congrats, i guess.
summary: two idiots not realising they're in love w each other and their grid son has to help words: 1.9k warnings: i dont think there's any π₯Ή
finally woke up and decided to write again and whats better to write abt than rustappen when george just won and max got second π fic also lowkey inspired by this other fic but i cant find it so credits to them
Finally, is all George could think.
Finally he had proven that he could beat Kimi, not that he had anything against him. No matter how much the media would display their relationship, Kimi had always been like a little brother.
Or, as the fans said it, his son with Max.
George had always thought the whole 'divorced parents' thing was ridiculous.
But he wasn't thinking about that right now. All he was thinking about was the fact he had just won the Austrian GP. He was back in the championship fight.
Now, in the cool down room, Kimi was yapping his ear off, Max quiet in the corner, and George absolutely glowing.
"-And that whole battle Max had with Lewis? Insane. Oh my god and look what the fans are saying. 'Max and George on the podium with their baby Kimi,'" Kimi said, shoving his phone into George and Max's face.
"Is there something going on for real with my grid parents? I mean, literally at the dinner, you two were first and sat in front of each other, and then in FP2 Max flips you off, and-"
"We only sat in front of each other because we were just making small talk like people do." George said, Max quickly nodding in agreement.
"Yeah, and the whole me flipping him off was because he was being stupid, but I didn't exactly mean it,"
"Excuse me? Me? Being stupid?"
"Ugh, you guys are confusing." Kimi muttered, before moving onto a different topic.
"Congrats, I guess." Max mumbled under his breath.
"You guess?"
Max looked oddly uncomfortable.
"I meanβ¦" He rubbed the back of his neck. "You deserved it."
"I know. Thank you, though."
"You guys are so annoying, oh my gosh, do you two realise how much you flirt with each other?" Kimi asked, sounding genuinely exhausted.
"Shut up, Kimi." Max and George both said, getting another groan of annoyance from Kimi.
Of course, that night, who was George to say no to partying after he had just won?
Although the way Lando was partying it seemed more like he had won, Oscar giving him a weirdly endearing look the whole time.
"Could you be anymore obvious?" George asked him, Oscar barely reacting.
"I don't want to hear it from you, George, I'm so obsessed with Verstappen but don't know how to express it, Russell." He said, his little heart eyes not drifting away from Lando once.
"You guys really need to drop this whole thing, I despise that guy."
"We all know you guys have fucked at least once."
George scoffed. "Please, like I'd ever give a second of my time to him."
"Are you sure?" Kimi asked, appearing out of nowhere.
"Yes, I'm sure-why are you even here? You're too young to be drinking!"
"Papa Max let me."
"Papa.. Max?"
"Yep! He's Papa Max, you're Mama George."
"Okay, that's enough, you're going home."
"Just let him, it's only tonight." Max's low husky voice that usually meant he had drank more than he should've muttered. And fuck, it was hot.
"I-no! You're both going home! Now!"
"Come on, princess, loosen up a bit. We're just trying to celebrate your win."
Oscar coughed up a laugh as George's mouth went agape. Princess?
"Did you just- fine! Stay! It doesn't matter to me whether you stay or not, but don't call me that again. Come on, Kimi."
"Wait, but-"
"Come on, Kimi!"
Kimi reluctantly followed George outside.
George didn't stop walking until the music had faded into a dull thump behind them.
Kimi shuffled along beside him, hands shoved into the pockets of his oversized hoodie which was probably Ollie's, trying, and failing, not to grin.
"What?"
"You got pretty flustered in there."
"I did not!"
"You did."
George sighed. "He's just impossible."
"So we're talking about Max now."
"I'm talking about the fact that he drank enough to lose his filter."
Kimi snorted. "I don't think alcohol made him call you 'princess'".
"This is why I took you outside."
"Because I'm right?"
"Because you're insufferable."
"Learned from the best."
George pointed toward the hotel entrance. "Inside."
