Charles Leclerc Fluff - Tumblr Posts

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Who I write for:

Oscar Piastri

Lando Norris

Charles leclerc

Theodore Nott

Lorenzo Berkshire

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Charles leclerc

Nothing yet.....

STOP PLAYING WITH US!

pairings : charles leclerc x singer!reader

infos : smau. fc : madison beer. song : glue song - beabadobee.

summary : in which you guys have "broken up" for the better, yet can't seem to stay away from each other

yourinstagram

Liked by charles_leclerc and 1.937.414 others

yourinstagram we've decided that it would be better for us end this relationship. please dont send any negative response to him as this was a decision that both of us talked about. thank u charles for the past 4 amazing years, thank u for making me know what its like to feel loved. thank u for making me feel enough on those days i dont feel good. i love you forever 💗.

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8 September 2022

charles_leclerc

Liked by yourinstagram and 1.144.678 others

charles_leclerc Me and y/n have decided that it would be best for the both of us to end this relationship. It has been an amazing 4 years in this relationship, but good things comes to an end eventually. Please do not send any negativity towards y/n, this is a decision that we both took. Thank you y/n for loving me as who i am with all my flaws you call are perfection. I love you to the moon and back always and forever 💗.

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8 September 2022

hollywoodfix

Liked by yln.updates and 154.037 others

hollywoodfix Charles Leclerc (@.charles_leclerc) and Y/n Y/l/n (@.yourinstagram) today in Monaco.

Are these two back on the romance cloud?

View top comments..

user1 HELLOOO??? ARE THEY BACK TGT

ylnsgf4evr give them some privacy, weird asf photographing them like this.

keysnorris tbh i dont rlly like paparazzis but rn im thankful they exist BCS WTF.

view more comments...

10 January 2023

yourinstagram

Liked by charles_leclerc and 2.023.140 others

yourinstagram happy valentines day. heres a new song for u all out on all platforms now! surprise in slide 2 btw. i love u 💗

view top comments...

ynylnsgf4evr I WAS RIGHT. FUCK U TO ALL WHO SAID I WAS DELUSIONAL. I WAS RIGHT

charles_leclerc je t'aime mon cheri 💗

keysnorris i love their emoji thing sm i cant

starshopping YAY I ONLY HAVE ONE DIVORCED PARENTS NOW!!

lilymhe I LOVE THE SONG SM not as much as i love u tho, slide in my dms if he ever fucks up again bb 😘

yourinstagram of course, ill hit u up rn ml charles_leclerc Hey! alex_albon what is the meaning of this???

_ bonus <3

_ IM SORRY THIS WAS RUSHED AND IF IT FEELS LIKE IT HAS NO PLOT LMAOO, I TRIED MY BEST THIS IS MY FIRST TIME MAKING SMAU. ILL TRY TO DO BETTER NEXT TIME.

style 1989 #CL16

PAIRING: charles leclerc x reader!

SYNOPSIS: inspired by taylor swift, “style”

WARNING: angst & fluff

Midnight, you come and pick me up no headlights

“ you can’t keep calling me you know that, right? ” he sighed while piggy backing you and struggling to walk in a straight line.

“ i couldn’t help it, charles. You’re on my speed dial, you know how that goes? It’s not like this is the first time, could have just declined the call. ” you rolled your eyes but your heart is slightly beating from the close contact with your best friend.

“ can’t leave you alone, in a place like these mon chérie ” he needs to stop calling me these names while having a partner waiting for him at home.

“ sorry if i crashed your date night with charlotte, i hope she doesn’t hate me, im really sorry Charles ”

you remembered drinking few more shots after seeing charlotte’s Instagram story with him on a date night.

you genuinely felt so shitty but couldn’t help it as Charles is the only guy you’ve trusted in the whole 22 years of your life when it comes to these situations

he laughed, and just shook his head.

the whole ride to your apartment was just in silence.

It’s been a while since i’ve heard from you

Ever-since that night, you’ve removed him from your speed dial, not only that but maybe, just maybe you’ve removed him from everything except your personal Instagram.

Because, here you are stalking or maybe lurking through his and her posts.

“ You’ve got to stop that you know. You’re only setting yourself up "

you’ve recognized that voice, partly because you’ve gotten closer to Lando Norris after the one-sided fall out with Charles

You knew Lando, because he would always come to the drivers gathering and way before Charles was with her, you were his +1 (as close friends of course).

But, you’ve gotten closer with him when he was surprisingly there for you when you were drunkenly crying over Charles at the paddock bar, and you’ve realised that Charles was the only oblivious person towards your feelings.

You let out a big sigh and flipped Lando off jokingly. You locked your phone and proceed to continue on with the workload in front of you.

“ he has been asking you know? he’s always looking for you, i can’t continue lying on your whereabouts. Let it out and tell him y/n, maybe that’ll soothe your heart better and for fuck sake, stop being in the McLaren garage when you’re working for Ferrari ”

you couldn’t help but laugh at Lando’s last sentence. You’re working as Scuderia Ferrari’s as a Social Media Intern, but instead of being in their office or garage, you’re at McLaren’s trying to avoid a certain someone.

I should just tell you to leave cause i know where it exactly leads

Scuderiaferrari just posted a photo

liked by charles_leclerc, carlossainz55 and others

Scuderiaferrari sometimes we refused to think that our two drivers are fully grown adult, but then again look at their photography postures ( speaks a lot! )

view all 9,165 comments

leclercluvr ADMIN VIOLATED THEM

carlost55 im screaming which admin posted this w this caption, she’s gg to lose her job 😭

ferraridefender honestly facts, admin speak facts

charles_leclerc age is just a number, @ carlossainz55 we need to back ourselves up

carlossainz55 doesn’t matter if we’re old, we’re the hottest drivers in the grid

you closed your laptop after posting on the Ferrari Instagram page and packed your things until you felt someone tapped your right shoulder

“ what’s the rush? trying to not bump into me? ” 4 letters that ran through your mind, FUCK!

you let out a laugh to not react awkwardly and shook your head

“ what are you on charles? i’m just packing, we’re working in the same place anyways ” you continue packing your things

“ i know y/n. i know about your feelings towards me y/n. ”

you were shocked at the sudden confession that you turned your body straight away to Charles direction

“ Charlotte told me, she broke up with me, she said she couldn’t be in a relationship with me knowing i would be running over to you at any moment of the day, i didn’t know how to react to that y/n ”

“ i went to Lando’s apartment straight away after the break up w cha, to find you but Lando told me you’re here and before i drove here, he stopped me and told me the same thing too y/n. I know it’s not his place to tell me your true feelings but i’m sorry y/n ”

he reached out for your hand but you couldn’t help feeling angry from the current situation that you smacked away his hands that was reaching out to you

“ Charles, you can’t do that to me. You can’t just come running over to me just because cha broke up with you and you found out i’m in l-love with y-you”

you couldn’t help but struggle to speak without the urge of crying

“ i love you, y/n. Mon Chérie, i’ve always loved you”

he whispered

“ no, you’re lying. You’re only saying that now, because you know about my feelings towards you. What about last time? What about the times i’ve tried to tell you, you’re always changing the subject mid convos. Charles, make up your mind and talk to me again. ”

you walked away leaving Charles thinking about the missed opportunity with you.

And i got that red lip classic thing that you like

y/ninstagram

liked by landonorris, charles_leclerc and others

y/ninstagram promised him that this time i’m not gonna be working at the office, but instead be at the sidelines for him charles_leclerc 🏎️♥️

view all 175 comments

landonorris what about me???????

y/ninstagram always supporting you 🧡

landonorris as you should be

charles_leclerc get your own girlfriend, stop stealing mine

maxverstappen1 finally you both had the balls huh

carlossainz55 you owe me 50

leclercluvr WAG MY FAV WAG

myworldc2 ain’t this his bestfriend? they’re dating?

carlost yeah they were close friends!!!!!!

charles_leclerc Je t'aime de tout mon cœur ♥️

y/ninstagram love you more ♥️

end note: thanks for reading, this is my first ever writing that is public 😭 i love LOVE angst and fluff reads, so here’s a lil something with everyone’s favourite driver <3 sorry for the bad french translation or grammars!

╭┈ • ┈ ୨ welcome to norrisreads ୧ ┈ • ┈╮

╰₊𓂂➢ nethie, 21, she/her

╰₊ 𓂂➢ fav drivers: cs55 cl16 ln4 ms47 fa14

╰₊ 𓂂➢ prefers writing angst & fluff fics, i don’t write smuts

╰₊ 𓂂➢ come and go quite often, do req though!

↳ charles leclerc

⌁ style 1989 - angst & sprinkle of fluff

⌁ illicit affairs - angst & fluff (most popular)

↳ lando norris

⌁ seems familiar - fluffs smau

⌁ sweetest pie part one part two - fluff smau series

↳ yuki tsunoda

⌁ into you - fluff smau

↳ pierre gasly

⌁ set fire to the rain part one part two - angst & fluff

↳ carlos sainz

⌁ the city of love - fluffs smau

⌁ kiss me kiss me - fluffs smau

⌁ dangerous woman one two three four

↳ mick schumacher

⌁ illicit affairs - angst, fluff

⌁ photograph - fluff (NEW!)

— navigations 🏎️

#norrisrecoms : for recommendations fics

#NRincomingwip wip list 🚧

until I found you - lance stroll

she’s all i wanna be - pierre gasly

the colour violet - max verstappen

kiss me kiss me part 2 - carlos sainz

sweetest pie part 3 - lando norris

dangerous woman 2 3 4 - carlos sainz

#talkswnethie🎙️

just ideas,inspo about fics or me blabber bout myself :-)

#staytuned🎧

song recommendations, mainly my fics are song titles!

—✩࿐ end note : im still new to tumblr, but i am always coming up w ideas to spice up my writings :-)!

╰┈•┈୨ goodbye, see you again ୧┈•┈╯

set fire to the rain, part one #PG10

PAIRING: pierre gasly x reader! , Charles LecLerc x reader!platonic

SUMMARY: your first love is hard to forget because it leaves an 'imprint' on the sensory areas of your brain

WARNINGS: angst, will continue a part 2 soon! Listen to the song as a background music to get the feels of it!

FC: roses_are_rosie

sometimes i wake up by the door, that heart you caught, must be waiting for you

There’s a saying that goes, “your first love is hard to forget because it leaves an 'imprint' on the sensory areas of your brain” and you’ve never believed it until you’ve experienced it.

you dated a man, that would do anything for you, that would suprise you breakfast in bed, made you feel like you’ve strike a lottery every single day, made you feel like your next could never beat this man.

But, the world is cruel because a few years later you’ve lost this man to someone who’s much worth than you are.

Even now, when we’re already over, i can’t help myself from looking for you

You’ve met through a mutual friend, some one who’s still close to you.

“I promise you y/n, you’ll like him! who knows you’re gonna finally fall in love and be in a long term relationship?” Charles was convincing you to date one of the drivers from the grid.

He was literally following every footsteps you’ve taken, usually you don’t mind his existence but here you are trying to focus on the notes placed in-front of you.

“Charles, if i wanted a relationship i would have been on hundreds and thousands of blind dates, i wouldn’t even be here right now! but im here, studying this” you sounded pissed while pointing to ur thick notes that was placed on top of the cafe table.

“Look, take a breath of fresh air, make yourself look pretty on date nights, do things you’ve never done before y/n! Live your life!” Charles was literally giving you the puppy eyes.

“Charles leclerc, i’m 4 years younger than you and i’ve an important examination that determine my career, but if doing this makes you shut the hell up, fine. Once and if this guy icks me, i’m not listening to you anymore!” You rolled your eyes jokingly, and heard charles pumping the air with a whispered ‘yes’

He snatched your mobile phone that you were holding on, and key-ed in number and letters and showed you the screen.

There on the screen was the name of your first love, pierre gasly.

Pierre Gasly, was a french man who took your breath away upon the first meeting. French wasn’t really the language you’re an expert in, even when your own best friend is monegasque. You’ve learn couple of words from charles but that’s it as both of you tend to mainly converse in english.

The whole date was not awkward at all, which comes to a surprise to you knowingly you’re a huge HUGE introvert with no social skills and from one date, to once in a few weeks dates to weekly dates and to finally being together.

In the first year of being together with pierre, nothing changed, everything was the same feeling as when you’ve met the first time. He would bring you around France whenever you’re on holidays, introducing you to his family and friends. What hits the spots is when he would bring you to places that he treasured the most.

The second year was when you’ve started to notice small changes, it started from him missing your weekly dates, not answering your calls with the excuse of him being too busy. You didn’t mind it at all, knowing you’re working while studying, your time for him wasn’t that much too, your routine while he was on season would be campus, work and sleep.

Whenever its off season, you’ll have routines where pierre and you would have picnics by the beach, pottery dates and more, but as days pass by you’ve realised how less time he has for you.

You knew something was wrong, but for someone who’s too in love, you refused to say anything until Charles spoke to you.

It was just a normal weekend, you’ve not plotted yourself a shift to your part time job, so you’ve decided to settle your school works at your own comfort of home until you heard a bell. You knew it wasn’t pierre and at this point, you had no faith in both you and pierre’s relationship.

“Hey, it’s been long” charles came in the house and hugged you.

“Yeah, sorry man, i’ve just been too busy, i’ve got to keep getting good grades for you to finally see me on the grid being a reporter” you smiled and led him to your kitchen, where most of your notes, laptop, books were.

“Sorry for the mess, was kinda in the zone” charles laughed, not minding one bit knowing how focused you are once you’ve start on your work.

“Pierre’s not homed?” Charles ask confusingly

“Pierre’s moved out, it’s only me charles” you refused to talk about pierre even-though you’re still in a relationship with him.

“When did it happened, why hasn’t pierre told me? What happened between you and him, y/n?”

“We lost the spark charles, i know he has his eyes on someone else charles” you knew, you knew how he looked at her whenever she was invited to the driver gatherings, you knew but you refused to believe even-though you knew how much prettier she was than you

“y/n, i’m so sorry. I didn’t know anything, i’ve never expected pierre to have done this, mon cherie. I’ve feel fault knowing I’ve introduced both of you to each other” charles stood in-front of you and engulfed you in a hug which led you to have a breakdown.

“It’s never your fault charles, this is why i’ve told you countless times i’m not interested in the dating zone. I’d rather stay home at weekends facing my bed and tv”

you laughed, but charles knew deep down his best friend was suffering silently, and this was what charles was scared off, losing two of his best-friends and having to choose a side.

“Charles, i know you’re thinking of choosing a side but you don’t have to, pierre and you were friends way before i’ve met you. We can still be friends charles, i do not mind at the fact you’re best mates with my ex charles. If anything, i’m happy that you’re willing to be friends with me, so don’t think too much charles, you’re just gonna overthink your small brain”

both of you laughed, but you were different, for some reason the tears couldn’t stop coming down.

“Did pierre asked for it?” Charles asked, not believing his best mate had just broken the heart of his other best friend.

You shook your head and pointed at yourself, “ i did. I think he had a grasp of the situation and didn’t fight back, but it’s alright. It’s an experience for my first love” you’ve shrugged, while cleaning the mess you’ve made

Both of you have decided to not talk about pierre anymore and continue on both of your days together, with charles making sure you’re going to sleep with peace.

Months passed by, you’ve finally scored your first reporter job on the grid and it was the Monaco GP.

You had Lissie mentoring you and guiding you through everything, you knew Lissie through Lando and you’re glad for this because with out this opportunity you’ve wouldn’t be here as a reporter.

“We’re going to scuderia alphatauri team, y/n do you want me to take over?” Lissie asked you for the second time.

You gave her a smile and shook your head “Lissie it’s fine, i will be okay, i promise you.”

Lissie knew your past with the certain team member of scuderia alphatauri team and safe to say she wasn’t really happy with the personality of his but you’ve assured her that he wasn’t really a bad guy, maybe just a right person wrong timing?

What you didn’t notice was charles and pierre conversing and pierre eyes mainly focusing on you.

“Charles, you’ve never told me y/n would be here?”

carlos came and joined the conversation asking charles about your presence on the grid.

Charles was confused, why would you be here? You had decline the paddock passes he gave to you and so he followed carlos directions and saw you there right in-front of the camera interviewing George Russell and charles heart has never felt so full seeing your dream had been accomplished

Charles ignored the conversation with pierre and carlos and walked straight to you and waited for the interview to end to hug you.

“Surprise charles, i’m here, this time being paid!” You hugged back and stepped back

“I am so so proud of you, thanks Lissie for giving her this opportunity!” Charles smiled and thanked Lissie knowing how much the opportunity meant to y/n.

Lissie laughed it off and mumbled a no worries to him.

“Will you be interviewing us? Carlos and I? When will that be?”

“She’s not going to Charles, i’m sorry you’ll be seeing my face instead” Lissie broke off the news to him and laughed

Charles rolled his eyes jokingly, “for once, i thought i could get away from you, Lissie”

While Lissie, Charles and you were conversing, pierre, yuki and carlos made their way to the three of you.

“Hey y/n, long time no see” yuki greeted you

“Oh please, we met last sunday at the japanese restaurant, stop lying yuki!”

You knew the air was intense with charles and Lissie being protective of you around pierre and carlos with yuki having zero ideas of the backstory of both you and pierre parting.

“Hello Pierre, Hello Carlos! Fancy seeing both of you here too” you smiled.

“Well i fancy seeing you here, seeing you with radios and scripts attached to you is something i need to get used to looking at” Carlos touched the radio that was attached to your hip

“I’m proud of you, y/n” the sentence that would’ve broken down y/n if she wasn’t right in-front of her friends

“ oh shut up carlos, watch out for me more often in the future gps, don’t fall for me! and thank you pierre, couldn’t have done it without Lissie’s help of course!” Refusing to have the conversation mainly focusing on you, you shifted it to Lissie

After all of the catching up session, you’ve interviewed scuderia alphatauri and you’re thankful that it wasn’t as awkward as you’ve thought it’ll be. Once it was wrapped up, you excused yourself and pack things that were needed to be packed with Lissie.

Things were going smoothly for you for the weekend, avoiding pierre and focusing yourself on the task that was given. Interviews with you was widely loved by fans knowing that you’ve already formed a relationship with 20 of the drivers way before.

Soon after, Lissie and you were separated, you’ll be in charge of games and Lissie does most of the talking interviews. You were being sent to different gps than Lissie, though it bugs you off not being with Lissie, you still couldn’t be more thankful.

You’re finally at the Miami GP, this time with Lissie. God really wasn’t on your side today because, if anyone could have been stucked in a lift with you it has to be kika.

The woman that pierre had his eyes on while being in a relationship with you.

Kika knew of your existence but it takes two hands to clap so you did not really put the 100% blame on her because at the end of the day, pierre’s to be blamed too.

“Love the grey dress on you, y/n! you look really good in it” this shocked you, because this was your ever first conversation with kika herself.

you coughed and thanked her while complementing her outfit too, not really your style but for the sake of being kind, why not…? right?

“I didn’t know about you and pierre” she continued, you were really pissed off at the fact why has no one come to rescue me and her.

you really did not want to have this conversation especially after it took you almost 7 months to fully moved on.

“No worries, old story. Pierre’s much happier with you,yes?” You told her off while taking a seat on the lift floor.

she sat beside you.

“He’s not over it yet y/n, at night when i can’t find him next to the bed with me, he’s in the kitchen scrolling through pictures of you both, i’ve caught him listening to the playlist both of you’ve made too. I don’t blame him y/n, i’m sorry for telling you.”

“Kika….” you were stunned, in the 7 months it took you multiple shifts, late night studying to get rid of pierre on your mind only for it to come back right here right now

“I know you’re much more happier now y/n, but pierre was much happy with you than with me. I’ve noticed during the interview you did with him and yuki, I think that was a sign, you know? He doesn’t call me cherie, because it reminded him of you”

“kika, this is too much for me, let’s just be silent yeah?”

All you ever wanna do right now, is to get back to your hotel room and cry your lungs out

5 mins later, you hear the elevator door open and ding, and there stood in-front of you was the man of honour himself.

“Hey love, you okay?” You thought he went to kika and that was what confirmed it for you until you realised he was in-front of you.

“Pierre….? Kika’s there” you sound confused and pointed to kika

a/n : that’s all!!!!!! i hope you like part one, will post part 2 ASAP! pictures are there too let yall imagine the outfits etc!

satellite | charles leclerc

<3 briefly based on satellite by hs :)

SUMMARY: the one where charles tries to stay away after your falling out.

WARNING: angsty angst, swearing, drunk stuff, fluff, jealousy, and overprotective-ness (dickhead charles and ASSHOLE LANDO ladies and gents)

PAIRING: charles leclerc x fem!reader

WORD COUNT: 3.1k - somewhere in the thousands     

A/N: the first part was supposed to be just a one shot but people asked for a p2 so here! and i didn’t proof read lemme know if there are any mistakes

tags: @sheslikeacurse @dan3avacado @miinqrii @honethatty12 @pleasedontfollowimlost

(just the people who asked for p2 i can definitely make a permanent taglist just let me know! enjoy <3)

PART 1

It had been a few months since that night.

Five months to be exact.

Since then you had gotten over it. Over him. 

Which is what you told everyone despite the fact that you knew it wasn’t true. He crushed you. Your life came crumbling down on you in that club. And somehow he moved on particularly quickly. By Abu Dhabi his smile was back on his face, and a new girl on his arm. 

And she made your blood boil.

With her perfect self. Perfect hair. Perfect everything.

And what sucked even more than Charles moving on with lightning speed?

The fact that she was truly perfect. She was a literal angel. She was an elementary school teacher close to Charles’s Monaco apartment. And their supposed meeting made you want to gouge your own eyes out when thinking about it. They had met whilst Charles was babysitting for a friend of his, the couple being absolutely knackered from taking care of their trio of terror that Charles was kind enough to offer to take their eldest, Brina, to school. 

And when he came back to pick her up he was met with a crying Brina sitting in her lap. Her being Elena. Elena Seour. A 23 year old French woman, with brown hair and gorgeous dark brown eyes. 

How ironic. She was quite literally Y/n L/n 2.0! But not that the similarities ever resonated with you.

It was hard. Smiling to everyone, nodding, 

“Yeah it’s been a while, I’m okay.” 

“I’ve been doing great! Focusing more on work, I’m good.” 

“It’s been a while since I talked to him but yeah, overall life’s fine, I’m great.”

I’m okay. I’m good. I’m great.

Somehow those words always tasted bitter in your mouth. You always hoped that bitterness would fade away. But it had been so long, and there it was. A reminder, that you were anything but fine. 

You were walking through the streets of Monaco. 

Everything was calling out to you. The small city was bustling and bubbling on the Friday afternoon. The sun was dipping behind the crystal waters to your right as you continued your brisk walk. The taste was gone, you couldn’t be more happy, a weight of your shoulders.

You had your headphones in and were listening to music. It was calming. For the first time, in a long time, you felt at ease, peaceful. But of course that was disrupted as your best friend Spotify decided to blast ‘Kiwi’ by Harry. Which would’ve been fine despite the fact that you were in a more relaxed mood. Which prompted you to open up your phone and scroll through your thousands of playlists. 

Your hand hovered over one playlist.

‘CHAR AND Y/N/N <3′

There it was, that bitter taste.

For some stupid reason you clicked on it. But honestly, you were surprised. Not by the silly music taste comprising of ABBA, Coldplay, Harry Styles, Zayn, Kendrick and Taylor Swift to a bunch of French artists you had no clue about. But by the fact that it did nothing. Your eyes weren’t tearing up, your heartbeat the same, everything the same.

And that comforted you. You were getting better. 

But you weren’t so sure if you wanted to listen to the playlist and fall off the idea of getting better and into the dark abyss that was Charles. 

Charles Leclerc.

His smile, laugh, hair, horrifying fashion taste-

No! No, no, no. Not happening.

Your stomachs rumbling brought you back to the present day as you got out of the playlist and decided on Zayn’s “Mind of Mine” album. You continued to walk as you searched up near-by restaurants which were still open. And there it was. The echoing laughter of the gods above as the only open restaurant was-

Of course, how surprising! And not only was that annoying but the fact that the two of you had your birthday there not even six months ago felt like a slap in the face. 

Toujours. Forever.

It’s just a restaurant. It’s not like you’re going to his apartment and knocking on the door or anything Y/n. Calm the fuck down. 

You reassured yourself as you turned around and made your way to the place.

What you hadn’t prepared yourself for was the fact that you had entirely forgotten the fact that not only had Toujours been your favourite restaurant in the city but also a certain Monegasque’s.

So it was entirely shocking when you walked in and spotted the Ferrari driver through the glass sliding doors in the back. He looked gorgeous as always. The golden hour light did nothing to deter you from looking at him, it drew you in. He was wearing a white dress shirt with black pants, his blazer no where to be seen. He was reading a magazine, whilst holding onto a glass of what you assumed was alcohol but from where you were you couldn’t tell.

What did shock you was when Elena returned to the seat in front of him. His jacket draped over her shoulders, with a wide smile on her face.

The warm smile of hers was not reciprocated. 

Which piqued your interest.

The hostess returned, “We have a table ready for you Miss! Follow me.” You nodded and smiled before following her along. 

You wondered how it would be like to die by glass. Just a shard of glass to eye. Or the neck. Or the head. Each one of those options seems more friendly as you listened to Elena drone on and on and on and-

You get the idea.

Of course the only available table was next to them. 

You were sitting with your back to Charles as was he. You thanked god that he was fixing his cuff whilst you were seated. You were nowhere near ready to talk to him. Being so close in proximity to him already had your heart beating out of your chest, ready to leap and run. God you wished you could run.

But your protestant stomach thought the opposite.

Your nose scrunched in disgust as the waitress walked past with white wine. God you hated white wine. So you were even more disgusted when the glass was placed in front of Charles, to which he grabbed it and downed the entire glass. He also hated white wine, whilst Lando loved it. Which always resulted in you and Charles ganging up on him while teasing him.

“I swear to god it’s not even that bad for fucks sake Charles!”

Maybe he had a bad race week? You hadn’t been especially paying attention to Formula One since the split, only every focusing on Lando and Daniel the few times you did pay attention in the week. 

Your eyes flicked up as the waitress walked to your table with your order. God had you missed the food here. You were having a cheat day. Which Charles obviously took a bit too literally a few months ago.

So when she placed the Pizza Margherita on your table you had to refrain from kissing her out of gratefulness. The smell was intoxicating. You had also ordered Garlic bread and Mozzarella sticks. 

“Miss?”

“Hm?” 

“I said there’s an open table inside if you’d like. I can bring this all in.”

You nodded profusely. Anything to get away from Miss Chatty behind you. You took it all back. She wasn’t perfect, she was eager. Way to eager. She hung onto every word of Charles as if he was a god. Which he is but still. She was far to kind, to optimistic all the time. And god was she whiny.

“Charles you’re going to be gone for so long.”

“Charles I’m going to be so lonely.”

“I want you home please.”

She would never shut up. And she also didn’t grasp the concept that Charles was a Formula One driver. Him being busy is the first thing you have to come to terms with in order to be in a relationship with him. And you knew how much Charles hated whining. Well only a certain type of whining. By the way his muscles were tensed which was very appealing to see, you could tell he was at his breaking point. Charles had always hated being away from you, as did you hate being away from him. But you understood. The amount of effort, sacrifice and most of all time that he had put into his career. And you were always supportive, no matter what. However Elena seemed to cling onto him. She quite literally was acting like the children she cared for. Pouting her lips whilst begging him to stay with her.

“It’s just one race, why can’t you stay?”

Is this bitch for real?

The quiet music was soothing as you ate. But you couldn’t help but glance over at the couple outside ever so often. Once you were finished with quite literally all of your food safe to say you were ready to fall into a coma. Food coma that is.

And as you were gathering your belongings to leave, shouting from outside had caught your attention. 

“You always put it over me! Everything over me! Your team, career, Carlos, Lando, Arthur everyone!” 

“Ma carrière est tout! C'est comme ça que je paie ton appartement. Vos vêtements. Ta voiture. Je te donne tout ce que tu veux ! Tout le temps! Je n'ai même pas fêté la deuxième victoire de Carlos à cause de toi ! Tu m'entraînes loin de ma vie et tu m'enfermes comme si tu me possédais. God I do everything for you. Is it not enough?” 

My career is everything! It’s how I pay for your apartment. Your clothes. Your car. I give you everything you want! All the time! I didn’t even celebrate Carlos’s second win because of you! You drag me away from my life and lock me up like you fucking own me. 

“I told you to not speak in languages I don’t fucking know! I don’t give a shit about the money okay? I want you! But you don’t want me. I know it. Don’t even try to deny it okay? I see the way you look at her. When she walks by with Lando in the paddock, god you don’t even try to hide it.”

“How the hell is this about Y/n now-”

“It always is! You love her not me. You never have. You liked the idea of being with me, to get over her. It’s all about her!”

“Tu es fou.” You’re fucking crazy.

The unmistakable sound of a hand striking his face.

“I’m not stupid, I know that much French asshole.”

A teary eyed girl ran past you and you thanked god she didn’t look your way.

 Charles was sitting down again. His head in his hands. And you found yourself glossy eyed. He looked miserable. He took his head out of his hands and leaned his back, looking up at the sky.

Charles found himself thinking of you. Where were you? 

And how the hell did he get here. 

The second month he had resorted to a jab or two.

God if he could take it all back he would.

And that’s how he found himself in a bar at 2 am in the morning with Pierre, Lando and Max all around him, drunk too. Him and Lando were still iffy. Lando gave him a piece of his mind almost every day he saw the man on track after the breakup for the first month. 

The third was hateful death stares from across the paddock. 

The fourth resulted in awkward small take.

The fifth had them in an okay spot. Ever since Lando had learnt of Y/n being better in general seeing her smile return had him over the moon. Even if he was still annoyed at Charles seeing the wreck that he was had him sympathetic. 

“I don’t even- I’m not even sad over Elena. I-is that fucked?” 

“Slightly mate, but overall even after dating her you saw her about a week each month so it wasn’t t-that big of a relationship so it’s okay. You’ll be over it soon.” Lando consoled the driver.

And that had Lando and Pierre totally sober. 

“I just want my Y/n.”

After months of Charles being with Elena and re-assuring his friends and family that he was okay with out her, he was back in square one?

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me man.” Pierre sighed. 

“What?” Charles asked as he raised his head from his arms on the table only to be ushered back to his original position. 

“Shh Charlie. Ce n'est rien, rendors-toi d'accord?”

Nothing. Go back to sleep ok?

You had been twirling the umbrella in your Virgin Cocktail for the past five minutes. The club wasn’t really your scene, hasn’t been since that night. You were bored out of your mind and had no idea what to do. Seeing Charles so, broken? Exhausted? You had no thoughts to describe it. 

After a few drunken protests he was asleep. Lando and Pierre sighed in relief. 

It just hurt. You hated seeing him so down, always have.

So when your turned to inspect your surroundings and saw Charles laid across a booth to your right with Pierre and Lando slowly getting out of the booth to go to the bathroom you had to hold your head. How the hell had you run into him twice already?

And all of a sudden you were sitting by his head, and your hand brushing the hair out of his face.

“Y/n?” Pierre questioned.

“Pierre!” You smiled as you got up and wrapped him in a hug, Lando joining shortly afterwards. “What’re you doing next to Charles?” And all of a sudden your shoes became extremely interesting as you gazed at them. “I- I was just- Fuck I have no clue. I just, I miss him.”

“Y/n, as one of Charles’s best mate, I have to say that he misses you. Too much. Honestly? I think he’s still mentally at that club. Replaying it over and over. How he could’ve handled it better. Why he did what he did. He’s beating himself up over everything. Elena was just a distraction and he doesn’t even realize he’s still on you half the time. Elena looks exactly like you, brown hair and eyes, short and so on. He needs closure which I don’t think he ever got, neither did you. I loved the two of you together even if you guys were so sickeningly sweet it made me regret ever being against the two of you. But as your best friend? Since we were kids?”

Whatever he was about to say was going to hurt and you knew it.

“If you take him back I will never forgive you.” 

You never thought anything could ever rival how you felt that night but Lando always proved you wrong.

“How could you say that!” You shouted.

“He hurt you! He fucking hurt you bad. I was there for you! I held you when you cried, I dragged you of bed when you threatened to punch me in the face if I even took the covers off of you. When you teared up when finding his sweatshirt I threw it away! I will not let you go back to him if you don’t know for sure how he won’t cheat again. I can not, I will not let it happen again. Y/n you deserve so much more that some cunt who cheats.” Lando rambled on.

“I appreciate you Lando you know that. I love you, you have always been there for me no matter what. But if I want to get back with Charles that would be my choice. I am not a child, you cannot boss me around or make decisions about my life. Yes he hurt and I will forever be grateful to have had you there to get me through everything but Charles is not an idiot. If we did get back together there is no way in hell would he cheat again and I know it. I know Charles in ways that you will never.”

“You obviously didn’t know him well enough since he cheated on you. And you’re fucking going back to him like a fucking idiotic girl.”

Smack.

“How dare you. Fucking using my shit? My past against me? I don’t give a single shit if you don’t want me with Charles I am a grown fucking woman and I will do as I please. When you’ve finally got your head screwed on straight come talk to me like a normal fucking friend would, otherwise?” You looked him in his eyes.

Somehow you again ended up on a balcony for fresh air. “Y/n.” “Fuck off Lando.”

“Don’t fucking talk to me.”

“Y/n.”

Your head shot up as you turned around. Charles was standing there, and you couldn’t stop yourself from hugging him as tight as possible. 

“I missed you. I missed you so fucking much it hurt.”

“I missed you too. I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry for everything ma chérie.” 

He held your face with his hands on each cheek before resting his forehead with yours. “I missed you. These past few months have been fucking awful. God not even racing made me feel better. You have no clue how much I regret everything that happened that day. I felt so stupid, kissing some random girl when I had the most beautiful girl already. I have no clue why I did it, being drunk is no excuse. You never ever deserved any of the shit I put you through. You were always patient with me and I will be patient with you.”

You looked up into his eyes. God you missed his eyes.

“Je serai patient, je t'attendrai mon cœur.”

I will be patient, I will wait for you my heart. 

“Don’t.”

“Don’t what?”

“Did you just quote Harry Styles?”

“Don’t wait. I’m here, right here spinning out waiting for you.”

“Of course. He’s my husband y’know?”

“Oh really? So do I have to fight this guy to get to you ma chérie?”

“Of course! Good luck Char, he’s really hot.” 

“Is he now?” He laughed as he tickled your sides whilst you swatted his arms and tried to wriggle away to safety.

“Mon ange please!” You cried.

