Chapter Text
If you ask Charles, it’s all Max’s fault.
He was always saying that if either of them was ever going to expose their relationship, it’d be him, so excuse you, Max, I saved both our asses. But Max always failed to see it that way.
(And—okay, technically, Charles was the one that put himself in that situation in the first place, but whatever, it was a mistake, okay?).
So Charles and Seb were in the car. They were going to some team dinner and the german offered to pick Charles up and drive him because he barely knew the streets of Maranello (not that Seb was any better, but he was nice like that).
“Here,” Seb said, handing him the aux cable. “You pick the music.”
Charles wasn’t about to fight him on it, so he plugged his phone in and opened up Spotify, playing a random playlist, most likely Max’s. He didn’t think much of it until some shitty EDM beat could be heard through the speakers. He scrunched up his nose in distaste and silently groaned when Seb gave him a confused, slightly judgmental side-eye.
“Never would’ve guessed you listened to this kind of music, Charlie.” He chuckled, but Charles didn’t miss the mocking tone. (And this is why he can’t be held accountable for the events that unfolded next).
“Oh, no,” he started. “I don’t listen to this, not really, just when Max—” (So maybe if he hadn’t cut himself off so abruptly he could’ve played it off as whatever. Or come up with a better fucking lie, but Charles wasn’t lucky like that).
However, his teammate wasn’t dumb, far from it, actually, and Charles could see Seb from the corner of his eye, staring intently at him when they reached a red light. He refused to lift his head, messing around on his phone.
“Max? I didn’t know you guys were friends.” This time his words were paired with a suggestive tone.
“We’re not!” Which, technically, wasn’t a lie (they weren’t friends) but the urgency in his voice, well, made it very hard to believe. “It’s just that, uh,” he cut himself again to let out a very forced, very awkward laugh that automatically made him want to clear his throat. His brain was screaming at him, say something, Charles, and fast, you look like an idiot. “Max just made this playlist for me cause… he… made one for everyone on the grid. Cause he’s, you know, super nice. Now.” He gave Seb his sweetest smile and it was sold. Or so he thought.
“Oh, really?” Disbelieve wouldn’t be the exact word Charles would use to describe Seb’s tone, more like a ‘I know you’re lying and you know I know you’re lying, Charles’ sort of tone (which Seb did use quite a lot around him) but Charles wasn’t anything if not determined and he’d see this lie through, thank you very much.
“Yep.” He shrugged, seeming as nonchalant as he could.
“Well, then I want to listen to mine.”
That’s when Charles’ mind pulled a very drastic U-turn. He had not thought this through and now he could feel his palms getting sweaty and the wheels in his head turning faster than his fucking Ferrari.
“Sure, I’ll ask him to send it to me and I’ll just forward it to you.”
His teammate was looking at him with a hint of pride, like he didn’t actually believe he’d manage to pull this off, but nothing else was said, Charles was sort of hoping that the whole situation could be forgotten and never spoken of ever again.
“Alright, I want it presto, Charlie.”
So that’s how Charles ended up here; back in his rented apartment, freshly showered and waiting for his boyfriend to pick up his oncoming FaceTime call. He had the whole thing planned out, though, and was quite proud of himself. Turns out that after years of fucking around and then actually dating Max, he really did know how to get him to do almost anything he wanted—yes, he was a manipulative little shit, but only because deep down Max knew and allowed it. Which is why he was wearing one of Max’s old Red Bull shirt (with every single curtain drawn because god help him if anyone caught wind of this), red bandana, the one Max had told him during one of his less coherent post-sex moments that he adored, hair wet enough to look it through the camera but also very strategically messed with so it’d appear fluffy and sexy at the same time, and last but not least, his glasses, which he had learned a few months prior that Max was, indeed, very weak to.
The ringing finally stopped, and now that he thinks about it, maybe he should’ve just gone full on shirtless—
“Hallo, schat, give me a minute.” He heard Max’s voice through the speakers but the screen only showed what he was almost sure to be Max’s kitchen ceiling. (Don’t ask him how he memorized that specific aspect of his boyfriend’s apartment, please and thank you).
