#this was quick

“You two have not started dating yet?” Daniel entertainingly spoke, glancing at you and then at Max, and then right back at you who was trying to find a comfortable way to lean into the chair pretending to play little to no attention to whatever was being discussed at your right, “Everyone in here is waiting for that to happen!” Ricciardo added, twitching both of his eyebrows into your direction who replied with yet another roll of eyes as your microphone was being fixed before the cameras rolled.  

It was yet another normal post-qualifying conference, the only thing that was different was the fact that most of the questions were addressed to you as it was your home grand-prix weekend. You answered them firm, as you always had done in the past, showing little to no enthusiasm at the teasing regarding your rivalry with Max who has been winning the last couple of races since the season has started with you being on the podium next to him most of the times, except for the ones where either Ferrari or Mercedes outraced you. 

“Do you think that Max will grant you any favors tomorrow?” One of the interviewers asked with curious eyes switching in between you and your teammate. This one question made your blood boil, and yet you knew that giving an out of the pocket answer will cause PR problems, driving for Red Bull at such high stake as this season also meant not causing any PR problems, amongst all the other things that you were subjugated to. 

“I don’t need any favors from Max or anyone else.” You replied with a short grin as you side-eyed Max, “Starting from the front row means a lot for this particular race, and I feel confident enough with the racing pace of the car that I can pull one or two moves in front of my teammate.” You cockily added, watching Max’s short smile spreading on the man’s face causing you to smile as well – nothing droved Max more than being challenged by you lately.

“Max, any comments on that?” The interviewer pleasantly inquired, all eyes on your teammate now. 

“I cannot wait to see her try.” He replied as the grin got wider while looking at you rather than at anyone else, “Competition can be good within the team more than the one outside of it, and I have been enjoying that lately.” Verstappen spoke, catching a glance of your own look on him now. 

The conference ended after quite a few questions were passed to the other drivers, and when it was time for you to stand up from your seat and return to the accommodation, Daniel’s inquiring look stopped you from doing so.

“What?” You laughed, watching the one with whom you got the most along with within the grid smiling at you from head to toes, “Did I say something funny?” 

Daniel declined with a nod, looking over his shoulder to make sure that Verstappen was meters enough away from you two, “No, I was just thinking about how easy you and Max can be over the whole “pretending not to like each other” phase if one of you would just go for it for real.” The McLaren driver commented, throwing you a sly little wink. 

“What do you mean by go for it, Dan?” You inquired, walking now side by side with Daniel as you were getting out the conference room behind Max, Alex and Lando who were engaged in a nonsense conversation about bevers. 

“I meant fucking, Y/N.” Daniel leaned close to your ear for the boys ahead not to hear bits and parts of your conversation as you were hearing theirs. 

You shook your head after having a good laugh, “The idea of me and Max sleeping with each other made you smile?” You inquired with your finger pointed to the man’s face, “You need to go and have a check-up here, sweetheart.” You amusingly demanded with yet another chuckle, tapping Daniel’s head twice before Max’s turned on one of his heels to you and two. 

“Walk with me to the garage, Y/N?” Max questioned, walking now backwards to catch your full attention without stopping your steps.

The laughs that Daniel caused you stopped, “No, thank you.” You shortly replied with a hasty nod, “I have to go meet someone for lunch before our meet, see you there, mate.” You added, gently caressing Daniel shoulder as a goodbye before taking a left turn as you three exited the building, leaving Max and Daniel taking one last look at your back before you took the next corner happily jumping on your feet to go.

“You know that adding a “please” to your invitations from time to time might convince her.” Daniel teased his ex-teammate, watching Max’s eyes still fixed on the corner after which you disappeared.   

“Who the hell is she so excited about meeting?” Max inquired Daniel, not even listening to the man’s last words, “I have never seen her so excited about going to meet people before, she hates people.” Max mumbled, much to Daniel’s amusement who decided that this was the perfect time to mess with Max.