His heart was intact again. 

The nickname had sirens going off in his head, leaving him wondering if this was even real. Did he seriously have you back again? He did. 

And he would love you forever, always waiting for you.

Round and round.

Satellite.

Isn't it strange - Charles Leclerc

charles leclerc x fem!reader summary: loosely based on strange by celeste warnings: Angst, fluff a/n: my first fic… I have so many more ideas. This was just a warm up! 

It was a huge cliche the way you and charles met way back in 2019. It was his first day at the ferrari factory and he was running late. Coffee in hand he ran towards the building entrance failing to notice the girl walking out of doors, spilling everything onto her ferrari polo. 

He was completely frozen before he snapped back into reality reaching for his ferrari jumper to dry the shirt. Apologies spewing from his mouth continuously but all you did was stop him and  tried to tell him it was alright and he should head inside for his meeting as he was already late he gave you his jumper and ran inside one thought playing on his mind. He never got your name

 He never saw you again until the next race you spotted him and made your way over returning his washed and dry jumper as you were about to turn around he asked you if you would like to get coffee as a thanks. You laughed and told him to promise he wouldn't spill it on you again his eyes lit up and he joined your laughter. 

The rest was history. 

One coffee date led to many many more until he finally asked you to be his girlfriend after his win at monza all of a sudden it was your 1 year anniversary and you couldn't be happier. Charles was the sweetest most considerate boyfriend you’d ever had. He put all his effort into making you happy when he was not racing. He took you on dates that no one could compare to, he made sure you were always safe and comfortable when in public and most importantly he supported you in your career as you worked through the ferrari engineering internship.  

So when you got a job offer to work at Mclaren for the 2021 season as their main engineer you thought he would be happy for you as this was not only a massive step in your career but also for women in engineering and motorsport. How wrong you were. 

You opened the door and walked to the kitchen bursting to tell him the news. That was until he shoved the letter across the countertop with a look of betrayal on his face. Your smile dropped as you saw the mclaren logo at the front. 

He shook his head and began to laugh in disbelief. You tried to explain that you’d still be in the paddock but he wouldn't have any of your answers. He claimed you going  to mclaren  wasn't necessary as they were not doing well and ferrari was better, he even told you that you didn't need to work at all and he could provide for you saying engineering wasn't meant for women and how mclaren only hired you to make them look good.

Tears fell down your face as you looked at him in disbelief. A scoff escaped your lips as you brushed passed him to gather all your things from his apartment. charles not understanding why you were leaving despite telling him multiple times. Once you got to the door charles was still so sure he didn't do anything wrong so you left and never looked back.

Radio silence. Nothing from charles. All of your messages were left on delivered. The season has ended and you were officially announced as lando’s main engineer. Praise came from the whole team and from across the whole paddock. Everyone except the one person you wanted praise from. 

The last straw was when he brought another girl with him. It was like a knife stabbed you in the heart as you saw them walk past the mclaren garage. you always thought you’d get back together. A tap on your shoulder brought you back to reality, when you turned around you were met by lando who smiled at you “don't worry love you’ll find someone who appreciates you now come on smile for me i can't have my main girl being sad now can i?” he asked  as you smiled for him and laughed when he cheered unnecessarily loud. 

Unbeknownst to you charles watched the whole interaction bitterness filled his heart as he watched you laugh with someone else he knows he's to blame for losing you but he can't quite grasp it yet his eyes finally breaking away from the mclaren garage as he walked away 

You had just finished debrief and walked out of the mclaren garage, suddenly your shirt was wet as you looked up, your eyes locked with his. He offered you his jumper but this time you declined, smiling at him pulling a mclaren hoodie out of your bag. It truly was the end

NANDEMONAIYA

pairing: Charles Leclerc x VA Reader

faceclaim: Hamabe Minami

masterlist

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Liked by pierregasley, arthur_leclerc, olliebearman, and 1,824,761 others

charlesleclerc good to be back home 🤍

user1 oh, to be loved by Charles Leclerc

user2 I just know she is beautiful 💕

user3 WHEN WILL IT BE MY TURN 😫

user4 MY PARENTS

user5 They way his feed changes to just her whenever he is on break

user6 CHARLES IT’S BEEN 4 YEARS WHEN WILL YOU SHOW US HER FACE!

user7 I love bf Charles ❤️

user8 They could easily be the cutest couple on the grid if we knew anything about her and saw her at gp’s

| user9 I can’t believe she’s been to so | many and we have never been able to get | a glimpse of her

| user10 She is either a really private | person or she is also famous

user11 I love that he is keeping this relationship private, but not a secret 💖

user12 WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO BE HER IN MY NEXT LIFE 😩

Liked by arthur_leclerc, lorenzotl, leclerc_pascale, pierregasly, and 2,016,928 others

charlesleclerc SHE SAID YES 🤍💍🥂

user1 CONGRATULATIONS 😭

user2 OMFG ARE YOU SERIOUS!

user3 I can’t believe Charles is engaged!

user4 THE LAST PICTURE‼️

user5 THE BOAT RIDE! THE RING! THE BREAKFAST IN BED! WHEN IS IT MY TURN 😭

user6 🥹🥹🥹

user7 WILL YOU SHOW US HER FACE NOW!

| user8 They will be married for years | with 3 kids and we still won’t know | what she looks like 🙂

user9 I KNOW THAT WEDDING IS GONNA BE BEAUTIFUL

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charlesleclerc Soon to be YN Leclerc 🤍

user1 Charles can you fight

user2 I AM NOW A YN FAN ACCOUNT

user3 OMFG SHE’S MITSUHA! CHARLES IS MARRYING MITSUHA!

user4 I just fell to my knees in the middle of Walmart 😭

user5 I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU HAVE BEEN DATING YN FOR YEARS!

user6 THE PLAY THE PIANO TOGETHER 🥹

user7 STUNNING, AMAZING, and umm he’s there 🙂

user8 IM SO SINGLE 😔

user9 I’m gonna cry myself to sleep now

user10 Charles is such a lover boy ❤️

user11 He is so in love 🥰

user12 I WANT WHAT THEY HAVE‼️

user13 HOW IS SHE CUTE AND HOT AT THE SAME TIME

user14 I can’t believe Charles is dating Maki from JJK

| user15 MAKI? YOU MEAN TOGA!

user16 I want to know how they met because I would have never guessed this

user17 I need to know which character YN has voiced is Charles’s favorite!

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Love your baby Leclerc series! ❤️ If you're into the idea, maybe you'd like to write about Charles' little girl being sick and him being all worried and taking care of her? 🥺

my baby | charles leclerc

note: i am not taking requests, i am just posting my drafts

It started in the middle of the night when Ruby woke up Charles. She had her favorite blanket wrapped around her with her bunny slippers on her cold feet. She stood beside Charles, who was snoring. She called his name several times, but he didn’t wake up so she tried poking his arm until he woke up. When that didn’t work, she remembered the story that she overheard the other day about something that Charles had shouted.

“Box! Box!” She raised her voice slightly.

It was like a trigger word for Charles that instantly brought bad memories and anxiety. The driver woke up immediately and saw that his daughter was standing in front of him.

“What time is it?” He wondered as he rubbed his tired eyes.

“I don’t know, but I’m hurting, papa.” Ruby whined.

“What’s wrong, my Ruby Jules?” Charles asked.

“My head is hurting and I’m cold.” She whispered.

Charles pressed his hand against Ruby’s forehead and felt it warm. She was getting a fever and you weren’t home. You were on a trip with Mathéo to your home country to visit your parents. Ruby had school so Charles stayed behind since he had a break from racing.

“You wanna sleep beside papa? I’ll get some medicine so you can feel better.” Charles uncovered himself and stood up from his bed . He took Ruby into his arms and laid her onto his bed then covered her with the blanket.

“Papa, Floppy is alone in my room! He doesn’t like being alone!” Ruby gasped.

“I’ll go get Floppy, just stay here.” Charles said then kissed Ruby’s warm forehead. His first stop was to get medicine from the cabinet in kitchen. He read the directions on the bottle then grabbed a spoon. His next stop was Ruby’s bedroom where he retrieved his daughter’s favorite stuffed bunny named Floppy.

“Floppy!” Ruby called out as Charles made his way back into his room. He carefully set the bunny on the bed for her to grab.

“Time for your medicine, mon amour,” he sat on the edge of the bed as he started to open the bottle of medicine.

“I don’t want that.” Ruby used Floppy to hide her face.

“Ruby Jules, if you want to get better, you have to drink your medicine.” Charles said. Ruby hesitated, but sat up so she could drink from the spoon filled with medicine that her papa had poured.

“Does it taste like candy?” She asked.

“I don’t know, how about you taste it and then tell me.”

So she did, but instantly realized that it did not taste like candy.

“Yuck!” She made a face at her papa wondering why he even bought that disgusting liquid into the house.

“Okay, you did good. Scoot, your papa wants some cuddles.” Charles got under the covers then brought Ruby closer to him.

Morning came and Ruby was still sick. She had a stuffy nose and her fever had gotten worse. She didn’t even feel like getting out of Charles’ bed so when it was breakfast time, he brought a plate of pancakes and fruit to her.

“Papa, it hurts.” Ruby groaned as she hugged Floppy. Charles was starting to question if he should take her to the emergency room. He had texted you early in the morning about Ruby’s condition. You replied that you would get on the next flight to Monaco, but he assured you that he could handle it.

At least he thought he could.

“I know, Ruby, I know,” Charles placed a kiss on her cheek. “You know, grand-mére told me that taking a bath makes you feel better. I’m going to fill the bath, okay?”

“Can you put bubbles and the toys?” She mumbled weakly.

“Anything for you.”

After getting the bath ready with bubbles and toys, Ruby got in. The water made her feel slightly better, but blowing bubbles and playing with rubber ducks with her papa made her smile ten times more.

“Hello mister duck, you look nice today!” Charles tried doing different voices for each duck. “Thank you, little duck!”

“The ducks should have names, papa.” Ruby said.

“You’re right, what should the ducks be called?” Charles asked.

“This one is called Arthur and this one Lorenzo.” Ruby laughed as she pointed to the two ducks that Charles had in his hands.

“I guess that just leaves Charles the duck.” The Ferrari driver grabbed the third duck that was floating in the bubbly water.

“No, papa! His name is Floppy two.” Ruby grabbed the duck from Charles’ hands and played with it.

“Floppy two . . . I guess he can be called that.”

When bath time came to an end, Charles let Ruby get dressed by herself, something she always wanted to do. As Ruby got dressed in her room, Charles prepared dinner for them. Before he could finish the mac and cheese for his daughter, the doorbell rang.

He walked to the front door and opened it revealing his brothers Lorenzo and Arthur, along with Lorenzo’s girlfriend, Charlotte. “Where is my favorite niece?” Arthur asked.

“Hello, Arthur, it’s so nice to see you. I’m doing good, thanks for asking.” Charles rolled his eyes as he let his family in.

“How is Ruby?” Lorenzo asked.

“She’s better. She just took a bath, that definitely helped a lot.” Charles explained.

“Papa! I can’t put my shoe on!” The Leclerc heard Ruby shout. She walked down the stairs with a pink tutu, purple leggings, a Barbie shirt and one shoe on while she held the other in her left hand.

“Interesting choice of clothing, Ruby.” Arthur laughed.

“It’s called fashion and Ruby is a pro at it, Arthur!” Charlotte playfully hit Arthur’s arm. “I’ll help you, Ruby, come on.” Charlotte led the little girl to the living room.

“Yeah, Arthur, it’s called fashion!” Ruby sassed.

Arthur cringed. “She just called me Arthur.”

“That’s your name.” Lorenzo replied.

“Yeah, but she’s my niece. It’s weird hearing it from her.”

Like Father, Like Son | CL16

pairing: Charles Leclerc x reader

summary: Leo is just as clingy as Charles. Some cute little fluff moments

warnings: none! Italics are flashbacks, if there’s any spelling errors pretend you didn’t see them x

author’s note: A little all over the place, but I hope you guys enjoy the read! First time writing for Charles, so I hope it’s decent :)

Charles was a clingy boyfriend.

He knew it, you knew it, and everyone else who’s witnessed him practically attached to you knew it. But he couldn’t help it, Charles loved and adored every single part of you. Which was why he somehow needed to always be attached to you.

Whether you guys were at home, at the paddock, or just out and about, Charles always had to have you close. Majority of the time, he can be seen having his hand interlocked with yours or walking about with his arm around your waist. On rare occasions, fans have even spotted the Ferrari driver walking around while hugging you from behind, his chin resting on your shoulder and hands connected at the front of your waist.

Fans melted at the sight of Charles being so clingy. His friends on the other hand—along with some fellow drivers on the grid—found Charles’s little habit as the perfect opportunity to tease him until he was as red as his race suit.

The Miami sun beamed on you as you and Charles entered the paddock. Immediately, fans recognized your boyfriend, calling him for his attention to sign merch and take pictures.

You gently released his hand, causing him to look at you with a pout, “Bébé, hold my hand.”

“Cha, they’re calling you and I know you want to go say hi.” You insisted, encouraging him to greet the fans by nudging him towards the barricades.

With a pout still on his face, Charles looked around, “You might get lost, it’s your first time here.” He knew you were fully capable of finding your way around the paddock and locating the Ferrari motorhome, but he just didn’t want you to leave his side. The moment he’d step into the Ferrari hospitality, he’d be pulled away from you to film content and do media. Which meant he wouldn’t see you till a couple of hours later. So basically, he was shamelessly finding excuses for you to stay with him.

“I’ll be fine, Joris is here and he’s going to hospitality too, I’ll just go with him.” You assured your boyfriend, motioning to his best friend behind you.

Charles’s brows furrowed together, his hand finding yours and tangling them together.

“Joris doesn’t know where the hospitality is.” Charles reasoned, obviously lying. Joris opened his mouth to object but quickly shut his mouth once his friend shot him a look.

“Please bébé, just come with me. They’re going to make me do media once I get there and I won’t see you till after.” Charles tried again to make you stay, slightly tugging on your hand. Joris shook his head at his best friend.

“Charles, your fans want to see you, they don’t want to see me. Just have some one on one time with them.” You encouraged him again, a slight smile on your face at how clingy your boyfriend was being.

“Nonsense, I’m sure they have some of those friendship bracelets you like so much. They’re always telling me to share them with you.” Charles said, dragging you along with him to the fans.

Once you get to the barricades, you’re approached by Lando and Fernando, who are already smirking at the both of you.

“Morning love birds!” Lando greeted you both, shifting his eye from Charles to you, “Is he holding you hostage again? Blink if you need help (y/n), security’s right there.”

Charles rolled his eyes at his friend, signing posters for a couple of fans and taking selfies with them.

“Pretty sure it’s going to take more than security to get him off of me.” You teased, raising your interlocked hands up and shaking it in the air. Charles paused the selfie he was about to take and turned to you with a feigned look of offense.

“I’m kidding, babe.” You smiled at him, rubbing your thumb over his hand. Fernando tsked at Charles playfully, “Ai, Charles no one is going to steal her away from you!”

A couple of the fans caught on with the banter you were all having and decided to join in.

“WE’LL STEAL HER!” A fan screamed.

“CAN WE HAVE (Y/N)?” Another fan from the back chimed in. Charles’s eyes widened at the crowd in front of him, a slight blush on his cheeks from all the teasing.

“You guys are all mean!” He jokingly yelled at the fans, pulling you away with him as he ran towards the garages.

While your boyfriend was clingy, you did not hate it one single bit. Majority of the time, you weren’t in the same time zones, so all the cuddling and hand holding made up for lost time.

Charles hated being away from you. He hated it even more when you were at his apartment in Monaco, sleeping in your shared bed without him after admitting how much you missed him. He knew you understood why he had to travel so much, it came with his job, but he still felt guilty leaving you alone so often.

Which is how you both ended up with sweet Leo.

Charles watched through his phone as you adjusted yourself in bed. You were in your pajamas, your nightly skin routine was done, and you were ready for bed. Before you can settle, you grabbed Charles’s pillow and cuddled it.

“I miss you, Cha.” You hummed quietly. You looked so cuddly, the blankets were pulled up to your chin and the pillows looked so fluffy around you. He wished he were there to snuggle up beside you and hide his face in your neck, basking in the scent of you.

“I know mon cœur (my heart), I miss you too, so much.” He was currently in Australia for the third race of the season. He wanted you to be there, but too many things were happening at your job for you to travel this weekend.

“It’s so quiet, I miss hearing you just yap and play piano.” You pouted, eyes beginning to feel heavy.

“I don’t yap.” Charles’s disagreed, his nose wrinkling.

You huffed out a laugh, “Yes, you do! Sometimes you’re just as bad a Max!”

Charles gasped at you, “That is a strong accusation, bébé. I am not as bad as Max, he never stops.”

You playfully rolled your eyes at your boyfriend, “Whatever helps you sleep at night, Cha.”

Charles went quiet for a bit, causing you to look at him.

“What’s wrong?” You asked him through the phone. You see him shrug, “Nothing’s wrong, don’t worry.”

“So what is it?”

“What if we got a dog?” He suddenly suggested. The thought of a dog made your sleepiness go away. You weren’t against getting a dog, but with how busy you and Charles got, you weren’t really sure if now was the right time.

“A dog?” Your eyes squinted at your boyfriend. Charles hummed and nodded at you, “Yeah. I think it would be nice, no? You could have company whenever I’m away and we’ll be our own little family.”

Your heart swelled at Charles, the thought of having a family together one day was definitely something you both saw in your futures. But again, you were both too busy to start one, so maybe a dog would suffice.

“You’re right.” You began, “But having a dog is a big responsibility, Cha. Who’s going to watch them if we’re both away?”

“We can always take them. If we can’t, I’m sure maman wouldn’t mind.” Charles suggested, running a hand through his hair. He began to go through the other logistics, but sleep was beginning to take over you.

“I guess, baby. Let me sleep on it and I’ll let you know tomorrow, okay Cha?” You tell him, rubbing your eye. Charles smiled at you and blew you a kiss through the phone, “Don’t worry too much, mon chéri (my darling). I love you, sleep well.”

You mirrored his smile, “I love you too, Cha.”

After having a conversation about the responsibilities of having a dog, you and Charles decided that you were ready. So he reached out to a couple of breeders and some pet shops in Monaco until you guys found the right pup fit for you and Charles.

Leo was like the missing piece of you and Charles. You didn’t feel it before, but after seeing the small pup nuzzling between you and Charles you felt complete.

The English cream miniature dachshund was a bundle of joy and full of energy despite his small size. Leo’s daily schedule consisted of him eating, sleeping, playing, cuddles, eating, and more sleeping. He demanded both yours and Charles’s attention, though he demanded yours more. It was like he was in his own little world and the two of you were living in it.

Charles and Leo were like two peas in a pod. While one was a dog and the other was human, the similarities in their personalities were uncanny. They were the biggest sweethearts around you, constantly cuddling into your side and pressing kisses (or in Leo’s case—licks) onto your face—the two adored you and always wanted to be in your space. Wherever you went, they followed. But whenever you were gone, they were miserable.

Which brings you to today.

Leo whined as he sat beside the front door of Charles’s apartment. He pawed at the door, the sound of his tiny nails filling the room. You had gone out to have a girls day, visiting your favorite cafe with a couple of your friends and getting your nails done. Which left Leo to his own devices at his dad’s (Charles’s) apartment.

Charles was in the living room, going through a couple of emails from the team and his engineers about data from recent races and about the car. Though, he wasn’t able to focus since the six pound dog you both shared was constantly whining at the door waiting for you to come home.

Getting up from the couch, Charles made his way to the entrance of his apartment. Leo jumped up at the sight of Charles, immediately approaching his giant feet.

“Mon cœur, maman will be home soon.” He crouched to pick up Leo, who climbed up his chest and began licking his face. Charles let out a chuckle, “You’ve been acting like I was chopped liver for the past two hours, Leo. Don’t act so surprised to see me.”

As if Leo understood him, the dog nipped at his nose, making Charles yelp, “Ah! Leo!”

“You’re lucky you’re cute.”

Holding the dog against his chest, Charles made his way back to the couch. He moved his laptop aside, already knowing he wouldn’t be getting any work done anytime soon. He laid horizontally on the couch with Leo sat on his chest, the dog still nipping and licking at him excitedly.

“Do you miss maman too, Leo?” He softly asked the dog, petting Leo’s head and smoothing the soft fur of his ears. The dog let out a small sound, as if he agreed with his dad.

Still stroking Leo’s head, Charles continued to talk to the dog, “I always miss your maman, Leo. Whether she’s gone for a couple of hours or when I’m away overseas, she’s always on my mind. Just like you mon cœur.”

Leo had settled on nuzzling himself into the crook of Charles’s neck, similar to how you would, and laid down against his chest. Charles soothingly rubbed Leo’s back as his eyes began to feel heavier.

“We’re very lucky to have maman, right Leo? She’s perfect for us and she takes care of us all the time. I know you like to cuddle with her more, that’s okay though, she gives very nice cuddles.” Charles could feel himself doze off. The afternoon sun was shining against the windows of his living room and the couch was incredibly comfy—it was perfect for an afternoon nap.

Before he can completely fall asleep, Leo suddenly whipped his head away from Charles, making the man groan at the dog. Leo’s tail began to wag excitedly, his paws tapping on Charles’s chest, begging to be let go.

Leo barked at the sound of your keys turning in the lock. Instead of placing Leo back on the floor, Charles picked him up and walked towards the entrance to greet you once you’ve come in.

Leo’s tiny body shook even more as he watched you walk through the door. You beamed at the sight before you, your boyfriend dressed in sweatpants and a sweatshirt, cradling your extremely hyper dog.

“Aww, hi babies!” You cooed, dropping your bag to the side and gently taking Leo from Charles. You giggled as Leo covered your face in kisses, sniffing at your hair, and nudging your face with his cold wet nose.

Charles softly smiled at you and Leo, “Hey, I missed you too, bébé.”

“I know you did, Cha.” You hummed, walking into his waiting arms and pressing a kiss onto his cheek. Charles made a sound of disapproval, “You missed, mon chéri.”

You chucked at your boyfriend, “Oh, I’m sorry.” You pressed a tender kiss onto his awaiting lips, a hum of satisfaction coming from Charles. His arms tightened around you as he led you to the couch, only letting you go so you can settle onto the cushions.

Picking up your hand, Charles inspected your nails, “I like them, they look good on you.”

“Thank you, Cha. How was your day with Leo?” You sat back into the couch with Leo still cuddled into your chest. Charles sat beside you, wrapping his arms around you and placing his chin on your shoulder.

“I tried to get work done but Leo kept crying, so we decided to cuddle and talk about how much we missed you.” Charles answered, feeling the sleepiness come over him again.

“Oh, really?”

Charles nodded, “Yeah, our child’s a boy of many words, mon chéri.” You looked down at the pup to see him dozing off like Charles.

“Can we take a nap?” Charles asked, moving the both of you so you were laying down on the couch. You laid beneath Charles and Leo, your two boys nuzzled into your sides.

“Of course we can, Cha.” You hummed, pressing a kiss to his forehead and another onto Leo’s.

“I love you.” You whispered to Charles, you felt him smile against you, “I love you always, Mon cœur (my heart).”

You watched the two of them as they fell fast asleep on you. Your boys were clingy, but you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“Like father, like son, I guess.” You whispered before falling asleep yourself.

Disease : paranoid ✦ cl16

summary: The fact that you have to work as a Formula One driver's assistant for your final college grade is not the worst of your problems; the true issue is that no one told you that you would become a emotional support human for him.

pairing: charles leclerc x assistant!reader

tags: protective charles? tooth rooting fluff + angst, mention of insecurities, simp!charles, slow burn, charles has a lot on his shoulders + a bit paranoid.

# part one : would you?

# part two: [ October 10 ]

# part three :

# part four :

# part five :

# part six :

# part seven :

The art of blood ✸ cl16

summary: Monaco is the jewel in the crown, a world of expensive cars, casinos, and sheer luxury that conceals the true reason for its name; who imagined that a night of joy would finish with blood on your hands.

pairing: charles leclerc x reader

tags: violence, fluffy + angst, charles is crazy (a little) mafia au! protective + possessive charles = simp, bad thoughts, blood and mentions of killing, multiple mafia families (drivers)

# part one : [ soon ]

# part two :

# part three :

# part four :

# part five :

# part six :

Disease : paranoid ✦ cl16

summary: The fact that you have to work as a Formula One driver's assistant for your final college grade is not the worst of your problems; the true issue is that no one told you that you would become a emotional support human for him.

pairing: charles leclerc x assistant!reader

tags: fluff + angst?, caring charles (tiny bit) + comfort, bad thoughts.

# part one - next part [ series masterlist ]

Everything feels unreal. You're watching the mechanics work in the garage, and the only thing you can think is: has red always been such a pretty color?

It was the first race of the season, and you didn't have much to do yet, they told you that you just needed to make sure that Charles did everything that they asked him to do, and that was easy, thanks to him.

“Have you seen my notebook?" Charles asks as he looks around to see if he can catch a glimpse of the tiny notebook somewhere, you let out a chuckle, grab your purse from the floor and give him what he needs. 

“How is it that you always have everything I need?” he took the notebook from your hands and opened it “I try my best” he gave you a knowing look.

Charles still remembers the first time he saw you at the Ferrari headquarters in Maranello, you had just signed your contract with them and he had just been told that he had a new assistant. 

You were quite awkward and a bit clumsy when he first struck up a conversation with you. He learned that this was your first job, and he made a mental note to make you feel welcome, and also he didn't want you to leave him like the others. 

He tried his best to make you feel as comfortable as possible before the season started, he was patient and generally nice, which was what you really needed at that moment. 

When you made your first mistake and didn't tell Charles that he was supposed to be in a meeting, he took the blame and told Fred that it was his fault. 

You thought he would be angry, but he just said "It's okay, everyone makes mistakes" and in that moment you thank the angels for making him such a nice person. 

"Thank you, Mr. Leclerc" 

"None of that, we are a team you and I, if you ever need help just come to me." 

That was a month ago when you were still new and walking on eggshells trying not to make any mistakes, luckily you got better after all your final grade depended on it. 

"Have you eaten today?" Charles asks, handing his notebook back to you, just needed to check something he thought he should comment on the car in the next meeting they will have. 

"I haven't, but I was about to do so," you told him as you walked out of the garage with him beside you, trying your best not to look at him to see his face, which probably had a disappointed look on it. 

"I thought you said you already ate." 

"I did." 

"What did you have?" 

"Coffee," you mumble softly as you enter the Ferrari hospitality, "that's not food y/n," he scolds you again, you already lose count of how many times he does this.

Charles grabs a plate and starts to put different kinds of fruit on it, "you already ate," he nods, "This is for you," you try to grab the plate out of his hands, but he stretches his arm as high as he can to make sure you don't have a chance to grab it. 

"It's my food, let me grab what I want," he ignores you, grabs your wrist, and walks over to one of the tables. 

He pulls out a chair for you and you sit down, he puts the plate in front of you and sits across from you, motioning for you to start eating, which you do, but not before giving him the meanest look you can.

You take out your phone and play a YouTube video while you eat, it is a bad habit and Charles has told you several times but he still watches with you. 

When you put the phone at the right angle so that you and Charles can see the video without any problems, you notice that he is not watching.

“Mr. Leclerc" you called him but he didn't answer, you sighed softly, you know he heard you. 

"Charlie?" 

"Yes?"

"You have to stop doing that," he tilted his head as if he didn't know what you were saying, "I shouldn't call you that," "Why not?" "Because you're my boss.”

"There's nothing wrong with calling me that, besides it makes me feel old when you call me Mr. Leclerc."

"You are old" 

"I'm twenty-six." 

The look you gave him was enough to make a dramatic gasp come out of his mouth, you were already used to his tactics so you didn't apologize for calling him old. 

When the alarm on your phone went off, you grabbed it and stopped it before it could keep ringing, "Time to go, you have a meeting," you said as you handed him his notebook that he needed for to take notes. 

He gave you a quick thanks, but you grabbed him and raised your hand, he gave you a pout, but you shook your head at that, he took his phone out of his pocket and placed it in your hand, "it was worth the try," he muttered to himself. 

✦ ✦ ✦

While you were waiting for Charles' meeting to end, you took out your laptop and started to finish the assignment you were supposed to send for this month. 

You were quite happy when your professor told you that all you had to do was to send in a report on what you had done, the experience you had gained, and what you had become better at, for your monthly assignment. 

It was a pretty easy assignment since you were traveling around the world and learning things that you didn't even know existed, and since this was your first job, it was easier for you because you were learning a lot of new things. 

“Y/n?" You took your eyes off the computer and looked at the person calling your name, you tilted your head as if to ask if they needed anything but they shook their head and motioned with their hand towards the hospitality door. 

You quickly grab your things and walk to the door to greet your friend, "Did you see what Professor Brown posted in the announcements?" You shake your head and ask, "Is it something important?" "Depends, he wants us to take pictures of what we have been doing lately." 

It didn't sound too bad, if the assignments continued to be like this, you were pretty sure you'd get an easy A. 

"Did you do it?" You ask her, "I did," she nods, "but I came here to tell you because I know sometimes you don't check the announcements," you give her an embarrassed smile, "I'm not that bad," you mutter softly, and she gives you a look, which you shrug off. 

"Well, I'm going back, I'm pretty sure Lando is already out of control again, see you, take care," she gave you a quick hug before walking quickly towards the McLaren hospitality. 

You watched her go and sighed, taking your phone out of your pocket, ready to take some pictures to send with the assignment, "Hey, have you seen Andrea?" You jump a little at the voice next to you, "Don't do that, and yes he’s in your driver's room, are you okay? You've been acting weird since yesterday" you ask him with concern evident in your voice, but he quickly shrugs it off and tells you that he is fine. 

You make a mental note to ask him later. "I'm going to exercise, go to my driver's room if you need anything, okay?" You nod, take his phone out of your purse and hand it to him. 

He quickly says goodbye and walks away before you can say anything else to him, you have noticed that Charles has been acting strange since you arrived in Bahrain. 

You have been meaning to ask him about it, but every time you get the chance he seems to run away, which is so unlike him. 

You snap out of your thoughts and head back into the hospitality area, ready to take some pictures and send off the assignment. 

✦ ✦ ✦

Practice one is about to start and everyone is running around making sure everything is perfect. The only thing that seems not to be here is the driver. 

"Y/n, where is Charles?" Fred asks, you want to shrug your shoulders but then you remember that this is your job, and you should know where he is, you look at him and tell him you're going to get Charles, and he gives you a thumbs up.

You look for Charles everywhere, including his driver's room and the hospitality area. Has he left? You were pretty sure you saw him a few minutes ago.  

How can a person disappear so quickly? you even ask people from other garages and they haven't seen him. 

You tried to call him, but his phone was dead, it didn't even send you to voicemail. 

"Y/n!" You hear someone yell your name and quickly turn your head towards Carlos, he seems out of breath, and you can see his chest rising and falling faster than normal.

"Charles is in my driver's room, I don't know what happened," he said, but that was enough for you to start running towards the Ferrari driver's room. You still shouted a thank you to Carlos and that seemed to have caught the attention of other people who looked at you strangely.

But you did not care about that, you needed it to find Charles and to make sure that he was ready to get into the car. 

You reach the driver's room trying to catch your breath as much as you can, you probably look terrible with hair sticking in your face from how much you've been sweating, you want to kill him for making you suffer like this.

You were now outside Carlos' driver's door and you could hear soft mumbling, was he talking to himself?

You knocked softly on the door and waited for an answer, when you got none you decided to open the door. 

"Charles how can-" you couldn't continue as Charles was lying on the floor with his hands on his head rocking back and forth as if trying to calm himself down, your thoughts of scolding him left you just by seeing him in such a vulnerable state.

You walked as slowly as you could and bent down to his level. You grabbed one of his hands, and that was enough for him to look at you quickly. 

"I'm sorry - I can't, it's going to be like last year," he said quickly, you know from what you heard that last year was not a good one for Charles, the car didn't seem to work for him at all, you didn't know he was that affected by it, and now looking at him you didn't want him to feel that way. 

He's such an amazing person and always so happy and joking with you, but he was hiding a lot of things that had hurt him and you couldn't let that happen.

"Hey, you can do this, okay?" both your hands grab his face and you give him a tiny smile, "I can't..." you shush him and try to get as close to him as you can, were you allowed to hug him? You did not know, but at that moment he probably needed it. 

"Hey, those bad days don't define you, you're amazing and such a talented driver, last year the car wasn't good, let's leave that in the past, okay? This is a new opportunity and you're going to show everyone who Charles is, you're going to make them eat their words, so go and destroy them, champ". 

That seems to make Charles' worries melt away a bit, you told him to take a deep breath with you, and when you felt that he was better you slowly let him go. But that seems to be a wrong move, because when you do, Charles seems to look at you as if you took something away from him, but you ignored it. 

"Okay champ get up, time to make jaws drop with your amazing driving" you joked and you were quite happy because you could see the corner of his mouth move up a bit. 

"Thank you, Mon ange" 

"None of that, we are a team, you and I, remember?" 

He nodded and in that moment he let himself look at you while you smiled at him, he felt as if your smile had the power to melt away his worries leaving behind a feeling of peace, in that moment he was grateful for you, he took a deep breath and let it out, there was nothing to worry about.

He's pretty sure this season will go well with you by his side because you wouldn't leave him, would you?

Scuderia :: @evie-119 @tempo-rary-fix @spookystitchery @boiohboii @halleest @itsjustkhaos @aphroditeisamilf @vicurious28 @lozzamez3 @doofenshmirtzevil-inc @heyheyheyggg @teamnovalak @fakeplastiqtree @michelleyw81 @lillyssh-tposts @these-books-are-ruining-my-life @kqliie @deliciousfestsalad @biitch-with-wifi @xohollie01 @charlesleclerc2003 @loloekie @elliegrey2803 @steamy-smoker @doesnt-care @delululeclerc @vip-access @theseerbetweenus @haikyuen @arian-directioner @marvelfangirl04 @melagem02 @rach3164 @zucchinimalfoy @scopeiguess @landoslutmeout @reiofsuns2001 @badussybumper @nixily @forevercaffeinated-lee @i-wish-this-was-me @gabys-gabs @entr4p3 @trouble-sistar @thef1diary @puttyly @solo2leo @f1and1d4eva @liliummz

Team radio: I hope you like! it I feel I could have done better but English is not my first language but I will do my best to improve, I will keep practicing and improving my writing every day.

