𝐴𝑙𝑙 𝑌𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑠~𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑒𝑛

Chapter 11: Morning After

The next morning, the sun filtered through the hotel room's thin curtains, casting a soft glow over the chaos that was Max and Charles's shared space. Pillows were strewn everywhere from last night's battle, one chair was suspiciously tipped over, and the TV was still on, playing some random infomercial about kitchen gadgets neither of them would ever need.

Max stirred first, groggily rubbing his eyes as he rolled over in bed. He blinked a few times, trying to piece together where he was. Then he glanced over at Charles, who was still sprawled out in the other bed, half his body hanging off the mattress like he'd given up halfway through the night and just let gravity do its thing.

Max smirked. "Good morning, Sweetheart."

Charles grunted in response, his face buried in a pillow. "Five more minutes."

"Nope, sorry." Max swung his legs out of bed and stood up, stretching with a loud yawn. "We've got a day of 'team bonding' ahead of us, remember?"

Charles cracked one eye open, groaning. "Team bonding? Why does that sound like we're about to be tortured?"

Max grinned, already rummaging through his suitcase for something to wear. "Because we probably are. You know how they love to make us do those cringey activities like trust falls and building towers out of marshmallows and spaghetti."

Charles sat up, his hair sticking up in every direction. He looked like he'd been hit by a tornado. "I hate team bonding. It's like they forget we spend enough time around each other at the track."

Max chuckled, pulling on a T-shirt. "Well, it's mandatory, so you can either complain or we can make it fun."

Charles narrowed his eyes. "And by fun, you mean?"

Max wiggled his eyebrows mischievously. "By fun, I mean, we mess with everyone else. Nothing too crazy, just little pranks. Like maybe we 'accidentally' spill water on Carlos, or suggest ridiculous icebreaker questions."

Charles sighed dramatically, but there was a hint of a smile creeping across his face. "Fine. But if this gets out of hand and they make us do even more bonding, I'm blaming you."

Max gave him a thumbs up. "Deal."

As they got ready, Max couldn't help but notice how Charles seemed a little more relaxed after their ridiculous night. There was no tension, no weird rivalry energy between them. It was just two guys preparing for a day of corporate team-building nonsense-and somehow, that made the day ahead seem a little less unbearable.

But then, disaster struck.

Charles, in his half-awake state, made a fatal mistake. He opened the minibar.

"Charles, no!" Max shouted as he saw Charles reach for the minibar coffee.

Charles turned to him, confused. "What? I just need caffeine."

"That's not coffee. That's rocket fuel disguised as coffee," Max warned. "Trust me, you drink that stuff, you're going to be bouncing off the walls."

Charles raised an eyebrow. "It can't be that bad. I've had terrible coffee before."

Max crossed his arms. "Alright, fine. But don't say I didn't warn you."

Charles shrugged and downed the small can of hotel coffee with a casual sip. He paused, making a face. "Okay, that's... strong."

"Give it a minute," Max said, shaking his head.

Sure enough, five minutes later, Charles was pacing around the room like a man possessed, talking a mile a minute.

"Max, do you think marshmallows actually make good building materials? I mean, they're soft, but if you stack them right-"

"Charles."

"-and why do people even do trust falls? You know, trust isn't something that can be earned by just falling backwards. What if you did a trust push? Like, you push someone and trust them not to-"

"Charles."

"-oh, and have you ever thought about how racing is just a metaphor for life? We're all just trying to get ahead, but sometimes you spin out, and you've got to-"

"CHARLES!" Max shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders.

Charles froze, his eyes wide and slightly manic. "What?"

"You're going to wear yourself out before we even get to the stupid marshmallow tower. Calm down."

Charles blinked, realizing for the first time that he had, indeed, been talking non-stop. "Oh. Uh, yeah. Sorry. I think... maybe the coffee was a little too much."

Max nodded, leading him over to the bed. "Just sit down, take deep breaths, and let the caffeine wear off."

After a few moments, Charles finally started to settle down, though his leg kept bouncing up and down like it had a mind of its own. Max handed him a bottle of water, which Charles chugged gratefully.

Once the caffeine-induced mania had subsided, they made their way downstairs to meet the rest of the team for the dreaded bonding exercises. As expected, it was a mix of awkward icebreakers and overly enthusiastic team-building coaches. They were forced to participate in a series of tasks that were meant to "bring them closer together as a team."

The best part? The trust fall.

Max and Charles exchanged a look when it was their turn. They both knew this was going to be an utter disaster.

"Okay, Charles, you'll fall, and Max, you'll catch him," the overly chipper coach said, clapping her hands like this was the most exciting event of the day.

Charles gave Max a mock-serious look. "You better catch me, Verstappen. If I hit the floor, I'm dragging you down with me."

Max smirked. "I've got you, Leclerc. But if you chicken out and do that weird half-fall thing, I'm letting you hit the ground."

Charles rolled his eyes, preparing to fall back. "I'm trusting you, Max."

Max braced himself, his arms outstretched, as Charles began to lean back. Everything seemed to be going fine-until Charles, maybe still jittery from the minibar coffee, fell faster than Max anticipated.

"Whoa!" Max shouted as Charles plummeted toward him like a sack of potatoes.

In a split-second decision, Max tried to catch him, but instead, both of them went down in a tangled heap, much to the amusement of their teammates.

They landed on the floor with a thud, Charles lying flat on his back with Max half on top of him-again.

"Why does this keep happening?" Charles groaned from beneath Max.

Max, laughing despite himself, rolled off him. "It's your fault! You fell like a rock!"

"You were supposed to catch me!" Charles shot back, laughing as well.

The coach, trying to maintain her enthusiasm, clapped her hands. "Great effort, boys! Let's try it again."

Charles and Max looked at each other, still lying on the floor. "I'm never trusting you again," Charles said with a grin.

Max smirked. "Can't say I blame you."

As they got to their feet, brushing themselves off, they realized that maybe, just maybe, this whole team bonding thing wasn't as terrible as they thought. After all, they'd survived a pillow fight, a caffeine overdose, and now a trust fall gone wrong-and they were still laughing about it.

"Well," Charles said, dusting off his pants, "at least we're good at being bad at this."

Max nodded, grinning. "Yeah. But don't think this means I'm catching you again."

Charles laughed. "Fair enough."

And with that, they headed off to the next ridiculous activity, already plotting their next round of pranks-because if they were going to suffer through team bonding, they might as well have some fun while they were at it.