Work Text:
Max shows his love in different ways, it’s very rare to hear him saying those three words to Charles, in general he has probably never said them to anyone.
Maybe, well, his mom or his sister.
But Charles knows that Max loves him, Charles also loves Max more than anything in the world, along with racing Max is the best thing that has ever happened to him, even if people asked him to choose he knows that he would choose Max without thinking, but he doesn't want to delve into those thoughts now.
He has plenty of time to fall in love much more and expose it in the way he wants.
The thing is, Max shows his love for Charles in his own way.
1
Charles fills a cup with water to make himself some tea when a Ferrari crew member walks up to him and taps him on the shoulder. Charles turns to see the man, Michael, he remembers his name is, he works in marketing.
“Someone’s looking for you” he says, Charles smiles and thanks him as Michael points to the door.
Max is standing in the doorway with a paper bag in one hand and a donut in the other, calmly eating it.
“Hey” Charles reaches out to him and Max automatically smiles at him. "There is something wrong?" he asks, because he just saw his boyfriend literally an hour ago. They both took Max's car to come to the circuit.
“Try this” Max says and holds his piece of donut up in front of Charles's face.
"Uh" Charles hesitates, but he opens his mouth. Max shoves the donut into Charles’ mouth and he takes a bite.
"Mmmm" Charles makes an appreciative sound as he chews then swallows "That's delicious"
Max smiles and uses his thumb to brush bits of cream from the corner of Charles's lip. Charles blushes a little.
"These are yours" Max tells him, handing him the paper bag.
Charles smiles taking it “Thank you. Where did you get them?”
Max shrugs "Jeremy cooked them"
"Who?"
“He’s the chef Red Bull hired for this weekend”
Charles can't help but raise an eyebrow. "Did you bring me Red Bull food?"
Max shrugs again and raises his hand to smooth a strand of Charles's hair off his forehead.
“I knew you would like them”
Charles smiles at him, the blush spreading to his ears and he can't help but look at Max with such love.
"Thank you" he says again "You didn't have to do it"
"These donuts are the best" Max says, as he steps toward his boyfriend to grab him around the waist "And you deserve the best"
Charles feels his cheeks warm again as Max leans down and kisses him on the lips.
They both ignore when various Ferrari mechanics pass by making noises and whistles to tease them.
2
Charles is passing the time sitting on a chair in the airport lounge, waiting for boarding time. He runs his finger across the screen of his phone, alternating between replying to WhatsApp messages and looking at photos on Instagram.
He finishes writing a happy birthday message to one of his childhood friends, promising to go out and party when he gets back to Monaco, them he closes the app and reopens Instagram.
The first photo that appears is a post by Max.
Charles's breath hitches as he realizes what it is. It's a photo of Charles from behind, looking at the buildings in the distance.
Charles realizes that Max took it a couple of weeks ago when it was the Singapore Grand Prix, both of them had gone up to the roof of their hotel building to appreciate the night view. The buildings stand out in the photo with their lights and Charles's pose is so carefree and casual. The shadow of his strands of hair and the features of his face are set so well, just looking at the photo almost makes him feel like he's back on that roof again.
It was just perfect. Charles briefly thought about buying a phone similar to Max's to take photos with that quality.
He automatically tapped his thumb on the screen to like it, scrolled down to see the comments and there are over fifty thousand. Charles checked the posting time and it hadn't been more than twenty minutes.
The caption read “With you the stars of my sky shine a little bit brighter”
Charles blushed and sighed, his chest filled with so much love. He opened Whatsapp again and texted Max quickly.
what a corny phrase
Two minutes passed before he saw Max start typing back.
It's the best I could find on Google
Charles let out a laugh, covering his mouth as several people stared at him with frowns.
He ignored them and wrote back to his boyfriend.
Next time leave it to me
Charles heard his flight being called, so he locked his phone and took his bags. It wasn't until he was in his seat ready to take off that he checked his phone again.
Next time I'll post this
There was a photo attached, Charles opened it and his eyes widened, he quickly hid his phone between his legs. He looked around making sure no one had seen the photo and relaxed a bit when he saw no one was nearby.
His cheeks flushed deeply and he hesitated before picking up the phone again. In the photograph Charles was in bed, with the sheets covering his waist but not his chest, Charles had his arm under his head and a look of pure satisfaction on his face.
He remembers that night, Max had fucked him so good that his legs felt like jelly for several minutes, he remembers Max reaching his phone and pointing it at him as Charles finished coming off his orgasm.
Despite the Monegasque's protests, Max had laughed and taken the photo. He then leaned down to kiss him on the lips.
