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“Hey, what time were we supposed to meet?” Max switches his phone to his other hand as he grabs the shopping cart from the stand, and shrugs his shoulder up to support his phone while he pushes the cart along.
“Thinking about 1:30, mate,” he responds to Alex. “Gives us some time to prepare lunch in advance and everything.”
“1:30? What time did you say he was done with media?” Alex questions on the other end.
“I didn't. I wasn’t even aware he had any media tomorrow.” Max checks out the aisles as he walks through the store, still contemplating exactly what to buy for his best friend.
“Yeah, he's got some kind of interview going on, I think. I heard him complaining about it to Jon,” Alex supplies.
“Well, that’s fine. I’ll figure out a way to get his exact schedule this afternoon so we can plan it better from there,” Max responds, reaching out to pick up a bucket hat from a stand before putting it back with a groan. “Mate, what were you planning on getting him? I’m a little stuck for ideas.”
“Max Verstappen? Unsure of what to gift someone? Needing my help?” Alex teases back, eliciting another groan from Max.
“Very funny. Now, what did you get him? I'm seriously stuck,” Max grumbles as he glances around the rest of the aisles, hoping something would stand out to him.
“I’ll be honest, I haven’t gotten anything yet. That’s tomorrow's job.”
“Thank you, Alex. That was not helpful at all,” He pauses, stopping his cart in front of a very crowded aisle. “Do you think he would want some men's perfume?”
“Cologne? Hmm, not sure. I mean, I haven’t noticed him wear any,” Alex points out unhelpfully, “but hey, maybe that’s just because he doesn’t own any.”
“Hopefully, because I’m just going to get him that and hope he doesn’t laugh at me for it.” He grabs the nicest and most expensive bottle he could find in the fragrance section before spraying it in the air. It didn’t smell horrible, so he put it in his cart.
He then of course rushes out of the aisle immediately before any of the crowd notice, praying he doesn’t end up trending on Twitter and being swarmed by fans (and haters) in a Monaco department store.
Present purchased.
“Anyway, I will send you the final details later, can you make a group chat with everyone in it? That way we can get numbers as well of who’s coming.”
“Depends. What do you mean by everyone?” Alex questions.
“Everyone on the grid, at least. I’ll handle all of the team and everything, so don’t add any of the engineers and people that work with him, but you talk to the drivers,” On second thought, he continues “actually, don’t add Oscar either.”
“Well okay, but why? They’re teammates, surely Lando would want him there?”
“We’ll coordinate a way to get him there, but without telling him what it is that he’s doing there. We can’t trust that he won’t blab to Lando.”
“I doubt that he would, I think they have surprise parties in Australia, Max.” Alex chuckles.
“Either way, they’re pretty close and maybe Oscar would think it’s the right thing to do to let him know before we bombard his house.”
“We’re hardly bombarding him if we have a key , Max,” the line breaks briefly, “it’ll be fine, I’ll add everyone except Oscar, and I’ll tell Logan to somehow get him to Lando’s.”
“Perfect. Thanks Alex, I'll see you tomorrow. 1:30, yeah?” Max waits for Alex’s affirmative before he hangs up the call and pays for the cologne as discreetly as he can without revealing his identity to the cashier.
Once it’s been purchased (and wrapped up all cute in a nice gift bag), Max heads back to his car and pulls out his list titled “Lando’s Birthday Surprise”. He ticks off the crucial “buy present!!!”, and reads the next item, which is the very annoying and antagonising task of making a whole new list to work out who needs to come to the party.
Trusting that Alex will have the grid all sorted and invited, and getting a confirmation when he gets a WhatsApp group chat notification from a group called “SHHH DON’T TELL LANDO!”
Alex Albon
hey all! Everyone who's in Monaco at the moment or can possibly fly down for a fellow grid-mates SURPRISE
party tomorrow and is happy to go please either like or reply to this message! It's McLaren's loveliest
Lando Norris' birthday tomorrow and since we have an off week I (technically it was Max, but I say team effort!)
figured it'd be perfect to get together to celebrate his birthday for lunch at Lando's. If we get enough numbers
I'll send the rest of the details through shortly :)) Thanks everyone!
Max gives the message a quick like and opens up his notepad to get started on the guest list.
- Drivers
- Parents
- Engineers
- Zak Brown
- Andrea Stella
- McLaren team as a whole (trainers, etc)
- Jon
- Charlotte
- Max F.
