please please please update ur fanfics im begging u
yes milord i shall get right to it after i slay the dragon of finals with my magic pen of doom đ«Ąđ«Ą
phone, I love you so much, you connect me to so many things that i would never see otherwise, thank you phone
gonna stop writing one shots until im done with parent trap, greek comedies, and red flags.
i will probs last for two days lmao bye.
calling me out on main smh
gonna go study now. gonna lock in so fucking hard u wont even see me. BYE.
if i post another fic u have all the permission to call me out. not that u need permission. but still.
chap2 draft kings????
ps. its not as devastating as i wanted it to be so I will probs change the whole thing in the final draft. so treat this as a snippet. as breadcrumbs. as baby powder. idk anway thank you anon for asking me to post even tho I technically forced u to ask me to post. lmao enjoy!!
Max keeps discovering Charles in pieces.
Little moments, misaligned. Like someone dropped a jigsaw puzzle of the person he loves and walked away before finishing it. Max is the one trying to put it back together. But the edges are soft. Some pieces are missing. Some pieces look like theyâve been through fire.
Itâs not that Charles is a stranger now. Itâs worse. Itâs that heâs almost the same.
He still hums when he stirs his tea. Still folds napkins into little rectangles. Still says âbless youâ when the dog sneezes. Still wears three layers when itâs cold out because âMax, my bones are delicate.â
But sometimes he skips meals like itâs second nature. Sometimes he runs till he nearly collapses, shirt soaked, heart clawing at his ribs, lips cracked from wind and silence. Sometimes he drives like death is something he could outrun if heâs just fast enough.
And none of it is in his notes app.
Thatâs how Max knows itâs old. Not from the memory loss. Not from the accident. It came before.
Charles forgot it allâbut his body remembers. The rituals of hurt. The practiced choreography of self-destruction.
Max doesnât know when it started.
Because Max wasnât there.
Max had left.
Abu Dhabi 2021 had blown their friendship into dust and ash and regret. Charles had taken him out in the final raceâmaybe an accident, maybe a mistake, maybe some deep, subconscious act of rebellionâand Max had walked away like the wreckage didnât matter. Like he could afford to.
He thought he was punishing Charles by cutting him off. Now he wonders if he just abandoned him.
He wondersâwhen did it start?
The skipping meals. The 2 a.m. street sprints. The hunger that wasnât hunger. The ache behind Charlesâ ribs that Max couldnât see until it was too late?
He wants to ask. But Charles doesnât remember.
Theyâve been dating for four months now. Four months of Max trying to trace love into muscle memory. Four months of Charles waking up confused and Max saying, softly, patiently, âYouâre home. Youâre safe. Iâm Max, and I love you.â
Max never thought heâd have this again. He never thought he deserved it.
Because maybe he wasnât there when Charles needed someone. Maybe Charles reached out in the dark, and Max had already turned away.
He catches it one night. The tail end of a dream. Charles flinching in his sleep, face twisted in something awful, and murmuring a name Max doesnât recognize. Not Max. Not even close.
Max holds him through it. Doesnât sleep. Traces the freckles on Charlesâ shoulder like they might give him clues. The next morning, Charles doesnât remember the dream. Just stretches and says, âDid I talk in my sleep again?â
Max nods. Smiles. Lies. âJust some mumbling.â
He doesnât say, You cried. You said âI didnât mean to.â You sounded so fucking lost.
Max keeps collecting the puzzle pieces.
He notices how Charles avoids mirrors. How he flinches when a plate drops. How he never asks about the years between them, like he knows something there is sharp and dangerous and better left untouched.
Max finds an old article one night. From early 2023. Buried in the archives.
Leclerc skips another media session. Ferrari release vague statement about âmental health and personal circumstances.â Multiple sources confirm Charles has relocated to a private facility for recovery. No comments from family or friends.
Max stares at it until the screen burns his eyes.
He clicks the tab closed. Doesnât bring it up. Just adds another page to his private notebook. His Charles Survival Manual.
Max should ask someone. Joris. Arthur. Even Carlos. But the idea of saying it aloud makes his lungs lock up.
Because what if they say, He needed you. And you werenât there.
Max makes it his mission now. A quiet, invisible one. To be there.
He watches Charles brush his teeth and reminds him gently when he forgets where the towels are.
