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"What did you just say?" Max asks in a flat voice and Charles gives him a strained smile.
"I might have accidentally told my mom that I have a boyfriend and now she's demanding that I bring you home with me for the New Year. Actually, she said Christmas and New Year, but I told her that you were spending Christmas with your own family..."
"How do you accidentally tell your mom something like that, Charles?" Max sighs. "I mean, I know you're you and your brain works at half-power most of the time, but seriously?"
"Hey," The younger boy protests, feeling his cheeks flush even harder. He's not known for making very smart decisions, fair enough, but he didn’t know what to say, okay?
“I didn’t know what to say, okay? She was going on about how I would make a lovely couple with the daughter of one of her friends and, since it’s been so long since I’ve told her about being with anyone, maybe it would be nice to set me up with her and I panicked! I just blurted out that I already have a boyfriend and then she asked about his name and you were the first person I thought of!”
Charles will never tell Max about how his mom, after a few seconds of complete silence, exclaimed ‘FINALLY’ so loud that he had to move the phone away from his ear. She sounded so happy to find out that he had finally told Max about his crush and he just kept digging himself into a bigger hole until he ended the call with the promise to bring Max home with him for the holidays.
And now he’s fucked, because if he tells his mom the truth, she will just get that sad and disappointed look on her face that Charles hates, but if he doesn’t, she’ll end up telling Max herself that her son has been kind of in love with him for almost two years and their friendship will be ruined.
He supposes he could always say that they broke up just before leaving for Christmas, and then wants to hit himself for only thinking about that after he told Max everything.
“Fine,” He’s broken out of his thoughts by Max’s voice and he just blinks at the other boy, getting an eye roll in return. “I’ll pretend to be your boyfriend. But you’re the one who has to tell my mom that I’m leaving home earlier to go visit your family. And you’re doing my laundry for an entire month after we get back.”
“Why do I have to be the one to tell her? You’re her son, you tell her. And I can agree to your other demand.”
“Because she’ll take it better if it comes from you… Do the puppy eyes and flash her your dimples and she’ll accept whatever it is that you’re saying. Also, you’re doing all the dishes for a month too.”
“I…” Charles gets a little flustered by Max’s comment, but decides to ignore it and stumbles through an answer to the last part. “That’s not fair, I already cook!”
“You make pasta and instant noodles, that’s not cooking.”
“That is not true, I cook plenty of other things. I cooked that weird Hotspot thing you like days ago!” And Charles can’t control the blush that appears when he remembers the surprised and fond look on Max’s face when he got back from uni after handing in an assignment that kept him awake for almost two days and saw that Charles had cooked his favorite dish.
“Hutspot, Charles.” The Dutchman says with a soft smile on his face and they stand there, staring at each other until someone opens the door to their apartment.
“Wassup, cunts.” Daniel yells from the living room and both boys turn to the door of the kitchen, knowing that the older boy will show up there.
“Will you ever stop barging in here like you own the place?” Max complains.
“In case you forgot, Maxy, I do own it. I just let you boys live here out of the goodness of my heart.” The Australian replies cheerily, hip checking Charles and moving towards Max, who is leaning back against the sink. He throws an arm over Max’s shoulder and Charles tracks the movement with his eyes, that weird feeling that he always gets when both boys get a little too close to each other rising in the pit of his stomach.
“That doesn’t mean that you can just walk in here unannounced.” Max rolls his eyes, but leans his body against Daniel’s and Charles is… Fine, he is fine. He doesn’t care.
“I literally texted you 20 minutes ago asking if I could come over. I am a polite person, okay.” He replies and turns to look at Charles, eyebrows raising at whatever he sees on his face. “You alright there, Charlie boy?”
“Yes, I’m fine.” He forces a smile and sees Max’s staring at him suspiciously as well. “I have an assignment to finish, sorry. I’ll see you later.”
He hightails out of the kitchen with as much grace as he can manage, locking himself up in his room and hitting his head repeatedly on the closed door.
Why is he so fucking stupid?
He knows that there’s nothing going on between Max and Daniel, the Australian being more than a little in love with Michael; they’re just really close friends who happen to be a little touchy-feely and that’s fine. Their entire friend group is touchy, not really respecting much of each other’s personal spaces…
But Daniel and Max have known each other since before their group formed, before Charles met Max for the second time in their lives and maybe they’re a little closer to each other than the rest of the boys, but Charles is the same way with Pierre; you can’t not be close to someone you’ve known for years, and in Charles and Pierre’s case, more than a decade.
He supposes that he and Max have known each other for longer than Daniel and Max, if their three years of karting more-or-less together count. But they were more like enemies than friends back then, and finding each other again in university was the most surprising thing ever. Fortunately, the years helped both of them become a little better at communicating, and before long they formed a pretty strong friendship, leading to both of them sharing an apartment near campus once Daniel moved in with Michael "just to help a friend out with rent".
He needs to get a grip. He’s aware, after almost two years, that his crush on Max is not going anywhere and he’s usually a lot better at hiding his feelings, but the whole talk about Max pretending to be his boyfriend and the fact that he actually agreed to do it has shaken Charles a little. So he’s going to hide in his room until he gets his feelings back in control, maybe work on the assignment that he truly does have to turn in and he’ll be fine.
----
Charles is panicking.
He’s driving his mom’s car to Nice to pick up Max from the airport and he is freaking out.
Part of him was expecting Max to back out before actually getting on the plane, but he didn’t; he is on his way to spend the New Year with Charles’ family while pretending to be his boyfriend and Charles’ heart has been racing since he woke up this morning. This can’t be healthy, right? Is he going to have a heart attack? It certainly feels like he is.
