Unbroken Hopes|| Charles Leclerc X Max Verstappen(Lestappen)Wildest Dreams Book2 Backslash

“Max it’s okay, I will do if it if it’s necessary” Jos sighed sitting across the table.

They had been in a meeting with both teams from Redbull as-well as Ferrari trying to deal with the leaked images from this weekend.
Pictures from the security cameras in the hallway of Max’s apartment building. It were stills from that unfaithful day in January in 2018. The day Max and Charles made their relationship know to Sophie and Victoria. The day Jos found them cuddled up in the hallway. The day Jos tossed Charles against the wall as he pulled him away from his son.  The stills showed Jos’s hands on Charles collar and Charles seated on the floor, the nosebleed prominent on his face.

The video that leaked was Max arguing with his father after his race ended prematurely in Austria 2020. Of course it was cut off at the right moment. Making the situation look more horrible than it actually was.

I GUESS WELL DONE DAD YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED!’ Showing a sobbing Max and as Jos was seen approaching him Max pushed the older dutchman away from him. Screaming out ‘DON’T TOUCH ME!’. then the video stopped. Completely missing the part of Jos comforting his son and being there for him as he cried in his arms. All in all it really looked bad.

The big question was still…. Where or rather who was this coming from?

“I still think it’s ridiculous!” Max groaned. “Yes ofcourse what dad did was not okay but we made up, sometimes I fucking hate it… that our job comes with this spotlight” Charles who was seated next to Max reached out for his hand squeezing it as a sign of silent comfort.

“Yes I agree with you Max. But I still think this is the best way to go about it. It will cause a shit storm for a little while. As far as this already isn’t. But after a while this will blow over” Raymond, Max’s manager told them.
“But we are fine and we made up so it’s ridiculous, why should we let them dictate our lives?” Max knew his manager was right but he was still petty about it. He wasn’t a person to act on public image. His father had proven to them he had changed, wasn’t that enough?

As Jos saw his son contemplating he walked over to him kneeling down next to the chair he was seated in.
“Max… let me do this for you okay? For you both” he said calmly as he now turned to Charles. “I know you both said you forgave me and I’m grateful for that, I really am. But I still regret my behaviour from then, I don’t think I will ever fully forgive myself for treating you both like that… that I missed those important moments in your life… and that I made you feel like that. I was to blinded by my own believes and I was so wrong for doing that. Those last two and a half years that we made up mean more to me than you can imagine” he said as he squeezed both of their hands.

Charles swallowed his breath as Max tried to hide the tears prickling in his eyes caused by his father’s words by rolling them, folding his arms over each other. “Okay we will do it, but I still think it’s stupid!” He said pettily what earned him a chuckle from everyone in the room. “Oh I know” Jos laughed. “You are still a Verstappen, stubborn as they come” Max glared at his father before also breaking out in a smile.

They filmed the video a day later so Jos had time to write down what he wanted to say. If it was in his own words it would probably have the biggest impact.

They filmed him sitting down telling the story.

Jos takes a deep breath as he starts talking.
“I guess if you are watching you probably have seen the pictures and a video by now.
As you might know my son Max and his boyfriend Charles recently came out to the world and honest to god I couldn’t be more proud of them.
But… yes … there was I time I wasn’t. The moments of the security footage that you have seen is when I first found out about them. It was unplanned and I regret the way I behaved till this day… and i forever will” he sighed again trying to keep his composure , fumbling with the notes in his hand before he looked up in the camera again with glacéd over eyes.
“I was a homophobe and my reaction was horrible. I wasn’t allowed to lay my hands on Charles like that and I regret it immensely. What I did was unforgivable. Though Charles and Max did… though I don’t deserve that they did forgive me. And till this day I am still so sorry.
I’m forever grateful that Charles and Max allowed me to come back in to their lives again and we got to rebuild our relationship. That I’m allowed to be a part in all those special moments” he smiles softly now.

“I wanted to end this video with something I think is very important… if you are a parent and your kid tells you or you find out that they are part of the lgbtqia+ community or they tell you they have found a partner, please don’t react the way I did… instead perhaps reach out to the following organisations” he says as he lists some organisations that guide parents with homophobic believes in to acceptance.
“Also if you are struggling with your own sexuality, reach out to someone you trust and if you prefer to talk to someone you don’t know then here are some organisations that could help you as well”

Behind the camera Max is watching with tears threatening to fall from his eyes while Charles holds him from behind, his head resting on the Dutchman’s shoulder as they watched. They hadn’t heard Jos’s notes beforehand and it was filmed in one take. They didn’t expect the heartfelt message and they definitely didn’t expect of him to come up with those help organisations. This way this video had become so much more then a apology.
So they silently walked towards them as Jos approached them.
“Thanks dad” Max breathed as he envelopes his dad in to a hug. Charles following suit. “Merci Jos, this really means a lot.
Their hug was still caught by a distant camera before the video ended.

As it was mildly edited just for audio purposes it was posted online only two hours later over their three social media accounts as well as that of their teams. The help organisations Jos mentioned sharing the video as well. For now they just hoped it was enough and that they could finally focus on better times and the championship while the police dealt with whoever was behind this in the first place.