End Game (Charles Leclerc x Max Verstappen)

Exile

Charles Leclerc

The tension in the air is suffocating as I fight to keep my breath steady and, whom I assume are police, surround me on every side, their expressions unreadable. My chest tightens, fear gripping my heart as I try to remain calm, reminding myself over and over that panicking will not help. The silence stretches, broken only by the distant echoes of sound from the locked-down paddock.

One officer steps forward, lowering his gun. His accent is strong but it does not prevent me from hearing the words that will play over and over in my memories. "Charles Leclerc, you are under arrest for acts of homosexuality."

My stomach drops, as the words hang in the air, surreal and incomprehensible. I am struggling to process the absurdity of the accusation. I have done nothing wrong. And I quickly realize that my private perfect life is now the centre of a storm I never saw coming. 

"I- I have not done anything wrong." I barely manage to find my voice, though it is now trembling with a mixture of fear and anger, immediately derailing my plan of feigned surety. 

The officer does not respond, either ignoring me completely or pretending he does not understand what I am saying, my guess would be the former. He motions for me to step forward. I comply, raising my hands slowly in a form of surrender as my mind spins to make sense of the situation. I glance out the window, trying to grab a subtle glimpse of anything happening beyond, anyone coming to my rescue, but it is empty. I am on my own.

As I step over the threshold of the Ferrari garage I catch a glance of an even worse scenario playing out only twenty feet ahead. Max. The fear of my own safety is immediately overwhelmed with that of the people I love. Pen where is she?

In a daze I walk forward, the hot sun sending beads of sweat dripping down my neck until I am shoved into the back of a black car. The door slams, leaving room only for the deafening silence.

Max Verstappen

I'm frozen, a statue of my former self, as the police surround the car. Barrels of guns fill my vision and the weight of the accusations settle in the pit of my stomach. Emotions fly through my, even faster than my car. Anger. Confusion. Desperation. But I must stay strong, for Pen and for Charles.

"Christian" I whisper, once more risking contact with the man who has taken me in as if I were his own. "What the hell do I do?" 

All I am met with is silence. And the not in my stomach squeezes tighter, adding Christian's well being to my growing list of concerns, none of which involve my safety. 

I sit immobilized, and as the adrenaline subsides I can't shake the feeling that everything I care about and love is unraveling. The charges, the arrests, the uncertainty of what comes next leaves me feeling powerless. And all I can do is weight, surrounded by the echoing silence of the paddock on lockdown. 

- - -

*Two days later - Paris*

SkySports on www.skysports.com: Testing in Abu Dhabi has been postponed and the first race of the season in Bahrain will be cancelled and replaced by testing at the Circuit Paul Ricard in France. All teams have been ordered to congregate at the FIA head quarters where further actions will be discussed. At this time a reliable source has confirmed that both Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc reached agreements with the Abu Dhabi government where they each paid an undisclosed fine and will not be allowed to return to the country. That is all the information we have at this time and no other teams or individuals have issued statements regarding the events that occurred in Abu Dhabi this past weekend.