Things between them stayed normal after their conversation in the kitchen. In the end, Charles was the one to tell Sophie that his family had invited Max to spend the rest of the holidays with them. He obviously didn’t tell her why, but it was easy enough to convince her that his mom was missing Max and she just wouldn’t take no for an answer, and he managed to charm her enough to not make her too upset about, in her own words, her baby not spending the New Year with them. Max blushed furiously while Charles laughed next to him.
Until, of course, Sophie said that Max has to bring Charles home with him in the next opportunity. The Monégasque choked on a laugh and Max stuttered out some words in Dutch that he didn’t understand, but made Sophie give a very mom-like smile. Never one to forget his manners, Charles thanked her and said that of course he would go, he was missing them a lot and it was up to Max now to take him.
And after that particular bullet was dodged, Charles decided to tell Pierre about the whole thing.
His best friend laughed himself silly for almost five minutes, with tears streaming down his face by the time he got his laughter in control and Charles’ entire body was flushed with embarrassment.
“I cannot believe that you did that. Oh my god, Charles, how do you get into these messes?” He asked while drying his face.
“I told you, I panicked! I don’t want mom to set me up and it was the only thing that I could come up with to stop her.”
“But why did you say Max’s name? Wait, no, I know why, because you’re in love with him,” Pierre said and Charles sagged down further on the bed he was sitting on, Pierre sitting cross legged in front of him. “But like… Why him? You could have said any other name! You could have said George’s name, your mom’s never met him, right? Or, I don’t know, Michael! Or some random name, but no. You had to tell her the name of your crush.”
“Stop,” Charles whined, kicking his friend’s leg. “I know I fucked up, okay? I know that, but now Max has agreed and I’m going to spend a week with him while he pretends to be my boyfriend and I need you to help me, calamar.”
“Me? What do I have to do with this?” The Frenchman asked in surprise.
“You’re my best friend, you have to… I don’t know, give me some advice. What do I do? No, what should I absolutely not do?”
“Pretend to be dating the boy you’ve been in love with for two years.” Pierre deadpanned and Charles kicked him again.
“Can you get over that? I already did it, I need you to help me figure out how I’m supposed to get through this week without blurting out my feelings and ruining our friendship.”
“Hey,” Pierre’s face went a little soft and he moved to sit next to Charles, putting an arm around his shoulder and pulling his body closer. “You’re not going to ruin your friendship. How many times have I told you that you should confess your feelings to Max? You’re the only one who doesn’t realize that he likes you too.”
“Stop.” Charles said, his voice barely louder than a whisper and Pierre sighed next to him.
“Alright… Then I don’t know what to say to you, buddy. I guess you could try not to be too obvious? Not that you’re very good at that…” He grunted when Charles elbowed him in the ribs. “You know I’m right. Although I suppose that you should be more worried about what your mom will say. Or, you know, Arthur.”
“Oh my god, Arthur.” Charles exclaimed and muffled a scream in his hands. “Nevermind about my mom, Arthur is going to say more than he should and ruin everything. Oh fuck, I can’t do this. I can’t. I have to call my mom and tell her that we broke up, that’s fine, she’ll believe me and then Max won’t have to ditch his family to go to Monaco and our friendship will be safe.”
“Hey, calm down.” Pierre turned around to place both hands on Charles’ heaving shoulders while the Monégasque tried and failed to hold back his panic. “You’re not going to say anything to your mom, and Arthur won’t say anything either. You can talk to him and tell him the truth, I’m sure he would understand and even help you...” At Charles’ unimpressed and still slightly panicked stare, he continued, “Eventually. He will make fun of you for a while, but you know that he’ll help you when the time comes.”
“Yes… Yes, he would.” Charles nodded a few times and took a few deep breaths. His little brother is an absolute nightmare when it comes to embarrassing Charles, but he would never do something that could hurt him.
So Charles faced the last couple of days of classes before the winter break, went out with his friends and tried to take his mind off of what would happen in a few days time. It mostly worked; after two brutal weeks of finals, they were all desperate to have fun and then spend some time with their families.
They exchanged presents before going their separate ways for the holidays and Charles went back home to Monaco, eager to see his family again after being away from them since August. He tried to visit them as often as possible, but his uni schedule made it difficult, so his mom and Arthur traveled to the UK a few times, once even managing to take Lorenzo with them.
That was when they met Max; they were living together for a year by then, Charles’ crush on the older boy stronger than any other before and his brothers teased him mercilessly for it, during and after their stay. His mom, while obviously aware of what was happening, never said a word; she would just smile knowingly at Charles and Max whenever they were together, causing plenty of moments where Charles would just stand next to his friend trying to control his blush.
Going back home is always a bittersweet moment for Charles, but especially during the holidays; while he loves his family dearly and misses having them around, the absence of his father is never stronger than when Charles is home, in a place so filled with memories, both good and bad.
But they got through it, as they have been doing for years now, allowing themselves some moments of sadness for those who are no longer with them, but otherwise trying to be happy and enjoy their time together, as the people they lost would want.
On the 26th, just one day before Max’s arrival, as soon as their mother left to take a shower Charles dragged his brothers outside and told them both the truth about his “relationship” with Max.
It went as well as could be expected: Arthur cackled like a fairy tale witch as soon as Charles finished his story, while Enzo stared at him with his big brother ‘I am disappointed with you’ stare for a few seconds, eventually joining their younger brother in his laughter. Charles stayed in front of them, arms crossed over his chest and filled with embarrassment until they stopped.
And like Pierre said, once they realized how worried Charles was about the possible consequences of his stupid actions, they agreed to help him prevent their mother from saying anything too embarrassing, while also keeping an eye on him. And he believed that Enzo would truly help him; Arthur had a slightly evil smirk on his face for most of the conversation and Charles wasn’t expecting much actual help from his younger brother.
