Chapter Text
Charles woke up to someone gently shaking him awake.
He groaned, trying to push the arms off while pulling the duvet higher up.
“Charlie.”
That someone was apparently not a monster from his nightmares, but Alex.
“Charles.”
The shaking started to get more aggressive.
Oh well, still not enough for him to get out of his lovely, lovely warm bed.
“Charles, it’s seven. We have to leave in an hour and if you’re not ready I will not hesitate to leave you behind."
The shaking paused for a second, convincing Charles that they had finally given up.
He was wrong.
“I will get George to come and wake you.”
Charles opened his eyes at that.
He saw an unimpressed Alex standing next to his bed. Apparently not having the patience to deal with this situation.
Charles did not like when George woke him up. The man had absolutely no guilt about dragging him out of bed and never budged, no matter how much Charles pleaded for another five minutes of sleep.
“No.”
Alex raised his eyebrows.
“Yes.”
“No, don’t.”
“Then get up.”
Charles groaned and pulled the duvet down just enough to glare at him.
“You wouldn’t.”
Alex smiled sweetly.
“I absolutely would.”
Charles stared at him for a moment before reluctantly sitting up.
“Fine. I’m awake.” He huffed, pouting dramatically at the other.
Alex jut laughed at him.
“Actually awake?”
“Oui.”
“Good.”
When Charles saw Alex turn around to leave, he immediately collapsed back onto his pillow.
“Charlie.” Alex warned.
“What! I’m awake.” He whined, pulling his hands over is eyes.
“You’re lying down again!” Alex argued.
“I can be awake lying down!”
Alex sighed, rolling his eyes at the Monegasque.
“George!”
Charles shot upright.
“I’m up!”
Despite his prayers that George hadn’t heard the call for him and wouldn’t show up, he appeared in the doorway, hair still damp from the shower and dressed in a ridiculous Woody shirt.
God, Lando was right. George really did look like Woody.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when George tssked at him.
“So, are you planning to actually get up anytime soon?”
Charles blinked up at him.
“I’m up?”
George raised an eyebrow.
“And you did that all by yourself?”
Charles proudly nodded at him.
Alex was standing by the door, a smug smile spreading across his face.
“I had to threaten him with you, only then would he wake up.”
“Traitor,” Charles muttered, groaning at the satisfied smirk that played on George’s face,
Alex broke a important rule! You don’t tell someone what power he has over the others!
“It’s seven-fifteen.” George checked his watch , stepping further into the room.
“So I have plenty of time.” Charles smiled.
“We’re leaving at eight.” George gave him a incredulous look.
“Yes, exactly! That’s forty five minutes.”
“Yes…
“So you understand?”
George stared at him, unblinking.
Charles stared just stared back, blinking.
“I’m going to shower.”
George narrowed his eyes.“I hope your downstairs and ready at at least 7:30.”
“Why are you telling me that like it’s a threat?”
George walked towards the door.
“It is a threat.”
Charles made a miserable noise and buried his face into his pillow as he heard the door click shut again.
Charles let out a soft sigh as he reached for his phone.
The screen lit up with notifications from instagram specifically.
There were a lot more than he expected. Yes, their videos and posts usually do well but he usually doesn’t wake up with this many engagement on his posts.
It was his most recent photo dump, the one from last night.
The video has jumped from 30k something likes to a 110k something overnight!
He felt a smile slowly form on his face as he scrolled through the notifications, the likes and comments showing up.
He tapped on his post, opening the comments from there.
He was immediately confronted with the top comments, having about 33k likes.
@MaxVerstappen33
Nice cooking. Driving could use some work.
He snorted.
Charles hadn’t expected Max to actually comment, or even to see his post at all. He clicked on his profile before he could stop himself.
He’d known of Max’s existence for years. He’d even watched some of his streams in the past, mostly when he had nothing better to do.
Objectively, Charles knew Max was attractive.
Very attractive, actually.
He just hadn’t expected himself to be gawking at the sight of Max’s latest post.
One of the photos was of Max leaning back in a chair, arms behind his head, eyes closed and seemingly unaware that someone was taking a picture of him.
Charles stared for a few seconds longer than necessary.
Good day, those biceps.
He blinked. tapping back onto his own post, trying to ignore the warmth creeping into his face.
In no way was he going to let someone insult him without putting up a fight.