He stocks the fridge with his favourite things, even though Charles barely touches them.
He talks to Leo, the miniature dachshund, like Leo might remember what Charles canât.
He counts calories in his head. Pretends heâs not doing it. Pretends heâs not watching how hollow Charlesâ collarbones look when he changes.
He starts keeping a chart. A secret one. On paper. Not the Notes app. He calls it Days When Charles Eats + Smiles + Asks Me To Stay.
Some days he gets all three. Some days just one. Some days none.
He never blames Charles. He never gets angry. But some nights he sits on the edge of the bathtub, lights off, forehead pressed to the tile, and just breathes until he doesnât feel like crying anymore.
He still loves him. He always has. Even when it hurt. Even when they werenât speaking. Even when Max swore he was done.
He never stopped.
Thatâs the problem. Thatâs the entire problem.
Because now Charles is his. And Charles doesnât remember being his. And Max keeps having to earn it over and over again. With every day. Every small gesture. Every act of love disguised as breakfast, or forehead kisses, or whispering âitâs okayâ when Charles forgets who he is in the dark.
Theyâre lying in bed one night. Charles curled against Max, half-asleep, warm and soft and blinking slowly like a cat.
And out of nowhere, Charles says, âDo you think I was happy before?â
Max feels it like a slap.
Before what? The crash? The memory loss? The years they didnât speak? Max doesnât know which version of before Charles means. But it doesnât matter. None of the answers are easy.
He swallows. âI think you were trying.â
Charles nods like that makes sense. âWere we⊠in love then too?â
Max closes his eyes. Breathes in. âNot yet.â
Charles tilts his head. âWhy?â
Max thinks of 2021. The crash. The headlines. The cold war. The silence.
âI think I wasnât ready,â Max whispers.
Charles smiles sleepily. âYouâre ready now.â
Max wants to cry.
Instead, he presses a kiss to Charlesâ temple and says, âYeah, baby. Iâm here now.â
He doesnât say: And Iâm never leaving again. He doesnât say: Even if you forget me a thousand more times.
Because love, real love, is showing up even when no one remembers you were invited.
And Max? Heâs staying.
He says it in the silence of his chest. He says it in the way he presses the hospital door open for Charles, lets the morning spill warm and gold across the pavement like it might disinfect something ancient. The third appointment. More scans, more progress, more hope threaded through jargonâpost-concussive neurocognitive recovery, episodic memory lag, mild disinhibition, residual attentional deficits. Fancy ways of saying: his brain is still learning how to be his again.
And Max watches him, carefully. Always. Watches the small fidget Charles does with his hoodie string. The way he squints at the light like itâs something unfamiliar. The barely-there tremble in his fingers when the neurologist talked about executive dysfunction and possible long-term gaps.
But Charles still smiles. Still swings his legs over the curb like a child and says, with a bright, too-casual grin, âCan I drive your Porsche?â
Max blinks.
And thatâs the thingâCharles asks with no idea that itâs the first time in years heâs asked for something like that to Max. The last time was before Abu Dhabi. Something simple like that. Joyful. Normal. Itâs not food. Itâs not medicine. Itâs not Maxâs name in the dark, half-remembered. Itâs the fucking Porsche.
Max doesnât answer right away.
He reaches into his pocket, pulls out the protein bar heâd stuffed there before they left the house. Chocolate and nuts. Not a meal. But something.
âEat this first,â Max says, quiet but firm.
Charles raises an eyebrow, suspicious. âWhat if I donât?â
Max shrugs, flicking the key fob lazily against his palm. âThen I drive.â
Charles groans. âThatâs blackmail.â
âItâs care,â Max says. âThe threatening kind.â
Charles stares at him. Stares at the bar. Then mutters something in French that definitely translates to drama queen before ripping it open with his teeth.
Max watches him chew. Watches him swallow. Watches the stubborn set of Charlesâ jaw loosen when the sugar hits his bloodstream and his whole body eases like itâs relieved he fed it something.
Only then does Max hand over the keys.
âDrive slow,â Max says, deliberately. âI mean it. Slow.â
Charles flashes him a grin that is not slow. Itâs reckless and charming and familiar in a way that makes Maxâs heart somersault. âOf course.â
Of course.
Of course, Charles drives like heâs qualifying for Monaco.