"Yes, Mum."
George shot him a look.
"Sorry. Mama George."
"Kimi."
"I'm done, I'm done!" Kimi giggled as he slipped through the hotel doors.
George lingered outside for a moment.
It had been a good day.
Finally.
Finally, he'd reminded everyone, including himself, that he was still capable of this.
Morning came quickly, and Kimi decided he couldn't give him a break, spamming George with calls and texts.
kimi, 8:03 AM MAMA GEORGE MAMA GEORGE GEORGE I NEED UR HELP PLEASE ANSWER IDC IF UR SLEPJING read at 8:05 AM DONT LEAVE ME ON READ WTH read at 8:06 AM
What did he want now? George was really looking forward to sleeping in as he finally answered one of Kimi's calls.
"George! You answered!"
"What is it, Kimi?"
"I need help, like desperate help. Can you meet today? I'll send you where. I'll explain what happened later but can you?"
"What time?"
"6:00?"
"Fine."
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you-"
"It's okay, Kimi. Now let me sleep."
At 6:00, George appeared at whatever cafΓ© Kimi had told him to go to, only to see Max sitting inside.
"You're here!" Kimi grabbed George's wrist and dragged him inside.
"Kimi, what are you trying to do?"
"I need help from both my grid parents."
George groaned internally as he sat next to Max, Kimi looking weirdly anxious.
"Well? Spit it out." Max ushered.
"I think I'm in love." Kimi blurted out.
Oh.
"Well, that's great. Who?"
"Ollie."
George and Max shared a look.
"We should've expected it."
"We really should've."
"Aw, look at you two, agreeing on something!"
"What do you need help with?" George asked, he thought Kimi and Ollie were good enough friends that Kimi would be able to confess easily.
"What if he doesn't reciprocate the feelings? What if he thinks I'm a freak."
Max shrugged. "If he does he's not worth it."
George nodded. "Max is right."
"Don't sound so surprised."
"I'm not."
"You are."
Kimi stared between them with an expression that screamed can we focus?
"Hello? My life is falling apart."
"It isn't," George said.
"It could."
"It won't," Max replied. "Has Ollie ever given you a reason to think he'd judge you?"
"No."
"Then stop overthinking it."
George rolled his eyes. "That's incredibly unhelpful. What Max is trying to say, in his incredibly emotionally constipated way, is that you can't predict someone else's answer. You can only decide whether you're willing to be honest. If Ollie doesn't feel the same, then yes, it'll hurt. But if he's actually your friend, he won't think you're a freak."
"And if he does," Max added. "I'll deal with him."
George blinked.
"You'll what?"
"Deal with him."
"You're threatening a child."
"Politely. Politely threatening."
"There is no such thing."
"There is."
"There really isn't."
Kimi looked ready to bang his head against the table.
"You know what? Forget my problems."
"No," George said immediately. "Youβre going to confess."
"Today," Max added.
"Yeah. Today."
"Well, I need a demonstration." Kimi stated.
"A demonstration?"
"Yep. Mama George can be Ollie and Papa Max can be me. So Papa Max confess to Mama George but pretend it Ollie and I instead."
Max stared at Kimi for a long second.
"Absolutely not."
"Why not?"
"Because that's weird."
"It is weird," George agreed immediately. "And completely unnecessary."
Kimi folded his arms.
"I need a visual learner demonstration."
"You don't."
"I do."
"You really don't."
"I really do."
Max sighed, already looking like he regretted showing up.
"You owe me for this."
"I know!" Kimi beamed.
"No," Max corrected, pointing at George. "He owes me."
George frowned.
"I do not owe you anything."
"You made me come here."
"I did no such thing."
"Kimi manipulated both of us."
"Exactly."
"So it's your fault."
"That makes no sense."
"It does to me."
Kimi clapped his hands once.
"Perfect. Positions."
George didn't move.
"I'm leaving."
"You leave," Kimi warned dramatically, "and I'll tell every interviewer that Mama George abandoned me."