Which brings him back to this moment, parking the car outside of the airport and feeling his hands actually shake a little with trepidation. It’s going to be fine, he tells himself after taking a deep breath.
He has to wait around for about 20 minutes for Max’s flight to land and the older boy to find him at the arrivals gate. When he sees his friend appear, wearing a beanie instead of a cap, and smiling when he spots Charles, he feels his breath hitch in his chest; Max is wearing a dark heavy jacket, blue shirt pulled tight across his chest and his usual skinny jeans. It’s a similar look to what he has been wearing back in London since the weather got even colder, but something about him being here, to spend the holidays with Charles’ family, looking so warm and cozy has Charles’ heart racing.
He is ridiculous. If Pierre could see him now, he would laugh.
“Hey,” Max finally stops in front of him, a now hesitant smile on his face and Charles has to blink a couple of times to snap out of his daze. “You okay?”
“Yes, yes. Hi,” He can feel how soft his smile is. “How was your flight?”
“Good, everything okay.” Max replies and brings up a hand to scratch his neck, clearly not very at ease and, before he realizes it, Charles has stepped forward to hug him.
“I’ve missed you.” He mumbles against Max’s shoulder, chest going all warm and tight when he feels Max’s arms wrapping around him.
“I’ve missed you too… It’s weird not having you around being your loud and chaotic self, I’ve grown used to all the noise you make all the time.” The Dutchman says, laughing against the side of Charles’ face.
“Shut up,” Charles pulls back a little reluctantly, letting his hands linger on Max’s arms before clearing his throat and putting more distance between them. “Are you ready? You can still change your mind, I’ll tell my mom that you never showed up at the airport and broke my heart and all will be well.”
“And risk the wrath of your entire family? Absolutely not, Lorenzo knows where we live and I have no doubt that he would show up in the middle of the night to kill me if he thought that I broke his little brother’s heart.”
Charles considers telling him that his brothers know the truth, but then he would have to explain why they know it and, honestly, Charles isn’t capable of coming up with a lie good enough to fool Max about his reasoning. So he just agrees and reaches out to take Max’s suitcase. The older boy complains, but Charles says that they need to start getting into the boyfriend mindset before they get to the house and Max agrees.
So they leave the airport, the 30 minutes car ride spent mostly by Max talking about his time at home with his family while Charles listens with a smile on his face; one of the things he loves the most about Max is his devotion for his mother and sister. The older boys spent years living with his father, before his mother found out about how the older man treated their son and got full-custody of him.
Charles is sure that the things Max has shared with him since they started living together are just a few in the long list of physical and mental abuse he endured at the hands of his father and haunt him to this day, but seeing the love he has for his family and how much they love him is enough to give Charles at least some peace of mind, while he does his best to be there for Max whenever the memories get a little too much to handle on his own.
Before he knows it, they’re pulling up outside of Charles’ childhood home and he feels the nerves come back in full force.
“Hey,” Max nudges him and he turns to face the other boy. “Don’t worry, okay? We got this.”
“Okay… Okay, yes.” And they do. They worked on a story about how they got together, using as many real facts as possible to keep both of them from forgetting something or contradicting each other.
“So… C’mon, let’s go see you family.” Max says with a smile and opens the door, Charles hurrying to do the same.
He takes Max’s suitcase once again, leaving him with his backpack and marching to the door.
It opens before they reach it, Charles’ mom standing at the threshold with a huge smile on her face.
“Max! It’s so good to see you.” She reaches for him as soon as he gets to the door, enveloping him in a hug while Charles smiles at them.
“You too, Pascale.” Max says and returns the hug. There’s a faint blush on his cheeks and Charles is fond.
The Dutchman greets his brothers just as warmly and they ask about his flight and his family for a few minutes before his mom speaks up.
“Charles, take Max’s things to your room and get him settled. Max, honey, would you like something to eat or drink?” His mom says in a sweet voice, but Charles pales.
“My room?” He stares at his mom, ignoring Max standing next to him.
“Of course. You’re not going to make your boyfriend sleep on the fold-out couch, are you? And as long as you boys promise to behave, I don’t see why there would be an issue with the two of you sharing a room.”
“Just remember that this isn’t your apartment and there are three other people in the house.” Arthur says smugly and Charles’ face goes red.
“Shut up, Arthur.” He mumbles and nudges Max, who is suspiciously silent, in defeat. “Alright, let’s go.”
He takes the suitcase and they go up the stairs, hearing Arthur snickering like a kid behind them and Charles wants to throttle him. So much for helping him… For now, he tries to put on a less panicked smile on his face as he opens the door to his room for Max.
His room here is far less of a mess than the one in London. There’s a shelf filled with books and sketchbooks from before he left for uni, a few karting trophies from when he still raced and some pictures he didn’t take with him when he left. His bed is at the center of it, and Charles is faced with the reality that there’s definitely not enough space for two grown men to sleep in it without touching.
He has a full, because he’s always been a restless sleeper and after one fall from his twin bed where he actually managed to sprain his wrist, his mother got him a bigger one to try and avoid more accidents.
Well, at least he doesn’t have a twin. That would be a whole other level of awkward.
“Welcome,” He says and raises his arm to present the space, putting Max’s suitcase at the foot of the bed. “You can put your clothes in the dresser, there are a couple of free drawers. And… Well, there isn’t much to do here, but we have a PlayStation downstairs and I’m sure Arthur would love to play with you. Enzo too, even if he acts like he’s too mature for that. We can take a walk too, if you want, I can show you around town and there’s a place that I think you’ll like…”
“Charles,” Max says, cutting off his ramble and making him stare at the older boy a little wide-eyed. “Why are you so nervous?”
He asks with a smile, but there’s confusion in his voice and something else that Charles can’t decipher.