“Probably the guy she has been seeing for the last couple of weeks.” Daniel nonchalantly replied as his shoulder shrugged, “I heard she invited him today – they used to be together in high-school or something.” Daniel added, greeting Max with a short wave of hands before leaving for his own garage, “Oh, and she does not hate people Max.” Daniel shouted back to him, snatching Max from whatever he was calculating in the back of his mind, “She just pretends to do so.” Daniel articulated with a loud click of tongue, before completely turning his back on Max on his way to McLaren’s accommodations.

There was no guy that you have been seeing for the last couple of weeks, and there was no high-school crush who was attending your home race that weekend. Daniel just loved to mess around with Max, and the Australian knew that Max would catch the bait in no time as everyone on the grid knew how close you and Daniel were since karting days, no one could have questioned the fact that you talk about your personal life with him.

Max went back to the Red Bull station afterwards, thinking about Daniel’s words as he signed autographs or took photos with the people that stopped him on the way to the team meeting. Each time he would sign anything that was related to you too, such as a cap or a t-shirt, Max could not stop looking around the groups of people that were ambushing him thinking that maybe, just maybe, he will be able to spot you with the guy Daniel told him about.

Mission was not accomplished thought, as you were nothing near the track at the time but outside of it meeting with your very dear best girl friend who passed by to bring you a home-cooked lunch – that was what enthused you that much after the post-qualifying conference. Daniel left Max hanging thinking that there was a man to make your feet dance that happy when it all reality it was all about girl talk and homemade dumplings. Dan’s trick worked tough, Max was now insanely jealous without even realizing it while you were having lunch, making him lose it with all people around him in searching for you. 

You and your friend were hiding in the parking lot in her car far away from prying snooping eyes of your fans, enjoying a short break of what was a packed weekend for you filled with pressure and high expectations. You needed those dumplings, and no one in the world made better dumplings rather that your girl who was now watching you engulfing them whole on the passenger seat. 

“So, about this Max guy.” Your friend spoke causing you a choke while watching you dreadfully glaring at her as you just told her that you wanted to talk about quite literally anything aside of the track and that you needed your mind off racing for a short while to fully enjoy the lunch, “No, no, no.” She laughed as she took another bite of the food, “I am not going to ask you something Formula 1 related,” Your friend paused watching you roll your eyes at her, “I was just curios what he has been up too – we two have not talked for a while about him.” 

“He is Formula 1 related.” You interrupted while pointing your fork at her, “Why is everyone asking me about Max today, even Dan did so a couple of minutes ago.” You huffed, sitting back into the passenger seat with your eyes closed, “He just told me that I might find Max a little bit less annoying if I fuck him.” You breathed opening one of your eyes to watch your friend giving you the same exact look as Daniel, “Not you too – please.” 

“I am not saying that you just straight up fuck him, I am just saying that he is the one you talked about the most in the past year and a half and it has been a while since the last time I heard you talking about a guy in such a feisty manner.” She commented, eyes on you and all, “Maybe this Daniel is right, you should go for it. It has been scenically proven that sleeping around with your co-workers helps with the work environment stress.” She added with both eyebrows twitched up like a pervert.   

You straightened your back, “I am only talking about him because he is annoying the hell out of me and beca—” 

“You might have a crush on him?” She interrupted, giggly looks and rubbing shoulders with you.

“I don’t have a crush on him, Max annoys me.” You muttered, only half-believing your own words. 

“When was the last time when you were into a guy who was not annoying you?” She questioned with the eyebrows still up, “This is how you liked it – tempting, burning, teasing, annoying.” 

You breathed, there was no way in which you could have counterattack your friend’s argument as she knew you the best. It was exactly like that, all the time. You picked the most soul-sucking, heart-breaking, mind-twisting type of men to date. It never turned out right, so why would you even consider going for that same type again? No. Max Verstappen was out of the question, you only had to race with and against him – no fucking happening. 

