Chapter Text
Lando and Charles cleared the plates from the table after dinner. It had been civil and Daniel had stopped fidgeting after fifteen minutes, so Max thought it was going well enough. So far they had talked about school, Daniel’s home in Australia and a little about his parents. Max could tell Seb and Kimi were cautious to bring it up and purposely waited for Daniel to mention it first.
Max didn’t know much about Daniel’s parents despite how much he talked about them. He knew their names were Joe and Grace, they both had Italian in them, he had full emancipated rights from them, he missed them dearly and they called him three times a week. Daniel never mentioned why they were in Australia and he was here by himself, but Daniel had never asked Max about his biological family, so he wasn’t going to push it.
“Max, do you want ice cream?” Charles asked from where he stood with the freezer door open.
“Yes please.” He replied. Charles appeared over his shoulder with a tub of cookie dough and Max’s favourite spoon. Of course, he put the frozen tub on the back of Max’s exposed neck before he handed it over. “Not cool.” He murmured as he snatched the ice cream from his brother.
“No, very cold.” Charles said. Beside him, Daniel laughed, and Max shot him a look that portrayed he was on thin ice. Daniel bit his lip but the smile couldn’t be dampened.
He started to warm the ice cream between his hands that were covered by his sleeves. Max watched Seb and Kimi have a wordless conversation across the table from them, the quiet of the room felt colder than the tub between his hands until Lando scrapped the kitchen chair along the floor as he took a seat beside Max.
The conversation between the two men had clearly ended when Kimi said, “Is that Chevy outside yours, Daniel?”
Daniel smiled shyly and nodded. “Yeah, she’s mine. Got it last year when I signed in the K&N series. Couldn’t drive it until a couple months ago though, I didn’t have an American license.”
“I remember the trouble I went through trying to get my German one changed. America is quite awful with foreign things like this.” Sebastian responded.
“Everybody kept saying ‘good luck with the DMV’, but I thought it couldn’t be that bad, right? Then I got there. Jeepers, I wanted to pull my hair out.”
Max watched Daniel run his hand through his hair but smile. Maybe this wasn’t going to end too badly. He looked to Charles and Lando, their easy demeanours told him they were welcome to the new person in their house and their lives.
Despite having been relatively silent during the evening, Kimi cleared his throat. “You said you’re racing K&N?” He asked curiously.
Daniel straightened up. “Yeah! Full time East series, and a few entries in other races when I can.”
“Max tells us you’re racing in Virginia next week?” Sebastian inputted. He flicked his eyes to Max, almost like he was asking for his opinion or permission to broach the subject. He probably was.
Racing isn’t exactly a sore subject for Max, especially not when it was about Daniel’s racing. Daniel started in sprint cars in Australia while Max did shifter karts in the Netherlands, he progressed into open wheel racing across Europe while Daniel went into supercars and then stock cars once he moved to America. Another main difference is, of course, Max doesn’t race anymore – hasn’t for almost two years.
Sebastian and Kimi don’t have to ask to know that Max hasn’t told him this. Max hasn’t even told his siblings. They think he loves watching motorsports and that’s that. He doesn’t mind it.
“A whole tour of Virginia, it feels like. Three tracks, six races.” Daniel replied, his excitable voice pulled Max from his thoughts.
“You doing Martinsville?” Kimi asked, arms crossed over his chest. Something about the way he asked made Max think it was a test. Why, he couldn’t tell.
If Daniel noticed, he did a good job hiding it. “Yup. Third and fourth races. Two different leagues but the same car thankfully. Short circuits are a comfort for me but shifting as never been my strong suit. And the restarts- I’m kind of shitting it, to be honest.” He said conversationally. Racing talk was clearly a safe subject for Daniel, he seemed much more relaxed than he had all night. Max knew he was internally screaming at the fact he was talking about racing with his racing heroes.
Kimi muttered something under his breath that sounded an awful lot like ‘I fucking hate Martinsville’ that made Seb laugh.
“I suppose it hasn’t been so long since you were in sprints, huh?” Sebastian chuckled in that parental way that made Max and his siblings feel so young. He didn’t do it intentionally, but the tone still came with a certain I’ve-Forgotten-More-Than-You’ve-Ever-Learned aura.
Daniel laughed along with him as he replied. “Yeah, I suppose not.”
“Where else are you racing, Daniel?” Max was surprised that Lando had asked him about racing. Lando had never seemed that interested in it when he watched races with Max, but he seemed interested now.
Daniel smiled at him. “Winchester and Richmond. I’ve never been to either, but Winchester is a small dirt oval, like a lot of the tracks I started on back home in Aus. I think I’ll like it.” He paused and considered his next words. “Richmond scares the shit out of me, though.”
Across the table, Kimi laughed loudly and uncrossed his arms, seemingly satisfied by Daniel’s words. “First time on the big kids’ track?” He asked, not unkindly. The younger racer nodded. “Just try not to, you know.” Kimi said.
Daniel huffed out a breath. “Like I could afford a wreck.”
Kimi leaned forward and looked at Daniel intensely. “Do you own spray paint?” He asked seriously.
Daniel took a deep breath and shook his head. “Uh, no- no. I don’t.”
“You should get some. After first practise, at night, go out and leave a reference mark for shifting.” He said. The two of them shared a long look, eyes locked.
When the words registered in Daniel’s mind, he nodded fast and enthusiastically. “Yes, okay. I can do that. That’s- very helpful. Thank you.”
Kimi leaned back in his chair. “Just keep your head.” He said wisely.
Beside him Seb looked a little bewildered but agreed. “Short track temper is a real thing, he would know.” He said with a smirk and nudged Kimi with his elbow.
Max wanted to interrupt, but he had no idea what to say. Had his foster dad just openly convinced his boyfriend to graffiti a raceway?
“Do you have a truck drive on the horizon?” Sebastian asked and pulled Max from the bizarre situation. Max felt Daniel reach out for his hand under the table. It was wet and cold from the ice cream tub’s condensation, but Daniel didn’t seem to mind.
“I was actually hoping to do another year and then maybe try get a Xfinity drive the year after. In case I have to repeat senior year.” He said as he ran his thumb over Max’s knuckles.
Max almost laughed at the look on Kimi’s face, it was a mixture of surprise and approval. Max had seen it only once before; when Charles had tearily confessed to going to a party one night and made Lando help him climb through the kitchen window at two in the morning. Charles and Lando had kept the secret for three days before Lando started to get physically sick from lying to Seb and Kimi, forcing Charles to tell the truth.
Sebastian reached across and patted Daniel on the shoulder. “Fernando is a very considerate man, he does not wish to see any of his students fail. I would think you two could work something out, you’re clearly a very intelligent young man.”
It was then that Max felt the relief rush out of Daniel. The tight grip on his hand relinquished to a gentle hold, Max hadn’t realised how much his boyfriend had gripped it until it was relaxed. “Thank you.” Daniel said, softer than a whisper.
There was a moment where Max thought Daniel was talking to him, when there was a beat of silence, until he looked up at Sebastian and saw him give Daniel a soft nod and smile. Beside him, Kimi had a similar expression on his face. Max filed the thought away to discuss at a later date. For now, he just turned to his boyfriend and smiled at him.