Chapter Text
Pierre knows a lot about Max. He knows about his temper and his wit. He knows about his annoying smirk and the way his eyes seem to bore into one’s soul. He knows about his toxic competitiveness and his overwhelmingly inflated ego.
He also knows absolutely none of this from interactions with the man himself, but rather from being held as a captive audience while his boyfriend paces up and down whatever hotel room they find themselves in and complains. Of course, Charles would insist that he’s not complaining or whining, he is merely stating a fact. And most of the time, that fact is that Max Verstappen needs to fall out of a window a few times to get his head straight and Charles is more than willing to help with that.
If Pierre didn’t know better, he’d wonder if Charles didn’t have feelings for the Dutchman. Luckily, he does know better. He knows better because he and Charles have loved each other since before either of them even knew what love was. Somewhere between the childhood sleepovers, the early morning car rides to races, the inside jokes and the plane rides over countries neither of them could name, they fell in love. Well, Pierre wouldn’t really say they fell in love, there was no falling involved. It was more like they walked into love, side by side as they have done everything else.
So, no. Charles was not in love with Max. Charles was not in love with anyone other than Pierre. That is how it’s always been and how it always will be.
That, of course, means that it is Pierre’s job to lay on the uncomfortable hotel bed and listen to Charles as he paces up and down the hotel room and complains about the latest annoying thing Max has done. Sometimes Pierre wonders if it’s worth sneaking into Charles’s hotel room when he knows he will be witness to at least 40 minutes of what he has dubbed “Max talk”. Pierre usually wonders about this while he tries to sneak into Charles’s room and the answer is yes, it always is worth it. Any amount of trouble is worth time with Charles, no matter how much of the night Charles spends talking about another man.
Today, Charles is upset that Max commented on how Charles nearly had a crash with Bottas in free practice (Pierre knows better than to mention that Max was asked about it, he didn’t just decide to give his opinion).
So, Pierre lays on the bed, he makes all the right facial expressions and he gasps at all the right places. It’s an artform he’s long since perfected. He’s honed the craft in hotel rooms just like this, in cities neither of them will remember next week. Then, once Charles is finished with his “Max talk” (Charles insists it’s a stupid name but he’s also started calling it that himself, so Pierre will take at as a win), then Charles will smile at Pierre and thank him for listening.
Before Pierre will be able to say that Charles didn’t really give him a choice, Pierre’s arms will be full of Charles and then it doesn’t really matter anymore. Charles will wriggle around in his arms a little and he’ll get hair in his eyes and Charles will laugh as he attempts (and fails) to push him away.
Pierre and Charles. That’s how it’s always been. That’s how it always will be.
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Things get interesting when Pierre is offered a seat at Redbull. He can’t turn it down of course, it’s the opportunity of a lifetime and they both know that. Charles was excited for Pierre, really, he was. Though that didn’t stop him from making sure to double his “Max talk” because he absolutely refuses to let his boyfriend become friends with that human loaf of bread.
Pierre, of course, listens to everything Charles says and then gives him cuddles afterwards because he’s the perfect boyfriend and Charles really doesn’t deserve him.
However, Charles knows that Pierre will become close with Max. That’s just how Pierre works. Pierre is warm and kind and welcoming and forgiving and all of those great things that Charles will never be. Charles is petty, he would ignore Max to prove a point. He holds grudges for years and he never forgets. But Pierre? Pierre will be kind to Max, he will help him and encourage him and probably make Max fall in love with him (he managed to make Charles do it after all).
Pierre is just too perfect and now he will have Max as his teammate. On some level, Charles knows that Max is no real threat to him. There is no one that is any threat to their relationship. He knows this.
But is that going to stop him from getting annoyed when he sees Pierre walking side by side with Max, both of them in those obnoxious Redbull suits? No. No it isn’t.
Pierre laughs at him that night when he rants about Max. Though he doesn’t mention the irony of a Ferrari driver calling another team’s suits obnoxious and for that Charles is grateful (they both know Pierre thought about saying it but decided not to, Charles knows in the way Pierre raised his eyebrow). Charles divebombs Pierre and attaches himself to Pierre’s chest before he gets the chance to change his mind and make the comment anyway.
So, it’s fine. Everything is fine. Charles and Pierre are fine.
(and Pierre’s ass does look good in that obnoxious Redbull suit so that’s a bonus)
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Pierre has had his own experiences with Max of course. Though they’ve all been very brief and none of them nearly as dramatic as his boyfriend’s. As a result, Pierre isn’t really sure what to expect when he becomes teammates with Max (it goes without saying that he knows better than to take everything Charles says at face value, the love of his life is a dramatic little shit at the best of times and a scheming goblin at the worst).
