Fic: Interconnection, Part 11a
Pairing: Mark Webber/Sebastian Vettel
Rating: M
Synopsis: Post-qualifying in Japan, Seb and Mark discover that hiding in plain sight is not as easy as it once was
Word count: 4,158
Disclaimer: Didn’t happen, never will. Don’t like, don’t read.
Interconnection, Part 11
As far as reversals went, Heikki wasn’t sure how to handle this one. A KERS problem for Sebastian, and pole position for Mark - incidents like this were a thing of seasons past, not now in 2013. He’d clapped for Mark after it became clear pole was his, but he knew his boss would be in a strange mood when he returned to the garage.
And boy was he right. After the press rounds were done, Sebastian appeared to be somewhat baffled, part irate and part philosophic. Britta glanced at Heikki as they all walked in silence back to the paddock car park, hinting that he should say something encouraging. However, he felt that he’d already covered the gamut when it came to uplifting messages; it was almost patronising to go any further.
So he lightly nudged Sebastian as they neared the Infiniti car, hoping to draw a smile.
Unfortunately, the knock only pushed him to go from subdued to downright irritated in the space of two seconds.
‘He ignored me going into that press conference. What is wrong with him?’ he spat, kicking at the asphalt.
Britta, who was on Sebastian’s other side, once again looked worryingly at Heikki. They both knew who he was referring to, and that was a continuing surprise in itself. Any sane person knew why Mark hadn’t acknowledged Sebastian post-qualifying, yet here he was, genuinely confused at the slight.
‘Um, he knows you’re just going to beat him tomorrow?’ Heikki offered unsurely.
Sebastian threw him a harsh glance. ‘If they fix my KERS.’
‘Seb, don’t even worry about him,’ Britta said soothingly, gesturing with her hands. Paranoid at being overheard by other departing staff, she looked behind them before continuing. ‘He is not even that pleased that he won pole in this way.’
‘It’s not my fault he couldn’t beat me fair and square. Blame my car.’
Exasperated, Heikki handed Sebastian his water bottle as they finally reached the car. Sebastian took it from him in a rather petulant manner, causing Britta to purse her lips like an upset mother. Their chauffeur was waiting inside - she wanted Sebastian to channel some professionalism before they all piled in.
Though Heikki had opened the door, Sebastian wasn’t yet ready to leave. Cheeks flushed and brow furrowed, he took an angry sip of water before addressing Britta.
‘Can you call Barbara and ask when Mark is going to finish his interviews?’
Britta struggled to hide her anxiety, her face paling in seconds. ‘Why?’
‘I just want to talk to him. At the hotel. I want to know how long until he arrives.’
‘Well, he is likely talking to Sky about his pole lap.’
Sebastian stared at her. ‘So are you going to call?’
‘Don’t be so rude,’ Heikki admonished.
Chastened, Sebastian suddenly realised just how childish he was acting. ‘Shit. I’m sorry,’ he said, looking back and forth between the two. ‘I’m just out of my mind right now.’
Britta did her best to feign calm. ‘It’s okay, Boss. But you need to settle, yes? Settle down, I mean.’
Nodding, he finally obliged and got into the back seat. Britta sat on the other side in the back, with Heikki getting into the front passenger seat.
Heikki didn’t really like this vantage point - looking in the mirrors to try and gauge Sebastian’s oscillating mood. He wanted to study him naturally. Things had been off since at least Belgium, where Sebastian had insisted on seeing Mark at a random hotel after qualifying.
Last week in Korea had been strange too. With all the drivers and main support staff having to stay in the same 5-star hotel in Mokpo, Heikki had figured that Sebastian would be easy to keep track of. Yet there were times were he was plain missing - not with Kimi, not in his room, not picking up his phone. It was bizarre. Heikki had been just as exasperated as Britta, who’d reported that the only time Sebastian was focused was when he was on the track.
Heikki caught Britta’s eye in the rearview mirror as the car journey got under way. She raised an eyebrow, somehow concurring with whatever he was thinking. He had only recently told her about the bottle of lube he saw in Sebastian’s luggage in Belgium, and conversely, she had only recently divulged the adjoining room set-up in Singapore.
Putting both these factors together suggested something they were not prepared to assume. All they were certain of was that there was a privacy that their boss wanted to protect.
Sebastian put his sunglasses back on and stared out the window.
‘I need to talk to him,’ he stated plainly, resuming his earlier line of request.
