Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fresh from a much-needed shower after a rigorous training with Andrea, Charles sits back on his hotel sofa, carelessly swiping through his Instagram, mindlessly double-tapping on the pictures on his feed. Half-distracted while also listening to the wall-mounted television across him, a sudden ping! makes him focus completely on his phone. A notification. Then, a barrage of it. Well, he has his notifications off for most of the time on his social media apps with how much he gets tagged or mentioned on various posts, but also because his PR team advises how it's better so that he doesn't accidentally get himself into a scandal. He only decided to turn it back on now just because he has nothing better to do than rot in his hotel room.

116 mentions

116 mentions of what? He wonders as he taps on the notification panel. He knows he's famous and he always gets a lot of notifications about him getting tagged or mentioned in posts— usually of him in pictures with F1 fans or video edits of him, which he dare says that his fans make the best F1 edits out there— but a whole more than a hundred all at once? That only usually happens when there's something big going on. 

Curious, he reads through the notifications, and sees his username get mentioned on the same post. Literally. He scrolled through all of the new notifications and all of them came from a single account's post: @arthur_leclerc.

Now that piqued his interest. What had his mischievous little brother been up to? Clicking on it, the app brings him to the set of photos that Arthur had just recently posted, about an hour ago. The first photo is of Arthur leaning on a railing, his wrist showcasing a blue bracelet from APM Monaco, according to the tagged username. 

He was about to turn to the comments to discover what the fuss is all about, thinking it's just a PR post, when he read the caption. 

Simply lovely. @apmmonaco

Putain. Was his brother quoting Max Verstappen!? 

He knows his boyfriend and younger brother are quite buddies, especially with how Arthur literally grew up knowing Max his entire life. But this? Charles knows they don't really tease each other like this, it's usually Charles and Arthur annoying each other to no end and Max plays the mediator in between. 

He rushes to the comments, now seeing what has caused the commotion: A pinned comment wherein Arthur confirmed that he posted this to get back at Charles for leaving him the last time they went out together. 

This was about how a few days ago, Charles had decided to tease Arthur by going out first, going to the driver's seat, and driving ahead even if Arthur's barely reached the gate, effectively leaving him. He saw the video, even laughed at it for hours and sent it to his brothers, of how Arthur just stood there with his phone out, no doubt messaging Charles to come back for him. And indeed he was, the string of curses and all capital phrases that the younger has sent him are proof enough. 

He looks through some of the comments below. It's full of how Arthur is giving such a younger brother energy by being petty from that incident. Others are enjoying how Arthur decided to get revenge by quoting his older brother's sworn rival, and how he's wearing a blue bracelet to further his turning to a Max fan agenda. The last comment he reads is about Twitter, particularly the Lestappen community are blazing right now with this post. 

And whatever, he'll keep calling the damn app as Twitter, not that vile ass X. 

So without further ado, he exits Instagram and heads to his Twitter account. He taps on one of his latest searches—Lestappen, because he's secretly a fan of how their fandom ships him and his boyfriend— and scrolls through the tag.

He sees a tweet freaking out about Arthur's post, something about this being a Max and his brother-in-law crumb (He's now more acquainted with the Twitter lingo). He blushingly smiles at that, and whoever can see him would think he looks like a love-stricken fool, which he is, as the idea of Max and Arthur being legally in-laws crosses his mind. Sooner or later, perhaps.

A few scrolls lead him to tweets about the same topic.

Arthur quoting Max!?

Arthur is so petty, he just confirmed how he's doing this to get back at Charles I'm crying

This is actually Lestappen but in another font 

I know we asked for Lestappen but it's actually a different Leclerc 😭

Lestappen being Arthur Leclerc and Max Verstappen was not on my 2025 bingo card

Arthur Leclerc coming out as a Verstappie!? 

What if Lestappen is actually Max and Arthur and all this time we thought of the wrong Leclerc 👀

That made him pause. Made him squint his eyes to read the comment again. 

The wrong Leclerc. Lestappen being Max and Arthur. Not Charles.

Him. Charles. Being the wrong Leclerc. 

THE WRONG LECLERC??? 

He abruptly stands up, horrified by how that one person turned to suspecting his brother and Max instead of Max and himself. 

This cannot be! He stresses, now pacing the lounging area. He knows he's being a bit dramatic but he won't stand for the real Lestappen slander! 

He's already formulating his revenge to the revenge plan when the hotel door opens with a beep and Max sees him walking back and forth while looking murderously at his phone. 

"Hey, schatje. Uh, what's wrong?" Max asks as he comes closer to wrap Charles in a warm hug. 

Charles melts into the hug, and his exasperation mellows out a little. “The world thinks Lestappen consists of you and Arthur!” He sighs heavily, as if his words are his biggest problem right now. Well, it is for him. Screw him for being the biggest fan of him and his boyfriend. 

Max looks at Charles, expression confused. “What do you mean?” And Max only knows what Lestappen is because he sees the Red Bull admin post his and Charles’ contents on the official ORBR social media accounts using that couple name and because his boyfriend usually shares tweets that he sees on Twitter about speculations on their relationship.

