What is home?

Part 5: family

It was the next day and Max was still extremely nervous. He knew he had promised Lance and Charles to tell Sebastian and Kimi everything but he knew he couldn't at least not today.

They were leaving in two weeks, which meant he still had two weeks left to tell them everything, but it also meant two weeks full of anxiety.

He had noticed he was tenser than in the last couple of weeks. He started to talk less and isolated himself more.

All because he was too scared, but the therapy session did help. He liked the feeling he got after he told his stories without getting judged.

A couple of days later he had a full day of school and an after-school activity. There was an online racing team and he had talked to one of the boys in there and they had invited Max.

He had texted Sebastian to ask if he was allowed to stay for the activity. Sebastian of course had directly said yes. He was just happy that Max felt comfortable enough to go to an after-school activity.

-

Charles was waiting for his dad to show up. It had been a couple of days since Lance and he talked to Max. As he heard a car coming up he felt someone stand beside him. He looked over to see Lance smiling, looking back he saw his dad waving.

He went to the passenger seat to sit beside his dad, Lance went to the back.

"How was school?" His dad asked them once he drove off towards their home. It was a 15-minute drive from home to school and back. Most of the time Sebastian decided to bring them but once in a while, they went by public transportation.

"Good Pierre said their family is also going to winter sport this year, but of course, they are going back to France."

Lance just nodded his head when his dad looked back at him through the rearview mirror. Sebastian and Kimi had always gone back to Finland for their winter sports vacation. Mainly because their vacation house was right next to Kimi his parents.

"Your grandpa asked us they needed to buy something else for Max his room there, do you guys know if he wants something?" Sebastian glanced at Charles who seemed to tense up, so he looked into the rearview mirror at his younger son and saw him also tensing up a little bit.

"What did I say wrong?" Sebastian looked over to both of his sons wondering if Max had told them something he didn't know or, if they had already spoiled the secret. He didn't even think Charles was going to be able to keep it a secret.

"Max said it looked good," Charles mumbled. Sebastian let out a chuckle of course his son wasn't able to keep it a secret. He knew it.

Charles glanced back towards Lance who nodded they knew Max hadn't told their dads anything yet but Charles wasn't able to stay quiet. He knew it wasn't his story and he wasn't going to tell everything but he had to say something.

"We have to tell you something," Charles looked down at his hands. He didn't know how to start telling his dad that Max was terrified of going on winter sports but he also knew if he didn't say something Max his anxiety would go through the sky for the next week because the day that they were supposed to leave came closer and closer.

"What happened?" Sebastian looked to the right and he didn't think he had seen his oldest son looking so nervous. So he looked around and saw he was close to a parking lot. He knew this was going to be a serious conversation so he didn't want to drive during it.

When the car was parked he turned to the side so that was able to face both of his sons. He looked at both of them, not just Charles but also Lance looked nervous.