‘Uh…’ Britta hesitated. Surely it was a bad idea; a knee-jerk reaction to the disappointment of missing out on pole. Arguing with Mark would allow Sebastian to vent his frustrations, but the Australian was the worst target in this case. The animosity would be too direct. ‘I think you should leave him alone. He has had a lot of bad luck lately - he will want to be thinking positively. As should you.’
There was a long silence. Heikki turned around to look over his shoulder. All he saw was a stony expression.
‘Seb?’ he prompted.
Sebastian sighed. ‘It’s fine, it’s fine. My main problem is my car…’
Heikki didn’t question the validity of the second statement, but he did question the claim of ‘it’s fine.’ He’d bet a whole week’s salary that Sebastian would suddenly go missing from his hotel room in an hour or so.
Though the rest of the journey was relatively silent, the looks that the two support staff gave each other indicated that on the inside, both of them were screaming for Sebastian to snap out of it.
*
‘You flat out ignored me after qualifying.’
Mark couldn’t help but roll his eyes. He’d warned Sebastian not to visit, yet here he was. The Australian had had no choice but to let him in, the hurried knocking a clear sign that Sebastian was reckless enough to stay out in the hallway until Mark relented.
‘We were too chummy last week after qualy,’ Mark explained, flopping back down onto his bed. ‘You were all smiley and we were photographed that way. Plus, I didn’t want to talk to you. I didn’t want to get pole like that.’
He lifted his head as Sebastian strode over to the foot of the bed. The German had crossed his arms and was seemingly waiting for a better explanation.
Mark wasn’t going to give one. Instead, he sat up and grabbed the television remote, flicking through channels before settling on NHK and putting the volume up.
He knew now how to push Sebastian when needed - push him into admitting more of his emotions, as opposed just requesting the physical stuff. Korea hadn’t been conducive to anything more than stolen kisses in Mark’s hotel room, and even then, they’d fought via text before boarding separate private jets bound for Tokyo. Jealousy had run rampant, not necessarily because of Sebastian’s win and Mark’s second car fire in a row, but because Kimi had been glued to Sebastian’s side all weekend, and Fernando to Mark’s. Even Lewis had hung around Sebastian more than usual.
He could tell Sebastian was contemplating saying something vaguely sentimental, but he figured the younger driver would try to be combative first.
He was right.
‘Why are you so unhappy?’ Sebastian complained, side-stepping so that he was in the way of the television. ‘I’m the one with the mechanical problem.’
‘Car trouble. Now you know how it feels.’
The claim of injustice set Sebastian right off. ‘Fuck off,’ he spat. ‘I’ve had just as many reliability problems as you in the past. It’s not all about this year!’
‘Well, this year has been different, to say the least,’ Mark mused, craning his neck in order to get a glimpse of the television screen.
Sebastian scoffed. ‘Year? How about this week?’
‘What?’
‘You’ve spent the whole week with Jenson and Fernando.’
Mark laughed. ‘What do you mean the whole week? Jenson is busy with Jessy, and Fernando is busy with Dasha. Me catching up with them once or twice is not the whole week. Plus, if we’re playing this game, maybe I should take issue with the amount of time you’ve been spending with Lewis.’
‘So I bought Roscoe a toy. So what?’
‘Tell me, how does Kimi feel about being replaced? Is it because he doesn’t watch as much football as Lewis? Is he annoying to fly with?’
‘Are you being serious?’
‘Are you being serious?’
Sebastian balled his fists. ‘We’ve been here the whole week and I’ve hardly seen you. Autograph sessions and track time don’t count. Korea we were all in the same hotel so we couldn’t do anything. I’m going crazy.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ Mark replied hotly, playing up his defensiveness. ‘I can’t magically make more time for you.’
‘I miss you! Which is stupid because we’re in the same place.’
Bingo, Mark thought. Sebastian was thinking it too, because he could see how satisfied the older driver was at the admission. Mark was trying to suppress a self-serving smirk, but was failing miserably.
Sebastian’s counter-attack was all too simple.
‘So if I’m flying back to Europe with Kimi tomorrow night, and you’re flying to Australia to surf, when are we going to have sex?’
Mark grunted. ‘That was a cheap shot.’
‘Was it?’
The stand-off was interrupted by a knock on Mark’s door. Alarmed, Sebastian couldn’t decide whether to flee into the bathroom (which was closer to the door) or into the closet (which would’ve been an all too easy reference to the nature of their affair). Mark cocked his head at the closet, proximity in mind.
As the knocking continued unabated, Sebastian obliged and shot Mark a warning look about ever cracking a gay joke about this moment.
