Max Verstappen has spent 5 years locked behind bars for a crime he didn't commit. That isn't to say he /hasn't/ committed crimes before. When he's finally released, Max sets out to assemble a team of experts and specialists to carry out his biggest heist yet: a $150 million diamond necklace.
or
Ocean's 8 but it's the F1 drivers.
This is my first time posting my writing, so it would mean a lot if you checked it out! It's still being continuously updated <3
Check it out here: Ocean's 8 by georgerussellsmerc
OKAY, you asked for prompts but I really need to know what happens next in your money heist au 😩 bestie you may not think it was good but it was sooooo GOOOD!!!
so, I wrote a part two for this. enjoy :)
"The fucking titanic necklace?" Daniel asked for what it felt like the millionth time. Max's plan was insane, dangerous and probably would get them thrown into jail or killed. Daniel haven't felt this alive in years.
"It isn't of course the real one. The old lady dropped it into the ocean in the end." Max laughed at his own joke, as he always did. "This one is much more expensive."
Max had explained the plan to him at Seb's house. Sebastian didn't want to be involved in the heist but was more than willing to listen and give his input. Daniel had met the rest of the guys in an inconspicuous restaurant owned by one of Max's new partners, Yuki. Lando was responsible for figuring out the security system. Daniel thought he looked like a kid barely out of high school, but then, Max also was still a rosy cheeked teen when he dragged him into his business. Carlos was the muscle of the operation. If they encountered security the spaniard had a great aim with his gun and an even better headlock, as he eagerly tried to demonstrate with Lando, laughing as the kid was turning red. Charles, the pretty, soft-spoken man that smelled of old money was their front guy. He had many contacts and friends in high places, and getting an invitation to a party at their target's mansion was surprisingly easy.
They were sitting in the stakeout van outside the private collector's heavily secured house. Charles had planted cameras and mics around the place, and after a few days of sitting in the van listening to dull conversation, they struck gold and now were pretty sure where the safe containing the necklace was localised.
Lando had gone out to buy food and Daniel swore under his breath the kid would get them caught just because he was restless and craved some french fries.
"Mate, there's so much sexual tension I can take and this is getting ridiculous" Lando said as he carefully opened the back of the van to get out "If we get caught because I went outside to buy chips it's entirely your fault for making this place impossible to breathe. Figure this shit out or I'm not coming back at all" the kid said with a shit-eating grin as he disappeared behind the tulips.
The flowers - Max's idea of a non suspicious van in a wealthy neighborhood, a tulip delivery service. "We can't use a catering service, that's already the front of Christian's business." There was honour among thieves after all.
"Well, that's a cunt if I ever met one" Daniel laughed halfheartedly, turning to Max. They were left alone at the front of the car, the tinted windows and the darkness of the almost starless night protecting them from the eyes of the world outside. It felt like the old days, Max's in the driver's seat ready to take off at any moment and manoeuvre the graceless van like a sleek sports car through the narrow streets of their target's neighborhood.
"I was an even bigger cunt when you met me, I think" Max looked at him smiling, his hands never leaving the steering wheel.
"Who says you aren't still?" Daniel said, finally getting Max's whole body laugh, the one that made something inside his stomach flutter. It was harder to make Max really laugh these days. He wasn't a starry-eyed kid anymore, looking at Daniel like he hung and then stole the fucking moon. Prison naturally had made Daniel tougher in order to survive, but apparently the outside world did the same to Max.
"He's right, you know" Max averted his eyes, looking straight ahead and gripping the steering wheel harder "We should talk, probably."
"Did you miss me, Maxy?" Daniel tried to revert to humour as he always did when he was at lost for words.
"I was too busy trying to figure out if you were alive at first. Then too angry when I finally did and couldn't reach you." Max's knuckles were turning white in his grip on the wheel as he spoke. "Then I accepted you were probably also too angry to talk to me. About ending up in prison while we scaped. You wouldn't of course want to hear from me again. But I still tried to track you down when you got out and I couldn't not see you, even if just for you to yell at me or punch me and tell me to get fucked because I probably deserve it. So I guess you could say I missed you, Daniel."
Daniel carefully digested Max's words, few seconds of silence that felt far longer to them both. He touched one of Max's hands, the only exposed skin on his body that looked safe to focus right now - he didn't trust himself to look at his high cheekbones, his thick neck and certainly not his lips. It was the first proper touch they exchanged since they've been reunited "Max I- just look at me, yeah?" he spoke softly while covering Max's bigger and paler hand with his "This was not anybody's fault, specially not yours. I dragged you into this in the first place and if I wasn't a selfish asshole I'd say I regret it, but I don't. Not for a minute, okay? I couldn't let this ruin your life. You were just a kid and I did enough damage. I thought it would be better if you forgot about me and moved on with your life, if I was just some story about a good looking but crazy aussie that got one of your mates killed and himself thrown in jail."
He felt Max's vice-like grip on the wheel relax under his hand as he looked at him "You are of course very stupid." he deadpanned, making Daniel snort laugh with surprise at his words "I knew what I was doing back then and I also don't regret a minute of it. Well, maybe the part of the police coming and killing Checo and you getting arrested" he said with a frown between his brows that made Daniel's lips tingle wanting to kiss it off "We should have prepared better and done things with less rush, like we're doing now. But it was not your fault alone. We were a team and you shouldn't have taken the fall by yourself like some kind of martyr. It wasn't fair." Max swallowed and finally took Daniel's hand in his, bringing them joined onto his lap, looking at them instead of at his partner's eyes "And it wasn't fair to me for you to leave me alone and thinking you hated me", he spoke with a crack on his voice, suddenly sounding like a 19 year old kid again.