- Arthur Leclerc (for Charles sake)
- Any other F2 friends
- Girlfriend????
The last bullet point stumps Max a little. He doesn't like to assume about his friend's dating lives, but Lando has been a little too suspicious lately. He's always talking elusively about who he's with and cancelling plans with Max last minute, always out for dinner with someone, overall a bunch of strange behaviour that's led Max to suspect he may not be as single as he claims.
How exactly he's going to track down said girlfriend and somehow be able to invite her to Monaco before 1:30pm tomorrow is a completely new struggle, and Max slots it right down at the bottom of his party planning list. Right underneath "get a cake."
He also would never admit this to Lando of course, but he's actually a little upset that Lando didn't mention being in a relationship to him. He's always considered Lando his best friend, on and off of the track, and has always told Lando when he was in a new relationship. He obviously doesn't need Lando to tell him anything, but he's a little worried he did something to make the younger think he wouldn't be supportive. He's hoping it's just a misunderstanding, though.
He supposes he'll find out if he manages to track down his secret partner, but there are still other things to be completed before he can start to consider that quest.
Driving home, he parks his car and pulls out his phone, having received many answers in the group chat to Alex's message.
Charles Leclerc
Would be happy to come, mate.
Fernando Alonso
I am free and will be in Monaco already
Lewis Hamilton
Should be able to come by for a bit.
George Russell
Gladly for Lando! I wouldn't for you, Alex :)
Alex Albon
you're uninvited now George :(
Checo Perez
I can come also.
Max Verstappen
Okay, details. Everyone will meet at the cafe outside Lando's place,
I'll send the address shortly,
the party starts at 1:30 because we're going to get the food
from the shopping district and bring it up to his place.
Remember this is a surprise party,
so no mention to Lando (or Oscar) please.
Carlos Sainz
Oscar?
Alex Albon
we can't risk him spoiling anything
Pierre Gasly
He's likely to do that?
Logan Sargeant
HA, oh yeah he is. he's not the best at allll at secrets
if there was ever anything he wanted hidden from me in Prema days,
it only wouldve been hidden for like two seconds lmao
Alex Albon
+ Logan says he hates surprises and would probably
hate Lando's surprise by association
and complain to him about it
Logan Sargeant
yeahhh probably
Nico Hulkenberg
I can also make it, but maybe not for long.
Kevin Magnussen
Ditto to Nico
Max Verstappen
Okay. Whoever can come, like this message.
Message liked by Charles Leclerc + 16 others
Alex Albon
perfect guys! Logan, you're still good to be a distraction?
Logan Sargeant
Of course, i'm about to offer mr piastri the best game of FIFA
at mine he's ever been invited to.
Max spends what is essentially the entirety of the rest of his morning, afternoon, and evening planning the party for Lando, and he likes to think he's done an alright job, honestly.
The balloons are bought, and Valtteri is going to swing by and pick them up tomorrow morning once he's done his late morning cycle. The McLaren F1 team are all contacted and invited, and a large portion of them are able to at least make an appearance. Zak Brown is in charge of bringing the cake... for some reason, and some of the McLaren Hospitality kitchen staff have offered to provide the food so that they don't need to accidentally buy out an entire cafe's stock for the week.
The only small issue in the plan is that Logan has messaged Oscar to ask him to hangout tomorrow and Oscar hasn't responded. Or seen the message.
But hopefully, by tomorrow Oscar will be fully aware that Logan is planning on dragging him out of bed before 12 to get nicely dressed for FIFA and lunch, and all will be sorted.
Another considerably large problem is that Max hasn't been able to track down who Lando might be seeing yet. He definitely knows there's someone, the slip-ups are obvious and Lando has flushed bright red anytime Max has suggested the idea of setting him up with people, the also complete subject changes whenever their relationships are brought up is a little too obvious for his liking. The only problem, is that Max has zero idea of who it could be.
He's thought about contacting a few of Lando's exes, has stalked Lando's instagram to see who he he's following and who likes his posts, but all of those clues have run dry. But whatever, it's fine, Lando didn't tell Max about his girlfriend anyway so he can't have expected Max to invite her, surely not.
Max is just about to call it a night and head to bed when he gets a phone call from the man of the minute himself, however as he goes to answer it, the call ends and he's left looking at his wallpaper of Jimmy and Sassy laying on the countertop next to his World Drivers Championship 2022 trophy.
