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Lewis smirked, a bit smug, when he hears from his engineer Bono that Nico spun and is now horizontally to the racetrack. He forgot what that meant.
Lewis zoomed around the next turn, seeing Nico trying to get his car around, spins his wheel around but it’s too late. He impales Nico’s side, the German’s Mercedes spinning into the gravel and from there flips multiple times from the force he hit the gravel with. Eventually Nico gets stopped by the barriers, the car falling against it before falling back onto the wheels.
The entire front wing and DRS are in parts or just not there, one part of the front wing stuck under the left front wheel, which is teared open, Nico’s head-
Lewis’ eyes widen and he drives his own just barely into the gravel before getting out and running over to his teammate. The Brit was there before the marshals were and he reached Rosberg, unbuckling him from the car and gently pulling him out. It was frighteningly easy, Nico’s head dangling around.
Lewis shakes him, carefully pulled the helmet from his teammate and tossing it aside, his own following so he could see better.
Nico’s eyes were closed, mouth slightly open, as far as much Lewis can see through his balaclava which is staining red at the side. Lewis is about to panic and carefully pulls the balaclava off too, swallowing when he sees his teammate’s face. He’s bleeding at the side of his head and Lewis presses two fingers against Nico’s neck.
Pulse.
Lewis sighs, relieved, then carefully pulls Nico’s head onto his lap, looking around and yanking his own balaclava off, yelling around why the medics aren’t there yet.
When they are there, they take Nico from him, carefully, and put him into the ambulance, about to close to the doors when Lewis steps forward.
“I want to come along.”
The medics exchanged looks and tried to refuse but Lewis doubled down and insisted. So they let him drive with Nico in the back.
The ride to the helicopter felt like hours. The medics already started checking on Nico, putting the first few bandages on his head. Lewis went back and forth between bouncing his leg, chewing his lip and biting his nails.
It was his fault. Obviously. He impaled Nico. It would be his fault if Nico had died. If only there was something stabilizing at the cockpi-
Lewis’s thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of the helicopter nearing and he again begged the medics to let him come with Nico to the hospital.
Meanwhile, the people were going crazy, the cameras following the ambulance from the scene of the collision to the helicopter which would bring Nico to the hospital. The commentators interrupted each other, going wild over Nico and Lewis, the ones who were constantly at each other’s throats, now going to the hospital together because Lewis refused to leave Nico alone.
Lewis was let into the helicopter and the flight to the hospital the medics started to take care of the race suit, Lewis clutching Nico’s hand tightly with both hands, refusing to let go unless it was important. Lewis stared at Nico’s beautiful face, waiting for those beautiful blue eyes to open, his beautiful smile to appear and tell him this is a joke, that they don’t have to go to the hospital, that he’s not unconscious and just playing his stupid mind games-
A nurse carefully and softly took Lewis’ hands from Nico’s hand, the latter mentioned immediately getting rushed out of the helicopter into the hospital. Immediately Lewis shakes the nurse off and runs after them, standing in the hallway like a lost puppy when he sees Nico going to the doctor. He wanted to scream. At himself, not at no one else.
HE was the reason Nico was in here.
HE was the reason Nico was unconscious.
HE-
“Excuse me, Sir Hamilton, we know you are worried, but you also have scratches and injuries from the crash… we need to look at them…”, a nurse approached him slowly and carefully like one would approach a wild animal. The Brit pressed his lips together but sat down on one of the plastic chairs and let her.
Everyone was silent, Lewis staring at the door separating him from his boyfr- teammate, waiting for the German to walk out, smirk when seeing Lewis and making a smartass comment about sitting there like a lost puppy. Lewis almost snorted at the thought.
After thirty minutes Toto joined him in the waiting room, not saying anything, just laid a comforting hand on the driver’s shoulder. Lewis put his face into his hands and broke down.
“It’s all my fault, I impaled his side, I didn’t watch out, I thought he’d be fine and already driving on track again, I’m the reason he’s unconscious, what if he never wakes up, what if he dies and I’m the reason, what if-“
“Lewis.”, Toto interrupted his mantra of self blame.
The called one didn’t take his hands from his face, shoulder shaking with sobs and the Austrian sighed, pulling him into a hug.
“We’ll get through this, I’m sure he won’t die, Nico isn’t a fragile thing, he will stay with us.” Lewis just buried his face deep into his team principal’s shoulder, crying into it, Toto comforting him the best he can.
After five hours and Toto forcing a cereal bar onto Lewis, the doctor came out and walked over. Lewis abandoned his half eaten cereal bar and Toto and rushed over, meeting him halfway there. “How is he? Is he fine? Will he be fine? Is he unconscious? Or awake? Is he-“ The doctor interrupts him gently: “Don’t worry, he’s stable, through unconscious. He faced around 50 G-Forces and is unconscious, but stable. He’ll get through it without permanent damage.” Lewis almost sank to the floor, so wobbly his knees were. Luckily, Toto was there and supported him while thanking the doctor.