“Have you not seen Arthur’s new Instagram post?” The brunette asks, picking up his phone which he haphazardly tossed on the sofa the minute Max gave him a hug. He unlocks the phone and pushes it into Max’s direction. 

Max backs his head away quickly, the phone screen too close to his face to see properly. “You know I don’t really use social media, schat.” He squints for a bit, taking in Arthur’s photo. “Uh, so what’s exactly the context of this?”

“Look at the caption! He’s quoting you Max! He did it to get back at me for leaving him at the gate a few days ago and now our fans think he’s a Verstappie now and that you and Arthur are what Lestappen is! These are the same fans who caught every detail about us like they’re the FBI!” Charles rants, his breathing turning heavy by the end of it. He knows he’s being dramatic about this, but he can’t let the fans think that Lestappen are someone else! Heck, their relationship isn’t even public yet, who knows who they’re going to replace Charles with next time? Plus, he’s tired and bored and he needs to stir up some drama. That’ll make him feel better. And getting revenge on Arthur’s revenge too. 

Max takes a seat and brings Charles with him to sit on his lap. “Calm down baby, you’ll get your payback later. But me and Arthur, really? That kid’s like my younger brother at this point.” 

“I know! It’s because of that damn blue bracelet and that caption! I need to contact APM Monaco, why did they give him a blue bracelet to promote, of all things? They just fueled Arthur’s plan!” Charles pouts, and Max thinks he looks like a petulant child with how he’s acting right now. 

At the same moment, Max’s phone rings.

Arthur calling…

Charles snatches the phone the second Max retrieves the device from his pocket. 

Arthur’s voice welcomes Charles as he answers the call. “Hey Max. Are you with—”

He doesn’t get to finish as his brother cuts him off. “Well hello to you too, little brother. Have you seen the chaos you created?” 

“Oh yes, yes I did, brother, and I’m very proud of it.” comes the youngest’s reply. It sends Charles seething and hissing like a feral cat. 

“I’m so going to get payback, Leclerc. This is warfare.” He declares, voice resolute.

Arthur sounds smug beyond the line. “Well then bring it on, Leclerc.”

Charles ends the phone call and gives Max his phone back. 

Max starts rubbing his hand against Charles’ back. “Well that was intense.” 

Charles leans toward him. “This is like our yearly brother war. You know we can’t stand not annoying the hell out of each other.”

Max sighs in turn, “Yup, and as always, I’m caught in the middle of it and have to always play the mediator so you don’t tear each other’s hair out. I swear maman grew white hairs because of you two.”

The assumption makes Charles gasp loudly. “I’m maman’s favorite! In fact I make her look young with how much of those beauty products I buy for her.” 

Chuckling lightly, Max surrenders. “Whatever you say, Charlie, whatever you say.”

°°°

The same night, while Max is heavily asleep beside him on the very luxurious queen-sized bed, Charles is wide awake, tapping rapidly on his phone like a man on a mission. His mission? Contacting APM Monaco to send him Ferrari red bracelets. The same ones as Arthur’s, but possibly with a subtle engraving of ‘16’ on it. 

After his request is confirmed to be sent two days from now, he lies down and cuddles his boyfriend. 

Chapter Text

Two days later, Andrea comes into his hotel room to personally give him a sleek-looking parcel. It's a black box, medium in size, with the prestigious logo of APM Monaco printed neatly on top. He snatches the box from his trainer's hand, much like how a snatching thief on a busy, crowded road is, shocking the older in the process. 

Bewildered, but unquestioning, Andrea leaves the room with one last look at him. 

He opens the box with a pair of scissors he found in the bathroom. He rifles through the carefully-done inner wrappings before his requested jewelry is presented right before him. He inspects the red bands and happily notes how they followed his request to a T despite such short notice. Perks of being APM Monaco's ambassador, he guesses. He needs to send a thank you to them again later.

He wears one of the bracelets and puts the other one back to its protective casing. With his props ready, all he has to do now is wait for Max to come back.

°°°

Max is bombarded by his boyfriend the moment he steps inside their hotel room. Charles leads him to the bed, pulling at his hand, and Max follows wordlessly. 

Charles seats him on the edge of the bed, a small box pressed beside him. He suddenly brings out a ring light from one corner, who knows where on Earth he obtained that, and turns it on before angling it to perfectly highlight Max. 

"Schatje, what's going on?" Max asks as he looks skeptically at the bedroom set-up, wondering if Charles is going to film a vlog for his Youtube account. 

Charles just hums, continuing to set up, before answering. "Mon cœur, I need you to help me get back at my dear little brother, okay?" He announces, putting himself in front of Max as he picks up the box beside the latter. "And this, this will be your prop." He removes the bracelet from its case, holding Max's hand as he now slides the Ferrari red bracelet on his lover's wrist. 

Max turns to inspect the piece of jewelry, marvelling at the intricate design. "You had this custom-made? It has your number on it." 