‘Who is it?’ Mark called out as he ambled over to the door.
‘Heikki!’
Mark’s heart dropped into his stomach. They had pushed their luck too far. He recalled how Britta had confronted him at the Energy Station a while back; this was all too familiar.
‘Heikki who?’ Mark smarted as he looked through the peephole.
‘Not Kovalainen.’
Taking a deep breath, Mark opened the door halfway. Any less and it would’ve drawn more suspicion.
‘You stole my punchline, mate.’
Heikki was not in the mood for games. He glanced left and right before speaking. ‘Is Sebastian here?’
‘Sorry, who?’
‘You know who,’ the Finn said through gritted teeth.
‘You mean my arsehole of a teammate? I don’t know where he is.’
‘Cut the crap,’ Heikki hissed. ‘I’m not stupid. You want to be secret friends? Whatever. But tell him to return Hanna’s calls. You know, his girlfriend? She called the team, worried something was wrong.’
Mark stared at Heikki longer than what would’ve been normal had he had nothing to hide. Indeed, the Finn seemed to take it as confirmation that Sebastian was hiding out inside. He cracked a knuckle out of habit, not caring if it came across as threatening.
‘I don’t really care about his personal life,’ Mark said, entirely too late to come off as truthful.
‘Looks like you are his personal life,’ Heikki retorted. ‘At least on race weekends.’
Mark glowered in reply. ‘You better be fucking careful. I don’t know what you’re accusing me of.’
‘He’s going to win regardless of how you try to mess with his head.’
‘I think I like you Finns better when you’re quiet.’
Heikki opened his mouth to reply, but was caught off guard by the sight of Christian striding down the hallway.
‘Heikki,’ the team principal called out. ‘You seen Seb?’
Mark shut the door as soon as he heard Christian’s voice carrying down the hallway. He locked it, dead-bolted it, and prayed to God that Heikki would do the right thing and lead him away from the room.
He kept an ear pressed to the door, eagerly listening for any sign of danger.
After a few moments, he heard the sound of Christian’s hearty laughter.
‘Can you believe it - a missing driver! The mechanics want to consult with him, but he’s AWOL! Maybe his phone is dead.’
‘Yes, probably,’ was Heikki’s assured reply.
The close call was a little too much for Mark. He slid down the door, feeling practically winded from the shock. He didn’t know how much time passed before Sebastian exited the closet and came over to him, but it felt like an eternity.
‘Heikki says you’re ignoring Hanna’s calls.’ It was difficult for him to talk through the shock. ‘She called the team.’
Sebastian grimaced as he sat down next to Mark on the floor. ‘I’m not ignoring her. I just haven’t called her back yet.’
‘Jesus Christ. What was that phrase for shock that someone bandied about in Korea? Life reduced by a hundred years? That’s me right now.’
‘She knows I’m working…’
‘Keep up appearances, mate. I’m still in the doghouse with Ann because she thinks I’m being a right prick these days, but she’s got no proof about us, so it’s not exactly nuclear.’
Both men jumped when there was another knock on the door.
‘Mark?’
Barbara, Mark mouthed. Sebastian scampered into the bathroom this time, the stress of the situation quickly catching up with him.
Acting skills at the ready, Mark stood up and opened the door. ‘Ah, come on, Barbs. No more interviews. Wasn’t even a legit pole position.’
She chuckled and held up a box of mochi with a ribbon tied around it. ‘Just came by to drop off this gift. One of the sponsors wanted to congratulate you.’
‘Was it actually intended for Seb? Cos I’m not really into the whole re-gifting thing,’ he said good-humouredly as he accepted the box.
‘Don’t be silly. Anyway, I’ll leave you to it. If you see Seb around, tell Christian, yeah? He wants to speak to him about something.’
Mark saluted with the gift box. ‘Yes, ma’am.’
With the exchange over, Mark again closed the door and exhaled. It was too much; being on track was less demanding than keeping this up. As much as he understood Sebastian’s frustration at their lack of time together, this weekend was already proving too risky.
What was also pretty ballsy was Hanna calling the team (though admittedly, maybe by ‘team’, Heikki had meant Britta). It seemed like an irrational move - why tip off the team as to any relationship problem?
Ah, Mark figured. Perhaps Sebastian’s inattention really was so atypical that she felt compelled to assume something was definitely, profoundly out of sorts.
