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Max sighs from where he is sitting on the couch, still drenched in the champagne from the podium celebrations. It isn’t that he’s not empathetic of Daniel’s struggles, in fact quite the opposite; he’d love nothing more than to punch Zac Brown in the face. But he is tired, and sore from the race, and just wants to spend the night relaxing with his boyfriend.
Their hotel room in Austin (it is technically Max’s, but Daniel has well and truly moved in) overlooks the city, the lights glittering in the dark night. Daniel has been pacing back and forth in front of him for quite while now, and Max just wants Daniel to be able to relax after the poor results of the race. Daniel getting himself worked up in a tizzy isn’t helping anything, Max thinks.
“Honey, I know this race was bad-“ Max tries.
“Bad? Try horrific. P16…I was fighting for fucking P16!”
Max gives Daniel an empathetic look before reaching forward and grasping onto his hand. “And you’ll do better at the next one! I know you’re upset right now, and I know as well as you do that you’re better than P16. But its getting late and you haven’t eaten dinner yet, we can talk about it more in the morning. For now, though, I just want to spend time with my boyfriend.” Max says to Daniel, eyes pleading.
Daniel stares at the ground solemnly. “I just keep thinking Max…what if I’m not better than P16?” He asks quietly. After a while, Daniel gives him a look that is so sad Max wants to tear the entire McLaren garage apart with his bare hands. But Daniel doesn’t need Angry Max right now, he needs his caring boyfriend to be there for him.
It hurts Max to see Daniel like this, so he can only imagine what it must be like to actually be in the cockpit. To be unsure of his future, living with the regrets of the past.
“Daniel, you are the greatest driver I have ever driven with. It was an honour to be your teammate. I know that if you hadn’t left, you would be up here fighting with me for the championship right now.” Max says to him, squeezing his hand tentatively.
“Then why aren’t I?” Daniel huffs. “Oh, wait, I know. I went to Renault, and Cyril, bless his heart, didn’t give me the car he promised. Then I went to McLaren, got outperformed by my younger teammate. Managed to drive their shit box to first place, yet I still got replaced by a rookie. And now I’m here, unemployed and sniffing around for reserve roles from anyone that’s offering.”. Max sighs. He is back to ranting again and talks as if Max isn’t even there. Max tries to help by stroking his hand.
Daniel starts to rant about how the team always favours Lando with strategies and how the media has been tearing him apart, whilst Max just sits and listens. Daniel then says, “Ever since 2018, I feel like my career has just been in a slow decline. Bad things keep happening to me. It’s like I’ve got bad luck or something.”
Max snorts and that finally gets Daniel's attention.
Daniel looks at him like ‘What? What is it?’.
“Daniel, you don’t have bad luck. The reason bad things keep happening to you is because you’re a dumbass” Max says matter-of-factly.
“Geez. Don’t overdo the positive feedback there Maxy” Daniel says sarcastically.
“Oh, you know what I mean! You were a dumbass for leaving Red Bull in the first place Daniel. It was your home, and you belonged there. I know it wasn’t the best towards the end, but you should’ve stayed. We could have worked through it together.” Max says a bit more softly, “You should never have left me Daniel. You belonged there with me. There is a reason I’ve never gotten on as well with a teammate than I did with you, and it’s because together: you and me, we were perfect.”
Daniel just looks defeated, “Well maybe if I had a time machine, I could go back and make it so that I never left, but it isn’t that easy. I blew my shot Maxy.”
Seeing Daniel look so sad triggers something in Max, and he stands up and gathers him into his arms, squeezing tightly. Stroking up and down his back slowly, he says “You know, even though this season hasn’t been great, there are teams there that still want you…in fact I can think of one that might be offering you a contract soon”.
For a moment he looks confused, but then Daniel stares at Max, jaw slack, eyes questioning. “What do you mean?”
Max just smirks back at him.
With a playful hit, Daniel says, “What do you know... You have that look on your face when you know something I don’t”.
“Okay, okay. I’ll tell you…It obviously isn’t set in stone, but Christian was speaking to me about offering you a reserve drive for next year…and I know it’s not as good as a full-time race seat, but Red Bull is still your home” Max says.
Daniel was speechless.
He continues. “I, of course, know why you left in the first place, no matter how stupid it was, but the team still cares for you, and the car suits your driving style perfectly…and maybe I might have to get covid next year and miss a race”.
The Aussie’s face, which had been tight and withdrawn ever since after the race, starts to bloom with a new emotion: hope.
“Maxy…you really think they’ll take me back?”
Max scoffs, “Are you kidding? You’re the most experienced driver without a seat by far, so you’re really the best option for the team in terms of development. Plus, we both know how much Christian loves to rile up Toto – what better way than to take their supposed new reserve driver from them?”.
Daniel does laugh at that.
“And also…” Max gazes at Daniel with a smile, “Christian isn’t going to deny his new two-time world champion anything, anytime soon; all I have to do is ask. Trust me, I will go into bat for you Daniel, and with my…tenacity, there is no reason to believe we can’t have a contract on your desk by Wednesday”
Looking at his boyfriend, for the first time in quite a few months, Daniel doesn’t feel quite as hopeless as before.
Max says with a smile, “What do you say?”