Which is slightly unusual, given he doesn't think he's any kind of emergency contact for Lando, and it's also pushing 2 in the morning meaning Lando should have been dead to the world roughly 3 hours ago. He checks the phone app to make sure there's no kind of voicemail left when the call flashes up again, Max making good use of his F1 reflexes (he trained hard for them to be as quick as they are, thank you very much) and manages to answer it before the McLaren driver can hang up again.
"Lando?" Max asks in lieu of greeting, choosing to ignore the fact that Lando called just moments prior.
"Hey Max," Lando greets back, sounding positively exhausted and throat coarse "was just wondering what your plans were tomorrow... oh - or today I guess?"
And, shit. Max was really counting on not having to talk to Lando before the surprise party because he didn't want to have to find some odd way of justifying that he was actually too busy to hang out with him... because he was going to hang out with him. Y'know, it sounds kind of stupid.
"Err- not sure mate, why? What's up?" Max tries for casual. Definitely fails.
"I was just wondering if you'd be able to swing by at some point and bring me some things from Carrefour," the butchered attempt at the accent slipping from his tongue even more scrambled as a result of the time. "I seriously don't need much so it shouldn't take long if you're busy obviously."
Max has to hold himself back from cheering to himself, in the dark, alone, at 2 in the morning, like an idiot, that Lando didn't want to play golf, or padel or anything that was likely to cause for him to explain why he couldn't make it. Either way, it's convenient because that means Lando can look somewhat decent by the time everyone shows up if he's expecting Max.
"Yeah, of course! What do you need and what time do you want it?" Max pretends not to know that Lando's fully booked from 8-12 due to his media and training commitments, and instead asks the question as to not sound like a total creep that knows their best friend’s daily schedule.
"Anytime works mate, I've got nothing going on. Thanks loads though, I'll message you what I need in the morning, yeah? Just text and let me know what time you'll pop over. Night!" The dial tone rings out in the dark silence of his bedroom.
Lando's response leaves Max a little confused, having swiped Lando's schedule from McLaren's media director just hours before and seen written, clearly in bold lettering 'LANDO - GOOGLE INTERVIEW - 9:30-11AM'.
Either way, interview or not, as long as it doesn't fuck with Max's plans of giving his best friend the best (and only) surprise party he's ever had, then it doesn't really matter to him.
As he's switching of his phone and putting it on charge to officially (finally!) go to bed for the night/day, Max checks the group chat to make sure that nothing’s changed regarding attendance for the party, and instead is met with messages of people stressing out over what to get Lando.
Max chuckles to himself, having been in that situation himself only hours prior, and wishes them all luck as they try to organise people to run and grab a present - any present - for Lando before they all meet. His response is met with a few annoyed replies, claiming that he should give them advice and options considering he knows Lando the best, which only functions to fuel a few petty disagreements between Alex, George, and Carlos about how they know Lando the best, actually.
Max flips them all off in a reply, knowing that he knows Lando the best, thank you, and mutes his messages - planning to only check the chat in the morning if he absolutely has to. He climbs into bed, and prays not to dream about the party and all the disasters that could occur - as he's so prone to doing the night before races.
Of course, when he wakes later that morning at a reasonable 8 o'clock, he's met with a considerable amount of frantic messages from none other than Logan Sargeant, which honestly leaves Max's sleepily groggy brain confused as to why exactly the young rookie-ish driver that he's barely spoken to would be messaging him from 6 o'clock until 12 minutes before Max woke, until he reads the messages.
Logan Sargeant
6:32
Oscar's not responding, I waited all day yesterday
Ummmm, should I call him?
Sorry hahaha I don't know why I'm asking you
I mean unless you know?
Shit, okay I'm gonna call him
He didn't answer
Wait that's okay its early and he sleeps for ages lol
But surely he would've seen my message?
7:12
Ok how desperate are you to have Oscar at the party... cuz I can't get him in contact sooo
7:47
Oscar's probably a no-show Max, he hasn't answered me and idk how else to talk to him
That alright?
Max groans and curses everything in him that ever trusted that Oscar would be reliable. He seemed very responsible the few times Max himself has spoken to him, and in interviews he always seemed put together and punctual. Plus, the way that Lando speaks about him clearly means he thinks of him in high regard, not one to just ignore his friends messages.
