The Right Time (Lestappen)

Unleash the lion

Charles couldn't help but laugh to himself as he imagined the look on his teams face if they could see what he had been doing for the best part of the afternoon. After spending the past few races in hotels, he had decided it would be nice to rent an apartment for the duration of the Dutch GP weekend and he had spent the past hour decorating the whole place. It was now covered in orange. Orange streamers, orange flags, orange balloons, orange flags, anything he could find. And he found a lot of stuff. It seemed the whole of the country was super proud of Max and super excited that F1 was returning to Zandvoort. In pride of place Charles had placed a huge lion soft toy that he had dressed in an orange Verstappen top and hat.

When Max had arrived later that day he had had immediately burst into laughter and as he moved from room to room his face had lit up and he couldn't hide his smile. Charles wrapped his arms around his boyfriend's waist and kissed him gently, letting him know he wanted to make his home race special. Max had immediately lifted Charles up and carried him through to the bedroom where he thanked him properly. In fact he had been so grateful for the effort Charles had put in he had thanked him twice.

Max had thought that the apartment was about as orange as it could get but it was nothing compared to the sea of orange that greeted him each day at the track. Thousands upon thousands of fans wearing orange capes with a lion emblazoned on them. The atmosphere was like nothing he had experienced before and he was excited to show everyone what he could do after the disastrous weekend in Spa. He was just thankful that Charles had agreed not to tell anyone that his crash had been a result of him loosing consciousness, he couldn't imagine anything worse than missing out on his home race. He had decided it was best not to tell Charles that earlier in the week he had woken up on the floor of the bathroom and had had no idea how he got there. He knew Charles would just worry. Instead he just hoped that it was a passing phase and planned to take it one day at a time.

Luckily for the orange army, Max had not experienced a repeat of the events of the previous weekend. As he roared to victory and stepped on to the top step of the podium the whole crowd was buzzing with excitement for their home driver. He looked down and waved to his mum and sister who had made it to the race. In just a couple hours he was going to introduce them to his boyfriend, they had no idea that it was the man stood next to him on the podium currently drenching him in champagne. All they knew was that Max was seeing someone and he had not stopped talking about them. They could barely wait to meet the mystery man which probably explained why they showed up at the apartment almost an hour early

"I'm not dressed" Charles said in a panic as he ran through to the bedroom, towel wrapped around his waist grabbing at his clothes from the closet. He had been trying to play it cool but now that Max's mum was there he was starting to get nervous. He just hoped she would like him as much as his mum seemed to like Max.

Max opened the door and greeted his mum, Sophie and his sister, Victoria. Victoria was already trying to steal a glance behind him to see if she could see the guy Max had described as his soulmate. At the time she had teased him mercilessly but had secretly been happy for him. As Charles emerged out of the bedroom, she squealed with excitement.

"Is this him?" Oh my god! Is it Charles?"

Max could only laugh and manage a quick 'yes' as his sister ran over and threw her arms around Charles, almost knocking him over in the process. His mum also made her way over to the Ferrari driver, she was a little calmer but just as happy, as she hugged him tightly.

"So you are the man my son can not stop talking about" Sophie teased, "He has already told me to buy a hat for the wedding"

"Mum!" Max tried to cut Sophie off before she could say anymore. When he had told her all about his wonderful boyfriend he wasn't expecting her to repeat everything back to him. Luckily as he glanced across at Charles he was just smiling, enjoying the warm reception from Max's family.

The meal had been a great success. Max was pretty sure his sister was already Charles' number one fan and his mum seemed really happy with his choice of partner. It left him with a warm fuzzy feeling to see them all together and when it came time for them to leave he barely wanted to let them go.

At the car, Sophie took a moment alone with her son, hugging him tightly and telling him how proud she was of him and how she was happy to see him so in love. Reaching into her handbag she handed him a small gift which Max excitedly opened to see a matching pair of bracelets with a heart engraved.

"I just wanted to give you a gift to let you know I am always thinking about you and always with you when you are away travelling. I have a matching one" Sophie explained as she showed Max the bracelet adorning her wrist. Max smiled widely as he took out one of the bracelets and put it on his wrist.

"I got a pair for you and a pair for Vic. For whoever you both decide to bring into our family" Sophie continued

"I can give one of these to Charles?" Max asked hopefully.

"Of course honey, if you really think that he is the one" Sophie replied placing a kiss on her son's forehead.

Max felt his eyes filling up with tears. His mum still had no idea what he had been through with his dad and he currently had no plans to tell her but he was so grateful to have her support. He really didn't want to let her go but she promised they would see each other soon so reluctantly he let her get in the car and waved goodbye.

As he made his way back into the apartment Charles was already washing up the dishes. He stood behind him, wrapping his arms around his slim waist and started kissing his neck, his lips ghosting over the skin, a soft moan escaping from Charles' lips.

"I really had a great weekend Charlie and it's because of you" Max whispered softly.

Charles turned around to face his boyfriend and connected their lips once more. He really could never get enough of kissing those lips.

"I have something for you" Max said between kisses.

"Oh really?" Charles said, a mischievous glint in his eyes

"Not like that" Max laughed softly, "that comes later."

Excitedly showing Charles his new bracelet and explaining what his mum had told him about it signifying love and the family connection he reached for the small box and handed it over.

"I want to give this to you, because you really are the one"

Charles' hands were shaking so much that Max had to help him fasten it on to his wrist. He looked down at the matching bracelets on their wrists and couldn't wipe the smile off his face. His heart felt like it was going to burst and he lent in and kissed Max a little deeper this time.

"Okay, so now let me give you your other present" Max laughed as he crashed his lips into Charles' once more. Making their way through to the bedroom, he took hold of Charles' hand, their matching bracelets touching, fingers intertwined, feeling more connected than ever.

Max placed Charles down on the bed. As looked down at him he couldn't help but think how lucky he was. Those beautiful sparkling eyes looked back at him full of excitement.  

"Come on then my big strong lion, come and get me" Charles joked making them both laugh a little before Max pounced on top of him.

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Ahh ok so I struggled with this chapter for some reason haha! Well it's here and I am almost caught up with the actual season in terms of races! That means I am getting closer to the end of the season so possibly getting closer to the end of the story 🥲!! Don't worry there are still at least 8 chapters left (I'm not sure what to do with it yet as I am still enjoying writing!)

Thank you all for reading and for all the votes and comments on previous chapters  <3 <3