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Max has waited for this for years. He knew he had to get good first. Desirable. Something that Daniel can crave. Max is not your typical omega, a little rough around the edges, but he thinks that, for Daniel, he can be good.
He'd thought of asking Daniel when they were teammates the first time around but then things got messy and Daniel left and he looked at Max like it physically pained him. It wasn't good. Max knew he had to be something better, something Daniel actually wanted.
He thinks he might be now. That Daniel might actually say yes if Max asks. Max hopes he will say yes so desperately.
It's their first day after summer break and their first day back as teammates. Max is fresh of his heat and the salty sea air is suffocating. Until Daniel smiles at him and pulls him into a hug. Max wonders if Daniel can still smell it on him, the last remnants of his heat smell, or if the sea overpowers everything.
It hadn't been overpowering the first time Max met Daniel. Here in Zandvoort, too. But Max had been too young then. Just a kid. Daniel had been magnetizing. Larger than life. Almost mythical. Max thought about him a lot. Especially after he presented at barely 16.
Max’s little crush got worse when he saw Daniel again and grew even deeper after he and Daniel became teammates. But the time was never right.
But now…
Maybe now.
“Are you excited to be Daniel's teammate again?” some journalist asks Max.
Max can feel Daniel's warmth still next to him. His face flushes. “It is of course good to have Daniel back. Always, I have enjoyed spending time with him. He was a good teammate to me, before.”
He doesn’t say he wasn't to Daniel, then. Max thinks it's understood anyway.
Daniel pulls an arm around Max again. “Maxy and I are a match made in heaven, meant to be.”
It sounds like he might be talking about something more than teammates. Max hopes he is. So so much.
“We met in Zandvoort,” Max hears himself say, and it's too much for an interview with some random journalist, “So it is fitting we are back here now. As a team.”
“No fights like you did before?” the journalist asks.
Max’s face falls and he wants to run away. Daniel's arm is still around him and Daniel squeezes his shoulder as if he's begging him to stay.
“Nah, Maxy and I are golden,” Daniel grins. “I wouldn’t have come back if I thought things would be bad. I'm not just a pretty face, you know.”
Daniel winks at the journalist and pulls Max away.
“You're really not worried?” Max asks softly.
Daniel looks into Max’s eyes and Max shivers. Then he gently touches Max’s jaw. It's too much for just teammates but it's perfect for Max.
“I'm not,” Daniel says, “Remember what I told you? I had to leave the team but I hated leaving you.”
“You did say,” Max admits.
“We're good, aren't we?” Daniel asks.
Max nods.
They are good. Max is going to be so good for Daniel. Maybe then he gets to have the Alpha he's wanted all these years.
He studies Daniel's face.
He needs to be bold, he thinks.
“Can you smell my scent?” Max asks.
Daniel's eyes widen. “You… you just had your heat?”
“And?” Max encourages.
“You're unmated. You're… You smell really good. You know that, Maxy. Surely you know that. Any Alpha would be lucky to have you. Who did you… No, I shouldn't ask,” Daniel says. He takes a deep breath and closes his eyes.
Max licks his lips. He reaches out and places his hand on Daniel's chest, right over Daniel's heart.
“Smell again,” Max says, “It will answer your question. I want you to know.”
“Maxy,” Daniel's voice sounds pained. He opens his eyes, they almost look sad. Then he takes Max’s hand and presses his nose against Max’s wrist. “You've… You've not been with anyone? But you are you, you could have any Alpha…”
Max blushes. “There’s one Alpha for me. One I've been waiting for.”
“Who Maxy?” Daniel asks, his voice shaking.
Max barely stops himself from rolling his eyes. He doesn’t think Daniel is being deliberately obtuse. Rather that they've maybe both been idiots all these years. Hopefully. It will be very awkward if Daniel rejects him after all of this.
“Daniel,” Max starts.
Daniel cuts him off, “It's okay if you don't want to tell me.”
“It is of course you,” Max says firmly.
Daniel smiles and hugs Max tightly, burying his face in Max’s neck.
“I take it you like that,” Max says.
“I've wanted you for years, Maxy. It felt like too much, how much I wanted you,” Daniel whispers, “I knew I had to become a good Alpha for you first.”
Max giggles and Daniel pulls back, looking hurt for a moment.
Max rushes to clarify, “I thought I had to become a good Omega for you first. So we… We've both been waiting to be good for each other a long time. Maybe we just always were good, already.”
The smile returns to Daniel's face. “You've always been good for me, yes,” he says.
“I was gonna ask once,” Max admits, “To be your Omega. But then we crashed and you left and of course it wasn't good. So I waited for you.”
“I'd have still said yes,” Daniel says, “If you asked, then. You… Sweetheart, I wanted you so much. I thought you needed an Alpha who would challenge you constantly. On the track. Someone who could take everything better.”
Max gives Daniel a faux-stern look. “Don't be rude about my Alpha.”
“Sorry,” Daniel says. “Sorry to keep you waiting, too.”
“It is okay because we have each other now,” Max says. “We do, right?”
“We do,” Daniel says. “I want to kiss you but there are a dozen cameras on us right now.”
“Let them see,” Max says, “It will entertain the people from Netflix. And you can take me to your room after qualifying and do a lot more. If you want.”
“I want,” Daniel says before pressing their lips together.