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Charles had searched their entire apartment for Max as soon as he came home. Eventually, he found Max in the bedroom. Max had turned his back to the door.
"Max?" Charles hurried over to the bed. Even from afar, he could see how Max's body was shaking with every sob.
"Can you please go," Max sniffled.
"No, I am not going anywhere. Not when you need me," Charles said. He sat down behind Max. Softly, he placed his hand on Max's shoulder. It wasn't often that Charles got to see Max like this. Even in their four-year relationship, Max had almost always been the calm collected Dutchie people knew him as.
"I don't want you to see me like this. Please," Max pleaded. Another wave of tears crashed over him. Charles kept rubbing his hand over Max's shoulder.
"If you need me to, I can go after you have calmed down. I want to make sure you are alright first," Charles said. Max shook his head but stopped trying to send Charles away.
It took a lot of reassuring words and comforting touches before Max calmed down. When the sobs had died down, he turned around to sit upright.
"Are you feeling better, amour?" Charles asked while he looked at Max.
"I am breaking up with you," Max said. His voice was still shaky. His eyes were darting around the room, never focusing on Charles for more than a second. A frown appeared on Charles's face. His mouth was agape while he tried to make sense of the situation.
"Why? Did I do something wrong?" Charles asked.
"No, it has nothing to do with you. You can just get so much better than me. I don't want to be in your way of having a perfect life." The frown on Charles's face deepened.
Charles shook his head.
"Max, is this a joke?" Charles asked.
"No, you deserve someone better. And you definitely can get someone better. I don't want to blind you from that," Max said. His voice was fragile in a way that Charles had never heard before. He knew Max as one of the most confident men he had met over the years. To hear him like this, broke his heart.
"Max, you are perfect. Perfect for me," Charles started. Max shook his head. He swallowed hard.
"I don't want anyone else. I want you," Charles continued. Max's eyebrows were knitted together.
"Why the fuck won't you stop lying to me. Why are you always fucking lying to me," Max yelled. He jumped up from the bed before storming out of the room and slamming the door behind him. With wide eyes, Charles stared at the spot Max had just been sitting. Never before had Max raised his voice at him like that. A few seconds later when Charles had recovered from the shock, he got up to find Max. He searched their entire apartment twice but never found him.
All the texts Charles sent were left unanswered. The phone kept ringing until Max's voice sounded in the form of his voicemail. Charles knew there was no way Max was missing his phone calls. He never did. Charles could feel his heart pounding in his throat while he walked through their apartment once more. He even checked under the couch although he knew it was impossible for Max to be there.
It was in a desperate attempt that Charles called Lando.
"Hi, Charles. Now is not really a good time," Lando said as soon as he picked up the phone.
"Is he with you? Please let me know. I won't come over. I just need to know if he is okay. Please," Charles pleaded. Lando must have picked up on the panic in his voice.
"Charles, take a deep breath. What's going on?" Charles only then registered that it sounded like Lando was in a club.
"Nothing. Everything is fine," Charles said before hanging up the phone.
Charles had spent hours driving around Monaco. It was nearly three in the morning when he saw someone sitting on one of the docks. He parked the car before quietly approaching. Meanwhile, he slung his backpack with essentials over his shoulder. When he was getting closer, he knew instantly it was Max. When one of the wooden planks of the docks squeaked under his feet, Max quickly turned around.
"Don't panic, it's me," Charles said. Max moved his gaze towards the horizon again. Charles sat down next to Max. From his backpack, he got a jacket. He held it in front of Max. The latter looked down before taking it. Without saying a word he put it on.
The water was aggressively smashing against the wooden beams below them. They sat in silence for a long time. It was when Max took ahold of Charles' hand and intertwined their fingers that Charles looked over.
"I am sorry," Max said. His voice was still shaky.
"What's going on, Max? Please tell me what is going on," Charles said. Tears were now balancing on his eyelids. He wished he would feel stronger because it felt like he should be stronger for Max.
"I- To be honest, I don't know," Max said. His shoulders slumped possibly even more while he looked at the water again.
Max took a shaky breath. Charles could feel the way his palms were sweaty.
"Lately I have been so scared. I keep thinking you'll leave me. I keep seeing signs everywhere. I have never had such a connection with anyone before and I am so scared of losing it." Max said. Charles gently squeezed Max's hand in the hopes of comforting him.
"Which signs?" Charles asked. Max brought his hand up to his face. He pinched the bridge of his nose.
"It's stupid," Max mumbled. He shook his head before turning it away from Charles.
"It's not stupid if it is making you worried."
The silence returned once more. Even the city around them was quiet. Which was a rare thing for Monaco. A city that was usually full of people bustling around, hoping to spot some fancy cars.
