R0

Stuck

George was walking towards the elevators. He had managed to keep his temper at the interviews -although not by much-, but now he felt like he needed to smash something and feel it crumble under his hands, like his chance to score points had crumbled the moment Valtteri had crashed into him. George sighed and shook his head. He just had to step into the elevator, ride it up, step out, rush to his room and smash his pillow for the upcoming hour. After that he probably would be fine, although he didn't know how he would react if he stumbled upon Valtteri anytime soon.

The elevator was already at the bottom and George saw he had to hurry, or he would miss it. He ran the last meters and slipped through the closing doors at the last second. A little bit out of breath he rested his head against the cold walls of the steel cube they were in. The elevator rose with a little shock. While they were slowly rising, George lifted his head and looked around him. The elevator was actually pretty full; Pierre and Yuki stood in front of him and Kimi was standing at his right. At the back he saw Seb and Lewis standing a little bit too close to each other. Then he remembered they were a couple and he shook his head in an attempt to fasten his thoughts. It felt like they had to swim through a thick, red blanket before he could grasp them and shaking his head didn't work in the slightest either.

Suddenly the elevator came to an abrupt stop. Everyone faltered a bit because of the deceleration and George caught a glimpse of someone standing in the back behind Seb and Lewis but before he could identify who it was, Seb had already blocked George's view with his body again.

"Guess the braking isn't as fluid as the acceleration don't you think?" Yuki said and Pierre grinned. George however had the feeling something was wrong. He had ridden this elevator that morning and then everything was fine with the acceleration as well as the braking.

"I don't think this is supposed to happen," Seb said while he walked the few inches towards the buttons and the display which showed them they were stuck somewhere between the fifth and sixth floor. George nodded, but his head froze somewhere in the middle when he saw who had been standing behind Seb all the time.

"What the fuck do you think you are doing here?" George spat at the Mercedes driver at the other side of the elevator. Pierre's head shut up by hearing the raw emotion in George's voice but it was Yuki who stepped towards him and put a hand on his elbow.

"George, stay calm, he is just-"

"No, shut up! Why is he here?! He should be at the stewards right now, not in the elevator of the hotel!"

"I have already spoken to the stewards who said-" Valtteri said, his voice calm and steady although he sounded mostly very tired. Not the emotions George had expected and that made him even more furious.

"No! I don't care what the stewards said! They don't know that I am fighting for that place at Mercedes and that it was you who pushed me off the track because of that!" The silence laid weighty upon them when nobody spoke. George was breathing heavily and he felt Yuki strengthening his grip on him a little.

"George, you know that isn't true," Lewis said softly, but all he got was an angry glance in return.

"You can't say that. You are completely fine there with Mercedes. Everybody wants you; nobody doubts you. You can make a stupid mistake and they still love you as always. Everyone loves you and supports you so don't fucking think you know my situation and what's going on!" George saw Lewis' face flare with guilt and genuine distress and while Lewis' eyes trailed down George felt a cruel grin creeping over his face. He knew he had hit the right spot with Lewis and although he somewhere knew Lewis was just trying to help, he couldn't feel anything but satisfaction at this state of mind.

"Don't you dare say that, George." Seb said calmly, but the raw undertone of suppressed anger was clearly present in his voice.

"Guys, I appreciate that you are trying to help, but George and I have to speak this one out between us two. He isn't really capable of thinking at the moment I think, so don't take it personal, Lewis," Valtteri tried to reassure Lewis, but he was already out of the conversation so Valtteri targeted his words to Seb, who was rubbing the back of his boyfriend and whispering something in his ear, before nodding a thank you to Valtteri.

"George, I-"

"No, shut up! I don't want to hear from you!" George snapped back and he saw Valtteri's hands were making fists now. Good, was all George could think. "You fucking screwed my whole race, the team's whole race and now you think we can just simply talk it out? No fucking way." After that George stormed at Valtteri, who wasn't expecting that and got pinned at the wall fairly easily. George couldn't think straight; a red haze pulled over his sight and he just kept his hands around Valtteri's neck, enjoying the glance of pure fear in the Fin's eyes. He heard people saying something and he felt that someone was grabbing his arms, trying to prevent him from suffocating Valtteri, but his anger fueled his muscles and it was no use. Valtteri tried to kick him, but he didn't have the strength anymore. The red haze was slowly sliding away and George gradually realized what he was doing. Before he could do anything however, he got pulled away from Valtteri with such a strength, that George let go of the Fin from pure shock alone. The someone grabbed him by his color and lifted him in the air like he was as light as a kid.

