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Max thought one Daniel in F1 was enough for an experience, life then gives him another Daniel in Nürburgring with a humour that rivals him. This Daniel prefers to shorten his name to Dani though, saving Max from mixing up the two.
Dani has always been unpredictable from their first meeting, who could have thought a guy that looked like he stands on business with a cold face would be one of the biggest jokesters on the Verstappen team. To be honest Max did not mind this at all, in fact he quite enjoyed the vibe he brings to those around him and of course the silly remarks they trade with each other online and in person. Apart from that, he is a warm person, constantly sharing every racing knowledge he has racked up through the years with him and that made long conversations inevitable.
They grew closer and closer rapidly over the course of working with each other, as teammates only…?
It wasn’t quite right to say that.
Max couldn’t help but notice the way Dani’s eyes lingered on him in secret for too long. And the way his voice softened into a more mellow tone when talking to him. Or how assuring and soft the hand that always patted his back whenever he was nervous before getting into the car.
The Spaniard never really tried to hide any of his affection.
And Max secretly enjoyed it. Whether it was simply because he is a rookie, a four time F1 world champion, or something else the special treatment feels good.
Blame him for having a liking for older men because god Dani looks so good in his seasoned professional mode.
Jules certainly notices the strange atmosphere between the two of them and chooses to raise an eyebrow at Dani, sometimes smirking whenever it was too obvious in his eyes.
…
Nürburgring is freezing cold at night. Still, the atmosphere is as tense as ever, crew members high alert and speeding cars with their flashing lights tear through the dark terrain. Some mechanics are already battered, dozing off on their chairs, grunting at the obnoxiously bright light of the garage. Spectators are all gathered up in camps, somehow still watching the race even in the dark.
The race is still as busy as it can be.
There is a long way left to go.
Max breathes some warmth into his hands and stuffs them in the pockets of his jacket, somehow the adrenaline still rushes high in his head as he observes everything concentrately and analyses the few datas he is given–big thanks to the Red Bull can he drank earlier, this stuff really keeps him wide awake when he needs to.
No wonder he is told by a lot of people he’s like a racing obsessed freak sometimes. He can’t peel his eyes off of these cars.
“You’ll need some good sleep tonight Max” A familiar warm voice greets him from behind.
Max turns his head to spot Dani walking over steadily, a pair of glasses perched on his nose, softening his expression. This is the first time he has ever seen the Spaniard wear glasses–quite a surprise, they look especially good on him.
He feigns a cough to wipe clear that thought out of his head before he starts making himself embarrassed again.
“Don’t you have to go to sleep too? Lucas takes the next night stint” He smiles brightly and swings an arm over Dani’s shoulder, pulling him next to his side, creating extra warmth for the two of them. The older man does not fight it and leans in closer.
“Yeh, it’s not my bed time yet though. Just went out for some fresh air, clear my head” Dani breaths out a puff of hazy smoke “Thought I’d check on you”
“It’s so chilly here, the rain also puts in more work to do” Max puts a palm on his cheek, enjoying the heat radiating from it.
“It is always cold on these mountains, the temperature will drop even lower later on” Dani pulls out his phone and checks the time before putting it back “Faster car and less grip, it always prey on even the most skilled drivers. Lucky most of the oil on track are gone by now”
“I’ll get used to it all soon enough” Max fascinatingly glances at the Porsche that has just sped by on the road.
Dani pauses for a second before smiling.
“You adapt really fast to a lot of things, not a surprise to me”
“Anything to get behind the wheels and put in some good laps” Max flickers his hand animatedly.
Dani lets out a breathy laugh–he can never resist any of Max’s silly little jokes–and pulls at the hem of the Dutch driver’s puffy jacket “Come on then, let’s go to sleep. Can’t let you snooze on the wheel on your first ever night out can we?”
“Alright alright, you know I’d never do that” He smirks and lets Dani lead him away out of the busy front of the garage into the inner corridor, leaving the loud bustling noises behind.
“I’m just joking. But seriously you still have to take proper rest”
As they reach the front of Dani’s room and the Spaniard is about to wish him goodnight, instead of just replying normally with a goodnight, Max suddenly opens his mouth again.
“Mind if I share the bed with you?”
A pause.
Dani freezes on the spot, eyes wide and utterly flabbergasted while Max instantly regrets what he has just uttered and avoids his gaze completely–he seriously needs to fix his habit of speaking whatever is on his mind.
“Uh it’s cold you know so-” Max doesn’t even understand why he is continuing with his accidental invitation.
“No no- I’m fine with that, come on in” Dani, to Max’s surprise, actually opens the door and raises out an inviting hand.
It was Max’s turn to have his jaw dropped.
“Really? I actually wasn’t expecting that. Are you not afraid I’ll accidentally wake you up?”
Half of his mind is now hoping Dani would refuse and the other half hopes that he would agree. The two ideas are fighting a life or death battle in his brain.