Charles only had to wait a few seconds before Max’s face popped on the screen, cheeks a little flushed and hands running all over his hair, dopey grin etched onto his lips.
“You had that godawful Red Bull cap on, didn’t you?” Was the first thing that came out of Charle’s mouth, and yeah, he should’ve held back on that one.
Max deadpanned him. “Count yourself lucky cause I took it off just for you, dipshit.” But there was no real malice behind his words.
“You know that regardless of what you’re wearing I’ll always think you’re the most beautiful man in the world,” he muttered sweetly, automatically seeing the effect the words had on his boyfriend and his usually cold heart.
Max’s eyes suddenly zeroed in on his appearance, and even through the small screen of his phone, he could see his eyes trailing all over his body, getting a little darker as they went, specially when he noticed the shirt he was wearing.
“You say godawful but I see you wearing my Red Bull shirt, Charlie.” His voice was getting deeper with every syllable, the beginnings of a smirk on his lips and—don’t get him wrong, usually, Charles would be up for all and any kinds of phone sex with his boy but tonight he had more pressing matters.
“Back on your possessive bullshit, I see.”
“Okay, baby, you’re confusing me here. I see you all dressed up and ready but you’re not giving me the right vibes, so you’re gonna have to tell me what you want from this conversation,” he chuckled, voice back to normal, demeanor slightly more relaxed and now Charles was sort of regretting everything all over again because he was looking forward to that phone sex.
Focus, Leclerc.
“Get your head out of the gutter, Verstappen. Can’t a boy call his beautiful boyfriend just to say hi?”
Max sighed dramatically but smiled prettily at him.
“Of course you can, baby. You look damn good, though, I want you to pack that exact same outfit for Australia because as soon as I get my hands on you, I swear, Charles, I am going to—” Honestly, Charles wanted to hear the rest of that sentence too, but he had Seb’s awful Italian accented alright, I want it presto, Charlie, at the front of his mind and it was really messing with his ability to get horny.
“Maxy, chéri, I need to tell you something.”
Hearing this, Max’s face completely changed, eyes turning serious and Charles really did feel like an asshole, cause he had taken his boyfriend on one hell of a rollercoaster with all of this mood swings, but then again, that was sort of the plan.
“What is it, Charles? Everything okay?” he asked, voice sounded worried, which Charles was quick to soothe.
“Everything’s fine, Maxy, don’t worry. I didn’t mean to phrase it like that, it’s nothing bad, I promise.” He smiled reassuringly, watching Max’s frown slowly disappear.
“Okay, tell me, baby.” Charles could see that Max’s entire attention was trained on him, which, on the one hand, was really cute, but on the other, gave him something to worry about because he was pretty sure Max was cooking before he answered the phone and that was never a good combination.
Charles sighed and put on his prettiest, most innocent smile, batting his eyelashes slowly and everything.
“Maxy, my love, the best and sweetest boyfriend in the whole world, you know how you adore me and would do anything for me?” his voice sounded way too sweet even to his own ears, but at this point it’s go big or go home.
Max frowned a little, wheels turning in his head.
“Charles, if this is about you topping next time, I already told you I was down for it. Honestly, it’ll be—”
“Max, this is not sex-related. I really meant it when I told you to get your head out of the gutter, baby.”
His boyfriend rolled his eyes in exasperation.
“Well, I wouldn’t need to keep guessing if you just fucking told me already!” he exclaimed, voice filled with laughter. “Stop sugar-coating it, Charles, I know what you’re doing, this whole angel act doesn’t fool me anymore, I’ve been dating you for way too long.”
Charles smirked before answering, “so you’re admitting that it did fool you at some point.”
“Alright, now you’re the one getting off topic, pretty boy.”
“It’s true, okay, okay, so listen.” Charles took a deep breath again, wanting to run his hand through his hair but knowing the bandana was going to make it very hard for him to do so. “I was in the car with Seb, right? And he told me to pick the music, so I plug my phone and play one of those playlists you made for me.” He could see Max’s face lighting up and was reminded once again of how much he truly loved him. “So then some EDM tune starts playing and—Max, I swear to god it wasn’t on purpose—I just panicked and, well, long story short, I told Seb you made a playlist for everyone on the grid and now he’s bugging me about sending him his.” He finished it off with a sheepish smile.
