The Right Time (Lestappen)

Glitter and Glue

Charles rubbed his eyes, adjusting to the light that was seeping in though the windows. He was still half asleep when he stumbled out of bed and made his way through to the Kitchen. It was unusual for Max to be awake before him and as Charles poured himself a coffee he noticed the Dutchman seemed particularly engrossed with the book in front of him. As Charles observed a little closer he noticed that his husband was surrounded by pots of glitter and packs of stickers as well as an array of colouring pencils.

"Morning Charlie"

Max pulled his attention away from his book long enough to say hello and Charles couldn't help but laugh at the specks of glitter that were attached to the Dutchman's face and twinkling in the light.

"Morning"

Charles murmured, still not awake enough to really understand why Max currently looked like he was in pre-school surrounded by pots of glue and craft materials. He knew his husband had tried an array of hobbies since retiring from F1 but he didn't really take Max to be a scrapbooker or much of a crafts person at all. It didn't seem to hold the adrenaline that motorsport did.

"What are you doing?" Charles asked softly, trying not to be too judgemental about his husband's newest hobby.

"Well I thought you could help me actually" Max smiled whilst trying to pry his fingers apart, the Dutchman seemingly having coated them in glue and held them together just a little too long. Maybe Charles had been wrong, in the wrong hands it seemed scrapbooking did have some element of danger.

"Help you?" Charles asked nervously because he really wanted to be a supportive husband but he equally really didn't want to get involve with pre-school arts and crafts. Max looked super excited though and Charles knew he couldn't say no to the Dutchman when he threw him that beautiful smile.

"So I read this idea online and I'm making like a memory book for the babies" Max started to explain as he finally pulled his two fingers apart, knocking over a pot of glitter in the process, the table now awash with tiny blue sparkles.

Charles made his way over to where his husband was sat to see what Max was making. As he lent over his husband's shoulder and glanced down at the book he felt his heart melt. On the front page of each book Max had written the two babies names and decorated around it with stickers and glitter. It definitely didn't look expensive or high class but the Monegasque had to admit that it looked adorable, far better than the fancy baby books you could get pre-made.

"You like it?" The Dutchman asked excitedly, he had gotten up early to complete the cover pages hoping to surprise his husband but it had taken a little longer than he had imagined, mostly because as it turned out he was not particularly crafty.

"I love it" Charles pressed a kiss on Max's cheek, trying his best to avoid the glitter that was dotted in Max's stubble.

"So I thought we could write messages to the babies, like about how excited we are and all that" Max suggested.

Both men had spent a lot of time online reading about how best to prepare for the new arrivals. It could be any day now and they could barely contain their excitement. The nursery had already been completed. A new cot took pride of place amongst an endless supply of baby toys and accessories. As Charles had hauled the latest set of purchases through to the room he did think that they might have gone a little over the top. The room had inevitably had a motorsport theme, although it hadn't been intentional. They had a race car mobile hung over the cot, formula one soft toys scattered around the place and a wardrobe full of racing team outfits. It seemed that when you have a baby shower attended by mostly formula one drivers and their wives you end up with a playroom decked out in all the latest motorsport fashion.

The baby shower itself had been a day to remember, all their loved ones in one place celebrating the imminent arrival of the babies. There had been party games, lots of food and drink and the occasional tear shed. Luckily they were all happy tears. Max and Charles had decided to use the occasion to announce the baby names they had chosen - Jules Emilian and Sebastian Hervé.

Charles' mum had been in floods of tears upon hearing that one of the babies would be named after Charles' father. She knew undoubtedly that he would be so proud if he could see the man Charles had become and how incredibly happy he was. She just hoped that he was looking down on the Monegasque and smiling.

Sebastian Vettel had also shed a tear as the two men had told him that they planned on naming one of the babies after him. The German driver had been there for the pair almost since the beginning of their relationship. Max had never forgotten the support the older man had provided to him in one of the worse times of his life and the German had remained a very close friend and visited often with the pair.

"I tried to draw a race car" As the two men sat at the kitchen table looking at the scrapbooks Max took the opportunity to point out his failed attempts at drawing an F1 car. He had initially planned on decorating the book with beautiful drawings but drawing was more difficult than he realised and required a delicate hand and patience, something Max didn't particularly care for. Stickers ended up being a much safer and time saving option. Charles' tried to contain his laughter as he looked at the drawings, if anything they had been getting progressively worse.

"I know. I know, art is not my forte. I have plenty of other skills though" Max tried to sound offended but he could barely contain his laughter as he looked at the scribbles he had made of cars, one of them definitely looked like a horse on wheels.

"I know you do" Charles re-assured his husband before climbing into his lap and attaching their lips. Seeing Max so excited to become a dad was actually rather a turn on.

Max responded, pulling Charles a little closer to him as the Monegasque parted his lips and deepened the kiss a little, no longer caring that they would both inevitably be covered in glitter that they would likely still find attached to themselves months later.

"You want to go back to bed for a bit?" Charles asked between planting kisses on his husbands lips. Max didn't bother responding with words, instead he lifted himself up off of his seat and as Charles wrapped his legs around his husband's waist, the Dutchman carried them both through to the bedroom.

Charles moaned softly as the Dutchman placed him down on the bed and started to lay a trail of kisses up his neck.

"We might not get as much time for this when the babies are here" Charles spoke softly, enjoying the way Max's lips ghosted over his skin

"I'll always make time for this" Max promised as his hands wondered over his husband's body.

"Max, wait!" Charles suddenly shot up out of bed almost knocking Max out in the process, the Dutchman jumped back startled.

"What? What happened?" Max asked concerned as Charles shot out of the bedroom. The Monegasque had heard his phone go and sprinted into the kitchen to retrieve it. He was not normally so attached to technology and, under normal circumstances would never have chosen a phone call above time in bed with Max, but with the babies' due date being so soon every call mattered.

"Max" Charles appeared in the doorway, his face a little white, his expression a mixture of joy and panic, "we have to go to hospital, the babies are on the way"

_________________________

Sorry for the delay, was going to write the very last chapter and I wanted to take my time but as it turned out I wasn't quite ready for that so I wrote this little chapter to share. The next chapter will probably be the last otherwise I am going to keep writing this book for ever 🤣

Although the more I think about it the more I think someone ought to write a whole book on Max and Charles bringing up babies. It would be so cute. Maybe I will write a short sequel in the new year 😄

Anyway as always, love you all, thanks for reading and commenting and voting. I always try and respond to comments on my books but if I don't it's because I am so disorganised. I 100% appreciate anyone who takes the time to comment <3 <3