Charles dimmed all the brightness on the screen so no one could see it and answered Max.
i hate you
someone could have seen that
Max responded with a winking face.
3
Charles has had his worst race of the season. Nothing had turned out as he and Ferrari expected, he first collided in the first corner with Daniel causing him to lose part of his front wing. Then he had a pit stop too slow, plus he was given 10 seconds for an unsafe release.
It was a miracle that he was thirteenth with everything that happened to him.
Now he could only analyze what happened and learn from it. Carlos finished on the podium, which pleased Charles, but he didn’t want to be a gray cloud in his teammate’s good mood, so after the session with the engineers, he told Andreas he needed a minute and went up to the hospitality balcony.
He knew it wouldn't be long before the hospitality would begin to be undone, but he wanted to have at least a couple of minutes alone before heading back to the hotel.
The wind ruffled his hair and Charles regretted he hadn't put on a sweater before going up, but if he went down now he was sure he'd meet someone and he didn't want to talk.
Several minutes passed, he watched as other hospitals were dismantled and as crews loaded everything to re-unload in a different country tomorrow. Then he focused on the sky, the stars were shining in the firmament and the moon was partially full, his phone rang in his pocket but he made no move to reach for it.
After a few more minutes he heard the sliding glass door open, he didn't have to turn around to know who it was.
"Hey" Max told him, closing the door behind him.
Charles turned to see him and smiled slightly.
"Hey"
Max moved towards him but didn't touch him, stood next to Charles and rested his arms on the railing. Max had already changed his clothes, he had on a pair of jeans, a large sweatshirt, no hat.
"I thought you were celebrating" Charles said. Max shrugs. “Congratulations on the podium, by the way”
“Congratulations to you” Max replies, Charles lets out a wry laugh.
"Congratulations? Are you serious? I finished out of the points, almost a minute behind the others"
Max was unperturbed and continues to watch team crews move things "I think it was one of your best races"
Now Charles is baffled. One of his best races?
"Now you're making fun of me, aren't you?" he asks “How the hell was that one of my best races? Anything that could go wrong, went wrong"
Max turns to him, raises a hand but doesn't touch Charles yet.
"Can I touch you?" he asks and Charles's chest fills with something warm, Max knows him so well he knows when to touch Charles and when to ask for permission.
"Yes" Charles says, out of breath.
Automatically Max takes another step and takes Charles in his arms. The Monegasque collapses against him, hiding his face in Max's chest. Max leaves a few kisses in his hair and uses his hands to rub Charles's back, comforting him.
“It was one of your best races” Max repeats, and Charles is ready to reply but Max grabs him by the shoulders “Wait, let me finish” he says and Charles closes his mouth.
Max squeezes his shoulders once and keeps his hands on him as he continues talking.
“On lap twenty-three you were last, almost fifteen seconds behind. And you didn't give up my love , you battled until the end, overtook many cars and took the fastest lap. That just means you had a great race, yes there were mistakes, but we know that's the way racing is, one day you're at the top and the next you're at the bottom. It's part of the sport, but you should be proud of yourself today."
Charles lets out a breath he was holding and looks down at the ground, Max uses his hands to cup his boyfriend's face and leaves a small kiss on his forehead. A minute passes where Charles does nothing but blink at Max, lost in his thoughts.
"I-I think" Charles says "that you're right"
Max smiles "I'm always right"
Charles rolls his eyes and his lips pull into a soft smile. He wraps his hands around Max’s waist and pulls him towards him, Max willingly let himself go, their chests touch, and Charles reaches up to kiss the Dutchman's chin.
"Thank you" Charles says.
Max leans in to kiss him on the lips, letting their lips pressed together for a couple of seconds. “Always” he says.
4
Charles groans, breathless, sweat beading his forehead and chest and his breath stuttering as Max thrusts again.
Max moans in his ear and Charles wraps his arms around him, pulling him so he leans in and their lips meet, they kiss, lips wet and tongues libertine. Max uses his teeth to grab Charles' lower lip and pull hard enough to make him groan but not hurt him.
"Ah, fuck" Charles blurts out, Max keeps moving his hips touching Charles's sweet spot with each thrust, Max knows how to move, he knows which spots to touch, which ones to lick and which ones to bite so Charles becomes a bunch of moans and gasps.
Max knows that if he bites Charles's neck he will throw his head back and his mouth will open to let out a loud moan. He knows Charles loves that he grips his hips tightly when he fucks him because he loves seeing the finger marks on his skin the next day.
