APPETENCE | c. leclerc & m. verstappen [+18]

04. middle of the night

"It's the connection we can't explain."
♪ middle of the night by elley duhe

"Max..", was all Charles said as his eyes moved down to the floor in front of him, away from Max. His heartbeat was still too fast, the feeling in his chest didn't disappear. Max was drunk. He was only here because he is drunk, like many times before. Charles felt his heart getting heavier with every second passing by. "I know..", Max answered quietly, he knew he shouldn't be here. "You should leave.", Charles heard as Max sighed. "Now!", he added and walked back against the door behind him. "Charles, please. I-", Max tried again, trying to stand straight up but he was having a hard time to stand without something giving him support. "You what, Max? We are not kids anymore. We can't...You know that. We are not friends.", he snapped at the dutch driver in front of him. "Go back.", Charles turned around and stepped back into his hotel room.

He wanted to close the door as fast as possible but when he turned around he saw Max on the opposite wall, sliding slowly down on to the floor, his hands in his dark blonde hair. He couldn't see his face anymore when he was sitting on the floor, his head was on his knees. Charles heard his heavy breathing and sighed. He wasn't sure what to do in this moment. They weren't kids anymore, everything was getting more complicated as they both got older.

Charles felt like he had a deja-vu moment, they were in this situations many times before. "Max, c'mon stand up, mate. You can't-", Charles said as he stepped out of his room again. Max didn't move, Charles still heard the heavy breathing from the driver in front of him. Charles sighed as he sat beside him on the floor. "Do you want to talk about it?", Max looked up at the brown haired boy beside him. He didn't thought that he would come back and talk to him. He thought about everything that was going on at the moment, all the feelings he didn't show to anyone. He didn't know if he needed to talk about it. After a few minutes Max sighed and looked at the floor in front of him. "For the first time in my life I felt like he was proud of me. Like really proud. For a few seconds I felt everything I wanted since I was a kid.", Max whispered quietly as all the emotions and thoughts of the evening came crashing down on him. He felt like he was drowning, he didn't know what to feel or say to explain the chaos in him but he tried. It was too much for the young driver. He couldn't handle it in this moment.

Charles knew exactly who he meant. He felt his heart getting heavy again as he thought about the many conversations with Max about his Father. The only thing Max ever wanted was that his Father is proud of him. He never was, he only told Max about his mistakes, everything he did wrong or what he could have done better. Nothing ever was enough for this man. "I thought that the day when I am world champion would be enough for him but it is not.", Charles furrowed his eyebrows as he listened to Max. "One of the first things I heard from him was that he wants me to win next year again, and again...and again..my first championship is not enough for him, Charles.", Max looked away from Charles and put his head against the wall behind him, looking at the ceiling.

Max let out a loud sigh as he thought about the moments after he got out of the car. He broke down at the back of his car, the feelings overwhelming him, he never felt like this in his entire life. He started to cry as he leaned against his tyre. He couldn't believe what was happening in this moment.

Charles voice teared him out of his thoughts. "I'm proud of you, Max. You are a fucking world champion. It doesn't matter what anyone thinks. You should be proud and happy, you should be out there celebrating your win with your team. You did this, not him.", Charles said as he looked away from Max. "Thank you.", Max smiled a little as Charles said those words to him. He heard them from many people tonight but hearing the words from Charles, it was different. It always felt different with him.

Charles lips curved slowly into a small smile. He meant every word he said to him. For a few minutes they both just enjoyed the silence between them, it wasn't awkward or uncomfortable, no it was actually the opposite. Max glanced at the young Ferrari driver beside him. Charles felt Max's gaze on him quickly, he always did. He turned his head to the left, his green eyes found his blue eyes immediately. "You should go back, you shouldn't be here.", Charles whispered and Max only nodded slowly. He still felt drunk, a bit more sober than before but there was still a lot of alcohol in his body.

Charles felt his heartbeat speeding up again as he stared in the eyes of the dutch driver in front of him. He needed to end this as quickly as possible. He broke the eye contact and stood up. Max looked up at him and furrowed his eyebrows. Charles stretches out his hand to Max, he wanted to help him stand up again because he knew that he wasn't sober enough for that. "C'mon mate, stand up.", Max nodded again and took his hand. A warm and familiar feeling rushed through his body. Was Charles feeling this too? Max shakes his head to get this thoughts out of his head.

Charles pulled him up from the ground, as soon as Max was standing, he felt that he was very unsteady and almost fall down to the floor again. He grabbed Max's shirt at his waist and pulled him up again. Max felt like his world was spinning in 3 directions at the same time. He can't remember the last time he felt so drunk. He tried to steady himself but as soon as he felt the hands of Charles, his mind was going blank. He felt like his skin was burning under his touch. The warm and familiar feeling came back and rushed through his body all over again.

Max grabbed Charles forearm quickly, the spinning slowly stopped. Charles gave him a worried look, he saw it in the corner of his eyes. Charles heartbeat was faster than his Ferrari car going around the track, he was worried that Max could hear it at this point. This whole situation made him nervous, his whole body as burning. He didn't know why Max made him fell like that. It was so confusing for him. He furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Max who stood straight up again. He was close, too close. They were too close to each other as Max still was holding on to Charles forearm and Charles still hold Max at his waist.

"Are you okay?", Max eyes found Charles eyes again. "I am now.", was all Max answered as he felt the spinning stopping. "That's good.", Charles whispered, never breaking the eye contact. This time he wasn't breaking the eye contact so quickly. He wanted to and he should do it but for some reason he couldn't. Something in this blue eyes held him captive. "Thank you.", Max gave the young Ferrari driver a small smile. "Anytime.", was all that Charles said as his eyes moved to his lips, he didn't understand why he was doing this. This moment should be weird and uncomfortable but it was quite the opposite actually. It felt good, he felt safe and comfortable.

Max noticed that Charles gaze has changed, his eyes moved away from his. Why did something so wrong feel so right and good to him? "Charles..", Max quietly murmured his name and Charles eyes quickly looked up again in his eyes, a look of realization and panic in his eyes. "Good Night, Max.", the words stumbled out of Charles mouth way too fast, he let go of Max shirt and moved away from him. Max felt Charles wrist sliding out of his hand. "Wait, I-", Max said and tried to grab his wrist again but Charles was faster than him and took his arm away as soon as Max let go of him.

"Max, no..please..", Charles felt confused and overwhelmed with every thought and feeling he had in this moment. This wasn't him, his heart was still beating fast. He turned around and stormed into his hotel room and closed the door behind him. He didn't look back at the dutch driver, who looked as confused as he felt in this moment.

But as soon as Charles slammed the door behind him, the realization also hit Max. This was wrong, he shouldn't be here. "Fuck...", Max murmured and turned around. Max stepped into the elevator as quickly as possible. This can't happen again. This wasn't him. This can't be him. He knew that too well.

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A/N: Hi, new chapter, yay :) thank you sm for your feedback on the last chapter. I'm very happy that you love the book already. But pls be patient with me with updates. I'll try my best but this book will have slow updates. I'm sorry. But I hope you still enjoy the book! <3 Feedback is always welcome. :)