Is K-Mag The One True GOAT???

It's quite peaceful, lamps are dotted about creating a soft warm glow, and the TV is playing an episode of The Great Pottery Throw Down at a soft volume in the background. Kevin relishes in it, knowing it won't last considering his family has just landed at Bahrain’s international airport.

He is laid out face down on one of the two beds, just existing in this calm while he still can.

A soft beep is the only warning Kevin gets before Laura enters with a bang, Louise and Agnes hot on her heels.

Guess Louise stopped to pick up their paddock pass and key card instead just texting him to be let in.

“Papa!” 

With that one word Kevin turns over in ready to help out his lovely wife and daughters. It had been a LONG media day but seeing his family made it better.

“Hello little love, were you good for mama on the plane ride over?”

“Yeah”

“She was not” Louise butts in. “Little miss ma’am over her decided that running amuck around the plane disturbing people and yelling in her sister's ear was a good idea.”
At that Kevin turns to Laura, staring her down. 

“Oh boefje, that was not a good choice. What do you say to your mama.”

“Sorrrryyyy” Laura whines, clearly not actually sorry.

Kevin turns back to his wife, taking in her disheveled hair and jet lagged look.

“How about I take the kids out for dinner, and you hangout here. Maybe get a massage, order some room service or something.”

Louise just sighs in relief “That sounds like a good idea.”

“Alright Girls” Kevin claps “let's grab our coloring books and you can choose where we eat dinner.”

Laura lets out a whoop. As Louise hands the babywear over to Kevin, letting him get it all situated before putting Agnes in. Kevin shifts her around until it is sitting properly and she looks comfortable, before he takes Laura’s hand.

“All right boefje you ready to walk this way ” Kevin says as he begins to walk in an extremely silly manner solely so he could hear Laura and Agnes giggle.

He wakes up two days later to that same giggle. Something soft is brushing over his chest. What is that? Kevin hears another familiar giggle. He cracks his eyes open and spots a small head of blonde hair.

Oh that's what that feeling is.

He lets Laura have another minute of fun doing something to him, before he strikes. Grabbing his daughter and flipping them both over. She stares up at him shocked, until he starts wiggling his fingers into her sides. His tickling is rewarded with delighted shrieking. 

Dropping his voice he cackles “I'm gonna eat you.”

“No No.” she giggles “Stopppp. Stopppp.”

After a few minutes he secedes, letting her finally catch her breath. “Alright boefje, let's see what you were up to.”

Kevins stands up and walks to the mirror hanging on the back of the hotel room door. Laura just cackles as she watches him take in her creation. 

His guardian angel tattoo has been added to. The angel's wings are now messily colored in a bright purple, while the body of the angel is a mix of green, pink, and black creating some bright clothes.

“Oh my this is really… something”

“Your pretty now papa”

“I'm pretty now? Are you saying I wasn't pretty before boefje?”

Louise, from where she is feeding Agnes, is struggling to contain her amusement. Laura just giggles and nods rapidly. Kevin just shakes his head fondly, takes a photo of her masterpiece, and gets in the shower to hopefully wash it off.

It didn't work. He’ll have to do free practice 3 and quali like this. Lets pray nobody notices. 

Scanning in with a child in his arms is always more difficult than he remembers. But Kevin manages solely because he wants to hold Agnes close to him for as long as he can. Louise walks a pace ahead of him, holding Laura’s hand so she doesnt go running off, after each familiar face she sees. 

On their journey through the paddock, they pass by Lance, and he immediately tries to give Laura a high five. It's cute though because the kid, forgetting that his daughter is a literal toddler, held his hand up WAY too high. It wasn't until Laura starts jumping to reach that Lance realizes his mistake and lowers his hand with a sheepish grin. 

They keep walking, passing by Mercedes when a familiar mechanic comes running out carrying a pile of boxes with two spun candy sticks on top. He reaches Lara, kneels down and lets her grab one. 

As the mechanic then calls out to Kevin “Is Agnes old enough to have one?”

“She is not quite there yet, but thank you for the offer.”

“Alright, good luck at qualifying.”

The Mercedes mechanic then continues on his path disappearing into the bustling paddock.

Once the family reaches Kevin's drivers room Louis sets up the pack ‘n play for when the paddock gets to be way too overwhelming for Agnes to deal with. Kevin takes a deep breath and heads out to get ready for fp3. 

So far the car has been decently good, the new chassis was giving them a lot more grip in general. Kevin takes a deep breath as he settles into the car. Focus it’s all about focus. Just get out there and have fun. That was the key for keeping his panic from overwhelming him, just shove it into a box and put that box under a tight lock and key. Just focus and breath, if you focus hard enough panic is impossible. 

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

It's just fp3, easypeasy, he's got this. 

Free practice 3 passes quickly and way too soon it's time for Qualifying.

Nico goes out first. 

He gets the fastest lap. 

Kevin feels something in his chest loosen as they both make it into Q2. They've got this. It's a tense 15 minutes. Nicos fastest then Lewis, then Kevin, then Max, it reverberates all around like a pinball machine. Jumping from team to team, driver to driver, until Kevin gets sent out for one last lap.

And bombs it.

God fucking damn it Kevin. Why the hell are you so shit, this is literally the only thing you're decent at. Fucking act like it.

