Work Text:
Max Verstappen, the man who previously finished 10 rounds as first place, drove over the finish line for the last time today.
He pulled over to the right to leave space for the rest of the drivers and let his head hang low, his helmet touching the steering wheel. He came in as the 11th place, which didnt do good to Max' reputation. Everything was going better than ever before but now he slacked and lost some really good chances. He was slowly getting out of his vehicle, his movements were slow and still numbed from the extreme pressure put on him from driving so fast.
He knew there'd be some teasing from his competors and his management wouldnt be happy about his performance at all. But what he disliked the most about the situation was that his long time rival Charles Leclerc turned in as 3th place, he would most definitely not let Max forget how bad he messed up today and that he did fairly better than him.
But all that Verstappen needed right now was a cold shower and some time alone to prepare for the next race where he would make sure to be better than Charles.
Their rivarly started long ago, back when they were both just kids and were excited to be able to do what they love the most: drive.
In the beginning both of them enjoyed being present in the public eye and driving in front of thousands of fans, but soon the pressure got to much. Max and Charles had the inner pressure to always perform the best to please their fans, that made them start to fight for the first place a lot. Leclerc never backed down when having the option to make Max look bad next to them. And the media creating rumours about them which often withheld them hating eachother, just added fuel to the fire.
So there Max was standing right next to his car that was able to get him his best wins and his worst fails. And the fans were there to witness all of it and Verstappen was sure that there would be tweets today saying that he doesnt deserve to be a formula 1 driver and even worse: that Leclerc was better than him.
Not wanting to stay around anymore he stripped out of his leather gear that protected his life in any case of emergency, and got into his casual clothes.
Just as he was about to leave the track and call it a day he was approched from behind with a nasty remark.
"Ohhh look at today's loser." Leclercs voice was right behind him, in this moment it was as if all that Max could hear was his voice. The motors dimmed out and he didnt even notice the horn being pressed as acknowledgement of the end of the race.
There was only Charles and him.
But Max had enough of all this bickering with his former bestfriend and now rival.
He was done with being mean just because of jealousy over the spotlight. He was done with fighting all the time.
"I really dont want to fight right now Charles" Max said with the most gentleness he could muster after the mean comment. To Charles he sounded incredibly tired.
"I'll go to the hotel now, you can reap the laurels. This is your win, enjoy it."
That was probably the nicest thing Max has said to Leclerc in over two years. And it didnt only suprise himself how kind he could be but even Leclerc was so suprised that he didnt know what to say. But he didnt have to say or ask anything, he could see how tired Verstappen was. He could see that this job had cost him more than just courage, it had cost him himself.Max had lost himself in the fame and he was now trying to get that back.
"I'll see you later loser" was all that Leclerc could muster to come out of his mouth. But his tone was completely different to before, his voice wasnt laced with venom but with concern. He was worried about Max and he felt himself taking a step forward, but before he reached for Max' shoulder as an act of comfort the former turned around and walked away.
It was nearly 4 am Charles was lying wide awake in his bed, his thoughts had started to whirl around and all he could think about was Max' facial expression when he drove over the finish line and took his helmet off. His hair was sticking to his forehead, pressed on there by the helmet and his sweat. And even though Charles shouldnt, he felt himself thinking about the time back when the two of them were best friends and would make each other laugh so hard that they got stomach aches. They used to spend every single second togther and even though Charles would never admit it out loud he really missed his best friend. And he was aching to hug him after every race and telling Max how proud he was off him.
In a rather rushed decision Leclerc moved out of his sheets and made sure that his hair was lying at least somewhat decent. He quietly moved out of his room in the hotel an walked down the hall, all the way to room number 304, Verstappen's room. He knew this was his room because he overheard Max talking to Fernando about his room being in the very far end of the hallway.
He was scared, very scared of Verstapppens reaction. He was nearly going to turn back around but his body acted faster and before he could make his mind up his slim and long fingers knocked against the door three times.
When Charles didnt hear any movement inside he knocked again, but even with his second knock he didnt hear Max coming to open the door. Just as his shoulders slouched and he was giving up a deep voice rang in his ears.
"What are you doing in front of my room?"
Verstappen was wearing a black oversized hoodie with the hood covering his face. But he didnt need to see his face to know it was him. Leclerc could recognize Verstappen only from his voice, or even from the way he moved the VERY muscled body of his.
"I-" Leclerc wasnt really sure what exactly he was doing here, he just knew that he didnt want to leave.
"Can I come in?" His voice was soft and it broke a little during his 4 word demand. To his relief Max nodded exhausted and opened the door with his keycard.
Charles hesitantly followed Max into the dark room, when Max switched on the lights Leclerc found himself in disbelief of how tidy his room was. He remembered his old friend to be the most chaotic one ever.
Verstappen put down his hood and only then could Charles see the dark and deep bags underneath Max' eyes. He instantly wanted to ask what was wrong, and just 24 hours ago he wouldve hated himself for that instict but he was here already and therefore, he would stay and ask.
