#author asks

- this whole ficlet starts with Max (retired, never drove for mclaren in his life) walking into the McLaren garage to see GP. there's a couple things implied here, one of them being that even after being retired from F1, Max is still a respected enough figure to go wherever he wants, but that wouldn't be enough on its own! what's actually happened here is that as far as McLaren employees (and the rest of the grid) are concerned, Max has always been GP's omega. and there's no world where they'd prevent an omega from seeking out their alpha in the garage, no matter who it is. so Max encounters absolutely zero issues walking into the garage, because even if someone was going to try and stop an omega from finding their alpha, they're certainly not going to try it on Max Verstappen.

- you can tell Max has been retired for a bit because it's an old 33 sweater, but it's from his second time running the number, not the first.

- GP has to wear scent blocking pheromone patches which temporarily disrupt his hormone production, because it's FIA paddock regulations. Max technically should also be wearing them, but again. who's stopping him??

- "The tight knot that's taken permanent residence within Gianpiero's chest the last several years starts to slowly unravel." again: Max has always been GP's omega. even if GP has pushed it away or tried to reject it, there's no arguing that even just being around each other is soothing to their instincts at a base level. something not mentioned in the ficlet that would've been mentioned if it were Max's POV: GP visibly relaxes when he sees Max. Max knows that he's a calming presence, he's not oblivious to the effect he has on GP. there's a reason he's not given up on convincing GP throughout this ficlet!

- "Anything but Formula 1, Gianpiero's noticed." Max basically never comes back to F1 after he retires. he leaves the sport upset about regulations and rules, especially in reference to secondary genders, and he makes it clear that he's had issues with the sport since the start. this makes the fact that he comes back into the heart of it, into a team he was never part of, into a garage that was never on his side just to talk to GP even more important. it's Max showing that this continues to matter enough for him to step out of his comfort zone so clearly. (because there's immediately a million articles about him in the mclaren garage)

- "One of these moods, then." GP may not like to admit it, but he knows Max so well. Max isn't even aware of the fact that he pitches a mini-fit after clips are posted of GP talking to his drivers over the radio, but GP has picked up on it. (he always gets a "random" text from Max, or Max gets snippy for a bit. it's not something Max does on purpose, but it is something he does– he doesn't like being reminded that GP has had other drivers now. he especially doesn't like when media tries to compare them to him and GP.)

- GP learns the perfect spot to squeeze Max's neck and then applies that knowledge to other drivers after rejecting Max multiple times, and Max handles this totally normally and does not randomly have seething moments of jealousy and irritation about it.

- GP spends a paragraph or two wondering what's made Max show up at the time he does, in the middle of the season, and I never really provide the answer to that in the ficlet, but I'll provide it here! Max wants to take the next steps in his life, and he knows that GP is the best match for him, but there's only so long he's willing to wait for him. so GP doesn't know it, but this ficlet is the last time Max was planning on asking him– if he'd said no again, it would've been the final answer, and Max would've moved on to find someone else.

- Max is picky about his nests! He'd made enough in the garage through the years that GP knows he wouldn't want to smell all the McLaren garage smells that he'd be carrying with him, and he especially wouldn't want to smell the champagne. (please imagine Max with a big "welcome home, cheater!" sign)

- GP's control issues only get worse after being a team principal. if only there was a laid back omega who knows not to get worked up about things he could have to lean on...

- Max doesn't pick the hotel as a mind game, it really is just for the comfort and familiarity that it provides. it still functions as a mind game for GP anyways, so. point to Max!

- GP takes a breath mint on the elevator because it's a habit he'd started when he became a TP– he takes one before important meetings, like his own little ritual. meeting Max is important to him and makes him nervous, so he takes the breath mint! again, not a conscious decision, just something he does out of habit.

- Max intentionally lets his scent flood his hotel room, because it makes him feel more in control, and because he's pulling out all the stops this time to try and get GP to say yes, and he's not above playing dirty. GP takes a loud enough inhale that Max can hear it from the door. (another point to Max!)

- Max hates the FIA, so not wearing patches in the paddock earlier that day was also a massive middle finger, and he and GP both know it.

- "He's not some baby alpha seeing Motorsports prime omega for the first time." Kimi is only the first of many younger alphas to come into Motorsport and try to court Max. GP isn't oblivious to the way that over half the paddock would mate him in a heartbeat, and he was extra aware of it when he was still Max's engineer. (Red Bull scented him constantly to keep anyone from getting ideas)

- The Redline/Verstappen Racing pack is, at the time of this ficlet, coming up with ways to kidnap GP and change his mind if he says no. GP has no idea about this, and he doesn't learn until later just how much Max's pack loves him for him, completely outside of his racing experience. that's their omega, and they're painfully aware of how F1 treated him, so they're extra defensive!

- Max makes an empty nest without any other scents for the express purpose of making GP's alpha side want to change that (again, no shame playing dirty), but he was also prepared for GP to say no– there's a bag full of scented items from his pack on his jet, ready for him to make a nest. (if GP had said no, Max was planning on getting the hell outta dodge)

- Max isn't kidding about being willing to buy into a team. like I said, this was his final attempt, and it would've absolutely broken his heart to have to say goodbye to GP for good. he's willing to do damn near anything at this point.

- three years prior to this ficlet, Max retires! Red Bull hosts a giant party out in the middle of nowhere, and Max comes to find GP at the dying fire pit long after everyone else has left. he's a little drunk and a lot brave, and he settles across GP like a kept omega and asks him to retire with him, tells him all the plans he has for the future and the way GP fits into them, and GP gets scared, and GP says no.

- GP regrets that no for all three years, but he doubles down every time Max asks again, because he thinks Max deserves better.

- Max riles up GP on purpose, because that's the only way he knows how to get real honesty out of him! GP has too much self-control otherwise, and Max wants them to be on even footing for their conversation/argument (emotional). as soon as Max finds a weak point (GP doesn't like the thought of him with another alpha) he goes for it, calling him scared. normally that wouldn't bother GP any, but saying that when he's already dealing with heightened instincts is what gets him shoved back down onto the couch.

- OKAY. the bit where GP reminds Max that he's supposed to wear a collar around unmated alphas? that's an important bit!! GP used to say it all the time when Max was his driver, because Max was always forgetting his collar in the paddock (too tight, too loose, itchy, Red Bull scents him all the time anyways– there was always an excuse). A few years in, when they'd really settled into their rapport with each other, GP started joking that Max might as well be asking him to bite him, because he spends so much time uncollared around him. (Max is never joking.) Max's side of the bit was always framing it as "convenience" ("it'd be one less thing on the check-off list") but he's never really kidding about it the way GP did. GP saying that line at him again is giving him one final out if he doesn't want GP to bite him, because he knows he won't be able to stop himself after. and Max knows it too, which is exactly why he doesn't say no.

- Max's fingers are still calloused after retirement because he's still constantly on the sim!

- GP mentions that Max wants him to engineer/TP his Redline/Verstappen Racing pack, and that is 100% true! Max has built that pack out of people that he loves and trusts, and it's been driving him nuts that one of the people he loves and trusts the most isn't involved.

- Max is stupid horny for the team principal voice from GP. it's like an upgraded race engineer voice, he never stood a chance.

- skipping all the sex, if you get to the end, Max isn't really "asking" GP to leave McLaren and join his team, he's telling him. the question mark is just for show, and GP knows it, which is why the protest is halfhearted.