Requested by Met_1981
Taglist
luminousmoonlight Garrixer_06 skoleeee vanillamidnight03 millenbeth13 ur_moms_b_07 jeb197
4: "Hold me."
No matter how in love yourself and your boyfriend, Max were off the track, the same definitely could not be said for on it due to your fierce championship rival. Being a Ferrari driver, you may have known for a while that you didn't stand a proper chance because of all of the mistakes which the team had been making, but you refused to take your focus off the title until it became mathematically impossible for you to win.
Surprisingly, you were still just about in the title fight when the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix had arrived. You knew that your only chance of winning the title was if you won the race with the fastest lap and Max finished outside of the points, you knowing that the latter would be extremely unlikely. Before getting into your car, you told yourself that you weren't going to get your hopes up, but once your visor was down and the five red lights were going out, the world class racing driver within you refused to accept just how slim the chances were, you being determined that you were going to win the title. Throughout the race, yourself and Max were continuously exchanging positions, adrenaline pumping through your veins as your battles would always be just on the limit, but never over, your optimism and determination remaining with you until you had crossed the line to win the race.
"You may have gotten the victory, but I'm sure you know that Verstappen's P2 means that he has still won the championship," your engineer spoke up in his usual monotone voice once you had crossed the line.
"I'm well aware of that," you grumbled, before a small smile spread across your lips beneath your helmet and balaclava as you remembered who had won the title instead. "Congratulations to Max. It was hard fought and well deserved. We'll come back fighting and stronger next season, guys."
As you crept around the circuit for one last time and pulled up in front of the number one sign in parc ferme, it your loss suddenly hit you now that your adrenaline levels were decreasing, but rather than filling with fury, you became disheartened, you feeling deflated as you were climbing out of your car and then realising how important it would have been for you to keep your promise of not getting your hopes up. Whenever you would imagine this moment beforehand, you expected that you wouldn't want to be anywhere near Max, but the sight of him clambering out of his own car at the same time caused you to feel as if he was the only one you wanted to see, you rushing over to Max and flinging your arms tightly around him.
"I didn't expect that you'd want to see me. I'm so sorry for how the title battle ended for you, Y/N. When your team didn't mess up, you drove amazingly and I couldn't be prouder-" Max began apologetically as he wrapped his arms around you, returning the embrace, but you cutting his words off as he spoke.
"You don't need to apologise. I don't need you to say anything at all, I just need you to hold me," you interrupted with sorrow, gently resting your head in the crook of his neck, always making sure you weren't being too rough because you couldn't imagine this was too comfortable for Max with your helmet remaining on your head since you didn't want anyone to see the tears which were welling up in your eyes.
Normally, you would make sure that yourself and Max didn't show too much PDA during race weekends to keep away any additional media attention, but in that moment, you didn't care how many photos were being taken of you or that you were pretty sure your embrace would be spoken about on TV all over the world. Yourself and Max remained exactly where you were in silence for a few moments, before both of you reluctantly parted at the sound of Max's roaring team calling him over, you not wanting to dampen his move and deny him his celebrations with his team. Your heart sank as you watched him darting towards them, every single one of them being desperate to wrap their arms around him and pat him on the back once he had reached them. Meanwhile, you made your way to your own team members, all of them wanting to be optimistic due to your win, but being unable to hide that your loss of the championship was getting to them. Once you had shared hugs with your own team members, you finally needed to remove your helmet and balaclava for the usual pre-podium interviews for the top three.
"Y/N, no matter how hard you try to force a smile, you don't look like your usual cheerful self. I can see quite clearly how losing the championship is making you feel, but we're all curious to know how you're feeling towards Max in this moment with him being your partner as well as title rival?" The interviewer asked you eagerly when it was your turn to stand behind the microphone.
"Of course I'm gutted that I wasn't the one to win the championship, but I can't express just how proud I am of Max. He deserves this and no matter how angry we might sometimes feel towards each other because of what happens on track, we've agreed that we'll never let our rivalry enter our personal lives and come between us," you responded assuredly, meeting Max's eyes as you spoke, the Dutchman beaming at you from a few metres away.
Max's wide smile continued as you made your way up onto the podium, your words being exactly what he needed to hear and Max knowing that now he had, his mind could finally be put at ease and he could finally focus on celebrating, rather than worrying about how things were going to be between you both. Checo was the first to emerge onto the podium and as he made his way up onto the lowest step, Max turned to face you in the tunnel leading onto the podium, taking both of your hands in his, before he unexpectedly leaned in and captured your lips in a passionate kiss, both of you not hesitating to deepen it at first, before rushing to pull away just in case you were in view of any cameras.
"You've got no idea how much what you said means to me," he said with appreciation. "Having your support and knowing that this isn't going to come between us means the world!"
A genuine smile was finally able to spread across your lips as you were called onto the podium moments after Max was, Max taking your hand in his once you were standing on the top step and he was below you on the second. Everyone's hearts melted at this sight, Max feeling as though things couldn't possibly be more perfect once he was instructed to hold up his trophy, his eyes travelling between it and yourself as he thought about how he currently wouldn't change a thing about any area of his life since he had won his second world title and was able to celebrate his victory with the love of his life.