You returned to the Red Bull accommodation after your short lunch break, and once your eyes laid on Max, you felt your stomach turned upside down as it always has done when Max lionlike stare was focused on you.

Fuck, oh fuck.

You gulped, deciding to blame the dumplings and not the feelings this time. You quietly took your seat next to him, both of you watching and listening to your strategist revising the plans for tomorrow and all the scenarios that might play out during the race, and all the positions you were to play in each on them. Max was the favorite, as he had always been – and yet, you did not mind.

You knew how good he was on track, and that everyone cheered for him to win this championship too. You stood quietly and listened, the scenarios in which you would have been victorious tomorrow were little, but they did give you hope for what was about to come. 

“Save me a spot on the podium for tomorrow, mate.” Max spoke into your direction at the end of the meeting, throwing you one of his silly winks that you never quite got what was so attractive about them. 

You laughed at the use of “mate”, Verstappen never called you like that before and you were wondering what happened for him to use that, “It might be my home race, but you are still the favorite for the win, Max.” You added as you leaned your chin on one of your palms, looking at him with a titled head into the boy’s direction, “Just a warning tough for tomorrow, I am not going to switch positions if they asked me to.” You threated with a short smile, remembering the last two times when you got the call of letting Max pass during the end of some of your races where you could have easily taken the trophy instead of Max.

“That’s good to know, racing against you will make it even more exciting.” Max agreed with a nod, following your example suit and leaning towards you in the same manner with one arm resting on the table, “Would you switch positions if I were the one to ask you?” Max teased, both knowing that you were not taking about racing anymore. 

“That was such a corny and lame little line.” You added, two of your fingers shakily touching the bottom of your lips as you were maintaining the eye contact with Max. 

Max chuckled, “Yet, it worked – right?” He spoke, lifting from his seat in such a fashion only to lean towards you more in doing so. You shook your head; Max was getting on your other type of nerves now and you were vehemently so helplessly tried to not let that be seen. 

The next day’s race went great for both you and Max, Red Bull was in the first two positions followed by Leclerc, and then Sainz followed by Russell and Lando. You were behind Max who was taunting you as he was pushing even further ahead of you by two to three seconds during the last fifteen laps of the race.

You were not to give up, especially with all the energy that you have gathered from that morning by all the people present shouting and yelling your name, rotting for you to bring your second home trophy back where it belonged as last year you pulled a surprise for everyone present winning P1.

Your focus was Max, and although your radio was filled with your engineer voice telling you to take it slow as you needed to preserve the tires up until the end of the race and that the distance that you put behind you and Leclerc was safe for now for your podium, you pushed harder and harder as laps went by – you were not to be satisfied with only the podium this time.  

Max was happily grinning underneath the helmet once he has been announcing that you were only 0.5 seconds behind him now during the last four laps of the race. It was finally time for something fun to happen for him on this race. Three laps went fast with you overtaking him once you got into the DRS zone but being caught right immediately by him milliseconds after your success.

Max was not letting you catch a breath in the last lap as you were chasing him, but neither were you thinking about letting him have an easy win. None of you were listening to your engineers anymore in the last lap, and right after your cars slightly touched as you were trying to pass him in one of the corners, everyone in your team was with their fingers tightly clasped together praying for a crash not to happen seconds before the checked flag.

You disobeyed the orders’ team of slowing down, while Max was not even listening anymore to whatever his own race engineer was advising him – it was only you and Max, equally racing against each other in the last moments of the race. Cars were pushed to the limit, and so were both of you. Before the checked flag, there was a straight line and right there your front wings touched side by side as you were pushing to pass Max and he was trying to maintain the lead position. 

It was a photo finish, you two passing by the checked flag almost exactly at the same time – but with you being 0.012 seconds faster than Verstappen. 

“P1 Y/N, P1!” Your engineer loudly shouted to the radio, “You were faster than Max, but fuck never make us go through this ever again.” He then spoke, and you felt your heart bursting out of your chest with every second that passed until you reached the P1 position with your car, getting out of it to celebrate a hell of a win that was. 