Charles resumes his work, now fixing Max to his desired position. "Yup, called in a favor two nights ago when you were asleep. Thank goodness it came on time."

"What does this have to do with—" Max cuts himself off as realization dawns on him. "Fuck, this is the same model as Arthur's isn't it?" 

Charles winks at him— well, winks as much as he can. "You are absolutely right, mon amour. You get a kiss for that." He announces, holding his boyfriend's face with both hands as he happily kisses him for a few seconds. 

Enjoying the kiss, Max hums. "Now what does this have to do with me, baby?" He questions, both his hands coming up to hold Charles' waist while the latter's in between his legs.

"I am going to take pictures of you while wearing that bracelet, and you're going to post it on your Instagram with a caption that would remind the people of me." He confidently elaborates his plan. He knows some might speculate about the bracelets being the same model, but with how it's Ferrari red in color, added with a purposeful caption? Charles can assure that after this, no one would think how the 'Le' in Lestappen may be someone else.

Max lets the information be absorbed into his brain for a while. "Do I get a reward or something after this? This is literally going to be on my official account, schatje." Meanwhile, his hands start roaming inside the brunette's shirt. He caresses his waist provocatively before moving one of his hands to run up and down his back repetitively. 

Charles pokes Max’s nose and does a matching sly wink, “Hmm… sure you will. Is my ass good enough for you?” 

The latter smirks and gives said ass an appreciative squeeze, as if warning Charles of what’s about to come. “Oh you fucking know it is.” 

°°°

@maxverstappen1’s Instagram post is what greeted most of his followers’ feed just minutes after it got uploaded. Captioned “got caught in an inchident”, a single photo of Max lying on a bed, with his right wrist poised atop his closed eyes, a bracelet as red as a Ferrari in center view. The camera angle also clearly implies that whoever took the picture was straddling him. 

The post immediately made headlines on social media sites, and fans were geeking out over theories about the said post. Lestappen nation in particular was rejoicing.

OMG LESTAPPEN IS REAL YALL!!!

Max Verstappen really silenced all of us with that one post damn

Max just basically confirmed that the “Le” in Lestappen is actually Charles Leclerc, not any other Leclerc

Does Max know we’re insane!?!

Hello??? The Ferrari red bracelet, the mention of INCHIDENT!? 

hold up is no one gonna talk about the angle of the photo? That man def has someone and got laid 

A certain Charles Leclerc was scrolling through the #Lestappen tags with a blinding smile on his face, his dimples making an appearance. He looks to his left, only partially due to his boyfriend cuddling him as they lay on the bed. “Thank you for making me the happiest today mon amour. I love you.” 

Max kisses him deep, “I love you too, schat.” He cuddles the younger closer, then asks as he remembers the actual reason for all of this. “So how’s your one-sided beef with Arthur?” 

Charles lets out an exaggerated gasp, clearly offended. “How dare you call this a one-sided beef? This is psychological warfare started by my menace of a baby brother! Get your facts right, Max.” His eyebrows are furrowed, facial features grimacing, but Max just finds him adorable. A cute grumpy diva. Max is very much aware about how his boyfriend can be overreacting sometimes (or a lot). He loves that about him. Oh he’s down bad— as Daniel would say.

“You’re also a menace in your own way Charles. Fans literally called you an ankle-biter when you were in karting. And remember the inchident?” Max reminds him, laughing as Charles gives his arm— that’s resting across the latter’s waist— a slap. Charles sits up as well now, seemingly taking this seriously. Such a diva indeed. “Max Emilian Verstappen, are you calling me petty?!” 

Now, Max’s survival instincts must have gone on a vacation, currently out of stock, or perhaps non-existent as he replies with a deadpan look. "Yes, you sometimes are, schatje.” 

“Oh fuck you, no sex for you today!” Charles declares, as if his words were a punishment delivered by a king to his traitor of a knight. 

This finally got a reaction out of Max. What about his reward? How did we actually go from exchanging I love you’s to me getting banned from sex? Isn’t Arthur Charles' enemy here? “No way, Charles!”

“Yes way, Verstappen!” Yup, he’s definitely petty. Charles actually knows it, he just doesn’t want to admit it. And he enjoys riling Max up. 

Max’s face is now the perfect definition of forlorn. Oh he’s so easy, Charles thinks. I bribed him with sex to agree, and now he looks so heartbroken as if I gave away the pets. “What about my reward? You promised!” Now he sounds like a petulant child.

Charles decides to play him some more. “You can claim it some other day. I’m not in the mood today, Max.” He reveals, purposively sighing and making his voice sound tired.

“Oh.” Now Max feels guilty. “It’s okay schatje, I don’t really care about it. I’d still post your request even without the reward.” He hugs his boyfriend and pulls him back to lie down. 

Charles smiles as he leans back against Max. He knows he’s in love with and is loved by the right man. He turns to face Max, both his palms resting on the other’s face as he caresses him. “I was just messing with you, my love.” To emphasize his point, he sits up and straddles his boyfriend. He leans in and whispers, “Make love to me right now, mon cœur.”  

And indeed, Max claimed his reward.