Work Text:
Yeah, I"ve been thinking "bout it for about a couple minutes
How you been gone for a couple months and what you"re missing
Max moves into the second story apartment above an out-of-business shop still owned by an aging couple with no plans for the space.
It is perfect.
I know the city"s kinda pretty but it ain"t what you"re used to (that"s true)
The bell rings when Max pushes open the front door of the storefront. He inhales the smell of dust, and imagines the aroma of coffee.
This place isn’t home yet, but with a little love and care it will be.
I bet you"re posting pictures and checking if I"m looking
Ain"t got the time, there"s a line with a bass I"m hooking
The Lion’s Den is a raging success when Max finally opens his doors with Daniel by his side. It’s so successful that Daniel is practically drowning in admin things he has no idea how to handle.
Max met Daniel on a night out at Sainz. The man had a local bakery business he ran out of his home, it was only natural that the two linked up to tell pastries and coffee to the morning crowds. The Aussie had some knowledge of how to run a business, but they were flying by the seat of their pants.
Two months later Max is hiring some guy named Lando, finance major at the local university to help out in the back. He builds them a magical spreadsheet that fixes basically all of their problems, and then he starts doing inventory because he’s bored.
One morning—when Max is being swamped by customers, and Daniel is out talking to suppliers—Max pulls Lando from the back and teaches him how to use the register. The Dutchman figured that Lando was personable enough after knowing him for a couple weeks, and he was right.
The customers love him. He picks the job right up, and suddenly whenever Lando is in the building he is at the counter taking orders.
“Oh Max, no. Do not trust me with your machine. I will break that immediately. I do the finances, remember? I know how expensive that is, there’s a whole savings account just in case we need to replace your baby.”
And come tomorrow, there"s a whole buncha nothing that I gotta do (how "bout you?)
The bell rings as Max enters the shop. Daniel is placing the croissants safely behind the displace case. His hired hand Liam is asleep on the floor.
“Mate. That can’t be comfortable.”
Daniel shrugs. “He said he came here directly after studying.”
“Don’t you both get in at four?”
“Yeah. I told him to go home and sleep, but he lives like twenty minutes out.”
“The floor?”
“I ordered him to sleep and he just collapsed.”
“That can’t be good for his neck.”
“Tell me about it.”
The bells ring. “Good morning, guess who’s earlyyyyy–” Lando yelps as he trips over the body on the floor.
The blond grunts, blearily blinking up at the others. “Why are you on the floor?”
“Why are you on the floor?” Lando claps back.
“Was asleep.” He yawns. “What time is it? I have a lab at seven thirty.”
Max brings the coffee machine to life with the press of a button. “Next time you take a nap on the job, please use one of the bench seats, or the couch in the back.”
“Yes boss.”
Yeah, I hope that you"re sitting in a high rise apartment
Looking down at everything that you ever wanted
Max’s apartment may be on top of his cafe, but their interiors aren’t connected. Out back, above the employee entrance is a staircase and a little landing in front of his door. His truck and motorcycle are parked neatly on his narrow driveway. There’s an entire alleyway back there, full of situations just like his.
Max doesn’t like using the employee entrance in the morning. He prefers to walk down the alley, and swing back around to the front. The cobblestones beneath his feet always make for a pleasant start to his day.
I"ll be fine, sipping a Yellow Jacket on an old podunk bank (but that"s just me)
Max holds a Red Bull in one hand, and a small ball in the other. Tongue between his teeth he aims at the target.
And he misses. Again.
Daniel cackles. “Not so easy is it?”
“Shut up.”
The pier is alive in the warm summer evening. There are people everywhere. The game booths’ lines are long. The food is overpriced. It’s a perfect evening, simply lovely.
You been looking for grass that grows up greener
Daniel shoulders through the mass of people crowding one of the many stages set up on the beach. Max follows close behind so the crowd doesn’t swallow him whole.
“It sounds better at the front!” He calls behind him.
“Whatever you say!” Max shouts back.
He grabs the barrier with one arm, steadying himself as he takes another sip of his drink. “Is that Lando?”
“Landooooooooooo!”
The DJ darts his eyes over at the Aussie’s call of his name.
Max watches the colour drain of the Brit’s face. He raises his Red Bull in hello.
But if you ask me, there ain"t nothing sweeter
During a lull fifteen minutes later, once Lando has gotten his mojo back, he calls them out. “Hey guys! Guess what?”
“What?” The crowd shouts back at him, definitely not in unison.
“My boss is here! Make some noise if you’ve been enjoying yourseeeeeeeeeeeeeeelf!”
They scream as he amps up for a drop.
“Yeah! They love me!” He turns to wink at Max. “I should get a raise, yeah?”
“Yeah!” Daniel shouts with the rest of them.
“No!” Max calls, cupping his mouth so his sound echoes further.
The guy on Max’s other side, a blond with floppy hair, shoots Max a dirty look.
Lando just laughs. “Well I tried!”
And the beat drops.
Than a Carolina sky, kissing dirt, flirting with a sunset
Max finds himself behind the booth with Lando. He’s leaning on what seems to be the only empty bit of table, and sipping his Red Bull, as the last bit of sunlight disappears beneath the horizon.
