulls out his phone to check the time. 7:09PM is awfully to close to tomorrow.
He heads off the ice, slinging his duffel bag over his shoulder.
-♡-
Monday morning, 7 hours till the confession.
It's the day.
The one Sebastian has been waiting for.
Around 3 weeks ago, he started getting love letters from an anonymous student.
Last week, he figured out-moreover assumed-it was Kimi.
Now he will finally get the truth, after all his classes, of course.
1st period.
Seb simply studies chemistry for a test on Wednesday.
Kimi almost falls asleep in his history class, barely getting enough sleep the night prior.
2nd period.
Seb and Kimi meet in english, Sebastian seems happier than usual, and Kimi knows exactly why. It makes him nervous. What if he's disappointed it's Kimi?
"See you later," Sebastian tells him as they leave.
Yeah, he definitely already knows.
3rd period.
Kimi talks with his friends, ignoring his impending doom.
Seb learns about the history of Shakespeare. He doesn't mind it, but isn't that supposed to be an English sort of thing?
4th period.
Sebastian talks his friends ears off about Kimi and how good he looks today. The two listen to every word, surprised how much Seb is opening up about his feelings for Kimi.
"It better actually be Kimi, or else I'll kill that guy for breaking Seb's heart," Lewis whispers to Nico as Seb continues his long rant about Kimi's eyes.
Kimi doesn't even try to understand what his math teacher is saying. The clock is ticking down. He doesn't even know what he's going to say! Why didn't he make a script or something. He internally curses himself for not even preparing. Sebastian deserves better.
5th period.
Sebastian doesn't even know if he's learnt anything in this dumb French class. When would he even need this? Kimi is the only thing on his mind, and has been the entire day. He watches as the clock's short hand slowly makes it way to 3PM. The time Sebastian will find Kimi on the bleachers and run into his arms.
Kimi wants to jump off the roof. He can't do this, but yes he can. It's steaming hot inside the gymnasium and Kimi's mind if anywhere but the handball game they're playing. Seb. His hair. His eyes. His laugh. His smile. His smell. His clothes. His locker. His feelings. Any aspect of Seb, Kimi was thinking about it, all of it.
The bell goes off. The final bell.
Monday 3:18PM, a few minutes till the confession.
Sebastian steps one foot out of the classroom and breaths. He paces his breathing, making sure his heart slows down. It's time, and Seb will meet Kimi on the school's bleachers.
He walks through the school, more ready than he could ever be.
When he steps outside, he round the exterior walls. Leading himself to the field outback.
He turns the corner, squinting his eyes, due to the hard sun. There's no one on the bleachers, he finds. He mindlessly walks onto them, sitting down. He has his hands in his lap, fiddling with them.
After a while he checks his watch, 3:31. Okay, maybe Kimi was just a bit late, that's it.
Luckily that was the case.
3:24PM, the confession.
As Sebastian has his head leaned back on the row of bleachers behind him, eyes closed, he hears the sound of shoes hitting the surface of metal.
His eyes snap open, to find Kimi standing in front of him. He quickly stands up, and his breath is caught in his throat. They stare at each other, neither of them knowing what to do.
Sebastian smiles so wide his mouth hurts. He throws himself into Kimi's arms. Kimi catches him, never wanting to let go. "Thank God," Seb mutters under his own breath. Opposites attract, like two magnets not being able to pull away from each other.
Kimi sets Sebastian down from their hug and straightens his posture.
"Hi Seb," is all he says.
"Hi Kimi," he says shyly.
Their faces match the same shade of red.
Kimi clears his throat, needing to explain everything.
"So... I'm Ice-man," he smiles. "I've just wanted to say for the longest time that I've liked you, Seb." Sebastian smile never drops, but he listens closely to what Kimi has to say.
"The letters were the only way I could think of conveying these feelings, so I stook with it. You're the most kind, beautiful, and funny person ever. I would give up the world to be with you, Sebastian. Uhm, I was kinda late because I didn't make up a script, so I quickly thought about what I wanted to tell you that wasn't already in my letter. I sucks at improv, so sorry if this doesn't make sense," he sighs.
Sebastian responds to Kimi's speech with another hug. Kimi melts into Sebastian's touch. "I'm glad it's you, Kimi. I would've never wanted anyone else." The words make Kimi feel a deeper feeling of love.
Kimi pulls back from the hug, but never letting go. He takes time to finally ask the question. Sebastian knows it's coming and he blinks slowly. "Sebastian, do I have the honor of being your boyfriend?" Seb laughs at the wording Kimi chooses, then replies, "of course."
Kimi stares at Sebastian's lips, before his eyes make his way back to Seb's. He lets his hands venture to Sebastian's jaw. Slightly leaning in, he waits for Sebastian's reply.
Obviously, Seb accepts Kimi's offer. He mirrors Kimi's actions.