Best friends' brother - Charles Leclerc x reader

Charles Leclerc x female!reader

Summary: You and Arthur Leclerc had been best friends since you were children but it wasn’t the younger Leclerc brother you’d be in the sheets with and a one night stand can hold a lifetime of regret.

Warnings: Mentions of smut, pregnancy, swearing, angst, fluff

Word Count: 4.1K

—

Your heart pounded in your chest as you held onto the pregnancy test. It was one stupid mistake, one stupid, drunk mistake. Charles had finally won in Monaco for the first time which meant the celebrations would last until the sun came up. You and Arthur attended together; you just didn’t leave together. You and Charles evidently spent a lot of time with one another, especially when Arthur was racing. The pair of you would spend hours talking and enjoying one another's presence. You couldn’t lie to yourself that Charles wasn’t attractive, and he evidently thought the same about you. He’d always leave light touches on your waist and his eyes would linger on you just a little too long, yet nothing ever came out of it. Neither you or he would make a move or even mention it, you just acted like everything was normal, that was until the celebrations. 

Everything was fine until you lost Arthur. You scanned the club to find him but you were found by the older Leclerc. His eyes locked onto yours as he snuck his hand around your waist, pulling you into his side. He leant down, his eyes still on you as he held you tighter before connecting his lips to yours. You didn’t hesitate, not caring if anyone was watching you two from afar. He dragged you to his hotel room and the rest was history well… so you thought. 

The next morning you woke up to a number of missed calls from Arthur and a sleeping Charles beside you. You left faster than he could drive but part of you wanted to stay, you wished you could have spent the morning in his arms but for Arthurs sake you simply couldn’t. Since that day you’d avoided Charles like the plague although that was easier said than done, especially as he was your best friends' brother, but you managed. That was until Arthur started to notice. 

“y/n?” Arthurs voice filled your flat. Your eyes snapped up from the test in your hands and towards the door. He burst through your bedroom door just as you slipped the test under the duvet. “Where have you been?” He arched his brows, a slightly annoyed expression on his face. 

“I haven’t been feeling well.” Technically that wasn’t a lie. “So I’ve just stayed at home -”

“You’ve never been away from my races, even when you’re ill.”

You shrugged, not wanting to look at him for two long. “I couldn’t stop throwing up, can’t exactly turn up to a race like that.”

“Why didn’t you call me? I could have come round and looked after you. You always looked after me when I was ill.” He smirked, the annoyed expression leaving his face as he moved to sit beside you. Your heart dropped as he sat beside you, hoping he wouldn’t feel the test he was sitting on but your luck didn’t go that far. He rose to his feet once again, scrunching his face up as he pulled the duvet back to see what he’d sat on. 

“Arthur -”

“What the fuck is this?” He snatched the test and held it up. “Is this a…?”

“Yes…” 

He looked down at the test, checking the result. 

Positive. 

“Is this why you’ve been avoiding me?” His eyes met yours. “Because you’re fucking pregant and didn’t want me finding out?” 

“I just found out Arthur!” You found your voice. “Look I just felt sick so I stayed away thinking it was a bug and then my period was late so I had to check…”

“Who’s the dad?” 

He asked the one question you forever wished you could avoid. 

You didn’t answer, your eyes welling up with tears when you knew you had to answer his question. It wouldn’t be hard to lie to him but everything would come to light and you knew it. Charles was his brother and even if you lied to Charles he would know that it was his kid. It was like the universe wanted you to suffer even more because before you could answer him a sudden knock at the door grabbed your attention. 

“Bet that’s the dad.” Arthur said, no emotion in his voice as he went to answer the door. “So what is he a secret boyfriend you’ve kept from me?” He looked back at you before he opened the door only to be met with the worried expression of his older brother. 

“Is y/n here?” Charles asked just as you walked up behind his brother. 

Arthurs eyes squinted at his brother, his face going back to its confused expression. “Why are you here?” 

“Arthur!” You snapped at your best friend. 

Charles coughed nervously as he looked between the two of you. He’d always wondered if something was secretly happening with the two of you but the night you’d slept with him confirmed to him that you were all his well, he wished you were. 

“Just came to see y/n -”

“Why?” Arthur leant against the door, still now allowing his brother to enter your flat. “You see her at the races -”

“That’s the point.” Charles looked at him like he was an idot. “I haven’t seen her since she left mine in Monaco.” Charles didn’t mean to let it slip but it was too late to take it back now. 

“Left yours?” Arthur arched his brow. “What the night of the party?” He quickly looked back at you and then back at his brother as he suddenly connected the dots. 

Ever since the celebrations in Monaco you hadn’t gone near Charles. If he came over to the pair of you in a rare occasion that you had turned up to the track you would always find an excuse to leave before he could utter a word to you. 

Arthur suddenly spun on his heels, looking at you before yelling. “Is it him?” His tone made you jump slightly. “Is he the dad?”

“The dad?” Charles looked over to you before he too connected the dots. “Are you…?”

“It is you!” Arthur turned back to face his brother. “It was the night you won wasn’t it?” 

“Arthur…” Charles went to speak but was suddenly stopped. 

“Everything I have you want, I am always in your shadow and you know that!” Arthur was close to tears himself. “She’s my friend Char not yours…”

“I’m still your friend Arthur, nothings changed -” Your voice was soft but Arthur didn’t care. 

“Yes it has! You went and fucked my brother and now you’re pregnant with his kid!” His eyes filled with tears. “I trusted you y/n, I told you everything about me, we never lie to one another, we made that promise when we were kids… you know how much it hurts to be in his shadow all the time, just once I wanted something for myself, even if that was just a best friend and now I don’t even have that.” He didn’t wait for you or Charles to speak. He shoved Charles out of the way and stormed out of your building.

It was now your turn to cry, not caring if Charles was still in front of you. He didn’t say anything as he pulled you into his chest, his arms wrapped around you as he kissed the top of your head, soothing you as you cried into his shirt. “It’ll be okay.” He mumbled. “I promise you.”

He hated seeing you upset. His feelings for you had grown far beyond a one-night stand or the girl that turned up to every single race, but you were off limits. You were his brother's best friend; someone he knew he could never be with but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to. He would happily let Arthur ignore and hate him for however how long it took just so he could have you.

“No Charles.” You pulled your head back to look up at him. “It won’t be. I can’t break you and Arthur apart, I can’t -”

“You haven’t broken me and Arthur apart, he’ll get over it -”

“No Char he won’t.” You stepped away. “He’s right he’s always been in your shadow. He just wants to race alongside you in Formula 1. He needs you more than he needs me, and I refuse to be the one that breaks that bond between you both. He won’t just get over it, he never just gets over things -”

“Are you trying to tell me you know more about my own brother than I do?”

“Yes I am!”

“Oh come on you just turn up to watch him race every week -”

“That’s a lie and you know it.” You sent a glare in his direction, one he knew he deserved.

“When did you find out?” He changed the subject. 

“Today.” Your eyes met his. “Just before Arthur came over.” You leant against your kitchen sink. “He sat on the test and that’s how he found out.” Your eyes looked over to the test sitting on the kitchen counter that Arthur had dumped as he opened the front door. Charles made his way over to the test, taking it in his hands to see the results for himself.

“I don’t want a kid, not now -”

“You and me both Leclerc but I can’t just get pregant on my own can I?” You ran a hand through your hair. “This was all a mistake, we should have never of spent the night together, if I could take it back then I would.” 

Your words killed him. Sure, he didn’t want a child yet but that didn’t mean he didn’t want one in the future. But he also didn’t want you to regret spending the night with him, for Charles if he could relive the moment again, he would. He wanted it to happen again and again, he even planned to be with you but hide it from Arthur. He had the perfect life with you all planned out in his head but clearly things weren’t meant to be. 

“Do you really mean that?” He looked down at you, fighting back every word he wanted to say. “Would you take everything back? You and I?”

“We would never work Charles. It was never meant to be… it was a bit of fun that went wrong.” Your eyes met his. “Nothing more.”

“Fine.” He nodded, setting the test down. “Are you keeping it?” 

“I don’t know -”

“When you’d made up your mind let me know.” His eyes looked almost glass like as the tears slowly filled his eyes. “If you keep it, I’ll pay child support, but I don’t want anything to do with it.” He left without another word, he hated himself for it.

He didn’t mean it. He wasn’t lying about not wanting a kid now but that didn’t mean he’d want to leave his child without a father and leave you without support. He just knew how stubborn you could be and how you wouldn’t change your mind about walking out on the two of them, so the brothers still had one another. Charles needed time and he knew you needed time too. He planned to find Arthur and tell him how he felt about you, he needed to tell him everything and mend what had been broken to prove to you things can work but you had other plans. You couldn’t break the brothers apart and with you not around you hoped they’d forget about what had happened and move on with their lives. Not wanting to pick between them you got up and left, everything you once owned came with you and you left Monaco. 

It was probably a stupid decision just to pack everything and leave but, in the moment, it felt right and sometimes you just have to go with your gut when it comes to certain things and that was one of those times. You’d moved to England, more specifically a small village in the north of England, hopefully somewhere where no one knew who you were and luckily for you they didn’t.

The village was mainly home to elderly residents and a few small families. It was quiet and out of the way with a good community, the perfect hideaway for you and your son. You now lived in one of the cottages that overlooked the river which flowed through the streets. It was so different to Monaco but in the best way possible. Looking down at your son who was fast asleep in his cot you couldn’t help but regret the words you’d said to Charles. How could you ever regret having your son? 

Charles crossed your mind everyday, so did Arthur but things were for the best. You would secretly look at their Instagram accounts on a burner account and noticed the two posting photos of one another and filming eachother for their stories. They had healed what had happened. Arthur wouldn’t forget what happened but he could forgive his brother with time and it’s clear to see that time healed them both. 

What you didn’t know was that you crossed the brothers minds everyday too. Charles kept a photo of you in his helmet so no matter how far away you really were you would always be close to him. He often found himself wondering if you had a boy or a girl and if they had your eyes or his nose. It pained him more than he thought it ever would seeing other drivers with their children and their wives, he wanted that. 

“If you keep staring you might not ever look away.” Arthur had caught Charles doing just that. He was staring at Checo and his children, smiling at the way he placed his helmet on their tiny heads. 

“You still think she had a girl?” Charles asked his brother. 

“Definetly, you still team boy?”

“I know it’s a boy.” Charles smiled, tearing his attention away from Checo and his family. “It’s been over a year now, if he came on time, he’d be eight months old now.” He looked at Arthur. “I need to find her.”

“We will.” He gave his brother a reassuring smile. “But if y/n doesn’t want to be found, she won’t be. We always said we’d never lie to one another, but she was good at lying, the best poker face I’ve ever seen.” Arthur thought fondly of the memories. If only he could go back and change the past.

“Mr Leclerc?” A voice grabbed the brothers attention. They spun around to meet the eyes of an older woman. She smiled at them both, looking at them as if they were long lost family members. 

“Which one?” Arthur asked. 

“Both of you!” Her voice lit up. “I presume you two know who y/n y/l/n is?” 

Both brothers shared a glance of urgency before looking back at the women before them. “Yes!” They spoke in unison. 

“Good, I thought I’d gotten the wrong sport!” She laughed to herself. 

“What do you know about y/n?” Charles asked, his voice filled with worry. 

“Don’t sound so worried! She’s fine! She’s my neighbour!” The two boys had a million and one questions but the woman beat them to it. “I’m Margaret.” She held her hand out for the two of them to take. “She lives in England. We’ve grown rather close since I’ve been babysitting the little one for her whilst she has some time for herself. She spoke about you two and I knew I recognised your names somewhere. She would kill me if she knew I was here but… I lost the love of my life over a mistake, and I can’t watch her do the same.” 

Margaret was in fact your neighbour. She helped move you into your new home and was also the woman who bought you Leo, your dog. He’d been trained by a local farmer to put your mind at ease whilst you lived alone before your son arrived. Due to her kindness, you often opened up to her about your life. You told her about Arthur and Charles, something you hadn’t told anyone else before. 

Margaret understood your pain as she to lost those close to her. She fell in love with someone she knew her parents would never approve of and instead of standing up for them she let them go, letting the love of her life be belittled by her family and never keeping them close to her and she knew she couldn’t let you do the same thing. 

She told them everything including where you now lived. Charles didn’t waste a second, ignoring the fact that he still had to race that afternoon he threw his helmet to the side, telling Ferrari to tell the press he was sick and needed the reserve driver to take over for this weekend. 

“Are you coming?” Charles called after Arthur as he started to leave the paddock. 

“No.”

“What?” Charles spun around and stopped in his tracks. “Arthur I thought -”

“She needs to see you more than me.” He gave him a light smile. “She had your child, not mine and that kid needs you. Tell her how you feel, not just for her sake but for mine. Fed up with you complaining about how much you like her.” 

Charles pulled his brother into a quick hug. “Thank you.” 

Whilst Charles was on his way to you, you were wrapping up to brace the English autumn weather to take Leo for a walk. You wrapped your son up so he wouldn’t be cold before lowering him into his pram. Leo placed his head onto the pram, looking down at the small boy. Smiling you pet his head as you threw your coat and scarf on. “Good boy.” You praised the dog as you grabbed his lead and harness and leaving the house.

You glanced over at Margaret's cottage yet never saw her in the small front window, knitting away some sort of blanket for your son or even one for Leo. “Must be out.” You muttered to yourself before pushing the pram towards the trail in the woods. You would never get used to a view like this, the way the golden leaves danced through the sky before hitting the ground. It was such a simple sight but after flying from country to country due to the Leclerc brothers you never got to experience anything like this. 

Leaning down slightly you let Leo off the lead when the two of you had entered the woods, letting the dog sprint around to his heart desires but he always kept close to you, just in case. Smiling down at your son you took out your phone to take a photo of the boy. He had his dad’s eyes and your nose. A perfect mix of the two of you. 

“y/n!” A sudden voice grabbed your attention, a voice you knew all too well. Turning around you met the face of Charles Leclerc. He was jogging up to you, something Leo saw as a threat. The German Shepherd dropped his ball and ran towards you, standing in front of you he lunged at Charles, barking and growling at the man before him. 

“Leo down.” You held his harness, pulling him back slightly. The dog stood back but kept his attention onto the stranger ahead of him. 

“Since when did you get a dog?” Charles was breathing heavily, his face terrified of the animal.

“Since I lived alone.” You met his worried gaze. “How did you find me?” 

“I didn’t stop looking since you left, nor did Arthur.” 

“Is he here?”

“No but he’s coming… I promise you he’ll be here.” Your sons cry grabbed your attention, still holding onto Leo you looked back at the boy. 

“Oh baby it’s okay.” Your free hand carefully scooped him up, placing him against your chest you started to rock him back and forth as best you could whilst holding onto your dog so he didn’t attempt murder on Charles. “Shh… shh…”

Charles felt time stop. His heart burting with pride at the sight of the woman he loved his son before him. “Is that -”

“He’s yours Charles.” You smiled at him.

“He?”

“Hmm, you have a son.” 

“Arthur owes me a lot of money.” 

“Sorry?” 

“We had a bet… if he was a girl or a boy, I said boy, he said girl.” 

You arched your brows at the man. “You two haven’t changed.” You looked back at your son. “Do you want to hold him?”

His face softened. “I’d want nothing more.” Charles stepped closer, still weary of your dog as you handed the child to his father. Anyone who walked past the two of you would have thought he’d been there since day one, he was a natural to this. “What did you name him?”

“Rowan.” You smiled, putting Leo back on his lead. “He has your eyes.”

“And your nose.” Charles smiled before he looked back at you. “Why did you leave?”

“You said you didn’t want a baby-”

“That doesn’t mean you had to leave.”

“I didn’t know what to do. You didn’t want to be a part of his life which meant not being a part of mine. Arthur hated me which meant I had lost you both and that was something I couldn’t live with. You know how small Monaco is, I knew I’d see you two at one point and I couldn’t face you two after that so I left. Moved here and now I’m never going back to Monaco, I’m raising Rowan here, I needed a new start and travelling around the world isn’t a life for a child.”

“Then I’ll move here.” His voice was full of urgency. “For over a year I could never stop thinking about you. I have always liked you and I just thought it was because of how you bullied my brother, the way you always knew everything about motorsports, I loved it. It was only when we grew up with one another I knew I loved you. I can’t apologise for everything that happened when you fell pregnant. I should have been with you through the pregnancy, throughout everything. When I said I didn’t want a child, I meant right now. I panicked and when Arthur and I spoke everything through you were already gone.” 

He held his son close to him, holding his right hand out as he balanced Rowan in his left. Taking his hand into yours you stepped closer to him. “I lied to you the last time we spoke.” He was taken back by your words but continued to listen. “I don’t regret spending the night with you, I don’t regret anything we did and I do love you.” 

“Neither do I.” He leant down, placing a kiss on the top of your head. “But now I’m not going anywhere.”

“Good because I really need someone to feed him during the night, he’s teething and I need sleep.” 

Charles laughed, this time dipping his head down to capture your lips into his. The kiss was far overdue. Your lips were sweet against his own, a taste he always wanted to feel. His hand left yours and cupped your cheek, pulling you closer into his chest as best he could without disturbing Rowan. He deepened the kiss as you got closer, his thumb brushing along your bottom lip when you pulled away for a breath. 

“Please never leave again.” He muttered against your soft lips. 

“I won’t.” Your eyes met his. “I promise.” Charles leaned in again but jumped at a sudden loud bark. Leo narrowed his eyes at the brunette, if he could talk you knew he’d yell at Charles like he was a disobedient child. 

“I’m not putting up with him.” Charles backed away from the animal.

“Oh he’s fine.” You dropped to your knees so the dog could rest his head on your chest, wagging his tail a you gave him all the attention in the world. “He just needs to get used to you.”

“Margret never mentioned him…”

“Margret?” You looked up him, curiosity on your face. “How do you know who she is?” 

His eyes widened at his own words. Shit. “Probably shouldn’t have said that…”

Pit Lane - Charles Leclerc x Verstappen!reader

Charles Leclerc x verstappen!reader

Requested? Yes/No - hello 🫀Could I request one that reader is Max Verstappen sister and is dating Charles. She isn’t a driver but is always in the pits for them.She suffers from asthma and in one career she has a really bad attack thats ends with her fainting and in the hospital because she couldn’t breath. Maybe it could be because her inhaler is empty and she didn’t have the time to get more.Would love to see how her brother,  boyfriend, dad, friends (the drivers) reacts to the news

Thank youuu 🫂💕

Warnings: Fluff, angst, swearing, mentions of accidents, Jos Verstappen if that counts…

Word Count: 6.2K

—

Max was as overprotective as they come so when it came to light that you were dating his childhood rival and rival on the track he wasn’t exactly pleased. You were having a family dinner at your Mum’s when she asked you to quickly grab her a fork, obliging you left the table and also your phone by your seat. You were sitting beside Max who saw your phone screen light up as you left. Glancing over he saw a certain someone had sent you a text. 

Char <3: Enjoy spending time with your family mon amour, I’ll call you when you’re home x

Max quickly snatched your phone from its spot just as you walked back into the dining room to catch him. His face was flooded with anger at the text he’d just read, something you picked up on the second you walked back into the room. Your brows furrowed as you spoke. 

“What?” His eyes met yours at the sudden sound of your voice. “Why do you have my phone?”

“Why is Leclerc texting you?” He asked in a bitter tone. 

“Sorry?” You tried playing dumb but Max could always see through your lies. 

“Don’t lie to me!” He spat, holding your phone up. “Why the fuck is he calling you ‘love’? Are you two -”

“Max now is not the time.” Your Mum cut him off, staring at the two of you. “y/n just sit down, come on let’s just eat. It’s rare I get the three of you here for dinner at the same time.” 

Victoria gave you a look, she knew. When you were younger Max went to stay with your Dad so he could pursue his Formula 1 career whereas Victoria stayed with your Mum. You were the odd one out. Max and you were always close, since the day you were born he’d always looked after you, he did the same with Victoria but he was just that little bit more protective of you but he had a reason to be. Being only seven you ended up staying with your Mum until you turned eighteen when you were finally reunited with Max for good. 

Max quickly learnt a few drivers had taken a liking to you, especially Charles and Pierre. You’d met Charles before when he and Max would kart together. As a kid Max hated Charles, always complaining that Charles kept trying to push him off the track but as the two grew older they learnt to put their bitterness aside. You knew deep down that Max and Charles still had that rivalry, especially as they were now competing to be World Champions. 

Moving in with Max meant going to every single one of his races, which also meant seeing Charles every single week. Normally he would always be accompanied by Pierre Gasly, a man who would flirt with anyone that took a breath whereas Charles was more subtle. It started out with small talk and then he’d show up to the post-race celebrations, get you away from Max so you could have a conversation that wasn’t just ‘hey, how are you?’. Conversations at the club turned into sneaking around with one another in hotels and the rest is history. 

Max was yet to know about you and Charles. The pair of you had kept your secret from him for eight months. It hurt to keep it away from him, he was your older brother and the one person in the family that you could actually tell everything to well, everything but this. You knew if Max found out he’d lose his shit and you knew he wasn’t the cleanest driver on the grid at times. Part of you worried that if he found out he’d pull off a stupid stunt on the track and land the two of them in the hospital so you kept it from him. 

“I’m not sitting here and eating fucking potatoes when my sister clearly has something going on with Charles Leclerc!” Max screamed, standing up and shooting you a glare. “What is going on between you and Leclerc?” 

“Max please just calm down -” Your Mum spoke. 

“Calm down? She’s been lying to my face!” He took a deep breath. “How long?” 

You didn’t want an argument but you knew it would come eventually. “Eight months -”

“Eight fucking months?” His words were bitter. “Eight fucking months and you didn’t think to tell me?”

“You’d lose your shit if you knew! You can be such an idiot on that track and I don’t want you pulling some pathetic stunt that gets both of you killed!” You spat back. 

“It’s not me you have to worry about crashing, that prat can’t even finish a race!” 

“Don’t you dare start insulting him, not when he’s only ever spoken good things about you in the media unlike some of those drivers on the grid!” 

“Yeah now I know why! He only done it to please you!” He ran his hand through his hair. “I can’t believe my own sister would go around with the man who’s considered my rival, you might as well be dating Lewis Hamilton!” 

“Max that’s enough!” Your Mum snapped. “Both of you!” 

“So is that where you’ve been going when you tell me you’re going to y/b/f’s house for the weekend? You’ve been with him? All those nights you stayed out late and asked me not to wait up, you were with him, weren’t you?” 

“Of course I was Max!” Tears and panic were filling your body at the sight of Max’s rage.

“Why him y/n?” His voice now turned to pain. “Anyone but a shitty driver on the grid.” He slumped back down in his chair as you spun on your heel and left the room, feeling yourself getting short of breath you pushed your mother's bedroom door open and sat on the edge of your bed, trying to calm your breathing but nothing would work. Reaching for your inhaler you were able to steady yourself, calming yourself to the point of not feeling short of breath. 

“He’s such a dickhead.” The voice of your sister caught your attention. She gave you a warm smile as she sat beside you, noticing your inhaler in your hand. “You need to take it easy, stress makes your breathing worse and you know that.”

“Rather hard when your brother starts screaming at you like that.” You leaned your head on her shoulder, closing your eyes as she wrapped her arm around you. 

“I know but you know Max, can’t control his emotions to save his life… thank god he was never born a woman, imagine if he had a period every month.” You smiled at her words, letting out a light laugh. “Don’t worry about him, Charles is a decent guy. Mum likes him and Dad has always said he’s a good driver which automatically means he respects him. It’s just Max you’ll have to work on.”

“And what do you think of him?” You looked up at her. 

She shrugged with a small smirk on her face. “You think you could set me up with Pierre now you and Charles are together?”

You laughed at her words before speaking. “I think Max would kill us.”

“Maybe so but I don’t think Mum would let him.” 

Victoria continued to calm you down, meanwhile, your Mum was giving Max a lecture, almost like he was a child. 

“Did you need to do that?” She set the food aside and gave Max a glare. 

“I don’t want her around him -”

“Max she’s twenty-one, not a child. She can make her own decisions.”

“I’ve seen how some of these drivers act, I don’t trust them.”

“Does Charles act like that?” 

Max pondered on the thought. “No…”

“Then why are you so uptight about all of this?” 

“Because he might be like that.”

“Then that’s her lesson to learn. I’ve met him far too many times and even I can tell you that he’s not like that. He clearly cares about her and he was raised to be a polite and smart lad. You know that.”

“I still don’t like it.”

“Doesn’t give you the right to yell at her like that. She’s clearly happy with him, don’t you want that for her?”

“Of course I do.” Max gave her a sad expression. “But I want her to be safe.”

“Max,” Your Mum took his hand into hers, smiling at him as she spoke. “I know you care for her especially as she was always there for you at your races and when I and your father split it was hard on you both but you know deep down she isn’t going anywhere. He won’t take her away from this family, she’s still your baby sister.”

Max knew she was right but it was still hard for him. He missed being around his family and all he wanted was for all of you to be as close to one another as possible but that would never happen. People move on, Victoria already had and that pained him knowing everyone was slowly growing apart. With your parents split he never got to have what most children did, he never got to have dinner with the family every night, he never got to go on family days out or even just stay inside and watch a film with one another. It was something so small but something he so desperately longed for. 

When it was clear that Max wanted to be a racing driver he never got a day off. He always had to train and that meant leaving you, his Mum and Victoria. So when you made the decision to move in with him he was over the moon. His Mum visited more and you were by his side. He had his family back, maybe not how he wanted but it was enough for him but the thought of you moving away to be with Charles meant he wouldn’t see you, Victoria or his Mum as often. His head just swarmed itself with the memories of being left with his Dad at eleven, no Mum or sisters by his side.

Max didn’t sat anything else, he only nodded, knowing his Mum was right he got up and made his way towards her bedroom. Softly knocking on the door he waited for you or Victoria to give him the all-clear to enter. His heart ached at the sight of you clutching your inhaler, a clear sign he’d set your asthma off. 

“Can I speak to y/n?” He directed his question to Victoria. 

“If you don’t plan on screaming at her then I don’t see a problem with it.” 

“I’m not.” 

Victoria looked down at you, waiting for the nod of approval from you. A silent signal that you were happy to speak to Max. She lifted herself from the bed, glaring at her older brother before leaving the two of you to talk. 

Max shuffled into the room, a glum expression on his face as he sat beside you. “Did you need to use it?” He pointed to the inhaler. You only nodded, making a surge of guilt fly through him. “I’m sorry I just… I just don’t want this family to fall apart -”

“And you think Charles Leclerc is going to make us fall apart?” You arched your brows at him. 

“No, but it’ll play a part. You know all I ever want to do when I have free time is just relax with you, Mum and Victoria.”

“And Charles and I dating is going to suddenly stop that?”

He huffed in frustration as he tried to get his words out. “No, but it means I won’t see you as much anymore. It means it’ll be harder to get everyone round for dinner as you’ll always be out with him, Victoria is always travelling -”

“Max I’m not going to just get up and walk out of your life. Do you not think I feel the same way too? I never got to see you and Dad as much as I wanted to as a kid and now I see the pair of you pretty much every day. Yes if Charles and I move in together I won’t see you every day but I’ll still be at every single race. I’ll still be living in the same area as you. It’s not like he’s going to lock me away from ever seeing you again.”

“Are you happy with him?” Max suddenly looked down at you, changing the subject slightly. 

“I am, Max.”

“And do you love him?”

“I do.”

“Does he love you?”

“He says he does, every single day so I bloody hope it’s true.” Max broke a small smile at your words, following Victoria's actions he wrapped his arm around you, pulling you into his side. 

“Then I’ll allow it. Can’t promise I won’t start a fight or let the two of you hold hands around me but I’ll allow it.”

“Oh glad I’ve got the permission of my brother.” You smirked at him before breaking into a smile. 

“Just wait till Dad finds out.”

“I plan to never tell him, he doesn’t need to know.” 

“Yeah, good luck.” Max laughed knowing that if he reacted like that then Jos would hit the roof. 

That all happened a few months ago. Jos did find out but thankfully Max was there to ease everything. He didn’t lose his shit as much as you had expected him to but that didn’t mean he liked the idea of his daughter dating a Formula 1 driver, especially one who drove for a rival team but Charles had managed to survive a dinner with your family which meant things were destined to last. 

—

“I wish we could stay like this forever.” Charles hummed as his hand smoothed down your hair. You were laying on his chest as the sun from the outside world made your hotel room glow like gold. Today was the day of the French Grand Prix, a race Charles was hopeful about. 

“Me too.” You replied, your hand tracing his chest before looking up at him. “How are you feeling about today?”

“Confident.” He replied, a small smile on his face. “I think I can win it today if I get a good start and we can actually get our strategy right then I can put some distance between us and Red Bull.” He looked down at you, his smile turning to a smirk. “Or you could tell Max to lay off me just this once.”

Laughing at his reply you let your head fall onto his chest before replying. “Not sure if that would work, he already isn’t your biggest fan.” 

Charles moved his hand and used it to move your face to look at him again. “So? His sister is.” He leant down and took your lips into his. He’d never get bored of the feeling of having you in his arms with your lips on his. He let his tongue slide across your bottom lip as he spare hand went to your waist, pulling you onto his lap so you were now straddling him as the kiss deepened. He tugged on your bottom lip, loving the way you softly moaned at the sensation.

You pulled away from the kiss slightly as you felt his hands begin to trail up your thighs. “You have a race to get to.”

“We’ve got some time-”

“Hardly any.” You muttered against his lips. 

“We've had less before and we made it work… besides…” He brushed your hair out of your face. “It’ll be my good luck charm.”

“I thought I was that.” 

“You are, I just might need a little extra luck looking at the state of our strategy.” Laughing against his lips you melted into his touch as he leant up and flipped the two of you over. He ducked his head down and began to kiss your neck. Your eyes glanced over to the clock beside the bed. 

He was right, you had time. 

—

You watched as Charles took his helmet into his hands, looking down and smiling at the photo of you and him tucked inside the padding before meeting your soft y/e/c eyes. “You always look so worried when I’m about to get into the car.” He pouted at your expression. He always hated seeing you like this. The thought of having your brother and boyfriend taking part in one of the most dangerous sports in the world which was responsible for so many deaths caused your anxiety to spiral. Something Charles unfortunately knew all too well.

“Just be safe please.” 

Charles walked towards you, setting his helmet aside he wrapped his arms around your waist, pulling you into his chest. “You know I will.” He pecked your lips. “I will always come back, I can promise you that.” His eyes scanned your face, he would never get bored of seeing how your eyes would look up at him with such love. 

“You better.”

“I will.” This time the kiss felt different, it always did before a race. It was always a silent promise that he would come back to you, no matter what happened out there. “I’ll meet you at the garage when the race is over.” 

You nodded, the two of you sharing one last kiss before he stepped away and put his helmet on. “Good luck Char.” You leant up to kiss the top of his helmet before you turned away to join your family at the Red Bull garage.

“y/n!” You turned back to the man dressed in red. Charles was jogging up to you, slipping his helmet off before pressing his lips onto yours once again. He cupped your jaw as he deepend the kiss, he smiled against your lips as he pulled back, missing the sweetness of your lips. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You smiled back as you kissed him again, swiping your tongue on his bottom lip, teasing him after the antics of the morning. Charles wanted more but he couldn’t. Not yet anyway. The pair of you pulled back eventually. Charles blew you one last kiss as you left him. “Please be careful!”

“I will mon amour!” He called back, his head turning to see you walk away. 

“You know,” A Spanish accent filled the air. “I can’t decide if you two make me want to be sick or if you two are just cute together,” Carlos smirked at Charles who was clearly smitten with the Verstappen girl. 

“You sound like her brother.” He replied, glancing over his shoulder one last time only to see that you’d already gone to find your brother. No matter how long or how much you loved Charles you made one promise to yourself and that was to watch the race from the Red Bull garage. Max was still your brother and the one person who’d be there if things ever fell apart. 

“Afternoon y/n.” Christain Horner welcomed you as you made your way through the groups of mechanics to find your family. 

“Hello, Christian.” You smiled back at the man. 

“Did you ask your boyfriend to have a shit start so we could get some pace on him?”

“Think you might struggle this time around, he seems pretty confident and Ferrari seem to have a set plan for this race.”

“Can always rely on you for insider information.” Max’s voice snatched your attention. He opened his arms for a hug, an action you quickly obliged with. “Wonder what he’d think if he found out you were telling us all their secrets!” He joked as the two of you shared a hug. 

“What can I say? I clearly have a favourite.” You went along with his words although Max knew as much as you loved him and always showed your brother endless support that you would much rather see Charles win a World Championship than him. 

“You should do, he’s your brother.” Jos quickly joined the conversation, pulling you away from your brother for a hug. 

“Hello to you too Dad.” You hugged him back before Max spoke again. 

“How’s he feeling? Confident?”

“As always.” You replied. “And you?”

“Easy win.” He winked before breaking into a small laugh. “It’ll be a challenge as always but if we get a good start, do our pitstops in a smart way then I can’t see why we can’t be on the podium.” 

“I can’t see why you can’t finish in P1 today.” Your Dad joined in, making you and Max share a quick look. 

As much as Jos cared for you and your sister he always seemed to have a different attitude towards Max. As you got older you began to understand he was living his dream through him. Jos wasn’t good enough for Formula 1 but Max was. He’d already won a Championship and was set to win many more in his career. The treatment your Dad gave to Max was beyond unfair but Max hadn’t known anything else. The pair of you would often talk about it but Max refused to ever admit that Jos was in the wrong, he just thought that was how a Dad was supposed to be. 

“You’ve got Charles for competition so maybe aim for P2.” You quickly spoke, trying to brush off the harsh words of your father. 

“Don’t think I can do it?” Max pretended to look offended. “My own sister turning against me for Charles Leclerc!” He placed his hand on his chest. “Maybe you should go watch the race with Ferarri.”

“Oh shut up.” You shoved him slightly as Max made his way to the car. “Be safe.”

“I’ll try.” He smiled as he grabbed his helmet, waving at you one last time as you and Jos joined Victoria to watch the race unfold. 

Charles had started well. You had to try your best not to celebrate in front of the Red Bull mechanics and your family but your joy didn’t last. In the eighteenth lap just after Red Bull had completed an incredible pit stop your heart sank. The camera suddenly cut to someone in the wall and then your boyfriend's name was mentioned. You saw his number proudly against the car, you didn’t need a commentator to confirm your fears. 

Charles didn’t move for a few seconds and in a fit of fear you threw your headphones off as you felt your heart race and your breathing increase which meant you missed his radio confirming that he was in fact okay. Your eyes fell onto the screen again and Charles was still not moving, the camera cut away, a sign that was never good in Formula 1. 

