Untitled

So if Max doesnt understand english at first he would be so oblivious to many things. Like when people in the castle gossip about him he wouldnt understand it, he could just deduct from the the way they look at him that they are saying mean things. And also if people flirt with him he probably woulnt completely understand that they are trying to get him in their beds he would maybe just think they are being nice

I just think like GP would hear rumours that max was being sent to dan's kingdom and even if its untrue and he's being sent somewhere like lewis' kingdom, gp would have that very quick thing of like 'okay I need him to know enough English that he can say 'yes your majesty' 'no your majesty' 'please and thank you' and 'I do' so that he doesn't get executed for treason within ten minutes of being in the kingdom', so max can speak just enough that he knows a little bit of what's going on because gp had very little time to teach him, but there'd just be so much that max doesn't get and he can infer things and he knows a couple words like 'baby' and 'heir' that he knows that's what's expected of him, but then when he hears words being murmured behind him (maybe no on but max and Jake, the gardener, know that max can't speak English) calling him a 'whore' and other unpleasant words, he doesn't know what they mean but he knows they're bad words simply by the tone and the way people laugh lowly and stop when he looks at them. and dan watches max a lot and notices how he never speaks unless its very basic things but he just puts it down to max's nerves being in a new kingdom

its only when he over hears Jake laugh n says 'maybe don't tell the king someone said that' that he starts to suspect something isn't adding up with max. and like max had been asking Jake what some flirtatious comments mean and dan's walked off before he's heard what max is saying or jake's explanation any further, but max is just remembering everything to mention it to Jake to get him to help max to understand what's being said against him. and Jake gets pulled in to a meeting with the king who wants to know what's going on and why he's flirting with the queen so much, and Jake just is like 'well, I'm not flirting. but everyone else is' and Jake leans in to Daniel and he just says really softly bc he knows max would be embarrassed for his husband to know and Jake murmurs 'he doesn't speak English, your majesty' and dan's confused because he's heard max speak English. he married him for god's sake. he'd know if his fucking wife didn't understand him.

but then he realises, max doesn’t. max always stares at him for a very long moment whenever dan says anything before nodding and saying 'yes your majesty' and dan realises its not just anxiety. the kid doesn't understand him properly, and its another one of those subtle things that makes dan not understand his feelings because why should he care? max is only there to have his heirs. but somehow the idea of max only really speaking dutch and he doesn't understand English makes dan want to learn dutch so that his wife feels safe and he doesn't understand why he wants his wife to feel safe.. he's never cared about anything like that before so what is it about max that's changed something in his head??

the first time dan says a sentence in dutch to him like max just smiling very timidly and cocks his head at him like he doesn't understand why he can understand dan, and dan just shrugs n repeats him and max gently takes dan's hand in his and squeezes his fingers lightly and says in very careful English 'very good, your majesty' and they just teach each other their funny little languages..