Their lips softly press against each other's, and it's world breaking for Kimi. He doesn't think anything will ever beat the way Sebastian's lips feel on his. It's completely ruined him. He can feel an enormous amount of butterflies in his stomach.
A warm sensation spread across both of their bodies, and it wasn't from the warm spring sun. The warm inevitable feeling of the water washing over the sand.
They pull apart, needing to breath. They look longingly into each others eyes, and smile. "I can't believe it's finally over," Kimi says. Sebastian plants a small peck on Kimi's cheek, before responding, "I'm kind of sad it's over. It was fun, but now I've got boyfriend duties to attend to." Kimi smiles at the kiss on his cheek, "like what?"
"Like this," he presses his lips against Kimi's once more. Once again, fireworks go off inside their heads.
Sebastian was already the perfect boyfriend.
They're sat down on the bleaches, hand in hand, staring off into the field.
"So, when did you know you liked me?" He asks, very intrigued to what Kimi has to answer.
"10th grade, Science. I just couldn't get my mind off a certain blonde German." Sebastian is taken aback from Kimi's response. Why did he wait so long? Seb could never.
He turns his head to face Kimi, and he emulates him. Seb plants another quick one on his lips. "Trying to make up for all the lost time," he calls it. Kimi tries to chase the kiss, but Seb doesn't let him.
He can't do anything but smile and hold Sebastian closer. He's been waiting for this moment for so long, and now it's finally here.
He and Sebastian were dating.
They part ways, after exchanging numbers. Crazy how long they've known each other but never got each other's phone numbers.
Kimi was shy whilst asking, and Seb found it completely adorable. A guy as cool as Kimi was too scared to ask him for his number.
"See you tomorrow, Kimi."
"You too, Seb."
Sebastian lands a kiss on the back of Kimi's hand before letting go. He sure knows how to swoon a guy.
Back in bed, Kimi screams into his pillow. His mom comes to check on him, but says everything's just fine.
It was not all just fine for him, quite the opposite actually. Sebastian had literally thrown himself into Kimi's arms. There is no better way this could have possibly gone. It's perfect.
He is now dating Sebastian Vettel. The boy who threw his mind for a whirl 3 years ago. He cannot believe it, he had actually done it. He confessed to Seb.
He pulls out his phone to find Sebastian's contact.
-Sebastian❤️-
Goodnight, Seb♡
10:57
He puts his phone down, not expecting a reply at this time, but to his surprise, someone has the exact same sleep schedule as him.
-Sebastian❤️-
Goodnight, Seb♡
10:57
Goodnight, Kimi XX
11:02
Kimi might as well die right here. Two big kisses! He has everything he could ever need in life, but Sebastian sort of needs him now. He will live an eternity with Seb, hopefully. For as long as Seb will take him.
He can now sleep peacefully knowing that Seb was his and he is Seb's.
Sebastian smiles at his little messages with Kimi and falls asleep quickly after.
-♡-
The next day, Seb and Kimi don't talk at all on the bus ride to school. Enjoying the peaceful silence of knowing. They were dating, and neither of them could comprehend it.
The two couldn't wait to show off to their friends.
The secretly hold hands, just out of sight from other people on the bus. A small, but warm interaction between the two could charge them for the rest of the day.
Kimi felt an easy day ahead of him.
In english, they had a study block, so no idiotic lecture by their teacher. They leaned in close while discussing topics for the test. Maybe a bit too close, because Jenson definitely caught on. He smirks in his chair three desks down from the two, then continued to study with his the guy sitting next to him, Andrey Rublev.
"Abstract nouns are dumb, this doesn't make any sense," Kimi complains. Sebastian patiently explains the concept in a more simple way, slowly, so he's extremely sure Kimi gets it. His voice is soft and it distracts Kimi from the subject.
"Stop doing that."
"Doing what?"
"The thing you do with your voice, it gets all soft and it distracts me. Your voice calms me down, might as well go to sleep."
Sebastian quietly laughs at Kimi's statement, and nudges his shoulder. "Not my fault," he shrugs.
Kimi's head falls onto the desk, giving up. "C'mon, Kimi. Only a little more, then you can rest, please? I want you to ace this test." He puts on a slightly whiny voice. Kimi gets back up, not being able to decline Seb.
"Fine, continue." Seb smiles and goes back to explain how an abstract noun gives powerful insight on a persons perspective.
This time, Kimi is really listening, not just dozing off to the sound of Sebastian's voice.
"Want me to help you study more after school?" Seb asks when the block ends, Kimi responds with a nod.
Sebastian can definitely tell that Kimi is more calm around him now. After getting everything off his chest, he functions like a normal person, though he still gets extremely red around Seb. That was his favourite part.
"I did it, I'm dating Seb." The group cheered, finally Kimi's depressive episodes would come to an end.
"Heh, I'm Kimi Räikkönen's boyfriend," he says with a smirk as he crosses his arms across his chest.
