*Requested by Anonymous
"Okay I'll see you soon, love you." You kissed your boyfriend before crossing over to what was supposed to be your own room through the adjoining door that your hotel offered.
Walking out of the Redbull driver's door wearing your Mercedes attire would cause a bit of chaos for the both of you.
Today was just like any other Thursday, Media Day, except for a little more added pressure since Max and you were scheduled in the press conference together.
Max and you had gotten pretty good at hiding your relationship after almost 10 months of being together only your P.R. managers and trainers knew about your relationship to help with hotel arrangements like getting a room with adjoining doors like this one. You didn't even tell the other drivers not wanting to risk any kind of slip-up.
Max didn't care about you going public, he quite honestly loved the privacy never really being one to share much of his life especially his private life online but he also didn't ever really give a crap about what other people said or thought of him so going public didn't bother him either.
For you, you would've loved to be able to show off your boyfriend, especially watching him dominate the way he had it was always so hard not to run up to him and hug and kiss him proudly after his wins. But after receiving an opportunity from Toto to drive for Mercedes after Lewis's retirement only in your second season was an opportunity you did not want to mess up in any way shape, or form.
You'd spoken with Max about how nervous it made you for Toto or anyone in the team to find out about your relationship because not only would it cause a huge media craze but you were afraid your loyalty to the team would be questioned. Never did Max and you share anything about your team you were extremely professional in that matter keeping work and your home life separate but you knew people would always choose to ignore that.
So you'd decided you'd let at least one year pass, where you were focused on giving your all to the team before very slowly letting your relationship be known to the world, being able to shift some of your attention to the comments you'd receive which you were sure would be plenty and unfriendly for both sides.
You both did notice however that it was slowly becoming harder for you to be secretive about your relationship, both of you being very handsy with each other and sometimes forgetting to hone it in public. It wasn't a secret to the media that you both were dating someone, people just didn't know it was each other.
____
You and Max walked to the Press conference keeping some distance between the both of you, advice from your press officers. Unlucky for you you were the first ones in and were asked to sit next to each other while you waited for Carlos, Alex, and Lando to join you.
"Hey." you greeted Max trying to act casual.
"Hey, how are you?" Max asked. It was at times like these that you were reminded of your boyfriend's childlike behavior seeing as he couldn't hide his suspicious smirk.
"Good good, how are you?" You couldn't help but laugh at your boyfriend getting giddy around you despite it almost being a year of you being together. You still had to be careful of all the cameras around you though.
"Yeah good." he laughed and luckily you were saved by Lando and Carlos walking in together and greeting you both then you all started engaging in conversation.
"Alright, Hello, and welcome everyone to the driver's press conference ahead of the FIA Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, two groups coming your way, and here is group 1, closest to me y/n y/l/n, then we have Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz, and Alex Albon will be joining us shortly, welcome to you all." Tom began the conference as usual.
The questions began about the race as usual, the heat, the track, the cars, etc. You noticed Max was more distracted than usual between Lando and him chit-chatting away and him zoning out staring at you every once in a while.
Luckily nothing had slipped from either of you and now it was time for questions from the floor which meant it was almost over. "Question for all the drivers, now that we're heading into the North and South American races do you fly back home to Europe for some rest or stay here for the next few races, adapt and train here?"
"y/n?" Tom gestured for you to start.
"Uhm for me I'm staying around here, and the same sort of routine in terms of diet and training, it's just more comfortable to find a place here than fly back and forth, saves me the headache of jetlag," you answered shortly.
"Max?" Tom continued.
"Yeah same here, we'll be staying here and flying home after Las Vegas-" You felt nerves hit your stomach as Max pointed at you then him when saying we. "I'm letting some of the drivers fly back with me then." Max laughed trying to play it off and to your luck, it seemed like it worked...for the most part.
"You haven't invited me, mate does she get special treatment?" Lando commented earning a laugh from everyone else and luckily the banter between the two friends helped to shift the attention along and people taking is a joke.
After the press conference was over you all walked out and you thought the air was clear until Carlos and Lando stopped you and Max at the exit. "We're flying home?" Lando raised his brow.
"I told you there was something going on." Carlos nudged Lando.
"Did you both bonk your heads or something, I live in the same apartment complex as Max, AKA home, we are flying home idiots." You quickly shoved them off and continued walking before letting them say anything else.
Max didn't seem to know what else to say so simply shrugged before walking past them too.
They were on to you now so you had to be more careful.
___________
It was evident to everyone today was going to be a tough day given the temperature around the track during the whole weekend, you'd prepped plenty in warm and humid conditions as best as you could but being in the car things were taken to a completely different level.
By half the race it felt like your throat was filled with sand despite the small sips of water you allowed yourself throughout the race, it felt like there was a heated blanket over your nose and breathing had never seemed as hard as it did now.
"Guys this is crazy I can't even breathe properly." You radioed to your team and they could hear the toll it was taking on your body from the wheeze of your voice.