Daniel has his arms around Lando’s shoulders and he’s singing loudly to whatever song it is the Brit is playing.
He grins and shoves the pair away when they jostle into his side.
I"d wish you the best but you already had it
Ever since the DJ incident, Lando has been in charge of the cafe playlist. He plays some old stuff, he plays some new stuff, he plays some popular stuff, and he plays some underground stuff.
Max is on break in the back room when he hears Charles’s voice over the speaker system. It almost makes him roll off the couch and onto the floor.
Of course he knew that Charles would be releasing his EP soon. He hadn’t let himself learn what day it would be going live.
(You already had it)
Hearing it now, a private smile creeps onto his face.
Charles did it.
You had the golden ticket, then you went off and ripped it
You had a man who was all in on you and country living
Max gets an email for an e-transfer notice from Pierre.
It’s the first contact he’s had with either of his friends in months, almost a year now. He stares at the picture above his desk, the one of the three of them sitting in their karts: all smiles.
“ Your cut ,” the note attached to the obscene amount of money reads. “ For the writing credits .”
Max frantically opens up YouTube in a new tab. He chooses a song at random and opens the video description.
There right at the bottom: “ Writers: Emilian, Leclerc, Pierre Gasly. ”
Max declines the transfer.
There’s a new email in his inbox when he checks it the next day.
“ If you don’t take the money now it will be folded into next week’s paycheck. ”
Max hates Pierre a little bit sometimes.
He takes the money, puts it into its own savings account away from the rest of his funds.
I hope you"re liking looking at the trees growing through the concrete (not me)
Lando, along with the rest of the world, falls head over heels for Leclerc. Him the man, and his music.
Leclerc is a phenomenon that takes over the entire internet. His entire feed is full of dance challenges, clips from shows, and other random edits set to his music.
Charles’ voice surrounds Max from all sides. Those five songs haunt him at work. The paycheck from Pierre’s bank account startles him every Thursday morning.
There’s something uncanny about the lyrics. Max knows these songs, he wrote these songs with Charles at their little round breakfast table on rainy nights, sunny days, and everything in between. But Charles doesn’t sing them the way they were sung in those moments, the lines are changed, tweaked, here and there to fit a new narrative.
Songs that used to be about love, now twisted into something about heartbreak.
It doesn’t take long for people to realise that Emilian was Leclerc’s ex. They have keen ears, they are also aware of these used to be love songs.
And then there’s the interview clip.
The one where Charles says that Max moved out one day without saying goodbye, without leaving a note.
He doesn’t mention the screaming match the night before. He doesn’t mention that he broke up with Max first.
Max thinks the story Charles is telling is a better narrative than the one they’ve actually got. Max still loves him enough to let him get away with the lie. To let him twist the truth into something that will benefit him better in the long run.
Max didn’t leave a note. Max didn’t leave any trace of himself in that apartment when he left. Nothing but the music.
Yeah, I hope that you"re sitting in a high rise apartment
Looking down at everything that you ever wanted
Max still isn’t used to waking up alone.
The bed is huge. He’d mindlessly bought himself a king without thinking when he moved in. He knows it’s because they’d always talked about moving into a bigger apartment, one with enough space to upgrade their queen into a king.
This apartment was big enough, but the bed was lonely; sleeping in the middle with nothing but sheets on either side of him.
I"ll be fine, sipping a Yellow Jacket on an old podunk bank
It’s mid morning and Lando is finished with his line. He’s idly chatting with Max about his classes—something about high level accounting he thinks he could implement at The Lion’s Den—while Max is putting together the orders on his screen.
All at once, Lando shuts up mid-sentence and drops like a stone.
Max sends him a look of bewilderment under the counter he is very actively hiding behind.
Nico peaks his head over the counter. “Is he okay?”
The bell rings. The door creaks.
Max should get around to oiling that.
He recognises the guy coming up to the counter as the one with the floppy hair who glared at him that one time at the pier.
He glances down, and Lando is pleading for something with his eyes.
Max caps the drink in his hands. “Order for:” He takes a deep breath. “Hüüüüüüüüüülkenberg.” He slides the man his drink, and comes over to the register. “Hi, welcome to The Lion’s Den, what can I get you this morning?”
“I dunno. Liam says the coffee here is good. Uhm. I’llllllllll–I’ll have the normal roast, two creams, two sugars. Thanks.”
“One double double coming up. Name for the order?”
“Oscar.”
Max sends the order over to his prep station. He writes the name on a disposable cup. “Liam you said? Baker’s assistant?”
“Yeah.” Oscar looks very tense. “He works here in the morning, swears by the coffee actually. Had a late night, and figured I’d give it a try.”
Max chuckles. “How do you know him?”
“We’ve got a couple classes together at Uni, and we’re both working on aerodynamics for the Formula Electric design team.”
“Oh wow. What is he doing clocking in at four am here, then?”
Lando snorts.
Oscar jerks. “What was that?”
“Sorry,” Nico calls from his table. “Just me. My buddy Kevin got in trouble at work again,” he says, glancing down at his phone.