Victoria picked up on your distress immediately. Growing up alongside you she always knew when an asthma attack was on the rise. Stress and panic always grew when you watched races, you knew you should stay away from the sport when your nerves were on the rise but you couldn’t do that to Max and Charles. 

“y/n…” Victoria grabbed your forearm, pulling you away from the small crowd of people watching the race. “It's okay, he’s okay…”

“He didn’t move -”

“He’s probably in shock, he’ll be okay. It wasn’t a bad crash -”

“It doesn’t need to be.” Your voice was failing you as your chest started to ache. Victoria grabbed your bag from around your shoulder, sensing you needed your inhaler she pulled it out of your bag, handed it to you and directed your hand to mouth but when you pressed the silver button nothing happened. Hers and your eyes widened at the lack of sound indicating that the device had worked. “Shit… I forgot…” 

Before every single race, Charles always asked you to check your inhaler and make sure it wasn’t running low. He couldn’t even begin to think of what would happen if something went wrong when he wasn’t around. He knew how important it was, especially if either you or Max got hurt or into a collision. He also always kept a spare on him just in case you needed it and you had left it behind. The only problem was Charles was climbing out of his crashed car with no inhaler on him. 

Victoria knew she had to think fast or you would end up in serious trouble. She screamed for Jos who wasn’t paying much attention, too focused on the race until he saw his youngest daughter clutching her chest as she sunk to the floor. Forgetting that Max was now on his way to winning another race he called for help, alerting a steward of what was taking place. Within seconds the ambulance team was in the Red Bull garage attending to you. 

Meanwhile, Charles was on the side of the track, screaming in frustration at his mistake. With his head in his hands, he sobbed his heart out. Through teary eyes, he looked down at his helmet and saw the photo of the two of you. He knew you’d be waiting for him when he got back, waiting to take the pain away and that was all he needed right now. 

If only he knew. 

“Mr Leclerc you need to go to the medical tent.” One of the safety managers called over to him as he stormed back to the garages. Anger was still running through his veins at what had happened. 

“Fuck off I’m fine.” He took a deep breath as he walked into the garage. 

“You may feel fine but you need to be checked over, it’s an FIA rule, please -”

Charles scanned the garage yet couldn’t find you. Despite always watching the races in the Red Bull garage you would always leave the second anything happened to him on the track. You would always be waiting at the Ferarri garage for him or you’d meet him at the medical tent if the team had been told that he was sent there. “Where’s y/n?” He ignored the man's pleas. 

“She isn’t here.” A mechanic spoke. “Hasn’t turned up.” 

Charles scrunched his face up in confusion. “She isn’t in my room?”

“We would have seen or heard her.” Another mechanic spoke. She hasn’t come here. Maybe she’s still at Red Bull.”

“But she always comes here.” 

“Maybe she saw you get out and decided to stay and watch her brother win.” The mechanic turned his gaze to the television mounted on the wall. Charles followed his gaze to see Max Verstappen leading the race but it still didn’t make sense. You’d seen him crash a fair few times and saw him get out of the car safely yet you always came here, even if Max was winning. 

Charles didn’t say anything as he left the Ferrari garage and headed down to the Red Bull garage. Your relationship was public so he knew if cameras were following him closely it wouldn't spark rumours that he was attempting to sign with Red Bull to escape Ferrari. 

“Is y/n here?” He announced to no one in particular. A few mechanics and friends of Max and Checo looked around at one another, unsure whether they should tell Charles what had just happened. The brunette picked up on their uncertainty almost instantly. “What?”

Checo’s wife took her headphones off and gestured for Charles to follow her. He quickly followed the woman, his concern growing. Making sure the pair of them were away from prying ears she spoke. “She saw you crash and the panic got to her -”

“Has she just gone back to the hotel?” Charles quickly asked. 

“She had an asthma attack and her inhaler was out. She’d forgotten to change it and they had to call the ambulance team. We’ve been told she’s all okay, she’s at the medical tent -” Charles didn’t need to hear the rest. He quickly turned on his heel and sprinted out of the garage and towards the medical tent, not caring that he probably shouldn’t have been running considering he’d just crashed into a wall. 

—

“Is Charles okay?” You asked, propped up in bed whilst the medic team checked your heart rate. You were put on a ventilator, something you were used to after growing up with asthma. Victoria and Jos were by your side through the whole thing. Thankfully you started to breathe on your own after a while, the medics were running their last checks to make sure you didn’t need to be sent to a specialist. 

“He got out of the car just fine. He was walking around after.” Your Dad held your hand as he sat beside the bed, his eyes glancing back and forth between you and the race. 

“He’s okay y/n.” Victoria chimed in. 

“He should have joined you in here for his own checks but I’ve been told he’s refused a medical check-up.” The paramedic tending to you reassured you. “That means he must be fine.” 

You gave the woman a small smile, resting your head back and letting out a steady breath. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Miss Verstappen.” She stepped back. “You’ll be fine but maybe this is a lesson to always carry an inhaler that works.” 

“Charles always has one on him just in case.”

“No good when he’s in a wall.” Your Dad replied. 

“Maybe we should start carrying a spare just in case,” Victoria spoke. 

“Or maybe I should remember to get mine replaced.” You chimed in. 

“That too but if Charles can carry one for you then I think we could too, just in case.”

Almost like he was summoned by the sound of his own name Charles darted into the room, still in his race suit his eyes fell on you. Suddenly all the anger and hurt from crashing out of the race disappeared and the only thing he could think of was you. “Ma belle fille…” Charles hurried himself over to you. Jos moved from your side allowing Charles to sit beside you. He took your hands into his, pressing small kisses into your skin. “What happened?”

“I fainted but I’m okay.” You ran your thumbs over the top of his hand. “It was just an asthma attack.”

“Love it’s not ‘just an asthma attack.” His eyes met yours. “It’s serious, you could have landed yourself in a lot of trouble, we were lucky you only landed yourself in here.”

“I know.” You looked down, slightly ashamed that you had caused all of this just because you forgot to get your inhaler replaced. 

“Hey,” Charles moved his hand to tilt your head back up to face him before he planted a short yet meaningful kiss on your lips. “I’m just glad you’re okay, you nearly made me faint when I got back to the garage and saw you weren’t there.” He smiled. 

“We’ll give you two some space.” Victoria pulled Jos out of the room. “I won’t tell Max what happened, I’ll let him bask in the glory first.” She winked before leaving the room with your Dad who looked displeased to leave you alone with Charles despite the two of you living together.

“Are you okay?” You turned the conversation back to him. 

“Hmm…” He hummed back. “It was all my fault, I’m never going to be a World Champion if I can’t keep the lead of a race without fucking it all up.” 

“One mistake doesn’t define your career Char.” Squeezing his hand you gave him a reassuring smile. 

“Thank you.” He returned the smile. “It just feels as if I’m not set to win a Championship.”

“Why? Because you crashed the odd time? The world knows it’s not your fault, fans blame the team and they’re right in doing so. They ruined so many of your and Carlos’ races, races the pair of you could have easily won and gained more points than Max. The season isn’t over yet and if things don’t go to plan this season then you always have next season.”

He got up and leaned over to kiss the top of your head before placing a small light kiss on your lips before returning to his seat. “Thank you. I don’t deserve you.” He kissed your hand again, looking up at you with his eyes full of love. “I don’t even want to go out there and talk to the press.” He huffed, leaning his head on the bed as he changed the subject.

“You don’t have to.” Your hands started to play with his hair. “You can just stay here.”

“Oh, I plan on it.” He shut his eyes, taking a deep breath as he melted into your touch, finally feeling calm. “Although I’ll have to speak to them eventually.”

“I’m sure you can weave around it besides, just tell them what you told me.”

“Not sure that’s going to work on everyone, most fans don’t think I deserve to even be considered as a title contender.”

“Since when did you care about what others think?” You raised your brows at the man. “Char, you drive Formula 1 cars for a living and they spend their money to see you drive those cars, you really care about what some low-life fan who can’t even drive a normal car thinks?”  

Charles raised his head from the bed and looked at you with a smile. “Such a way with words Verstappen.”

“I do try Leclerc.” You both leaned forward to one another when a sudden bang of a door opened.

Max was standing in the doorway alongside Daniel and Lando. When Daniel and Max were teammates you grew close to the Australian who would spend most of his time showing you his playlists on his phone and telling you the stories of his life. Daniel had been on adventures you only read about in books, you could listen to him all day. Lando and you grew close due to Max treating the boy like a younger brother. The two of you were also close in age which was an added bonus when it came to conversation. As Lando once said ‘sometimes these old men don’t understand us’. 

“Fucking hell y/n are you okay?” Max shoved Charles out of his chair, not caring that Charles could have been hurt as he’d been involved in a crash. “What happened? What did they give you?”

“I’m fine Max.” You smiled at your brother. “It was my fault, I had an asthma attack but my inhaler was empty. I fainted but I’m okay -”

“You don’t sound it,” Daniel spoke up, making his way to the bed, not caring that Charles was now sitting on the floor after being pushed by his old teammate. “Here.” Daniel handed you one of his hoodies, making sure you were comfortable as you lay in bed. 

“You know I have hoodies if you want them,” Charles announced from the floor, his face already fed up with Daniel's antics.

“I’ve got a few too,” Lando spoke, a smirk on his face. All three drivers received a glare from Max, a silent warning that if they continued he’d deal with them on the track. “But I’m sure you’re fine.” Lando quickly said, clearly scared of Max. 

“Thank you, Lando.” You tried to suppress your laughter as you spoke again. “And you too Daniel.” 

The Aussie helped you put the hoodie on, making sure you were warm and comfortable before laying back down. Whilst Daniel made sure you were comfortable Lando grabbed you a drink and left it on the side for when you were ready. 

“Thought you would have gotten her all this Leclerc,” Max suggested, knowing his words would annoy him. 

“I was too busy making out with her Verstappen.” Charles knew his words would annoy your brother. 

“What did you say?” Max stood up, his actions quickly causing Charles to scramble to his feet. 

“I’m just saying…” Charles smirked. “She tastes good -”

“That’s my sister you dickhead!” Max lunged at Charles but he missed, allowing Charles to sprint to Daniel, holding him and using him as a human shield but Max couldn’t care less. Lando used his brain and moved out of the way towards you, watching the whole scene unfold with a smile on his lips. 

“It was a joke!” Charles screamed, trying to defend himself as he made a run for the door. 

“Well…” Daniel looked over at you. “Least you don’t have to worry about your boyfriend being injured… from the car at least…”

Best Friends Brother - Charles Leclerc x reader - Part 2

Read Part One here

Charles Leclerc x female!reader

Summary: You and Arthur Leclerc had been best friends since you were children but it wasn’t the younger Leclerc brother you’d be in the sheets with and a one-night stand can hold a lifetime of regret.

Warnings: Fluff, swearing

Word Count: 3.5K

—

Arthur followed through with his promise and came to see you in England. The pair of you fell into one another's arms, tears streaming down your faces as the two of you rekindled your friendship and he stepped up to the role of Rowan’s uncle. Arthur always made sure you and Charles had time to yourselves which ultimately meant Rowan started to favour him over you both.

Charles picked up his life in Monaco and moved to England to be with you, his son… and the dog. He adapted to being a dad naturally, anyone would have thought he’d always been by your side through it all. He also made you a promise that he’d take you out for dates every week, that way the two of you got a break from Rowan and finally got time alone, then again the last time the two of you spent a night alone ended up with an unexpected stowaway. 

The pair of you had now been together for over a year, your son was now one and you agreed to something Charles had always begged you for, flying to Formula 1 so his son could watch him race. Flying back to Monaco was something you never thought you’d ever do again but for him, it was worth it. Charles rarely flew on his own, normally he and the rest of the grid apart from Max would all fly together but he wanted nothing more than to just relax with his family. 

You were sat in one of the chairs, Rowan laying on your chest as he tried to fall asleep having just eaten. He was much bigger than he was when Charles came back into his life, the only bonus was that he was sleeping through the night better. 

“I’ll take him, love.” Charles held his hands out for you. Obliging you handed Rowan to him, a small grin on your lips as you watched Charles’ face light up as he held his son. “God he’s getting big now.”

“He’ll start talking soon.”

“Don’t think I’m ready for that.” He sat opposite you, Rowan now clutching the collar of his shirt as he drifted off to sleep. “I just want him to stay small.” 

“It flies by but I won’t miss him waking us up during the middle of the night.” 

“I think I’ll miss all of it.” Charles planted a kiss on Rowan's forehead. “Apart from changing his nappy.” 

“You’ll still have to do that for now.” You replied, the pair of you sharing a light laugh. 

“Do you want another?” Charles suddenly asked. 

“Not yet.” You replied. 

He smiled at your response before he replied. “I’d like a daughter next.” His soft eyes met yours. “Obviously not yet but maybe when Rowan gets older and the two of us can finally get some decent sleep.” 

“That means you’ll be around for the pregnancy and that isn’t easy.” 

“You won’t have to do a thing when I’m around.” 

“I’ll hold you to that Leclerc.” 

Charles had successfully qualified on pole for his home race, something he was considerably pleased about but also something he was incredibly worried about. The curse of his home race haunted him every time he looked at the track. Whether Ferarri messed up his strategy or found himself lodged into a wall, Charles could never finish the race. But this year he hoped for it to be different. 

He was currently waiting in the Ferarri garage for the race to begin, Rowan on his lap as he looked at the bright red car before him. You’d dressed your son in Ferarri merchandise, specifically a shirt with his dad’s number on it.

Rowan made grabby hands and started to make noises at the car before him. Holding him close Charles stood up and moved towards the car. He smiled as the small boy grabbed the side of the car, giggling as he did so. With a gleaming smile on his lips, Charles climbed into the car and held his son close to him. Rowan couldn’t hold his laughter as he grabbed onto everything around him. 

“Think we might have another racing driver in the family,” Charles announced as he laughed at his son. You mirrored his actions, your heart always melted at the sight of him with Rowan. He took to being a Dad so naturally, from the moment he came back into your life he took to Rowan so effortlessly and acted as if the two of you had been dating for years. 

Charles tried to enjoy the moment with him but his mind was racing with worried thoughts. “Don’t look so worried Char.” You spoke up, watching as Charles only smiled when Rowan looked back at him. “Not finishing in P1 won’t be the end of the world.” 

The brunette let his eyes fall on you. “I know but it’s my home race, the rest of the drivers have won theirs, I just want to win mine.” 

“And you will.” You stepped over to him, leaning down to plant a kiss on his lips. 

“And if I don’t?”

“If you keep believing that you won’t win it then you won’t.” 

As Charles went to reply but one of the mechanics told him it was time for him to make his way to the track. He held Rowan out for you to take before sharing one last kiss before he got his helmet on and braced himself for the race of his life. 

Rowan and you sat watching him inside the garages. Rowan had a pair of Ferarri headphones to block out the noise as he watched his father race. Every time the car appeared on the screen Rowan let out a giggle, his tiny hands pointing to the screen. Everyone in the garages loved him, Daniel wouldn’t stop bothering him when he saw the three of you in the hotel… at least you knew you always had a spare babysitter in him if needed. 

Every single time Charles approached a corner your heart stopped but he was okay. The man was going to send you into cardiac arrest every time he sped up around a sharp bend but he was fine, even when Max was breathing down his neck. Both you and Charles felt every single second of that race but he was across the finish line with only lapped cars in front of him. For the first time in his career, he’d won his home race and both the love of his life and son were there to witness it. 

The only time you’d ever seen Charles this happy was when he saw you in the woods with Rowan and the dog a year ago. Leaping out of his car he hurled himself towards you as he threw his helmet aside. Cupping your jaw Charles pulled your lips onto his whilst his hands held you as close to him as you could get. He deepened the kiss slightly but unfortunately had to pull away sooner than he would’ve liked. 

“Everything is perfect.” His eyes met yours as he spoke before being dragged away for the celebrations. You’d never been prouder of him, it was a moment you wished you could’ve frozen in time for you all to look back on. 

—

Formula 1 had ended for the season and now in the cold English weather, Charles was taking you both to a restaurant just outside the village whilst Arthur came and babysat. He was dressed in a smart black suit paired with a red tie whilst you adorned a stunning slip dress that Charles had bought you for Christmas.

“Right you know what you’re doing, don’t you?” Charles had cornered Arthur in your living room whilst you finished settling your son down. 

“I’ve looked after him a million times, it’ll be fine.” Arthur shrugged his brother off as he watched you rock the child into an easy slumber. “Besides he’s asleep, hopefully, he’ll stay like that until the two of you come back and you two can deal with the screaming child all night.” 

“It’ll be Charles dealing with him and besides he doesn’t scream like he used to but he he does then Charles can deal with him seeing that he’s the one on holiday.” Referencing the winter break you stepped towards the brothers. “He’ll be fine anyway, he’ll need to be changed and he may need another feed depending on how late we get back. The bottles are in the fridge, just don’t forget to sterilise them when you’re done.” 

“I won’t, I promise.” 

“You remember how to do that right?” Charles added. 

“I know what I’m doing.” Arthur gave Charles a dumbfounded look before he spoke again. “If anything goes wrong I’ll call you two straight away. You know that.” Charles gave him a light nod before he turned back to you. He planted a kiss on your cheek before leaning down to kiss Rowan’s forehead. 

“Leo’s already been walked and fed, he’ll let you know when he needs the bathroom. You just might need to burn off some energy with him outside, he can occasionally get restless when we aren’t home -”

“When you aren’t home.” Charles corrected, sending you a look. “He loves it when I’m gone.”

“He’ll warm up to you eventually.”

“It’s been over a year and he hates me,” The dog seemed to narrow his gaze at your boyfriend as he spoke. “Look how he’s looking at me!”

“Because he knows you’re talking shit about him.” You held Rowan out for Charles. “You can put Rowan down and I’ll just run Arthur through Leo’s schedule as he clearly hates you.” A smile spread across your lips when Charles muttered a string of insults towards the dog under his breath whilst he trudged upstairs to put Rowan down.

“Why does he hate Charles?” Arthur leant down allowing Leo to come towards him. The german shepherd always seemed fond of the younger Leclerc brother.

“Well, they do say dogs can sense things we can’t. I think he knows what happened and when Charles ran up to us in the woods it meant Leo saw him as a threat. It’ll take time.” 

“Surely he’s got used to him now, the two of you finally made it official and now you live together.” 

“Maybe he’s just jealous.” You now followed suit with Arthur’s actions, bending down to meet Leo. The dog trotted towards you, letting his head crash into your chest as you smoothed down his fur. 

“Think Charles is the jealous one.” An annoyed-looking Charles leaning up against the doorway caught your and Arthur's attention.

“I’m not jealous of the dog, he just needs to know boundaries.”

“He does know boundaries.” 

“When it comes to the house he does, he won’t even let me kiss you without sparing me a dirty look.”

“He’s a dog, Char.” 

“An annoying one at that.” 

You didn’t plan to argue over who the dog preferred before your night so the two of you thanked Arthur and checked on Rowan one last time before heading out of the door. 

On your way to the restaurant Charles couldn’t keep his hands off you and his mouth would never close as he dropped every compliment he could think of during the journey but now he acted on edge. You watched as he continued to play with his ring and glance over at his phone every few seconds. 

He leaned back on his chair, letting out a narrow breath as his leg now started to bounce. Reaching forward you took your hand into his before speaking. “Char?”

“Hmm?” He attempted to keep his voice steady as he gripped your hand. 

“What’s wrong? You look like you’re about to have a panic attack -” 

“How are you so calm?”

“Sorry?” 

Charles leaned forward, his free hand grabbing yours as his enduring eyes met your curious ones. “How are you so calm being away from Rowan? Don’t you worry about him?”

“Of course I do.” Giving him a warm smile you continued. “But I know he’s safe with Arthur and before he and you came back into my life, Margret used to babysit him so I could have time to recover and just relax. I still worry about him but I know he’s safe and you know if anything was to happen Arthur could call us immediately.” 

“I know.” He returned the small smile. “But I still worry. I’ve already spent too much time away from him.” His grip on your hand tightened.

“But you’re here now and that’s all that matters. Besides Rowan won’t ever know -”

“But I will.” 

“I know you will but it’s in the past. It wasn’t your fault and Rowan will know that if we decide to tell him when he gets older.” 

“It was partly my fault -”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“Yes it was -”

You gave him a look which screamed ‘let's not get into this argument again’ which caused Charles to let out a small smile before he leaned back into his chair. “You win.” He smirked as he picked up his drink and raised it to his lips. 

“I always do.” 

“Clearly.” His smirk grew as his eyes glued onto yours. 

The pair of you forgot about his worries as you continued to eat and drink. Charles lost himself in conversation and your eyes so much that he didn’t notice the three missed calls from his brother. It was only when you both went to pay the bill that you noticed the younger Leclerc had texted you. 

Arthur: Can you get Charles to call me? Or can you when you see this.

You: Is everything okay? Is Rowan okay?

Arthur: Rowan is fine, it’s Leo I’m worried about. Get Charles to call me.

You: Why him? He’s my dog.

Arthur: Please just get him to call me.

“Char?” You spoke just as Charles tipped your waiter.

“Yeah?”

“Arthur wants you to call him -”

“What?” He reached for his phone. “Is Rowan okay?”

“He’s fine apparently it’s the dog he’s worried about.” 

Charles furrowed his brows, confused at why his brother would want to ask him about Leo when it was pretty evident that your dog hated Charles. Despite him not being able to talk or even understand you both, Charles was convinced he knew what happened between you both and ultimately took your side in the whole situation. 

The brunette quickly called his brother, raising the phone to his ear as he spoke. “You okay?” He spoke to Arthur, his eyes meeting yours occasionally as the conversation continued. “It’s called Kingstone veterinary, it’s about ten minutes away. Take Rowan with you and we’ll meet you there.” 

“What’s going on?” Your voice was laced with worry at the mention of the vets. 

“Leo got into something he shouldn’t of.” 

“What?” Charles met your eyes, taking a deep breath he searched your worried eyes and debated if he should lie. “Charles, what did he get into?”

“I bought it ages ago, I wasn’t going to ask you anytime soon. I wanted to wait until the two of us set up the house how we wanted, went on more dates and when the time was right I was going to ask you to marry me. When I saw the ring I couldn’t not get it. It was perfect and now Leo managed to find it and decided he never wanted me to ask that question so he ate it.” He huffed before finishing. “That dog hates me -”

“You want to marry me?” 

His eyes softened at your words. “Of course I do y/n.” He once again took your hands into his. “I’ve always wanted you and I knew that I couldn’t have you because you were my brother’s best friend but I had a plan on how I’d get you… didn’t involve us having a son but I wouldn’t change it for the world now.” He raised your hands and planted a kiss on the top of them before his thumbs ran across your skin. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” You mirrored his smile. “And as much as I’d love to stay here right now, you could have killed the dog with the ring so we might want to get to the vet.” 

“It’s not my fault that thing hates me!” He replied, standing up with you before the two of you left to meet Arthur at the vet. 

—

Arthur was sat in the waiting room with Rowan who was beginning to let out small cries, clearly missing his parents whilst Leo was undergoing surgery. Arthur knew how much Leo meant to you, after all, he was the reason why you felt so safe without him or Charles around. The boy let his leg bounce up and down as he tried to calm Rowan who did nothing but make his true feelings heard. 

“Shh… shhh…” Arthur attempted to silence the child but he refused to stay quiet. “Come on little man, your mum and dad will be here soon…” His eyes wandered to the pale clock mounted on the wall. “I hope so anyway…” 

With your hand in his, Charles dragged you through the doors of the practice. The sudden sound of the doors opening grabbed Arthur's attention, a sudden wash of relief on his face as he watched the two of you approach him with worried glances. Without a word falling from his lips, Charles scooped his son from his brother’s arms, holding Rowan in a safe embrace before swaying side to side in an attempt to calm the distressed baby. If there was one thing you adored about Charles it was how quickly he adapted to being a dad and his urge to protect Rowan. He never wanted to leave him for too long and if the two of you were in the company of others he would do everything in his power to not let go of Rowan, even if the family wanted to hold him. 

“Where’s Leo?” You asked as Arthur embraced you. 

“Undergoing surgery, they were worried the ring would get caught up in his intestines…” Arthur's eyes widened at his own words, his head snapped towards Charles as he ran a hand through his hair. “You told her what he ate, didn’t you?”

“Yes she knows… not much of a surprise now…” He replied, clearly upset that the proposal would now not come as a shock to you although he tried to convince himself you knew he’d ask you at one point. Your hand came up to his arm, lightly touching his skin as a silent way to let him know that you really didn’t care about the surprise. You had him and your son, that’s all you needed, you never needed a ring to prove your love for him. 

“Charles I -”

“Miss y/l/n?” An older voice caught your attention. You met the warming gaze of your vet Logan. “He’s out of surgery, you and your partner are welcome to see him now.” He gestured to the door behind him. 

“Is he okay?” Charles asked. 

“He’ll be fine. He’s a little high from the anaesthetic but that’ll pass. He can come home tonight and… I’m presuming you want the ring back… Mr Leclerc?” 

“As long as it doesn’t have his organs clinging to the diamond.” 

“Charming thought Charles.” Sparing a glance at your boyfriend you followed Logan into the surgery room where you saw a very high Leo. Despite his sorry state he started to wag his tail and whine at the sight of his family. “Hello boy…” You took his head in your hands, your thumbs smoothing his fur. “Where did you even hide the ring?” Turning back to Charles you asked the question on your mind. 

“In my underwear drawer… oh I swear to god if he’s put a hole in my fireproofs!” 

“Can’t you just ask Ferrari for more?”

“And explain how the dog tried to sabotage my plans to propose to you? I’d rather not be mocked for the rest of the season.” 

You couldn’t help but laugh at his annoyance before turning back to the dog. “How did you even get into that?”

“He’s been watching me -”

“Charles he’s a dog not James Bond.” 

“You never know…” He trailed off, stepping closer to you. He wrapped an arm around your waist and gently pulled you into his side. “I’m sorry -”

“For what?” You turned your head towards his. 

“Ruining the surprise. I had everything planned out… I just needed the chance.”

“Char I know you love me and I know you love Rowan. I don’t need a ring to prove that. Yes, it would be nice to be married to you, I would love to call you my husband but the important thing is that we’re all back together. Rowan has his Dad and I have the man I love.” 

He didn’t say anything as he leaned down with only a smile on his lips and planted his lips onto yours, a silent gesture of agreement but even an operation wouldn’t stop Leo from voicing his opinion. The dog barked making Charles jump back from you. 

“I really hate him…”  

Just an incident - Charles Leclerc x Verstappen!reader

Charles Leclerc x Verstappen!reader

Requested? Yes/No: Anon: Max n her like twins and r drivers for red bull, and both the twins hate Charles and same with Charles, Charles hates her because she always wins the race and loves to rub it on him especially, but slowly both reader and Charles start to build a crush on each other… in short an Enemies to lovers with Charles Leclerc ;) 

Warnings: Implied smut, fluff, angst, Jos Verstappen, swearing, mentions of anxiety and injuries 

Word Count: 7.9K 

A/N: Thank you anon, this request is one of my favourites &lt;3

—

The Verstappens had always hated the Leclercs and the Leclercs had always hated the Verstappens. It was like the families of Romeo and Juliet only with highspeed cars and a crowd of millions discussing your every move. You’d known Charles for years, both you and your twin brother Max had been karting with him since you were kids and now the three of you were in Formula 1. Both you and Max drove for Redbull whilst Charles achieved his dream of driving for Ferarri but although the three of you had changed, the rivalry didn’t. 

Charles hated the way you gloated every single time you won, the look you gave him when the champagne hit your skin made his blood boil. He hated everything you did but couldn’t help but admire how you did it. You and your brother were already World Champions but Charles was still struggling. Anytime he even came close to being at the top the Redbull twins would knock him off his pedestal in a heartbeat. 

Today was the day of the Monaco GP, Charles’s home race and the one race he was yet to win. You were starting in P1, he was in P2 and Max was in P3. After one last quick discussion in the Redbull garage, you and Max wished one another luck before heading to the grid walk. As you dodged the interviewers your eyes fell onto a bright red race suit with a black horse planted firmly on the back. 

“Leclerc!” You called to the brunette who spun around to meet your gaze. “Looking forward to hearing the Dutch national anthem at your home race?” You smirked at the man as he joined your side. 

“Fancy making a bet on it?” His eyes shone at his own words. 

“Bet your life savings on me and you’ll be richer than a king.” You smirked at him as you two continued to walk. 

He laughed at your response. “I was going to suggest a different kind of bet.” 

“Oh yeah? Like what?” 

“If I win, you must tell the interviewers that I’m your biggest competition.” 

“They’ll know I’m lying when I open my mouth.” You glanced over at him before speaking again. “What about if I win?”

“Then I’ll tell them you’re the best driver on the grid -”

“They already know that.”

“You know you’re just like your brother.” His patience lessened. “Full of yourself and arrogant.” 

“Well believe it or not we are related.”

“And full of sarcasm.”

“Maybe you should take notes, after all, we’re world champions and you aren’t.”

The brunette grabbed your arm and pulled you closer to his body. You felt his breath fan against your face as he spoke through gritted teeth. “You’re only World Champions because you cheat!”

“Cheat? Just because you can’t last around one corner without driving yourself into the wall -”

“Only because you shove me into them!” 

“Yeah?” You leaned in closer to him, your lips only inches away from one another. “Well, you better watch for my car today…”

“Or what?”

“Take your eyes off me for a second and you’ll be in the wall.” Pulling your arm from his grip you stormed off to your car, mumbling under your breath at the interaction. 

“And it’s lights out and away we go! Verstappen gets a good start but so does Leclerc! The other Verstappen… not so much…”

Charles had gotten off to a perfect start, enough to overtake Max and quickly made his way behind you, clearly you’d riled him up enough that he wanted to win his end of his shitty bet but everyone knew that Monaco wasn’t the easiest to overtake on. 

“Perfect start y/n, we’re staying with plan A for now. If anything changes we will let you know, Max is in P3 and Leclerc is just behind you.” The team radio sounded in your ear as you replied. 

“Thank you, guys.” Your eyes flickered to your mirrors, catching the red glimpse of the Ferrari, a smirk dawned on your face at the sight of him trying so hard but you couldn’t spend your life focusing on him, you had a race to win. 

“Box, box!” A yellow flag due to Lando making friends with the wall allowed you to pit with just ten laps to go. Charles stayed out which allowed him to claim P1. Most teams wouldn’t box at a time like this, especially with only a few laps to go on a track which was renowned to be difficult to pass on but Redbull and the Verstappen siblings were more than capable. 

Switching to the soft tyers you set back out to the track and join Charles. The pair of you had created some distance between the other drivers meaning it was just you two fighting for the top. “The safety car is leaving the track now, focus on getting past Leclerc.” Christian had taken the liberty of delivering the news to you.

“Understood.” You nodded in your car, despite them not being able to see you before suddenly speeding up as the safety car left your eyes. 

Charles didn’t set off as fast as you did but that didn’t matter to him, all he needed to do was defend with his life. It started off relatively easy for him, you backed off when things got too dangerous but you only had two laps to pass him and now you were getting desperate. It was no surprise to anyone that the Verstappens would get violent in order to win. It was in your blood and on the track no one was your friend, not even your own twin. 

Coming wheel to wheel with him the two of you turned into a corner but you refused to back off. Charles attempted to push you off the track but the Redbull was too fast. Pushing ahead you clipped Charles which sent him spinning into the wall leaving you in P1 and now your brother was able to claim to P2 whilst Charles didn’t even get to finish his home race. 

“y/n Verstappen wins the Monaco Grand Prix!” 

“Brilliant driving today y/n, really well done today. Take it all in, you deserve it.” Christian smiled as he spoke to you through the radio. 

“Thank you guys for today!” You replied. “Was Max P2?”

“Yes he was, he’s just behind you.” 

“And Charles? Is he okay?” 

“He’s back in the garage, he’s fine… pissed off but fine.” 

“Brilliant.” You pulled your car up to the pits, parking right before the P1 sign. Clambering out of your car you knelt down to kiss the front, it was something you’d started doing after Max gave you a lecture about ‘having your own celebration’. Max came running towards you, his arms open wide as he pulled you into a hug. 

“I’m so proud of you.” His smile was so bright anyone would’ve thought he’d won but the truth was you and Max were each other's biggest supporters. 

It was no secret that your Dad wanted the best for you both and if that meant treating you two like shit in order for you two to become the best in the world then that was something he’d happily do. Your Mum knew you both had to live with your Dad in order to be in Formula 1 and without her, the two of you no longer had an escape from him. Max was your escape and you were his.  

“Thank you.” You pulled away from your brother as you headed to be weighed and interviewed. Just as you were about to be weighed a tall bundle of red stormed towards you. 

“You fucking cheat!” Charles screamed at the top of his lungs. When he got close enough he pushed you back lightly as he towered over you. “Typical Verstappen, always cheating your way to the top!” Before you could even utter a word Max grabbed Charles by his race suit and dragged him away. 

“Don’t you dare touch my sister.” He didn’t yell, only spoke in a harsh tone. A tone which Charles knew not to underestimate. “You even look at her with any ill intent I’ll do more than put you into a wall.” Max shoved Charles back before he returned to where you were now finishing up your last interview before you headed to your podium. “Are you okay?” He draped his arm over your shoulder and pulled you into his side as he spoke. 

“Yeah I’m fine, he’s just pissed off.”

“Doesn’t mean he can shove you and speak to you like that.” 

“I know.” You gave Max a small smile. “I’ll talk to him after -”

“No, you won’t.” 

“Max I -”

“That cunt isn’t going anywhere near you, even in a car and especially not on a podium.” He smiled back, you forced a smile at his words. Despite how much you and Charles hated one another you felt the need to speak to him, even if Max wouldn’t approve. 

—

You’d spent the last five minutes attempting to zip your dress up but to no avail you were left unsuccessful. After Redbull’s podium you, your brother and a few other drivers decided to head to a club to celebrate. It was normal that a lot of drivers would spend the evening together after a race, a few would rarely attend but the Verstappens were always at the party scene. 

Clutching the front of the dress you waltzed over to your phone, ready to dial Max or your sister for help when a knock at the door grabbed your attention. Thinking it was Max you spoke aloud as you opened the door. “Thank fuck you’re here Max, I can’t get my dress zipped up -” You jumped out of your skin when your eyes met the mesmerising ones of Charles Leclerc. He stood before you with his shirt hanging over his shoulder, drenched in sweat. Your eyes didn’t want to wander (liar) but they did. It was no secret that Charles was beautiful and as much as you hated him you couldn’t deny that the man looked as if he was sent down from the Gods themselves. 