"It hurts to see you flirting with other people at bars. I hate to see you smile like that when someone flirts with you. People always come up to you to see if you are available and you just go along. I know we said we would do that to make it seem like we are single. But it fucking hurts," Max said after a while. Charles wanted to respond so badly. He kept himself back, knowing that it was probably easier for Max if he could get all his feelings out first.
As Charles expected, Max soon started talking, "And whenever I go online, there are all these fans talking about you. Talking about how pretty you are. What they would do to you. They act like you are their boyfriend for fucks sake. I even get told by fans that you are so pretty and hot. Do you know how frustrating it is that I can't agree with them? That I can't tell how hot I think you are? That I can't tell them how hard you make me when I just look at that stupid beautiful face of yours?" A soft giggle left Charles' lips. Leave it to Max to make a horny comment even when he was upset.
"And then recently, you have been so busy. Been away from home so much. That on bad days I started thinking you might have moved on from me," Max mumbled. Charles let go of Max's hand. He scooted over until his side was pressed against Max's. Immediately he wrapped his arms around Max just in time before a sob washed over Max's body.
"I love you, Max. I love you so much," Charles said. He held Max even tighter when Max buried his face into his hands.
Charles started hearing more cars pass on the street at the end of the dock.
"You are freezing. How about we go home and talk there?" Charles asked. When he felt Max nod in his chest, he slowly got up. He held out his hand for Max to help him up as well. Charles was so happy he had chosen to take one of his automatic cars. He had figured it was easier to look around him if he didn't have to worry about switching gears. Now it meant he could keep his fingers intertwined with with Max the full ride back.
When they were home, Max let himself fall onto the couch. Charles handed him a blanket.
"I am going to make some tea, alright? He said before placing a kiss on Max's forehead. Max cocooned himself into the blanket. Before Charles had said so, he hadn't realized he had been that cold. But now his skin was hurting while it was warming up.
Charles sat down on the couch next to Max.
"I am sorry you have felt like this. I wish you would have told me sooner. Then we could have talked about it," Charles started. Max looked down.
"Sorry. I am not great with talking about things like this." Charles reached under the blanket to take Max's hand in his own.
"I know. That's why I am proud of you for admitting all of this."
Charles took a shaky breath.
"I love you. And I haven't loved you any less. The opposite I love you more every day. The reason why I was so busy is because I was planning a surprise for you," Charles said. He ran this thumb over Max's hand.
"I still want to do the actual thing, but I think it's more important for you to hear it," Charles took a deep breath before continuing, "I am planning to propose to you soon," Charles said. Max's head jerked up. He searched Charles' eyes to see if the latter was telling the truth.
"Are you serious?" Max asked. A hum left Charles' lips.
"I am."
Charles didn't give Max much time to process before he continued talking: "I think we should stop flirting with other people for the appearance of seeming single. Especially if we get married soon. Wouldn't want to spark controversy," Charles said before giggling softly. Their relationship alone would probably spark enough controversy as it was.
"When we are married, can we tell the world?" Max asked. A soft smile on Charles' face.
"I am okay with that as long as you keep in mind how much backlash we can get from that," Charles said. Max immediately nodded.
"I know. I don't care as long as I am with you. I want to show the world how much I love you."
"Then let's do that," Charles said before leaning forward to connect their lips.
When they broke apart, Max started giggling softly. Charles raised an eyebrow at him.
"I was just thinking that we would absolutely break the internet if we would just share a photo of us kissing at the wedding," Max said. Charles thought about it for a second before he started laughing as well.
"That would be insane."
Just like that, they got married. Charles had proposed on a private beach in Italy. While the sun was going under he had gotten down on one knee. To say that Max didn't see it coming was a lie. But having your boyfriend down on one knee with a ringbox and a beautiful speech was enough to make Max cry anyway.
They had kept the wedding small, only inviting their closest family and friends. Only four other drivers were there. They had taken a quick photo as a group so that could be posted later. Lando, Pierre, Daniel, and Carlos were already happily discussing which captions they would use.
Together with their photographer, they had spent some time figuring out the best photo for their socials. They wanted a photo that made sure that it would be very clear that they got married. They ended up settling for two photos instead. The first was a photo of their hands on top of each other with their rings visible. The second photo was of them kissing each other. Max's hand was on the side of Charles' face, his ring visible.
They posted the two slides with the date followed by 💍❤️. Comments started flowing in almost immediately.
TJstories: No way! I knew those heart eyes from Charles were a sign. I should have known! Congrats guys!
LandoNorris:❤️
JamilasF1adventures: WHATTTT?!?!?!?!? OH MY GOD I KNEW IT!! CONGRATULATIONS GUYSSS🥳❤️
Lestappen1655: The way my heart broke until I saw the second slide. OMG?!?!?! I AM SO HAPPY
MaxNo.1Fan: No way this is actually true. Did you forget April fools is in April?
DanielRicciardo: This wedding was the one we have all been waiting for. Glad to have been a part of it ❤️
MartinGarrix: Love you guys ❤️