“P2 Max, you are P2.” GP spoke into Verstappen’s radio, “Congrats champ, those were five amazing last laps.” 

“Y/N made them five amazing last laps.” Verstappen replied with a smile on his face, not even bitter about losing the main position to you in such a fashion, “Don’t scold us too much when we are out of the cars – that was a great show for the fans.” He then chuckled, and it was perhaps for the very first time when somebody had ever heard Max genuine laughing after a loss of points. 

The aftermath of the race was insane, you have never heard that many people clapping for you through your whole career. You enjoyed all the greets, slaps on your back, and hugs from the members of your teams and the other drivers after you got out of your car to celebrate the win.

Max’s way of congratulating you took you completely by surprise as he went out of his way to get out of his car in the P2 position and surprise you with a huge embrace, ungluing your feet from the ground and spinning you once in the air as your legs instinctively wrapped around the man’s waist in front of everybody to witness. Both of your helmets were still on, luckily enough for both of you that they were – everybody would have witnessed rosy cheeks too instead of just a spin. 

During the podium you kept glancing at each other, Leclerc and the other people on the podium with you feeling a little suspicious of the whole glaring at each other thing with huge smiles and burned faces being in the same spot as you and Max, pretending not to get you two all figured out right then and there.

Daniel clicked his tongue again as he was watching through the screen with Lando by his side, “These two really need to get at it right immediately.” He commented in loud voice, “I told Max that Y/N is seeing somebody yesterday, and now look at him now all smiley after she defeated him – there is something in there, I tell you.” 

Lando laughed at his side, “You are now finding out?” The British spoke in a mocking tone towards his teammate, “Max has a crush on Y/N since they were like fourteen.” Lando uttered waiting for Daniel’s eyes to widened in surprise, “Don’t look at me like that, you are not the only one to whom the Red Bull drivers come for love advice.” Lando blinked with one hand at his chest, watching you and Max getting down from the podium talking about the size of your trophies and childishly laughing at some sort of a joke. 

“Yours is big too.” You laughed, grabbing the trophy in Max’s hands with one of yours as you wrapped your fingers at the base of it, “Some will say that it is too small, but I think that for some people it is the right size.” You added, looking up at a very cheeky post-race Max whose hair was sweaty and face red part from the effort in the race, part from your silly dick jokes that made a grown-up blush. 

“If you think this is big enough, you should see my other trophies.” He then teased, making you burst into laughing once again. 

It was nice, that was nice. Laughing around each other like foolish teenagers at penis innuendos instead of pretending to hate each other just for the thrill of your rivalry and for the sake of hiding what everyone around you was pretty much aware of – your mutual crushes.

You two would have wished for this type of a thing to become a common habit, only if you were not to be grounded to the reality in no time after the post-race interviews where you were called for the debrief of the race. 

“You two should not have acted like brats in the last couple of laps.” Horner loudly spoke as he smashed the table in front of both of you with both hands, “We can let you race, but not when you are putting both cars and you in the danger of a possible crash.” He then emphasized with pressed words that spitted at the end of his tongue, looking over his shoulder where the last laps played in front of you two to see how close you really were during the overtakes, “And you should have not let her pass.” He then uttered, pointing to Verstappen. 

It clicked for you right then and there. Being caught amid the celebration after the race, you were not thinking even in the million years that the likelihood of Verstappen being the one to slow down for you to win as even a thing, “You let me pass?” You inquired; your neck dry now as your voice intoned the words. 

“No, fuck no.” Verstappen defended with a serious look on his face, “When have you ever seen me letting someone willingly pass me?” He then commented, turning his glare from you to Christian, “You should look over the analysis once again with all due respect, Y/N won fair and square.” He then ended with pressed lips, “I jus—” 

Verstappen words were interrupted by the loudness of your chair being pushed back, “I am sorry Christian, but I cannot listen to this discussion now.” You muttered with a shake of your head, “Fine me or whatever – I am leaving.” You announced, already storming out of the meeting room and back into your motorhome. 