“Is there a reason you’re at my door shirtless?”

“I went on a run.” 

“And you didn’t think to change?”

“Why is it distracting you?” His cockiness began to show. 

“You’re not Gasly so we should be fine.” You mirrored his attitude before silence fell upon you both.

“Sorry, I should’ve messaged and asked if you were free.” He breathlessly spoke. “Can I come in?” You nodded, holding your dress closer to your chest as you let the man in before quickly shutting the door. “Do you need help with that?” He gave a light smile as he nodded towards your situation.

“Please.” Your voice was quiet as he threw his shirt on your bed and moved behind you. He effortlessly moved your hair onto your shoulder so he could focus on your zip. His hands delicately moved down your back, touching your skin which made you jump slightly at the sudden skin-on-skin contact. 

“It’s just me…” His breath hit your neck as he spoke. 

“The same man that shoved me after the race today-”

“The same woman who shoved me into the wall on the track.” 

You laughed lightly at his response. “Touche Leclerc.” 

Charles treated you like you were priceless, his hands gently touched you as he slowly zipped up your dress. The heat from his body could be felt on your skin which only made your mind run, God who wouldn’t want him? “It’s a nice colour.” Referencing the red of the dress he moved your hair back off your shoulder before stepping back. “I need to talk to you.” Sitting on your bed he looked up at you whilst you smoothed your dress down. “I’m sorry for earlier, I shouldn’t have done that in front of everyone. I was pissed off because of what happened and I should’ve spoken to you about it privately.” 

You nodded at his words before taking a step towards him. “I shouldn’t have shoved you off the track like that-” 

“I don’t blame you for that.” He cut you off. “I would’ve done the same…” He smiled. “And I have done that before.”

You thought back to the Grand Prix from Spa two seasons ago. You saw a gap and you went for it but Charles wasn’t letting you get pole that easily. He sent you into the barrier and to the local hospital for a suspected head injury. 

“At least I didn’t send you to the hospital.” 

“Yet.” He stood up as he spoke, the pair of you inches apart but this time he was looking down at you. “I’m sorry again Verstappen.” He stepped aside, heading towards your door. 

“Are you not coming out tonight?” You quickly asked him. 

“I’d rather not end up dead when Max sees me.” 

“He’ll get over it.” 

“Will you?” 

“I still hate you, Leclerc.” You smirked as the words left your mouth. He mirrored your expression.  

“Feelings mutual…” Opening the door he went to leave but stopped himself in your doorway. “You look good in red.” His eyes scanned your body before turning on his heel and leaving you alone in your room, the only reminder of his presence was his lingering touch and his shirt he'd left on your bed. 

—

Azerbaijan was the race after Monaco and yet again you’d claimed P1 whilst Charles hadn’t even made pole. You watched him yell at those in the garages and along the pit wall who were evidently at fault for Ferarri's horrific strategy. Clearly feeling a pair of eyes on himself he scanned the crowd until his eyes met yours, your smug grin as you kissed our trophy sent him over the edge. He stormed out of the garages and made his way back to the hotel as fast as he could, not even caring how his PR team would react to him ignoring the interviewers patiently waiting for his thoughts. 

Back at the hotel once the celebrations had died down you grabbed the shirt he’d left in your room back in Monaco. Ironically it was a Ferarri shirt so you had to hide it with your life, if Max had seen it then you wouldn’t have made it to Azerbaijan alive. It had been washed, you couldn’t have it laying around your house drenched in sweat. 

When you knocked on his door a sudden shout made you question if going to his room at this time was a good idea. “Carlos I said I’m fine!” 

“It’s not Carlos.” You replied before his door swung open. Without saying a word he looked down the hallways, making sure no one was looking before he pulled you against his chest and inside of his room. “Fucking hell Charles!” Your arms wrapped around his neck as you steadied yourself against him. 

“What the fuck are you doing here?” With his hands on your waist, he steadied you himself as he pulled back slightly to look down at you. 

“I came to give you your shirt back-”

“And you thought now was a good time?” 

“Why wouldn’t it be?” 

“Maybe because I stormed off and now every journalist in this building is attempting to hunt me down for a comment and if they see you coming into my room with my shirt they’ll lose their minds!” 

“Relax there was no one outside.” 

“For now! They’ve been knocking on the door all night.” Slumping down on his bed he ran his hands through his hair. “Why come tonight? Wanted to gloat about winning again?” 

You shrugged, throwing his shirt towards him. “I don’t need to gloat when I know you think about me every single day.” 

“So full of yourself Verstappen.” 

“Hard not to be when you’re one of the best in the world.” Charles rolled his eyes at your words. 

“You aren’t exactly one of the greats-”

“Yet.” You cut him off, taking a step closer to him. “I’m no Schumacher but I’m up there, after all, I was the youngest person to ever win a world championship.” 

“So?” 

“So I’m in control of my racing future, something you clearly don’t have a grip on.” 

“Really?” Charles smirked as he parted his legs, leaning forward he grabbed the backs of your thighs and pulled you into him. He fell back on the bed with you falling on top of him, his hands now moving to your waist, holding you in place. 

“Charles?” You tried to move back but his grip wouldn’t let you. “What the hell was that for?” 

“You think you have control of things but everything can change in a heartbeat.” 

“And you wanted to prove that to me by pulling me on top of you?” 

“Worked didn’t it?”

“It was stupid… like your strategy today.” His smirk dropped at your words, and using his grip on you he flipped the two of you over. 

Looking down at you he spoke. “As if I have any control over that.” 

“But you do.” 

He scrunched his face up at your words. “Hardly-” 

“You told me that you think you have control of things but everything can change in a heartbeat, Ferrari thinks they’re in control of things but you can change it in a heartbeat. Go against them-” 

“And what if it goes wrong?”

“But what if it goes right?” 

You had a point, a point that Charles was thinking very seriously about. If he went against Fearri and won it would prove to them that he could be trusted to make the decisions that Ferarri continued to get wrong. If he got it wrong then he could at least live with the fact that he tried and clearly both he and Ferrari needed to work on things. 

“Lost in thought Leclerc?”

“When you aren’t being a smug prick you actually speak sense.”

“I’ve always spoken sense Leclerc, you just never listen.” 

“Clearly.” His eyes searched yours for a second too long. 

He knew he shouldn’t think about you like he was but after seeing you in the dress and now laying beneath him it was hard not to think about the Verstappen girl as his. Despite the hatred towards you he couldn’t help but think about you by his side. You were stunning and every single driver had tried it on with you well… they tried until Max began to linger around more than he normally did. It was clear to Charles that Max was overprotective when it came to his twin and Charles couldn’t blame him. Constant fliting from every single driver and not to mention interviewers who loved to ask you sexist questions in the hope of a reaction they could use to paint you in a bad light meant Max became your shadow. 

“Mr Leclerc?” A loud voice and hushed whispers sounded from outside his room. 

“There’s still time for an interview!” Another voice called out. 

“Oh just fuck off…” His head fell against your chest as he took a deep breath. “You do realise that if they’re going to camp outside my room until the early hours of the morning for a story then you can’t leave.” He raised his head to meet your eyes again. 

“As long as you take the chair and I’ll have the bed.” A teasing grin spread across your lips as you searched his eyes. 

“Deal.” 

Charles had given you one of his shirts to sleep in and much to your disgust it has his name printed on the back and the Ferarri logo printed on the front. He sat on the edge of the bed in just his boxers, his phone in his hand waiting to get a photo of the Redbull stargirl in his shirt with his name on her back. 

“It’s hideous.” You called out to him from his bathroom. 

“Oh come on y/n you don’t look that bad, I know you’re related to Max but-” You swung the door open, your eyes burning into his smiley expression. “Turn around.” His smile grew as you turned around. Raising his phone he took a quick picture before holding it up to you. “Well, that’s my new lock screen sorted.” If looks could kill Charles would be buried six feet under. 

“Delete that!” You jumped forward, straddling him in an attempt to grab his phone. His free hand fell to your waist, his eyes flickered down as he watched his shirt ride up your body. You were going to be the death of him. 

“I’ll make you a deal Verstappen.” 

“Go on.” 

“Let me pass in Canada and I’ll delete it.”

“If I let you pass you have to wear a Redbull shirt with my name on the back.” 

“Deal.” You gave him a quick glance before moving off your rival and sat in the chair he was meant to sleep in. 

“So if I let you pass are you going to challenge Ferarri and their shit strategies?” 

“You’ve convinced me you know.” He moved his duvet to cover his slight problem, something that didn’t go unnoticed by you but that was something to tease him for another night. “It might all go wrong but it might all go right.”

“Exactly and you didn’t get that seat by following the rules.”

He laughed at your words. “You sound like my Dad.”

“He’d be so proud of you Charles.” 

You’d grown up with Charles and therefore knew his Dad. The day he passed you’d never seen someone so broken. Charles did his best to keep himself together for his family but you saw straight through him. You caught him sobbing in the garages and without a thought, you knelt down beside him and wrapped your arms around him and let him cry into your chest for however long he needed. You two didn’t utter a word during the interaction and you never spoke about it after.

His eyes softened at your words, his gaze never leaving yours. “Thank you, I hope so.”

“He would be, never doubt that Leclerc.”

“I didn’t know you could be so kind.” Smirking he spoke again. “Thought the Verstappens were stone cold.”

“Liar.” You matched his facial expressions.

“How’s your Dad? Still as brutal as he once was?” Charles didn’t even know half of it, sure he’d heard rumours but he never knew the truth about yours and Max’s childhood.

“Of course, he never changes.” Charles watched as your eyes left his gaze and fell to the floor. He watched as you tugged at the hem of his shirt before you spoke again. “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I’d gone to live with my Mum and Victoria but I guess I wouldn’t be here now.”

“Do you miss her?”

“All the time. The problem is me and Max travel all the time for work, Victoria has her own life and when my Dad is at the races my Mum won’t turn up.” He nodded, unsure of what to say but you beat him to it. “But I have Max and without him, I’d be lost.”

“You’re lucky you have one another.”

“So are you and your brothers, especially Arthur. One day you’ll be racing alongside one another.” 

“My Mum would hate it.”

“Why?”

“She’d be worried that we’d fall out, too busy fighting one another on the track and off the track.”

“Maybe if he joins Ferarri the two of you can bond over how shit the cars are.” 

He laughed at your statement, throwing his head back as he shifted in his spot. “Do you and Max ever argue over the races?”

“More as kids but now that we’re in F1 we never argue, it’s a rarity if we do. You and Arthur will be fine.” 

His smile never faded. “I hope so. We’ve all come a long way from karting.”

“Who would’ve thought?” 

“Thought you would’ve got bored of overtaking all us lads.” His smile turned to a smirk. 

“I’ll never get bored of overtaking you, Leclerc.” 

The pair of you spent the night talking over your childhoods, spending hours on end reminiscing the karting days and the more recent races. In this moment anyone would’ve thought the two of you had been friends for years, the way you two laughed with one another made you wonder why the pair of you had ever been as rude to one another as you once were. Maybe he wasn’t so bad after all. 

Hours passed and Charles watched as you fell asleep in the hotel chair. A soft smile spread across his lips as he gently picked you up bridal style, his smile growing as he watched your head fall against his chest. He slowly lowered you down onto the mattress before joining you. Pulling the duvet across yours and his body he then wrapped his arms around you and pulled you into his chest. 

“If only you weren’t Max’s sister.” He muttered before falling asleep beside you. 

—

Canada was your next race and Charles didn’t lie when he said he was going to take your advice. You kept your end of the deal up and let him pass but that didn’t mean you’d let him win. In the end, you’d managed to overtake him and finished in P1 and Charles was right behind you in P2. The pair of you couldn’t stop smiling at one another whilst you shared one of many podiums together. The interaction was something Max couldn’t keep his eyes off of, one minute you were sending Charles into a barrier and the next, the pair of you were dousing one another in champagne. 

“God I hate this colour!” Charles yelled from your hotel bathroom. 

“Navy looks good on everyone-”

“Not me.” He stood before you in your room, holding up his end of the deal he was wearing a shirt with your name on the back. 

“Show me the back.” The brunette reluctantly turned around. Much like he’d done with you, you took a picture of him. “My name looks good on you.”

“Mine looked better on yours.” He smirked back at you before the two of you burst into laughter but the happiness between you both didn’t last long.

Silverstone was arguably one of your favourite tracks, Max always seemed to struggle but you thrived on the historic track. Your words stayed in your rival's mind so much so that Charles won the race with you trailing in P2. P2 was a result any parent would be proud of for their child, especially in a sport as competitive as Formula 1. Max had to retire the car after three laps due to an engine failure so your Dad was already in a shitty mood and his daughter losing out to her rival had tipped him over the edge. 

Your team pulled you into large hugs, especially Christian who congratulated you with open arms but Jos didn’t even look at you. You tried to not let his attitude get to you but the memories of your childhood swarmed your head. Charles took his opportunity and poured his bottle of champagne down your neck which made you spin around and drench him in yours. The sight only angered Jos even more. He couldn’t believe you were acting like this after coming second and especially with Charles Leclerc.

After your interviews, Christian informed you that Jos wanted to see you in the garage. Brilliant. With a deep breath, you kept your head down and walked into the Redbull garage. “Dad? You wanted to see me?” 

He was leaning against your car, closely inspecting the machine before him. “What was that?”

“What was what?” 

“The race? P2? Really y/n?” 

“Dad I was still on the podium-”

“Not at the top you weren’t!” His voice grew. 

“Charles was the only driver that beat me, it was a close race… the car-”

“Stop blaming the car! It was your lack of skill-”

“My lack of skill? I’m a world champion I have enough skill-”

“Evidently not! You can’t even beat a man who isn’t even a world champion!” As he screamed he let his fist hit collide with a set of tools set beside you both. The sudden loud noise made you jump but that didn’t stop Jos. “You don’t become a world champion by coming in second, is Leclerc a world champion? No, he’s not, you wanna know why?” Jos stepped closer, his voice growing. “Because he’s a shit driver, he’s a pussy who can’t even make a decision, he doesn’t know whether to hit a wall or pit!”

“He’s a good driver…” Your voice was suddenly low. 

“What did you say?” Jos taunted.

“He’s a good driver…” 

“A good driver?” Your Dad scoffed. “If he’s your definition of a good driver then it’s no wonder why you didn’t win today.”

“Dad I’m still on track to win the championship this year, P2 isn’t a bad result.” 

“I didn’t raise you to come second, I raised you to win. If you can’t do that maybe you should rethink your career.” 

“Dad please-”

“Do you know how much I’ve sacrificed for you?” 

“Dad this isn’t about you-”

“You’re so selfish y/n. Do you think I wanted to get my daughter into F1? I always knew Max would be better than you. You’re lucky he has the talent he does because without it you wouldn’t be here and you know it.” He grabbed a tool and threw it towards the car, letting it bounce off close to you, yet again you jumped at his actions but this time tears threatened to spill. “You’re lucky that car is decent. You made me look like an idiot today and so did your brother, he was just lucky it was the car and not his lack of skill.” Jos stormed out of the garage, leaving you alone to sob your heart out. 

Your breathing started to quicken and the tears started to spill down your cheeks. Anytime Jos snapped at either you and Max the pair of you would be there for one another but Max was nowhere to be seen. He was more than likely hiding away from Jos in his room. Your hands clutched the side of the car as you attempted to steady your breathing but nothing was working, your body was shaking with fear as a panic attack swarmed your body but unbeknown to you Charles had been listening in the whole time.

“Hey, hey, you’re okay.” Charles pulled you from the car and into his arms, you fell into his touch as the two of you slumped against the wall, falling to the floor as he pulled you close. “Shh, don’t cry… y/n you’re safe.” His hands cupped your face, tilting your head to look up at his. His thumbs quickly swiped away your tears as you continued to cry. “He can’t hurt you, I promise you I won’t let him ever do that again…”

“I’m sorry…” Your tears damped his hands. 

“What are you apologising for?”

“I- I don’t know…” Your head fell against his chest, your breathing speeding up yet again. 

“y/n please listen to me… I need you to listen… name three things you can see.”

“What?” Your brows furrowed at his question. 

“Trust me, name three things you can see.”

“Umm… you, the car and uh mechanic tools.”

“Three things you can smell.”

“Champagne, metal… you know from the cars… burnt rubber.” Your body had stopped shaking and your breathing was slowing down. 

“Three things you can feel.”

“You… the champagne still on my suit… umm… my race suit?”

He looked down at you, a smile on his lips as he brushed your hair out of your face. “Perfect.”

“Why did you ask me that?”

“Stopped the panic attack, didn’t it?” You hadn’t even realised that you’d stopped shaking and your tears had slowed, your body was closer to his as he spoke. “When my Dad died I couldn’t stop getting panic attacks and my Mum would always ask me those questions and it would always work.” You smiled into his chest as he kissed the top of your head. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“How much did you hear?”

“All of it.”

“Why were you outside?” Pulling away from his chest you looked up at him. 

“I wanted to thank you and well… tell you something.”

“Thank me for what?”

“What you said to me weeks ago, about taking control. I did and I finally won a race this season.”

“Told you.”

“Who knows, maybe if we’d been caught together sooner I could’ve beaten you to a world championship.”

“You’re still driving a Ferarri Leclerc.”

“Maybe I’ll join Redbull one day.”

“You think you could take Max’s seat?”

“Was more thinking of your seat.” His face lit up after seeing you break into a smile. 

“Dream on Leclerc, you’ve got a better chance of winning a championship with Ferarri.” You felt his chest vibrate as he laughed at your words. “Charles?”

“Hmm?”

“What did you want to tell me?” 

He hesitated and now it looked as if he was the one who was going to break into a panic attack. “I’m sorry if this is rash or I’ve read everything wrong but I can’t keep this to myself anymore, y/n I like you and never in my life did I ever think I’d ever fall for my childhood rival, especially a Verstappen but that night we spent together when we were hiding from the press just felt different. Everything from the conversation to the way you fell asleep on my chest just felt right. I know you may not feel the same but even if you don’t I need to tell you, even if it means your brother will kill me… I-” 

Your hands cupped his jaw before putting your lips on his. Charles didn’t hesitate to pull you onto his lap, deepening the kiss as his hands trailed down your race suit. Your hands raked through his hair, tugging on his locks which made him groan into the kiss. In that moment everything bad that had happened to you that day had disappeared. Eventually, you both pulled back, breathlessly looking into one another's eyes. 

“Why did you have to be a Leclerc?” You smiled at him. 

“And why did you have to be a Verstappen?” 

—

That was two years ago. Two years ago the two of you had decided to make it official and two years were spent hiding it from Max and the rest of the world. Today was the first race of the season and you and Charles were spending the time you had left before having to pretend to hate one another. Your head was resting on his chest, your nails tracing his skin whilst his hands made their way through your hair. 

“How are you feeling about this season?” You moved your head to look up at him. 

“Confident enough to beat you.” He smirked down, his hands moving your hair from your face. “Can’t let you win a fourth championship, can I?” Last season you’d won and Charles had come second, Max had won the year before and Redbull had claimed the constructors championship for the sixth year in a row. 

“Don’t get ahead of yourself already Leclerc, it’s only the first race.”

“Every race counts Verstappen.” 

He leant down and planted his lips onto yours, his hands moving to cup your jaw whilst the other grabbed your hip and moved you to straddle him. He tugged at your bottom lip which made you moan at his actions. The hand once cupping your jaw trailed down your chest and made its way underneath your shirt. Pushing your shirt higher up he moved away from the kiss and pulled your shirt off your body, leaving you in just your underwear before him. His hands reached up to your boobs, cupping them and smirking as you let out a soft moan. His head turned to look at the clock beside his bed. 

“We’ve got time.” 

“If it’s anything like your driving we’ll be late.” Your flushed face smirked at your own words. Rolling his eyes Charles flipped the two of you over as he replied. 

“Shut up y/n.” His lips connected with yours as the two of you shared one last moment with one another before having to face the cameras. 

Bahrain was always a spectacle. Being the first race of the season meant more eyes than ever before were on you. The race was about to be underway, Charles was starting at the front, you were in P2 and Max was in P3. As you climbed into your car Charles turned his head and winked although his wink was more like a forced heavy blink. No matter how many times he did the action it always made you smile. Making sure no one was looking he quickly mouthed ‘I love you’ before getting in the car. You mouthed back to him, a smile on your face before putting your helmet on and getting into the car. 

“And it’s lights out and away we go! Verstappen gets a good start but Leclerc is holding off as best he can!” You may be his girlfriend but Charles would never let you pass easily but you didn’t need his kindness. After a few laps, you were able to overtake Charles, he was still firmly behind. 

After thirty laps you decided to pit before coming out behind your boyfriend. It didn’t take long for your tyres to warm up and within a few laps, you’d overtaken your boyfriend again. Just like the past few seasons, Redbull had completely dominated the tracks and now you were slowly coming up behind Pierre Gasly. Gasly had been given the instructions to let you pass and reluctantly he did so. As the Frenchman reluctantly moved out of the way he suddenly lost control of his car as he went around a corner, his car spun and hit yours and driving at hundreds of miles an hour, your car went flying into one of the barriers. 

The second your car collided with a barrier and Gasly spun out a red flag was immediately deployed on the track. “y/n are you okay?” You heard the familiar voice of Christian through your radio. Your whole body screamed in pain as you attempted to leave the car but it was too much. Your head fell back as you took deep breaths, trying to steady yourself when a sudden surge of heat started to warm your body. 

“Shit.” You mumbled and suddenly instincts kicked in. Despite the surge of pain you quickly scrambled to get yourself out of the car. Just as you started to climb out your head began to spin and before you knew it, everything went black. 

Meanwhile, Charles was slowly driving up to the scene before him. “Red flag, red flag, go slow and return to the pits.” His radio filled his ears. 

“What’s happened?”

“Verstappen and Gasly had an incident, both cars are out.”

“Are they okay?” 

“Gasly is out, no word from Verstappen yet.”

As the words filled his head Charles looked at the sight before him. A Redbull car clearly displaying your number on the side was being swarmed in flames. He didn’t think for a second. Charles stopped his car and quickly jumped out, little did he know your brother was following suit. The pair of them didn’t get far before being stopped by the stewards who begged them to return to their cars and head back to the pits. 

An ambulance quickly arrived and Charles and Max watched you being stretched onto the vehicle before being taken to a nearby hospital. “Why did you run out?” Max asked as he turned on his heel and returned to his car. 

A teary-eyed Charles looked at your brother, his breathing getting worse as he knew he had to tell Max what was really going on. “Max I’m sorry… we should’ve told you-”

“Told me what?” His patience had left his body. “Fucking hell spit it out, Leclerc!” 

“I love her Max! We’ve been together for two years and now she’s in a fucking ambulance and I don’t know if she’s okay… fuck what if she’s seriously hurt?” His hands ran through his hair as tears started to fall down his cheeks, panic taking over. 

At this moment Max wanted to rip him limb from limb. He wanted Charles to be in the back of that ambulance not you but the sight of him breaking down into tears and on the verge of a panic attack he couldn’t even let those thoughts come to fruition. If what he said was true and the two of you were together then it was clear he cared for you. No sane person would ditch their car and run out onto a track with cars driving fast enough to kill someone in an instant unless they really cared for them. Max took a step forward and pulled Charles in for a hug. Charles didn’t care if he was taken off guard by Max’s actions, he wrapped his arms around him and sobbed into his shoulder. 

“She’ll be okay,” Max spoke. “Let's get back to the pits and I’ll drive us to the hospital.” Your boyfriend nodded as he pulled away before he and your brother made their way back to the pits.

—

“Hello Miss Verstappen I’m Doctor Sharp.” You’d just climbed back into your race suit after some routine checks as a tall blonde woman began speaking to you. “You’re results from the scan are normal, we suspect you fainted due to the crash impact and the panic.”

“So I’m okay?” You asked. 

“You are.” She smiled. “I’ve forwarded the information to your race principal as your brother didn’t return my calls.”

“Who’s winning the race?” 

She laughed at your words. “You could have received a very serious head injury yet all you can think of is Formula 1? Well Russell is leading, Piastri is running P2 and Hamilton is in P3.” 

“You a fan of F1?” 

“I am which is why I was rather surprised to see you in here, never did I think a Verstappen would crash out.” You laughed gently at her words. 

“We all have our off days.” 

“We do indeed Miss Verstappen.” She handed you some medication. “There are some strong painkillers for you. Take them twice a day, I recommend morning and evening to help you through the day and sleep. The pain should subside in a couple of days but you have a month's supply in there. Any therapy you do for your skin should be done more often now, hot baths or showers will be your best friend for a while.” 

“Thank you.” 

“I have requested for a taxi to take you home or someone to come pick you. Again, I called your brother but I’ve had no reply-” 

“y/n!” Max’s voice cut the doctor off. Both he and Charles swung the doors open and sprinted to your bedside. “Is she okay?” Max asked the woman by your side. 

“She’s fine, she just took a big knock. You’re lucky you have fireproof suits otherwise the outcome would have been a lot worse.” She now turned to you. “You can come home with them, just tell reception when you leave. I’ll leave you to it.” She winked before leaving you with your brother and boyfriend.

“I’m going to fucking kill Gasly, absolute twat. Wasn’t that hard to let you through!” Max spat as he came to your side. 

“Max it was a mistake-”

“A mistake that could’ve cost your life!” 

“But it didn’t, I’m fine. It’s not like he meant it.” Your eyes flickered over to Charles who was standing watching the two of you with tears in his eyes. “Hello, Charles.” You wondered how he’d managed to travel with your brother without Max killing and questioning his actions. 

“Hi, y/n…” His voice broke as he spoke. 

“I know by the way.” Max grabbed your attention. “He told me.” 

“Told you what?” 

“You must’ve hit your head if you can’t remember that he’s your boyfriend.” Max smiled. “Look we’ll talk about it later but just know this as long as you’re happy then that’s all I care about but this doesn’t mean I like him.” 

Your hand fell on top of Max’s. “Thank you.” You fell into his chest, the two of you embracing in a hug. 

“I’m glad you’re okay. I knew you would be.” He laughed slightly as he pulled back. “I’ll leave you two, I’m just going to call Mum and Dad and let them know you’re okay.” He backed off to the door. “Try anything and I’ll put you through the wall.” Max glared at Charles before leaving the room. 

Within seconds Charles had his lips pressed onto yours, his hands cupping your jaw as he savoured every single second of the kiss. “He might be my best friend but I’m going to kill Gasly too.” You both smiled at his words. “How are you, my love?”

“My body aches but I’m fine, she’s given me medication so I should be okay.” 

“Thank God.” He planted another short kiss on your lips. “Look, I’m sorry that I told Max. It wasn’t my place and we should’ve told him together but seeing the fire and you in the ambulance I just couldn’t control my emotions, he asked why I just got out of my car and I told him. I’m sorry-”

“Charles you don’t need to apologise. I need to speak to Max about it. I shouldn’t have left it 2 years to tell my brother… my Dad is going to kill me.”

“For what part? The race or dating me?” 

“Both.” Your smile returned to your lips. 

“I won’t let him. He won’t ever raise his voice to you again.”

“My knight in shining armour.” You both broke into smiles before Charles kissed you once more. 

Max would never approve of the idea of you and Charles dating but it was something he would slowly warm up to although he’d never let Charles win whether he was your boyfriend or not and neither would you. He could ask you to marry him and you’d still make sure he’d never win as long as you were on the track. Your Mum was over the moon and loved Charles like he was one of her, your Dad on the other hand acted like you’d just thrown your career down the drain. The fans… well… they were ecstatic. 

---

Buy me a coffee <3

An unexpected role | cl16

Summary: You revealed your little secret to your date, you didn't expect he would take it so well.

Warning: fluffy Charles, step dad!Charles, some tears while storytelling.

a/n: This is a little long story, but I hope you like it! Let me know in the comments if you'd like a part two of this. Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

You never thought you'd go back to dating after the way your last relationship ended, which wasn't in a pleasant way... But here you were, in a coffee shop with a guy who was a known friend to your bestie, Lola, what seemed strange to you is that you never heard her talk about him... And obviously she hardly talked about him, since he is a racing driver.

To your surprise the date was going very well, you seemed to be in a fairy tale or something similar, you had a good feeling in your chest and it had been a long time since you had felt that way with someone.

“But I'm done talking about myself... Tell me more about yourself” He said while giving you a little smile, he told you about his races and that seemed very interesting to you, you used to be a Formula One fan when you were a little girl you watched the races with your father.

You let out a small sigh. "About me? I don't know what you would like to know about me, I don't think I have a very interesting life compared to yours.”

He denied while smiling. “You can tell me anything about yourself and I will find it very interesting.”

As if by fate, your cell phone, which was on the table, turned on showing a message from Lola, she was taking care of your little two-year-old girl Lily. The message said: “She just wanted to send her mama some kisses 😘” maybe she sent you a gif of your little daughter blowing kisses at the camera... You smiled a little when you saw the notification, what you didn't realize was the look of a certain green-eyed Monegasque who was also looking at the screen with curiosity.

“Um... Tell me you didn't see my screen, did you?” you said a little fearfully.

“I'll just tell you that I saw what was necessary... But now I am curious to know who that person is who sent you kisses” He tilted his head a little. “Do you have someone waiting for you at home?”

You took a breath, this wasn't the way you wanted him to know. “Actually... Yes, I have a little person waiting for me at home.”

You took courage and spoke again. “This wasn’t the way I wanted to tell you this, but,” you said with trembling hands. “I'm a single mom.”

You narrowed your eyes, expecting the worst possible reaction, perhaps he would get up from the table and leave without wanting to know more about you for the rest of his life, but you didn't expect his hand to rest on yours in a gesture that filled your heart.

“Wow... That's unexpected, but... Wow, I don't know what to say.” He said while giving you a loving look. “I don't want to sound nosy but you do have an interesting life.”

“Yes, well, dealing with a two-year-old little girl is not easy at all... But I wouldn't change it for anything.”

“Tell me about her… About you two actually.”

Just saying those words was enough to turn you into a first-rate chatterbox, you told him everything about you and Lily, the rollercoaster of emotions with pregnancy, the appointments to the gynecologist, the day she was born and so on, you practically spat out all the information there was and could be about the two of you. But his look of adoration and care did not leave his face, he listened attentively to every word you said to him, it was as if he were collecting data for the future? You didn't know exactly.

“Oh wow, that's totally amazing.” He said while having a small smile on his face. “I noticed you didn't mention her father, did something happen between you? If you don't want to answer, that's fine! I understand, there's no problem at all.”

You sighed again, there were few people who knew what happened between you and your ex, maybe telling him won't hurt.

“Well... He abandoned me when I told him I was pregnant, our relationship lasted almost two years, but when I told him the news, he left but without leaving me a nice little gift, a good blow on the cheek.” You said while chuckled. “And on top of that, my family didn't take the news very well either, they told me such hurtful things that made me feel unprotected and hurt by the people I least expected.” You said as you sobbed a little. “But hey, these are things that happen, right?” You said as you dried a few tears with your hand, but they kept coming, one of his hands rested on your face to dry your tears with his thumb and you smiled weakly.

“Oh God, I'm very sorry, I didn't imagine such a thing would have happened to you... But you are very brave and it shows, well, from what you tell me, that you do what is best for your little Lily." He said and your eyes crystalized again, you wanted to hug him, nobody had never said those beautiful words to you.

“Thank you Charles... I have never been told anything as nice as that.” You whispered.

“It's nothing, pretty. Now you will hear them more often.” He smiled as he winked and you giggled, apparently this date is going to lead to something very precious.

-

“Honey, stay calm baby, mama is trying to comb your hair.” You said as you tried to make Lily's pigtails, but she was a little restless today, excited perhaps.

You had been talking to Charles after that date, and now two weeks after that he is going to meet little Lily, he is taking you both to an ice cream parlor. You had been sending him pictures of her and so on, you talked about everything and at the same time about nothing, it was like an instant connection and that for you was fascinating, considering that he didn't run away from you when you told him everything you experienced with your daughter.

The sound of your apartment's doorbell distracted you, luckily you managed to do your little girl's hair in time.

“Let's see who's waiting for us at the door, little princess.” You said and took her hand, when you opened the door Charles was there with a shy smile and in his hands he had a bouquet of daisies and a little bag.

“Hi cutie” He said with some tenderness and smiled. “Uhm... These are for you... I saw them and I remembered you, I don't know why, maybe because they are pretty like you.” He smiled and extended the bouquet of daisies to you.

“You didn't have to do it Charles," You said as you placed them in a vase of water. “My love, meet a friend, his name is Charles… Say hello darling.” You said to Lily, who was hiding behind your legs.

“H..hi!” Lily stammered, she talks a little, although sometimes she tends to be a non-stop chatterbox, but she's adorable.

“But it's the popular Lily! Your mama has told me a lot about you.” He said with a smile as he crouched down to be level with her. “Look, I brought you something.” He said as he took out a bunny stuffed animal from the bag, Lily's eyes lit up at the presence of the stuffed animal.

“Bunny!” She said as she stretched out her little hands towards the little stuffed animal and took it from Charles's hands.

“How do you say, honey?” You emphasized.

“Thank... You” She said while babbling between laughs, Charles gave her a little smile and a small kiss on her forehead, you can swear that when you saw that your heart melted completely.

“It's nothing little princess!” He said as he looked at you and smiled. “Okay, shall we go? Those ice creams are waiting for us!” He said in an animated tone earning a small jump from Lily. If this were a competition, he would already be ahead by a long shot.

-

After going for ice cream and going to the park for a while, sleep began to take over Lily, both you and she had spent a very fun day with Charles, it's been a long time since you had such a good time, with her you always do your best to do something fun between the two of you.

“Mama... Swleep” She said adorably as she snuggled up next to you.

“Don't worry little one, Charlie is going to take us home, you will soon be sleeping comfortably in your bed." You said as you smiled at your little girl, you turned your head and saw the green-eyed boy smiling as he took your hand.

Sooner than expected you found yourself at the door of your building while trying to lift Lily out of the car.

“Leave it to me, I’ll help you with Lily.” He said and he carefully took Lily from your arms and carried her against his shoulder.

You noticed how natural the scene was and how incredibly comfortable Lily was in his arms, you smiled. Only Lola did those things to help you get out of somewhere with Lily, but seeing him with her in his arms gave you a feeling of familiarity in your chest.

You entered the building and took the elevator until you reached your apartment, when you entered he gave you Lily again and you took her to her room to put her pajamas on, he looked at you tenderly from the door frame, it's incredible how he won Lily's affection so quickly.

“You are ready to dream, little miss!” You said as you placed kisses on her face and she giggled while holding the stuffed bunny that Charles had given her earlier.