At some point, it was no longer about driving but surviving taking corners while your vision was fuzzy and trying to open your visor to get at least a slip of fresh air although it felt like trying to breathe through the eye of a needle.
"Last lap, just hold on y/n, we're P5 right now." your engineer spoke but you no longer had the energy to reply trying to take a few more sips of water only to realize it was all gone.
"That's it cool down, excellent job." you heard the team cheer through your earpiece but still had no energy to reply. You cooled down the car before pulling up at Parc Ferme. You had only the energy to shut off the car and unbuckle your belt but once you tried to pull yourself out it was no use.
You realized your radio had now been cut off so calling for help from your team wasn't an option but to your luck your teammate had come to check on you. He put his thumb up to ask if you were okay but you simply shook your head feeling as if the whole weight of how much you'd pushed during the race was catching up on you.
You saw him look around and Charles who had finished behind you had now also appeared beside your car. George took the steering wheel off as well as your HANS device before they both practically carried you out of the car.
"I can't...my legs." you realized you were crying out of frustration at the fact that your limbs weren't cooperating with you and the feeling of scorching heat still not stopping, almost feeling like it was getting worse.
"It's okay we've got you." Charles tried to comfort you as they both held your weight walking to the ambulance. Cameras started circling the scene.
Max was finishing a bottle of water at the front when he caught sight of the live screen, his heart stopped when the scene switched from him to you being carried over to an ambulance.
Max ignored the petition from the people around him to step in front of the camera running over to where he could see the ambulance. He reached you just when Charles and George were letting you down at the step of the back of the ambulance.
"Shatcje what's wrong?" Max didn't give a sh*t about anyone around him right now all that mattered was you.
"I can't breathe." You cried and your whole body was shaking.
Max carefully took your helmet off letting you lean your weight on him. The paramedics came to check on you and it was quickly obvious you were severely dehydrated given the sweat soaking your hair and suit as well as your hot, red, and clammy skin.
Max grabbed a bottle of water which was being handed to you by the paramedics and lifted it up to your lips.
"Drink," Max told you tilting your chin up slightly.
You took a few gulps and Max poured the rest of the cold water over your head and down your back and chest.
Cameras were not missing a second of this exchange as Max stroked your hair back, concern filling his eyes as he watched you fade in and out, holding your hand and watching the way you leaned into him for comfort as Max placed kisses on your temple.
After a few seconds, the paramedics asked Max to help you into the ambulance where they could shut the doors, remove your racing suit, and let you sit in the cool air it provided noticing your body temperature was not lowering and your heart rate was still fast they feared you might have been at risk of hyperthermia.
Max was warned several times he had to attend the podium ceremony and complete his media duties but that was the last thing on his mind, he would pay whatever fines they wanted to give him as long as they left him alone and with you. Only after he could see your body temperature regulate, and saw you come too, hearing you say you felt better did Max accept to give one interview.
"Max, can you explain what we saw after the race?" Will Buxton asked him at the media pen which now only contained a few drivers who had also needed to go to the medical center.
Max knew it would be futile to try to lie now so instead he faced the truth head-on. "Yeah well I think it's pretty obvious that was one of the toughest races for everyone so far, the heat was ridiculous, and after seeing y/n in the state you saw her in I didn't really care for any podium or champagne," Max answered honestly.
"Is it right to assume there's something going on there?" Will asked.
"Yeah well I think anyone with eyes can see there's something between us but the details are no one's business." Max continued.
Will accepted this as the only thing he would get out from Max right now and continued asking about the race.
When Max was done he went back to find you seeing Toto walk out of your driver's room. Max expected an earful from the man but instead was respectfully greeted with a handshake from the team boss.
"Even though I'm not a fan of this I could see how much you care for her. Take care of my driver, please. " Toto still warned sternly.
"Always sir," Max confirmed before walking in to see you up on your feet and looking almost back to normal.
"So everyone knows." Max got your attention.
You walked over to him as he closed the door behind him, you wrapped your arms around his neck and gave him a kiss. "I'm sorry it had to be like this." you sighed sadly.
"Me too, but I'm just glad you're okay, it wasn't your fault." He tucked a strand of your now freshly washed hair behind your ear.
"That was scary I've never felt so bad before," you admitted to him.
"That was really scary, you made my heart stop for a second schatje, and not in a good way." Max expressed.
"I'm sorry my love." You pecked his lips again. "At least now we don't have to worry about how to go public with our relationship." You laughed. "Toto's fine with it and he said he spoke to Christian who is also okay with it." You shrugged.
"To be honest I wouldn't have cared even if they weren't okay with it." Max shrugged making you laugh.
"I love you." You said between laughs hugging your boyfriend tightly.
"I love you." He kissed your head.
"You know we're never gonna hear the end of it from Lando and Daniel right?" You asked Max.
"Yeah, they've tried calling me about 20 times each already," Max replied earning another laugh from you.
"Agh, well whatever, let's go home my love." you grabbed your bag.
Max laughed this time. "Let's go home." He took your bag from you before placing a hand around your waist to head out.