He’s surprised by how warm Max is. Max comes right up to him on his first official day, he shakes his head and tells him to come to him if he has any questions. He says he looks forward to being teammates and he ends the mini speech with a smile that leaves Pierre a little dazed and very much speechless.
He didn’t expect the version of Max that Charles likes to describe of course, but he also didn’t expect Max to be as kind as he was. He was Redbull’s golden child, he had no reason to go out of his way to help Pierre. Yet he did. Max was always there to show him around the factory, to give him directions to whatever place he was trying to find, to offer him a seat in the cafeteria, to personally introduce him to engineers. It was strange and it exceeded any of his expectations.
Pierre tells Charles this, because he tells Charles everything and Charles only scoffs (though he can’t actually come up with an answer for Max’s behaviour besides kindness, so Pierre considers that a win). Though five seconds later Pierre’s lips are on his so, needless to say, he stops caring about Max’s motives for the rest of the night.
When Pierre’s first race for Redbull comes around, Charles tries his best to support Pierre. He gives Pierre cuddles and kisses and reassurance and wakes up extra early to make those awful recovery shakes that Pierre likes because he knows the Redbull hospitality doesn’t have the flavour that he likes. The only problem is that Charles is, at his core, an absolute disaster so he really can’t be expected to provide support for anyone for any longer than twenty minutes at a time. Pierre knows this of course, and though he very much appreciated the recovery shake that he woke up to Charles making, he also knows that he will not see Charles for the rest of the day because the poor disaster puppy will have absolutely no idea what to say to him and so will choose to say nothing it all.
It’s okay though. Pierre knows how much Charles loves him.
What does surprise him though, is the hug he gets from Max. Not just a side hug or one of those “men pretending to be manly and not have feelings” type of hug. It’s a proper, full on chest to chest hug and it lasts a while. Pierre isn’t going to complain though, Max is warm and he smelt faintly of his cologne and Pierre felt settled when he pulled away.
Pierre didn’t do very well that weekend, though no one was really surprised since it was his first race in the car. Of course that didn’t stop his disappointment and Charles knew that, which is why Charles skipped his “Max talk” that night and chose instead to blow Pierre within an inch of his life. Pierre very much appreciated the gesture.
Later that night, once they had both showered once more and Charles was complaining about the state of the hotel’s towels, Pierre found a bottle of champagne outside their door. The note attached said “One day you’ll be opening one of these on a podium, but until then, here’s one to celebrate your first race!” at the bottom of the note was a messy signature he recognised as Max’s.
He and Charles drank the champagne in bed that night and wondered where this side of Max came from. Charles’s lips tasted like champagne and Pierre is pretty sure Charles somehow got champagne in his hair. He woke up the next morning with a slight headache and a warm feeling in the pit of his stomach.
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Pierre really is surprised by how well he and Max got along. In all their interviews and promo videos and photo shoots and countless other bullshit things Redbull manages to come up with, they always work well together. Pierre feels comfortable around Max. Max makes him laugh and calms him down and places a hand on his shoulder when an interviewer starts to question about his less than stellar performance thus far.
They never really talk about it, about the way Pierre is performing. Max always just says he’s there if Pierre has questions and that’s it. In all honesty, he’s grateful for that. He’s not sure how he would cope with having to talk to Max about that when Max was clearly doing so well in the same car. He thinks Max knows that and knows not to bring it up.
Charles, of course, does not know to not bring it up. Charles asks him outright what’s been happening. If it was anyone else, Pierre would be angry or offended. But he can’t be because it’s Charles and Charles is the one person he’s always honest with, even when he’s not honest with himself.
So they swop roles for a while and Pierre becomes the one that complains while Charles is the captive audience on the uncomfortable hotel bed. He gains a new perceptive about how Pierre must feel when he goes on one of his tangents. Of course this does nothing to stop him from complaining to Pierre the next something mildly inconvenient happens.
So that’s how they go for a while, with Pierre pretending like Redbull aren’t considering bumping him back down to the junior team and with Charles and Max both providing support in their own way.
On the night Charles manages to get a podium, Pierre doesn’t go out to celebrate with him. Well, he offers to and he even gets all dressed up for it. But Charles gives him a kiss and says he doesn’t have to go, he can stay here and they can celebrate together later. It’s only because of how long they’ve been together that Pierre knows the offer is genuine. Charles genuinely won’t be upset if Pierre skips the public celebrations, he understands why.
What Pierre doesn’t expect though, is for Max to turn up outside his hotel room. Max is shy when Pierre lets him, he rubs behind his neck and can’t make himself meet Pierre’s eyes. He seems to be working himself up to explain what he was doing there. It’s nothing like the person Pierre has grown accustomed to seeing in the Redbull garage.