Maxâs head hits the backrest as the Porsche peels out of the hospital parking lot with all the tenderness of a ballistic missile. He watches the speedometer inch, then leap, then sprint.
âSlow,â Max says through gritted teeth.
Charles is smiling. Wide. Bright. Alive. âThis is slow.â
âYou took that roundabout like you were defending from Lewis in Hungary.â
Charles laughs. Not politely. Not demurely. Itâs wild, stupid laughter that fills the car like sunshine with a knife in it. âI remember driving like this on a bike.â
Maxâs entire body stills.
Because thatâs new. Thatâs a memory. Not in the notes app. Not something he pieced together. Something Charles felt.
âYou donât own a bike,â Max says, slowly, carefully. âYouâve never owned a bike.â
Charles shifts gears with terrifying confidence. âI do. A Ducati. Red. Very fast. Fred stole it.â
Max closes his eyes briefly. Breathes. âWhy did Fred steal your Ducati, Charles?â
âI donât remember,â Charles says, which is even worse.
Max doesnât respond. Just calmly reaches over and shifts the gear himself using the dual clutch. Forces the car to a less homicidal speed. Charles protests, but Max just gives him a look. The kind that says, I have loved you through worse, but I will not die in this fucking car.
The ride the rest of the way is quieter. Not slow, but bearable. Max keeps one eye on Charles, the other on his phone, fingers already typing out a text.
Max: did charles used to have a bike
Fred: Max what the fuck He is never getting that bike back Donât even ask
Max: what happened
Fred: He rode it like a man possessed High speed In the RAIN AT NIGHT In fucking 2022 It was right after the car started being shit midseason He didnât sleep for like 3 days Was completely dead behind the eyes I took the keys He tried to fight me I told him if he got on it again Iâd call his mother He backed off Do NOT give that boy wheels
Max stares at the message. Blinks.
Charles pulls into the driveway. His hand lingers on the gearshift like itâs a trigger. Like he could go again. Faster. If no one stopped him.
Max doesnât move. Just studies the lines of Charlesâ face. The flush of wind on his cheeks. The shine of joy and something far darker still flickering at the edges.
âFred said you rode the Ducati in the rain.â
Charles blinks. âI did?â
âAt night. Alone. After Ferrari started losing in 2022.â
Charles shrugs, but his mouth twists. âSounds like something Iâd do.â
Max wants to scream.
Not at Charles. Not even at Fred.
At himself.
Because he wasnât there. He didnât see it. Didnât stop it. Didnât know until now, years later, through a fucking text.
He wonders what else he missed. What other parts of Charles were burning while Max was building walls.
He unbuckles slowly. Reaches over and tucks a strand of hair behind Charlesâ ear. Charles leans into the touch instinctively.
It makes Max acheâhow soft Charles looks when he does that. How safe. And Max lets himself stay in that stillness for just a second longer, forehead to temple, pretending the world wonât unravel the second he lets go.
But it always does.
Because when he wakes up at three in the morning to the sound of the front door clicking shut, he already knows.
Max throws off the blanket. The bedâs cold on the side where Charles had curled up earlier, legs tucked tight like he was trying to make himself smaller than the weight of his own head.
He grabs a hoodie, socks barely on, and finds him on the street just outside the houseâdressed in a fitted thermal top and leggings, trainers laced too tight, pacing slightly like the road itself owes him something.
Itâs cold. Max exhales and sees his own breath.
âCharles,â Max says softly.
Charles turns.
His face is bathed in the amber spill of the streetlamp, soft and clean and wide-eyed. Heâs too still.
And Max knows that look. Max knows that stare.
Itâs the one Charles uses when heâs searchingâwhen his brain is rifling through memories like loose paper, trying to find the one with Maxâs face in it. The one with meaning. Itâs a glance that lasts just a beat too long, just a second too clinical, like Max might be a stranger heâs bluffing familiarity with.
Max swallows.
âWhere are you going?â
Charles shifts slightly, eyes darting away. âJust for a run.â
âAt three in the morning?â
Charles shrugs. âI couldnât sleep.â
Max nods, stepping down from the porch. âAlright. Iâll come with you.â
âYou donât have to,â Charles says quickly. Too quickly. âItâs okay. I⊠I donât wanna bother you.â
Max looks at him. At the gentle slope of his shoulders. At the way his hands are tucked into his sleeves like heâs hiding from something invisible.
