Chapter Text
Max is in the living room playing with Jimmy and Sassy, when he hears a ping on his phone.
Lando - Are you in Monaco?
Max - Yes, why?
Lando - Great, meet me for lunch at our usual place
Max - I thought you were in England with your family?
Lando - I'll explain later
Max - Fine, when?
Lando - Now
Max - Now?
Lando - Yeah, I am already waiting for you
Max finds the interaction a bit weird, but it's Lando. What did he expect? So, he gets ready by taking a quick shower and making sure the cats are settled. He checks his pockets to see if he's got everything and leaves to meet with Lando.
Max walks to the back of the restaurant, to find Lando in their usual spot. It's secluded enough no one can overhear anything they say.
"There you are! Took you long enough!" Lando exclaims as he sees Max walks towards the table.
"Dude, seriously? That's because you gave me no notice!" Max retorts as he sits down.
"Fine, fair point. I've already ordered. Tomato soup and carpaccio for you" Lando smiles.
Max smirks. That is his go-to order and he loves that one of his best friends knows that. "Thanks, but what's going on?"
"What do you mean?" Lando asks trying to sound casual, but failing miserably.
"You text me to come meet you for lunch when you are already at the restaurant. That's weird, even for you, so I repeat... What is going on?"
Lando takes a deep breath. He is clearly anxious. Max sees this and his hearts starts racing. What is going on? What happened? But as he looks at his best friend, he knows that an outburst will not help and decides on a different course of action. "Hey.." he says in a calming voice "Whatever it is, I am with you. Are you in trouble? Do I need to kill someone?"
"No! No, nothing like that! But..."
"But what?"
"I'm afraid of how you'll react..."
This statement hurts Max more than he can express "Whatever it is, I don't care! You're my friend and whatever you did is not going to change that..."
Lando can see the truth in Max's eyes and decides to be brave "I... ehm.. I'm gay?"
"Is that a question?"
"No! No it's not... Max... I'm gay..." Lando looks down at his hands (the man has been rubbing them against each other like a maniac and was about to break skin).
Max is shocked. Not because Lando is gay, he had his suspicions, but because his friend seemed so scared to tell him. So he quickly changes his shocked face and smiles as he reaches for Lando's hands. Lando's head shoots up as he looks at Max insecurely. Max smiles reassuringly.
"Lando... why would you be afraid to tell me that? There is nothing wrong with that"
Now it's Lando's turn to look shocked. "What? Are you sure?"
"Of course I am sure. You are one of my best friends and I don't give a shit about who you love as long as you are happy!"
Relief floods Lando's features as he exclaims "I am so happy to hear you say that! I was so scared you would not understand. Afraid you would look at me differently..."
Max cringes inwardly, but it does not show. A soft sadness about Lando being scared of his reaction does come through however. "You were really scared of my reaction?"
Lando looks a bit ashamed as he bites his bottom lip "Well... deep down I guess I knew you would be fine with it, but still... I mean... You were raised by your father and the entire grid knows his view on homosexuality..."
"My dad is a dick" Max retorts immediately.
Lando snorts "True... I should have known better..."
"People always assume I am like my dad, but I am not. I thought you knew that?" Max says as a sadness fills his eyes. He can't believe his best friend thinks he is anything like the jerk that raised him, but he does not dwell on that thought for to long. This is not about him, it's about Lando. "I can make my own decisions and I don't care if you are gay, straight or a goddamn unicorn for all I care. You are one of my best mates and that is all that matters."
Lando jumps from his chair and engulfs Max in a hug that the Dutchman gladly reciprocates. They release each other when the food arrives and Lando sits back down. "Thank you Max, you don't know how much this means to me"
"What are best friends for?" Max winks.
Banter flows like normal during the first course, when suddenly Lando gets quiet again.
"Are you okay, Lando?" Max asks "I am fine with this! Please believe me!"
"I believe you! It's not that... It's just..."
"What?"
"That was not the only thing I needed to tell you..." Lando says as he looks over Max's shoulder.
Max frowns. What is going on now? And what is Lando looking at? He turns around to find his answer. His jaw almost drop to the floor. Carlos freaking Sainz is walking up to them!
"Hey there, everything okay here?" the Spaniard says as he walks up to the table and puts his hand on Lando's shoulder as he leans down, obviously going in to kiss Lando. Max has eyes, he is not stupid.
Lando panics and quickly pushes Carlos away.
Carlos stumbles back as he looks at Lando dumbfounded "Why did you do that, cariño?"
"I haven't told him yet!"
Carlos gasps "You... huh? What?" Carlos blushes red as a tomato. "What do you mean you haven't told him?!? What have you two been talking about for the past hour?!?"
"I just came out to the guy!" Lando defends "I was working up to it!"
"Working up to it?!?"
The two are arguing with each other so they don't notice Max leaning back with a smug smirk on his face. Of course it is Carlos, Max thinks to himself. The signs were clear as day now that he looked back. As the other two get louder, Max decides to step in before the other patrons overhear them. "Congratulations" he deadpans with a smirk.