“Thought you might want some company while your boyfriend spends the night partying,” Max explains.
He looks out of place here, amongst all of his and Charles’s things. He’s standing awkwardly at the door, like he’s preparing to be kicked out any moment. But he brought his Play Station controller with him and honestly, Pierre could do with the distraction.
So he and Max play Mario Kart and mostly end up cursing at each other. Somehow Pierre knows there’s something going on with Max, he doesn’t know what. But he’s conscious of the fact that he is not the only one in the room with something weighing them down. Neither of them ask each other about it, but they both know the other knows.
It’s nice, to relax like this without expectations. Both of them knowing they’re really doing this just to pass the time. It’s nearly midnight by the time Pierre starts to yawn and Max leaves soon after.
There’s a part of Pierre, not as far down as he’d like, that wonders what Max looks like when he sleeps and how he feels to lay next to.
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When Pierre tells Charles about his Mario Kart game with Max, he only laughs in disbelief and falls asleep. Though in hindsight, right after mindblowing sex probably wasn’t the right time to mention it. But he’s much too tired to give that any more thought.
The next morning Charles brings it up again, asks him what happened and why Max turned up. Pierre expected him to forget, but Charles had a way of remembering the little details like that. So Pierre explains that Max wanted to keep him company and seemed to not want to be alone himself. Charles only shrugs and doesn’t comment, he doesn’t need to anyway.
After that night, something changes between Pierre and Max. They gain a level of understanding between the two of them that Pierre really never expected. It’s something he’s never had with any previous teammates (except Charles of course but Charles has always been the exception).
They still don’t talk about Pierre’s underwhelming performance thus far. Max only gives him the occasional clap on the shoulder or quick hug after races and that’s their version of talking about it. Pierre knows it’s Max’s way of showing his support without rubbing his own success in Pierre’s face and for that Pierre is grateful. Instead, they talk about everything else. They exchange childhood stories and laugh at each other in interviews and spend hours playing games online together.
Charles finds Pierre’s new friendship with Max hilarious. Mainly because he uses it as proof that Pierre is indeed the nicest, most charming person in existence (the comment always gets him hit with a pillow but it’s worth it to see the smile on Pierre’s face).
Secretly, Pierre thinks that Charles would get along very well with Max if he looked past their history. He sees a lot of Charles in Max, they have the same humour, the same poorly concealed kindness and the same even more poorly concealed trauma. The two of them could be best friends, really they could be.
Of course, Pierre knows better than to say that to Charles. He’d refuse to sleep with him for at least a week and then Pierre would have to deal with a grumpy Charles for that week (he knows, it’s happened before).
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It takes Pierre and Max about four more weeks to realise that they both live in Monaco. Which yes, it definitely shouldn’t have taken that long to realise this.
Once they do, Max is quick to offer him a seat on his family’s private jet that he always takes back from races. Pierre appreciates it, really he does. But he always flies back to Monaco with Charles and there is nothing in the world that would make him skip those plane rides with Charles. They’ve been a staple in their relationship since before they even realised they were in one.
When Pierre mentions this to Max, Max only looks at him like he’s gone mad and says, “Well yeah obviously. I meant you and Charles, I wouldn’t ask you to leave him behind.”
Max gets called for an interview before he can see just how much that simple statement meant to Pierre.
Pierre brings it up to Charles that night and Charles takes about two minutes and one shot of tequila to fully process it (which was especially strange considering they weren’t drinking beforehand so Charles had to go through the process of finding the tequila and pouring a shot for dramatic effect).
After the dramatic reaction, Charles takes a moment to consider it. He’s seen pictures on Max’s Instagram of the jet and it did look much more comfortable than whatever their teams had arranged for them (yes he stalked Max’s Instagram and no he will never tell Pierre that but he probably knows already). So Charles says yes, he says it’s because it’ll be nicer than a standard airplane but in reality, he says yes to see the smile on Pierre’s face.
That’s how Pierre and Charles end up on Max’s private jet and to everyone’s surprise, there’s no awkwardness at all. Charles blamed the lack of awkwardness on Pierre, who once again is the nicest and kindest person on earth.
Charles will never admit it (though of course Pierre already knows), but he genuinely surprised by how well he gets along with Max. In particular, he was surprised at how easily he slotted into the friendship Pierre and Max had developed. He didn’t feel left out when Pierre and Max shared their inside jokes, nor when they joked about being careful not to accidentally give Charles any Redbull secrets (though only Max joked about that, Pierre knew Charles already knew everything).