While Oscar is turned around, Max glances down at Lando clamping a hand over his mouth below the register, and sends him an unimpressed look.
“Order for Oscar.”
“Thanks, mate.”
He drinks. “Oh this is good.”
He throws a “Thank you,” over his shoulder as he wipes down his work station.
“I think I recognise you. You didn’t want Lando’s boss to give him a raise.”
Max leans against the counter and laughs. “Just a bit of fun between friends.”
“You’re friends with Lando?” Oscar asks, raising an eyebrow.
Max shrugs. “I am his boss.”
He blinks. “Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“He works here?”
“Sometimes.”
“You should give him a raise.”
“You haven’t even seen him work,” Max jests.
He has to kick Lando away from his ankles.
“He’ll be in tomorrow if you want to make a third party performance assessment.”
(but that"s just me)
“He’s gone,” Max tells him when Oscar clears the front window.
Lando hops up immediately. “I owe you my life Hulk.”
He raises his cup. “Looked like you could use the help, kid.”
“And you: are the worst boss ever.”
“What did I do?”
Lando crumples and grumbles, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Did you at least know his name already?”
Lando gasps. “Yes, Max! Of course I know his name. It’s Oscar Jack Piastri.”
“I didn’t need to know.”
“I hate you.” He steals a blueberry tart from the display case. “You invited him back tomorrow! And told him I’d be here!”
“But you will be. Are you going to pay for that?”
“He lied and said you weren’t here,” Nico added, tossing his cup in the can. “Bye guys, see you tomorrow.”
“Bye Nico!”
“Don’t be siding with Max! And no.”
You been looking for grass that grows up greener
But if you ask me, there ain"t nothing sweeter
Lando rushes into The Lion’s Den the next morning.
“Leclerc got signed to Vettel last night! Leclerc’s next album is going to be produced by Sebastain Vettel! It’s going to be a full length studio album!”
The room erupts. Lando, Liam, and Daniel are jumping around the room in pure, utter delight.
Max is too busy recalling moments in their once-shared apartment dreaming about getting Charles signed to Vettel. Everything goes out of focus for a moment, and Max can see Charles and Pierre screaming at each other, at him, just like his friends in front of him now.
None of the three seem to realise that Max is frozen in his seat, torn between excitement for Charles, and agony knowing he wasn’t here to experience this rush with him.
Than a Carolina sky, kissing dirt, flirting with a sunset
Just before opening Oscar is knocking on the window.
Lando shrieks.
“Oh yeah. Oscar and I have a lab this morning, but he really liked the coffee yesterday. Can’t believe he came here and didn’t get me anything.”
“Let him in,” Max says, all ready to make everyone their morning brews: a caramel latte, an americano, a double shot, and a double double.
Lando is a floundering mess immediately, to the point Max wishes he could tuck him under the counter to save the Brit from himself. The only solace is that Oscar is just as bad, and is definitely not noticing. Liam’s head is ping ponging back and forth between them, a dawning horror drawing across his face.
Max and Daniel both have enough professionalism to wait until Oscar has left the building before bending over in simultaneous laughter.
“I hate you both.”
Daniel looks like he’s crying.
I"d wish you the best but you already had it
Lando said that he wanted to decorate the cafe for halloween. As the finance guy, he put it in the budget, and then he gave Max his best puppydog eyes, and that’s how Max finds himself in the craft store on a Wednesday night.
He’s just wandering, grabbing things that Liam and Lando could probably put to good use, when he stumbles cart first into the notebook aisle.
But you already had it
Coffee may have been Max’s first love, but songwriting was his third.
He misses it. He can admit that to himself.
He grabs one. It’s the same brand as the ones he used to use last year.
Already had your best song and your best dance
You had the best damn thing you could ever have
Now it"s gone and I know you"re gonna want it
But that"s too bad "cause you already had it
Max can’t sleep. The new notebook mocks him from his bedside table.
He throws off the covers, snatches the notebook, and stomps into the cafe through the back door. He’s going to need a drink, just something to keep him awake.
His pen taps on the table, keeping a steady rhythm as Max tries to string words together that will swing the way he wants them too.
Unfortunately, he can’t sing for shit. He can’t help but picture Charles’ voice as he tries to get the lyrics to stick.
He’s a little pathetic like that, but he’s come to terms with himself.
Yeah, I hope that you"re sitting in a high rise apartment
Looking down at everything that you ever wanted
Leclerc’s first tour is making a stop in their town.
Max gets three tickets, he’s a good boss like that.
He spent an hour back on the website later, waffling on if he should buy one more.
I"ll be fine sipping a Yellow Jacket on an old podunk bank (but that"s just me)
Max is flicking through Instragam stories alone in the middle of his king size bed.
His employees, friends, seem to be having the time of their lives at the Leclerc concert.
You been looking for grass that grows up greener
But if you ask me, there ain"t nothing sweeter
Than a Carolina sky, kissing dirt, flirting with a sunset
Max is unlocking the front door to his cafe just before opening. The smell of fresh bread fills his nose.
And the meow of two stray cats trying to get into the warmth of the building through the crack in the door nearly cause him to jump out of his skin.
I"d wish you the best but you already had it