Chapter Text
Max stirred lazily on his hotel bed, listening to the shrill alarm clock ringing loudly in his ear. He blinked, staring at the ceiling, unable to fall back asleep. Okay, he was actually starting to get annoyed.
"Ughhh, so annoying. Osc, turn off your damn fucking phone alarm!" Max groaned, clutching his head.
He turned to the person snuggled close, hugging him like a teddy bear, and smacked their arm. This jolted Oscar awake, who looked at him with those wide, innocent brown eyes. It was as if the person who had pinned him down and demanded sex yesterday wasn't this cheeky youngster at all.
"That hurt, Max..." Oscar whined in his deep, husky morning voice, burying his head into Max's neck where the ambiguous red marks were still clearly visible.
Max sometimes wondered if this kid had some dog lineage or something, biting him so fiercely and then forcing him to use those little plasters to cover the marks.
"Hurt what? My back hurts more than that!"
Oscar lifted his face, kissed Max's long eyelashes, and reached for the phone on the bedside table, turning it on.
"Oops, I'm late for my meeting," Oscar exclaimed, jumping out of bed in a panic and rushing into the bathroom to quickly brush his teeth.
Max also slowly sat up and stretched, much more relaxed than the person scrambling through the suitcase for a shirt. This was partly because the Red Bull team knew better than to force him into too many cumbersome meetings. Of course, he still had a responsibility to attend mandatory ones, but his biggest task remained driving fast and providing good feedback to the team.
He yawned widely and watched Oscar pull on the light orange McLaren team shirt. A few scratch marks were still visible on the younger man's toned back. That physique was truly perfect.
Max smiled faintly, admiring the results of his own work from last night. Well, it seemed they had given as good as they got.
Oscar finished dressing, turned around, and met his lover's gaze fixed intently on him.
"What are you staring at so fiercely?"
Max reached for a comb in the cupboard, walked over to Oscar, and began to comb his hair, gently smoothing down the messy brown locks. Oscar lowered his head, enjoying the tender care from his lover, humming a song he didn't even remember the name of. A subtle sense of tranquility and peace between the two warmed the morning atmosphere.
"I have to go to a sponsor dinner tonight," Oscar murmured.
"Not coming back to eat with me?"
"I can't. Zak would kill me. Don't wait up for me tonight, just go to bed. You have qualifying tomorrow morning."
"Alright. I won't make it difficult for you then," Max combed his hair one last time, cupped Oscar's cheeks, and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.
Oscar lifted Max's chin with one hand and kissed him on the mouth, wrapping his other arm around Max's waist to pull their bodies close together.
"Mmm, that's enough. I haven't brushed my teeth!" Max chuckled, gently pushing Oscar's face away with one hand. "Go to work."
Oscar rubbed his head against Max's face one more time, grabbed the baseball cap hanging on the shelf, and ran out the door.
"See you later sweetie."
"Bye bye" Max waved.
...
Oscar scanned his badge and walked into the paddock, his face displaying his usual friendly smile. But the gazes of everyone around him seemed unusually strange; they appeared to be looking at him quite a lot. A few photographers were frowning with amused curiosity, continuously clicking their cameras towards him.
"What's going on? Is there something on my face?" Oscar whispered to himself. No, that wasn't right. He had checked himself in the mirror before leaving the room this morning.
The first person he bumped into was Lando, who looked up at his head with surprise, then smiled and asked:
"Oh, oh, so that's it. You're trying to get yelled at, aren't you?"
"Huh?" Oscar replied, confused. "Yelled at for what?"
"Look at what you're wearing on your head, Oscar."
Oscar raised his hand to his head and took off his baseball cap.
Ah.
Oh crap.
The cap in his hand wasn't the familiar orange of the team. It was a black cap with a huge, bright red number one prominently displayed on the front, and the Red Bull logo right next to it.
He took Max's cap by mistake.
Wait, why didn't Max say anything? Oh my god. The two caps were clearly placed side by side, but his goldfish brain couldn't remember whether he put his on the left or the right.
"You're screwed, Oscar," Lando opened his phone and showed Oscar a post proudly featured on X. It was a picture of him walking in wearing Max's Red Bull cap, and smiling brightly too. Oh dear, why were you smiling, Oscar from 5 minutes ago?
"OSCAR!" A shout echoed from the meeting room down the hall.
He knew that voice; Andrea, the Team Principal, must have already seen the post.
"Good luck," Lando gave Oscar a look of concern and slipped into the meeting room ahead of him.
Oscar closed his eyes tightly and took a deep breath. Alright, concoct a believable story. He was best at quick thinking, after all. God only knew how the team—or the entire sport—would react if he told them he was dating Max.
He gently pushed the door open, subtly hiding the cap behind his back. The entire room full of McLaren staff turned their eyes on him, the oppressive atmosphere truly unnerving. But Oscar wasn't easily intimidated. He maintained a calm expression, waiting for Andrea, who was frowning at him, to speak first.
"Oscar, do you have any explanation?" The boss's voice was low.
"With all due respect Andrea, this is just a small fun bet I lost to Max" Oscar replied honestly, meeting his gaze directly.
Andrea raised an eyebrow, seeming half-convinced, half-suspicious of the confession. But then he burst out laughing and sighed in relief, pointing the fountain pen in his hand toward Oscar.
"Alright, alright. I thought it was something serious, like you were defecting or something. Don't wear that cap again, Osc. I think that's enough for your bet. Next time, inform the team beforehand so we can speak on your behalf."
Oscar let out a sigh of relief and nodded, "Yes, sir."
He had successfully overcome the crisis.
After escaping the meeting room, he immediately checked his phone and saw several message notifications from Max.
[Maxie: Oh, looks like you took my cap by mistake, Piastri. image attached]
[Maxie: It looks good on you, though. Maybe we should go public and just swap clothes.]
[Maxie: Just kidding, haha]
[Maxie: ;) ]
[Maxie: Be more careful next time.]
[Maxie: 💖]
[Maxie: Someone's already messaged me asking about our relationship.]
He almost cried from laughter. It turned out Max hadn't even noticed he just walked out wearing his cap for everyone to see. Oscar pondered for a moment, then put his hands to the keyboard to reply.
[Oscar: I didn't mean to 😭]
[Maxie: It's fine, I don't blame you. I didn't even notice when you took my cap.]
[Maxie: Did they give you a hard time?]
[Oscar: No. I just said I lost a bet.]
[Maxie: Smart ✌️]
[Oscar: Didn't you say you didn't want to date someone who wasn't smart?]
[Maxie: Okay, you're the best in my heart now ☺️]
Oscar's face flushed. He felt like one of those silly teenagers in love. Every time he heard Max compliment him, it was hard not to feel terribly shy.
[Maxie: Give me my cap back, just walk right over later.]
[Oscar: Can I just keep it, please?]
A long silence followed. Based on what he knew about his lover, Max was probably smiling on the other end.
[Maxie: Fine, you can keep it. I have plenty of caps. I'm spoiling you too much Osc]
Oscar smiled happily, hugging the cap to his chest, imagining Max smiling at him helplessly. He's impossibly sweet. But how could he complain about his lover?
[Oscar: Yippie 😁]