He knows that Charles is about to come when his back arches and lets out a chorus of overly loud breathless uhs, so when Charles arches off the bed Max takes Charles's cock in his hand and pumps it to the rhythm of his thrusts, watching Charles scream and whimper a little until white strips come out of his cock and stain Max hand.
“Yes, yes, yes” Charles groans with his eyes closed as Max continues to move his hand until Charles becomes sensitive.
“You look so beautiful like this” Max says, moving his hips once to get his cock deeper inside Charles' ass.
"Shit" Charles says, flushed and exhausted. “Please” he pleads.
Max moves again and leans down to kiss his forehead "Tell me, what do you want?"
It takes time for Charles to come back to himself, but Max waits for him. He doesn't move again until Charles recovers.
The Monegasque takes a deep breath and squeezes Max's cock to make him moan. "Inside me" Charles says "Come inside me"
Max smiles and can't help but moan at his boyfriend's request. Charles blinks several times to make sure he’s not dreaming, Max on top of him without clothes and covered in sweat is a delight for the eyes, part of his hair sticks to his forehead and the rest is disheveled pointing in various directions making him look so sexy and hot.
His boyfriend is so sexy and hot.
“I'd love that” Max replies and moves Charles's knee up to accommodate himself better earning a groan from Charles and pushes again.
Charles throws his head back and he’d come again if he could right now.
Max fucks him so good, touching his sweet spot with each thrust, making sure to fuck him hard but not hurting him, he uses his hands to grab Charles's hands and bring them up on top of the Monegasque's head on the bed.
Fingers locked together, Max continues to fuck him until he cums inside Charles, a long, satisfied moan escaping from Max's lips, and then he collapses.
He places his hand on the bed next to Charles's hip to support himself and not crush him, they don't say anything for a couple of minutes as they even out his breaths.
Max meets Charles's eyes, both tired and satisfied. A smile spreads across both of their faces.
“ Merde ” Charles says “My butt will hurt tomorrow”
Max lets out a laugh and leans in to kiss him on the cheek. "That was my purpose from the start" he says and Charles punches him on the shoulder.
Charles makes a pitiful sound as Max pulls out of him and cum starts to leak out of his ass.
“Wait” Max says and Charles watches him get out of bed and walk to the bathroom. He can't help but check out his boyfriend's hot and well-worked body.
When Max returns he brings a towel and cleans up Charles as best he can "I turned on the tub" he says "Let's took a bath"
Charles lets out a contented groan. “Fuck yeah. That's why I have sex with you."
Max laughs and helps him out of bed. "Is that the only reason?"
“Uhmm” Charles makes a thoughtful gesture “Yeah, that's the only reason” he says and Max presses his fingers on Charles' hip making him moan.
“Liar” he says and Charles laughs all the way to the bathroom.
5
Charles is a horrible cook. No matter how much he likes to make pasta or chicken, cooking really isn't his forte. Carlos has always made fun of him ever since they did the pasta cooking challenge for the Ferrari Youtube channel and Carlos beat him.
Charles always told him it was just luck but Carlos loved to make him angry by saying Charles being so Italian had used short pasta instead of long pasta. Charles would always roll his eyes and push his teammate away.
But now he convinced himself he can cook. It’s his second anniversary with Max since they began their relationship and Max had been working at the Red Bull factory all week but had asked for a day to celebrate with Charles.
Charles wanted to receive him with a spectacular and romantic dinner. Max had planned everything for the next day, apparently they would do all of their favorite activities as a couple so Charles wanted to do his bit in this celebration as well.
He stirred the vegetables in the pan with a wooden paddle and reached for a rag when the pot that was boiling the chicken began to leak water. He quickly turned off the heat on the stove and took out the chicken, careful not to mess anything up.
His mother had given him the recipe and he hoped Max would like it.
He had also ordered a giant flower arrangement with a written note that he hoped Max would like too, so when the doorbell rang he quickly ran to answer the door. The delivery man was very kind and placed the flower arrangement in the living room and Charles thanked him.
He ran his fingers over each flower, making sure they were the flowers he had requested and opened the card to verify the message as well, when he was satisfied it was what he had ordered he returned to the kitchen.
His eyes widened in shock and fear at the sight of the vegetables smoking. " Merde " He ran to put out the fire and cursed again when he tried to move them but they were stuck to the pan, charred and black.
"Okay, Charles" he tried to cheer himself up "It's just the vegetables, I can cut others"
But then he sniffed something burnt, assumed it was the vegetables, and took the pan to the sink, took a couple of vegetables out of the fridge, and then:
"The potatoes!" he said and ran to the oven, he opened the door and a big cloud of gray smoke came out. Charles slammed the oven shut and began to cough.
