GOLDEN | maxiel

chapter 13

"Please don't make any sudden moves
You don't know the half of the abuse"

Heathens - Twenty One Pilots

(A/N: Believe it or not, but I actually wrote this chapter before the sprint in Baku, guess you could say I'm psychic lol)

-

Daniel was in the Red Bull paddock after the race and after the drivers who got podium had their little ceremony. He assumed Max was back by now, but he didn't bother finding him. They hadn't been on speaking terms lately, at least not more than they had to as they were teammates, in a sense. He looked down at his phone. It has been a crazy race. Not at all what they had expected or wanted. Mercedes came out on top this time, with Lewis in P1, George in P2 and then Sainz got P3. Checo ended up on a strong P4, but Red Bull really wanted the podium. Especially as they plan on winning the Constructors Championship and want Max to win his third championship.

It hadn't gone that well for Max, unfortunately. He had been passed by Russell about halfway in and when he tried to gain the position back he was a little too daring. Russell didn't see or expect him to try for the inner corner of that one turn and ended up turning in on him, making Max crash into the wall. It wasn't a bad crash or anything, he was totally fine, but he couldn't start the car again and had to end the race there.

Daniel knew Max was furious about this, but he honestly didn't want to deal with Mad Max right now, he hoped he could bring his anger with him to the hotel room and just deal with it in his own time.

This didn't work out quite the way Daniel had hoped, though. He heard an angry voice in the distance and looked up from his phone to see where the sound came from. It was outside the Mercedes paddock.

"Oh fuck" Daniel sighed. He saw Max with George and Max did not look happy. He was yelling and pushing the Mercedes driver. It was easy to see that George was trying to calm down Max. He held his hands up and talked in a normal voice.

Daniel knew he had to do something. He didn't doubt Max could start swinging at George if he got mad enough. As he walked over there quickly, he started to hear the conversation.

"You cost me a win today!" Max yelled. "I swear, I-I honestly didn't see you," George tried to defend himself. Max just laughed at him. "I don't understand how Mercedes could take someone so inexperienced and selfish in, you should never have left Williams" Max kept going. As stressed as he was over the situation, George let out an involuntary chuckle when Max called him selfish. He would never in a million years say it, but if there was anyone who was selfish...

"Why are you laughing?" Max's face went cold. He grabbed George's shirt and pulled it hard. George just looked at him. "Have you no regrets, you fucked me over today and I swear to God if you ever do it again-" "Let me go, Max," this time George also got a cold look on his face. Max's eyes were filled with rage as he looked up at the Brit. "Max," George said as he tried to pull Max's hands away. Max loosened one arm. "Fucking faggot," he said as he swung it hard towards George's face. George lost his balance slightly and stumbled a few steps backwards as he held his hands on his face where he had been hit. He rarely swore, but he was so close until Daniel stepped in.

Max was launching towards George, but Daniel grabbed him before he got there. "Stop!" Daniel looked at Max with probably the most serious look on his face Max had ever seen. "What the fuck are you doing?!" Daniel yelled at the Dutchman. "He pushed me–"

"No, I saw the whole thing Max, and if you could just think about it for a second, I'm sure you realize that the crash was not George's fault. He didn't see you, there is no way he could have expected you to take that turn, you were just way too daring. Like usual," Daniel was mad at Max. He couldn't stand seeing him swinging at people who didn't deserve it.

Max didn't say anything, and he didn't look at Daniel either. "Go home, Max. And take a deep fucking look at who you are becoming". Max started walking away.

"I'm sorry about that, are you okay?" Daniel asked George.

"I'm fine. Don't apologize for him, but thank you," George said and started walking to the paddock.

"Congrats about the podium, by the way," Daniel said after him.

George gave him a slight smile and a nod as he walked away.