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Max had been up late last night as he and Charles played FiFa. The Monegasque had stayed over after that, too sleepy to make the trip home. It didn’t matter anyway, he had stuff at Max’s place by now. Jimmy and Sassy had made themselves at home on top of the Ferrari driver overnight and the Dutchman had chuckled softly at the sight as he’d walked into his living room in the morning.
They were racing at Paul Richard this weekend, which meant sleeping at home since it was just an hour away by car. They had breakfast together and then made their way to the track. They took their own cars of course. It would’ve been slightly weird if they would arrive in the same car. Plus Max would probably be fired on the spot if he even dared to arrive in a Ferrari.
They stayed relatively close to each other on the highway, given they were both going the same way. They raced each other at some parts – trying not to break the speed limit while they were at it – and waved as they passed each other. Basically, it was good fun.
But then it happened…
Max was driving a little behind Charles on a lane to his right when the car in front of him swerved a bit to the left and touched the right rear side of Charles’ Ferrari. The Monegasque’s car swerved and then turned sideways making it flip over…. And over…. And over. Max immediately slammed on the brakes as he yelled Charles’ name. The car kept flipping and eventually hit the barrier and bounced off of it. Coming to a standstill some 100 metres later.
The car was completely wrecked, all of the windows were broken and the car was almost completely flattened. Max sped towards where the car and stopped and braked with screeching tyres. He jumped out of the car and ran towards the wreckage. “Charles!” he yelled while tears were starting to fill his eyes. “Charles!” he yelled again as he slid onto the ground next to the driver's side, ignoring the pain of the broken glass cutting his skin. “Max?” the voice of the Monegasque replied. “Charles! Oh my god. I’m here alright? I’m going to get you out of here!” he said frantically as he took the Monegasque in.
Aside from a big gash and dirt on his face he seemed pretty much fine. “Max, I can’t- I can’t get out! I can’t move!” Charles yelled, voice so panicked Max felt his heart rate pick up even more. He was starting to smell fuel and he knew for a fact that there’d been a small fire at the back of the car. Their time was running out and it was running out fast. Max had no idea what to do. Charles was stuck in a tight space, seeing that the car had been so deformed. “I can’t get the seat belt to come off,” Charles cried.
Max wasn’t surprised by that. The car was lying upside down so all of the Monegasque’s body weight was hanging into the safety measure. The Dutchman frantically looked around for something, anything, to cut the damn thing. His eyes fell on a particularly big piece of glass and he immediately picked it up and started sawing into the seat belt. He grunted and yelped as the glass cut into his hand but he didn’t stop.
Meanwhile Charles was still yelling at him to hurry up. The smell of fire was getting closer and closer and smoke was starting to get into the inside of the car. “Max, please,” Charles cried. Max was crying too at this point, he had never been more scared in his life. After what felt like ages the seat belt finally gave way.
“You need to- you need to wriggle yourself out!” Max yelled and moved a bit through the window so that he could help him. “Max, I still can’t move! I- I’m stuck!” Charles panicked. As much as Max wanted to be panicked too he tried to be as calm as possible. “Yes you can, Charlie. Take a deep breath, you can do this. I’m here to help,” the Dutchman said as he held out his hand. Charles took it and squeezed tightly.
The Monegasque wriggled a bit and managed to move a bit before coughing violently as he inhaled some smoke. “Almost there, Charles,” Max said as he pulled a bit on his hand. “I- I- I can’t do it, Max,” the Ferrari driver cried. “You have to, Charlie. The car… I think it’s going to blow up,” the Dutchman replied as new tears fell down his cheeks.
Charles cried even harder at that. “Max, I'm so scared,” he cried. “Me too, Charlie, me too,” Max replied and then coughed because of the smoke. “Max, go, save yourself,” the Monegasque coughed. “No! No way! I’m not leaving you!” the RedBull driver replied fiercely. “Please. Go,” Charles begged but Max shook his head. “I’m not leaving the person I love! I’d rather die than live without you!” the Dutchman explained.
