Archive of Our Own

"Hey, hey. It's me- No, don't speak. They have stuffed you with this stuff."

Charles blinks at him like scruffy puppy picked up from a dirty sidewalk, the tubes Max had disconnected now lay on the metal table that the man was laid out on. It's one thing to drug any human for an experiment and it's another thing to capture Charles Leclerc to use as a guinea pig. 

"We have around 15 minutes to leave without setting off alarms. The drugs should kick in when we have reached my place."

"You are-" Max winces at the other man's voice. Usually, it's pronounced, like he turns over every word in head before trying it out on his lips but now it's hoarse and scratchy. Max cannot help but shudder at the thought of what they did to him. 

The Monegasque tries to walk by himself, "Hey! Take it easy, man." He pulls Charles' weight on to him, Alex should have the cameras disabled and Lando is on standby as the getaway driver. He is glad that they didn't protest at rescuing Charles. At saving his Arch- Enemy. Rivals. Whoever the reporters like to paint them. They don't know them at all. They think Charles is the villain, they think Max is a hero.

"You are saving me." There's a laboured breath followed by a cough so loud Max wonders if a 0.7 solution was enough to keep the guards knocked out through this.

"You- why?"

Max doesn't respond. It is such a stupid question. Max isn't saving him, he can't save Charles. He failed Charles. He killed the one thing Charles loved the most, he cannot save Charles Leclerc after killing him.

Charles' head falls against his shoulder, the soft brown hairs tickling his neck and by the angel, his heart needs to control itself. It's just Charles. The man he loves, the man who doesn't love him. It's his fault.

Max feels the body sagging further against him, he will hate Max for touching him when he wakes up. He will hate Max for coming here to get him. He needs to get to Lando before whatever they gave Charles has a full effect. Or before he is conscious enough to see Max, to ask Max to leave again.

Charles is completely soft by the time he is spread out in the backseat of Lando's Miura- he will never understand why this man insists on bringing his best boys on the mission. It's better to ponder upon that than the man in his arms.

"Are you sure, Max?"

"Yeah. You know we can't take him to the HQ."

Lando hums, "Doesn't have to be your house. He is not your responsibility, you know? It was an accident, you didn't kill him."

And Max does. He does, really. It just eats him up inside. They were friends growing up. When the FIA picked up all the juiced up kids, Charles snuggled him into the academy- he saved him from his father's wrath and gave him a chance he didn't deserve. How does he repay? how does he pay back the man who saved him? He kills his brother. He kills his brother and watches as the man he loves turns bitter, a shell of who he used to be. He watches as Charles Leclerc becomes the very thing he hated. And he does nothing. Nothing. 

Max continues at the academy, learns to tame the powers he thought he didn't have. Tries to forget a love he had. 

"He is my- is not my responsibility, I know." He is my guilt. The saviour and doom wrapped up into one. "Let it go, Lan. Is Daniel ready?"

Lando glances at him and then back the road, "Yeah, all set up."

Max hums, looking at Lando "I appreciate this, you know. All of you."

Lando sighs, a pat on his arms, and smiles tiredly, "He was- he is our friend too, Max. And he is good enough to not get caught. This could not have happened till something really, really bad happened."

The Dutchman sighs, Charles is perfectly still. Some scars run from the top of his arm to the tip of his fingers, there's a cut on his clavicle, but no signs of resistance or a fight. 

If it's hard to believe that Charles down at all then impossible to believe that it happened without a fight. He was one of the best fighters at the academy, even without the thunder. He was the only one who beat Max. They must have drugged him somehow. 

Lando parks the car in front of Max's current stay. They struggle with Charles' weight between themselves, Lando jokes something about potential electric energy and Max's stomach lurches in fear- what did they do to make so unresponsive? A man who can control thunder is moving like an unbridged cloud.

They drag his body into the elevator and then onto the bed Daniel has set up in the middle of Max's apartment. 

Max feels his heart ache when Jimmy rubs his head against Charles' right foot. The cats remember him. Charles was an everyday person, he was there when Max was feeding the cats breakfast, he was there when Max's powers were killing him. He was the one who drove Max to a shelter next to where Arthur taught, and made him pick two Bengals. Of course they remember him. 

He wonders if they miss Arthur. The way he used to follow Charles around like a puppy, the way he used to awe over Max's powers, the way he used to buy too many toys for the cats and promised to do the same to his and Charles' future kids whenever Max scolded him.

"Hey." Alex settles next to him on the floor. He hadn't realised when he made home in the corridor connecting the bedroom and the Charles' room. Not ready to leave, not able to stay. An arm is thrown open for him to lean into, he takes it, a sob makes his way through his throat as Alex cards his fingers through his hairs. He doesn't deserve any of this. 