"George William Russel. Get you fucking head together and act like a man. Understand?" someone whispered in his ear at a tone so cold it made a shiver run down his spine. George looked up and almost peed in his pants from fear. The absolute furious face of Kimi Räikkönen was almost a few centimeters from his. He could actually feel the ice-cold breath against his cheeks and he shivered again. Kimi wasn't impressed and rattled him back and forth, which made George's bones vibrate and his teeth chatter.

"Understand?" he asked once again. George however was over his first shock and the anger returned in full glory.

"I'm acting like a man. It's Valtteri who-" Kimi sighed and looked done. He glanced one last angry look, which to be honest made George's legs weak and sweat running down his back although he tried to be seemingly calm for the outside world. After that Kimi threw George away, what resulted in George almost tripping over his own feet and slamming not so very softly against the wall.

"And now you stay there and don't say a word till we get out of here!" Kimi said loud enough to be heard by everyone, who were all, except Sebastian who was trying to see if Valtteri was ok, watching with great eyes at the furious Fin.

"Yes, Kimi" George said tamely. He was still very angry, but also understood it was no use catching Kimi's anger again.

"Good," was all Kimi said before he stole Yuki's place at the other side of the elevator and folded his hands over each other, still keeping an eye on the Brit.

"And it will be a very long time, so I hope everyone had brough a visit to the loo before?" Yuki said as he was the intercom from a plane or train. The ambiance loosened a little with that, although not for George. Valtteri was still to blame, and while George didn't know what he wanted exactly, he knew he was going to get it.

☲

Sebastian didn't know how long they were already stuck in this god damn elevator. He knew he could easily ask Lewis to show him his watch but he didn't really want to. Somehow, he felt like they had been stuck for well over an hour, but if Lewis would show him it was less, he would be going mad. As if he wasn't going mad already. Seb sighed and shook his head, while still pacing back in forth in the little space he had, which was exactly one big step or two tiny ones. He couldn't understand how everyone was sitting or standing still. Personally, he felt very trapped in this little steel box. Especially if you consider his plans for that night, which were no more than changing clothes, chancing bodies and running around in the Italian woods for a while. Although he thought he would be needing a lot more than a while after they were finally out of this hell.

He glanced around and could not not be irritated by the way everyone was just chilling there. George of course wasn't; in fact, he hadn't moved in the slightest for the last hour, which was in itself an impressive feat since his eyes were spitting fire still. And Seb had to admit Kimi wasn't truly chilling either, although you really couldn't see that in his blank expression. Sebastian knew Kimi well enough that he recognized the vigilant glares the Fin threw at George as Kimi being very wary of the situation, but he envied his relaxed posture. Seb walked to and fro a few times more until Yuki lifted his head and asked if he wanted to play with Pierre and him in their game of cards. Seb shook his head maybe a little too brusquely, but he couldn't care. He just wanted out of this god forsaken elevator! Yuki shrugged however, seemingly not impressed or offended at all and focused on the cards again. Seb felt movement at his left, but he didn't lift his head and stayed pacing. He needed al his focus not to change here right now. That would be quite disastrous. He almost chuckled at the thought.

"Hey, Seb, I know you don't like it in here, but why don't you relax and sit down with me for a bit?" Lewis asked softly and everyone's eyes- except maybe Kimi's, but Seb wasn't entirely sure and wasn't planning on finding out- shot towards Seb, which made his skin crawl even more. He could almost feel how badly everyone wanted him to say yes and stop pacing. Sadly for them, he could not think of a way for him to accomplish that. He had to stay in motion or he would become crazy.

"I can't, Lewis. I'm glad you want to help," Seb could see in Lewis' eyes he didn't believe him, but Seb knew that deep down he had meant that and that Lewis knew, so he continued on the same tone: "but you can't help me right now." He saw Lewis' mouth drop slightly and a little flash of guilt flared through Seb's body.

"But can't I do anything, sweetheart?" Lewis asked with genuine concern in his voice, which made Seb only more irritated. He had nothing to pity, it wouldn't help him out of this suffocating space.

"Well, if you could manage to get this elevator moving again, that would be pretty helpful indeed," Seb snarled at him. He realized he had crossed a line; both because of the change in expression on Lewis' face and the focus of Kimi moving from George to him which he was more feeling than actually seeing.

"You know I can't do that," Lewis said a little more sternly. Sebastian stopped pacing and turned towards his boyfriend.