Max Verstappen
It is okay, Logan
We don't need him there, but Lando and Oscar are pretty close
so I think Lando might notice his absence
But it's okay, just see if he responds to you throughout the day
and hope he can rush over before the party ends, if he does respond.
Everything is fine, Max tells himself. They don't desperately need Oscar at Lando's party, of course not. I mean, do they really need Lando's teammate, and quite a close friend if the way Lando lights up talking to Oscar, or about Oscar, or by seeing Oscar, or when Oscar looks at him is anything to go by.
They have gotten closer recently, Max evaluates, and even without him noticing. He remembers distinctly there was a pre-Oscar Piastri period, in which Lando was stressing to Max about having to be the mentor. About how he didn't want things to change. That even though him and Daniel hadn't been as close as him and Carlos, he'd still miss him.
He admitted, slightly tipsy, that he slightly resented his new teammate for 'taking' Daniel's seat. Guiltily told him that he didn't really want to meet him, because he was worried he'd hate him for things that weren't really his fault and they'd take that out on the race track and cost McLaren another shot for championships. He was anxious, and decided it would be best if he kept the Australian at an arms length until he got over the unjust anger he felt.
And then, somehow, without Max even being fully aware of it (without Lando even being fully aware of it, Max guesses) Lando and Oscar had been getting on better than ever. Lando would make a point to include his teammate in conversation, even bringing him up in conversations with other people when Oscar's not there. He'd come over to Max's house, ready to try out a new game that he'd seen Oscar playing, telling him a story that he and Oscar had found hilarious; and Max would good-naturedly laugh along even though they both knew it wasn't funny the second time around.
He'd even started experimenting with nicknames for Oscar, switching from Osc to Osco after the internet and team took the former from him. Because, he complained to Max one night, entirely unprompted, it was my nickname for him.
Either way, without Max even registering it, Lando had become much more tactile with Oscar, showing the sides of him that he fell into easily and immediately with Carlos and Daniel, both very touchy people. While Oscar, noticeably not so big on casual friendly touches beyond good natured hugs and fist bumps, seemed more than willing to give into Lando's friendly grabbing, excited hugs, and even his overjoyed slaps on the arm.
Max was watching in real time as Oscar quickly skyrocketed up the list of Lando's friendships, slotting in nice and cozy behind himself and only just outside of the DRS zone to overtake him for P1 in Lando's friendship standings. It's okay, though. Max isn't worried, he actually thinks Lando and Oscars obscure friendship is actually very cute, and hopes they stay good friends for a long while.
But that's okay, they don't need Oscar there, surely not.
Max begs anyone that'll listen that Oscar ends up responding to Logan before he tells Logan to just go over to wherever he's staying or living in Monaco and grab him out of his little Hobbit hole and drag him to the party, no questions asked.
Max knows he's not the best dresser on the grid. Far from it, actually. He normally sticks to his Red Bull shirts and jeans, otherwise donning the classic plain t-shirt and jeans combo. But even he knows how to suitably dress for a party, because its a party! He mentally curses almost the entire grid for wearing insanely non-party-like attire, most in typical jeans and t-shirts. He understands that because the party is a day-time event, lunch even, that it may not seem very appropriate to dress up, but c'mon.
Obviously Lewis and Zhou still managed to show everyone up, of course. He really doesn't understand how they put together the outfits they do so casually, and why he's never seen Lewis repeat a single piece of clothing. Where do they go? Does he donate them? He definitely donates them, doesn’t he?
They've all met at the Carrefour in Monaco, and Max has just gone in and purchased the slightly obscure load of things that Lando asked of him. He walked out of the Carrefour carrying a bag filled with the lemons, gatorade, orange juice, plain crackers, and wipes that Lando messaged him to grab, and let Lando know he was a few minutes away with the stuff he needs.
He waits for Lando's thumbs up in response before calling Zak and checking that all of the hospitality staff have all the food they need, and that they'll be meeting the drivers there. Zak lets him know that the cake (which looks mega cool) was set up very securely and safely in his car, and he hangs up and asks Valtteri about the balloons, confirming no issues there either.
The only thing that held them up was Logan, who manages to show up just as Alex is contemplating texting him, with no Oscar in tow.
"I called him, texted him, and even knocked on his door but he didn't answer, sorry guys. I also didn't mean to make us late, that's on me." The American looks a little defeated, but more so annoyed at his friend for the flakiness he was showing. Everyone is quick to reassure Logan, and they all decide to pile in to their respective cars.