“I don’t want things to get weird between us.” The Monégasque finally admits, averting his eyes. “You agreed to this like it was nothing, but it’s not nothing. I’m worried that this will change things and our friendship will be ruined because of it.”
He feels some tension leave his body at finally admitting what has been bothering him the most since Max agreed to the entire thing, watching from the corner of his eyes as his friend steps closer.
“You’ve been worrying about that since you asked me to help you with this, haven’t you?” Max asks and Charles can only nod, hearing a sigh from the other boy before being surprised by a hug. “Why are you so dumb, Charles?”
“Hey,” He complains without much heart, busy being distracted by Max’s arms around him.
“I need you to listen to me, okay? Nothing is going to change between us.” There’s still something in Max’s voice that Charles can't quite figure out, but he sounds earnest. “You’re one of my best friends and, when we get back home, we are going to laugh about this and move on with our lives, but it will not ruin our friendship. Okay?”
“Okay…” Charles replies reluctantly and squeaks when Max nudges his ribs where he is ticklish.
“A little more enthusiasm, maybe. C’mon, I wanna hear you say it.” They’re still hugging, Max’s arms wrapped around his waist squeezing him gently.
“This is not going to ruin our friendship.” Charles grumbles out, hoping with all his heart that he is right.
“Great!” He steps back and Charles instantly misses his warmth. “Now, let me unpack and then we’ll go downstairs to face your family’s many questions.”
Charles pales a little, but moves to help his friend. They’ll be fine; Max is clearly not worried about how things are going to unfold and Charles trusts him to keep up their lie.
They get back downstairs and find Arthur and Lorenzo sprawled across the couch, his mom sitting on the single chair, with only the love seat free. Charles narrows his eyes at his scheming brothers, but Max seems unbothered, placing a hand on Charles’ upper back and guiding him to sit down.
At least this is a common thing in their lives; Charles has no shame about how clingy he can be and Max, while not to the same extent, is also fond of touching, meaning that they’re both well used to sitting pressed together or with their legs thrown over the other person. So they get comfortable on the love seat, Max’s arm coming up to rest behind Charles’ head and their legs touching.
The Dutchman left his jacket upstairs, so he’s now wearing only a long sleeved shirt pushed up to his elbows. The fabric is tight on his biceps and Charles lost himself for a couple of seconds staring at how the shirt clings to the muscles on Max’s arms and shoulders before snapping out of it, thankfully before being noticed.
Just like Max said, Charles’ mom bombards them with questions as soon as they sit down and Charles finds himself strangely calm. He doesn’t know if it’s because of their conversation, Max’s presence or the fact that the older boy looks so at home here, sitting in Charles’ living room, telling his family about how they got together at a Halloween party, his arm a warm comfort behind Charles.
His mother looks a little emotional when Max finishes telling the story, Charles speaking up at some points to add something or tease Max. When it looks like she might say something about Charles’ real feelings, Lorenzo smoothly interrupts to change the topic of conversation and she doesn’t seem to notice that anything is amiss.
The rest of the day goes by the same way; conversation flows easily between the five of them, Charles and his brothers taking care to never leave their mom alone with Max for longer than two minutes and steering the conversation into safer topics whenever it looks like she might say something compromising.
They spend the day inside, eventually settling in the living room to play some games after dinner and that carries them until late.
And then is time to sleep and all the tension that Charles managed to shed throughout the day comes back with a vengeance.
He lets Max shower first and takes that time to freak out a little about sleeping next to Max for the next few days. It won’t be the first time, since they passed out on the same bed, once even on the couch, after a night out a couple of times, but those times were different. They were drunk, barely aware of what was happening and shrugged it off as soon as they woke up. This is them, fully sober, settling into bed together to sleep and it is going to happen for days. Charles isn’t sure that his poor heart will be able to handle it. Or his body.
Max gets back to the room, wearing sweatpants and a t-shirt that he likes to sleep in and Charles tells him to get comfortable before fleeing to the bathroom.
He showers, brushes his teeth and gets dressed, stopping to take a couple of deep breaths before entering his room.
Max is reclining against the pillows, cell phone in hands and seeing him like that, all cozy in the bed where Charles slept for years, where he had sex a couple of times, leaves him a little speechless. He stands still, hand still holding onto the door handle, until Max looks up, eyebrows furrowed.
“Are you going to get weird again?”
“No,” Charles shakes his head and steps inside, closing the door behind him. “Sorry, I was just thinking about what we’re going to do tomorrow. Can I turn off the light?”
“Yeah, let me turn on my flashlight first. Wouldn’t want you to trip and break something.” Max replies with a laugh, turning his phone flashlight on. Charles flips the switch and makes his way to the bed, heart racing in his chest and palms a little sweaty, but trying to play it cool.
“That was one time, and I didn’t break anything, will you ever stop talking about it?” He whines a little, getting another laugh in return and that’s fine, Max can make fun of him as much as he wants if it means that Charles will get to hear him laugh.
“You know I won’t.”
Charles lies down and picks up his phone, trying to calm his racing heart. He’s lying on his back, arm touching Max’s leg lightly as he’s still sitting up and his entire body feels warm.
They sit there in silence, both with their phones in hand for a while, until Charles feels his eyelids getting heavy.
“I’m gonna go to sleep, Max.” He says, placing his phone on the nightstand.
“Do you want me to stop using my phone?” The Dutchman asks, looking down at him.
“Nah, it’s fine… I’ll just turn around. Please try not to snore too much, okay?” Charles teases.
“Oh, fuck you. I don’t snore.”
“Sure you don’t, mate.” He mocks, turning on his side to face away from Max. “Goodnight, Max.”
“Goodnight, Charles.” His friend replies and he closes his eyes.
He takes a while to fall asleep, as usual, feeling when Max puts down his phone and settles down to sleep as well. He hopes his body will cooperate for once and he’ll stay on his side of the bed until morning.