"Then try harder," he spatted back, his breath now heavy. He half expected Kimi to grab him like he had done with George and Seb decided that if the Fin would do that, he was going to change. The next few seconds it stayed silent but it felt like the calm before the storm to Seb. Lewis' glance changed focus from Seb to something behind him so Seb made himself ready. Lewis looked back at him and his eyes widened from shock. He pointed at his hair, then at Seb and thereafter at himself again, his mouth silently begging not to do what Sebastian was threatening to do. Sebastian heard someone took a step behind him and turned rapidly, but Lewis was quicker. Before Sebastian could even get a glance of Kimi behind him, something hard hit the side of his head and everything went black.

☲

If it was even possible in the little room they were in, Yuki, Pierre, George and Valtteri recoiled and gasped all as once.

"Lewis, what the fuck, man?" Yuki said breathless and that snapped Lewis out of his state of shock. Kimi had caught the limp body of the Brit's boyfriend and was looking at the both of them in utter confusion. Lewis felt his phone sliding out of his damp hands and heard it slamming on the ground. If the screen wasn't already broken because of the contact it had made with a certain German's head, it would certainly be damaged now.

"I, I-, Omg Seb, I'm so sorry," Lewis stammered while kneeling besides Seb, who was still unconscious. Lewis really didn't know why he had done what he had done. He only saw Seb was almost turning into a horse -which would not only be disastrous because of their secret, but also because of the already little space they had- and just handled out of intuition. Lewis cupped Sebastian's head carefully. Luckily, he saw no blood streaming down, and his hair, which was thankfully his original color again, didn't feel damp so Lewis sighed from relief. He only had hit his boyfriend unconscious, no more.

"Lewis, I'm going to lay him down and then you're gonna explain what the fuck just happened," Kimi whispered. Lewis wondered why Kimi stayed so silent. Supposedly the rest of the drivers also wanted to know what had happened too, right? Lewis glanced up and saw that the interest of Pierre and Yuki had moved to George, who had taken the absence of Kimi to get a story from Valtteri again. They were whisper-shouting, but not loud enough for Lewis to really understand what was going on, so the Brit decided they could wait. It probably wasn't very intelligible talk either. Kimi laid Sebastian carefully on Lewis' lap and kneeled in front of the two. Lewis lovingly wiped away a few hairs of Seb and sighed. He now thought that what he had done had been right, but when he saw Seb so vulnerable in his lap and when he got some flashbacks to the party at Dan's a few weeks ago, he could only feel guilt. Somewhere in the back of his mind he realized the row between Valtteri and George was heating up a bit and that got confirmed by Kimi who was throwing some glances at the other side of the elevator. Lewis wanted to say Kimi should go to them, but Kimi was quicker.

"Lewis, did you just hit your boyfriend unconscious because of the things he might have said if you didn't?" Lewis secretly sighed from relief. So, Kimi hadn't seen that-

"Or is it because his hair suddenly went blue?" Lewis was so struck by this sudden addition that his mouth fell open. He knew Kimi knew it was right what he had said and could almost slam himself in the face for not keeping his expression blank. Kimi's expression turned from worry into something else which Lewis couldn't really identify.

"Is it? Or not?" Kimi asked almost teasingly, although Lewis couldn't really see the fun in all of this. The Brit sighed and nodded a little. He couldn't believe Kimi was so calm about all this. Especially when he demystified Kimi's expression as excited

"But. I don't know, aren't you confused? Or afraid," Lewis said with a little voice. He himself was pretty confounded right now. Kimi shook his head slowly, a grin creeping over his face.

"I'm not scared, a little confused maybe. I just have never met a Henkitäimeksi before and for Seb to be one is just," Kimi said and his eyes trailed of while he was thinking of how to explain it properly. Lewis was just staring at the Fin with great eyes. He was not only baffled and speechless, but also to be honest a bit eager to know how Kimi knew or thought to know what Seb was even when they themselves didn't.

"Surprising," Kimi finished his sentence and for a while it remained silent between the two, although in the elevator as a whole it was quite noisy, because George and Valtteri were still bickering. Lewis caught something in the trend of "I just stayed on the racing line." and "you knew I was going to slide if you wouldn't have given me more space!". Lewis finally found his voice again and stuttered:

"What did you call him?" Kimi lifted his eyebrows.

"An Henkitäimeksi you mean?" Lewis nodded and gestured Kimi to continue.

"An Henkitäimeksi is a kind of shapeshifter, but only one animal each. It is part of Finnish superstition. My dad saw one once and always told us his story when we went to sleep. So, I guess I've never doubted the existence of Spirit-to-animals or Spiritfillers, which are the most decent English translations, although I believe everyone prefers to call them just Spirits." This was not only the most Lewis had heard Kimi say in one go, but also the weirdest thing probably somebody had said to him ever in the first place. If he hadn't had a boyfriend who could change into a Pegasus, he would have laughed Kimi in the face.

