The Team // A Formula One AU

Daniel

I thought spending the morning doing a scavenger hunt in Chicago with my best friend would be fun – the lake, the food, the skyscrapers. Man, was I wrong.

"I think the next clue is this way," I say half-heartedly, studying Max's face to see if stopping for iced smoothies has improved his mood at all. It hasn't. He's still huffing every time we need to move, choosing the most boring ways to complete our challenges and not listening to half the things I'm saying. I should have chosen Mick as my teammate, but I wanted to be there for Max in his hour of need. His crashes with George have changed him completely.

"Listen," I say, turning to face my friend. He raises his eyebrows as he sucks on his smoothie.

"Yeah?"

"I don't care if we win the scavenger hunt or not, that's not the point of it. We're meant to be learning how to work as a team but right now we aren't even speaking. Can you just tell me what's wrong?"

Max blinks at me before setting off again towards our next destination, ignoring my question entirely. I press my lips together and grab his shoulder, pulling him back around to face me.

"Do you think this is fun for me?" I ask, irritated. "I didn't ask to be stuck moping around all day, all week even. I'm your friend, Max-"

"None of us are friends," he mutters.

I stare at him.

"What did you say?"

"We aren't friends, we're just competitors," he repeats. I shake my head, but my stomach twists. Does he really not see me as a friend? "I race against you. That's it."

My phone buzzes with another clue and I curse as I realise that means our last challenge timed out. I open the message, praying that it takes us to the end of this miserable morning. And surprisingly for a game of Erik's creation, the message seems to deliver.

"What does it say?" Max asks.

"'Find team four and swap partners.'"

"Team four... I don't remember who that was."

Me neither, I think, although I have a sinking feeling that I do. But right now I would take anyone over Max. I didn't travel halfway across the world for mornings like this.

The location on the clue isn't far away and we walk in near silence, but that suits me just fine. It turns out to be a café on the corner of a busy street and I figure we can get some lunch here before moving on to the next challenge. I push the door open and smile when I recognise two of my teammates already sitting at a table. Yuki leaps to his feet in excitement, and Nikita looks me up and down as if I'm committing fifteen social faux pas with just one greeting.

"You're team two!" Yuki grins and pulls out a seat for me. I nod and drop my jacket on the chair before buying some food and settling down to eat. Max sits across from me to complete the most tense quartet I could imagine. Not that Yuki's noticed.

"Did you get the photo with the bean?" He asks excitedly and I shake my head, swallowing a mouthful of soup.

"The what?"

"It's a metal bean, it's shiny and you can walk underneath it." He shows me a selfie of him grinning and Nikita frowning at the camera. I laugh.

"Wish I could have seen it."

Yuki is beyond excited to be swapping teammates, and I can't blame him, having to spend the entire morning working together with Nikita. Max is picking at his food though, watching the Russian's every move. I wonder if he's regretting his choice to be the bad guy today.

"So we have to swap partners," I say and Yuki nods excitedly. I will definitely have more fun with this guy than I was having with Max 'we-aren't-friends' Verstappen.

"I will go with Max," Nikita says unexpectedly and I almost startle, it's been so long since I heard the guy speak. But I nod, Yuki gives two thumbs ups and Max doesn't react. He stares into his pasta, Red Bull cap covering his face, and I think again how unlike him this all is. He used to be the loudest, the funniest, the leader.

"How does that sound, Max?" I ask tentatively.

"Fine, I don't care who I'm with."

Yuki smiles an 'all sorted' kind of smile and Nikita stands up and pulls on his hat ready to set off again, but I just watch as Max sighs and puts the lid back on his untouched pasta.

"Take it with you for later," I tell him.

"What?"

"You'll be hungry later. You should save it."

He holds my gaze for a moment and nods, putting the pot in his backpack.

"Another clue..." Yuki mutters and my phone vibrates too.

"Hey, guys?" I ask suddenly, an idea striking my mind. "Why don't we all go round together in one big group? It'll probably be more fun that way."

To my surprise, both Nikita and Max look relieved. Yuki just shrugs.

"Seems fine to me."

We exit the café and make our way to the next location shown on the map, we need to find a fountain and take perspective photos of us around it. That should definitely be more fun in a four. Yuki guides us while Nikita strides quickly behind as if he magically knows the way without any help and is only here to supervise. I fall behind with my former teammate. He turns to me.

"Thank you."

"What?"

Max slows his pace to let the others get away and I walk beside him, studying his face.

"Thanks for not leaving me," he mumbles.

"I wouldn't leave anyone with Nikita," I tell him. "You're not special."

This time it's Max who stops walking. His pale eyes bore deeply into mine and I have to take a step back from the intensity of it, leaning against the wall behind me.

"I'm sorry." Max simultaneously grows three inches and shrinks like a guilty dog. "I shouldn't have said we're not friends. It was wrong of me."

I sigh and reach out to pat his arm gently. "I know there's a lot on your mind right now."

"I'm working on it," he insists resolutely. "I keep thinking about what Tom said, about learning to separate what happens on-track from what happens off it. George can do it easily. I'm still learning."

"That's okay," I tell him, "I get it. Apology accepted."

He smiles weakly. "Thank you."

"Guys!" Yuki screams from the traffic lights at the end of the street. I raise my hand to wave at him and glace back at Max as I set off walking. At first he seems too drained to follow but then a strength like steel settles inside him. He nods at me.

"Let's get that photo."