And so it starts

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Last month was the best day, Max his eyesight came back and it stayed. The day after Max had an appointment for his therapy and even his physician was surprised at the sudden recovery, but no one was complaining.
Charles had been teasing him for a month and a half now. "Maybe made wishes do come true" hinting at their wish at midnight at new years.

Max still had visited his doctor regularly in the last weeks but was now released. The only thing reminding them was that he had to wear his glasses once in a while. But as his boyfriend couldn't stop telling him "how hot he looked" in them. Let just say he gladly put them on (to take something else off) on multiple occasions.

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They were now in Bahrain for winter testing the 2021 cars. For some reason they had the luck that they were booked in the rooms beside each other so it was easy to slip in and out of each other's hotel rooms. This morning they would be eating breakfast together with some of their friends before they would all head to track. Max was nervously walking in front of the mirror as the monegasque laid a calming hand on his shoulder. "Cherie, are you nervous?" He asked as he stared at him via the mirror. Max softly nodded and in reply Charles wrapped his arms around him from behind resting his head on his shoulder. "Don't be"
Max snorted rolling his eyes. "Easier said then done"

In all fairness Max only started driving their road car a couple of weeks ago as he wasn't allowed to do that sooner. Also he had been weary about driving as he feared that he might not see the people on the road or his sight disappearing again as it had in the beginning sometimes been a little blurry. But even that had disappeared in the last weeks. Of course as soon as he could he started on the sim again, not missing a day of training on it, if it was in their house in Monaco or at Redbull in Milton Keynes.

Also his training with Brad took off close after new years, training hard , but even though Max would never admit it to Brad , even the hard training felt good, he had missed it.
But the road car, the sim and training where nothing compared to driving a incredibly fast F1 car and even more so to drive it competitively
Driving 80 km/ph through the backroads of Monaco wasn't the top speed of 360 km/ph they could hit on a long straight on a track.

"It will be okay babe, you know what you do" the monegasque tried to comfort him though he wasn't sure how as he never saw his boyfriend unconfident in driving. He used to be insecure about other things, but never this.
"But what if it gets blurry again?" The dutchman sighed leaning his head against Charles's.
"You have to trust that it won't Cherie, you did everything in the last months, the doctor cleared you, it hasn't happened in the last 5 weeks right? So you have to have a little faith!" Charles said as he hugged Max closer to him.
"I know I do! I have a feeling you will do great things this year" he smiled before he pecked his cheek.

The dutchman started smiling now too. "You really believe that?" He asked smiling though there was still a hint of uncertainty in his voice.
"Yes I do, you are Max Verstappen my biggest rival and nightmare since I was a little kid" he started smiling brightly as he told the dutchman. "Though since a couple of years you only are my nightmare on track" he clarified with his signature "try but fail" at a wink. "You know man of my dreams and all that" he waved with his hand looking away.
"Sapp" Max smiled as he turned around to properly hug his boyfriend, resting his head on his shoulder with a sigh. "But thanks, I needed that" he mumbled in the fabric that clothed his boyfriend's shoulder
"Go show 'em Mon lion" Charles whispered in his ear.

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"See I told you so ;)" Max read as he opened his phone in his drivers room, smiling at the text he got from his boyfriend. Normally he could get easily annoyed by the smugness of the monegasque , but now he was just relieved. The first test day went well, he ended the day on top of the time sheets. Also the car felt good, really good. Mercedes didn't seem to be there today but they were also quite notoriously known for sandbagging in the winter test. But Max really felt a giddy hope for a good season brewing in his stomach.

Of course Max also kept an eye out for the times of Ferrari, Carlos came out on top for the Ferrari's in third while Charles was only tenth. But as Ferrari had then both drive today in the different session with different set ups that wasn't really representative. By the looks of it Ferrari should at least be a little bit more competitive then last year. And that was something that made the dutchman happy aswel, the wheel to wheel battles with his boyfriend would always be his favourite. They had raced so long together, knew every trick out of the others book. Which made it all the more interesting.

"You were :p" he texted back, following with "how is the car?" As he went to change back in to his normal clothes. Afterwards picking up his phone again. "See you in my room;) then we will talk about it. Mandatory cuddle session! And food cause I'm hungry!" he read and smiled. Though today was a very good fist day, he was exhausted by all the extra stress, so food and cuddles sounded the best for now.

As he exited his drivers room he ran in to Christian who was planning on heading towards the hotel.
"Well done Max!" He cheered as he hugged his driver. "I can't believe that you did this, while last month we didn't even know if you could drive or not!" He said as he patted his back.
"Thanks Christian" Max just smiled at him. "You will do great things this year, I can feel it!" The Brit uttered as they walked towards the parking lot together. Max smiled, he loved the confidence and the faith his team principal had in him. Though Christian told him this every year, he really believed maybe this year it could be true"

"Any plans for tonight?" The Brit asked.
"Not really, just relaxing" the dutchman shrugged.
"No plans with a certain someone from the room next door?" Christian asked wiggling his eyebrows as Max dropped his blue Louis Vuitton backpack in his trunk before closing it, no point trying to hide the blush on his cheeks.
"Also just relaxing" Max rolled his eyes at his boss though he was laughing.
"You know Checo is driving tomorrow so you could take advantage of your "so called rest"" Christian laughed air quoting the last part.
"Well so is he, and I know you like to weaken the competition but no" Max laughed as he Challenged the Brit.
"Oh you see trough my plan Verstappen, am I that obvious?" His team principal laughed.
"Kinda!" Max couldn't stop his laughter now. "How do you even know he is in the next room?" He then asked raising one eyebrow in suspicion.
"Like I said, you've seen through my plan" he held his hands up in the air, pleading guilty.
"O my god" Max pinched the bridge of his nose "My team principal plans for me to have a Sex date" he laughed even louder.

As if on que, a group of red clad people entered the parking lot. Charles who was parked next to Max approached them with his trainer Andrea and two mechanics in tow.
"Hey mate" he greeted clapping hands with the dutchman before shaking the brits aswel.
"Something funny?" He asked as he saw the faces of the Redbull guys who snorted again at his question.
Andrea and Charles looked at each other. "Well I guess it is" shrugging their shoulders.
"Kinda" Max laughed again. "He has planned a date for me tonight" rolling his eyes.

"Oh?" Charles as confused as Christian knew about them. Before he saw the glinster in both of their eyes. "Oooh" he said again as it dawned upon him, trying his hardest not to blush as the nearby mechanics didn't know.
"Well I hope Christian got you a nice date then" he winked "have a nice one!" He said as he made his way into his Ferrari.
Leaving Max and Christian laughing in the parking lot.

"But seriously Max, I hope you two can relax a little" he told his driver as the other people had left. "I know the last months have been hard on you, first with the blackmail and the loss of your eyesight. So that's why I booked your room close together. You deserve that things are coming your way now!"

Max turned quite at his teamboss's little speech. "Thanks Christian, that really means a lot" as they hugged before parting ways.
Max knew for sure, Redbull was family. And maybe , just maybe this would be his year!
Now it was only waiting left to see what the year would bring. I just hoped Christian and Charles were right.

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