That stops the other two dead in their tracks as they look at the Dutchman in shock. Max shrugs "Of course it was going to be Carlos. It is all so clear now..."
"Clear?" Lando asks incredulously.
Max rolls his eyes "Are you serious? Looking back it seems so obvious"
"It does?" Carlos exclaims
"Will you two calm down? I said looking back... I did not connect all the dots until now."
"So you are okay with this?" Lando asks shyly as he grabs a tight hold of Carlos' shirt and Carlos wraps a protective arm around the young McLaren driver. Both look at Max expectantly.
"Okay? Of course I'm okay with this! This is amazing guys. I am really happy for you two!" Max says as he stands up and pulls both guys into a hug.
The other two chuckle in relief as they hug Max back.
They enjoy the rest of their lunch as Lando and Carlos tell Max about how they got together. It all started at McLaren, they were both in love but did not know it. And when Sainz was set to leave for Ferrari, Lando couldn't keep it to himself anymore. The story continues with various cute little anecdotes, about how the confessed their love, about the first time they met each other families, and the first time they called each other 'boyfriend'...The couple are clearly in love. They keep sneaking touches and smiling sweetly at each other.. Something clenches in Max's gut, but he doesn't let it show. He is happy for his friends.
When the two lovebirds seem completely preoccupied with each other, jokingly arguing about who initiated the first kiss, Max's mind starts to drift. He looks at his two friends. Carlos looks at Lando so lovingly. What he would give for Charles to look at him that way. For those beautiful green eyes that haunt his dreams, to look at him the way Carlos looks at Lando. But that's just a dream and will remain a dream... Charles will never look at him like that. Max should accept that and he does... but he can dream... He dreams of dimples and lips that curl into a soft smile... His daydream is interrupted by someone calling his name.
"Max!" Lando calls out.
"Huh?" Max says as he looks back at Lando. When did he start staring are the wall?
"Where did you go? I called you like three times already!"
"Ow, nothing. I.. I think I forgot to lock my door..." Max quickly makes up as he tries to hide a blush.
The others two don't really believe him. Max is meticulous in these kind of things, they whole grid knows that. But both Lando and Carlos decide to ignore it.
"So, are you in?" Lando asks
"In?" Max questions with a frown. He really has not been paying attention.
"Helping us set everything up for tonight?"
"Huh?"
"Did you listen to anything we said in the last five minutes?" Carlos asks with a laugh.
Max looks at the both of them in shock. Has he been daydreaming for 5 minutes?!? He is a bit ashamed as he admits "I might have missed a few things... What's tonight?"
Lando rolls his eyes "Like we JUST said, we invited the whole grid. Well Carlos did, at his, well... our house. We are planning to tell all of them about us."
"Are you sure?" Max asks feeling a little apprehensive about this plan.
"Yes" Carlos says with confidence. "We don't want to hide this anymore"
"And once we've told the rest, we will tell the world"
"What?" Max questions in shock. "But what about...."
"Max, I know what you are going to say" Lando interrupts "F1 has never known an openly gay driver, let alone a couple. We know it's going to be rough, but as Carlos said... We don't want to hide anymore."
Max thinks about that and can't help but feel proud "You guys are really brave... Just know that I will stand by you. Whatever happens."
"We appreciate that, Max" Carlos smiles
"That's also why we want to tell the others... We hope they will support us as well.."
"They will" Max says with determination. "..or I'll make them" he adds with a smirk.
Lando snorts as Carlos looks a bit terrified. The Spaniard shakes it off quickly, when Lando asks again " So? Will you help us set everything up? There are going to be 20 drivers in our home tonight, so we need to prepare."
"Of course I'll help" Max smiles.
"Jeej! Lando exclaims like a giddy kid.
"Good" Carlos says as he gets up and waves over a waiter to pay the bill. "We should be getting going, because Charles is going to be there any minute now"
"Charles?!? You mean Leclerc?" Max asks in shock, a little louder and more high pitched than usual. Immediately praying to whatever God that was listening that Lando and Carlos did not notice his panic.
Carlos frowns at the outburst " Of course, he is my teammate. I told during our run this morning..."
"You told Charles? Ehm.. of course you did... ehm...and...ehm... how did he react?" Max asks shyly.
"He is happy for us... just like you."
Not just like me, Max thinks to himself. Charles is nothing like me. He needs to get his mind off of Charles! This is becoming way to awkward. So he forces a smile as he turns to Lando "Did you tell Oscar as well? Is he coming too? Since...ehm.. he is your teammate?"
"No.. wanted to tell you first" Lando smiles as he pulls Max from his chair and into a hug. There is an expression on the young Brit's face Max can't quite decipher. Lando looks smug.. Like he is in on a joke that Max knows nothing about? But before he can linger on that thought his friend pulls him along towards the exit of the restaurant. "Come on, champion. We'll go by your house first. So you can grab some different clothes. You can get ready at our place.... Ow... and while we are at your place, you can 'check' if your door was locked."