----
To the surprise of absolutely no one, Charles wakes up with his body half on top of Max.
He’s a little disoriented, because there’s a hand on his back and another in his hair, a leg tangled with his beneath the covers and he’s pretty sure he’s drooling on something that has a heartbeat. He tries to blink the sleep out of his eyes and remember where exactly he is and who with.
And then he remembers that the person under him is Max, one of his best friends, his roommate and the guy he’s been crushing on for years and is now pretending to be his boyfriend. And they’re in his childhood bedroom.
He moves his leg just a little, an involuntary movement, and feels his thigh brush against a part of his bed partner that feels a little too awake. He freezes, unconsciously tightening the hand that was holding onto Max’s waist, what in the actual fuck, and waits.
Max doesn’t move, and Charles has never been more grateful for the fact that the other boy sleeps like the dead than he is right now. He waits a few more seconds and tries to figure out how to extricate himself from Max’s arms, no matter that he doesn’t even know how they got so tangled up in the first place.
He starts with the easiest part, moving the hand that is resting on his back to Max’s side, holding still after that earns him a grumble from the other boy. Once he settles again, Charles starts to slowly move backwards until the only point of contact between them is the hand still in his hair. He reaches up to remove it and freezes again when Max grumbles again, moving his body a little but remaining asleep.
As soon as he is free, he gets out from under the covers as gently as possible and then runs from the room like the devil is chasing him, locking himself in the thankfully unoccupied bathroom to freak out for a few minutes.
It’s all fine, Max was asleep and he’ll never know that Charles used him as a human pillow during the night.
Oh shit, did he really drool on Max? Did he leave a stain? Oh fuck.
Someone knocks on the door and Charles jumps.
“I’ll be right out.” His voice trembles and he winces.
“Oh, it’s you. I wanted to be polite in case it was Max, but fuck off, I want to take a piss.” Arthur’s sleepy voice comes from outside and Charles wants to scream in frustration.
“Go downstairs, dickhead.” He replies in a snarky voice and hears Arthur grumbling outside before stalking off. “Get a grip, Charles. It’s alright, Max won’t realize what happened and you can just go on with your life.”
He washes his face, uses the bathroom and goes back to the bedroom to get his phone. Max is lying on his stomach now, covers up to his ears and face buried in Charles’ pillow. The Monégasque retrieves his phone as quietly as possible and leaves Max to get some more sleep.
He tries to put the events of the morning out of his mind as everybody starts waking up and getting downstairs to eat breakfast. Max shows up a couple of minutes after Lorenzo and Charles can’t stop the blush that colors his face, trying to play it cool and not make it obvious that something happened. Max seems more asleep than awake, thankfully, but Arthur gives him some very suggestive looks and they end up in a bit of a kicking fight underneath the table until their mother realizes what’s happening and scolds them.
They hang around the table for a while, before Charles announces that he’s taking Max on a tour of the city today. Arthur tries to ask if he can come with them, but his mother pointedly tells him that no, he should leave both of them alone and there goes Charles blushing again.
So they get dressed, Max unfortunately putting on one of his ridiculous caps, and set out to explore the city.
The good thing about Monaco being so small is that most things are within walking distance of them at any time, which makes showing Max around all the easier. Charles takes him to all of his favorite places, sharing stories from his childhood and teenage years with the older boy and basking in the feel of being back home next to someone who means so much to him.
Max seems to really like the town, taking some pictures of the most beautiful places to send to his mom and sister and listening attentively to Charles’ stories, commenting on them and sharing some things from his past as well that never came up in their conversations.
All in all, it’s a wonderful day spent with someone he loves a lot, not only romantically but as a friend, and they get back home a little after dinner, tired from all their walking around but with smiles on their faces and a warm feeling in Charles’ heart.
He hopes that the rest of their time in Monaco will be just as pleasant and that their little dating ruse will be successful.
----
The Leclerc family plus Max comes back from dinner on the 30th under, surprisingly, a hail storm. They rush back inside the house, where they obviously didn’t leave the heater on and Charles is already shivering a little from the colder weather as they move to the window to watch the storm.
“I can’t believe it’s snowing.” Arthur says and Lorenzo rolls his eyes.
“It’s not snow, dude, that’s hail.”
“Yeah, same thing.” He grumbles and the two of them start arguing, their mother giving an exasperated sigh and moving away, while Charles is busy trying to warm his hands in the pockets of his jacket.
Max is as cool as ever, the douchebag, in his jacket and long sleeved shirt, face not even flushed from the weather and Charles is so envious of his tolerance for the cold.
“You okay there?” Max asks with a cheeky grin and Charles glares. “You’re looking a little cold, babe.”
“Shut up,” He mumbles, thankful that his cheeks are already red. Max has called him ‘babe’ a few times since he arrived and it never fails to make Charles blush and get a little tongue-tied.
“Maybe you should warm him up, Max.” Arthur says with a shit-eating grin and seriously, his brothers were supposed to help him, not embarrass him further.
“Yeah, Max. Just keep the noise down, please.” Even Enzo has joined in the teasing over the last two days and Charles hates them so fucking much.
“Boys, stop embarrassing your brother.” His mother says from the doorway of the kitchen and Charles is about to open his mouth to thank her when she betrays him as well. “He’s more than capable of doing that on his own.”
“Mom!” Everyone laughs at Charles’ outrage and he splutters. “I hate all of you. Do not talk to me again.”
He moves to sulk a little on the couch, bringing his feet up to hug his legs and get warmer and ignores Max sitting next to him, still chuckling a little.
“Don’t be so dramatic.” The Dutchman nudges their shoulder and Charles huffs, not looking at him. “C’mon, let’s play something while you get the feeling back in your cold little limbs.”