“Chas! Chas! Bed!” She said a little enthusiastically towards Charles, your time to tell her a story was approaching.

He approached her bed and she smiled and then you started telling her the respective bedtime story. At the end of telling her the story, you approached her and kissed her goodnight.

“Good night my sunshine! I love you so much” you said as you gave her a kiss and she smiled.

“Chas!” she said towards Charles and he smiled.

“Good night little one! I loved being with you and your mama today.” He said while he gave her a kiss on the forehead and caressed her head.

“Morrow chas?” She asked as she looked at him sleepily.

He smiled and looked at you tenderly, as if he was asking permission or something.

“Only if your mama agrees, darling.” He said and smiled a little.

You sighed and smiled. “It's okay sunshine, Charlie can come tomorrow.”

After saying that she smiled again and you two left the room closing the door behind you, you sighed a little and smiled at him.

“Thank you for this nice evening Charles,” you whispered. “You didn't have to came here and...”

You didn't finish speaking when you felt his lips on yours, it was an unexpected but amazing action in a way. Was it something that was going to happen? Yes, but you didn't expect it to be so soon, maybe he also felt the connection between the three of you.

“I'm not lying to you if I tell you that I want this every day, I mean... I want to go out with you to the most childish place of all, I want to have breakfast with you, play dolls with Lily, be your supporter and your rock.” He said in a whisper. “And I know it's an unexpected role in your lives, but I would really like this... I don't know if you also want the same thing.”

You nodded, you wanted this too, for the first time you felt seen, you felt like someone was listening to you and little Lily and that's something important for you two, because at the end of it all, he was going to gracefully take on the most unexpected role of all... And who knew that a date with your bestie's friend would go so well.

Utterly in love with this entire piece of art<3

birds of a feather // cl16

pairing: charles leclerc x reader

word count: 30k (i know i've got issues)

warnings: google translate french and swearing

includes: friends to lovers, childhood bestfriends, soulmate au if you squint, heavy pining, and angst

summary: follows charles and the reader through childhood all the way to present day. based off of 'birds of a feather' by billie eilish.

masterlist

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

five and eight

It's a hot summer day in Monaco the first time Charles meets you.

The evening sun cascaded through the windows, golden rays bouncing off the walls as the smell of his Mother's baking wafted through the house. Charles' legs soon carried him into the kitchen and to his delight he found her oven-mitt clad hand pulling out a tray from the oven. His eyes widen when he sees what it is, it's one of his favorite sweet treats; cookies. His Mother spots him as she turns to set them on the counter. "Bonjour chéri!"

Charles doesn't answer, he's too focused on the cookies. He knows she won't let him have one, it's too close to dinner time, but he could probably sneak one when she had her back turned. So when she goes to put something back in the fridge he knows this is his chance, but he's not fast enough. His little hand barely hovers over one of the cookies before his Mother is gently smacking it away.

"No Charles! They are for the Y/L/N's." She hands him a stack of plates, motioning towards the table. "Now go set the table, s'il te plaît." Charles whines about it not being fair before stomping towards the table.

All day the only topic of conversation in the Leclerc household was about how an old family friend was to be moving back to Monaco today. Charles and Arthur had no idea who the man their Father spoke so highly about was, but Lorenzo mentioned something about him being their "uncle", but not really their uncle. Something that at only eight years old, confused Charles.

Even during dinner it seems like his Father mentions their "uncle" somehow during every conversation. Between the constant talk of this mystery man and the cookies sitting feet away from him Charles thinks tonight's dinner is the longest dinner of his life. He can see them sitting there, the cookies taunting him the whole time he tries to eat the unpleasant brussel sprouts on his plate. He hears his Father mention their "uncle" again and his attention is brought back to the conversation. "Papa. Is he really our uncle?" Charles asks as he shoves around the food on his plate with his fork.

"Ah, no. I mean he practically is, but not by blood. He is a very old friend of mine. We grew up together, but he moved to America around nine years ago." He pauses for a moment, eyes flickering between Charles and Arthur. "I hate that Arthur and you don't know him, but he's back now, so hopefully you boys will see him as an uncle like Lorenzo does. Plus, their house is just down the street, so I'm sure we will be spending lots of time with each other."

All Charles can do is nod at him, he isn't sure that he can call this random man "uncle", but for his Father he will try to like him as much as he clearly does.

Dinner is over shortly after their conversation, with a little help from his Father's impatience to go see his old friend. And before Charles can try and sneak a cookie again they are out the door, the cookies held securely in his Mother's hands, heading to their "uncles" house.

Charles realizes his Father wasn't lying when he said their house was just down the street, in fact it's only a block away. He's surprised his Father wasn't dragging them here earlier today with how close it is.

His Father knocks on the door and after a moment a man answers."Hervé!” 

"Y/D/N!"

The two men embrace each other, big smiles plastered on both of their faces. "If it was up to me we would have been over as soon as you guys arrived earlier today, but Pascale insisted we give you guys a little time to settle in."

"Oh nonsense. You're fine." The man steps aside, motioning for everyone to come in. "Come on in. Don't mind the million boxes scattered around."

"It's a beautiful home." Pascale states as she glances around.

"Merci."

The man's eyes wander to Charles and his brothers. His arms extend towards Lorenzo and the two of them hug, the man tousling Lorenzo's hair as they pull away. "Dieu te regarde! You're practically a man!"

Lorenzo can only laugh at the man, whose attention is now on the two youngest Leclerc boys. He crouches down so he's at eye level with them. "Bonjour. I don't think we have met yet. I'm Y/D/N, a very old friend of your Papa's." His hand reaches out for Charles to shake. "You must be Charles."

Charles gently takes Y/D/N's hand and shakes it, something he's seen his Father do hundreds of times. "I am. How did you know?"

A smirk plays at Y/D/N's lips. "When your Papa and I speak, he loves to talk about his boys. Even the ones I didn't get the pleasure of meeting until now." His attention now moved to the youngest Leclerc. "Like you little Arthur." Little giggles came from Arthur as the man pinched his cheek.

"Are we going to get to meet the other members of your family Y/D/N?" Pascale asks.

"Patience still isn't your strong suit, is it Pascale?" The man teases as he leads them towards the kitchen.

As they enter the kitchen they find a woman with an American accent putting away dishes into the cabinets. From what Charles can gather from the conversation the adults are having is that their "uncle" met his wife while on business in America. They fell in love and he ended up moving there to be with her. They got married and had a daughter. He wanted to raise her here so they decided to move back to Monaco.

"Guess you should all meet the reason we moved huh? Y/N! Ma chérie come here!" Y/D/N yells.

And here you came, barreling into the kitchen, not knowing that there were five strangers standing there until it was too late. Cheeks turning pink as you hid behind your Mom's legs. "This shy little thing is our daughter, Y/N."

Pascale's face lit up at the sight of you. "Oh tu n'es pas une poupée? She's beautiful you two!" She glances over at your parents then back to you. "You look to be around the age of my two youngest boys, no?" She squats down so the two of you are eye level as you peak around your Mom's legs. "How old are you?" As you lifted your hand, little fingers all stood up straight indicating that you were five, Pascale smiled. 

"Oh, that's the same age as my Arthur." She points towards the smallest boy, who's dirty blonde hair almost covered his eyes. She then points to the slightly taller boy in the middle, his soft blue eyes watching his Mom intently. "That is Charles, he's a little older than Arthur and you. He's eight." Then she finally points to the obviously very older son. "And that is Lorenzo, he's a lot older. It makes me feel old to say this but he's eighteen!"

Your shyness somehow slowly got chipped away by Pascale and you were now standing beside your Mom, not behind her. "Go on baby. Say hi to them." You Mom encouraged as she brushed your hair out of your face.

Even if you had braved coming out from behind your Mom's legs, the idea of talking to these strangers still scared you. You looked over to your Dad who stared back at you, a smile on his face and a slight nod in your direction told you everything was going to be okay.

"Hi." You said meekly.

The two younger boys gave you a small wave in return.

The adults had started to converse, leaving the kids to stand there awkwardly. Not knowing each other well to be the one to initiate conversation or play.

Your Mom had noticed the quietness between you and the boys, and your constant presence by her legs. "Why don't you kids go play out back? The house luckily came with a playset that is begging to be played on." She pulled open the sliding door, motioning for the kids to go outside.

Arthur was the first to run outside, he was practically already at the door when he heard the word playset. His little legs were already running up the slide by the time Charles and you had exited the house.

You watched your feet drag across the grass as you swung back and forth on the swing. Your Dad's voice playing in your head as you heard Charles and Arthur's laughter echo through the hot summer air.

"I know this is a big change for you mon amour. But I promise, we wouldn't have made this big move if your Maman and I didn't think it wouldn't have been a good idea. It may take some time for you to adjust, but knowing you, in a couple weeks you'll probably be more of a Monégasque than me!"

"I'm only half though. How could I be more than you Papa?" Tiny giggles escaping you as you gave your Father a questioning look.

"Anything is possible chérie! Plus you remember me talking about your uncle Hervé? Well, he has two boys that are around the same age as you. And I'm positive you three will become the bestest of friends like we were at that age in no time. When your Uncle Hervé and I were younger people would always say "Wherever there is a Y/L/N there is a Leclerc" and I'm sure it will live on through you three."

As you watched the two Leclerc boys chase each other through the yard, you knew your Dad would want you to get up and go join them. He seemed so excited at the idea of you and the boys being friends and you didn't want to disappoint him, but at only five years old, your shyness overruled the majority of your decisions.

Charles, even though he was playing with his brother, had noticed how you hadn't left the swing since coming outside. He tried to put himself in your shoes, he couldn't even imagine what it would be like to move halfway across the world.

What it would be like to leave everything you've ever known behind and move to a country that is nothing like the one you'd spent your whole life in so far. Even if your Father was from here and technically Monaco is as much of your home as America ever was, he knows that at least right now, this place means nothing to you.

So, being the empath that he is, Charles decides that it's his mission to make you feel at home. To make you realize that Monaco has been your home all along. That if he was you right now, all he would want is for someone to befriend him, make him feel less alone. His first step; asking you to play.

His skinny frame soon occupies the empty swing next to you, hands gripping the chains as he barely moves back and forth. His feet mimicked yours, dirt and grass staining his white sneakers.

"Hi." Charles watched as your head perked up at his voice. Your doe eyes timidly looking over at him like you weren't sure if he was speaking to you.

"Hi."

"Do you wanna play with Arthur and me?" Charles hopes you don't run back inside after hearing his question, but when your face lights up, head nodding enthusiastically, his worries dissipate. You were just so glad that he had come over and asked you, because you would have sat there on that swing all evening if he hadn't.

In a matter of minutes your shyness and worries about upsetting your Father were replaced with bouts of laughter as Arthur and you ran from Charles. Gleeful screams and giggles filled the evening air as the three of you played and for the first time since getting told you were moving you felt carefree.

The loud laughter and yelling had gotten the attention of the adults and as they watched their children play through the sliding glass door they couldn't wipe the smiles off their faces.

"That didn't take long did it?" Your Mom felt a relief wash over her. At only five years old she knew this move was going to be hard on you, and she wished they could have just stayed in America. But who was she to deprive you of experiencing the life that was quite literally half of you. Deprive her husband of seeing his little girl experience the same things he did as a child.

And as she watched the way the three kids played together she knew it was the right decision. For you to come out of your shell so quickly meant that maybe things weren't going to be so bad here after all.

"Of course it didn't." Your Dad stood behind your Mom, his hand on her shoulder as he watched his little girl laugh and run around. "Because wherever there is a Y/L/N-"

"there is a Leclerc." Hervé finished, an equally big smile on his face.

The painting of orange and pink hues that filled the evening sky told everyone that the sun was making her farewell for the day. Though, that didn't stop you and the boys from still playing and eventually as the colorful painting turned to a star filled sky you all were called inside.

Rosy cheeks and sweaty foreheads adorned all three of your faces as you clambered into the kitchen. "Looks like you kids had fun." Pascale had grabbed the cookies off the counter, but as she opened the lid to offer the kids one, she had a better idea. "How about some ice cream?" Charles' eyes lit up at the mention of ice cream. He loved cookies, but his one true love was ice cream. "I think the place down the road is still open."

And with an unspoken agreement, they are all out the door and headed towards the ice cream shop. Charles and you walk side by side with Arthur trailing behind the two of you. His complaints about being left out falling on deaf ears as Charles tells you about how good the ice cream place is.

The walk isn't a long one and before you realize it, you've arrived. The sickeningly sweet smell hits you as soon as you walk through the door, and your short legs carry you towards the counter, not paying mind to any sort of line that was already formed. Your face was practically pressed against the glass as you looked at all the flavors to choose from. But even with flavors like triple chocolate or strawberry or peanut butter cup. You always go with your tried and true; vanilla.

Charles and Arthur had joined you, faces as equally as close to the glass as yours.

"You think Maman will let me try them all?" Arthur asks, mouth practically watering at the sight in front of him.

"I don't know about that." You recognize your Dad's voice behind you. "You guys tell me what you want and then go wait at the table outside with Lorenzo." The three of you reluctantly turn away from the ice cream and when Arthur tells your Dad he wants mint, Charles and you share a disgusted look. "Ok mint for Arthur, what about you two?"

"Vanilla!" Comes out of both Charles and your mouth. Big smiles spread across your faces as you realize you both said the same thing.

"No way that's my favorite flavor!" Charles exclaims.

"Mine too!"

By the time your Dad comes outside with the ice cream Charles and you had established that; vanilla was the best flavor of ice cream ever, blue was your favorite color, red was his, you both loved dogs, and that he wanted to be a Formula 1 driver when he grew up. You didn't really know what that was, you think you had heard your Dad talking about it or watching it before, but the way Charles talked about it, it seemed like it was something big.

After many brain freezes and Arthur trying to make Charles and you try his mint ice cream, the night was coming to an end. The walk back home was filled with talks of things that you guys had to do this summer, according to Charles, and about how tonight would not be the last trip to the ice cream shop.

As you arrived at your house the grownups said their farewells and goodnights, while you gave everyone a simple wave goodbye. "I'll see you tomorrow!" Charles yelled as you entered the front door, and all you could do was yell back.

"Ok!"

And Charles wasn't lying, you did see him the next day, and the day after that. In fact, any free day that you or the youngest Leclerc boys had were spent in each other's company that summer. By the time school started back up the three of you were inseparable. 

The idea of starting at a new school in a different country while knowing no one scared you, so you were glad to have Arthur with you in class and just knowing Charles was in the building made you feel more at ease. Any worries you had about moving to Monaco had dissipated and Charles had just somehow knew that he had accomplished his mission of making you feel at home. It may have taken him all summer, but you were practically family at this point to him.

So when he heard from Arthur about a couple boys in your class not being the friendliest towards you, something about you being an annoying American, he knew he had to defend you.

Charles fortunately had caught them in the act one day. Your cheeks slightly damp and eyes red told Charles it wasn't just them saying you were annoying. You wouldn't tell him what they said to you, but that didn't stop him from telling the boys off. It didn't take much for them to run off, heck Charles could have just stared at them and they probably would have darted, him somewhat forgetting they were probably only five or six, but still there was no reason for them to be mean to you.

Charles wiped away your tears before pulling you in for a hug. "They shouldn't bother you anymore, but if they ever do come tell me. You know you've always got me and Arthur and if it gets bad enough I guess we could tell Lorenzo." The mention of the oldest Leclerc boy made you giggle and Charles was so happy to see a smile on your face again. "You've always got me Y/N, we've got each other. I promise." He held out his pinky finger towards you and you hooked yours around his, officially sealing the promise

And from that moment on, you two always did have each other.

 ten and thirteen

Five years had passed since you first met Charles, and in those five years your bond only grew stronger. Not only with each other, but with each other's families too. To Pascale you were the daughter she always wanted and your Dad treated the Leclerc boys like his sons. It was like you guys filled in the missing pieces in each other's families.

Multiple scrapbooks were filled over the years with memories that would last a lifetime. Pictures of the joint family vacations that were taken every year, first and last day of school pictures, birthdays, and major milestones all filled the pages.

Looking back now your Mom could have kicked herself for ever second guessing the decision to move. Clearly this was where you guys were supposed to be, where you were supposed to be. Everything just felt right. It felt like home.

A new thing that had become a part of your life in the past five years was karting. No, you didn't drive them, but Charles and Arthur did. So, that meant it was now a part of you. Multiple weekends were spent going to watch them race, the smell of exhaust and the sound of the engines were ingrained into your brain, but you had grown fond of it.

Although, in the last couple years Charles had started to take karting very seriously. You knew his dream was to be an F1 driver, and you knew (from him teaching you everything about it one day) how much dedication it took from a young age to get to the top. So, over the last year, when almost every weekend he was busy, you tried not to take it to heart.

Unfortunately for Arthur, this year his family had decided to focus solely on Charles' career for the time being, as karting was expensive, and having two boys doing it was just not something they could swing. But with Charles busy and Arthur now free it was almost like the boys had flip flopped positions in your life.

Between the two youngest Leclerc boys it was always very obvious that you gravitated more towards Charles, the two of you having a bond that many didn't understand, especially considering your age gap.

Three years isn't crazy per say, but at the age you two are right now it's a little different. Charles is thirteen, officially a teenager, while you're still only ten. Two very different stages in kids' lives, and sometimes recently it seemed like Charles was moving on, or growing up, and you worried that he wouldn't want to spend time with you anymore. Because really what thirteen year old wants to willingly hang out with a ten year old? You know you wouldn't want to hang out with a seven year old. 

But the slight gap that Charles was currently leaving in your life, Arthur had no problem filling it in.

During the school year you spent basically all your time with Arthur, being in the same grade and him not dedicating all his time to karting at the moment was a big contributing factor. You still saw Charles, but nearly as much as you used to. He had moved up to secondary school a year or so ago and unfortunately Arthur and you were still in your last year of primary school. So your time to see Charles was limited to his rare free weekends and sometimes after school. 

You had thought come summer time you would be able to see him more and were banking on your annual family vacation, but you were wrong. In fact, you barely even saw Arthur this summer. They were so busy with Charles karting it was like they didn't even live in their home. And when they were home your family was busy doing something.

The annual family vacation had to be canceled and you had basically gone the whole summer without seeing them. That was until today, two weeks before school started, when you came downstairs to see Charles and Arthur sitting on your couch talking to your Dad, who was sitting in a chair opposite of them.

"Ah, there she is." Your Dad had spotted you from the doorway. "They've come to steal you."

Rounding the side of the couch you were now stood in front of the two boys. Arthur was the first to jump up from the couch, his arms squeezing you into him, the two of you slightly swaying back and forth as giggles escaped past your lips. "Tu m'as manqué aussi Arthur."

As Arthur finally let you go your eyes fell on the middle Leclerc boy, who was still sat on the couch. "Charlie." The nickname you had given him that first summer had still stuck around five years later. It fell off your tongue with ease, basically second nature for you at this point. He never minded when you called him that, in fact sometimes he preferred it, but god forbid anyone else call him that.

You could see a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth, dimples peaking out as he tried to resist it more. As he stood up from the couch he finally let it free, the corners of his eyes crinkled and dimples on full display as he wrapped his arms around you. You noticed you guys weren't almost the same height anymore, your head hit at about his shoulder now. Had he gotten taller since the last time you saw him? There was no way he had grown that much in almost two months, but yet the proof was standing right infront of you.

"Tu m'as manqué." Charles stated as he pulled away from the hug.

"I figured you'd have your kart seat stuck to you when I saw you again."

"Well when that seat becomes an F1 seat, I know who will be the last person I invite to a race."

You wedged yourself between the two brothers on the couch as you rolled your eyes at Charles. "Yeah I won't need an invite because I'll have a permanent paddock pass." You weren't even sure if such a thing as a permanent paddock pass existed, but when Charles makes it into Formula 1, you had better have one.

"No doubt about it." Charles states, which gets him a smile from you in return.

"So what was Papa talking about? You guys are stealing me?"

"We've got something fun planned." Charles had a small smile on his face as he made eye contact with you. And as you stared back at him you noticed something else that had changed in the past two months, his hair. It was shaggy and almost covered his eyes if he didn't have it pushed to the side. You were surprised Pascale hadn't made him cut it yet, or that she hadn't snuck into his room at night and at least trimmed the hair around his face. It was just another sign of how long it had been since you'd seen each other.

You glanced over at your Dad, unsure of what "fun" they had planned, but he was no help. "What is it?"

"It's a surprise." Charles had stood up from the couch, eyes staring back down at you. "Well come on. We don't have all day."

"Be careful! Je t'aime!" Your Dad hollered as the three of you walked out the door.

"Je t'aime aussi!" You hollered back.

The warm sun beat down on you as you walked the familiar streets of Monaco, following the two boys in front of you. Your insistent pleas of wanting to know where you were going were ignored. And it didn't take long for you to just start guessing random places, which were all met with groaned no's from the boys.

Thankfully you guys had arrived at your destination because you were running out of places to name, but the place you were standing in front of was not where you had expected to end up. Though truly you should have known better.

"Did you guys really just bring me here to watch you two drive go-karts?" Of course they brought you to the track. It wasn't like you didn't like watching them race or even just screw around on the karts, but as of recently it was the one thing that was keeping Charles away from you. It just would have been nice to do something that didn't involve karting.

"We aren't the ones who are going to be driving them." Arthur's devious little smile on his face tells you everything you need to know.

"I don't think that's safe, and don't we need an adult with us?" So perhaps you were slightly scared at the idea of driving – no you were actually more worried than scared. You didn't want to seem like an idiot because you didn't know what to do or wreck and make a fool of yourself. That little shy five year old girl was slowly creeping back in as Arthur and Charles practically dragged you inside.

"The adult is already here." Charles points at Lorenzo who's filling out paperwork at the front counter. "I think it's time for you to learn, no?" Your eyes focus on Lorenzo, praying as an adult he has enough sense to not let this happen. But it was no use, he had already handed the worker the paperwork and was walking towards you with a bunch of gear in his hands.

"No chickening out this time petite soeur. Today is the day." Lorenzo stated.

Before you can even protest anymore Lorenzo is handing you all this stuff to put on, arms overflowing as you stare at him wide-eyed. "Do I really need all of this for" you glance over at the track then back at Charles "an indoor track?"

"Safety first Y/N. Plus you need to have the full karting experience." His dimples on display as he gives you a reassuring smile, that somehow works wonders on you, because you're putting on all the gear without him even asking. "Oh wait you're gonna need this." He slides a hair tie off his wrist and hands it over to you. His action put a smile on your face as you quickly tied your hair back.

It was something Charles had done for a couple years now, always having a hair tie on him. You were always pushing your hair out of your face or complaining about it being hot and of course you never had a hair tie with you. So, he just started wearing one on his wrist, so when you eventually needed one, he was there to provide.

With your gear on you guys walked over towards one of the karts and you made sure to listen intently as Charles explained how to work everything.

You slipped the helmet on and sat down in the kart, praying that you could remember what Charles had told you. "You've got this. Just remember what I said and we will be right here if you need us. I’ll be right here. I promise." Charles holds out his pinky finger, the familiar gesture between the two of you meant much more than just a simple promise. And as you hook your finger around his, you know it's going to be okay. "Please be careful. I think your Papa will have my head if you come back with even just a scratch." Lorenzo says as he double checks that you're strapped in well enough.

"I'll be fine."

You gave Charles one last final glance, who stood there giving you a thumbs up, before pressing your foot down on the accelerator. At first you were going so slow, scared that if you went too fast you were gonna wreck. But as you completed a couple laps you started to feel more comfortable and the cheers from the boys helped you out too.

"Floor it!" Arthur yells as you pass by on another lap.

You were really starting to have fun, so you listened to Arthur and pressed the pedal all the way down on the next straightaway. You felt like you were flying, but what you didn't know was that they had put you in the slowest kart, so you really weren't going as fast as you thought you were.

After a couple more laps Charles stood by the starting line, waving the checkered flag, a cheesy grin on his face as you passed by him. As the kart came to a stop you understood why they loved karting so much, it wasn't just fun, it was exhilarating, addicting, you already wanted to go again.

The boys surrounded the kart as you undid the straps and climbed out. As you took off the helmet you couldn't wipe the grin off your face. "Looks like you might have some competition Charles." Lorenzo teases.

Charles ignored his big brother's teasing and shifted his focus back to you. He had felt bad about not seeing you all summer and in all honesty not that much over this past year. But things in his life were changing, karting was becoming a much bigger deal, and he was winning, like a lot. He knew things were only going to go up from here. And as much as he loved racing, and god did he love it, he breathed it he dreamt it, racing was in his blood. There just weren't many times anymore where he felt like a thirteen year old, like a kid. It sometimes felt like he was missing out on things.

But Charles knew that when he came home from a busy weekend or practically a whole summer filled with racing, that things would always be the same at home. His Mom would always make spaghetti on Tuesday nights, you had to jiggle the handle on the gate to the backyard to get it to open, if you went into the ice cream shop on a Thursday night when the owner wasn't there you'd get extra ice cream, the lady across the street will yell at your for playing in the street, and you will always be a couple houses down. 

He knew that when he was around you that he could feel like a kid again. Sure, he had made plenty of friends through racing, but it seemed like all their conversations always somehow revolved or ended up referring to racing. Which wasn't a bad thing, because of course Charles loved racing. But sometimes he just wanted to talk about video games or other sports, or just something random. And he could do that with you.

Now granted, for someone who wanted to have a little break from racing before school started, you'd think he wouldn't be back at a track the first chance he got. But Charles had wanted to teach you how to kart for years, but each time he had mentioned it you chickened out. So he had finally gotten the nerve, with a little help from Lorenzo and Arthur, to just force you to learn.

He knew you'd do a good job, he never had a doubt. It was just your worries that prevented you from learning earlier. He knew you had grown to love the sport, from tagging along to some of his races, or how you can't wait for the Monaco grand prix every year, not to mention how glued you are to the TV when his free weekends and the F1 schedule line up. So, somehow in his own weird way, Charles knew you'd be a natural.

"You did do a good job, I'm proud of you." Charles flashes you a smile as you guys exit the track.

"Merci Charlie." You quickly shed all the gear and handed it back to Lorenzo. "I don't know why you guys didn't teach me earlier. That was so much fun. I see why you guys love it so much."

"Don't act like we haven't tried for years to get you to learn." Charles teases. "We basically just had to force you today."

Memories of all the past failed attempts at teaching you how to kart flooded your mind. The one time you hid in the bathroom claiming to be throwing up, the time you 'tripped' on your way into the building and said you sprained your ankle, or the many times you just flat out refused. So maybe them forcing you was for the better, because you wouldn't have taken the initiative on your own to learn.

"Whatever. At least I finally learned."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The walk back to your house was filled with Charles filling you in on his exciting karting filled summer. From the new friends he had made to the races he had won, he didn't spare any detail. And you just walked beside him, listening to his every word, grateful to just have him back around. Arthur would pipe in occasionally to contradict something Charles had said, fulfilling his little brother duties. And as the three of you traveled through the principality, the summer sun high in the sky, you wished every day could be like this.

The fragrant jasmine shrubs that lined the sidewalk told you guys that you were close to home. "You guys wanna stay for dinner? It's Friday which means Mom's making something pasta related."

Charles would never turn down a Friday night dinner at your house and so he had no trouble in accepting your invitation. Arthur declined, stating that he was going to hang out with some of his other friends, and Lorenzo had split from you guys at the track. Which meant it was just Charles and you, which was fine with you.

The smell of your Mom's famous red sauce, that she swore had to cook for at least half the day, filled your nostrils as you walked through the door. "Mom! Papa! I’m home!"

"In the kitchen!" You heard your Mom shout.

You found your Mom furiously stirring something on the stove as Charles and you sat at the island counter directly in front of her. She tore her attention away from her cooking just long enough to notice Charles was with you. "Well look who's back! I hope you're staying for dinner?" A big smile accompanied her words as she spoke to Charles.

"Of course, you know I love Friday pasta nights."

"Well it's still gonna be a little bit until everything is ready, so if you kids are hungry grab a little snack or something." Her attention was already back to the bubbling pot in front of her before she had finished speaking.

Charles' stomach had been growling the whole walk home, and now sitting here smelling your Mom's cooking had it growling even more. So, he took up her offer and grabbed two tangerines from the bowl of fruit on the counter. Without even thinking about it, he peeled the first one and handed it over to you.

"You're spoiling her by peeling that for her Charles." Your Dad stated as he walked into the kitchen.

Charles shrugged at your Dad's comment as he continued to peel his own tangerine. "I don't mind it. I know she doesn't like to peel them and it's really not a big deal to me. So I guess as long as I'm around she won't have to."

You never gave a second thought about Charles peeling your fruit for you. He's done it ever since you expressed your dislike for peeling them years ago. To you it wasn't you being spoiled, it was just your best friend doing something nice for you. You gave Charles a smile as you popped another piece of the tangerine in your mouth. "Merci Charles." As you looked back towards your parents, you caught them staring at each other, eyebrows slightly raised, and smiles on their faces. "What?" You questioned.

"Oh nothing sweetie." Your Mom answered, attention turning back to the food. She knew you'd figure it out eventually.

The topic of conversation during dinner was all about karting. Your parents wanted to know all about Charles' wins and if anything exciting had happened during any of his races. Charles truly was like a son to them, granted all three of the Leclerc boys were, but you knew Charles was their favorite. They sat there listening intently as he told them everything and your Dad gave him nothing but praises back.

"You're gonna do great things Charles. I just know it."

And finally when Charles changed the conversation to how he finally taught you how to kart, your Dad though first worried at the idea of you getting hurt, was ecstatic to hear that you were quite good and that you enjoyed it. Your Mom didn't like the idea at all, the sour look on her face told you everything. "I can barely handle watching Charles, let alone my baby."

"I was the only one on the track, Mom. Plus it was just for fun, you don't have to worry about me doing the real thing. I really was not as good as Charles says I was." You tried to reassure her, but she still didn't seem pleased.

"Maybe it will help to know that we put her in the slowest kart." Charles chimed in.

Your head whipped to the right of you, where Charles was sat. "You put me in the slowest one?! You really thought I’d be that bad?"

"It was your first time! You were nervous as is, let alone putting you in a fast one."

A scoff came from you. "I feel cheated out of a real experience."

"Well, the slowest is fine with me. In fact, how do we find one slower than the slowest?" Your Mom inquired, nothing shy of a serious look on her face.

As dinner came to an end Charles and you helped clean up and then ventured out back. The sun had just set, allowing for dusk to settle in, the remnants of the sunset still lingering in the sky. The two of you found yourselves on familiar territory, the swings. The metal chains had slightly rusted over the years, but still held strong as the two of you swayed back and forth on them.

Silence fell between the two of you as you tried to figure out how to talk to Charles about the thing that had been subconsciously bothering you for a while. 

Him forgetting about you. 

He had his head down, staring at his feet as he slowly swung back and forth on the swing. "Charles?" He lifted his head at the sound of your voice, blue eyes slightly covered by his shaggy hair.

"Yeah?"

Your hands gripped the chains tighter as you stilled your movements, feet planted firmly in the worn patch of grass. "I need you to make me a promise."

He had copied your actions, even going as far as turning slightly to face you as he spoke. "For what?"

"I need you to promise that you won't forget about me. That when you make it into F1 and become super famous that you won't think I'm some loser. Or even when you move up to F3, just please promise me you won't forget about me."

Charles frowned at your words, never in a million years would he forget about you, or think you were a loser. He didn't want to get into F1 to become famous, yeah it was a perk of the job, but he wanted a seat in F1 because he loved racing, and it meant that he was one of the best in the world.

He held out his pinky finger towards you. "Do you remember what I said to you when those boys were teasing you during your first year here?" You shook your head, the memory replaying in your mind. "That you’ve always got me and I’ve always got you. So that means I don't think I could ever forget about you Y/N, whether I make it into F1 or not. And If I do, I'm gonna need my number one supporter there by my side aren't I? So I promise I won’t forget you."

A big smile spread across your face at his words and as you hooked your pinky finger around his, you knew the promise was true.

But what you didn't know was that sometimes promises are broken.

thirteen and sixteen

Thirteen is a very weird year for you. 

It’s not puberty or the ever revolving drama that comes with being thirteen that is making it a weird year. It’s the embarrassingly painful crush you’ve got on Charles. 

It’s a cliche really, having a crush on the cute older boy you’ve grown up with. 

And one might ask why is it embarrassing? For starters, you can’t be around him for more than five minutes without turning into a blushing mess. He stares at you for longer than a second? Game over. He smiles at you? Done for. He laughs at something you said? You’re dead. 

He doesn’t know he’s turning your thirteen year old brain into mush just by simply existing and it’s embarrassing to even think about him knowing that. 

On the other hand, it’s painful. You’re thirteen and he’s sixteen, once again at very different stages in life. And you know that he doesn’t like you back, that he only sees you as a little sister, but it still hurts. It hurts because you’re thirteen and you think that you’re mature for your age and you honestly think why wouldn’t he like you back. It’s something almost every young girl goes through, and unfortunately it’s happening to you with someone you are very close with. 

Yes, you had always thought he was cute, but that's because he was. That fluffy brown hair, long thick eyelashes that adorned his pretty eyes, his dimples, the little crinkles by his eyes when he smiled. Okay– so maybe that's how you would describe him now, but still, he was a cute kid also, there was no denying that. 

 But if you really had to figure out when you realized you had a crush on Charles it had to have been this past Christmas.   

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The holidays in Monaco were somewhat different than the few years you remembered back in America. You had stopped celebrating Thanksgiving after your Mom’s failed attempt at trying to make a Thanksgiving dinner your first year here. It wasn’t that your Mom was a bad cook, it was that it was somewhat hard to find everything needed for a Thanksgiving dinner in Monaco. And as hard as your Mom tried to make it work, it just wasn’t the same without that damn Ocean Spray cranberry sauce. 

So to make up for not celebrating Thanksgiving your family truly went all out for Christmas. The couple Christmases that you could remember back in America were nothing shy of magical, but ever since moving to Monaco, your family took Christmas very seriously. There was no denying that part of your household was American, because every year your house looked like it came straight out of a cult classic Christmas movie. Like Kevin McCallister or Clark Griswold had taken up residence in Monaco for the holidays. 

It wasn’t just the outside that was decorated, the inside was just as festive and of course the tree was the main focal point. It was a busy tree, your Mom never liked an aesthetically pleasing tree, it was sentimental or nothing to her. Ornaments that were passed down on her side of the family, ones you had made in school, and some you had gotten after moving all had a home on the tree. 

