Adrenaline: A Lestappen Story

27- The Last Time He Loved Me

In the wake of his triumph at Monza, Charles Leclerc embarked on a miraculous streak of success, winning not only the United States Grand Prix after that but also the Mexican Grand Prix.

With that, the championship landscape began to shift, and with each consecutive win, the Monegasque driver found himself steadily climbing the standings — something he had never dreamed possible at that stage of the season. For the first time in years, the scarlet red of Ferrari became a symbol of dominance, and whispers of a potential championship charge for Leclerc grew louder.

On the other hand, the once-dominant Max Verstappen found himself facing a formidable new challenger. The points gap narrowed race after race, and during the Mexican Grand Prix, Leclerc's victory saw him equalizing Verstappen's points. The championship battle had taken an unexpected turn, and the media was quick to dissect the sudden change in dynamics.

Headlines questioned the uncharacteristic struggles of Max, wondering why the Red Bull driver, who had been a dominant force earlier in the season, was now seemingly unable to secure victories. Speculations and analyses filled the media, with outlets and fans alike trying to unravel the mystery behind Verstappen's apparent dip in performance.

The truth was that Max's Red Bull had been facing some performance issues, which had been identified as strategic problems. And, undeniably, his feelings for Charles also played a part in it. Verstappen's devotion had led him to often unconsciously prioritize the smile on the face of Charles whenever he battled on track.

In order to spend more time together, the two drivers had then requested for their strategy meetings to be summarized into report documents in order to cut their meetings short. Every qualifying Saturday, the two drivers would carry on a quick overview meeting of the strategy with their respective teams and move back to their hotels with a copy of the documents. There they'd review and study their reports separately, but always maintaining a close distance from each other. Max and Charles could no longer spend time away from each other, every minute counted.

"Don't look," Max smiled, pushing the brunette's face away as he went through the pages of his weekend's strategy report in the confines of his own hotel room.

"I'm not looking, I'm trying to get you to look at me!" He exclaimed with a burst of giggles following in its wake, respecting Max's wishes and keeping a further distance— the man was most definitely joking but the documents they chose to bring to their hotels held a lot of importance and neither would dare glance at the other's. It didn't stop Charles however from wanting the Red Bull driver's attention to break away from the reports and go back to him.

"Here I have a compromise," he suggested, shutting his eyes tightly as he situated himself on Max's lap, only opening them back up once he was no longer facing the paperwork. "Now you get to do your job and I get to look at you," he said proudly. With that being said, Charles was quick to bring his mouth to Max's jawline, kissing down a trail until he'd reached his neck. There was nothing as intoxicating as Max's presence and while he wasn't allowed to do drugs due to his line of field, Charles could easily understand the impossible task that it would be to quit them. Charles had gotten used to spending all their time together and even on weekends, in front of all the cameras, their chemistry was electric. Every weekend a new picture of them would circulate around the internet, most people enjoying what they assumed to be nothing more than a strong friendship. Charles would occasionally stumble across a post exclaiming that they hoped the two men remained close even if the championship went to Charles. It was a common theme to believe Max winning would change nothing between them but the reverse of it would bring their destruction. The more time he spent with Max however, the easier it became to ignore those theories and even now as he watched the man's blue eyes scanning the pages, Charles couldn't imagine that his feelings would disappear over a title.