Max ends up playing some FIFA with Lorenzo while Arthur keeps up a running commentary next to them and Charles sits sideways, shoving his socked feet under Max’s thigh and enjoying his family having fun with his friend and crush.
They all play for a couple of hours before retiring to their bedrooms, Pascale long gone to bed, and Charles lets Max shower first again, running to get to the bathroom before Arthur afterwards.
He comes back to the bedroom after his shower and finds Max standing in front of the bookcase, looking at the couple of picture frames on the shelves. He seems to be a little lost in thought, so Charles clears his throat to alert him of his presence.
“Oh, hey.” He says in a low voice, looking at Charles briefly and turning back to face the bookcase. “You know that you have a picture of me here, right?”
Charles feels his entire body flushing with embarrassment; he’d had that picture up for years and it wasn’t until he got back home for the first time after starting uni and crossing paths again with Max that he stopped to think about it. Since then, whenever he’s home and looks at it, he’s just happy for how things changed between them, never thinking that Max might find it a little weird.
“I… Yes, I do. Sorry if it’s a little weird.” He says and walks up to his friend, reaching out to pick up the picture frame.
They’re both standing on a podium, Pierre next to Charles on the third place step. Charles won that race by a small margin, Max coming close in second and he still remembers how Max looked at his father when they got out of the karts, the older man storming off and leaving his son alone to get the kart back to the garage, and Charles remembers his father congratulating all of them and offering to help Max.
“That was the last time I was on a podium before Jules’ accident.” Charles’ voice is soft with the memories from that time, when he was still so young and thinking that maybe he could follow in his godfather’s steps in motor racing, maybe learn to love it as much as he did. That all changed, of course, after what happened; Charles couldn’t bring himself to get back in a kart, no matter how hard he tried, and ended up giving it up. He remembers how relieved his parents were when he told them, and how much they encouraged him to find something that made him happy, if not racing.
“I remember,” Max’s voice is just as soft and he brings up an arm to wrap around Charles, pulling him against the side of his body in comfort. “You didn’t even finish the season, did you?”
“No… I just couldn’t get back in the kart after what happened. You know I liked racing, but it was never something that I loved, and I didn’t know how to keep doing it without thinking about Jules.” He breathes deeply, burrowing against Max to seek the comfort he’s so easily offering. “Pierre didn’t go back either, after the season ended, and we tried to focus on school and just be teenagers for a while, y’know?”
“Yeah…” Max replies, sounding a little lost in his own memories and Charles is reminded of how awful the year after that was for the older boy.
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. You didn’t get to just walk away from everything and enjoy life.”
“I did, eventually. The whole thing with my father happened the year after that and, well… It was a little harder for me to let go of racing and focus on other things, but I did it. And I know that you didn’t have the easiest time either.” Charles realizes that Max’s thumb is gently stroking his arm at that moment, his own hand firmly wrapped around the other boy’s waist.
“Guess we’re both a little broken by our past, huh?” The Monégasque gives a forced laugh and Max slaps his arm lightly. “Ow, dickhead. Sorry, I know, we’re not broken, we just had it a little harder in life than most people, blah blah blah… I’ll never understand how you’re more well-adjusted than me.”
“Guess my therapist was better than yours.” Max replies and Charles can hear the smile on his voice. Asshole. He’s lucky that Charles loves him so much.
“I hate you.”
“No, you don’t, you love me.” The Dutchman nudges him and, well… He has no idea how right he is.
They pull apart after that, turning off the light and lying down on the bed, both playing around on their phones for a while.
It takes a while for Charles to fall asleep, head still on their earlier conversation and the memories it dragged up. Max is the first to say goodnight, turning on his side and Charles locks his phone to not disturb him, but he lies awake for a long time afterwards, until finally lying down on his stomach to sleep.
He somehow managed to keep mostly to his side of the bed for the last two days, once waking up with an arm thrown over Max’s waist and, on the next day, with a leg over the other boy’s, but no other part of their bodies were touching. Max still doesn’t know about their accidental cuddle session on the first morning they shared a bed and, if it is up to Charles, he never will.
----
Charles wakes up on the morning of the last day of the year to Max spooning him.
There is no other way to describe it. Their bodies are fitted together, legs intertwined and Max has one hand on Charles’ stomach, bare from the way his shirt rode up during the night. He feels Max’s face pressed against his hair and part of him wants to freak out, but he’s still tired from how long it took him to fall asleep and can’t muster up enough energy to worry just yet. He’s comfortable, Max’s body a long line of warmth all along his back and, before long, he’s falling back asleep, hand holding the other boy’s gently.
Something wakes him up some unknown time later and he grumbles a little under his breath, pulling the arm around him tighter and pressing back into the body behind his, sighing contentedly.
A body that goes rigid with tension as soon as he moves, and Charles is awake again in a split-second. His muscles are locking up and he has to remind himself to let go of Max’s hand before he clutches it in his.
He could make a joke about his terrible sleeping habits and how he is the worst person to share a bed with, but this one can’t necessarily be blamed on him; Max is the one who snuggled up to him and isn’t that something that is going to feature heavily in Charles’ future fantasies about the older boy?
And it’s with that thought that he realizes that he is hard.
Fuck his life, honestly.
Max pulls back and Charles sits up, bunching up the covers to hide his situation. He can’t bring himself to look Max in the eyes, so he settles for staring at his shoulder as sits up as well.
“Sorry about that,” His voice is rough from sleep and Charles chances a quick look at his face. There are pillow creases on the side of his face, his hair is a mess and there’s no hiding the blush on his cheeks, and he looks absolutely beautiful. Charles’ dick twitches and he wants to cry with how pathetic he is. “I guess you make a comfortable human pillow.”