By that logic, it was Mark who was the one failing to keep up appearances. Ann had simply come to the conclusion that something was wrong but that she had little power to do anything about it. Perhaps she figured ‘Michael’ - aka Sebastian - would be out of the picture soon enough with only a handful of races left. On the other hand, Hanna felt justified enough to check in with Sebastian’s staff after a few unreturned phone calls. It was a marked difference.
So it was with a shame and regret that Mark entered the bathroom. He found Sebastian huddled next to the vanity, eyes bright with a surprising sense of wonder during this quasi-crisis. The stress had morphed into a game, perhaps. Something else to conquer.
‘She’s gone,’ Mark said, holding out the box. ‘Here. Consider it a romantic gift.’
The joke didn’t quite work, not when his anxiety was at this level. Mark knew he ought to backtrack, especially as Sebastian wasn’t making any move to take the box from him. But a retraction wouldn’t leave his lips.
So it was Sebastian who spoke next.
‘I never did get you a birthday present,’ he admitted. ‘I should’ve given you something in Belgium, but nothing was good enough.’
Mark placed the gift on the vanity and sat down opposite him, leaning back onto the bath. ‘It doesn’t matter. Wasn’t expecting anything from you.’
It was true - he hadn’t expected anything. Mark’s earlier gift to Sebastian had inadvertently caused problems, so not reciprocating was understandable. But most importantly, Mark knew it would’ve carried too much sentiment.
‘Plus, I’m old,’ Mark added. ‘It would’ve emphasised that you’re jailbait.’
‘I am not a kid.’ Sebastian kicked out at him, before drawing his leg back and sighing. ‘Why do you have to go back to Australia? Just come back to Europe and we can meet up in Milton Keynes.’
‘I have commitments. A school visit. Interviews. Dinners. Planning for my charity challenge.’
‘You mean stuff Ann scheduled for you?’
‘Seb…’
The younger man shifted so that he was on his knees. ‘Whatever. Let me blow you now.’
‘No way,’ Mark protested, getting up before Sebastian could lunge forward. ‘We have a race tomorrow.’
‘You’re not going to make time for me after the race.’ Sebastian, too, got up, this time closing the distance.
The proximity made both men a little giddy. Sebastian leant up for a kiss but then pulled back, causing Mark to raise an eyebrow.
‘Turn around,’ Mark instructed, voice serious.
‘What?’
For all his teasing and posturing, Sebastian was suddenly apprehensive.
‘Relax,’ Mark replied, taking his teammate by the shoulder and spinning him around to face the mirror. ‘Not going to bend you over and debauch you, like, right now.’
‘Then what -’
Sebastian stopped short when he realised what Mark was getting at. The older man had embraced him from behind, and was now grazing his lips over the top of Sebastian’s ear.
The image of them together like this was confronting. Sebastian didn’t like it; literally couldn’t look at himself in the mirror. It was as if his cheating was finally front and centre. Guilt took a hold of him, until Mark’s hug felt more vice-like than it really was.
‘You keep saying we’re ready,’ Mark murmured.
Sebastian trained his gaze on the countertop, not willing to look up. ‘It’s better to try sooner rather than later. Later will be…’
‘What?’
‘Don’t make me say it,’ Sebastian said quietly.
‘We’re not ready.’
‘We’re as ready as we’ll ever be. You just want to wait so it’ll mean more. If we wait, the season will be over and you’ll be gone.’
‘Well, if you don’t want it to mean anything, why don’t you fuck someone else?’
‘I’m not in love with you. I just want you.’ Sebastian looked up and met Mark’s eye in the mirror. ‘It’s the same for you.’
Mark tried to keep his expression impassive as he pulled away. ‘Right. Of course.’
He saw no point in instigating a tiff on this point, not when the break between Japan and India would do the trick - in other words, force Sebastian to miss him more…perhaps past the point of pure want.
Conscious that people were looking for him, Sebastian motioned for the door. ‘If I win tomorrow, we’re having sex at the next race.’
Mark snorted. ‘Yeah? Good luck getting your KERS to work.’
‘Don’t need KERS to beat you.’
Trying to shrug it off, Mark gave Sebastian a playful shove toward the exit. ‘Get the fuck out, Vettel.’
This time, Sebastian grabbed Mark by his Red Bull polo and gave him a proper kiss, one so heated that it was the older man who had to slow things down. He couldn’t breathe - and that was exactly how Sebastian wanted it.
‘See you on the podium tomorrow.’
And with that, the three-time champion finally snuck back out, leaving his teammate in the bathroom with a whole lot of unease and a box of gifted mochi.
*