The Right Time (Lestappen)

Holding hands

Max could still clearly remember being 6 years old and holding hands with Alexandra Berg. She had shared her chocolate bar with him and he had instantly fallen in love. After they had devoured the chocolate he had taken hold of her hand and they had skipped across the playground together. For a brief few minutes they had been really happy, that was until her friends started laughing and she had pushed him over and ran off shouting about how boys smell. Even though he had ended up on the ground covered in mud he had still been happy at getting to hold a girl's hand for the first time. The new sensation had been exciting. However, it was nowhere near as exciting as reaching out and taking hold of Charles' hand in public for the first time.

As he placed his hand in his boyfriends he felt butterflies in his stomach. It was crazy how exhilarated he felt about something so simple. As he looked across at Charles he could tell that the younger man was feeling the same way. Charles had a huge smile on his face and his eyes seemed to be sparkling. Unlike Alexandra Berg, Charles had no intention of pushing Max away and running off into the distance.

The two men were on their way out to drinks with Lando, Carlos, Pierre, Alex and Daniel. The other drivers wanted to congratulate Charles on coming out and congratulate the two men on their relationship. They had both been so excited when Daniel had suggested it, it felt nice to be able to go out properly as a couple for the first time.

Whilst same sex activity was technically still illegal in Singapore, there were moves to abolish the law and there was an LGBTQ scene in the city so they felt confident enough that they didn't need to hide away. Max also hoped that it meant Christian wasn't going to sit down with him with that same ridiculous list he had given him earlier in the year. It had been embarrassing enough the first time around when Christian had handed him the list of homosexual activities that should be avoided whilst in Saudi. It would be even more embarrassing now that Christian knew he was dating Charles, particularly as him and Charles had definitely been making their way through that list over the past couple of months.

As they arrived at the bar they slid into the booth alongside the other drivers. After an hour or so the drinks were flowing and they were still holding hands under the table, stealing small kisses from each other now and again and enjoying being able to be so open in front of their friends. As Daniel got up to get another round, Charles leaned in and kissed Max gently when he thought nobody else was paying attention. He had been wrong though and the other drivers had joined together in a chorus of Awwww causing Charles to blush a little.

"You didn't seem too shocked when you found out"

Charles directed his question at Carlos who had officially found out about their relationship when he had seen Charles comforting Max in Monza. As it turned out he had had his suspicions much earlier.

"Well I do sometimes share a hotel room wall with you Charles" the Spaniard started to explain.

"Oh' Charles cringed a little, he really did need to learn to be a little quieter.

"Yeah you definitely hear some things in those hotels" Carlos continued before starting to laugh and recalling some of the more ridiculous things he had heard, "Oh my big strong lion"

"Okay I don't think we need to hear anymore" Charles pleaded as Lando nearly choked on the glass of milk he had been drinking, instead spitting it out over Alex who looked less than impressed with the British driver.

By the time Daniel arrived with more drinks they were all in hysterics. Charles was so appreciative of how relaxed his friends were about his relationship, he felt on top of the world. Unfortunately Max was feeling a little more uptight as he had noticed a middle aged man watching him intently. He tried not to stare back but he was sure the guy had been looking at him for quite some time and he felt a little unnerved. He only really relaxed again when he noticed the older man had disappeared, by that time Pierre had taken out his phone to show them an amazing video he had seen on Instagram of a skateboarding dog. Max couldn't help but think that maybe the Frenchman spent a little bit too much time on the app, but he couldn't really say anything given the amount of time he had spent on Fifa over the last week.

Pierre had now flicked to a video of a tortoise who could apparently predict the future and Max decided it was the time to slip away to the bathroom. As he was making his way down the narrow corridor back to the bar he noticed the man from earlier approaching him. He seemed much broader and intimidating up close and Max felt his body tense a little. All alone he felt a little trapped and his mind flashed back to the men who had surrounded him in Monza. He tried his best not to panic.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you"

Max guessed he must have looked nervous as the man backed off a step to give him some room.

"No, no, it's just me, sorry" Max went to pass but the older man stopped him.

"I'm sorry I wasn't going to bother you but my son is a huge fan of yours and I was wondering if you could sign this for him"

The stranger pulled out a scrap of paper and a pen and Max let out a breath he didn't even realising he was holding. Taking the pen he gladly signed the small bit of paper but as he handed it back he noticed the older man looking a little nervous.

"I just- I also wanted to say thank you" the man now looked a lot less intimidating,"My son, he was not himself for a long time, depressed, we were really getting worried about him"

Max nodded along, not entirely sure where this was going but the man's expression seemed to soften as he spoke about his son.

"He -, Well, he really looks up to you and when you came out, well, a few days later he finally came out to us. I'd never realised but he had felt too scared before. You won't believe the change in him since he came out, he is like a different person, so happy. I just, I feel like I can't thank you enough. I don't know what would have happened if he hadn't felt the confidence to be open with us. I just wanted you to know."

The man was stuttering a little, not sure if he should really be bothering the F1 driver with the long details of his son's situation but Max was completely taken aback. The thought that he could have helped someone in that way, without even realising it, it had never occurred to him.

Back in the bar, Charles was getting a little worried. Max had been gone quite a while. He knew that the Red Bull driver was capable of looking after himself and didn't need him worrying all the time but he was still aware of Max's recent medical issues and felt the need to make sure he was okay. He got up from the table feeling a little panicked but his panic was quickly replaced by curiosity as he made his way down the corridor and saw Max sat on the floor next to a man he didn't recognised and on video chat with a fan.

Max looked up with the largest grin on his face and motioned for Charles to come over and say hello. The Dutchman couldn't hide his happiness as he sat alongside his boyfriend chatting to the young fan who was beyond excited. Max had said time and time again that he didn't want to feel compelled to become a gay rights activist, didn't want his sexuality to define him but in that moment he realised that whether he chose to or not he still had an influence on his fans. He couldn't help but think that he would like to find a way to make a more long-lasting positive impact. He made a mental note to speak to Seb about it, he was sure the German driver would know a little about setting up charitable foundations. His sexuality didn't need to define him but it was definitely part of who he was and, with Charles by his side, it was not a part he wanted to shy away from anymore. 

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Another chapter down, I have started to write a couple chapters in-between the races so there will be a few more than the 6 that I was originally planning but hopefully they are still exciting and not fillers!  <3 <3

Thank you to everyone for your votes, comments and likes, it really is why I keep writing this!! 

Also, just because I am guessing most of you won't have seen my announcements but in December I am planning on posting a Christmas one shot each day (kind of like an advent calendar) so if there are any driver pairings or scenarios you want to see just let me know. I already have Max/Daniel, Max/Charles, Carlos/Lando, Seb/Kimi, Seb/Charles, Pierre/Charles, Mick/Esteban, Alex/George and Yuki/Pierre. Honestly, I don't know how well this will go, I obviously know about some drivers more than others and I need to come up with a lot of story ideas but I am going to have a go at it!!