He had just spent 6 years in the can but of course Max would make him feel like a piece of shit for going AWOL, Daniel couldn't help but smile to himself.
"I guess we're pretty shit at all this communicating our feelings and stuff. Phew, I reckon we could have saved a few years of pain if we talked to eachother more openly and shit" Daniel said, suddenly having flashbacks of all the new age bullshit Lewis tried to push him. The cunt. Maybe he was right after all.
"Well, talk for yourself. I tried to reach you for years didn't I? And for your information one of the targets we stole from in Italy while you were away was a therapist and a rare book collector. I skimmed through the material, great stuff. I'm all therapised and shit now." Max looked at him, his grin making his eyes squint. He really was a little shit, Daniel thought, and his chest hurt a bit.
Any retort he had ready for Max was interrupted by Lando swinging the back door of the van open and barging in, making a mess of the flowers and wires from the computers in the process. The kid had the subtlety and the smoothness of a hand grenade.
"Ah, sorry to interrupt you lovebirds or whatever but Carlos just texted. He's in and ready to launch the program that will fry the security system. Tonight's the night boys!" he said, grinning like a lunatic.
daniel just got out of prison after their last job, the one that went terrible wrong. he took the fall for it alone because he wouldn't rat out his partners - specially since he felt it was his fault checo died, daniel was the brains of that operation, he should have seen the security coming. and specially because he was the one that dragged 19 year old max into this. he couldn't ruin the kid's life.
the first thing daniel does after being released is breaking his parole and flying back to monaco with a fake passport. he shows up at his old partner in crime's house with an overnight bag and one of his signature smiles that can only mean trouble. seb doesn't even act surprised when he opens the door and just tells hannah to put an extra plate at their dinner table. sebastian has a family now and his life is pretty much put together. when daniel got arrested, seb's girlfriend was pregnant with their first kid; now she's already on number three. after dinner when daniel lays out the real reason he's here, seb tells him he's retired from this lign of work, nursing a glass of whiskey and not meeting his eyes. but daniel knows seb can't resist going back to the thrill of this game. not when he loves it almost as much as he loves his family, not when he's struggling with the house and school payments and this new and final heist could secure the lives of his kids forever. not when he owes daniel all of this, for not giving his name to the cops and allowing him to build a life.
seb tells him he kept tabs on all of the others - so much for retirement, daniel thinks - but most of them just fucked off from monaco the moment things went south. lewis and nico are apparently in america together, predictable. the other nico is in jail after being caught in a job with another team. kimi went back to finland and is done with all of this and if anyone dared to go after him he would not hesitate to shoot first and ask questions later, according to the last time seb tried to track him. fernando is hiding in spain but seb and him still stay in touch. the only one still in monaco is max. daniel's heart skips a beat at the mention of the kid's name. he didn't try to contact max during his time in prison, he couldn't risk people knowing their connection. given how things escalated between them in the end it was for the best if max just forgot him, the man who almost ruined his life when he asked max to join the team after caughting the kid stealing his car - he never saw someone so good with locks, so fast driving a getaway car and with such deep blue eyes.
seb caughts his reaction and daniel doesn't know if his friend was always this perceptive or if he's so damn transparent about his feelings for max.
"you know, he tried to find you. I did what you asked me and didn't say a word about where they sent you. even when he showed up at my doorstep and practically begged. even if I thought you were being stupid."
daniel tries to ignore the lump in his throat and nonchalantly asks how the kid is doing. not a kid anymore, he corrects himself. max would be 25 now, and fuck, daniel can't believe how much time has passed since he saw him, or heard his voice, or touched his skin, back when they found any excuse to be close, back when daniel thought he ruled the world.
"he's made quite a name for himself. I don't know if you kept up with the news in that can they threw you in australia, but those big art robberies in france and spain and that jewelry heist here in monaco, they were all him and his new team. those are some ballsy kids" seb tells him with admiration in his voice.
daniel knew, of course. he read everything he could he puts his hands on about the big burglaries in this corner of europe. max might as well have signed all his crimes with his initials, he always thought, with pride and sometimes twinge of jealousy. he's in the middle of processing all of this, thinking how he could put back his old gang together and definitely not thinking of asking max, who technically has is own team now and is more successful in his jobs than daniel ever dreamed of being at fucking 25 years old when the doorbell rings. seb tells him to keep quiet while he deals with whoever is showing up at his house at this godforsaken hour. he quickly unlocks a cupboard and takes a gun with him to the front door. of course sebastian would hide his gun in the tallest kitchen cupboard with childproof locks.
daniel waits, holding his breath. he stands up, his fingers twitching. he misses his gun, and for a moment he thinks what a cunt he's being for showing up at seb's, who has a family, when he's technically a man on the run. the altercation he half expects to hear at the door never happens and he just listens to hushed voices and two sets of footsteps approaching the kitchen after the front door shuts.
"hello, daniel" max says. max, who is exactly the same and somehow different, the same deep blue eyes and full lips, but much broader than the skinny kid daniel saw for the last time when he yelled at him to drive the fucking car and save himself, even when max said he wasn't going to leave him alone. in the end, max had to go with the others to take checo to the safehouse because he was losing so much blood, leaving daniel behind with the wailing sounds of the sirens of the police cars already approaching.
"hello, max" daniel says after a few seconds of taking in the unexpected sight. they smile at each other. it's like time never passed.