Max narrowed his eyes and didn’t say anything for a few seconds, trying to process what he’d just heard.
“I don’t get it, why would you tell him that?”
“Max, you weren’t there. Seb is super smart. I accidentally sort of maybe told him that it was your playlist and he got this whole ‘I know everything you’re not telling me and more’ tone he uses and I just freaked out. I thought I had exposed us. I had to act fast.”
Max rolled his eyes affectionally at him, smile back on his face when he answered, “I know you don’t want to hear it, baby—”
“Ma-aax—” he whined, Max completely ignoring him.
“—But I fucking told you it was going to be you and your big mouth that eventually slipped up.”
“But I didn’t! That’s the whole point! That’s why I need you to make a playlist for Seb,” he said the last part fast and quietly, like a part of him didn’t actually want Max to hear. Max who looked like the implications of this conversation had suddenly dawned on him.
“What? No, I’m not doing that, you do it!”
Charles whined again like the big baby he was, “No, Max, I can’t do it! I’m no good with technology and Spotify and stuff, you know that, and I don’t know shit about what Seb listens to. If I do it, then it’s you that’s gonna end up with a bad rep.” Charles finished that sentence with the best puppy eyes he could muster, the one’s he knew his boyfriend wouldn’t be able to say no to.
“Chaaarles,” he groaned loudly, running his hands down his face in annoyance. “Ugh, fine! I’ll do it. But you owe me big time, pretty boy,” he warned, the intensity in his eyes as he said that last part letting Charles know exactly just how he was going to repay him, a smirk stretching across his face.
“Oh, you know I will,” he started, slowly running his tongue across his bottom lip before pulling it between his teeth and releasing the reddened skin, playing the part, giving his boyfriend a preview. “As soon as we get a chance in Australia, I’ll let you fuck me wearing only this—I’ll even wear that hideous Red Bull cap and I’ll let you mark me up to satisfy that weird possessive streak of yours.”
Charles knew that if Max wasn’t completely convinced before, then now he had him tightly wrapped around his little finger.
“Goddamnit, Charles,” Max practically growled with how gravelly his voice sounded, eyes screwing shut. “You can’t say shit like that when we’re so far away. Just one week, baby, one week and I’ll have you all to myself and leave a million bruises all over your pretty little neck—”
“Two, Max,” he deadpanned. “Anything else is too hard to cover and the media team will end me.”
***
A few days later, Charles was getting on a plane to Melbourne when his phone buzzed against his leg. He took it out and instantly smiled when he read who it was from.
M 💙❤️: You're lucky I love you
M 💙❤️: https://open.spotify.com/playlist...
Charlie: MERCI MAXY!!! YOU'RE THE BEST
Charlie: Ik hou van je
M 💙❤️: Je t'aime
Copying the link, he forwarded it to Seb, but not before opening it up himself. What if Seb asked him about it and he didn’t know anything? As soon as Spotify loaded up, his eyes skimmed over the screen and he let out a chuckle at what he saw—he really wasn’t expecting Max to get so creative with the name.
dadrock
He turned the airplane mode on and locked his phone, finally settling down on his seat, excitement cursing through his veins at the prospect of racing again, but also seeing his boyfriend for the first time in weeks.
Seb’s answer came much later, when he was laying down on soft hotel sheets, Max’s head on his chest, arms tightly wrapped around his middle and legs tangled with his own, breath even as Charles carded his fingers through his slightly sweaty hair, his other hand occupied by his phone and when he did read the message, he turned bright red.
Charles L.: Enjoy
Charles L.: https://open.spotify.com/playlist...
Sebastian V.: Thank you, Charlie
Sebastian V.: And thank that boyfriend of yours too
Charles L.: I'm sorry, i don't know what you're talking about, haha
Charles L.: But i'll tell him
Alright, so that was one message Max definitely didn’t need to see.