Gentle with me | MAX VERSTAPPEN

ii. CHARLES II

"Max," Charles said as he walked up to the Dutchman. He was on a mission and while it didn't really require him to be subtle, Charles still felt like he needed to carefully push his friend's button in ways that wouldn't lead to his attempt to find out what is currently making Max upset being discovered by the man himself.

"Oh, hello Charles." Max greeted him. The brunet had slightly turned his head to the right as he gave Charles a strained smile.

"How have you been this past month? I mean, it's been quite a busy month, no?" Charles asked. He could already tell that his attempt at hiding his mission of finding out what is currently wrong with Max was definitely not going in the direction that he wanted it to go.

"I've been well. And yeah... It's been a busy month, for both of us you know." Max answered. Charles could already tell that the other didn't have the energy to speak with him or anyone else for that matter and he respected that. However, he couldn't lie to himself when he said that he wasn't curious about what put Max in such an annoyed and depressed mood that he had been in for the past month. Now, don't get Charles wrong, Max has totally demolished and won every race so far despite his bad mood, however, it's the first time he has seen him in this depressed state. Hence, his curiosity and mission to find the answer to his questions.

"How's it going with, you know, Tatiana? Does she still find me handsome enough to render her speechless?" Charles joked, trying to find something that would make his friend laugh. Oh, how wrong he was. He could immediately tell that he had said something wrong. 

The way Max's eyes hardened and his jaw clenched together with his fists told Charles everything he needed to know. His friend was currently facing personal problems that were centred around Tatiana. A woman that Charles had barely interacted with and yet he could feel this indescribable feeling of never wanting to interact with her. 

What had she done to Max that caused this reaction?

"Shut up, Charles," Max muttered before he hurried away, his fists still clenched to his sides.

"What a cheerful mood he was in," Charles muttered to himself before he too walked away to his garage.

iMessage

Mon amour

Quand étions-nous censés être au restaurant ? (When were we supposed to be at the restaurant?)

Vers huit heures, je crois. Pourquoi? (Around eight o'clock, I think. Why?

J'ai oublié, à plus tard. Je t'aime ❤️ (I forgot, see you later. I love you)

Oh, c'est bon. Oui, je te verrai plus tard. Je t'aime aussi, mon amour. (Oh, that's okay. Yes, I'll see you later. I love you too, my love.)

---

"What got Max in such a bad mood?"

Charles looked away from his phone as soon as he heard his best friend's voice. Pierre Gasly was someone that he had known since they were children, both dreaming of making it into Formula One and racing against each other. 

If Charles were going to be honest, Pierre was his best friend, someone that he could always count on.

"Trouble in paradise," Charles answered as he shrugged his shoulders. What else was he supposed to say?

Pierre let out an "ah" as if that made total sense to him. Charles didn't know how that made sense but Pierre was Pierre.

"Oh, right, I just remembered what I was supposed to ask you," Pierre said as he snapped his fingers. "Kika wanted me to ask you if Alex and you are up for a double date?"

"Yeah, works for us. Maybe next week?"

"Well, it's a date then, petit calarmardo." Pierre gave him a quick hug, patting his back before pulling away.

"See you later, Calamar," Charles said, smiling before he continued his walk towards the garage. 

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A/N: I finally fixed my computer! Yay on that. Chapters won't be that regular anymore though since I have a job that keeps me quite occupied and at the moment I've been hit with writer's block to be completely honest with y'all. But, kudos to you all and see you in the next chapter. [Inserts a heart emoji]