“I make an amazing human pillow, Verstappen.” Fake it ‘till you make it, is how that saying goes, isn’t it? Well, Charles has been faking it for two years now and he’s bound to make it at some point. “You’re not the first one to fall for my irresistible charm.”
“I’m well aware, Charles.” And the sour look on his friend’s face was not what he was hoping for. It’s gone as quickly as it came, and Charles wonders if he was just imagining things. “Anyway, sorry for crowding you. Although it’s only fair, since you’ve nearly pushed me off the bed quite a few times since I got here.”
“That is a lie, I would never do such a thing.” The younger boy complains, earning a scoff.
“You did it tonight! I woke up and you had taken up more than half of the bed… I guess my sleeping body took matters into its own hands and decided to simply hold you down so you’d be still.”
Ah, fuck. His boner was on its way to disappearing, but it’s back in full force with the mental image that Max just painted. Charles can only let out a strained laugh at that, looking back down at his lap and trying to think of the most disgusting things in the world.
“Yes, well, you’re welcome for using me as your body pillow.” He says a little awkwardly. “You can use the bathroom first, I’ll wait.” There’s no way he’s leaving this bed with Max still in the room.
“You sure?” Max asks, standing up from the bed when Charles nods and leaving the room.
Charles takes a deep steadying breath and focuses on getting his boner down. They have four more days in Monaco and he’s not sure if he’s going to make it through the rest of this trip without going crazy.
----
Later that day, they head out to the harbor at a little past eleven pm to watch the fireworks, the colder weather making even Max put on some more clothes in order to keep warm. Both boys are walking close together, arms brushing every now and then and Charles barely feels the cold with how warm he’s feeling inside.
There are quite a few people around the harbor, many partying inside the boats and making a lot of noise in expectation for the New Year. Charles’ mom drags Arthur and Lorenzo to a coffee shop that is bustling with people to get them some hot drinks and Charles and Max settle on a bench outside, watching the people and waiting for midnight.
“I have to confess, I always thought you guys would spend the New Year in some fancy party, drinking champagne and eating those tiny foods.” Max says and Charles gives a loud laugh.
“No… Mom always gets some invites, but we’ve been doing this since Arthur was little.” Charles says, some nostalgia slipping into his voice. “I remember being a child and my dad putting me on his shoulders when it was time for the fireworks. Arthur used to cry when the really loud ones exploded and he would cling to mom until she picked him up, but then Enzo would complain about being left out and dad would sit down on the floor and hug both of us for a long time.”
“That sounds nice.” Max says in a gentle voice. “Vic used to scream really loud when she was little, but she did it to try and match the sound of the fireworks, you know?” He laughs and Charles just stares at the soft smile on his face when talking about his little sister. “Dad didn’t like it much, but he was always less… Angry, I think you could say, when it came to her.”
Charles reaches out to lace their arms together, trying to give his friend at least some comfort. Max shrugs his shoulders, looking like he’s shaking off the bad memories, and forces a smile onto his face again.
“We don’t really have a New Year tradition, though… Guess we should work on that.”
“You can always come here and spend it with us.” Charles blurts out and blushes a little, but continues. “Mom would probably like having someone to share those exasperated mom-looks with.”
“Oh, my mom would definitely love that.” Max smiles and they just smile at each other until Charles’ family comes back with their drinks.
They all talk some more, until someone yells out that there’s only one minute left until midnight. People around them start breaking off into groups, some couples moving away from their families and friends and Charles watches as his family takes a few steps away from them, all with very innocent looks on their faces, apparently trying to give both boys some privacy.
Max chuckles next to him, but Charles keeps his gaze fixed on his family. Traitors, all of them.
Well, not his mom. But his brothers are definitely having the time of their lives torturing Charles.
Someone starts the countdown and everyone joins in, voices getting louder until they reach zero and the first fireworks explode in the sky. People start screaming, celebrating with each other and Charles turns to give Max a hug.
They hold each other for a long time, arms tight around their bodies and the Monégasque feels his heart clench in his chest when Max brings up a hand to rest on the back of his neck, slightly cold fingers stroking the skin gently.
They pull back from the hug, Charles’ hands lingering on Max’s arms and what he can see of the older boy’s eyes are reflecting the fireworks around them. There’s a beautiful smile on his face, making the skin around his eyes crinkle a little and Charles is so in love with him.
It’s only when Max’s eyes go wide that he realizes that he said the words out loud. Holy fucking shit.
He freezes, not knowing how to back out. If he had said ‘I love you’ it could be explained as a friend-thing, but no, he would never make things easier for himself.
He pulls his hands back, taking a step away from Max and averting his eyes, feeling panic bubbling up in his throat.
“Did you really mean that?” He can barely hear Max’s voice over the sound of the fireworks, people cheering and the blood pounding in his ears and he considers acting like he didn’t. He wants to run back home and hide until Max goes back to London, but he can’t do that, can he? They’re flying back together, to the place where they live together and they can’t pretend that this didn’t happen.
Maybe Daniel and Michael will let him crash on their couch until he can find somewhere else to live? Or he can hide in Alex and George’s place, that would probably be better than the home of Max’s best friend…
“Hey, don’t get lost in your own head right now.” Max’s voice brings him back to reality, a gentle hand around his wrist unknowingly grounding him. “Tell me the truth, did you mean that?”
And Charles can’t lie to him right now, even if it means changing everything between them.
“Yes,” It’s barely louder than a whisper and he repeats it, bracing himself for the pitying expression and the letting down. He doesn’t think that Max will be cruel about it, he knows he’ll be kind and that makes everything worse. “Yes, I did.” He takes a deep breath and goes for broke. “I’ve been in love with you for almost two years now… But I never said anything, because I know you’ll never feel the same way and I would rather have you in my life as a friend than tell you how I feel and lose you. But now I won’t even have that, because me and my stupid mouth ruined everything.”
