Cigarette Daydreams

2019

A/N: I know the updates aren't constant, but I'm not very well, so sometimes I can't write anything. I hope the slightly longer chapters make up for the delay.

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The 2019 season is light, and if someone ask Lewis, it's by far the best he's had so far, even if there's no real competition, but he already thinks he's had enough drama in his life in 2008 and 2016. His teammate, Valtteri, is always there with him on podiums, sometimes even with wins, but the finn has never been someone for Lewis to worry about, even if they think he's superb, he knows Valtteri can't keep up with him.

In the first race of the year, he and Max shared a podium, the Red Bull driver looking proud, as always, of his work, and Lewis found himself smiling at him at times. Unfortunately for Max, and also for Lewis, the sequence of races doesn't continue to be as good as the one in Australia for the dutchman.

Instead of Max, Lewis finds himself sharing a podium with Ferrari's youngest driver, Charles Leclerc. He's no novice, but only now was the Mercedes driver been able to pay attention to the other man. He knows Charles and Max's history, rivals since the youth ranks, a history of heated disputes, the great rivalry of the future. So, when he sees Max giving him sharp looks as he chats to Charles after the race, he thinks it's normal.

In Spain, Lewis and Max's paths cross again, the Mercedes driver with victory and the Red Bull driver with third place. Lewis realizes there's something wrong when Max turns his back on him and splashes all the champagne on Valtteri. To the rest of the world this is nothing, but they've always had a silent agreement that whenever they're on the podium together, they'll celebrate together. It was something gradual and natural, they just went with the flow, until Max broke this little tradition.

Lewis wonders if he should do something about it, ask what's wrong, try to fix it if something is wrong, but Max doesn't even look at him. He thinks about letting it go, it's none of his business after all, except that it's. In some strange and unconventional way, Lewis likes Max, he likes not being charged, how the dutchman makes him feel free, he likes having his normal life, but when they just want to, they get together and have fun, at the end of the day Max loves another guy and he's just him. It's easy. Or it should be.

It's like a deja vu, Spain, the same nightclub, the lights, Max and Daniel together, Lewis looking on from afar, a man next to him, the difference being that this man is just a Charles who is very enthusiastic about everything around him, and on the other side is Sebastian, who's there just to keep an eye on the monegasque. Lewis doesn't even know how he ended up between the Ferrari drivers, he just got carried away, but that's okay, he discovers that it's not so difficult to stay close to them, Sebastian, when he's not being the completely annoying person he was in his days as Red Bull's golden boy, is quite acceptable to be close.

The moment Daniel leaves Max alone Lewis walks away, fast enough to startle the two Ferrari drivers, but he doesn't bother to explain, he just goes towards Max as fast as he can, dodging drunk people and never failing to look at the blonde.

"Hi, what's up?"

Lewis wants to beat himself up for acting like a nervous virgin teenager.

"I'm not going with you today." Max is harsh and doesn't even look him in the eye.

"I just asked if you were okay." Lewis knows it wasn't exactly that, but he goes with the flow.

"I'm fine, you can leave." Max continues to look elsewhere as if he doesn't care that Lewis is standing in front of him.

Lewis notices that Max's face is tense, contrary to what the blonde said. "You're doing a terrible job of showing me this."

"This is the point, I don't need to show you anything, so I'll be more direct." Max looks at him deeply this time. "The only one who's going to fuck me tonight is Daniel, so you can try your luck with someone else, I'm sure if you ask, Leclerc he'll gladly open his legs." Max's face is angry and maybe if it weren't for the dark place and colored lights, Lewis would be able to see how red the dutchman is.