âYouâre not bothering me.â
Charles hesitates, fidgeting with the seam of his top.
Max watches him. Watches the way his eyes flickerânot like heâs lying, but like heâs trying to navigate fog. Like some part of him knows Maxâs voice, Maxâs presence, but the lines arenât connecting right.
âI just didnât wanna wake you,â Charles says after a long pause. âYouâre my husband, you should rest.â
Max stops breathing.
Itâs the third time this week.
The third time Charles has said it. Casually. Like itâs fact. Like itâs muscle memory his brain never quite unlearned. My husband. Like theyâre something, like theyâve been everything, and somehow it makes Maxâs ribs contract and expand all at once.
Max doesnât correct him.
Canât.
Because maybe itâs not true, not in paper, not in public, not in whatever timeline Charles thinks heâs living inâbut something about the way Charles says it always makes Max wish it had been.
That in all the months lost to the void in Charlesâ head, Max was still there. Maybe not fully formed. Maybe not complete. But present. Familiar. A name stitched in the lining of something warm.
âAlright,â Max says quietly. âLead the way.â
Charles flashes a small smile, barely more than a twitch, and turns on his heel, jogging down the path. Max follows.
And it starts okay. A light pace, cool air brushing their cheeks, shoes scuffing softly against the pavement.
But thenâ
Charles speeds up.
Not gradually. Not normally. Like his body remembers how to leave everything behind in a blur. He runs like heâs training. Like heâs qualifying. Like if he stops, something bad will catch him.
Max frowns. Picks up his own pace to match.
âCharles,â he calls. âSlow down.â
Charles doesnât answer.
So Max pushes harder. Catches up. Draws even beside him. Sees the sweat on his temples, the wildness in his eyes, the clenched jaw.
âHey,â Max says, softer now, like heâs trying not to spook a deer. âYou donât have to run like that.â
Charles breathes hard. âIâm fine.â
âYouâre not,â Max says. âYouâre sprinting. In the cold. At 3:18 a.m.â
Charles doesnât look at him. Just keeps running like his brain is burning fuel and refusing to cool.
Max angles into him, nudges his elbow gently, slows his own pace by half a stepâjust enough that Charles has to adjust or fall out of sync. It works. Barely. Charles stumbles, glances at him sharply, then exhales, the fight leaking out of him.
They slow. Just a bit.
Max watches his breath come out ragged, watched his fingers flex open like they were clinging to something invisible.
âDo you always run like that?â Max asks, casual.
âI donât know,â Charles admits.
He sounds young when he says it. Not twenty-six. Not world-weary. Just a boy with empty drawers where his memories used to be.
âI think I used to,â he adds, âWhen things felt too heavy.â
Max nods. Quiet. âYou always said the faster you ran, the quieter your head got.â
Charles glances at him.
âYou remember that?â
Max doesnât answer. Just runs beside him. Step for step.
Because the truth is: Max remembers everything.
He remembers the first time Charles had run like thatâafter Silverstone. After the strategy call that cost him everything. He remembers Charles lacing up his shoes like they were armor, leaving at midnight, and not coming back until the sun cracked open the sky.
He remembers standing at the door with a towel and a bottle of water, pretending not to cry.
Now, Charles is beside him again. Running too hard. Breathing too sharp. Skin pinked with the cold. But Max is here this time. Not standing at a door. Not helpless.
Heâs here.
And when they slow to a walk, when Charles finally presses his hands to his knees and pants for air, Max just puts a hand on his back. Steady. Firm. There.
âYou donât need to outrun anything tonight,â Max says, voice low.
Charles nods, not looking up.
âI just⊠sometimes I feel like if I donât move, Iâll break.â
âYou wonât,â Max says, certainty threading through his exhaustion. âNot with me here.â
Charles finally looks at him. Really looks. The confusion is still there. The faint edges of unknowing. But itâs softened now. Colored by something warmer. Trust, maybe. Recognition, even if itâs misplaced.
Max lets himself believe in it for one breath.
Then another.
Then, slowly, they walk the last stretch home under a sky that is just beginning to consider dawn.
you đ«” when you đ«” lie đ
i'm sort of a 0-trick pony
gap in my résumé cause i was just snuggled up so cozy
a phineas and ferb X f1 crackfic? si. i don't have much plot at the moment so I thought I would just post whatever I have.. so this is a snippet. if u wanna write the fic dm me! i have ideas but no ambition.