"May I ask what kind of animal-" Kimi said, but he got interrupted by Seb, who had woken up and was trying to sit upright, looking around him in confusion while rapidly blinking with his eyes. Lewis softly pushed him back.

"Shh, not so fast sweetheart, you'll get dizzy." Sebastian didn't resist him and laid down again.

"What happened?" he asked while he buried his face in Lewis' T-shirt. Before Lewis could answer, Kimi said:

"Your emotions let you almost change into your animal, so Lewis had to knock you out,"

"Yeah, I'm sorry for that," Lewis said apologetically.

"Hmm, don't worry, you did the right thing. Although my head hurts like-" Suddenly, Seb shut upright, eyes widen in shock. Both Lewis and Kimi recoiled a bit, startled by the movement.

"You know!" he brought out breathing heavily while looking at Kimi in shock.

"I didn't chance, did I?" Seb asked startled at Lewis who tried to smile reassuringly, although he had to admit it had been really, really close.

"No, don't worry. You just happen to be some kind of mythical creature from the Finnish folklore."

"I'm a what?" The look on Seb's face was both adorable and hilarious so Lewis smiled genuinely this time. He took some breath to explain it, when suddenly the elevator jerked and started to move again. Lewis locked eyes with Yuki and Pierre and even George and Valtteri stopped arguing for a moment to look at each other in amazement.

"Still we rise," Yuki said before winking at Lewis and for the second time this evening, laughter filled the air.

☲

The next minute was filled with a lot of movement and excitement. Yuki grabbed all his cards together to stand up in a rush, pulling Pierre with him. Kimi offered his hand to Seb, but the German was excited enough to rise himself and even lift his boyfriend with him. The only two who weren't moving were Valtteri and George, but they had to do soon, because they were standing before the doors of the elevator. Somewhere deep in his mind George was happy their argument had been interrupted by the elevator, because he hadn't felt they were going somewhere at all. He still believed it wasn't his fault, ok not completely Valtteri's fault either, so maybe he was a little bit to blame, but Valtteri also kept saying he had no blame, so they had been a little stuck. George shook his head and even managed to smile by the thought that their argument had been as stuck as the elevator was. But now they were rising again, he felt the blanket disappear from his mind. Maybe George had to make their argument rise as well.

Before he could do something however, the doors opened with a ping and someone dashed past George to rush outside the moment the gap between the two doors was big enough. George smiled when he heard the happy cheering of Seb through the hallways and nodded to Lewis to go outside as well. Lewis shook his head because of Seb's childlike joy, but he had a smile on his face as well and a few seconds later followed his boyfriend through the doors. George hadn't really grasped what had happened between Lewis and Sebastian, but he would find out another time. He had understood that the German driver didn't like the elevator at all so he had figured he shouldn't ask about it right then.

Yuki and Pierre had apparently already left while he was thinking, because there were now only three people in the elevator left. Kimi walked towards George, glanced at him, glanced at Valtteri, squinted his eyes and asked:

"Can I go now?"

"Yes, of course," George said and he quickly added: "Thanks Kimi, for pulling me back."

"No problem," Kimi said and he left the steel box. The doors started to close and George quickly pushed the right button so they would stay open a little bit longer.

"I'm sorry, Valtteri. I still think you could have avoided the accident, but it was a bit reckless from me nonetheless. And I shouldn't have become so angry with you, I'm sorry." Valtteri looked at him in surprise, but he smiled and nodded. George swallowed when he saw the purple bruises his hands had left in Valtteri's neck. He truly was grateful for Kimi, although he still got chills when he thought about how furious Kimi had looked and sounded.

"Thank you, George. I could have given you a little more space indeed, but I'm not really sorry for that. It's racing." George nodded. He would probably feel the same if the roles were flipped so it was only fair what Valtteri had said. "But," Valtteri continued," know I really granted Williams to score some points and I hope you all will soon accomplish that goal."

"Thanks," George simply said and Valtteri nodded one last time before walking out of the elevator. George nodded to himself too. He was proud of the two of them. They had talked this out a lot quicker than he had expected.

Feeling relieved, he walked through the hallway towards his room. He grabbed the handle and sighed unbelievably. A while ago he had thought he needed to smash his pillow for an hour. Who could have thought that being stuck in an elevator for an even amount of time would do the same and maybe an even better trick?