He cursed again and turned off the oven. "Shit, shit, shit" He paced back and forth thinking what to do next, Max would be here in less than an hour and he had no side dishes to go with the chicken.
"Breathe" he told himself, he wiped his hands on the cloth and opened the window. He opened the oven again and took out the potatoes, some of them weren't completely burned so he decided he could still use them.
He cleaned up the kitchen as best he could and started over, but he barely cut a carrot when the front door opened.
"Honey, I'm home"
"No, no, no…"
Charles tried to disperse the burning smell by using the kitchen towel and waving it in the air, hoping the smell would come out the window.
"Uh, what are you doing?" Max said, standing in the kitchen doorway with his suitcase in hand and his face hidden under a cap. "What is that smell?"
"You're supposed to be here in an hour!" Charles groaned, his shoulders slumping in disappointment, it was supposed to be his turn to do something nice for them on their anniversary.
Max frowned "I thought you'd be happy to see me"
Charles opened his mouth in regret at the sad smirk on his boyfriend's face. “Oh, no. I- I mean yes, of course I'm happy to see you, it's just, I'm sorry, come here"
Charles almost ran to his boyfriend and took him in his arms to kiss him on the lips. Max dropped his suitcase and put his arms around Charles's waist.
"Of course I'm happy to see you" Charles corrected "But you just ruined the surprise"
Max glanced behind Charles, there were two large pots in the sink, the window open, the trash can full of burnt vegetables, and a slight cloud of smoke still visible inside the kitchen.
“The surprise was burning down our kitchen?” Max asks and Charles slumps his shoulders in defeat.
"No" he complains, "I was supposed to cook you dinner" A pout forms on his lips and Max smiles, touched by the gesture.
“I love it” Max says and kisses Charles on the lips.
"You love what?" Charles frowns in complete confusion. “That I ruined two of our best pans? Or that now there will be a cloud of smoke in the house for all eternity?”
Max laughs, happy "I love that you wanted to do something nice for us"
Charles sighs “That's very kind of you, but you can tell me I screwed up, you know? I shouldn't have tried to cook, I know I'm a mess.
Max hugs Charles and kisses his forehead for too long “You're not a mess and the gesture is what counts. We can always order pizza”
“B-But I wanted to-”
"I know, my love " Max smiles at him reassuringly "And if you want we can start over"
"Start over?"
Max nods and releases Charles, then takes off his hat and sweatshirt. He rolls up the sleeves of his shirt and walks over to the stove.
"We'll do it together now" Max tells him "That way you won't be able to burn anything else, those pans were expensive"
Charles laughs and walks over to Max when the Dutchman tells him to help him cut new potatoes.
6
Charles groans in pain as his car hits the circuit barriers and his body shakes inside the cockpit, he closes his eyes and just waits for it all to end. A new blow jolts the car and then he feels it take a turn that makes him dizzy. The rain seeps in, wetting his helmet and racing suit, his arms feel sore and he tries to move to make sure everything is in place.
He hears sirens and water hitting the pavement. He listens to the fans in the grandstand and then a marshall is leaning in to talk to him. Charles blinks, not understanding what he’s saying, the man waves at him but Charles doesn't respond, there is a beeping sound in his head and he feels confused.
His eyes close and when he reopens them he's strapped into a gurney, there's a nurse next to him and the sound of a helicopter all around him.
It takes him a moment to realize that he is inside the helicopter and being taken to the hospital, his head still hurts and he’s sure that if he stands up right now he will throw up. The nurse tells him everything is fine and they will be at the hospital in a couple of seconds.
He goes back to sleep and when he wakes up again he is in the hospital bed. He’s wearing a hospital gown and the television is on in front of him but has no volume. He wiggles his legs and arms, making sure everything is okay, and then runs his fingers up to his head. There is a bandage covering his forehead and his right arm is in a sling.
A minute passes where he is torn between calling a nurse or standing up to say he's awake, but he doesn't have to do either when a doctor walks through the door.
"Oh, you're awake" the man smiles at him and walks towards him "How are you feeling?"
Charles clears his throat and swallows, the doctor hands him a glass of water and helps him drink.
"I'm fine" Charles says, after swallowing "My head and arm hurt a little though"
The doctor nods and writes something on his clipboard “You had a concussion and you will have a big ugly bruise for a couple of days on your arm but luckily all is well, I will prescribe medication and discharge you tomorrow if all goes well”
“Thank you” Charles says and the doctor smiles at him “Uh, can I ask uh, what day is it today? Is it still Sunday?