Pulling up outside Lando's house and all managing to find a place to park their cars was a little hard, but luckily they'd decided to share cars instead of having all 18 drivers in their own cars try to find a spot.
Once they're all there, hospitality staff included, Max is quick to tell everyone to shut up, that they need to let him go first and open the door, and that they all have to be right behind him ready to shout "SURPRISE!" as soon as the door opens. Hopefully, Lando will just be chilling on the couch or in the kitchen and will then be able to see them all come in.
They have one shot, and Max wants to make sure it's perfect.
They creep up the driveway, careful not to drop the cake or containers of food they've brought for the 70 or so attendees, and making sure not to let the balloons fly away, and Max positions himself at the front door, key in hand.
As soon as he gets the door open, he's sure the whole country of Monaco could hear the shout that comes from behind him and his mouth included, with some people even having managed to find some party blowers on such short notice.
The front door leads directly to the lounge room, naturally, so it's there that they all get a full view of one Lando Norris laying on his couch as he screams out in surprise of the absolute stampede that have just entered his house.
It's also there that they all get a full view of one Oscar Piastri laying asleep on Lando Norris' chest. Well, previously asleep until he startles from not only the party's noise, but Lando's giant scream right next to his ear.
"Wha- the fuck?" Oscar mumbles, eyes still mostly closed, trying to lift himself from the slightly incriminating position he was in on Lando's chest to look at him, before having to lean over and stick his head firmly into a bucket.
"What the fuck?" Lando articulates only slightly better than Oscar, but managing to look a lot more mad than Oscar was before he planted himself in the bucket on the floor. "You woke him up!"
Everyone in the doorway looks around at each other, checking that they're all seeing the same thing, that in Lando Norris' Monaco house on Lando Norris' birthday, is Lando Norris' teammate and close personal friend Oscar Piastri, throwing up.
"Also, what the fuck?" Lando repeats, "what are you all, literally all of you, doing here?"
Max from the front of the pack, manages to utter out a "Suprise?", before Lando focuses his attention on Oscar, who is very clearly ill, and very clearly needed the sleep they all very clearly woke him from.
"Hey, hey, it's okay. Sit up, yeah? I'll grab you some water." He says to Oscar, who has now turned to glare at the intruding crowd, managing to look positively awful. Lando extracts himself from his friend (??) and grabs him a bottle of water from the kitchen, handing it to him before he makes his way over to all his friends and family.
"Okay, initial anger aside, what's going on?" Lando asks, looking slightly confused, but also trying to fight off a smile.
"Happy birthday, mate!" Max cheers, pulling Lando into a hug.
"You didn't think to call, maybe?" Lando asks against Max's shoulder.
"Of course not, that'd ruin the surprise. Everyone's here!" Max gestures to the awkwardly standing people behind him, most of which are clothed in papaya and holding some item of food.
"Well shit, guys, come in! Thank you for the fucking surprising surprise." Lando chuckles exasperatedly, shaking his head slightly but moving to greet all of his friends and coworkers.
After everyone makes their way into the living room of his home, and the McLaren hospitality staff have set up the food for reheating in the microwave or laid out on his kitchen bench, everyone starts to mingle better, taking over the space completely.
Lando removes himself away from the centre of attention for a moment, and goes to check on Oscar, having grabbed all the purchases from Max and handing him the gatorade.
"How ya feeling? I'm so sorry they woke you." He asks Oscar, who’s looking at him groggily, but clearly waking up.
"Still shit, obviously, but I'm sure the gatorade will help some. Thank you." He gives Lando an affectionate smile, and Max spots most of the room watching them alongside him.
"'Course, happy to help. Kinda my job, y'know." He teases, and Oscar just laughs at him in return.
"Also got you some crackers, since flavour isn't the best for upset stomachs." Lando passes Oscar the crackers.
"Yes Lando, I am aware. I have gotten sick before," Oscar laughs again, but opens the packet anyway and starts to nibble on them. "Anyway, don't worry about me. Go enjoy your party, you already cancelled your interview because of me."
"I told you, muppet, its my job to take care of you. In sickness and in health remember?" Lando refutes back, eliciting a laugh from Oscar.
"Last I checked, we aren't married, Lan." Oscar teases with an arched eyebrow. Max smiles at that, glad it wasn't just Lando known for the nicknames in their apparent relationship.