“Fuck it; Christian.” Max almost yelled, going right immediately after you to calm you down, “Choose your fucking words better next time.” He then warned, slamming the door shut before running to you as he called your name down the halls, receiving no response from your angry self now up to the point you could not stand anyone around you curiously looking at a very worried Max chasing you. 

“You let me pass?” You inquired him once you dragged his wrist into one empty room of the Red Bull garage, “What Horner just said – it is true?” You asked Max, hands still tightly wrapped around the man’s wrist. 

“No, he got it all wrong.” Max firmly replied, one of his hands covering yours who was grabbing into him, “You were faster, you passed me, you won.” Max reassured you, unclasping your hand from him to hold it steadfastly into his, relaxed your muscles one by one with the man’s touch. 

“I need to look over your analysis during the race to believe you, mate.” You added as your stiffen expressions softened, “Do you understand how humiliating it would be for me to win this type of race only because my teammate let me do so?” You inquired while looking down at your and Max’s clasped hands that you tried to unglue but being forced not to by the man’s strength.

“I did not let you win, trust me when I tell you not to believe Horner’s words.” Max spoke in all sincerity, “Also, stop calling me “mate” – I fucking hate it, Y/N.” Your teammate then sighed, one of his fingers rubbing the back of your hand now in not-so-much-friendly type of way but in the want-to-be-more-than-just-friends type of a feeling. 

Your heart sunk due to the small touch, “What term would you prefer then?” You shyly asked, not trying to get your hand out of his anymore but just caving in the warmness of the touch. 

“I do not know that yet, but I have never heard you calling other drivers that. Daniel gets called “sweetheart” and I get “mate”? Verstappen articulated glare now on you, shaking you whole as you depicted the man’s jealousy into his eyes. 

You laughed, “Sweetheart is a term I use for my friends, I do not want you to be my friend like Daniel is, Max.” You added, taking one step closer to him now and guiding his arm around your waist with the one hand that was still into his. 

Verstappen has not moved an inch after your swift move. Even so, your teammate dared to grab even tighter your waist and to release your hand that was then comfortably sat on one of his shoulders while the tips of your fingers were touching his jawline, “What about love?” You teased, watching Max’s eyes broadened in a pleasant surprise. 

Max shyly giggled like a teenage boy, “What about your boyfriend?” He then added, “Would he be not pissed that you are calling another man that?” Max inquired, while the arm that was holding your waist pushed you into climbing the table behind you that up until then you did not even notice being there in the first place. 

“What boyfriend?” You confusedly inquired with Verstappen now fully in between your legs and both of your hands around your teammate’s neck, “I am not seeing anyone.” You explained, and that is when it clicked for Verstappen that Daniel was messing with his head the day prior. 

“I am going to kill Daniel.” Max then laughed before leaning in towards you for a much-awaited clasps of mouths. 

Both of Max’s hands went from your waist to your face, not wanting to waste any second of that kiss without touching your skin rather than the fabric of your racing suit. You laughed into the kiss, thinking about the fact that the racing suits are harder to be pulled down than normal clothes. 

“What?” Verstappen spoke inches away from your lips, breathing heavily right next to your mouth. 

“Nothing.” You replied as your hand went on the edges of the Max’s fireproof blouse, “I was just thinking that this is a little bit harder to take off.” You added with a short grin, placing your hand on the man chest now as you were looking at him. 

Max laughed after another short peak, “Let’s make a challenge out of it – who gets it down faster.” He then spoke, watching over his shoulder as two knocks were hitting the door from the other side, “Not here tough, we don’t have to give the team yet another reason to scold us.” 

You giggled too as Max made you room to get down from the table, “Everything has to be a competition to you, right?” You teased, arranging your hair and your suit for whoever was behind the door not to notice, but your rosy cheeks giving you two away anyway.