They spend the entire plane ride just talking to one another. Pierre and Max are sitting in chairs that face each other and at some point Charles gets annoyed at not being in their direct eyeline (he’s a dramatic little shit after all), and so he gets up and sits himself down on Pierre’s lap instead. Pierre doesn’t even blink when he does, just wraps his arm around Charles’s waist and positions him so that he’s sitting sideways across his lap, Charles’s back resting on the side of the airplane. Max doesn’t react either, no stupid comment or taunting remark, he seems to somehow know that Charles sometimes needs the extra contact.
Pierre is openly smug when they reach their shared apartment. He immediately begins to taunt Charles, a joking “I told you so” leaving his lips many times. Charles has to kiss him to get him to shut up (though he doesn’t correct him so Pierre counts that as a win).
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From then on, trips back to Monaco on Max’s jet become commonplace. Sometimes other people join them, like Daniel or Lewis or a family member that went to watch the race. But ultimately, it always boils down to the three of them. Max no longer formally offers Pierre a seat, he merely texts him the flight details and knows he will be there with Charles in tow.
Charles still insists that Max is annoying, though he’s stopped spending at least half an hour ranting about the Dutchman every night and Pierre sees the extra hint of affection in Charles’s eyes when he greets Max at the track (Charles will deny this of course, but Pierre doesn’t need Charles’s confirmation to know it’s true).
Pretty soon Charles is joining Max and Pierre’s gaming sessions. Charles claims it’s because he’s bored but Pierre knows it’s because he wants to spend time with Max.
Pierre soon discovers that gaming with Max and Charles is both the best and worst thing he could possibly do. For team games, it’s great. The two of them seem to have joint mischievous language going that Pierre can’t understand and it works wonders when the three of them are on one team. When the game is one where everyone fends for themselves though, then Pierre regrets ever letting the two of them become friends because it seems like they always have one goal in mind: to make life as difficult as possible for him.
Pierre complains about it, because of course he does, but he would never want them to stop. There’s something very warm that blooms inside of him every time he hears Charles and Max laugh together.
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Charles is a happy, energetic drunk. Pierre has known this for years, he was there the first time Charles ever tried alcohol and he was there the first time he ever got drunk. Drunk Charles is something Pierre is very familiar with. Which is why he knows exactly how long he has before he will have to drag Charles home with him.
Pierre is not an energetic drunk, he’s more like a calm kinda sleepy drunk. Charles often affectionally calls him a cat when he gets drunk, happy to lay in the corner and purrs when Charles scratches his head. It works nicely when it’s just the two of them at home, a bottle of wine being shared between them.
But it works less well when they’re at parties, so Pierre generally sticks to one or two drinks and enjoys watching his boyfriend make an absolute fool of himself. Which is exactly what he’s doing now.
They’re at some club that’s filled with drivers after a busy and intense race weekend. Pierre finds an empty booth and settles down with his overpriced drink. He’s alone for all of two seconds before someone sits next to him, it’s Max. Max shoots him a smile and then settles down in the booth with him, he doesn’t need to ask if he can, he knows the answer is yes.
Just then Charles laughs particularly loudly and both their eyes drift over to him. He’s standing in the center of a group, seemingly telling a story with a glass of something alcoholic dangling precariously in his loose grip.
They’re both watching him with affection in their gaze and suddenly it occurs to Pierre that Charles no longer feels like his alone, he feels like theirs.
The realization should shake him to his core, all he’s ever known is Charles. There’s never been anyone else and he always thought there never would be. But now, as he sits in this overcrowded that he can’t remember the name of, he knows that now there is someone else. There is Max.
That doesn’t mean there isn’t Charles. There will always be Charles, but now it’s both of them. Pierre wants to wake up with both of them, he wants to walk side by side with both of them. He’s always believed that he didn’t fall in love with Charles, he walked into love with him. But he knows now that he fell in love with Max.
And somehow, he immediately knows that Charles has done the exact same thing.
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They talk about it the next morning, two hours before they’re supposed to leave to take Max’s jet back to Monaco. It never even crosses Pierre’s mind to not immediately talk to Charles about it, they both need be sure of what they want to do about this.
While Pierre makes breakfast and Charles sits on the bed, towel drying his hair, Pierre brings it up. Well he doesn’t bring it up as much as he just blurts it out.
“Charles,” he says, getting his boyfriend’s attention, a slight nod is the only recognition Charles gives him but it’s enough, “I think I fell in love with Max.”
Charles throws his towel aside and laughs, not just a slight chuckle, but a full body laugh and falls back on the bed. Suddenly both of them are laughing so hard that there are tears in their eyes. Eventually, when the join laughing fit ends, Charles sits back up and says “Well that’s good to know, cause I have too.”
And that’s it. They’ve both fallen for Max. They don’t need to clarify that they still love each other, they do. They always will. And now they also love Max.
“I guess this plane ride will be interesting,” Pierre says as he gets into the car with Charles.
Charles laughs, “Yeah it will be.”