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The time is slowly creeping up to 3 am and Lando feels the usual excitement wash over himself. It's his favorite time of the day, the hour where it all happens, his biggest joy in life. His heart starts beating faster in his chest and a smile spreads across his lips, he can feel his fingers tingle and briefly licks over his lips, careful to not catch his tongue on his fangs. He rubs his hands together, takes a deep breath, pushes the closet door open and -
stares at Charles, who's leaning against the door frame, his sharp features glowing in the soft light of the moon. He flashes a lopsided smile at the monster, then he pushes himself off of the wall and walks over to the empty bed in slow and graceful steps. Lando watches as he sits down, crosses his long legs and sighs quietly. Dark red eyes meet bright blue and Lando swears he will never get used to the unearthliness of the demon. Then again, he's one to talk.
"You haven't heard the news yet, have you? Someone kidnapped Max."
Lando can feel the color draining from his face and it's almost embarrassing how comically his jaw drops at the sentence that hangs in the air between them. Charles snorts, the amusement about Lando's reaction visible in his eyes. It only lasts a second before worry casts over his features, giving away his real emotions that the demon is usually so good at hiding. With it comes the unsettling feeling that this is serious and Charles is not just trying to prank him. Panic spreads through his body and Lando has trouble breathing for a while, his chest unbelievably tight. Panic, because what will he do without Max? He needs someone to scare, someone's closet he can hide in and he needs Max because he never ever tries to get rid of him, no matter how often Lando scares him.
He's Max, that's enough of an argument.
"Who even told you that? Are you sure about it?"
"It was his Agent, he contacted me on Max's phone when I found it earlier. He's already on his way to help us. We need to hurry up, we have no time to lose, Lando", Charles explains while he gets up, waving the phone at the monster and making his way to the bedroom door. Lando can't do anything but nod and then he's following Charles outside into the oddly warm night, the smell of salt and the noise of the ocean waves crashing against the coast suddenly overwhelming Lando's senses. For someone who spends most of their time inside a closet, he thinks he's doing a decent job of dealing with all the new attractions around him.
It's an odd view when three of them sit in a McDonald's later, the demon, the monster, and the FBI Agent. Charles looks like the best impression of a human E-Boy Lando has ever seen, then again, he hasn't left Max's room in a long time, but he looked pretty authentic. His hair looks just slightly longer than Lando remembers from the last time they met and he appears almost tiny in his oversized shirt, his dangly earring reflecting the pale light in the room while he spins his milkshake in his hands. Agent Ricciardo sits next to him, a coffee in front of him and even though it's the middle of the night he's wearing sunglasses that fit his dress shirt and pants. He's constantly checking his phone as if it's a nervous tick, yet he still manages to look mostly relaxed. Charles and the Agent seem to know each other, Lando has never met the guy behind Max's phone camera before. He himself feels suddenly oddly conspicuous, his bright orange hair not fitting the rather dark color scheme of his companions.
"So, what's the plan?"
Lando begins to feel uncomfortable because the tired employee behind the counter keeps watching them, sending nervous glances their way. He doesn't blame him, they're the only ones at McDonald's at 3 in the morning and even if there would be more people around, they would still stand out the most. The Agent takes a sip of his coffee. Lando flinches at the loud noise of Charles taking a sip as well, sucking on his plastic straw in the most annoying way possible. They are all just staring at each other quietly for a while afterward, except Lando doesn't really know what the Agent is looking at behind the shade of his sunglasses, it's impossible to make out his eyes in the dark of the glasses, even for Lando with his enhanced vision.
"First of all, we need a timeframe. We need to know how much time has passed since the kidnapping to figure out how far away the kidnapper could be by now. The last time Max used his phone was last evening though and that's pretty long ago, the airport is an hour away, they could be anywhere if we think about it like that. Other than that, we need to find out what happened or at least try to figure it out. Has Max mentioned anything about his events for today?"
Charles shakes his head at the question, still spinning the drink in his hands. Lando thinks, he thinks really hard and yet he can't remember much, except for one thing. His head snaps up and now he knows that the Agent must be looking at him, for he lifts his eyebrows to signal that all attention is on the monster now.
"I'm not quite sure, but I think I saw that he circled today's date on his calendar. I could be wrong though, it's pretty dark in his room at night and I obviously have more important things to do than to focus on his calendar. Maybe he went out with friends and forgot his phone at home?"
He flinches when the Agent claps his hand, a bright smile appearing on his face at Lando's explanation. It's weird seeing him smile, considering that the monster can still not see his eyes and besides that, he's an agent and he's supposed to be serious at all times. He watches as the man in black takes another sip of his coffee, leans over the table and finally takes the goddamn sunglasses off. Lando is surprised to meet warm brown eyes behind it, he hasn't really looked at any human eyes besides Max's for a long time and the McDonald's employee doesn't really count.
"That, dear Lando, is a great observation. If I remember correctly, I read something about a party in his messages. So he got kidnapped either on his way to the party or on his way back home", Agent Ricciardo analyzes and Charles nods with a frown on his face. To Lando, that makes sense.
