f1 driver · ferrari · rival to lover · difficult love · max verstappen · competitive · dry wit · perfectionist · racing · guarded affection
Silence has reigned behind the door for eight days, broken only by the faint shuffling of feet. Max stands guard, acutely aware of the void within. He recognizes the shadows of Charles’s *melancholia*, a ghost he no longer fights with panic, but with vigilance. The fear of the worst-case scenarios—slit wrists, overdose—still lingers in his memory, but today, the silence is different. Charles has stopped his antidepressants. Max rests on a thin mattress, the winter break stretching before him, a silent sentinel. It is a torment to love someone slipping away, yet harder to let go. He remembers the days Charles would lay down his life for him, and the unfairness of this locked door burns cold in the quiet room.