Even if that someone happened to be very, very hot.
So, he pondered for a second and then did what any sane person would do.
He replied.
@charles.leclerc
Well, I didn’t see you in the P1 spot, so.
Charles looked at the comment for a moment.
It was harmless enough that it wouldn’t start an actual argument, but pointed enough to give Max something to come back with.
Perfect.
He hit send, then immediately put his phone face down.
“Charles, I don’t hear you moving!” George’s voice boomed through his door.
Charles just rolled his eyes.
“I’m coming!”
He threw the duvet off and got out of bed.
Twenty minutes later, Charles walked downstairs wearing comfortable sweatpants, his Ferrari-stamped hoodie, and a big scowl on his face.
Lando looked up at him, still sitting at the kitchen counter eating cereal.
“Morning, sunshine.”
“Don’t.”
Lando grinned, clearly loving nothing more than making Charles’ life just a little more miserable.
Charles walked over to the kitchen cabinets, rummaging through them to make an easy sandwich to bring along for the drive.
He saw George standing by the front door, having his ridiculous sunglasses on and hand on his hip.
Alex was on the ground beside him, scrolling through his phone with a bored expression plastering his face.
“Everyone ready?” George asked when Charles finally finished making his sandwich.
“No,” Lando said.
“Yes,” Alex corrected.
“No,” Lando repeated, walking towards the pair standing by the door.
Charles grabbed his hat from the countertop, making his way to the rest of the group.
“Where are we going first?”
“To Disney,” Alex answered.
“Yeah, that I knew. But where are we staying? or what route?”
“We’ll figure it out.”
Charles nodded, not in the mood to argue or make up a plan himself. That was usually more George’s or even Alex’s forte.
“Oh, Charlie.” Lando suddenly singsonged, looking up from his phone.
“What?” Charles shot him a confused look.
“I see you’ve been busy this morning.” The smirk on Lando’s face was not comforting in the slightest.
“I woke up not even half an hour ago?”
“Not what I meant.”
Lando turned his phone around.
Charles saw his own Instagram comment.
His reply to Max had gained a lot more attraction.
Lando started laughing, eyes crinkling.
George leaned over to look.
“Mate! Starting drama now are you.” Alex commented, laughing widely.
Charles rolled his eyes at them, turning to open the front door.
“It is not anything serious, I just replied to him because he was being a prick.”
George looked at the phone.
“Max replied to your reply, i reckon you haven’t seen that yet.”
This made Charles whip around.
“What did he say!”
“‘At least I’m able to get there in a legal way.” Alex read aloud.
Charles blinked, not believing the nerve of that dutch bastard.
“You’re joking.”
“Nope.”
Lando showed him the reply.
@MaxVerstappen33
At least I’m able to get there in a legal way.
Charles felt his eye twitch.
“I hope he rots in hell,” he simply stated, abruptly turning around and heading towards the porch.
Lando doubled over with laughter, making absolutely no attempt to empathize with the anger Charles was currently feeling.
Even George and Alex were giggling, having an entire conversation with each other just through their eyes.
“I love this! Menace Charles is making a comeback now, isn’t he?” Lando asked, clearly trying to rile Charles up even more.
“There’s nothing to love, and Menace Charles never existed!”
“There absolutely is, and he absolutely did.”
George and Alex followed the duo towards the car.
“Alright, kids. Settle down and try to keep it friendly,” George interrupted.
“Yes, Mum,” Lando said, rolling his eyes.
Once everyone was finally settled down and comfortable, Charles pulled out his phone and opened the post again.
His fingers hovered over the keyboard.
He wasn’t going to let Max have the last word.
Absolutely not.
@charles.leclerc
That’s what someone who lost would say
“There,” he muttered. “Now we’re even.”
Lando leaned over from the seat next to him, looking at his screen.
“Did you just call Max Verstappen a loser?”
“Yes, because he is! I did not even cheat!”
Lando’s grin widened.
“Oh, this is going to be fun.”
“It’s not a thing.”
“Sure.”
“It isn’t.”
George started the car, glancing at them through the rear-view mirror.
“Can we please make it through one day without fighting?”
“No promises,” Lando said, sticking his tongue out when George rolled his eyes.
Charles just sighed, closing his eyes and leaning back in his seat as the radio starting playing.
He wasn’t worried about Max Verstappen.