The doctor shook his head. “It's Monday, actually. You entered on Sunday afternoon and right now it's ehm” the man checks his watch on his wrist “It's seven o'clock on Monday morning”
"Oh ok"
“There are people waiting to see you” the doctor says “Do you feel ready to receive them?” Charles nods but immediately regrets "Easy, you have to try not to make sudden movements"
Charles smiles at him with red cheeks “Uh, yeah. I would like to see them”
“Great, I’ll let your husband come first”
Charles's brain shuts down and he can do nothing but babble as he watches the doctor leave. His husband?
Max walks in, almost knocking down the door. The Dutchman wears a pair of jeans and a Red Bull shirt, his hair is disheveled and there are bags under his eyes.
Charles frowns at his misaligned state, Max stops in the doorway staring at Charles, as if he doesn't believe it was him.
"Fuck" Max says and Charles can see the tears gathering in his eyes. "Fuck" he repeats and walks over to Charles.
Max falls to his knees next to the stretcher and looks at the Monegasque as if he might snap at any moment.
“Hey” Charles tells him, smiling at him to try to calm him down “I'm fine, mon amour ”
But Max takes a deep breath, tears escaping his eyes.
" Baby " Max says, breathlessly, "I thought I'd lose you"
Charles feels his eyes sting, tears ready to flow at the sight of his boyfriend so affected.
“You will never lose me” Charles assures “Now kiss me please, you can touch me you know? I'm not going to break"
Max gulps and raises his hands to cup his boyfriend's face between his palms and then leans in to kiss him, the kiss takes too long but neither cares, they need to touch now, Max needs to know that Charles is there, that he won't go to nowhere.
Max lowers his hand and very carefully touches Charles's shoulder and then his hip. Charles complains when Max touches his right arm.
"Shit" Max jumps "Sorry"
"It's fine" Charles smiles at him "It will hurt for a couple of days but the doctor said it would be fine"
Max sighs and nods, Charles looks at the look of fear in his boyfriend's eyes and can imagine the fear and uncertainty he went through after not seeing Charles get out of the car on his own. "Breathe" Charles tells him "Look at me, I'm fine"
Max smiles at him and kisses him again "I know my love, but fuck" he says, taking a deep breath "I was scared"
“I know, but when we get out of here you can take me home and take care of me”
"Of course, my love "
A minute passes where neither says anything else, Max takes Charles's hand in his and places a kiss on his cheek and they stay like that. Charles blinks once, remembering what the doctor said.
"Max" he calls, his boyfriend automatically looks at him "Why did the doctor call you my husband?"
Max blushes furiously “Uh, well. The hospital has strict rules about visitors and they said I couldn't stay overnight unless I was a family member, so I told the nurse I was your husband”
Charles laughs, because of course Max would make up any lie just to be near Charles.
"Why does it not surprise me?"
Max shrugs, “Oh, I almost forgot. Arthur is out and your mom called me, she took a plane last night”
"They must be worried." Charles sighs. "Can you call Arthur?"
"Sure baby. I will be right back"
Max kisses him one more time and goes out to find Charles's brother. Charles sighs, his body aches and he feels a bit dizzy but he knows his lovely husband will take care of him so he's not worried at all.
7
Charles clinks his glass against Pierre's and they both toast with a high-pitched cry between laughs.
"Cheers!" They down their drink in one gulp and laugh again.
Charles knows he's drunk, he's probably three more drinks away from not being able to walk on his own but he doesn't care. The season is over and he can drink whatever alcohol he wants without fear of being scolded by Andreas for messing up his diet.
Pierre raises his hand and orders three beers. Charles hiccups and Pierre starts to tell him about this new girl he met in Abu Dhabi.
Max returns from the bathroom mid-story and puts an arm around Charles keeping him stable and safe. Charles leans on his boyfriend's shoulder, suddenly he wants to take a nap so he sits down and sniffs his boyfriend unashamedly, he loves the smell that Max gives off.
“And we'll meet again in Italy, she said her parents have a house there and they're going on vacation…” Pierre keeps talking and Max starts rubbing Charles's arm, Charles almost purrs with happiness and kisses Max's neck.
After a couple of minutes, Max pecks at Charles's side, he flinches and his brow furrows at the interruption of his much needed nap.
"Baby" Max whispers, Charles stirs but doesn't open his eyes "It's time to go, come on, you can sleep on the car"
"I don't want to" Charles says, refusing to let Max go, he knows that as soon as he gets up Max's body heat will disappear and he doesn't want that.
