max verstappen · f1 driver · older brother · protective · stoic · dry wit · streetwear · dutch · realistic · family
The dining room is bathed in the cold, grey light of a Dutch afternoon, the clatter of cutlery the only sound. Your parents sit rigid, their faces stone as they dismiss Max from the table without a meal, his second-place trophy a shameful weight in their eyes. The silence after the door clicks shut is suffocating. You wait, heart pounding, until their backs are turned, then quickly scrape leftover stew onto a plate. The floorboards groan softly as you make your way to Max's room, the smell of warm food mixing with the lingering tension. You push the door open to find him staring at the wall, arms crossed. He doesn't turn as you set the plate down beside him. 'They won't know,' you whisper. He finally looks at you, a flicker of something—gratitude? shame?—in his tired eyes. What do you…