He climbs out of his car, purposely leaving his helmet on. Louise is standing at the back of the garage, holding Agnes with one hand and Laura with the other. She stares at him worryingly. Kevin keeps his helmet on so no one can see the tears welling up in his eyes. He takes a deep breath. 

Be a fucking man. Stop crying about a stupid race and do your freaking job.

Taking in a deep breath Kevin rips the helmet off his head, quickly whipping his eyes to try and cover up the tears. He grabs Agnes from Louise and heads to the media pen, intent on using his daughter's small body as an emotional shield from all the prying reporters trying to get the next sound bite out of him. He breathes in her smell, baby powder, Louise’s perfume and vanilla. Already feeling calmer, Kevin presses a kiss to the crown of her head. 

He CAN do this. 

He ends up breaking down as soon as he is no longer needed. Sitting on the bathroom floor later that night trying to muffle the sounds of his cries, so he doesnt wake up the kids on the other side of the door. Louise slips through into the tight cold room, closing the door softly behind her. 

She sits down next to him. Drawing one of the hands Kevin has in a death grip on his hair, down to her lap. She doesn't say anything, just sits next to him. Grounding him in the smooth circles she draws on the back of his hand. After a good while Kevin finally calms enough to get ready for bed, they both stand up and silently move to brush their teeth. As Louise washes her face, he can't help but marvel at how he managed to land such a kind beautiful thoughtful woman.

Once she is done they both fall into bed together, and Louise brings him into her arms, and whispers into the top of Kevin’s head. 

“Oh mijn liefje, you are an amazing person and I wish you could see it for yourself.”

The alarm goes off the next morning. All Kevin feels is dread, he's starting 14th. 

He gets the girls ready. All Kevin can focus on is 14th; it echoes through his brain.

14th

Your starting 14th

You idiot. You can do so much better.

Somehow he winds up at the track.

Kevin takes a deep breath. 

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

He can do this. He can do this. 

All that's expected of him now is just getting Nico into the points and making sure he stays there. 

He can do this. 

Kevin purposefully ignores the voice in the back of his mind telling him: It's your last first race. Are you sure about this? Maybe you should quite before you go and fuck up this race for Nico and yourself. You're starting 14th for a reason.

He leaves his driving room.

Just Breath.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

His fireproofs tickle his neck as he tucks his hair into the balaclava. 

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

The helmets next. With this step Kevin feels his chest tighten just a little bit.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Taking slow measured steps he approaches his heart, Louise smiles at him.

“You got this. We're cheering you on no matter what position you finish.”

Laura just giggles, the headphones she's wearing slip forward and he fixes them for her. Kevin leans down and she helps put his visor down then holds up her hands for a high five. 

That small routine is enough for Kevin to breathe slightly easier.

In. 

Out.

He climbs into his car. His mechanics strap him in. His gaze narrows down to the track in front of him. He can do this, He's done this a thousand times. Just focus on Nico. Only Nico.

The formation lap is over, before he can blink is pulling in one place behind him.

Deep breath in. and out.

One red light. Two red lights. Three. Four. Five. 

They all go out. He can almost hear Crofty yelling in his head.

It lights out and away we go

And what is Kevin Magnussen doing, he's just letting his team mate pass him with no team orders. You heard it here folks Kevin Magnussen let Nico Hulkenberg pass him without a fight at turn 5.

Kevin giggles to himself at that thought as Nico smoothly passes him with a slight wave. Everything is going to plan. Kevin can feel himself loosen up as the laps slowly tick by.

50 left.

45 left.

Yellow flag? 

What happened? It couldn't have been Nico he would have known

“ Russell, Sainz, and Norris puncture. Safety should end soon.”

“Copy.” 

Kevin tightens his grip on the wheel, and focuses back on the track 

Nico seems to be 2 cars in front of him. He can do this.

The safety car pulls back into the pits and time slips away from Kevin again. By the time he is back in his body the race is almost over and he's got one more pit. Kevin pulls the car into the pits, Hamilton in front, Norris behind. Surprisingly it's an extremely successful pit stop, and Kevin manages to pull out infront of Hamilton (who’s pit seems to have gone on for almost 30 seconds), the only thing he actually knows is that Nico is in front of him and Kevin will do his darndest to keep it that way.

10 laps to go.

Norris tries to over take, Kevin weaves in and out managing to keep him behind somehow.

Hope that ones not a penalty

5 laps to go. He's doing good. He has had to defend rather aggressively a few times now, but it's okay. He’s just doing his job.

2 laps. Nico is dive bombing the car in front of him for some reason. Kevin is hanging on to his grid position by his fingertips.

1 lap to go. 

The checkered flag waving knocks Kevin out of his hyper focus. 

“How did I do?” he asks, resigned to get an answer he won't be happy with.

“ Your 5th. Hulks 4th.”

“What?!?”

“Your 5th. Hulks 4th. Can you hear me okay?”

“Uh I can hear you… I just… I just didn't realise”

“HOLY SHIT!” He whispers to himself “WE ARE SO FREAKING HIGH UP!! HOW THE HELL DID THAT HAPPEN!”

Kevin pulls into the pits. Happiness sparking under his skin, as Nico slaps him on the back, and Laura jumps into his arms. She's babbling about how good he did.

Kevin lets the feeling sink in.

Savor it. This is the closest you'll get to the podium all season.”

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