eloa⭑.ᐟ

Charles in Bono's eyes

for archive reasons I made a lestappen scenepack with podiums/interviews/ on track battles and every interaction I can find and wanted to post it here too! Hope it'll be useful 🩷

So what if we have Charles, a small jewelry designer and business owner, who gets a call from a Very Important Client asking if he can design half a dozen custom bracelets for her bridesmaids? She’s getting married this July and wants to give her best friends a little gift before the wedding celebrations.

Who’s the VIP? None other than Victoria Verstappen who saw a post featuring Charles’s jewelry on Instagram and immediately fell in love.

Victoria and Charles begin chatting and quickly develop a genuine friendship that has the young bride-to-be flying Charles out to Belgium so Charles can show her his designs in person. Victoria immediately says that Charles can make a holiday out of it since her brother’s visiting and they’ll be taking his yacht to Sardinia so why not come along and enjoy some sun while he’s working?

Charles is stunned by the request—not just by Victoria’s generosity (she offers to pay for his airfare and pick him up at the airport) but he worries he’ll be crashing a family vacation.

Victoria, however, quickly reassures Charles that he won’t be doing anything of the sort. Her family will love him and besides, her mom also needs a special necklace ahead of the wedding and Charles wouldn’t want to disappoint Victoria’s beloved mama would he…?

(Yes, Victoria looks like an angel but she’s even better at getting what she wants than Max 🤭)

Charles is packing his laptop, iPad, sketchbook, jewelry samples, and also suitcases of holiday wear and swimsuits because Victoria insists that he simply must join them for dinner and drinks every night 🥂

Once Charles touches down in Belgium, he immediately powers on his phone to see a text form Victoria:

She’s so sorry about this last minute message but Lio isn’t feeling well so she sent her trusted driver to pick Charles up from the airport. Victoria pouts that she planned on picking him up in style and then taking him out for drinks after but she promises they’ll do that once Lio’s all better.

Charles understands and he quickly texts Victoria back, telling her not to worry, that she was so kind to arrange a driver to pick him up and he’ll see her soon.

But once Charles puts away his phone, he realizes he doesn’t know the name of the driver or what he looks like. He’s just wandering around the bustling airport, trying to make heads or tails of the Dutch language when he runs into a strong, broad, well-muscled chest.

Charles is red faced as he apologizes, telling the stranger he’s trying to find Victoria Verstappen’s driver and he can’t read Dutch and oh god, is he hurt? Is he okay? Here, let me see—

Charles is so busy fussing over the tall, handsome stranger that he doesn’t notice the dark blond hair, sapphire blue eyes, or strong, familiar features.

In fact, he only realizes this very well built (and silent) man standing in front of him is perfectly fine after he tells Charles he can’t speak French.

His voice is low, husky, and downright sinful.

Charles lets out an embarrassed squeak as he tries to think to something in English but he’s so flustered all he manages is, “I’m sorry I fell on your chest.”

Humiliation floods through him as the handsome stranger arches one brow, a faint smile on his lips. “That’s alright.” He reassures (and is that a faint lisp Charles hears?) “I’m glad it was me you fell into. I’m your driver.” He doesn’t let go of Charles’s waist.

The Monegasque jewelry designer flushes pink.

“Here, let me help you with your bags.” And with one arm, he easily picks up Charles’s carry-on and oversized satchel purse. “I’m Max.”