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Even before he was fully awake, Daniel Ricciardo was aware of the soft noises around him. There was music playing, and the gentle noises of others speaking quietly. None of it was enough to pull him out of the comfortable doze he’d fallen into, the weight and warmth of a familiar body pressed against his chest a steady reassurance.
Until Michael Italiano gently jostled his arm, paired with a slightly louder “Daniel” when he didn’t immediately answer or show signs of returning to consciousness.
“Mmmpf,” Daniel grumbled eloquently as he slowly blinked awake.
Michael smiled down at him, expression slightly rueful, but mostly just amused. Daniel briefly debated closing his eyes, but his best friend seemed to anticipate the choice, hand shooting out to pinch his side mercilessly. Which was unfair, given that Daniel couldn’t even try to dodge because Max fucking Verstappen was asleep on his lap.
“Ow!”
“You two have to get up,” Michael explained. “We can’t sleep here all night, Dan.”
“Speak for yourself,” Daniel mumbled grumpily. “I am perfectly comfortable.”
“You’ll be more comfortable in a bed,” Michael insisted. “And since I suspect that either Arthur or Sebastian are taking Charles’ spare room, that means going home.”
Daniel sighed, because – annoyingly – Michael was right.
Which meant that they were going to have to wake Max up.
Which was unlikely to be easy.
“Max,” Daniel murmured softly, gently jostling the sleeping driver in his lap. Instead of waking up, Max just grumbled and curled into an even tighter ball, shoving his face firmly into the crook of Daniel’s neck.
Across the room, Sebastian Vettel – because there were far too many drivers crammed into Charles Leclerc’s apartment at this point – did not seem to be having any more luck with Arthur than Daniel was having with Max, the youngest Leclerc having opted to feign sleep and ignore the retired driver entirely. Pierre Gasly, at least, seemed to be somewhat awake, for all that he was just mumbling sleepily to Sebastian, clearly reluctant to disturb the driver sleeping in his own lap.
Eventually, Sebastian nodded along with whatever Pierre was saying before moving to scoop Arthur up like the small child that he – and Max – was insisting on behaving like, sighing dramatically as he did so. Daniel had to admit that it was an impressive feat, given that the younger Monegasque wasn’t actually a small child, and Sebastian had to be starting to feel the years by now.
Daniel certainly was.
“I’ll be right back,” Seb announced – which… Daniel wasn’t really sure what to say to that, so he turned his attention back to the sleeping man-child in his own lap. Max just grumbled against Daniel’s neck, the soft vibrations not at all helping with Daniel’s resolve to remove Max from his current – very comfortable – position.
“Not here, mate,” Michael warned softly.
Indeed, Sebastian was still gone, but Pierre was finally attempting to rouse an equally disagreeable Charles. The older Monegasque had opted to curl even more firmly into Pierre’s side – not unlike Max – resolutely ignoring the Frenchman’s attempts to cajole him into going to bed.
“Je ne veux pas,” Charles whined, loud enough to be heard across the room.
With a sigh, Daniel had finally decided to follow Sebastian’s lead and simply stand up with Max in his arms. Thankfully, Michael didn’t hesitate to support him as he pushed to his feet with the two-time World Champion curled up in his arms like a petulant child. Unfortunately, Sebastian chose that moment to re-enter the room, the look on his face entirely too knowing for Daniel’s comfort.
“Do not say a word,” Daniel muttered, shooting a half-hearted glare towards Sebastian. The German merely held up his hands, a wry smile on his own face.
“I would not,” Sebastian promised. “You will see him home safely?”
Michael and Daniel exchanged a quick, wide-eyed glance that Daniel desperately hoped that Sebastian couldn’t quite decipher, before the pair of Australians turned back towards the older man, Daniel opting to respond. This wasn’t Michael’s mess, after all.
“Of course,” Daniel confirmed.
Thankfully, Sebastian simply nodded and decided to leave whatever suspicions he had for another day. Instead of commenting, the German moved to open the front door while Michael awkwardly helped Daniel slip on his shoes, before quickly pulling on his own and snagging Max’s, as well as the bag of First Aid supplies he had brought with him earlier in the day.
“Call us if you need anything,” Daniel practically ordered. “Charles-related or otherwise.”
“Of course,” Sebastian parroted back. “Take care of that one, yes?”
Daniel flushed at that, but nodded nonetheless before practically fleeing the apartment, Max still securely wrapped in his arms. Michael followed at a much more sedate pace, chuckling to himself as he went.
Utterly unhelpful.
Daniel truly had no idea why they were still friends.
“I’ve called us a taxi,” Michael shared conversationally as they made their way towards the lobby of Charles’ apartment, Max now firmly wrapped around Daniel’s middle like a koala joey. “Since I doubt you want to carry him halfway across Monaco like that.”
Right, because they’d rushed over without thinking about how they’d get back later that night, the distance between Daniel’s and Charles’ small enough to walk – or run – when properly motivated.