"Where were you this late Max?" was the question he opted to ask first.
Verstappen sighed, "Why do you even care Leclerc? Why are you here?"
And even though Charles expected Max to ask those questions he found it hard to answer.
"I-" Charles cleared his throath to make his voice sound less fragile. " I wanted to make sure you are doing okay."
Verstappen looked down at his shoe's, unable to answer to that statement. Because he had wished for his former best friend to come back, he had hoped Charles would still care about how he felt but now that he does, Verstappen didnt know what to do.
Max sat down on the couch of his small hotel room.
His strong, musculated arm lazily moved next to him and slapped the couch two times, a sign for Leclerc to sit next to him. Charles hesitantly sat down, the sofa being only made for one person the space was very little and their knees were touching, but neither of them pulled away.
"I was training" Verstappen finally spoke up "My management wants me to get better again. They were pretty disappointed in me today. So I tried to get better"
Charles mouth opened in slight anger at the Management but he quickly calmed himself again "Max its 4 am you need sleep more than anything else."
Max looked down at his fidgeting hands until long, very familiar, fingers intertwined themselves with his. His gaze shot up and he finally met Leclercs eyes.
"You need to prioritize your mental health" Leclerc said with his most gentle voice ever. He looked at Max with so much concern that Verstappen just lost it.
"What are you even doing? First you insult me, then you knock at my room and want to comfort me? What is wrong with you. I hate you and you hate me, everone knows that so just shut up and leave. I dont want to see your face anymore"
Max was now standing in the middle of the room, slightly panting from his fast and angry spoken monologue.
"Max, please" Charles attempted to speak but Max cut him off again.
" No!" He was nearly yelling now. Charles stood up aswell trying to make Max be quieter he took a step forward but Max instantly took some steps back
"Go away. Leave my room. Who do you think you are showing up in my room at 4 am thinking you could help me or whatsoever. We arent friends anymore, get it into your stupid head, I hate you."
Charles felt himself getting angry now, he had heard enough of that nonesense.
"I know that were not friends anymore. But Max dont you see that we never were friends?" Charles was yelling just the same as Max did a few seconds ago "We started out as best friends but I fell in love with you. I knew I loved you when I saw how ambitious you trained to win. I knew I loved you when you used your quick wit against me. Didnt you realise our longing stares in training werent something normal friends do? I fucking let you win because I wanted to see that gorgeous smile of yours. And it teared me apart when you started to distance yourself."
This time when Charles stepped closer Max stayed.
Charles tone was more slowed down now "The media spread all of those backlashing rumours about us hating each other just because we had the same goals. I never hated you, not once in my entire life. And I was longing to come running to you after every race just so I could wrap my arms around you and tell you how fucking proud I am of everything you've achieved. But I couldnt because you started to act like you hate me and so the only chance I had to talk to you was when I insulted you after races. So stop saying we hate each other when I've never wanted anything more than you"
Charles monologue came to a halt, he was scared. He just confessed everthing, every little detail he kept to himself all those years. And even though he was freaking scared of everything that could happen he was very relieved to get all of this off of his chest.
Charles closed his eyes, an unintentional reaction of his body to keep himself protected from Max judging face.
But if he only would have opened his eyes he would see that Max had the silliest smile on his face, he didnt smile like that ever since he had started acting as if he hated Charles and bottled all his feelings up.
Charles was nervously waiting for an answer, his eyes still closed and his head hung low. But instead of answering Max opted for the more revealing option. He took a step forward and his hands softly traced Charles' cheek, which made Charles look up. He didnt see any signs of disgust on Max' face, like he had thought he would, instead he saw something else, adoration.
Max breathed out a sentence Charles wanted to tattoo into his mind " I want to kiss you."
Just as Charles started to smile at that thought, Max' soft lips were gently pressed onto Charles.
Verstappen pulled Leclerc closer by wrapping his arms around his neck. Soon enough they both got lost in the kiss, all the waisted time while fake hating each other was being made up with that kiss.
As the boys had to pull away to get some air, Max' cheeks were blushing red. Charles had the biggest grin on his face.
"Do you know how often I dreamt of doing this?" Charles said with a hushed voice.
Max grinned "I'm glad you confessed, all of this was getting way too much for me. I needed you."
"I'm glad I came here." Charles smiled sweetly but Max yawned, being tired of all the events that occured today.
"Lets go to sleep Max" Charles said
"Do you want me to stay?"
"Of course I want you to stay Charlie" his voice was full of sleep.
Max guided them both to the bedroom and the boys got under the duvet sharing one more sweet kiss.
Max instantly fell asleep being spooned by Charles. He normally had so much trouble falling asleep but with Charles everything felt so much easier. Charles hugged Max from behind and felt warmth spreading throughout his entire body. He didnt only get his friend back, he finally got to hold the love of his life. He was finally home.
Charles leaned his head into Max' neck and whispered quietly "I am proud of you, you are my boy and I am so fucking proud of you."