"Not yet at least." Lando says with a wink, making Oscars face flush bright red as he slaps him on the arm with a soft "shut up."
Someone clears their throat from the kitchen, snapping both men back out of their little bubble, and drawing a shy smile out of both of them.
"So. Gonna guess you guys are together, yeah?" Zak calls from the background, and it makes Lando and Oscar laugh at their boss.
"We were going to tell you, I swear! It just never came up or felt right at the time." Lando begins to justify.
"Wait, how long have you been together, exactly?" Charles asks from right behind him and close to his ear, startling him a little bit as he turns to look at the Ferrari driver. Charles just gives him a funny look and rests his hand on Max's shoulder, and Max tries very purposefully to ignore him and his hand.
"Err-" Lando looks towards Oscar, who’s again looking at him with a raised eyebrow, except this time the quizzical unspoken "yeah Lando, how long has it been?" is clear.
Lando starts counting the months on his fingers, and each finger counted makes Max's jaw drop a little more.
"Nine months!" Lando declares, and Oscar looks satisfied with his response, leaving everyone in varying amounts of shock.
"Nine?" Max calls out, and Lando turns to him sheepishly.
"We were going to tell you," Lando repeats for the second time in 2 minutes. "I was just waiting for the right time, and I didn't want you to judge me."
Max was about to chime in and let him know that of course he would never judge- when Lando cuts him off with a dismissive wave of his hand.
"I know, we know you wouldn't judge, but you know how it is, mate." Lando says with a guilty smile, and yeah, Max knows.
With all that cleared up, and Oscar resuming his resting position with a new round of medicine and attention from his boyfriend (boyfriend! Max is still shocked), they all actually fall into a comfortable atmosphere of partying, making sure to keep quiet and not disturb Oscar too much as he rests, while still having fun and laughs.
It's after the party is more than underway that Max finds himself outside alone with Lando, who checks again that Max isn't upset.
"I mean, I'm a little upset you didn't tell me, but only because you even dared for a minute to think I would judge you. Judge you for what, anyway? Liking guys? There's no problem in that, mate." Max suitably ignores the pointed look that Lando gives him at that, and if he also has to ignore the swoop he gets in his stomach, that's his business only.
"You're happy for me, though, right?" Lando asks, and while it's mostly teasing, Max can hear and see his underlying anxiety. He's quick to reassure him, and pulls his best friend into a firm hug.
"Of course I'm happy for you. Plus, he seems to make you pretty happy anyway." Lando pulls away from the hug at that, hiding his face from Max.
"Yeah, he really fucking does." Max can't help but smile at Lando's small but genuine smile.
"Well, mate. Let's enjoy your party, me and Alex spent a lot of effort planning it and would hate if the man it was planned for missed out because he was outside talking about his boyfriend all day." Max teased, before throwing his arm around the younger's shoulders and dragging him affectionately back inside where his friends and family waited for him.
Lando spends the rest of the party getting positively spoiled, and in the end, even appreciates Max's gift, spraying it on himself immediately, because he's "never found any nice ones."
Max looks at Alex across the room, and they both give each other a thumbs up for their joint work put into the party, and Max heads over to where Charles is standing with a drink in hand, ready to spend the rest of the party eating great food and getting a little tipsy.
The cake, that for some reason they'd agreed to let Zak Brown be in charge of, displays a little race track - Silverstone of course, and a little papaya McLaren racing around it. It's adorable, and none of them actually want to eat it as that would mean destroying it.
It's as everyone's saying their goodbyes and is leaving that Max can see clearly how good of a couple Lando and Oscar make, fitting together in a perfect balance. Lando launching himself on everyone who's come as his way of saying thank you, and Oscar - who's got enough drugs in his system to warrant some standing time, thanking them all for coming and wishing them a safe trip home.
It's actually disgustingly cute how domestic the two are, acting as if Lando's home is their shared home despite living seperately, and Max can only wish for the comfortable nature they share. He glances back to where Charles is grabbing his coat, finding him glancing up at Max with a soft smile that Max reciprocates.
He bids goodbye to the happy couple, walking out with Charles, and thanks everything and everyone that the party, which may not have been exactly as he planned it, didn't end in a total disaster. As he heads down the driveway, he glances back at the house, barking out a laugh and a small bewildered shake of his head.
"Nine whole months." He says to Charles, still in shock, both of them giggling as they leave.