"You are unbelievable."
"I've been told."
Max rubbed both hands over his face.
"This is humiliating."
"It'll take thirty seconds."
"It'll haunt me for thirty years."
George looked between the two of them before pinching the bridge of his nose.
"Fine."
"Yes!"
George pointed a finger at him.
"This is the only time."
"I swear."
"You swore that before the Papa Max thing."
"Different circumstances."
"Sure."
Max leaned back in his chair.
"So what exactly am I supposed to say?"
"Pretend George is Ollie."
"I'm struggling already."
George shot him an unimpressed look.
"Thanks."
"I mean because you're not Ollie."
"That isn't better."
Kimi interrupted before they could derail again.
"You walk up, tell him how you feel, and then we see what happens."
"Right."
He turned toward George.
George folded his arms.
"Well?"
Max opened his mouth.
Nothing came out.
George raised an eyebrow.
"Compelling."
"Shut up."
"I'm helping."
"No, you're making this worse."
"I haven't done anything."
"Your face is making it worse."
"My face?"
"You've got your judgment face on."
"I always have this face."
"I know."
Kimi watched them with the biggest grin imaginable.
"Oh my god."
"What?" George asked.
"You literally forgot I'm here."
Both of them looked at him.
"No, we didn't," George said.
"We definitely didn't," Max added.
"You both looked at each other for like thirty seconds."
"We were thinking."
"At each other?"
Max cleared his throat.
"Right. Demonstration."
He looked back at George.
His usual confidence had vanished somewhere between sitting down and opening his mouth.
George noticed.
It was unexpected.
Max Verstappen wasn't nervous.
Annoyed? Constantly.
Sarcastic? Always.
Nervous? Not really.
"Okay," Max muttered quietly. "Fine."
George suddenly became very aware that Kimi's ridiculous exercise involved Max looking directly at him.
Which shouldn't matter.
It absolutely shouldn't.
"So."
"So?" George echoed.
"If," Max scratched the back of his neck. "If you were Ollie,"
"I thought I was."
"You are."
"Right."
"Would you just stop interrupting?"
A smile tugged at George's lips despite himself.
"Sorry."
Max took a breath.
"I'd probably just say,"
Another pause.
"You make everything more interesting."
George blinked.
Kimi's grin faded slightly.
That wasn't exactly what they'd expected.
Max continued, quieter now.
"I look forward to seeing you."
George's teasing expression slipped.
"And I don't really know when it happened."
Max gave a tiny, awkward shrug.
"But somewhere along the way, you became the first person I look for."
Silence settled over the table.
Even the chatter from the cafΓ© seemed distant.
George wasn't acting anymore.
Neither, judging by the look in Max's eyes, was Max.
Kimi's eyes went comically wide.
"Papa Max."
Max blinked.
"Shit."
George swallowed.
"Kimi."
"Yeah?"
"I think that should be enough demonstrating for one day."
George abruptly got up and walked out the cafΓ©.
He didn't get very far.
He'd walked three streets before stopping.
His hands were shoved into his jacket pockets, his heart beating far harder than it should have been.
You make everything more interesting.
You're the first person I look for.
Those weren't lines.
Those hadn't sounded rehearsed.
They'd sounded-
George laughed once under his breath.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
Because suddenly every little thing started rearranging itself.
The congratulations that lingered a second too long.
The tiny smiles Max tried to hide.
The way he'd always somehow ended up beside George after drivers' briefings.
The quiet You deserved it.
Princess.
The stupid amount of eye contact.
George pressed the heels of his hands against his face.
"Oh my goodness."
His phone started ringing again. Kimi.
"What?"
"You got flustered again, huh?"
"Shut up, Kimi." He quickly cut the call.
Finally, was all George could think.
Finally, everything made sense. Which unfortunately meant Kimi had been right. pls help im so sorry if this isnt good i havent wrote something in so long π₯Ή