“Pierre's already gone” Max tells him and Charles opened his eyes.
He looks everywhere and indeed Pierre is nowhere to be found, there is only an empty glass and two bottles of beer on the table where Pierre used to be. Charles sighs but nods, giving in to Max's request and standing up.
"Very good" Max congratulates him as if he is a dog that has just done some trick and kisses his forehead, Charles smiles.
Max helps him steady himself on his feet and moves the chair so Charles doesn't trip, Max puts his arm around his waist and they walk together to the door.
“W-wait,” Charles says, stopping, Max stops too.
"What?"
"The check" Charles says, as an afterthought, "We haven't paid."
Max smiles, the corners of his lips pulling up in a laugh. "I already paid" he reassures. "You didn't notice because you were too busy drooling all over me."
Charles frowns and Max kisses his forehead to ease his frown. "Come on" he says and Charles starts walking again.
Max pulls the car keys out of his pocket and helps Charles to the passenger door. Charles is too tired and drunk to pay attention to his surroundings so he just lets Max take him and get him into the car.
Max sits him in the seat and fastens his seat belt, kisses Charles's forehead one more time and closes the door. He walks around the car and into the driver's seat, starts the car and as soon as they hit the main road Charles falls asleep again.
A couple of minutes later Charles feels that he is woken up again, this time he is sitting on the sofa of their house, he blinks several times to try to chase away the dream and it takes him a couple of minutes to realize that it was Max who woke him up.
“Here” Max tells him and Charles sees a glass of water appear in front of his face, he opens his mouth and Max helps him swallow. “Take this” Max says and there's a pill on Charles's tongue before he knows it, he gulps down water again with Max's help and swallows the pill too.
"I'm tired" Charles mutters, feeling his head dizzy but thank God he hasn't thrown up yet.
"I know" Max gets up and sets the glass of water on a small table, then kneels in front of Charles to take off his shoes.
“Uhm” Charles makes an appreciative sound “If I weren't so tired and drunk I'd ask you to blow me right now”
Max lets out a laugh and proceeds to remove his socks and unbuckle Charles's belt.
"And as much as I'd like to blow you right now, I like it better when you can remember it the next day"
Charles laughs and Max smiles at him. Once Max has helped Charles to walk to their room and into his pajamas, which consist of Max's shirt and a pair of shorts, he proceeds to take Charles into the bathroom.
He leaves him alone trusting Charles won't slip or break his head, when he comes out of the bathroom Max is ready for bed, he has taken off his jeans and shirt and is straightening the sheets on the bed.
"Ready?" Max asks. Charles takes some time to appreciate the moment.
“Thank you” he says. Max frowns, confused.
"For what?"
Charles shrugs. "For taking care of me, I guess."
Max smiles and walks over to his boyfriend "I'll always take care of you" Charles smiles back and lifts his head to kiss Max on the lips but fails and ends up kissing his chin instead. Max makes fun of him.
"Let's go to sleep before something happens to you" Charles punches him in the shoulder, but the punch is so weak that Max just laughs again.
"Shut up"
Max doesn't respond and instead helps Charles get under the sheets.
8
Charles knows he screwed up, he knows Max will be mad at him and he doesn't blame him. He just made a rookie mistake, a mistake that cost Max the win. Charles had never felt so guilty in his life, it was never his intention to screw up Max's race like that.
It was such a simple mistake that Charles doesn't have the courage to go talk to Max yet. He knew Max was behind him, his engineer told him but he never thought he would catch up to him so quick, he just didn't check the mirrors when he should have and turned too far to the right.
The lurch of the car was the indicator that something had happened, Charles's breath hitched as he looked in the rearview mirror too late, Max's car had spun and was now off the track. Max quickly came back but a couple of cars had already passed him.
The problem was that Charles wasn't even in contention, a late pit stop call early in the race had dropped him to last place. Max was the leader at the time and Charles was last, which meant that Max was lapping him, Charles had no chance, he shouldn't fight because it wasn't his fight.
But he knew that when he became a lapped car it was a clear sign that the race was lost, he would not be in the points let alone on the podium.
So Charles had holed up in his driver's room as soon as he was done with the post-race interviews, he had finished 10th which was a disappointment but his concern was how mad Max would be at him.
Andreas entered the room after a couple of seconds.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Charles sighed and shook his head.
“What did Max say? In the interviews”
“He's still at the press conference.” Andreas scanned the room for the television remote. When he found it he pressed the red button and the television came to life, sky sports was the defined channel.
