Chapter Text
Eye twitching is normal, as far as Isack is concerned. Eyes twitch all the time as a part of a benign muscular rebellion. It's fine. Tout passe, tout casse, tout lasse.
He repeats this to himself while staring at Liam, who is currently being embraced by a man who looks like someone attempted to assemble Daniel and Lando from memory and ended up with a spoonful of curls.
Isack's eyes twitch.
There it is again. Fascinating phenomenon.
Across the paddock, Arvid is still hugging Liam, still still hugging Liam, beyond the duration that is societally acceptable for a man to hug his colleague.
Isack has the vague urge to scream into his protein shake, but he guesses that would cause Max to give him a concerned face, and Isack doesn't want that man to have more things to worry about when there's already a shit ton of worry that's sold for free at Red Bull.
Liam pulls away at last, cheeks tinged pink. Isack supposes the weather is a bit too sunny in Montreal, and that might be the reason why Liam is blushing. Mayhaps the celestial being is the sole conspirator that's causing such changes in facial features. There couldn't be any other reason why Liam is turning red, right? There's no need to consider that Liam has never blushed like that when Isack —
"Charlie told me he's going to the Italian restaurant this evening," Max says, interrupting his thoughts on manslaughter. "The same one we went to last year. You coming with?"
Isack hummed into his shake as he watched Arvid say something into Liam's ears. The blond man laughs, head tipping back. Isack is in hell. Nay, Isack is trapped in a room with Helmut Marko and the only way to get out of there is by talking to him.
Fuck, Isack is in Judecca.
Arvid’s hand lands in Liam’s hair, fingers ruffling through that offensively soft sunlit blond, and the worst part, Isack believes, is that Liam doesn't even seem to care. Liam, the man who is known for his peculiar fashion and the need to look prim and proper, is fine, no, even encouraging, the notion of a man touching his beautiful, luscious hair.
Isack wasn't sure if there was anything worse than the seventh circle of Dante's Inferno, but alas, he's been proven wrong again.
"So?" Max asks. Isack has no idea where this conversation is going, so that's great too.
"Uhhhhh," Isack says intelligently. He racks through his brain nodes and remembers the mention of a random restaurant. "Yeah, I am probably free today evening."
Max grins widely and taps on his phone. "Sweet. I will let Charlie know."
Isack matches his smile and turns his attention back to Liam and the moron, and oh.
Oh.
Oh.
His cheeks are still flushed, but now there are indentations on Liam's skin — dimples! — and Isack briefly considers whether one could, hypothetically, place a fingertip there, to press, prod, perhaps bite, and not lose all dignity in the process (unlikely). But when Isack finally lets go of the high of watching the love of his life laugh so loudly, Isack realises that Liam is laughing at a joke that Arvid said.
Isack leans, just slightly, into the narrow space between himself and Max, and continues watching Liam like a moth to a flame. "I think I need cyanide."
Max stops typing, thumbs hovering midair, and turns to look at him. Isack realised that he had said those words out loud, and judging by Max's expression, Isack is going to regret it in three, two, one —
"We are not doing that," Max says, calm, but with a pinch of dread. Isack's favourite version of Max. (Not).
Max folds his arms, and there's something so profoundly paternal about it that Isack has the urge to do something that could go terribly wrong, like call him Dad, or something. Obviously, he isn't going to do it, but he just might.
"No car is that bad," Max says with a tone of someone who has seen horrors and survived them and became them. "I don't care what they've given you. I don't care if it understeers, oversteers, or tries to manhandle you into early retirement. You do not start talking like that because of a car. It's not worth it."
Isack opens his mouth to say 'Oh, I don't need cyanide because I wanna kill myself for how shit RB22 is. I wanna kill myself because of a boy,' but then he realises that will probably lead to another lecture and he doesn't have the energy to deal with Max Verstappen giving him dating advice right now.
Max, unfortunately, has found his stride.
"You think I haven't driven bad cars?" Max goes on, a faint frown knitting his brow, voice softening into something kind. “You think I haven't wanted to throw the whole thing away after a race? It passes. It always passes. You fix what you can, you adapt to what you can't, and you keep going.”
Max tilts his head slightly, studying Isack now with an expression that is less stern and bordering on careful.
"And if it doesn't pass," he adds, quieter, "you say something, properly. Not like that."
Max claps him once on the shoulder. "You'll be fine," He adds.
Isack stares at him and swallows a lump in his throat. Yeah, no, he's not telling Dad Max about his boy problems. His eyes flickered back to the VCARB home facing opposite them, and caught Arvid making Liam laugh again.
"Yeah," He whispers.
Max might have heard the concerning amount of yearning in Isack's voice and mistook it for misery (which it is), and pulls his phone out again. "Right. I'm adding you to a group chat."
"Hah," Isack says, half distracted, as he continues watching Arvid trying to faux-wrestle Liam. Liam, for his part, is rolling his eyes, his gorgeous drop-dead blue eyes that Isack has fallen into more than once and would love to do it all over agai— "Wait, what group?"
The older man glances at him, as though the answer ought to be self-evident to anyone with a functioning brain. "The suicide prevention one."
Isack blinks. Perhaps his eye twitching tendencies have evolved. "I'm sorry—what?"
"The suicide prevention group," Max says, thumbs moving as he types something on his phone. "You should have been in it already, actually. That's on me."
"That is absolutely not on you," Isack says quickly, a flicker of alarm cutting through the general malaise. He desperately does not want a digital sequel of Max's lectures. "And it is also not necessary."
Max pauses mid-type and looks at him again. Fuck, was that the wrong thing to say? Did he make it sound like his life isn't necessary-slash-important, and now Max is going to take a class on self-esteem, which Isack has in plenty, thank you very much.