And as if decorating wasn’t enough for your family, your traditions were even more of a big deal. The most important one to you though was making cookies on Christmas Eve. Mainly because Arthur and Charles had been doing it with you since your first Christmas in Monaco. 

Christmas music played on the record player in the living room, the sound traveling into the kitchen as your Mom and you made sure you had everything ready to bake. You were in your own little world, picking out your favorite cookie cutters and humming along to Wham!’s Last Christmas when you heard your Mom speak up. “You’re just in time Charles.” 

Your eyes moved away from the pile of cookie cutters up to the garland decorated doorway where Charles was standing. A smile slowly crept its way onto your face as the two of you made eye contact. He looked cozy, the sweater he had on was slightly oversized and his hair had a messy fluffy look to it. 

You watched as he talked to your Mom, she was surely talking to him about racing, and he would always gladly answer her questions, as she was nothing shy of a second Mom to him. The longer you stared at him, you could feel your heartbeat quickening. And a feeling was arising in you that you had only ever experienced with a boy in your class a year or so ago.  Though, the feeling didn’t last long, you had caught him picking his nose, and with that went away any feelings you had towards him. 

You didn’t even want to think about the word that was happening right now, the idea of it only making your heart race even faster. You tore your eyes away from Charles and noticed that the youngest Leclerc brother was missing, so you blamed your rapid heart beat and surely pink cheeks on that.

You cleared your throat and tried to gather yourself before speaking. “Where’s Arthur?” 

Charles' attention was torn away from your Mom over to you. He pursed his lips, he didn’t know how to say nicely that Arthur said that baking Christmas cookies was for little kids, and he wasn’t a little kid anymore. He let out a sigh before speaking. “He’s not coming, he said he’s too old to be baking cookies.”

“But its-” 

“I know. I told him that it’s tradition and that you would be upset, but he wasn’t budging. So you’re stuck with just me.” 

It annoyed you that Arthur had bailed on you. There was no such thing as being too old to bake cookies, he was just being a jerk. And as far as you were concerned, he’s not allowed any of the cookies when your families have Christmas together tomorrow evening. 

On the bright side you get to have some one on one time with Charles, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise– Arthur bailing on you. You picked up the recipe card from the counter, waving it around in the air. “Well let’s get to work then.” 

Charles is at your side in an instant, rolling up the sleeves of his sweater as he waits for further instruction. 

“Do you think you kids can handle doing it by yourselves this year? I’ve got some last minute gifts that need to be wrapped.” Your Mom inquired, hopeful that you wouldn’t burn the house down on Christmas Eve. 

You didn’t even look up at her, eyes focused on the recipe in front of you, this was clearly something you took seriously. “Yes Mom.” 

Without a word she was gone, leaving Charles and you to your own devices. 

You can feel Charles peering over your shoulder. He’s practically right up against your side and you can feel the soft material of his sweater on your arm. All you can smell is his cologne, something he had started to use within the last year or two, thankfully moving on from the Axe body spray phase. And you’re trying not to make this seem like a big deal, because it’s truly not, but something has shifted in your thirteen year old brain. The same brain being scrambled by him right now, and you think you’ve read the damn recipe card at least ten times now. 

“Did you forget that the recipe is in American measuring terms?” Charles asks. The recipe was your Grandma’s and your Mom had never been bothered to convert it to the metric system. 

“Nope, just double checking everything.” You force a smile as you set down the recipe card and grab a mixing bowl. You added all the ingredients and made Charles do all the labor, which meant he had to mix it and then roll out the dough. 

You dug through the pile of cookie cutters looking for Charles favorite one. “Herree it isss.” You spoke in a sing songy voice as you held up the cookie cutter to Charles. His favorite in question? A penguin with a Santa hat on. Without fail, every Christmas, for the past eight years. Charles made an excessive amount of Santa hat penguin cookies. 

A grin spread across his face as you placed it in his hand. “Wouldn’t be Christmas without this guy.” He wasted no time in pressing the cutter down into the dough and before you guys knew it the first batch was done and in the oven. 

As you started on the next batch Charles kept a close eye on the baking cookies. The two of you allowed for Michael Buble to fill silence in the air and the mouthwatering smell of the cookies soon filled your nostrils. “You know you still call her Mom?”

Your eyebrows furrowed at Charles' random statement. “Huh?” 

He walked away from the oven and back to his original spot next to you. “You still call your Maman Mom.” 

“Yes?” You weren’t really sure where he was going with this, it was nothing new to either of you. 

“I just figured by now you would have made the switch. You speak French with everyone else.” 

You shrugged your shoulders at him, you had never really considered it, the idea felt weird even just thinking about it now. “I’ve always spoken English with my Mom and French with Papa. It would feel weird to switch stuff around now.” You stirred in the flour as you continued the conversation. “You know I could give you some English lessons if you’d like. I think that might have been what you were hinting at.” You teased. 

Charles' eyes widened at your words. “Are you saying my English is not good? I think I speak English very good!” 

“Well.” You didn’t skip a beat. 

“What?” 

“You think you speak English very w-” 

In an instant there is flour all over the upper part of your body, your movements stilled as you’re processing what Charles had just done. You’re mad at first, actually seething because your hair looked so good today and now it’s covered in flour. And you can’t see Charles because you haven’t moved an inch since he threw the flour at you, but he went from having a shit eating grin on his face to a oh shit expression. Your quietness has him worried that you’re actually really pissed at him, but when he hears his nickname come past your lips he knows you're not that mad at him. 

“Charlie. You better run.” 

He isn’t sure he’s heard you right, but when he sees you pick up the whole bag of flour his sock clad feet are sliding on the floor as he runs around the other side of the kitchen island. You're playing cat and mouse around the island for quite some time. The beeping from the oven time ignored multiple times as giggles from both of you filled the room. 

As Charles rounds the corner again his foot catches on one of the barstool legs and you know you’ve finally got him. He doesn’t fall, but he slips just enough to allow you to fully catch up to him. And you may or may not have thrown the whole bag of flour at him, but him being covered head to toe in flour says it was the whole bag. You definitely got him 10x worse than he did you and from that gleam in his eye you know what he’s going to do, but you can’t get away fast enough and his arms are around you in an instant. He shakes his head trying to get as much of the flour off of him and onto you and by you trying to free yourself from his grip he’s transferred a good amount from his clothes onto yours. “Charles! Let me go!” Your pleas are pitiful, laughter dripping off every word. 

“Oh my god!” 

Both of your eyes widen, bodies frozen at the sound of your Mom’s less than pleased voice. The two of you sheepishly stood there as your Mom looks like she’s about ready to cry and cuss you out at the same time. “I can’t leave you two alone for an hour?!” Her eyes shift to behind the two of you, panic written across her face. She’s practically running towards the oven and that’s when you realize the burning smell. And when she not so softly sets the cookie sheet onto the counter you know she’s really not happy. The cookies were burnt to a crisp, the poor Santa hat penguin never stood a chance. “I’m sorry Y/M/N. It was my fault, I started it.” Charles rubbed the back of his neck, clearly embarrassed. 

“I don’t care who started it because you’re both cleaning up this mess.” A deep sigh came from you Mom as she really took in just how big of a mess the two of you had made, her head shaking in disapproval as she left the two of you to clean up. 

When you knew she was out of earshot you couldn’t but let out a little giggle, it was like in school when you weren’t supposed to be laughing, but everything is just so funny, and Charles follows your actions seconds later. The two of you fools, covered in flour, cookies burnt, and in trouble as you stood there laughing. 

That night you couldn’t sleep, tossing and turning in your bed, your brain would not shut off. And it wasn’t because you were excited for Christmas morning, you only wished that was the reason. You couldn’t get how good it felt to have Charles arms wrapped around you out of your mind, or how that stupid sweater made him look even more attractive than he already was. 

As you stared up at the ceiling, you knew you were screwed. You had a big fat crush on Charles and it was going to ruin your life. You knew he only saw you as a little sister and that made everything so much more worse to you. Why did you have to develop feelings for him of all people? 

Christmas morning came and went and before you knew it evening had arrived, meaning the Leclerc’s would be arriving soon. You were in charge of setting the table, a task you didn’t mind, considering being in the kitchen with your Mom on any holiday was like asking to get yelled at. As you folded the last napkin neatly and placed it in its rightful spot you heard commotion coming from the front door, undoubtedly the Leclerc’s arriving. You spotted Pascale struggling to juggle all the presents and you hurried towards her, quick to offer a hand. “Merci chéri.” A grateful smile painted across her face.

The pile of presents grows as you place them under the tree and you’d think your family hadn’t already opened some this morning. Everyone settles into their usual spots in the living room, but your usual spot by Charles is left empty, as you’ve scurried into the kitchen. You’d rather face the unwarranted wrath from your Mom than be unable to compose yourself around Charles. But you don’t get to hide in the kitchen for very long because she’s practically done with everything, so you help her bring in all the food to the table, and admire your table setting skills as you do so. 

Dinner is pretty uneventful and luckily your Dad has Charles preoccupied with racing talk for most of the time. But you can’t help but catch his eye from across the table every once in a while and every time you do your heart skips a beat. By the time presents start getting passed around you had successfully avoided Charles for most of the day, but that is ruined when he plops down next to you on the floor, shoulders brushing as he gets situated. 

“Are you mad at me for yesterday?” Charles' voice is low, like he didn’t want anyone to hear, but he could have talked at full volume, no one would have heard him over how loud your Dads were being. 

You cocked an eyebrow at him. “Why would I be mad at you?” 

“You’ve been avoiding me all day.” 

Your fingers toyed with the lifted corner of wrapping paper on the present in front of you, your brain trying to figure out what to say. Yes, you had been avoiding him, but it wasn’t because you were mad. It was actually the opposite, but you couldn’t tell him that. “I’m not mad at you. Just didn’t want there to be another flour fiasco today. You thought she was mad yesterday, now imagine that while she’s in her holiday cooking zone.” You give him a reassuring smile, hoping that he’s bought what you’ve told him. But he doesn’t get the chance to respond as your Mom’s voice fills the room. 

“Ok does everyone have all their presents? Our Santa this year was less than enthusiastic about handing out the presents.” Your Mom shoots Arthur a look as he sits down on the floor across from Charles and you. 

“There is nothing left under the tree. I promise.” Arthur states. 

“Alright then everyone get after it!” 

Piles of wrapping paper fill the empty spots on the floor in no time and excited gasps fill the room as everyone unwraps their gifts. You’re always so grateful for everything the Leclerc’s get you for Christmas, they treat you like one of their own, and sometimes you feel they spoil you a little too much. 

With each present that you unwrapped that wasn’t from Charles, you start to get a little worried. You guys exchanged presents every year and if he didn’t get you something this year, you think you might die. So when you come to your last present and it says it’s from his parents, you try to hide your disappointment, especially because it’s an amazing gift. You hop up from your spot on the floor and make sure to go thank them personally, hugs and all. And you’re pretty sure you hear them say something about how you’re their daughter too and how you deserve it, but your brain is still thinking about how Charles didn’t get you anything. 

When you go back to your spot a little perfectly wrapped box with a bow on it is sitting there. You know you weren’t sitting on that, so it had to be placed there after you got up. You think it’s one of Charles that he forgot about, but when you bend over to pick it up you see Charles sloppy handwriting on it. A smile spreads across your face as you look over at Charles who has an equally big one on his. You quickly sit down, eager to know what’s inside. 

“Did you think I didn’t get you anything?” Charles questions, a smirk toying at his lips. 

“Maybe.” Yes. 

“I would never.” He bumps his shoulder into yours, motioning for you to open it. “Well, go on. What are you waiting for?” 

You don’t want to seem like you're absolutely ripping into the present, but it probably looks like you are. It’s a tiny box, like one used for jewelry, and you really aren’t expecting Charles to have gotten you jewelry. But when you open the box, nestled in the velvet cushion, is a ring. You glance over at him, eyebrows furrowed in confusion, then back to the ring. It’s just a simple sterling silver ring and somewhat on the smaller side. To be honest Charles could have gotten you a bag of candy and you would have been happy to have just gotten something from him, let alone a ring. 

But when you pick the ring up from the box you see exactly why it’s smaller, and it makes your heart swell. On the inside of the ring you see the words pinky promise engraved into it and as you look over at Charles, he’s holding out his pinky finger, a matching ring adorning it. Your cheeks are hurting from how hard you're smiling, but you don’t care. It’s the most thoughtful gift anyone has ever gotten you and as you slide it onto your pinky finger you feel yourself smiling even more, if that’s possible. Your arms are around Charles instantly, pulling him in towards you, thank you’s tumbling out of your mouth as he giggles in response. 

“I’m glad you like it.” He pauses, trying to figure out the right words to say. “Things are changing. I’m moving up from karting and hopefully into Formula 3 within the next year. It’s just a reminder that we’ve always got each other, even if I’m gone racing or you’re off doing something, we can look at the rings and know we’ve got a piece of each other with us, always.” 

You can’t stop smiling at him, and that crush you’ve got has tripled in size in a few short hours. Your teenage brain over exaggerates everything and you basically think this means you’re gonna be together forever, even though you aren’t even together. 

While you’re in make believe land, your parents are observing the two of you. Whispers and knowing glances are exchanged, between them and your Moms can’t help but think it’s cute how close the two of you are. While your Dad in particular, no matter how he feels about Charles, thinks no boy is good enough for his little girl, let alone some sixteen year old boy. 

Perhaps you may be a little dramatic when you say that this Christmas was the best one you’d had so far, but honestly it was the truth. Sure you realized you had a huge crush on Charles that will probably end in tears, but you also got the most thoughtful gift ever, that you will cherish forever. So yeah, this was a good Christmas, crush aside. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

And so you lived with admiring Charles from afar for months. Enjoying what time you got together and just holding out hope that maybe one day he wouldn’t see you as his little sister. But life had a funny way of hitting you in the face with reality, especially at thirteen. 

When Charles shows up to a joint family dinner one night with a girl around his arm you feel like all the air has escaped your lungs. And when he introduces her to everyone as his girlfriend you plaster on a smile even though you feel like someone has pulled your heart out of your chest and ran it over multiple times.

It’s the longest dinner of your life and while everyone gushes over his girlfriend, asking her all about her life and interests, you poke your food around with your fork. It’s not like you have an appetite anyways, getting your heart broken will do that to you. And it sucks even more because she’s so nice, like insanely nice, you couldn’t even hate her if you wanted to. Not to mention how pretty she was, she was everything, and you were some pimple faced, awkward bodied thirteen year old. 

You fidget with the ring on your finger and your heart races at the idea of Charles not wearing his anymore, your eyes glance over at him and when you spot the ring still on his finger it calms you a little. But that still means nothing, just that he clearly still sees you as a little sister. What you don’t see is how your Mom has been watching you the whole night. You’ve never told her about your feelings towards Charles, but she’s your Mom, she just knows things. And she knows you're hurting right now, so when she changes the topic of conversation at the table you’re eternally grateful. 

It’s an early night for you that night, not bothering to join everyone for a game of UNO, claiming that you aren’t feeling well. When really you couldn’t wait to go upstairs and just cry it out. What did you do to deserve something like this? It hurt so bad, but you knew there was nothing you could do about it. And as you laid in bed that night all you could think about was how are you going to live without him liking you back?

sixteen and nineteen

Newsflash you do live without Charles liking you back. In fact your crush goes away by the end of that year, no thanks to the new boy in your grade, who eventually ends up being your boyfriend. But it was safe to say you were over Charles, at least you think you are. 

Charles, on the other hand, stayed with the girl who made you go crazy at age thirteen for over a year, but they broke up over text. And to your disappointment, Charles never told you the reason why. Ever since then it’s been somewhat of a revolving door of girls in Charles' life. Okay – maybe not a revolving door, but at least three different girls in the past two years. None of them lasted for more than a couple months though, and it was getting to the point where no one in either of your families got to know the girls.

Everyone knew that they would be gone sooner than later. After his last “breakup” a couple months ago, he hadn’t brought around a new one, he claimed that he needed to focus on racing, that F1 seat was almost in his grasp and that was all that mattered to him right now, but you knew there was something else going on. 

While Charles was having issues in the relationship department, you were actually flourishing. You had met your now boyfriend Lucas, when he was the new kid your eighth grade year. You thought he was cute from the moment he walked into your History class the first day back from winter break. And when the seat next to you was the only open desk you tried to hide your excitement as he sat down, but when he smiled at you first, it was hard to hide the blush creeping onto your cheeks. He was the first to speak, asking if you had a pencil. But his accent made your ears perk up – he was Spanish. The big brown doe eyes and dark hair fit him, now that you realized he was Spanish. 

“Do all Spaniards come unprepared on their first day?” You teased as you handed him a pencil. It was his turn to be the one blushing as he stifled a smile. 

“No, I just wanted an excuse to talk to you.” 

So he was a flirt – noted. 

The two of you became good friends rather quickly, but per your parents rules, you couldn’t date until you were fifteen. So, you played the long game and prayed that no one else peaked his interest. Luckily for you, he was so infatuated with you that he was willing to wait, and on your fifteenth birthday you went on your first date. He was nothing shy of a gentleman, even going as far as asking your parents permission to take you out, something your Dad was very fond of. And as your parents watched their little girl walk out the door hand in hand with a boy, they couldn’t help but feel a little sad. 

“Our little girl is growing up.” 

Your Mom wrapped a comforting arm around your Dad. “I know. I’m glad though, I figured she would waste her teenage years waiting on Charles.” 

A questioning look washed across your Dad’s face. “What?” 

“Oh honey. Don’t act like you’ve been blind these past ten years. They’ve always been drawn to each other, her more than him. She was absolutely heartbroken when he brought his first girlfriend to dinner that one time.” 

“Guess I do remember being less than thrilled at Charles getting her that ring for Christmas that one year.” Your Dad huffed. 

“Hmm,” she rests her head on his shoulder, her hand rubbing soothing circles on his abdomen as they still stand there, staring at the door. “You know Pascale has always said that Y/N would end up with Charles.” 

Your Dad scoffs at your Mom’s words. “And what do you think of that?” 

“I think only time will tell.” 

While your parents were discussing your love life back at home, you were having a grand time on your date. The pizza place Lucas had taken you to was cute, a fitting place for two fifteen year olds to be on a first date. Thankfully it wasn’t awkward or tense, and you had to thank the two of you for being friends for a year before your date for that. It was just like the two of you hanging out. 

On the walk back to your house your hands never separate, even when they start to become sweaty. And when he pulls you closer to him, so you're basically hugging his arm, you realize you could get used to this.The way his brown eyes look like pools of honey when the sun hits them just right as he looks down at you, the feeling of his thumb gently rubbing circles on your hand, and the way your name rolls of his tongue when he talks to you, especially with that accent of his. All of it has that all too familiar warm fuzzy feeling appearing in your stomach. 

When he stops in front of the ice cream shop near your house he doesn’t even have to ask you if you want any, you’re already dragging him towards the entrance. The little bell on the door rings as the two of you walk inside and the all too familiar sugary sweet smell hits your nostrils. 

“Ah! Chérie!” 

The owner Mr. Martin – a short older man, probably in his sixties, with what you would call haystacks for eyebrows was beaming at you from behind the counter. He had grown fond of you and the Leclerc boys over the years, claiming that he loved seeing the three of you grow up, as he never had any grandchildren of his own. Though, when his eyes shifted to the right and saw Lucas standing next to you his smile fell briefly, if you hadn’t been staring at him you wouldn’t have caught it. 

“Who is this handsome young man?” He asks as the two of you walk towards him.. 

You introduce Lucas to Mr. Martin and it’s at that moment that you realize that this is the first time you’ve brought him here. Something that didn’t seem possible to you because you were here so often that you had to have brought Lucas here at least once, but you can’t recall a time. 

Only when a vanilla cone is in front of your face are you brought out of your thoughts. Of course Mr. Martin didn’t need to ask you what you wanted, it’s been the same thing every time for the past ten years. Lucas had already sat down at one of the little tables, chocolate cone in hand, while he waited for you. 

“I was surprised to see you with a boy other than Charles.” Mr. Martin states as he wipes down the counter. “He must be special because I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in here with anyone other than your family or Charles.” 

His words hit you like a ton of bricks. Yes, this was your first time you had brought Lucas here, but you know you’ve brought other friends here. There was no way in your ten years here that you hadn’t, but once again your mind was drawing a blank. As you glance back over at Lucas a knot forms in your stomach, it suddenly feels wrong to have brought him here. Like in some way you were tainting this place with his presence. Ruining whatever special hold this place has on your relationship with your family– with Charles. 

You completely ignore Mr. Martin’s statements and just give him a smile and thanks before making up an excuse as to why Lucas and you need to leave. He doesn’t take much convincing when you claim to want to see the sunset. His hand is back in yours as you hear the bell ring once more as the two of you leave. And it’s like as soon as you guys are back on the sidewalk walking towards your house, the gut wrenching feeling is gone. The only evidence of it is left in the ice cream and by the time you’re standing on your front porch step it’s all gone. 

Lucas has a lopsided grin on his face, one you’ve grown to love, as the two of you stand facing each other. “You know we are missing the sunset you wanted to see.” His fingers lightly toy with yours, before finally intertwining them again.

“Mmh. It’s okay.” You were getting lost in those big brown eyes of his, the sunset the last thing on your mind. 

“I’d rather stare at you anyways, you’re much prettier.” 

His words make you practically putty in his hands and before you know it you’re having your first kiss. It’s sweet, metaphorically and literally, the taste of ice cream still on both of your lips. His hand cups your cheek and you have to wonder if he’s done this before. But when he pulls away he only has you craving more, so you lean up and steal on more from him. Giggles escaping past your lips as you see the light blush on his cheeks, you were sure yours were bright red. “Guess this is where I ask you to be my girlfriend huh? Not like I’ve been obsessed with you since my first day of school, been waiting all year or anything.” 

You raise an eyebrow at him with a smirk on your face. “Are you going to properly ask me?” 

By the end of the night when you’re laying in bed, you had officially gone on your first date, had your first kiss, and obtained a boyfriend all in a matter of hours that day. You were a giddy mess, excitement coursed through your veins, and you couldn’t help but repeatedly feel your lips, the feeling of Lucas’ still fresh in your mind the whole night. You couldn’t wait to feel them on yours again. And when he texts you that he wants to hang out tomorrow you think your heart just might leap out of your chest. 

Being with Lucas was like living on cloud nine, you truly couldn’t ask for a better boyfriend. As the year progressed you really wondered how you had snagged someone like him– tall, dark, and handsome. You felt like the luckiest girl in the world, and he made you feel like it too, until he didn’t.

That’s the funny thing about first loves, you really think nothing could ever come between you, that it’s going to last forever. But the only thing that lasts forever is the damage they leave when they’re gone. 

You aren’t really sure what switched in Lucas, but after a year of being together he turned into someone who was never happy with what you did, always picking fights over stupid little things. And you know you should have left him already, but you love him, and you think you guys can make it work. You’re only sixteen and your Mom tells you relationships shouldn’t be like this at this age, shouldn’t be mentally draining, but unfortunately this one is. 

All your arguments as of lately had been about Charles. Lucas, though denying it every time you brought it up, had become jealous of him. You weren’t even sure where the jealousy had come from, you barely saw Charles like you used to. He was in F2 on the cusp of getting that F1 seat and you were busy with school and spending time with Lucas. You had even gone as far as rejecting invites to hang out with your other friends to spend time with Lucas, something now you regret very deeply. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

It’s a chilly Friday night in February when everything comes crashing down. The argument started over Charles texting you asking if you wanted to hang out. You were already with Lucas, but you hadn’t seen Charles in a couple weeks and you knew once the season started seeing him would be even more scarce. So, you make the big mistake of asking Lucas if he wanted to hang out with Charles. 

“Why would I want to hang out with him?” His back was turned to you, but you already knew from his tone that this was going to turn into an argument. 

“Well I haven’t seen him in awhile and he texted me asking to hang out, I thought we all could hang out.” You thought maybe by including Lucas in the plans that it would make the situation better. Wrong. 

He turns to face you, walking towards your bed where you’re currently sat. “Did he mention me in the text?” 

“Well no but-” 

“Exactly,” Lucas scoffs at you, his expression sour as he looms over you. “He doesn’t want me to come. I would get in his way.” 

You roll your eyes at his dramatics, Charles was not the guy Lucas made him out to be. “Don’t know what you mean by you getting in his way.” 

“Oh don’t act cute about it Y/N.” Hearing your name roll off his tongue no longer sounded like music to your ears, it now more resembled nails on a chalkboard, like each time he spoke your name it was venom coming out his mouth. “Bet if I gave him the chance he’d try to get in your pants at the first opportunity.” 

Your eyes widened, cheeks getting hot at his accusations. “What kind of girl do you think I am Lucas?” 

“All I’m saying is your friendship with him isn’t normal, and it makes a guy wonder.” 

You were up off of your bed now, the two of you standing in the middle of your room. “This is getting old. I’ve told you, you have nothing to be jealous of.” You had started to twist the ring on your pinky finger, a nervous habit you had developed over the past couple years. 

“That is why your friendship isn’t normal.” Lucas grabs your hand, his fingers twisting at the ring trying to pull it off your finger. “What kind of girl wears a ring another guy got her while in a relationship? Huh? Even worse that you’ve got matching ones.”

Yanking your hand free from his grasp you can feel your blood starting to boil, and you’re thankful your parents aren’t home tonight because you can tell this is going to get ugly. “We fucking grew up together! He’s like a brother Lucas!” You were the first one to yell and you had unfortunately opened the floodgates because now Lucas is yelling.

“Who hasn’t heard that before?! He’s like a brother. Give me a fucking break. You’re telling me you’ve never had feelings for him? Not once in your life?”  

The accusations and ideas he was throwing around tonight were beyond ridiculous. 

“I’m not thirteen anymore Lucas. You know I only love you.” And you don’t realize what you’ve basically admitted until it leaves your mouth and you hear Lucas let out a dry laugh. 

“Ah. There it is. I think that last part may have been a lie, because you still wouldn’t be wearing that ring if you didn’t still feel something for him.” 

You shake your head at him, why couldn’t he get what you were saying though his thick skull. “I only have platonic love for Charles. It’s nothing like what you and I have.” 

He clicks his tongue, and you can hear the gears turning in his head. “Prove it.” You furrow your eyebrows at him, confused as to how you are supposed to prove that you love only him. “Take the ring off and give it back to Charles.” 

You tuck your hands behind your back, afraid he’ll try and rip it off your finger again. “No. It’s just a ring Lucas. You’re giving it more power than it has.” 

“If it’s just a ring then take it off.” You shake your head no at him. “Take it off Y/N.” You shake your head no again and he stalks towards you, causing you to back up until the backs of your knees hit your bed. “Take off the fucking ring!” He’s yelling and you can feel the tears starting to pool in your eyes. He’s never gotten this crazy before and you can tell that this is the end of the two of you. 

“Lucas just go.” You're trying to hold back your tears, but when he tries to reach around to grab your hand you let out a sob. “Lucas, leave! Now!” 

He backs up, and for the first time that night you get a good look at his eyes. They are no longer the pools of honey you once found yourself getting lost in, their dark, like a black void, and he almost looks unrecognizable as he stands there. “You never truly loved me did you?.” 

His words cut through you, because you really did love him, and you thought he loved you. But someone who loves you would never treat you like he has you. “I loved you more than you’ll ever know, but clearly you’ve got some shit mixed up in your head to think that I didn’t.” 

“But you are always going to love Charles more Y/N. You can tell yourself it’s only platonic love, but we both know it’s not.” 

You wipe away your tears as you sit back down on the side of your bed, this was getting old. “I can’t do this anymore. Truly. I’ve tried to tell you how much you mean to me, but Charles is a part of my life and if you can’t deal with that,” You take a deep breath, scared for what's about to come out of your mouth. “Then maybe we should break up.” 

And for the first time that night Lucas doesn’t respond and you’re actually surprised that he doesn’t put up a fight. “Alright then I guess we are done.” When he doesn’t immediately leave and decides to squat down in front of you, you're confused. Especially when he wipes away your tears as his hand cups your cheek. “I never wanted us to end up like this, but I can’t share your heart with someone else.” 

He should be screaming and instigating more arguing, not being gentle and loving. More tears fall down your cheeks as he presses a final kiss on your forehead before walking out your bedroom door. You can hear your parents greet him downstairs, what great timing for them to arrive home, and when the front door slams you’re surprised your Dad isn’t going after him. 

You’re immediately calling Charles and you don’t even have to speak, your sniffles and ragged breathing lets him know that you need him. As you hang up the phone you hear a gentle knock on your door and you see your Mom peek her head in, her heart breaking when she sees the state you’re in. “Oh my sweet girl.” 

“It’s over Mom.” You choke out between sobs. 

She does the only thing that she knows you need right now and just holds you, lets you get it all out as she runs her fingers through your hair. 

But seconds later you’re both greeted with an out of breath Charles standing in the middle of your room. Your tears subside for a moment, as you see him doubled over trying to catch his breath.

“Alright, I’m gonna leave you two be.” Your Mom gives you a reassuring kiss on the head before exiting your bedroom. 

Charles takes her spot next to you on your bed, his arm immediately pulling you into him. “Did you run here?” You ask as you rest your head on his shoulder. 

“Did you expect anything less when you called me crying?” He’s deadly serious when he says it, and you don’t know it, but he’d drop everything to come to your aid, no matter if you asked or not. You don’t answer him, but when you wrap your arms around his waist and basically tuck yourself into his side, he knows you appreciate him being here. “Am I wrong for thinking this has something to do with Lucas?” 

The tears start to fall again as the fight replays in your head. “We broke up.” Your words barely above a whisper, but Charles has no trouble hearing them, even over your sniffles. 

“Never liked that asshole anyways.” 

You rolled your eyes at Charles' statement, lightly laughing because he was totally lying. “Don’t lie, you liked him, hell everyone liked him.” 

“Ever thought I am just a very good actor? He made you happy, so I just pretended to like him, for your sake.” 

“Wish you would have made your dislike of him known, maybe I wouldn’t be a hot mess on a Friday night right now.” A sigh escapes past your lips, the feeling of Charles gently rubbing circles on your side had started to soothe you. And you wished you could stay like this forever, wrapped up in his embrace. 

Charles doesn’t mean to pry, he knows you’ll tell him when you're ready, but he’s curious as to why the two of you had broken up, as far as he was concerned the two of you seemed happier than ever. But he wasn’t going to lie and say he wasn’t happy about the two of you breaking up, for reasons unknown to him yet. 

“You gonna tell me what happened?” 

Your grip on him tightens and he thinks if he let you, you’d be under his skin if it was possible. “He was jealous of you.” 

Charles feels his heartbeat quicken and he’s not sure why, but he does know he wants to hear the whole story. “And?” 

You know you’re going to start crying again, but it's Charles, you can tell him anything. So you take a deep breath and spill the beans. “It started a couple months ago. He’d pick fights over stupid stuff at first and then it turned into stuff concerning you. I tried to just let it go and make sure he knew he was my number one priority. But tonight’s fight was the worst one yet and I just couldn’t handle it anymore. He was basically insulating that I loved you more than him and I tried to tell him it was only platonic love that I had for you, but he wasn’t convinced.” 

There’s a strange feeling that blooms in Charles' chest as your words hit his ears and it clouds his mind because he’s never had a feeling like this when he’s been around you. It’s foreign and it scares the shit out of him.

You hold back some information from Charles, mainly because you were still processing how you really feel about him. Trying to sort through what Lucas had planted into your brain and what might have already been there, left over from thirteen year old you. But your ring clad finger searches for his and when you feel the cool contrast of his ring, you wrap your pinky fingers together. “Do you think our friendship is normal Charlie?” 

He cocks an eyebrow at you, confused as to what you meant. “Where’s this coming from?” 

Your eyes never break away from your intertwined fingers, matching rings staring back at you. “Lucas said our friendship isn’t normal and basically the fact that we have matching rings isn’t normal either.” 

Now Charles' gaze is also on your rings and for a moment he thinks maybe it isn’t normal, but then he realizes this is your guys normal. So fuck what anyone else or Lucas thought about his friendship with you. “Think he might have been just pulling shit out of his ass at that point. Jealous that he doesn’t have anyone in his life like we do each other.” 

Charles' words do make you feel a little better, because you know no matter what you’ll always have each other and tonight is proof of that, but that doesn’t stop your still broken heart from showing.

“Still kind of made me feel like shit though, like he made it seem like I didn’t love him at all, when I clearly did. I mean god Charles he was my first date, first kiss, first everything. Even with how badly he had treated me these last couple months, we’re always gonna have that connection. How am I supposed to find someone like that again? Fuck. I mean he literally has a part of me that I’ll never get back.” 

And Charles can feel his heart tightening at your words, because you’re truly the most amazing girl he knows, and to know that Lucas treated you badly when all you deserve is the best awakens something in him. 

“I wish you could see how you look to me, how amazing you are. Yes, you have those connections with Lucas, but believe me when I say you aren’t going to have a problem finding someone else.” 

A small smile finds its way onto your face as you hear Charles speak. “You’re just saying that to make me feel better.” 

“I wouldn’t say anything that wasn’t true. You’re funny, kind, the best listener, and you’re so beautiful. Truly Y/N, anyone would be lucky to have you. And Lucas is clearly stupid for letting you go.” 

The blush on your cheeks probably looked like a bad sunburn with how much you were blushing and as you made eye contact with Charles you suddenly felt like that thirteen year old girl again. His blue eyes burning into yours and when he tucks a stray piece of hair behind your ear you can’t help the butterflies that erupt in your stomach. And for a brief moment Charles had pushed your thoughts about Lucas to the back of your mind. 

He pulls you into a hug and if there is one place you feel the safest in the world, it’s in Charles arms. And when he whispers into your ear that everything is gonna be fine, you know it’s going to be, as long as you’ve got Charles in your life. 

seventeen and twenty 

He had done it. 

Charles had finally gotten into Formula 1. The thing he had only dreamt of since childhood had finally come true. The long weekends away from home, the training, the tiredness, the stress, it was all worth it in the end. That seat was finally his and you couldn’t have been more proud. He had been in talks with a couple of the teams for a while and he always kept you updated on the possibilities, some weeks it sounded like he would sign with one team, and then the next another. The whole situation was beyond stressful to you, so you could only imagine how Charles felt about it all. 

The day you found out that he signed with Suaber was one you’ll never forget.

Charles had tried to plan some elaborate thing to announce the big news to you, but that meant he would have to keep it a secret from you for at least a day or two. Something he found to be rather difficult once he got home, because the only thing he wanted to do was tell you. 