Maximilian Doofenshmirtz had a problem.
Well, he had several problems. His evil lair's espresso machine was on the fritz again, his latest inator had turned his favorite pair of shoes into sentient beings that now refused to be worn, and his daughter Lanessa was threatening to move out if he didn't stop using her room as a storage space for his "Evil Plans That Didn't Work" memorabilia.
But the most pressing issue at hand was the mysterious human who kept showing up and thwarting his evil schemes.
Max had first noticed the man during his attempt to replace all the city's pigeons with robotic versions that would deliver his manifesto instead of defecating on statues. Just as he was about to activate the Pigeonator 3000, the man had appeared out of nowhere, dismantled the machine with alarming efficiency, and disappeared without a trace.
"Who was that?" Max had wondered aloud, scratching his head. "Just some random human? How rude!"
This pattern continued. Every time Max was on the verge of executing a brilliant planâbe it the Mustache-Inator, designed to give everyone in the Tri-State Area a mustache (regardless of gender), or the Reverse-Vacuum-Inator, intended to suck all the air out of a room to make people appreciate oxygen moreâthe same man would appear, sabotage his efforts, and vanish.
Max was baffled. He had no idea who this person was. He didn't even have a name for him. He was just... that human.
Then, one day, during an attempt to turn all the city's fountains into chocolate fondue stations (because why not?), the man showed up again.
Max's eyes widened in zero recognition.
"A human?!" he exclaimed.
This time, however, he had put on a red fedora with a sigh.
"Charles the Human?!"
Charles, adjusting his fedora, gave Max a bemused look. "I've always been human, Max."
Max blinked. "No, no, no. You're Charles the Human. I recognise you now because of the hat."
Charles sighed. "We've been through this. I'm always me, hat or no hat."
Max waved him off. "Nonsense. Without the hat, you're just some random human. But with the hat, you're Charles the Human, my nemesis!"
From that day forward, Max was convinced that the red fedora was the key to Charles's identity. Whenever Charles appeared without it, Max would treat him as a stranger, even if they had just spoken the day before.
"Who are you?" Max would ask, squinting suspiciously.
"It's me, Charles," Charles would reply, exasperated.
"Charles who?"
"Charles the Human."
Max would shake his head. "Impossible. Charles the Human wears a red fedora. You're just a regular human."
Charles eventually gave up trying to convince Max otherwise. He started carrying the fedora with him at all times, putting it on whenever he needed Max to recognise him.
Their interactions became increasingly absurd. Max would invite Charles over for tea, only to forget who he was if he took off his hat to scratch his head.
"Stranger danger!" Max would yell, throwing a scone at Charles.
"It's me, Max!" Charles would protest, dodging the pastry.
"Prove it!"
Charles would sigh, put the fedora back on, and Max's face would light up.
"Charles the Human! There you are! I was wondering where you'd gone."
Despite the chaos, their relationship developed a strange rhythm. Max would devise elaborate schemes, Charles would thwart them, and they would share tea afterwardâprovided Charles kept his hat on.
One evening, as they sat on Max's balcony overlooking the city, Max turned to Charles.
"You know, Charles the Human, you're the best nemesis a villain could ask for."
Charles smiled. "Thanks, Max. You're not so bad yourself."
Max nodded, then frowned. "Wait a minute. Who are you?"
Charles groaned. "Not this again."
hello your fics are cool and i need to inject them into my veins also
HELLOOOOOOOOO
boop :>
HELLO THERE. rhgheiugevruh I love reading all of your comments, they've got me kicking my feet and giggling. and thank you so so so much for reading <33 and also, yes, injecting is a great idea. but osmosis often works too.
you put into words memes.
well you see. actually. (deletes post)
omg u did it again with the angst i fucking ate that shit UPPPPP. i love heavy angst with happy-ish endings and ik it's not the same as what charles was going through but as someone who is insanely dependent on google calendar to remember to perform simple daily tasks such as wash my hair, do my laundry, and make coffee in the morning, i really did feel seen by charles and his detailed notes app
lmao im pretty sure thats a universal uni student experience, mate. i hope that's vindicating.
19 | đcrack on track | AO3 bearnelli + lestappen + landoscaralso yaps abt studying but doesnt study
82 posts