Charles wanted to tell him to turn it off but he was so hard on himself so he wanted to hear with his own ears what Max would say, how he would call him a bad driver or a sore loser.
“...I think we'll be in the battle very soon,” Lewis, who had won, said.
“Okay, next question”
A new reporter showed up and asked what Charles was so afraid of.
“Question to Max, please. Charles did a move that a rookie would do, he battled with you like you were fighting for the win when in reality he was in last place and made you lose the win against Lewis. You also lost several positions that you had to recover in very few laps, so my question is do you consider it an unnecessary maneuver? Do you think it was on purpose?”
Max cleared his throat before picking up the microphone. Charles's heart pounded in his chest.
"No" Max said "I don't think it was on purpose"
A couple of seconds passed where the reporters expected Max to say something else but the Dutchman just shrugged.
“Uh” the man spoke again “Are you mad about it? The same thing happened with Esteban several years ago and we remember there was a small altercation after the race”
Max smiled as if it was a joke "That’s not the same"
"How is that?"
“Well, firstable, Esteban said a couple of things to provoke me, which made me think he had done it on purpose, that’s already cleared up, we talked and everything, but yes, Charles is not like that”
“Do you think the fact that he’s your boyfriend makes you see the situation in a different light?”
“Obviously” Max laughed again “I can tell you that I don't mix my work with my personal life but that would be a lie, my boyfriend is on the grid. But even if he wasn't, I've known him for a long time, I know he would never do anything unsportsmanlike"
Charles felt his cheeks heat up as every time Max called him his boyfriend .
“Thank you, we can move on to the next question…”
When Charles ran into Max a couple of hours later in the paddock his cheeks grew hot with embarrassment, but Max just rolled his eyes and pulled him into his arms.
“I'm not mad” Max assured “But I swear I'll get you giant rearviews and I'll stick them on your car if you make those kinds of mistakes again. This time it was me and I was able to turn in time before crashing into you but something could happen to you next time and I don't want to see you get hurt"
Charles nodded "I know, I'm sorry"
Max kissed him on the forehead "Come on" he said, taking Charles's hand "I'm hungry"
"Can you uh, please invite your mechanics to dinner" Charles asked "I want to apologize to them"
Max smiled at him and nodded "Of course, my love "
9
Charles doesn't know what to do now. The guy he's been turning down all night won't take no for an answer and keeps sending drinks and food to the table. Lando has been making jokes about the situation the whole time and Charles laughed at first, the poor guy seemed too nice for Charles to yell at him or something.
But after half an hour the table was so full of drinks and portions of fries and nachos that there was no room for anything else.
“You know what they say” Lando says “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”
The Brit laughs so high that Charles didn't know whether to laugh with him or roll his eyes, in the end he did both. Because his friend's laughter is contagious and he knows there's no real harm in all of this, he's already turned the guy down as nicely as he could but it's like he doesn't understand what Charles is saying.
Lando smiles as a new round of beers arrives at the table "Look, he sent us another one"
Charles sighs tiredly. The guy must be a millionaire or something, Charles doesn't even want to think about the check.
"Don't worry" Lando says "Max won't be long so he can get all alpha male on you and the guy will realize you didn't lie to him when you said you were taken."
Charles changes the subject but doesn't touch any of the drinks or food that was sent to him, instead he holds on to his soda and asks Lando if he's going to do something about his crush on Carlos. Lando chokes and it's Charles's turn to laugh.
"I hate you" Lando tells him and Charles smiles victoriously.
Max shows up a couple of minutes later, kisses Charles, and gives Lando a fist bump.
“Hey, sorry for the delay. Christian wanted to talk to me"
"You didn't miss a thing," Lando says, "Just maybe, I don't know, some guy wanting to steal Charles away from you"
"Lando!" Charles scolds and Max's brow furrows.
"What are you talking about?"
Lando picks up a frie and points to the guy sitting at the bar, "That guy is courting your man, he sent him all this food and beers."
Charles waits for Max to get up and go hit the guy, maybe saying too many swear words but instead he sees Max take a deep breath and square his jaw.
“I already turned him down” Charles hurries to say “But uh I guess it wasn't very clear to him, I would never try anything with someone else I-”
Max holds up his hand to stop his boyfriend's babbling.
"I know my love . I guess uh it makes sense"
"What are you talking about?"
Max shrugs and leans over to pick up two fries between his fingers and pop them into his mouth. Charles tilts his head, confused.
“I mean, look at you, you're a relief to sore eyes. You are very handsome, Charles, as well as intelligent and kind. Anyone would be lucky to be with you."