As soon as Lewis got permission to visit Nico he sprinted to that room and then carefully opened the door and walked in, closing the door behind himself. He swallowed when he saw his future husba- his teammate hooked up to machines, unconscious in this stupid hospital bed. Lewis pulls a chair to the side of the bed, sitting down and carefully grabs Nico’s hand, brushing his thumb over the back of it.
“I’m sorry”, he whispered, “I’m sorry I crashed into you. This is all my fault. Had I reacted earlier or driven more carefully this wouldn’t have happened. I understand if you don’t forgive me, I just wanted to let you know that I’m so guilty and sorry…” Lewis felt like he’s drowning in an ocean of emotions, guilt and shame.
He stays with Nico the entire time, not leaving his side, Toto taking two hours to convince the Brit to at least go eat something. Reluctantly he agreed and got up, taking a moment longer to let go of Nico’s hand, afraid that if he let go, Nico won’t be there if he comes back. Toto was outside, talking to a nurse about something, so Lewis leaned forward, softly putting a kiss on Nico’s forehead.
And for a second Lewis could’ve sworn that on Nico’s heart monitor his heartbeat spiked. Lewis looks at the monitor and indeed, there was a moment of a higher heartbeat.
Toto was a bit confused when Lewis slipped out of the room with a soft, poorly hidden smile and went to eat something at the cafeteria. ‘At least he’s eating something’, Toto thought and headed into Nico’s room.
~
There were faint voices, sounding like someone talked through water. Nico tried to open his eyes but couldn’t, finding himself sinking in an ocean, far above him the surface. He could see someone leaning over him through the blurry water and reached out, but it was too far away.
He felt so tired. It would just be easier to let himself sink further down into the warm water, forgetting the world around him…
Then Nico remembered. The crash, the screaming, the faint feeling of Lewis pulling him out of the car.
Lewis.
Nico thrashed in the water, only sinking deeper, so he started swimming.
Up,up,up towards the voices and blurry faces over the water surface. And further and further until he’s just a few swimming strokes away.
Nico could feel something warm and tight on his hand. It was comforting, so he gave it a slight squeeze, he didn’t have the energy for more.
Finally his eyes managed to flutter open and he blinks against the blurriness. Where was he? Why was the room so white and why was he in a bed? What is that peeping noise? And most importantly, what is that feeling on his stomach?
Nico looked down and was a bit surprised to see Lewis clutching his hand as if afraid he’ll fade away if he didn’t, the Brit’s head on the German’s stomach.
Nico realized his frie- riva- enem- teammate was asleep, looking like he needed it. Nico gave Lewis’ hand another gentle squeeze, unable to hold back a soft smile as he watched the Brit move slightly and sit up, blinking against the sleepiness.
Then came the realization and Lewis almost looked like he wanted to scream, but the only thing he managed to do is starting to cry.
“Ah shit, wait, Lulu, no don’t cry, ah fuck”, Nico started and a bit helplessly pulled Lewis closer, the latter pulling him into a gentle hug and apologizing over and over again, saying that it was his fault.
Nico patted his head, noticing how soft Lewis’ hair was and instead moving to brush his hand through the black curls. He wished he could stay like this forever, then snapped back to reality when Toto and a nurse walked into the room, wondering why Lewis is crying.
The nurse raised her eyebrows and smirked at the sight of Lewis’ face buried in Nico’s chest and even though he was crying Nico running his hand through his frien- enem-… through Lewis’ hair didn’t help the romantic image.
The German blushed a little and pats Lewis’ head instead, Toto crossing his arms and watching the two, Lewis finally noticing they were being watched and waved his hand dismissively to shoo their team principal and the nurse out. Typical Lewis move.
~
A week later Nico was allowed to leave the hospital, Lewis not leaving his side since Nico almost fell earlier. Occasionally their hands brushed and the two would look into opposite directions and clear their throats.
The ride back to Nico’s apartment was silent, the two teammates accidentally making eye contact once and looking away.
At the apartment Lewis didn’t budge when Nico tried sending him away, instead Lewis forced Nico to sit on the couch and drink the tea Lewis made him while he unpacked Nico’s bag. Nico tried protesting, but was quickly shut down when Lewis used the almost-fall from earlier against him. And he kinda liked being coddled by his boyfrie-, no, rival. Were they rivals? Or enemies?
Could they ever go back to how they once were?
“Lewis?”
The Brit glared at Nico when he sees him in the doorway to the bedroom instead of on the couch.
“I told you to stay on the couch. What if you collapsed and I didn’t hear and-“
“What are we?”
The silence was deafening, the two staring at each other.
“I don’t know.”
~
At the end of the season, Nico retired and went to SkySports, avoiding Lewis as much as he could and it was the other way around too.
The two moments in the hospital, the kiss on the forehead and Nico having learnt to appreciate Lewis’ soft hair just inviting him to run his hand through it, staying a secret between them.