“You’re really lucky you’re pretty, because I honestly don’t know how anyone can be as dense as you are and still survive in this world.”
“You think I’m pretty?”
“I think you’re the prettiest, dumbest person I’ve ever met in my entire life, but you’re also the most incredible and amazing one.”
“...What.”
“I’m in love with you, Charles. I have been for a long time.”
Charles’ brain is completely frozen.
Max is smiling softly at him, his eyes filled with fondness as he stares at Charles’ completely shocked face.
“That’s not possible.”
“Do you think I would agree to help you with this if I didn’t feel something for you?”
“Well, yes? You… You’re my friend, you would agree to do it to help me.”
“Maybe. But I agreed because I would get to, at least for a few days, pretend that you were my boyfriend and you felt the same way about me as I do for you. And I was willing to go back home and pretend like this never happened if it meant that I would have the memory of this week with you.”
Stupidly enough, that makes Charles tear up. He opens his mouth a couple of times, but nothing comes out; he never thought that Max would return his feelings and to hear that he does is scrambling Charles’ brain harder than anything.
“You love me?” The Monégasque asks in a small voice that is trembling with emotion and the way that Max is looking at him.
“Yes, Charles. I love you.” He says confidently, a brilliant smile on his face and eyes shining.
“But how?”
“What do you mean ‘how’?” Max laughs. “I don’t know, how do people fall in love? We’ve been friends for over two years, we’ve lived together for almost as long and I don’t think I know anyone better that I know you and, well… How could I not love you? You’re the most amazing and wonderful person I’ve ever met in my entire life.”
He says it like he’s stating that the sky is blue and the sun comes up during the day, in the most natural way, and Charles has to breathe deeply to keep the tears from falling.
“I… I don’t know what to say.” Charles laughs wetly.
“You could say it again?” Max suggests, something a little hesitant in his voice. “How you feel, I mean.”
“I love you,” He says once he realizes what the older boy means, and then can’t seem to stop saying it. “I love you, Max. I’ve been in love with you for so long and I can’t believe you love me too.”
“I do,” Max says, a huge smile on his face, and steps closer to frame Charles’ face with his hands. “I love you, Charles.”
The Monégasque reaches up to hold Max’s wrists and surges forward, stopping when they’re standing only a few centimeters apart.
“Can I kiss you?” He asks, eyes flitting between Max’s eyes and lips.
“Please do.” The Dutchman groans and closes the distance between them, pressing his lips against Charles’.
Charles knows that the fireworks are meant for the New Year, but it feels like they’re representing his own emotions right now. Max’s lips are a little chapped from the cold and Charles can’t resist licking them, earning another groan from the older boy who moves one arm down to pull Charles’ body closer.
Max opens his mouth to deepen the kiss and Charles is the one who makes a muffled sound now, licking into the other boy’s mouth. He tastes like the hot chocolate he just drank and Charles never wants to stop kissing him.
“Do you really have to grope my baby brother in public, Max?” Lorenzo’s voice comes from behind them and they pull away. Max looks faintly embarrassed while facing his family, but Charles can’t take his eyes off of his lips, a little red and shiny with their saliva.
“Leave them be, maybe Charles will stop moping around now that he’s finally going to get some dick… Ow, mom!” Charles looks away from the very appealing view in front of him to yell at his brother, but their mom beats him to it.
“Stop talking about you brother’s sex life in public, Arthur, what is wrong with you?” Pascale scolds and keeps talking when Arthur opens his mouth again. “You can’t talk about it at home either, shut up.”
The younger Leclerc grumbles, hand on his arm where their mom probably slapped him. Max’s hand is resting on Charles’ waist, the feel of it making his body feel a little hot even through two layers of clothes and the younger boy avoids Lorenzo’s knowing smile, choosing to look at their mom.
“Well, happy New Year, boys.” Pascale steps forward to hug both of them at once. “I’m glad that you two seemed to finally confess your feelings.”
“What?” All four of them ask at the same time and she rolls her eyes, looking at Charles’ face.
“Sweetheart, did you honestly think that you were fooling me with this dating story?” When all Charles does is stare dumbfounded at her, she continues. “You’re my son, Charles. You were behaving so strangely when you got home and when Max arrived, so nervous about the entire thing, and when I realized that you and your brothers never left me alone with Max… Well, it didn’t take long for me to connect the dots.”
Charles looks between Max’s astonished face to his mother’s calm one, completely speechless. Behind her, Arthur starts laughing hysterically and Lorenzo soon joins him, attracting the attention of a few people around them.
“I’m sorry?” He finally says, wincing a little. “I didn’t mean to lie to you, but… Well.”
“He panicked.” Max finally says, an amused lilt to his voice. “He does that quite a lot, as you know.”
“Yes, I do.” Pascale shares a look with Max and Charles knows that he’s absolutely fucked. His brothers are still laughing and Charles stalks over to make them stop, the three of them shoving each other around for a few seconds before hugging.
“You are so in love, big bro.” Arthur says, but for once his voice sounds fond instead of teasing.
“I am,” Charles says softly and his brothers coo at him, poking his ribs until he steps away from them, the three of them laughing.
The Monégasque looks back to find Max and his mom staring at them, both of them smiling, and he walks back up to his friend - or is it boyfriend now? -, looking at him a little shyly.
“Hey,” He murmurs and sees his mother stepping away from the corner of his eye.
“Hey, you.” Max replies, reaching out to wrap his hands around Charles’ waist. He can still hear some fireworks in the distance, people chattering around them and music coming from the boats as the celebration continues.
“Happy New Year.” He places his arms around the other boy’s shoulders, pulling their bodies closer.
“Happy New Year, babe.” Max says with a cheeky smile, tilting his face down a little to kiss him again.