It seemed that had given the Monegasque renewed hope as he started wiggling again. “I love you too, so much,” he cried as he yelped because of the pain. Max was pulling at his arms as Charles inched closer and closer to freedom. He yelled in pain as he got stuck on something. Max stopped pulling immediately but Charles interfered instantly. “No! Don’t stop pulling!” he said and the Dutchman listened.
After what felt like hours, but was probably only minutes, Charles finally got out of the car. The smell of fuel was so overwhelming now, as was the smell of the fire. Max immediately tried to pick him up and move away but it was too late. They had only moved a few feet away when the car exploded. They were flung through the air as sharp pain erupted in his back. He made sure Charles was still firmly in his arms but he never consciously hit the ground. He had blacked out before that.
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Car Crash on A8 Near Cagnes-sur-Mer, Leaves Two in Critical Condition
On the morning of July 24, a devastating car crash occurred on the A8 highway near Cagnes-sur-Mer. The vehicle, which lost control, flipped multiple times before erupting into flames and eventually exploding. Both the driver and a bystander were rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Authorities have not yet released any information regarding the cause of the crash or the current condition of those involved. The investigation is ongoing.
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Max awoke to the sound of a heart monitor and incredible pain. He groaned as he blinked his eyes open. A white ceiling greeted him and he blinked slowly, trying to remember where he was. A sound from his left made him turn his head. He saw Charles lying in a hospital bed. He looked rough, really rough. He realised now that he too, was lying in a hospital bed. That explains the pain, he thought to himself.
Then the memories of the crash came back to him and he gasped. Then he winced because of the movement. Charles let out a whimper and Max looked back over to him. The Monegasque’s beautiful green eyes were focused on him and filled with pain. “Max,” he croaked out weakly. “Charlie,” Max replied, voice equally croaky as he tried to reach out.
The Monegasque tried the same but winced at the movement. It had been too far anyway, there was no way they would’ve reached each other. “I’m scared,” Charles said again and Max nodded because he was too. Everything hurt and he had difficulty moving because of it. “Me too,” he whispered. “I crashed,” the Ferrari driver said matter of factly, as if he’d just remembered.
“Yes,” the Dutchman replied. “You were there,” Charles added. “I’ll always be there, Charlie,” Max replied immediately and earnestly. The Monegasque’s eyes filled with tears but before he could speak a doctor walked in. “Ah Mr. Verstappen, Mr. Leclerc. Good to see you are awake. How are you feeling?” he asked. “Everything hurts,” Max replied and Charles followed, “What he said.”
It made the doctor chuckle a bit before he returned to his professional stance. “Mr. Leclerc you were in a car crash. Mr. Verstappen was there to help you out but you couldn’t get away fast enough to avoid the blast of the car exploding,” he explained and Max nodded, he knew this already.
“You both sustained a lot of damage to your backs because of shrapnel but it’s all superficial and we’ve successfully removed all of that. It won’t leave any permanent damage,” he added. That explained why his back hurt so much then, Max figured. Charles stayed quiet as he waited. There was more then, Charles felt more.
“As for Mr. Leclerc… You dislocated your shoulder pretty badly during the crash as well as fractured your left knee. You needed surgery to fix it but we hope you’ll be able to make a full recovery in about 6 months,” the doctor finished. “6 months…” Charles whispered as he seemed to zone out. That meant no more racing, not for a while at least.
“You two really didn’t want to be separated as you came in so that’s why we put you into this room together. Mr. Verstappen kept holding your hand in a vice grip, Mr. Leclerc,” he said with a small smile. “I’ll leave you to it now, gentlemen,” he added and then left the room.
“I- Really?” Charles asked, looking at Max with wonder. Truth be told Max had no idea that had even happened but he didn’t care. “Yeah, of course. I’ll always be there,” he said with a soft smile. “I love you,” Charles croaked out as a sob left his body. “I thought I was going to die,” he added as he cried but his gaze never left Max.
The Dutchman felt tears welling up in his eyes too. “I love you too, Charlie. So, so much.” he replied. “It’ll be alright, okay? We’ll get through this together,” he said then and reached out again, just to show that he wanted to. “I won’t leave you, ever.”