"We should go on a double date," Lewis suggests. "Wait what?" He stares at the Lewis and he slightly tilts his head towards Nico. "Wait why didn't I know about this!" he shouts. Nico calls him slow for not realizing they've been dating for 6 months and 44 minutes, but the last part doesn't matter to Seb.
"Well that's not the point rn," he says annoyed.
"I was right about it being Kimi!" Cheerfully and gleefully, he smiles.
"Well me and Nico get the credit! It was our initial idea," Lewis says coyly.
Seb shoves playfully shoved him.
Seb and Kimi are sat on the bus, heading to Kimi's house to study. Their pinkies intertwined. They speak on their day.
"-and then they practically jump me!" Kimi wasn't really focusing on what Seb was saying, but that sentence caught his attention. "What?" He's not sure if he should be worried or not. Seb doesn't look hurt or anything, so hopefully not critical.
"Jannik and Carlos cornered me and asked if I'm dating anyone!" Had they known something was up with Kimi when they had caught him with a letter? Probably not, even if you combined their brains, they'd have the exact same IQ as before. But, you know, it's never impossible for those two.
"Just tell me if anyone's bothering you," Kimi says, looking at Seb. His eyes go soft, looking at Kimi. He leans his head on Kimi's shoulder, sighing. "Thank you, Kimi."
That might've been a normal thing to say, but Sebastian feels like he's on top of the world right now. To know someone is there for him no matter what warms his heart. He has the best boyfriend in the world. Sebastian wears a smile on his face the rest of the ride.
They make it to Kimi's house and walk to his bedroom. Closing the door, Kimi asks the long awaited question, "are we actually going to study? 'Cause I was kinda planning on just taking a nap, with you specifically."
Sebastian giggles at his suggestion, he freaking giggles, and it was the most precious thing Kimi has ever heard.
It was soft like honey and a chime flowing through the wind.
"Wait- do that again..." Sebastian's giggles stop to query Kimi. "Do what?" he interrogates, sporting a lopsided grin.
"Your giggle, do that again," he requests.
This stimulates Seb to double over in laughter. This might just be better than his soft giggles. It was loud and rough, emulating Seb's playful personality.
He holds onto Kimi's arm for support as he continues to laugh. "You like it that much?" "Well... yeah?"
Sebastian pulls Kimi to the bed, the both of them flopping on top of it. Seb sighs, feeling the comfort of the soft sheets. He turns his head to find Kimi admiring him. "Hey," Seb enunciates, his lips pressing into a wide smile. He giggles again, just for the enjoyment. Kimi face turns completely red, redder than a Ferrari.
Kimi looks so cute like this, all flustered because of Sebastian. Seb felt very special that he could make someone like Kimi feel so many emotions at once. More importantly, he could make Kimi feel love.
Seb finds Kimi's hand and brings it up to his hand, lightly kissing his knuckles, sort of teasing Kimi, to see if he can get a reaction out of him.
It clearly works, because Kimi groans "Seb, stop- I know you're doing that on purpose!"
"I just wanna see how much you love me," the crooked smile on his face never leaves.
Feeling more hot and bothered, Kimi buries his face in Sebastian's chest, and Seb pulls him in. There is no where Kimi would ever want to be in the world, except in Sebastian's arms.
Their breathes quickly match pace and Seb lands a kiss to the top of Kimi's head.
Kimi might be asleep, but he can feel how warm he is deep in Sebastian's arms. He could stay here forever. Sebastian clearly has no intention of letting him go.
When they wake up, the sun is setting, Seb soon has to go home. Kimi holds him tight, their limbs tangled together.
Sooner or later, they get up.
"Before you go, I wanna show you the view from here," Kimi mentions. His house was high on a hill, and he wanted to show it off to Seb. It might just be as pretty as Seb, but nothing was more pretty than Seb.
Kimi pushes his window open which leads to the roof. He holds Sebastian's hand as he steps out the window. He doesn't want to let go, so he doesn't.
The breath is taken out of Sebastian's lungs, the view was unbelievably astonishing. The purples, oranges, and pinks mixed in the sky, covered lightly by the remaining clouds. It was like a perfectly crafted painting plastered on the sky. The tall mountains peacefully building up from the earth's floor.
"Sometimes when I'm sad, I come here to stare into the sky, realizing how beautiful the world can be." Kimi wasn't looking at the view as Seb was, he decided to look at Seb instead. "It's beautiful," Seb notices. "I know," he doesn't direct that at the view.
Kimi is willing to share this master piece with Seb, and he is glad to take it.
They sit down, both looking off into the distance. Sebastian has his head leaned on Kimi's shoulder, his hand placed on top of Kimi's.
"I love you, Sebastian. I'm glad I get this chance with you." His voice is low, filled with passion
Sebastian's words are caught in his throat, not knowing how to express all his feelings, he replies simply with, "I love you."
Kimi turns his head and pulls Sebastian into a soft, loving kiss.
Sebastian easily complies.
Kissing Kimi back, he smiles against his lips.
-♡-
Fin.