He killed- he killed Arthur and he drove Charles to the brink of death and he lost his best friend in the world and he never tried to save him. So many empty promises, so many lies- he should be in the casket Arthur is kept. 

"Max, I am all for you crying it out but you should know he is up."

He sniffles dumbly, dislodging himself from Alex, "Not crying."

Alex rolls his eyes and pulls him up to his feet, "Talk to him. You are not a bad person, it was a mistake, Max...and he has been asking for you."

Max blinks at him "Me? He is asking for Max Verstappen?"

The right-now-platinum haired raises an eyebrow "Yes, you know any other Max?"

"Um, There's Max Chilton in account-"

Alex gives him a withering look, "Please shut up and go to him."

"Yeah- right, yeah."

"Don't let him stand up." Daniel pats his shoulder and moves out of the way as Max makes his way through the corridor to the living room.

Charles is sitting on the makeshift bed with his back against the wall, his eyes are closed and Max can see his muscles are tensed. He doesn't look like someone who got hit, he looks like someone restraining a monster waiting to be unleashed. 

He is relieved of announcing himself as Charles opens his eyes. As green as the day they met, as furious as the day they found Arthur dead. Max feels his stomach dip. This is the first time they have met since the hangar. 

"I- "

"Evacuate the team."

Max frowns, "You were-"

"I know." Charles' gaze is sharp, piercing through him. "I am pumped with what they call a 'Love Serum'"

"You love the first person you see?" Max feels his heart race, Charles asked to see him. Is that why he kept his eyes closed? To not see Daniel? Is that why he asked for Max? You killed his brother. God, how does he even think this.

Charles' face contorts in mild disgust, As if he could hear Max's thoughts. He feels so infinitely small in the moment. "It is- I will kill everyone I love. You need to get the team out, the serum activates in 15 minutes now, more or less."

Oh. Max because Charles doesn't love him.

He nods at the man laid bare in his living hall and turns to the bedroom. It's Daniel, Alex and Lando. They are all brothers to Charles. People Charles has loved through it all. People who have loved him. At the academy Charles used to hate Daniel, they used to fight so much that Max had to make them promise that they will never make him choose. Charles loves Daniel and Lando and Alex but not Max, not Max who killed his little brother, who betrayed Charles in every sense of the word. 

He calls the squad out of the bedroom after placing Charles in the guest room.

"Max, you have to come out too! You fucker, he said the team!" Lando shouts, pissed.

He doesn't understand it at all.

His feels his eyes wet and throat clog. They will need someone to contain Charles to the flat. And he doesn't love Max. 

"No. Leave. He knows what he is doing."

Daniel whispers something to Lando, the younger looks back at the Aussie with disbelief but sighs defeat anyway. Max gives Daniel a wry smile for understanding, he wasn't sure he could spell it out. Not for Lando, not for himself. They follow Alex- who juggles the cats himself and leave.

There's a loud noise from his room, Max takes a sharp breath. He cannot let Charles leave his room. He pushes against the door, opening wide to a man panting feverishly. His eyes are blown black, hairs messed up. Charles is standing on the bed, against the wall breathing as if he just ran a marathon.

"Max," Charles hisses, "What are you doing here!"

Max swallows air, and walks towards Charles. He cannot let Charles leave the flat. "I'll hold you down. You won't hurt them."

Charles steps back into the wall, it cracks under his force. "Leave, I asked you to leave!"

He shakes his head, "It's fine, I will make sure you don't leave the flat. You won't hurt them."

"No, you don't understand." Charles' eyes are bloodshot, his body is shaking, nails grinding against the wall as if he is taming a beast within. "You have to leave before it's bad. Please."

Charles shudders, "I have seen them use it. I'll tear you limb for limb. Now they have drugged me- me to get you. You have to leave, now." 

His face gets paler by the second, like he is about to faint of exhaustion, Max feels dizzy looking at it. Charles is here, after so long he is here. He hates Max but he is here. Max feels himself near the man, Charles is crying and he hates it. He hates the way Charles flinches when Max cups his cheeks, he hates the way his body tenses but Max can't go because the Monegasque leans in.

"Max," It's a tickles against his palm and he sobs in response, he was supposed to save him, he was supposed to protect him. "I can't kill you. Run."

The Dutchman sniffles, "You can't." his palm drops to his side and Charles meets his eyes, "You can't, you hate me."

Charles' face contorts, "What?"

"I- Ar- you hate me, Charles."

There's a loud crack through the room, Charles fracturing the bricks where his fingers rested, he closes his eyes, tucking his chin to his chest and Max feels a surge of electricity run through him. It's sudden and he feels lightening on his tongue. The same way he did when he tasted it on Charles'.

"Do you get it now?"