"It is very necessary," Max says, and Isack is grateful that he didn't make that another lecturing point. Phew.
"It is not that serious," Isack insists, though he keeps his tone low. "It was just a joke. I don't really need cyanide."
He needs anaesthesia, or something equally strong. He needs to be put out of this pain of watching Liam be happy with someone else when Isack is right here, ready to catch the moon for Liam if he wants it.
Max tilts his head. "Isack."
Isack straightens instinctively, like a child who has been addressed by their full name. "Yes."
"You asked for cyanide," Max says. "That's not a joke."
"I was being metaphorical." Isack counters, trying his best to convince Max that he is one hundred per cent not suicidal. He even considers telling Max about his shit nonexistent love life, but then Isack will just have to stay silent, so he decides against it. "I'm a Gen Z, Max. This is the kind of humour we usually say. I don't actually want cyanide."
Max looks at him like he's considering taking Isack's words at face value. "I'm still adding you regardless."
"I swear I didn't mean anything by sayi—"
"No," Max cuts in again, returning to his phone. "You don't get to decide it's not serious after saying it. That's not how this works."
Isack considers several responses, but all of them feel like they will make this worse.
He settles, instead, for damage control.
"Who is in this group?" he asks.
Max shrugs, still typing. "Most of the grid."
Isack freezes. "I'm sorry," he says, very calmly, like Dumbledore levels of calmly. "Most of the—"
A soft chime was heard in his pocket, which he supposes is the invitation to join the new group. Isack doesn't check his phone yet, too busy gaping at Max.
"There." Max grins as he gets up from the chair, picking up his Red Bull along with him. "Now you have people to talk to about your problems."
Isack stares as he watches Max walk back into the motorhome, leaving Isack and his protein shake and his phone back alone. It could not be more Être dans la merde than right now.
"Alright," Isack whispers to himself as he pulls his phone out. There's a notification showing a direct message from 'Max Dadstappen3' which Isack clicks on, even though he could just ignore it until the next millennium.
A quick glance at Arvid, who's still wrapped around Liam, made Isack realise that he might need this help after all. Not because he's suicidal, of course not. The correct English term would be murderous, actually.
Max Dadstappen3
🔗 Invited to No, haha, don't kill yourself, you're so sexy 😘
Tap to join this group.
Well, at least the group name is fascinating enough to keep Isack on his toes. He clicks the link and joins the group, not spending too much time thinking about it. Some decisions should be made as a spur of the moment, or whatever Alexander the Great said.
No, haha, don't kill yourself, you're so sexy 😘
You joined using an invite link.
🔒 Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. No one outside of this chat, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them.
Lando
oooohhh fresh blood
welcome to the trnches mate 🙏
George
*trenches
Lando
stop w the gpda shit
George
??
Literally just correcting your grammar
Anyway, @Isack, welcome to the group!
Lando
max remove george hes causing me emotional distress
George
Oh, fuck you.
Lando
mhm no u r not my type sry not sry<3
Lewis
Kids, stop fighting.
Welcome, Isack! Remember to breathe and ground yourself.
Bearboy
max added you didn't he?
Lando
he always adds them when they say something mildly concrening
bro added me when i told him i was gonna jump off a cliff
Oscar
which u did
Lando
well yes but i jumped off the cliff just to prove a point that this grp is useless
Lewis
I'm sorry, you did WHAT now?
Lando
and now we have grandpa involved
tq osc
Lewis
Norris, come by Ferrari motorhome when you are free, okay?
Lando
fiiiiiiiiiiiine
also wheres isackkkk
George
He's likely reading these messages.
Lewis
We're glad you're here, Isack. No pressure to respond.
Lando
speak for urself i want answers
why did max kidnap u???
Bearboy
reckon he said something like
'i wanna die'
and then max added him
Lando
speaking from personal experience?
Bearboy
dont remind me
max has mandated me to go therapy at least once a month
how do i explain to that man abt the intricacies of genz humour
Gabi
didnt know u knew how to spell intricacies
Bearboy
when
Gabi
when what
Bearboy
when did i ask
Lando
lads u r dwiddling away from the topic
MAX WHY WAS ISACK ADDED???
Arvid (evil)
the fuck is a dwiddling
Bearboy
the offspring of a dwid
Arvid (evil)
oh ok
the fuck is a dwid then
Bearboy
driving while intoxicated with drugs?
Arvid (evil)
oh ok
the fuck is the offspring of driving while intoxicated with drugs then
Bearboy
ur mum
wait sorry that was offensive
my therapist told me to stop being so offensive
Arvid (evil)
apology accepted
my therapist told me to accept apologies.
but i still dont know what the offspring of driving while intoxicated w drugs
Bearboy
its u
Gabi
isnt dwiddling what the ducks do?
Bearboy
thats waddling u dumbass
Gabi
i think thats what lando meant
Lando
yes thats wat i ment
Gabi
@Bearboy whos the dumbass now
Bearboy
strip naked and look in the mirror
Gabi
im sure u would love to see it
Arvid (evil)
the silence is appalling
Gabi
appealing u mean
Lando
u guys a so annoying
can someone tell me why isack was added?
George
Lando, it's offensive to ask someone why they are suicidal.
Lando
well theres no confirmtion on the degree of suicidalilititity
also that didnt stop u from slapping me when i od'd
George
But I still didn't ask you the reason, did I?
Lando
hmh
sometimes i hate u so much and then sometimes i hate u a bit more
MAX PLS REMOVE THIS ALOWN FROM THE GRP
George
*Clown
Liam <3
Isack, welcome to the group !! <3
Isack has a grave need to throw Max into the nearest water body, but considering that is very much close to impossible, he chose to scream into the heels of his palms instead.