"I did a pretty bad job at the social anxiety thing it seems. It's my fault he attended that party", Charles mumbles around the plastic straw and for the first time ever, he looks guilt-ridden and remorseful. Of course, Lando doesn't always manage to do his job properly, he just can't bring himself to scare Max during the really bad nights, but Charles failed at protecting Max and it's only logical that he gets upset about it. The Agent rests his hand on the demon's shoulder as if to calm him down and tell him it's alright.
"We'll find him, don't worry about that, Charles. We'll find him."
Lando really hopes the Agent is right.
They leave McDonald's soon after that, Charles complained that the light hurt his eyes, and Lando finds himself sitting on the backseat of an expensive-looking, and -smelling, car. Agent Ricciardo is sitting on the driver's seat, a laptop resting on his legs, and he is typing so fast that Lando has trouble keeping up with it. Files open and close and the monster has no idea what is going on, he doubts that Charles knows any better than him though, and then Agent Ricciardo cheers, lifts his arms in celebration and turns the laptop in Charles's direction to show him whatever he found out. The demon just shakes his head, so he actually has no clue what's going on either, and he can almost feel the way the Agent rolls his eyes in annoyance.
"I might've found our kidnapper. Or, well, Max's, for that matter."
Lando can't help but smile as well now and he barely refrains from hugging Agent Ricciardo. He can make out a slight smile on Charles's face as well, almost invisible in the orange glow of the streetlights. They would find Max and bring him home safely and everything would go back to normal. Lando could scare him again, Charles could go back to playing with his emotions and Agent Ricciardo could read his chat messages again and everything would be fine.
"Should we ring the doorbell?"
"That's nonsense. Why would a kidnapper open the door?", Lando questions in return. The Agent sighs next to them.
"No normal human opens the door at 4 am. I think we need to ring the doorbell though, else we're not only breaking their door but the law as well. I'm not willing to go back to prison."
"Wait, you-"
Charles presses on the button in front of them before Lando can finish his sentence and Agent Ricciardo ignores it benevolently. It's quiet after that and the monster suddenly feels nervous? A kidnapper is no one they should mess with, what if the guy in question has a gun? He can't understand how the demon and the Agent can look so calm. There is a slight worry in Charles's glowing eyes though and somehow it helps Lando to accept his current state of mind.
Much to everyone's surprise the door opens after a few minutes and Lando lets out the air he hasn't noticed he's been holding in. In front of them stands a tired-looking human with confusion written all over his face when he looks at the uninvited guests on his doorstep. Lando doesn't feel as intimidated as before anymore.
"Sorry, this might sound rude, but what the fuck do you want from me? Can't it wait? It's 4 in the morning and who are you guys?"
"You're Alexander, right?" Instead of answering the question thrown at them, Agent Ricciardo pulls a little on his shirt to reveal the gun resting against his hip as if to subtly threaten the poor guy. Alex nods and Lando almost laughs at the pejorative expression on Charles's face when he scans the supposed kidnapper. He doesn't really look like he could kidnap anyone and especially not Max, who is surprisingly strong, Lando thinks proudly.
"You know Max Verstappen, right? Do you know where he is?", the Agent continues and Alex looks down at his gun before looking back up and into the questioner's face. He frowns and Lando thinks that they should have waited for the sun to rise before asking questions to this confused guy.
"Why are you asking? Are you like, I don't know, a jealous ex or whatever? Man sorry, I'm not waking him up to talk to you guys now, especially not if one of you has a gun."
Wait.
What?
Agent Ricciardo voices Lando's thoughts seconds later and Charles talks for the first time since they arrived, now looking equally as confused at that Alex guy. Lando's brain is not done thinking yet so he blinks to get rid of his thoughts. Alexander sighs and nods, which is definitely not the answer to the Agent's question, rubs his eyes and yawns.
"He's- God, that's embarrassing."
Charles flinches visibly at the mention.
"I really don't want to explain this to strangers in the way too early morning, but after that party last we went home together. That's, yeah, that's enough information. He's asleep, he's safe and sound and there's absolutely no reason to shoot me or whatever, so you can all calm down now and leave because I'm really tired and I don't want to deal with you guys longer than necessary."
Agent Ricciardo laughs, he laughs loud enough for Charles to flinch again before he joins in with a soft chuckle and Lando still doesn't quite understand, but he just shrugs it off and decides to ask the Agent about it later.
"Thanks for talking to us anyhow, we're truly sorry for waking you up, we were just worried because Max didn't pick up his phone. He probably forgot it at home. Uh, good luck or whatever, sleep well."
The Agent awkwardly pats Alex's shoulder before the homeowner closes the door and the light in the hallway turns off again. Charles facepalms himself and mutters something about embarrassment, Lando is still confused. Only when they're back in the car he dares to ask what this whole thing was about and Agent Ricciardo turns around, an amused grin on his lips.
"Max was not actually kidnapped. He's... having a sleepover at Alex's place and simply forgot his phone at home. We made a mistake, Lando. It's fine though, Max is doing fine and that's all that matters in the end, right?"
Oh.
Oh.
Lando feels his cheeks growing hot, how could they be so stupid? Agent Ricciardo and Charles are singing along to the music playing on the radio now and Lando laughs at the whole situation before he joins in on their off-key choir while the Agent puts his foot down on the accelerator and drives out of the city, probably to look for another McDonald's.
He's right. Max is safe.
And to Lando, that's all that matters.