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The miracle came about in a weird sort of way, Sebastian had been feeding his chickens when the doorbell rang and in a sense there was nothing strange about that, he lived in a neighborhood where everyone came round if they wanted a quick chat about what was going on and this is what Sebastian was expecting so he quickly silenced the dogs who had never gotten past the fear they felt when the doorbell rang and when he opened the door on the other side was Mark Webber.
“You have loud dogs Sebastian.” Mark said with a small smile on his face, there was a cardboard box next to him on the porch and Sebastian looked at him up and down. There were no words, there was nothing to even say and he was stunned and before he could even begin to think of what to say, Mark had begun to speak and his feet began to shuffle as he did so.
“I called Britta, she told me where you were and I needed to speak to you.” Mark said as he looked around “It's a nice place Seb” Sebastian nodded and his face flushed with the compliment. “Thank you Mark, it's nice to see you.”
Sebastian meant it, since his retirement from F1, he had not watched the races as that was too painful and that had meant that he did not see Mark either. Mark had not changed, the grey only becoming more pronounced but the wrinkles had softened and Mark almost looked younger than the last time Sebastian had seen him.
Sebastian could not stop looking and his eyes were darting around, almost looking for the cameras that must be here because Mark would not associate himself with Sebastian unless it was for a PR stunt. Mark interrupted Sebastian's thought process with a cough
“Seb are you going to let me in?” and Sebastian lightly shook his head “Of course Mark” and he opened the door wider to let him in “Please take off your shoes.” Sebastian muttered as his eyes fixated on the muddy shoes which Mark had worn. Mark toed them off without complaint, one hand clutching the cardboard box which he had brought in with him. Sebastian eyed the box suspiciously, an element of him still thought this could be a prank, some sort of revenge plot for years passed.
“Would you like a drink?” Sebastian offered walking towards the kitchen having quickly glanced outside the window to make sure the dogs were okay whilst gesturing for Mark to sit down, his mother would have been disappointed if he hadn't at least offered a drink but Mark shook his head
“Nah thanks Seb I am good, it's just a quick visit”
Mark sat down at the table, the box placed in the centre and a bit of dust had fallen from the box onto the table and Sebastian's lips pursed, he liked a tidy environment and his eyes could not help but fixate on the dust and Mark’s eyes followed him and when Mark saw what Sebastian had seen, his mouth turned up in a smirk.
“So what are you doing here Mark?” and as he said this - Sebastian's fingers began to drum against the table.
Mark yawned, stretching and then he gestured to the box.
“I brought you this. Open it.”
Sebastian was concerned that Mark was here in the first place and now that he had brought him a gift his suspicion was growing more and more every second.
“What is it Mark?” Sebastian whispered as his fingers touched the box, his hands slightly shaking, still expecting a jump scare or some sort of prank.
Mark furrowed his brows as irritation began to grace his feautures “I don't know Sebastian, why don't you just open it.”
Sebastian opened the lid and lifted up the object, which turned out to be a helmet - Sebastian's head whipped to Mark, this helmet was Mark’s, from 2013. Why has he given me this? Sebastian's eyes flitted from the helmet to Mark as Mark sat there with a smile that Sebastian had almost never seen on Mark’s face. The smile looked real.
Sebastian had not been given many opportunities to see Mark’s real smiles, normally only given grimaces and rolled eyes.
Sebastian turned the helmet and in a messy scrawl towards the bottom read ‘Sebastian, miracles never cease heh? I think a world champion deserves a helmet from the person that almost beat him. Better late than never’ and Sebastian having read that met Mark's eyes and blurted out “Are you dying Mark?”
Mark laughed loudly and shook his head.
“Nah Sebastian, I just think it's time to make amends.” Sebastian blinked and a soft smile began to appear. There was all the time in the world for that.