“I probably shouldn’t even carry him out of the building like this,” Daniel admitted with a sigh. He would – he could – but he also respected Max’s desire for privacy more than anything else. And since Charles’ address had been leaked to the media, there were always people just… lingering outside of his apartment building. If they spotted Daniel Ricciardo carrying an unconscious Max Verstappen out of Charles Leclerc’s apartment well into the night… Daniel didn’t even want to think of what the media would make of that.
Probably nothing good.
“Probably not,” Michael agreed.
With a sigh, Daniel set about the near impossible task of wrestling Max towards some semblance of wakefulness before they made their way outside. Max was, unfortunately, just as reluctant as he had been upstairs, and his new position of being entirely wrapped around Daniel’s torso made the task of dislodging him significantly more difficult.
“Come on, Max,” Daniel cajoled. “Just until we get to the taxi, yeah?”
“Just carry me,” Max whine petulantly.
“There’ll be paparazzi,” Daniel rebutted firmly. “Just until we get in the taxi, then you can have all the cuddles you want, okay?”
“Fine,” Max sighed as he dramatically slid down Daniel’s body as slowly as possible, his socked feet making soft little thuds when they finally collided with the floor.
Right.
Michael was already holding out Max’s shoes when Daniel glanced towards him, a knowing smile on his face. Smug bastard. Daniel took them without a word and dropped to his knees to help Max slip them on. His knees creaked as he pushed back up, pointedly ignoring the smirk on Michael’s face.
Max still leaned heavily against Daniel as they walked out into the street towards the waiting taxi, clearly still sleepy after the emotionally draining whirlwind of a day they’d all had. It was better than Daniel carrying him though, the Australian supposed, as he spotted a few “passersby” casually snapping photos of the trio. Michael opened the back door and shuffled the pair of them in before slamming in shut and swinging around to the front to clamber into the passenger seat.
Max was tucked under Daniel’s arm and pressed against his side the moment the car pulled away from the curb.
The two-time World Champion was fully asleep by the time they made it back to his – and Daniel’s – apartment building, not even stirring when the taxi came to a stop, which left Daniel to maneuver them out of the backseat while Michael paid the driver.
Thankfully, their address hadn’t been leaked to the public, and the street was mercifully empty as Daniel carried Max back into the building, Michael trailing behind them with an exasperated sigh. Once they were in the elevator, Daniel turned towards Michael.
“You can head straight to my place,” Daniel suggested. “I’ll take Max up to his apartment and get him settled, then come back down later.”
Max clearly wasn’t fully asleep, judging by the disgruntled sound he made at that, but Michael just smiled before shaking his head softly.
“No one here to pretend for, mate,” Michael pointed out. “I’ll crash at yours – you stay with your boy for the night.”
His boy.
Daniel opened his mouth to argue, so used to hiding this thing between them – only to snap it shut again because Michael was right. He didn’t want to leave Max tonight – had been reluctant to let the younger man out of his sight despite Charles’ – unintentionally – kicking him out. He wanted his boy in his arms, so that he knew that he was safe and protected.
So instead, Daniel merely nodded before shifting to tuck Max more firmly under his chin.
Michael waved a tired goodbye when the elevator arrived at Daniel’s floor, slipping out without another word, leaving Daniel and Max alone as they rose towards Max’s apartment. Max, despite still pretending to be asleep, almost immediately capitalized on their newfound privacy to nuzzle more firmly into Daniel’s neck, prompting the Australian to reactively tighten his grip on Max.
“Dan,” Max mumbled sleepily.
“Almost home, love,” Daniel whispered back, words murmured against Max’s temple as he tucked his nose into Max’s hair, unable to resist the urge to breathe deeply as he did so.
Eventually, the elevator shuddered to a stop once again, leaving Daniel to stumble towards Max’s apartment, fishing awkwardly into Max’s back pocket to find his keys. A few near drops and uncoordinated attempts later, they tumbled into the apartment, Max still firmly wrapped up in Daniel’s arms.
“Don’t drop me,” Max grumbled.
“You could walk, you know,” Daniel retorted as he kicked the door closed behind them. Then, they were finally – finally – alone. A few more steps, and they were tumbling into bed, still fully clothed by too tired to do much else besides kick off their shoes and wiggle under the blankets. Once they settled, Daniel couldn’t resist pulling Max against his chest.
“You did a good thing today, Max,” Daniel murmured. “A brave, kind thing.”
Max grumbled and snuggled closer, hiding his face in Daniel’s chest. He never accepted praise easily, always seeing the worst in himself, but this was important.
“You protected Charles, made sure that he was safe and taken care of,” Daniel continued. “I’m proud of you, Max.”
Max groaned even louder at that as he reached up to cover his ears, causing a smile to break out on Daniel’s face, followed by a soft kiss to Max’s temple that he simply couldn’t resist.