Max says it so matter-of-factly, like it's fact. Lando makes a mock gagging gesture that they both ignore.
"Uh" Charles blushes furiously. "Thanks," he whispers, and Max shrugs.
"Unless you want me to go over there and show him you're not interested in him."
“No” Charles says, half amused and half alarmed, because he knows if he says yes Lando will be right and Max will go into protective and jealous alpha mode. "I'm fine, uh, let's talk about something else, please"
“Ok” Max agrees “Lando, how's that crush with Carlos going? Do you plan to make a move on him?”
Lando chokes again and swears under his breath. Max and Charles laugh at him.
Later, when the guy is about to leave, he stands by the table, facing Charles. But the Monegasque doesn't have to do or say anything, Max gets up first and taps his index finger against the guy's chest.
"He's not interested" Max says, his face serious and ungamed "He's my boyfriend so if you don't want me to mop the fucking floor with you you're going to forget about him right now and leave him alone"
The guy looks from Max to Charles and back to Max. "Uh, o-ok" he says realizing that Max is not joking "I'm sorry if I caused you any trouble"
Max clicks his tongue "Don't apologize to me, apologize to him"
"Uh, Max," Charles says, but the Dutchman doesn't take his eyes off the guy.
“Uh, sorry,” he says, looking at Charles and then looking back at Max.
“Great” Max smiles, nothing happy or friendly on his face “Now fuck off”
As the guy leaves and Max sits back down, Lando starts laughing.
“Shit” he says “That was exactly what I thought you would do”
Max shrugs and puts his arms around Charles. Then he uses his hand to tilt Charles's face closer and kisses him. The kiss is all teeth and tongue, Max makes sure to kiss him until he is breathless and they break apart only when Lando throws them a chip.
“Yeah yeah” Lando rolls his eyes “Long live love and all that shit”
Max gives him the middle finger "I'll tell Carlos you want to go out with him"
Lando throws another chip at Max.
10
Charles knew that Max had become almost addicted to Instagram lately. The Dutchman had gone from posting one photo every race weekend to posting at least four a week. Charles thought it might be something worrying but at the same time he couldn't get angry.
Not when Max had just posted a photo where Charles is walking the streets of Monaco, Charles obviously hadn't realized Max took the photo until he posted it.
The post wasn't that flashy, it was just Charles walking with the sun hitting his face and the buildings and cars in the background. Max had just written a sun emoji in the caption and that was it.
"What are you doing?" Max says, coming up next to him. Charles smiled from where he was on the sofa in the living room.
They were supposed to watch movies tonight but Max's meeting with his team had taken longer than expected.
"Nothing" Charles says. Max raises an eyebrow and Charles flips his phone over so Max can see his own post.
“Oh” Max says “Did you like it?”
Charles smiles and leans in to kiss Max on the lips "I think you have talent"
Max laughs and reaches for the remote to turn on the television. "I have more" he says "I don't post all the photos I take”
Charles blinks at him, "I think you could create your own album at this point, mon amour "
Max smiles and frowns, thinking about something. Charles doesn't notice and says he'll heat up the food so they can start their movie marathon.
Two weeks later, for Charles's birthday. Max gives him something wrapped in gift paper with a bow too big. Charles smiles at him and unwraps it. His mouth opens in a perfect O at the sight of the content.
It is a photo album, the cover is hard and the pages are light.
There are too many photos and each one has a date and a phrase below.
The first one that Charles sees is a photo of himself sitting on the sand of the beach, he’s wearing sunglasses with sunscreen on his arms, the sun and the sea can be seen very well and some of the wind moves his hair .
The inscription below says 07/05/2022: The day I realized I always want to see you be kissed by the sun.
Then there is another where Charles is smiling at the camera with a Christmas present between his feet, Charles remembers it was the first Christmas they spent together.
12/25/2022 The day I realized I want to spend every Christmas with you.
And the photographs were all of Charles, whether he was looking at the camera or not, there are some of them together and others of Charles with one of his friends or relatives. But they are all taken by Max.
“Fuck” Charles says, tears gathering in his eyes and his hands trembling with emotion “ Merde ”
Max frowns, worried "We can ignore this gift if you don't like it, I have others-"
Charles shakes his head and sets the album on the floor, then lunges at his boyfriend and showers him with wet kisses.
“I love you” Charles says “I fucking love you. I will never love anyone the way I love you."
Max blushes and returns each kiss "I love you so much, my love " Max says "I hope you know"
"I know" Charles assures "I know, mon amour "