Chapter Text
At first, the shift was subtle enough that even Oliver Bearman didn’t notice the change, consumed as he was by his own post-race interviews and explaining the abject tragedy that was his results at the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix.
But as the interviewer continued to grill him about why the team had ultimately made the decision to retire the car, the change in Kimi Antonelli’s scent became increasingly apparent.
“Why did the team retire the car?”
And distracting.
It was the only explanation as to why Ollie fumbled the response the way he did.
“Uhhh…” Ollie intoned, before ultimately glancing towards his Press Officer, Jessica, with a blank expression.
“To save the engine,” she hissed frantically.
“To save the engine?” Ollie repeatedly stupidly, still unreasonably distracted by whatever was going on with Kimi’s scent.
No one else seemed to have noticed, which seemed impossible, except… for as long as they had known one another, Ollie had always been uniquely in tune with Kimi, he supposed.
Thankfully, Jessica dragged him away from the interview with an apology and a beleaguered sigh before he could make even more of a fool of himself, expression a comical mix of bewildered and frustrated.
“What’s going on with you?” Jessica demanded in a hushed tone.
“I don’t…” Ollie trailed off as he craned his neck to try and get a better look at where Kimi was currently engaged in an interview. “Is Kimi okay?”
“Is Kimi… what?” Jessica stuttered. “No, Ollie, come back, you can’t –”
But Ollie was already gone, striding across the media pen towards where Kimi’s increasing sour scent was growing stronger.
There was just something so wrong about it, his usual milky pup scent almost completely engulfed now, which didn’t make sense…
“– was a driving mistake,” Kimi was explaining worriedly. “I pushed too hard and had a snap of oversteer while trying to stay ahead of Norris.”
“Ollie, stop –”
“Can you comment on Helmut Marko’s comments suggesting that you deliberately let Norris past?”
“I would not –” Kimi whined, and with that, Ollie had heard enough.
“No driver would do that,” Ollie growled – truly growled – as he stepped in, angling his body just so to put himself between Kimi and the interviewer. Behind him, he could hear Jessica and Kimi’s usual Press Officer, Emma, whispering frantically. “Anyone who would even suggest this is the scum of the earth.”
“Ollie,” Jessica hissed, tugging fruitlessly on his sleeve, but Ollie barely noticed, so singular was his focus.
“For you to even ask this is horrible,” Ollie growled. “It’s wrong for anyone to target a driver personally for something that happened in a race – I would think that Helmut Marko would know better than this.”
With that, he tugged Kimi away from the interview, leaving their Press Officers to scramble behind them as he ushered the younger driver away.
The commotion he had caused had undoubtedly drawn attention, but thankfully nobody tried to intervene – Ollie was quite certain he would have bitten anyone who tried to take Kimi from him in the moment.
Especially Kimi’s so-called mentor.
Likewise, Kimi seemed content to cling to Ollie, face practically buried in his chest as Ollie maneuvered them out of the media pen and into a more covert alleyway between motorhomes.
“Kimi, hey, it’s okay,” Ollie tried to soothe, the words rough and sticky around the rumble in his throat that he just couldn’t seem to stop.
In response, Kimi merely whined, nuzzling closer as he tried to get to Ollie’s scent gland, which Ollie easily allowed him access to, leaning back slightly against the wall and titling his head to the side so that the smaller rookie could press close.
With the other driver so close to him, essentially plastered to his own body, his scent filling every breath Ollie took… it was suddenly obvious what was happening.
“Kimi, you’re presenting,” Ollie rumbled lowly.
A whine, and a nod.
“What can I do?” Ollie asked, mind already racing.
He didn’t want to take Kimi back to Mercedes, or even worse, to the Grid Pack Room. He, perhaps selfishly, wanted to bundle him back into his own Driver’s Room, where the rookies had built a nest at the start of the weekend. Wanted to cuddle and hold him surrounded by the scents of their fellow rookies, safe and tucked away from the world.
“Nest,” Kimi whined into the crook of Ollie’s nest. “Per favore.”
As Kimi spoke, Jessica finally chose to step closer, prompting the ever-present rumble in Ollie’s chest once again grow into a full-blown growl as his arms came up to cradle Kimi impossibly closer. It would have been embarrassing, but his brain was apparently incapable of processing anyone near the younger pup as anything other than a threat at the moment.
“Ollie, it’s okay, I won’t come any closer, okay?” Jessica soothed, hands up in an attempt to appear non-threatening. “Can you explain what’s going on? Tell me how I can help?”
As Betas, neither Jessica nor Emma were likely to have scented to shift in Kimi’s scent yet, which was both reassuring and terrifying.
“We need… Haas,” Ollie struggled to articulate. “Now.”
He couldn’t understand why he was having such a difficult time speaking, why he couldn’t control the sudden onslaught of instincts raging through his body, but thankfully his Press Officer seemed to understand, nodding firmly before retreating to whisper frantically with Emma. Moments later, Kimi’s own Press Officer vanished, leaving them alone with a resolute Jessica.
“Emma is going to make sure that no one bothers us on the way to Haas, but we need to move quickly, okay?” she explained. “Can you do that?”
Rather than trying to speak around the rumble in his throat, Ollie merely nodded as he shifted once again so that he could walk more easily with Kimi still plastered to his side.
Another nod, and they were off, waving through the chaos of the Paddock as smoothly as possible, Jessica clearing the path with terrifying efficiency. It helped, probably, that most of the press and drivers were still engaged in Media duties, meaning that the Paddock was quieter than it had any right to be on a race day.
Still, the walk to Haas was a blur, and by the time they arrived, there was no question left in Ollie’s mind; if Kimi was presenting, Ollie was too.
There was simply no other explanation for the way his instincts had gone – and stubbornly remained – in overdrive.