Chapter Text
The first ray of sunshine shines through the curtains as Max wakes up. He sees Charles next to him and he gets visibly comfortable, with his boyfriend next to him.
He stretches himself and shifts closer to Charles, feeling the warm sun on his skin. His boyfriend moves slightly and finally wakes up.
„Good morning baby. “, Charles says, his voice still sleepy.
„Morning babe. ", Max responds.
Max shifts even closer, if that‘s even possible, and hugs Charles tight. He loves cozy morning cuddles.
They stay like this for about ten minutes, before Charles softly tries to get out of Max‘s tight embrace.
„Let‘s get ready for brunch with Lando and Oscar, Chéri.“
Max groans and throws his head in his pillow, not wanting to let his boyfriend go. „I wish we could spend one day just relaxing in our bed.“
Even though Max complains they get dressed and Charles gets his car keys for his Ferrari 488. Max checks if he has his phone with him before he follows Charles to his car.
„Do you have plans for this evening?“, Max asked while he looked out of the window, admiring Monaco's landscape.
„Yeah actually I do.“
„Oh“ Max tries not to sound too disappointed, because he thought they could maybe spend the evening together.
Max sits up a bit straighter, slightly noticeable. He turns his head to ask what exactly he will be doing, but he sees a small grin on Charles' face.
„I am planning to cuddle with you and order chinese food!“
„You little-“ Max couldn‘t be angry at his boyfriend for long, not if he looks so cute, almost like Léo if he wanted something.
Charles chuckles lightly and focuses back on the road. After 20 minutes they arrive at the agreed location and see the McLaren boys chatting near the building.
„Hey you two! Always late.“ Lando jokes and waves at Max and Charles.
„Nice to see you both.“ Oscar next to him also greets the two, a bit more quieter than Lando. He wears a grey T-shirt and black shorts, similar to Max's clothes, who wears a red bull polo and some random skinny jeans.
Charles on the other hand wears blue baggy jeans, which almost looks like a sky with clouds and a wide white shirt with sunglasses tugged into it.
Lando wears brown baggy jeans, a white quadrant hoodie and a LN4 cap. Pretty much opposite Oscars and Max's style.
They go inside and eat brunch while they talk about everything and nothing. As they finish with their food, the quadrant says goodbye to each other and every couple goes their own way.
As Charles and Max arrive home Charles insists on cooking for him.
„You really don‘t need to schatje“ Max says again.
„But I want to, mon chéri! Don‘t look til I call you. It will be a surprise!“, the younger one insists.
The Dutchman agrees and goes to their bedroom to scroll on YouTube and answer some e-mails.
Ten minutes pass and their home smells like sweet pancakes and Max is desperate to eat them, but Charles hadn't told him to come out yet.
He distracts himself by watching some edits of Charles on TikTok as suddenly his phone vibrates and shows „dad“.
Max feels his heart rate going higher by just thinking about his dad. He slowly taps on the green button and holds his phone to his ear.
„H-hello?“ Max says, with sweaty hands, trying to keep his voice at the same level.
„Max? I heard you were second in your last race in Monza.“ Jos says hardly with no empathy.
„Y-yeah Charles was P1 and I-I P2.“ his voice stutters and he tries to calm his breathing down while he feels a knot in his stomach forming.
„Well P2 ain‘t P1! I can‘t believe Charles even wants you, you are a failure!" Jos continues to shout at Max harshly.
Max whimpers at the words coming from his father. He‘s right. He is a failure that doesn‘t deserve Charles.
The man thinks back at one of his go-karting races, where he finished P2. After that his father had left him at a gas station and Max needed to find his own way back home.
He still hears Jos talking bad about him on the phone but that was more of a background noise for him. He feels the panic attack and sinks to the ground, his arms over his head, his vision blacks out a bit.
He tries to breathe and focus on his surroundings, but nothing helps. He can only think about how worthless he feels right now. If Charles would see him like this he would for sure break up. Max is sure.
Tears stream down his face and he sobs, his mind and thoughts won‘t stop racing. This goes on for about 5 minutes. Max just can‘t stop thinking about how bad he had done at Monza and why Charles had not already broken up with him.