Dani scoffs a laugh, seemingly taken aback at the question “So are you coming in or what? I don’t got all night to stand here cariño”
The obvious green-light from Dani paired up with his cariño absolutely sweeps Max off his feet.
“Alright, if you’re fine with it” Max shrugs and idly walks into Dani’s room after pulling his shoes off, it’s lucky his cheeks are already red from the breeze or else the blushing would be so blatant by now.
Dani’s room is decorated exactly like his, boxed in four white walls with only a few of his personal items scattered on a small wood table in the corner. Other than that, everything is perfectly well organized. Even his blanket is folded tidily into a cube.
Dani notices Max’s eyes scanning his room and starts explaining with a proud grin.
“I like to keep it neat around here so that it’s easier to clean up everything by the end of the day. Had to learn this lesson after a few races of packing my stuff in exhaustion”
“I do that too, though…not as organized as you” And by that his socks sometimes go missing when he pulls out his suitcase.
“Thank you for the compliment” The Spanish driver chuckles “A strange one but I’ll take it”
Max then shifts his eyes to look at the bed again, it’s big enough for two people to sleep but still relatively small to move around.
Maybe this is not the brightest idea of his and to be frank it was a slip of the tongue.
“Ok time to sleep. Do you need anything else Max?” Dani pats on his stiff shoulder and pulls off the pair of glasses he is wearing, putting them on the table.
I need to rethink about this decision of mine.
“No, we can go to bed now. I’m feeling a little bit tired too and my night stints are coming up” Max replies and slowly lies down on one side of the bed.
Dani goes over to the switch and turns off all the lights, turning the room pitch black with the only light source being the dimly lit corridor light sneaking in through the door’s gaps. The Spaniard turns on his heels and then climbs into the bed into the space next to him, draping the big blanket on both of them.
Darkness renders the eyes almost useless and magnifies every other of your senses, Max can hear his own hitched breathing clear and the little creaking sound from the bed as Dani tries to find a good position to fall asleep.
He shouldn’t be this nervous and aware of everything. Of every movement and sound surrounding him.
Yet he still is anyways.
There is something so oddly intimate being under the same cover as your teammate on a small bed in the middle of an ongoing race–well, presumably that is the only thing to call their odd relationship.
Dani turns over and faces him sideways, the light faintly illuminates his expression in the dark–Max can make out a soft smile.
“Have you set the alarm yet?” Dani shifts on his side.
“I put four of them, would it interfere with your sleep?” Max murmurs.
“Nah it’s fine, I don’t mind noises that much. Sleeping like this does feel a little warmer huh” Dani giggles and Max’s heart flutters.
“I had my reasons you see” Max shrugs with a smile that he doubts Dani can even see.
He continues to stare at the ceiling, simply too stiff to close his eyes, racking his thoughts from racing to Dani being so close next to him and back to racing again like a lottery, so much to the point it’s deranged. It’s too comfortable here to back out now though.
Dani chuckles after a few minutes of silence between them, having noticed the way Max is slightly wriggling under the blanket.
“Do you need me to sing you to sleep? Close your eyes already” The Spaniard hums and startles him.
Max lets out half a joking scoff before turning his face towards the wall “Goodnight Dani”
“Sleep well Max”
Just a few words are enough to help Max’s nerves to let down its strain state. He just needs to rest, nothing else. His eyes flutter closed, succumbing to the coziness.
Max is woken up by the loud alarm blaring on his phone in complete darkness. After successfully turning it off, he finally notices an unfamiliar weight on his back, pulling him in by the waist. Realisation strikes his half awake ass like a bullet.
Oh.
Fuck, Dani is hugging him like a pillow! The Spaniard's arm wrapped closely around his waist.
Worse.
He’s enjoying it and does not want to get off the bed.
Max carefully lifts his head up to take a look if the Spaniard has awoken yet, luckily for him he is still fast asleep and does not know what kind of flustered mess he has caused Max to turn into.
Max looks at Dani who is sleeping peacefully with his hair messy against the pillow and admires the moment. He doesn’t get to see this so often. Max hesitates before placing a gentle fleeting kiss on his forehead.
It takes all of his strength to pull away really slowly, lifting Dani’s arm off of him like he is handling a delicate glass vase and eventually manages to escape, tiptoeing out of the door to not wake the older driver up.
Of course Jules has to catch sight of him coming out of Dani’s room too to add to the story.
“Max? I- Isn’t that Dani’s-?” The older driver constantly diverts his eyes between the door and Max, the dark coffee cup in his hand shaking slightly.
“Please, just don’t ask, Jules…”
“Oh. Ohhhhh”
…
Bad luck. He has been met with nothing but bad luck for every single race he has participated this year. None of them he could have done anything to save.
It hits him hard and out of nowhere.
Just like now.