Suddenly he hears a knock and he tries unsuccessfully to wipe away his tears. But there just are too many. They feel too wet at his fingers, mad at himself for crying over such things.
„Maxy. What‘s going on?“ Charles asks softly as he sees Max‘s phone next to him with the words „dad“ on it.
„Has Jos called you and told you bad things?“ the monegasque sounds worried and slightly angry, but not at Max and rather at Jos. He quickly goes to max patting him calmly and muttering encouraging words to him.
Max can only nod, tears still falling down his cheeks.
„I need words Maxy. Come on mon chéri just quick. We can talk about it later in detail.“ Charles says soft, not to scare him, one hand rubbing through Max‘s hair.
„H-he told me I d-don‘t deserve you. T-that I am a f-failure.“ Max‘s voice is still quiet and stuttering.
„Thanks for telling me Baby. I‘ll talk to him quick than we‘ll talk okay?“
The older one only nods, still sobbing.
„What‘s your fucking proplem, Jos?“ Charles sounds angry, he almost shouts. Max twitches slightly, not used to his boyfriend shouting.
Charles glances softly at him, to symbolise him he isn‘t angry at him. Max relaxes a bit but only minimally.
It‘s quiet for a moment before Jos finally talks: „He would not be who he is if I wouldn‘t be harsh on him sometimes.“
„Bullshit. You have pushed him into racing since he‘s 3. You tried to live your dream through Max.“ his voice softens a little, still angry at Jos, a calming hand stroking Max.
„But-“
„No buts. Jos, go fuck yourself.“ Charles says and hangs up the phone.
„T-thanks“ Max‘s voice is still stuttering, but a bit stronger.
„You don‘t need to thank me.“ the monegasque gently rubs a hand through Max‘s dirty-blonde hair. „Want to take a quick shower and then talk about it?“
The other man only nods still too weak to speak.
Charles helps Max up, his legs still trembling. As they are in front of the shower, Charles already turns on the shower so that it will have the perfect temperature when they get in.
The younger man quickly helps Max to undress, before he does the same on himself.
They get in the shower and Charles washes Max softly. Max hears the shower running, feeling his boyfriend's hands, and feels a bit better. He takes a shampoo bottle and puts some on his hand before he massages it into Max‘s hair.
It smells like strawberry and Charles feels that Max relaxes slightly under his touch. As he is finished with Max he washes himself quickly and then they both get out of the shower.
He wraps a soft, fluffy towel around his boyfriend and dries them both, before dressing them.
He tugs a white oversized hoodie from his own merch over Max‘s head, which still smells like him. He gets a pair of jogging pants for Max and pulls them over his legs.
Then he gets himself a black hoodie from Max, slightly bigger than Charles. He also wears a pair of basic grey sweatpants.
„Wanna cuddle a bit and talk? I‘ll get the pancakes.“ Charles says softly, not to scare Max.
Max agrees and slowly walks to their bedroom, waiting for Charles.
The younger man comes rapidly again with a plate full of pancakes with blueberries, exactly the way Max loves them.
„They‘re so delicious!“ Max raves as he tries one of the pancakes.
Charles chuckles softly, also eating one. „That's great! I‘m happy that you‘re feeling a bit better.“
Charles draws invisible circles with his finger in Max‘s arm. „I know it‘s hard for you but we need to talk about what happened."
Max breathes deep and lays his head on Charles shoulder, finally relaxing.
The Dutch sighs quietly. „I know.“
„Sooo why did he call you in the first place?“
Max feels understood that Charles assumes Jos called him and not the other way around. His boyfriend knows that he would never call his dad first.
„I don‘t know. He just called me and said how disappointed he is, and that I am a failure and I don‘t deserve you.“ Max‘s voice still shakes at the thought of this conversation.
„Oh Maxy, my poor baby, don‘t believe him okay? He doesn‘t know you the way I do. You are not a failure and you deserve the world. And fuck what he thinks about us.“ Charles gets slightly mad at Jos, but tries to hide it, to not scare Max.
Max cries again, but this time because of happiness, because he‘s so lucky to have a fantastic boyfriend, who always has the right words and always knows what to do.
With that feeling, he finally falls asleep on his boyfriend's chest. He knows he still has a ton of work to do because of his trauma with Jos. But with Charles, his Charlie he will get there.