Max had to squeeze his way out of the crowd full of fans and reporters too eager to shove their mics up onto his face when he was having half a mental breakdown over their lost win then ran over to give some encouragement to Jules sitting all by himself sobbing, proceeding by trying to lift Lucas’ mood up.
He then again ends up sitting alone in a corner of the garage to digest everything, feeling his stomach churns, the race suit sticking uncomfortably against every inch of his body and his eyes burning too hot. None of the mechanics spoke anything more, simply leaving their drivers to have a peace of mind–probably for the best.
Max can’t even take a decent look at the car they are restoring. He can get over this loss, it’s tough but manageable for at least he got to race with all his joy. However, seeing his teammates break down into tears and all of their efforts during the gruesome 21 hours stints flushed away makes him feel sick to the stomach.
And now to make everything worse, he can’t find his emotional support Spanish teammate after he has dragged the car to the finish line. The older driver has just disappeared like that for a few minutes.
He promptly stands up and starts searching around the garage, passing through busy team members, tyres and doors to a half opened room. Max pushes in and finds the one person he is looking for.
Dani is sitting on his bed staring at the blank wall, his eyes are bloodshot from the stress and his helmet still rolling around on the floor under his feet.
Completely wrecked and defeated.
“Dani, are you ok?” Max whispers.
The Spaniard snaps his head up abruptly with a surprised look on his face, caught off guard by his sudden appearance.
“Didn’t- want you to catch me looking like this” Dani sniffed through his already dried tears, looking like he had aged ten years in the span of a few hours “What a joke isn’t it, I just- I’m sorry…I really wanted to win this with our team”
“It’s not your fault hey. Come on, take it easy now schat” Max slowly approaches him, one hand placing gently on his shoulder. He can see a little bit of light behind the Spaniard’s eyes now.
“You don’t have to toughen up for me, Max” He turns his face away and tries to crack a laugh but it comes out sounding rather awkward and forced “You’ve had it rough this year for yourself”
“Actually, can’t say we’re any much different in that” Max shrugs and manages to pull a genuine smile on Dani’s face–albeit a struggle one.
It is better than having to look at him all beaten up and frowning though.
“We’re in this swamp together aren’t we?” Dani sighs feebly and also places a hand on Max’s shoulder.
Max raises an eyebrow before pulling the Spaniard into his arms swiftly, forming a pleasant embrace that melted them both on the spot–it hits as hard as a painkiller for their burdened emotions. Dani buries his face onto Max’s shoulder, his arms naturally wrapped around his waist. The Spaniard is shaking ever so slightly with his unstable state of mind, holding onto him like he is an anchor for everything and letting go means he will fall apart unwillingly.
Max lets him, because he needed this too. Though his mind has long become too numb to cry over things like this his heart still aches and Dani is the only temporal resolution to this rock bottom mood.
For a moment they let each other be at their most vulnerable state for not only do they share the same trust, there is no denying the special bond that makes it all feel better.
Silence fills the hazy cold Nurburgring air, the distant noises of cars and fans fade into the background like static. Even Dani was calming down in his arms, his embrace more relaxed but firm still.
“We’ll avenge another day” The Spaniard finally murmurs with a small laugh behind Max, his voice a little broken but clearer.
“Uh huh, and you better keep that promise Dani” Max rubs his soft blond hair into his cheek.
“Next year? I’d love to race with you”
Max lifts an eyebrow “With the current PR condition of F1 I’ve seen, I doubt they would let me race here again next year. But we shall see of course”
“I’ll wait for any chances. I will” Dani lets out a heavy sigh, his hands still gripping at Max’s race suit.
Max laughs bitterly “We have a deal. I’ll be looking forward to it”
…
Dani has a habit of lurking on social media due to his immense curiosity of what people are posting. Most times just to read news and praises, interacting with his friends, up for some banters, though the amount of encounters with stupid people with the dumbest takes he has ever witnessed makes it a headache.
Especially the ones targeting Max that make his blood boil.
So as a true Verstappie (apparently that is what Max fans call themselves on here. He does not know if it also counts if he is literally in love but anyways), he has to type out a detailed explanation to shut the idiots up–a noble mission indeed.
People these days are getting less afraid about showing their bullshit on the internet.
He has accidentally wandered onto a new side of the fandom in the meanwhile. No idea how it happened but now he is scrolling through posts naming Max’s relationship with other guys.
It buzzes him in a strange way.
Possibly a feeling of jealousy mixed into it even.
They are saying his competition to fight for Max’s affection is weak?! Guess who was hugging your driver in their arms while he sleeps? Is that perhaps not strong enough already?
And the kiss…
Heat creeps up his cheeks.
That was beyond his expectation of what Max was willing to do. He only intended to continue pretending to not have been awakened by Max’s alarm so the Dutch driver could feel less guilty.
Their next race together can’t possibly look any further away.
Dani drops his phone on the floor where a message notification from Max is still showing and groans.
[Are you up for dinner?]
“Oh cariño you drive me crazy”