It didn’t matter to him that it was almost midnight by the time he had gotten home from the airport, he was going to tell you tonight no matter what. He pulled his phone out of his pocket– thumbs moving rapidly as he texted you. 

After dozing off multiple times in the last half hour you had decided to call it quits on your binge session of The Office for the night. You had switched the TV to something random to actually fall asleep to and it didn’t take long for you to be on the cusp of actual sleep until– 

DING

A groan escaped past your lips and you contemplated ignoring it, but when the second alert went off you snatched your phone off the nightstand. It felt like you were staring directly into the sun as your eyes struggled to read the text notification. 

Charlie: come out back 

Your eyes glanced at the time – 12:15. What the hell could he possibly want this late? But you begrudgingly got out of bed, slipping on some shoes and a sweatshirt before quietly going downstairs. 

The light on the back patio illuminated the backyard just enough for you to see Charles sitting on the swings waiting for you. And If you were even thinking about sneaking up on Charles that would have been impossible with the sliding door to the backyard. The thing screeched like nails on a chalkboard even with you opening it just enough to slide through it. His gaze now locked onto you as you scurried off the porch and towards the swings. 

The smile that he greeted you with was one beyond measure. He was clearly happy about something and you could tell just by the crinkles around his eyes and those dimples that right now looked to be deeper than canyons. 

“What’s got you so happy, Leclerc?” 

Your eyes focused on Charles' frame as he swayed back and forth slowly on the swing. He was clearly too big for it – his legs were bent awkwardly and his swing creaked everytime he moved. You could feel the sides of the swing digging into your hips and you realized you probably looked as ridiculous as him. 

“Just happy to see you. Missed you.” His smile still ever prominent. 

You scoffed at his words, he had just seen you a couple days ago. “Yeah right. You wouldn’t have texted me at midnight if there wasn’t something going on. In fact, how did you know I was up or even home? It’s a Friday night you know.” 

“Because I know you Y/N. Your Friday nights are usually spent at home watching some show until you can’t stay up any longer.” 

A grimace finds its way onto your face, what an amazing life you live. “Okay when you say it outloud it makes me sound like a loser.” 

His eyes had softened as the two of you made eye contact. “Nothing wrong with how you spend your Friday nights.” 

You wanted to get off the topic of your nonexistent social life and onto the pressing matter at hand tonight – what had Charles so giddy? “So are you gonna tell me what is actually going on or what?” 

He took a deep breath, he couldn’t believe he was finally getting to say these words out loud. “I’ve got a Formula 1 seat next year.” 

A blank expression is all that is staring back at Charles and he’s worried that you’re somehow mad or upset, but that’s far from the truth. You aren’t sure if you’ve heard him right, because you think you heard him say he’s going to be racing in Formula 1 next year, but your brain has seemed to have short circuited– your heart beating a mile a minute. 

You’re able to get out, “Sorry – what?!” and when you hear those words come from him once again you’re practically leaping out of the swing and into his arms. The fact that it’s nighttime and people are sleeping is the last thing on your mind as you're shouting excited nonsense at him. 

His laughter filled your ears as he stood up from the swing with you still wrapped up in his arms. You just couldn’t believe it, something he had worked so hard for, dreamt about since childhood, had finally come true. If anyone was deserving of it – it was him. 

“Putain de merde Charles! When did you sign and with who?” You asked once you had finally peeled yourself away from him and were able to form a coherent sentence. 

“Sauber – I just signed yesterday. I know it’s not Ferrari like we had hoped-” 

Your jaw dropped and you lightly smacked his arm. “Ferrari will always be there, I promise. And maybe after they see how good you do this upcoming season they’ll regret not signing you. But what I’m really wondering is why you told me you were going to do testing for one of the teams instead of telling me you were going to sign with them!” 

He put his hands up in defense, but the cheesy grin on his face still remained. “I wanted to surprise you! But then as soon as I signed that contract all I wanted to do was tell you. I literally just got home from the airport when I texted you!” 

The fact that Charles wanted you to be the first person he told had you melting and the butterflies in your stomach had you thinking about those unresolved feelings you had towards him. But you pushed it aside because tonight was not the night for that to be lingering in your mind. 

You reached down to his hand and linked your pinky fingers together. The gesture no longer just meant for a promise, but also one of comfort and reassurance. “I do hope you know though how immensely proud I am of you. How proud your Papa would be of you. I knew from that first time you ever mentioned something about becoming a F1 driver when we were kids that you would accomplish it and now look at you.” 

Charles' eyes soften at your words and when he looks into your eyes he feels that funny foreign feeling. The one that blooms in his chest and travels down to his stomach, the same feeling from last year when he held you after Lucas broke your heart. The feeling he chooses to ignore as he pulls you back into his arms, hugging you tightly, like someone might take you from him. He knows his life wouldn’t be the same without you and that he owes some of this success to you– for constantly believing in him even when he didn’t, for dreaming with him, and for being the light on even his darkest days. 

“And I hope you know that I wouldn’t have made it without you. You’ve been my biggest supporter since we were kids, always believing in me, pushing me, coming to support me when you could, and I can’t imagine you not being at my first race.” 

“Oh do you not remember what I said when we were younger? Think I said I’d have a permanent paddock pass, so you bet your ass I’m gonna be there.” 

A small laugh escapes past his lips and his dimples are back out in full force for what seems like the millionth time tonight. “Truly Y/N. Merci, I couldn’t have done it without you. Je t'aime.” 

“Je t'aime aussi Charlie.” 

His pinky finger finds yours once again and when he curls his finger around yours a wave of deja vu washes over you. And that’s when you remembered the last time the two were out here together. You were still kids, but you had made him promise not to forget you once he got into Formula 1. 

Now here the two of you stood, high on the exciting news of him achieving that goal. You can’t help that pit that starts to form in your stomach as you think of what you feared at age ten coming true. You try to hide it, not wanting to dampen the mood, and you know all you can do is pray that he keeps his promise. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

That following March you make the trip to Australia with the Leclerc’s and your family and it’s everything you could have ever dreamed of. Sure you had attended the Monaco Grand Prix every year, and some of Charles F2 races, but you had never been really in the thick of it like this. Maybe it was because it was Charles' first ever F1 race, but the feeling in the air was indescribable. The roar of the engines, the cheers from the crowd, it was something you could get used to experiencing. 

It’s surreal to see him in the car, see him flying around the circuit like it’s nothing, because all you can imagine is eight year old Charles saying he wants to be an F1 driver when he grows up in that car. He ends up placing P13 and for his first ever F1 race you couldn't have been more proud. And you aren’t afraid to admit that you shed a few tears, honestly you think everyone shed a few tears seeing him finally accomplish that lifetime dream of his. 

When you see him after the race he’s beaming like he’d won the thing and you could only imagine what he will be like when he actually wins his first race. You can practically feel the adrenaline radiating off of him when he wraps you up in his embrace. 

“You did so good Charles. You did it, you made it.” Your words slightly mumbled against his shoulder, but he hears you just fine. 

“I’m glad you were able to come. Wouldn’t have been as special if you didn’t.” You don’t think he’s wiped that smile off his face ever since he got out of the car and it only intensified as he spoke to you. 

“Wouldn’t have missed it for the world.” And it’s true because there’s no other place you’d want to be right now. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

The next time you see him is for the Monaco Grand Prix and he’s nearly shitting himself the whole week before. You would have thought this was his first ever time in a F1 car with how nervous he was. He knows these streets like the back of his hand, knows this circuit like the back of his hand, but he still spends an unnecessary amount of time on the sim, trying to perfect every little thing. 

With what little amount of time you see him between practice sessions and qualifying before the actual race you try and reassure him, let him know that he’s still an amazing person and driver no matter the outcome on Sunday. And it seems to have worked because by Sunday his spirits seem to be much higher and he’s got a good feeling about the race, hoping to score some points, and maybe win his home race. 

But when his brakes fail and he ends up crashing into the back of another car resulting in a DNF you’re heartbroken, but you know he’s even more upset. You know he’s going to be so hard on himself and overanalyze the whole situation, but that doesn’t mean you aren’t going to try and make things a little better. 

When you find him he’s pacing back and forth in what little space he has in his drivers room. Helmet still strapped onto his head and his race suit still done up. You spot one of his gloves on the physio table and the other on the ground — evidence that he had thrown them. He’s so in his head that he doesn’t even see you standing in the doorway as he paces. 

“Charlie.” Your voice is soft and you hope by using his nickname that it may calm him a little. 

His movements stop when he hears your voice and when he finally sees you standing there in the doorway all he wants to do is crawl into a hole and die. What an embarrassment to have his first DNF at his first home race. It’s like the gods wanted to punish him for reasons unbestowed to him. 

Your reflection stares back at you through his visor as you approach him, his shoulders relaxing slightly as your hands find their home on them. You finally work up the courage to flip up his visor so you can actually look at him and when you see red puffy eyes staring back at you your heart breaks a little more. 

“Let’s get this helmet off, yeah?” 

With a small nod given from him as permission you reach your hands up to undo the strap. You’re trying to be delicate with your actions, but when it comes to taking off his helmet there really isn’t a way to be nice about it. And Charles knows because he’s got his hands over yours, aiding you in taking it off. 

You couldn’t help but stare at him as he practically tore off his balaclava and threw it haphazardly somewhere in the room. As silly as it seemed, the indentions that it left behind on his face somehow made him more attractive. Combine that with his hair being a tousled mess and his skin glistening from the sweat (and tears) and post race Charles may be your favorite Charles. You watched even more intently as he unzipped his race suit, letting the upper half fall at his hips, exposing the tight fireproofs that you loved more than you should. 

Those unresolved feelings that you’ve tried to shove deep down for years had seemed to be crawling their way back up recently. But for today you pushed them back down because you were here to comfort Charles, not ogle at him, no matter how good he looked at the moment. 

He sat down on his physio table with a defeated sigh, hand running through his already messy hair. “I’ve let everyone down – the team, my family, myself, you. Maybe if I wouldn’t have braked too hard at turn seven or didn’t push as hard in the tunnel-” 

You moved to stand in between his legs, your hands resting on his shoulders. He was on the edge of spiraling and you knew if you didn’t take him back from that ledge he’d be in his head about it for weeks. 

“Charles. There was nothing that you could have done differently, it was an issue with the car. Which means it had nothing to do with you as a person, as a driver, or your talent.” Your hand subconsciously searches for his, and like it’s muscle memory your pinkies link seconds later. “I promise.” 

“A ‘once in a generation driver’ would have avoided crashing.” 

Ugh. The phrases that the media used to describe Charles were – yes very flattering, but they came at a price. He took them personally and the idea of being anything less than what they claimed him to be took a serious mental toll on him. 

“You had no brakes Charles. What were you supposed to do? Bust your feet through the floor and Fred Flintstone it?” You could see the corners of his mouth turn up slightly at your comment and you knew he was backing away from the edge. His hands find their way around your waist and he’s pulling you into him, your head finding a home on his shoulder. 

“I’m still immensely proud of you. Hell, you could finish dead last in every race and I’d still be your number one fan.” This time there is an actual smile that washes across Charles face, but you don’t get to see it, your head is still resting on his shoulder. “ And I know it’s easier said than done, but please try not to be so hard on yourself, especially when it comes to things out of your control.” 

“What would I do without you?” It’s a serious question that Charles asks himself often. You’ve been each other's rocks for twelve years now. Through the amazing times and the horrible times. No one knows either of you like you do each other. 

You’ve pulled away from his embrace now, your eyes staring back at his. “Hmmm. I don’t know. You’d probably be absolutely miserable without me.” 

And when you finally see that pretty smile of his, dimples and all, you know you’ve accomplished your mission. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Although after Monaco– things changed. 

The first thing and probably the most inevitable was Charles moving out. Honestly, you were surprised he hadn’t done it sooner, but in between the Monaco GP and Canadian GP he moved into his own place. Which in theory wasn’t a big deal, but that meant he wasn’t just right down the street from you anymore. He had gotten an apartment further into the city, which in Monaco that’s not that far, but you knew it would make a difference. 

The days of popping into his house and expecting him to be there were long gone. The whole thing really shouldn’t have been such a big deal to you, but you couldn’t help but think that him moving out was only going to aid in your worries of him forgetting about you to come true. 

After Monaco your communication with Charles started to slowly lessen.Texts that once were answered in minutes now went hours without an answer or sometimes no response at all. You blamed it on his busy schedule, trying not to think too much about it. But much to your dismay, your worries do come true. 

It’s inevitable to you that you are drifting apart when you realize it’s been three months since you’ve seen him, almost a month since you’ve talked to him. And when you see him make it official with some girl you hadn’t even heard mention of after the British GP you feel like it’s just another nail in the coffin. 

You don’t even make the effort to reach out anymore, in fact you make sure not to after seeing that he’s got a new girlfriend. You’d just be wasting your time and energy. And it may seem like you're giving up on keeping Charles in your life, but really what else could you do? It truly hurts like hell to see the person you care about the most not seem to care about you, but you can’t force someone to talk to you or see you. 

He’s living his dream, traveling the world, partying, surrounded by stunning women. You’re still in school, still only seventeen, and not sure what you want your life to look like. It was inevitable really, for the two of you to drift apart, but that little part of you that ten year old you still holds on to, hopes that Charles remembers that promise he made and eventually comes to his senses. Because you know and you know he knows that you two are always going to have that special bond, the ring on your finger a constant reminder of it. And you wonder if he still wears his, but you don’t hold on to much hope that he does. 

Even though Charles and you aren’t exactly the closest at the moment you do want to try and attend another race before you start your final year of school and are forced to give that all of your attention. So when Arthur texts you asking if you want to go to Monza with Pascale and him you don’t pass up the opportunity.

Arthur filled you in on stuff regarding Charles during the flight, not that you asked, but he knew the two of you hadn’t really been talking. And you don’t mean to ask about his girlfriend, but you do, and you can see Arthur tip-toeing around his words. “She’s… nice. I’ve only met her once so I really couldn’t tell you much. You haven’t met her yet though, right?” 

You shook your head at him. “I haven’t even seen Charles since the home race. So no, I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting her.” 

“Merde. I didn’t think it had been that long.” 

What Arthur doesn’t tell you is that Charles doesn’t know their Mom and him are coming, not to mention you. You only figure it out when Arthur says something about making sure Charles doesn’t know to the Sauber team member who gives him three VIP passes. Arthur claims you guys are here to surprise Charles, give him a little pick me up after his last two races were DNF’s. 

The idea of seeing Charles again after so long already had your stomach in knots, but now knowing he doesn’t even know you’re coming makes it even worse. You were under the impression that he knew you were tagging along with Arthur. And everyone knows Charles is horrible at hiding his emotions, what if he sees you and can’t hide the fact that he doesn’t want you here? A million possibilities ran through your brain as Arthur dragged you towards the Sauber garage, while Pascale went to hospitality. 

Qualifying had just started and you were thankful for the extra time to mentally prepare yourself to see Charles again. With the way you were acting you would have thought you hadn’t seen him in years, but truthfully these three months had felt like years. 

The roar of engines were slightly muffled as you put on a headset, eyes focused on the monitor in front of you. Even with your nerves through the roof, it felt good to be back at a race. The atmosphere was intoxicating, you loved the hustle and bustle of it all, the adrenaline you got from just being here was crazy. 

You were so engrossed in watching Charles that you didn’t even notice someone come up behind Arthur and you until you felt him tap your shoulder. When you turn around the person standing there is the last person you expected to be seeing.  

Leah— Charles' girlfriend.  

Her lips are moving, but you aren’t hearing a word, and that’s when you realize you’ve still got your headset on. You quickly pull them down around your neck just in time to hear her say. “You must be Y/N?” You're shocked she knows who you are and from the look on your face she knows exactly what you’re thinking. “Charles has mentioned you before. It’s nice to finally meet you!” 

It’s sad to say that you had a hard time believing that Charles talked about you to her, but you put on a fake smile and accepted her invitation for a hug. “It’s nice to meet you too!” While Arthur and her spoke you tried to get a good read on her, but it was hard to tell if she was naturally this friendly or if it was all just an act. 

Time slipped away as the three of you chatted and you hadn’t realized Q1 was over and that Charles hadn’t made it into Q2 until you saw Leah’s eyes widened at something behind you. That something turned out to be someone and that someone turned out to be Charles. Leah’s practically hanging off of him while she’s trying to take a million photos and videos. And that’s when you know why Arthur tiptoed around his words about her earlier. Yes she was ‘nice’, but she was clearly using Charles for her own benefit. 

Charles on the other hand was oblivious to Leah shoving her phone in his face. His vision had zeroed in on you from the moment he entered the garage, even with your back turned to him he could spot you in a crowd of hundreds. When you finally turned around he felt like his feet had been cemented to the ground. His body felt hot, like a fever was running through his veins, and it wasn’t from being in the car moments ago. 

Arthur wasn’t supposed to be here and you weren’t either– especially talking to his girlfriend. It throws him for a loop and he can’t seem to get his brain and mouth to work together to even greet you, so he stands there while Leah makes sure everyone knows she’s dating a Formula 1 driver. 

The tight lipped smile you throw his direction doesn’t help how he’s feeling. You should be beaming at him, in his personal space (preferably in his arms), laughing at something dumb he said, anything other than how you were right now. And he knows it's no fault but his own, but it still hurts to see you stand there and act like you don’t like him, like you haven’t known each other for twelve years.

Charles could blame his absence in your life on his career, but that wasn’t the whole truth. 

He had seen your texts and truthfully sometimes he was so busy that he would forget to text you back. But those times when he could give you his full attention over text or the occasional facetime were times he never took for granted. He loved hearing your laughter, seeing your smile, or even just having you send him a text about your day. But with those things he loved so dearly came that funny feeling in his chest. 

The same feeling that he first felt last year when Lucas broke up with you, the night he told you he made it into F1, at his home race, and sprinkled in occasionally at other times. He had realized what it was not too long after the Monaco GP and at first he denied it, he thought there was no way it was possible. But then when that feeling would happen just from getting a text from you he knew he was fucked. He wasn’t even going to say the word out loud, not even think it, afraid of what might come if he even allowed the universe the satisfaction of him accepting what he was feeling. You were supposed to be his best friend and not someone he had feelings for. 

So what did he do to combat this insane revelation he had found out about himself? 

Distance himself. 

If he wasn’t in contact with you or seeing you, then surely this silly little thing, that he once again would not acknowledge by its government name, would go away. Plus his ever so busy career was the perfect excuse for him to use in case his Mother or you questioned him. 

And at first it wasn’t hard at all, he had gradually weaned himself off from facetiming you and then texting. And it wasn’t that bad because he had racing and training and media duties and parties– all the stuff that his life involved now to distract him. But then your texts became less and less and then on one off week he realized just how badly he missed having your stupid contact photo pop up on his phone and how he may have fucked everything up. 

But then he met Leah through another driver’s girlfriend and he had her to distract him even more. He knew what kind of person she was from the get go, but he was basically using her too, so if she wanted to make her whole instagram about him then so be it as long as his brain was free of that thing that must not be named about you. And Leah worked for awhile, she was relatively nice and it helped that she was pretty, but she wasn’t you. 

There was no real connection between them and sometimes Charles would rather watch paint dry than have a conversation with her. And most of the time he just let her sit there and talk while he scrolled on his phone, trying not to act like his heart didn’t skip a beat when a post of yours would pop up on Instagram. 

He wanted to contact you so badly, but what was he supposed to say? Hey, I've been so busy that I haven't even picked up my phone to text you hi. 

He knew he had caused some damage to your relationship when his Mom asked why he wasn’t coming home to see you anymore and that you weren’t yourself. He feels like shit about it, the idea of him making you upset is practically nightmare fuel for Charles and he doesn’t know why he thought distancing himself would make things better, they had just made things worse. Made him miss you even more without even realizing it. 

Clearly Charles had never heard the saying distance makes the heart grow fonder because if he had then maybe he wouldn’t have been stood there like a fool in the Sauber garage right now. Heart racing faster than the car he just got out of at the sight of you standing here in front of him for the first time in three months. 

What the hell was happening to him? What was this sudden effect you had on him? Had it always been there and he hadn’t realized it until now? He couldn’t think straight – it was clearly not a good idea to have tried to ignore these realizations (feelings) he had about you. A bad idea to not see you for months because now that you are here everything is rushing back up to the surface 10x worse than before. 

“Long time no see stranger.” Your voice brings him back to reality, but your closer proximity has him searching for an out. His head glancing in every direction for someone– his race engineer, one of the mechanics, Leah, anybody to distract him from you. 

When his search comes up short he resorts to making his stomach hurt even more by talking to you. 

“Yeah. How have you been?” God. Did he not even know how to talk to you anymore? Small talk with someone you know better than yourself had to be a torture method used by government agencies. 

“I’ve been good.” Lie, but he didn’t need to know that. “I see you’ve been living it up since I saw you last.” 

You were expecting a little awkwardness between the two of you, but the way Charles was acting was insane, it was like it was your first time meeting or something. He couldn’t maintain eye contact to save his life and honestly looked like he’d rather be someplace else at the moment. Your fear of him not wanting you here was clearly not a silly worry, it was reality. 

“Um yeah. Always busy doing something recently.” 

You’ve been fidgeting with the ring on your pinky finger the whole time and your movements catch Charles' gaze. His eyes immediately locking in on the silver ring still shining on your finger. He’s surprised after the way he’s treated you these past couple months that you still have it on, but yet here you stood in front of him with it on, a sign to Charles that he did not deserve you one bit. 

When he sees you realize that he’s staring at your ring and then sees your eyes shift to his naked finger his heart rate quickens once again. His stomach feels like it's about ready to drop out of his ass at the sight of hurt on your face that’s then quickly replaced by a blank stare. He can’t get his words out fast enough, he’s chewing on his words, mouth drier than the Sahara desert. 

“I-um-It’s in my-” 

“It’s fine Charles, really. We’re not little kids anymore. I shouldn’t be holding on to silly childhood promises.” It wasn’t fine, it was far from fine. You’re blinking back tears, your words referencing everything but the ring. But it’s a combination of everything that’s got you upset. The two of you drifting apart, the broken childhood promises, wanting to hate him right now but still being so proud to see him out there doing what he loves, and that damn ring. 

You felt stupid for still having it on, for thinking that he would still have his on. You needed to start being more realistic, but you were still only seventeen. An age that held so much fun and whimsy, you should be out having fun with your friends, not getting upset over a guy who clearly didn’t feel the same about you. The two of you were always going to be at two different times in your lives, it was never going to work out, but fuck there is always going to be apart of you that still holds onto him. He’s got his fingers dug so deep into you that you think you'll be old and gray and still wonder what could have been. 

Each word you spoke felt like a stab to Charles' heart. He wanted to tell you that he still wears his ring. That it’s sitting on its designated spot in his driver's room. But once again he can’t get his words out fast enough, his brain still hung up on your words for some reason. He’s hoping you would realize that the reason he doesn’t have it on was because he had just been in qualifying, but when he sees you slide your ring off and toss it in your bag those stabs to the heart intensify. He feels like he’s losing everything right in front of him, but he can’t seem to get his mind and body to work together to stop it. 

He feels an arm wrap around his and he knows it's Leah. Where was she moments ago when he was looking for an out? Maybe this situation could have been avoided and Charles wouldn’t feel like he had just lost the one person in his life who truly cared about him. 

“Good luck tomorrow Charles.” 

You don’t feel like sticking around any longer, especially if you have to look at Charles and Leah. You let Arthur know you're gonna go find Pascale, but you don’t leave without taking one last glance at Charles. 

It’s a long evening with Arthur’s prying questions about what's going on between his brother and you. All you can do is shrug your shoulders because really you don’t actually know what happened yourself, you assumed you drifted apart, but was there something else that happened that you didn’t know about? 

The next day you decide to watch the race from Sauber’s hospitality with Pascale, hoping to get away from Arthur’s never ending questions and Leah’s presence in general. Pascale luckily hadn’t pressed you on the Charles matter, but she’s practically your second Mother and she knows too that there’s something going on between Charles and you, she’s known from the beginning.

Charles ended up placing eleventh, which is miles better than his last two races, which were DNFs. Though you don’t even bother to go to the garage with Pascale, opting to stay in hospitality until it’s time to leave. It may have been petty of you, but you really weren’t in the mood to see Charles again and from his behavior yesterday he clearly doesn’t care that you're not there. 

But that was far from the truth. In fact Charles was praying that you would show up in the garage this morning, but when Arthur shows up solo he can’t hide the frown that forms on his face. The praying then moves onto seeing you post race, but that is quickly diminished when his Mother shows up without you in tow either. 

Your words from yesterday hung heavy in Charles' mind all last night. I shouldn’t be holding onto silly childhood promises bothered him more than it should have. And he wracked his brain trying to figure out what you could have been referencing. It wasn’t until he was almost asleep that he remembered a certain promise that the two of you made at ten and thirteen. Sleep was the last thing on his mind as he laid there wide awake staring at the ceiling recalling the memory in his mind.

He was such a fucking asshole. He’d done the one thing you promised him not to do. Granted he never really forgot about you, you were still clearly on his mind these past three months, but to you it really did seem like he had forgotten about you. Like he had gone off and became this famous race car driver that couldn’t be bothered to text his childhood best friend.

God he had fucked up, like truly fucked up, and all he wanted to do was explain himself (without revealing you know what), apologize, and try and get back to the way things used to be. That though, was proving to be easier said than done when you wouldn’t even come around. And by the time he’s done with his post race duties you’re back at the hotel ready to head back home. Charles doesn’t think he’ll ever get the chance to redeem himself and you're left wondering why you even agreed to come in the first place. 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

A week later you're at home sitting on your bed, face shoved into a math textbook trying to figure out some formula when your phone rings. Charles' contact photo pops up on your phone and you contemplate not answering it. You haven’t had any contact with him since Monza so you wonder why he’s decided to call you of all things on a random Monday. But against your better judgment you press answer and put it on speaker before tossing it back down on your bed. 

“Bonjour?” 

There’s muffled sounds in the background, but Charles hasn’t spoken a word, and you wonder if he accidentally butt dialed you. 

“Y/N.” His voice finally echos through the speaker and you hate the way your heart flutters at the sound of your name rolling off his tongue. 

Charles had been working himself up to call you for hours, his finger hovering over your contact too many times to count. He thinks he may have blacked out a little when he finally pressed his thumb down on the screen and then heard your sweet voice, hence his delayed response. Today was his last chance to tell you the big news he'd hoped to tell you last week in Monza, but that clearly didn’t work out. 

The big news in question? Him finally signing with Ferrari. 

The team that he had dreamt of driving for once he got into F1 had finally given him a chance. It was not only his dream, but his Father’s dream for Charles too. Many weekends with his Father spent at race tracks had all led up to him getting that initial seat this year and then finally getting that Ferrari seat for next year, he only wished his Father could be here to witness it. Charles couldn’t have been more happy to finally accomplish that dream not only for himself, but also his Father. 

The other person who knew about how badly he wanted to be sporting that Ferrari red and supported him in finally reaching that goal was you. And to Charles it didn’t matter if you guys perhaps weren’t exactly on the best of terms right now, he wanted you to be the first person he told, just like last year when he got into F1. He sure as hell didn’t want you to find out from the press release, so here he was telling you over the phone. 

“Oui?”

“I’ve done it. I’m driving for Ferrari next year.” It feels good to say it outloud, especially to you because you know just how much it means to him. 

There’s silence from your end for some time and Charles checks to make sure you hadn’t hung up on him, but the call time is still going. He’s about ready to say your name when he hears sniffles echo through the speaker.

“Are you crying?” He’s worried he’s somehow done something once again to make you upset. 

You are in fact crying, as much as you hate it. It’s a mixture of happy and sad tears that you're desperately trying to wipe away like he can see you. Happy tears for him finally signing with Ferrari, a goal that you knew he would accomplish with no issue. Sad tears because you wished he was here telling you in person, wished that things were like they used to be, wished that you never developed feelings for him, and wished that whatever that situation was in Monza last week had never happened. 

“I’m just really happy for you Charlie.” His heart skipped a beat hearing you call him Charlie, it had been too long since you’d graced him with that nickname for his liking. “I told you Ferrari would see what they had missed out on and come running.” 

A smile tugged at his lips as he recalled that night on the swings when he told you about him getting into F1. “I wanted you to be the first person to know.” You can’t ignore the butterflies that form in your stomach at the thought of him thinking about you, wanting you to be the first to know, but you’re still crying, your emotions all over the place. 

When silence fills the line and he still hears your sniffles, he knows it’s not just happy tears you’re crying. It was time to face the elephant over the phone. 

“Listen I know things have been weird between us these past couple months and,” He paused, trying to choose his words carefully. “I know it’s my fault. I broke that promise I made you and I hate myself for it everyday.” The idea of him distancing himself from you was the dumbest idea he’s ever had. He wasn’t better off without you, he was better with you. His feelings towards you aside, he’d rather die than not have you in his life. 

“I got so caught up in this new lifestyle and I lost myself for a while.” Maybe he shouldn’t be lying to you, but he wasn’t about ready to admit you know what. He’d already fucked up enough, he didn’t need to go spilling his guts and fuck everything up even more.

“And then in Monza I was shocked to see you there and I felt like an ass for forgetting about you and I was trying to figure out what to say, but you were clearly upset and it was honestly just a mess.” He took a deep breath before continuing. “Basically what I’m trying to say is that I’m sorry for being a dick and that I really miss you.” 

His thumb toyed with the ring on his finger as he waited for your response  and he remembered you still didn’t know he still wore his. “I also still wear my ring. I just hadn’t gotten the chance to put it back on after qualifying last week.” His gaze never broke from the ring as he spoke. “I don’t like that you think I would ever stop wearing it. Gonna wear it till the grave Y/N.” 

His last sentence was mumbled, but you heard him loud and clear. Your gaze shifted towards your dresser where the silver ring had sat for the past week. Perhaps you had jumped the gun with your actions last week, you knew he had to take off his jewelry when he got into the car, but in the moment your emotions were telling you otherwise. “You made me feel like shit Charles. It’s a horrible feeling to see someone exiting your life in real time and knowing you really can’t do anything about it.” 

“I know and I’m so sorry.” He runs his hand through his hair in frustration, and he thinks he’s done it so many times that he might have a bald spot by morning. 

You feel like you’re forgiving him too easily, but you’ve missed him so much. And to hear him finally admit that he fucked up and say that he missed you too has you unfortunately very easily swayed. He’s been in your life for so long it’s felt like a piece of you was missing these past couple months without having contact with him. So, you forgive him, because you love him.

“I want things to go back to normal, like before.” You’re standing in front of your dresser now, ring rolling between your fingers. 

“They will.” He glanced back down at his ring. “I promise.” 

“You promise?” You asked as you slid the ring back on your finger, a missing part of now you back in its rightful place. 

“I promise.” 

twenty two and twenty five

Over the past four years Charles and you had matured significantly. 

You had graduated and landed a job that you loved at home in Monaco. It required you to travel a lot, which you loved, but also came with amazing off time and flexible hours. A perk you were beyond grateful for because that meant you could attend the majority of Charles races. You had also gotten your own place, a cute little apartment, and was truly embracing adulthood. 

When it came to the love department though– Charles was still there.

Over the four years you had your share of talking stages and two boyfriends who both only lasted a couple months. Your hectic work schedule didn’t help matters, but neither did your feelings towards Charles that you’ve been harboring for the past eight years. You really would have thought you’d have gotten over those, figured it was a thing of adolescents, but your twenties came and the feelings never went. It wasn’t as bad as when you were younger, you learned to handle yourself better and your job keeping you busy helped that. The two of you were at a good place in your relationship and you came to terms that unless you were a big girl and confessed your feelings to him, then you were just going to have to live with him at arms distance. 

Like you when it came to romantic relationships–  you were still Charles number one, as much as he tried to make it work with other girls, they just weren’t you. He had thought multiple times over the years that he was going to tell you how he felt, but you were either talking to someone or had a boyfriend, the timing never right. So he learned, like you, to live with his feelings towards you. A thing that was necessary if he didn’t want a repeat of what happened when he tried to distance himself from you.

So here the two of you were– adults who were completely oblivious to how either of you felt about each other for years, hopelessly pining over each other. 

Charles' career on the other hand was more of a success story than his love life. In the past four years he had accomplished his Maiden win in Belgium during his first year with Ferrari and then his second the next week in Italy. Then went on to win three more races during this year's season. 

A season with three wins may sound like a great accomplishment, but the thing was that he should have had more than three. To say that Charles' fourth season with Ferrari was stressful was an understatement for the ages. He had never been more happy for winter break to arrive than he was this year. He had started the season out on a high by winning the first race of the season, but life somehow had a way of humbling him. 

Horrible strategy calls from the team, bad pit stops, and car troubles had cost Charles his chance at the championship. It seemed like for every high he had– five lows followed. So needless to say when he saw the checkered flag at Abu Dhabi he was somewhat relieved that the season was over and perhaps making the podium may have lifted his spirits a little too. 

But that relief was short lived, because in true Charles fashion, he can’t get out of his head about the what ifs from the season. He had wanted to just let it go, leave it behind him and look forward to this time off and the new season ahead. But all his brain wanted to think about was maybe if we would have gone with softs instead of hards or pitted one lap earlier or managed his tires better then maybe he would have been still coming down from the high of winning the championship right now instead of sulking about. 

He’d been a little distant since break started and you knew he was probably in his head about everything. So when a text pops up on your phone from him late one evening telling you to meet him at the harbor you don’t even think twice about telling him you’ll be there in ten. If you had to guess what he had planned, you’d bet all your money on taking his yacht out to look at the stars. It was something the two of you had done for a couple years now, but it was usually over summer break, not the week before Christmas. But for Charles you would do anything, even brave going out on the water, at night, during the winter. 

When Charles see’s you walk up to his slip on the dock wearing what looks to be the coziest outfit and holding his favorite blanket from your apartment he thinks his heart is about ready to explode. “You’re lucky I love you Charles. It’s gonna be so cold out on the water.” 

I love you. The words echo in his mind as he helps you into the boat. It’s nothing new for you two to say it to each other, and he’s under the impression you’re saying it platonically, but god does it sound so heavenly to hear those three little words come out of your mouth and be directed towards him. 

“I’m the luckiest man alive.” He’s referring to you and that glimmer in his eye would tell anyone that he was, but you don’t see it, you’re too busy getting situated in your designated spot next to the captain's seat. 

Once he’s got the boat a good enough distance out into the water he deploys the anchor and you make your way out to the loungers on the deck. You push two of them together, making a big enough space for both you and Charles to relax. 

You’re already cozied up with the blanket by the time he makes his way over to you, but he doesn’t even have to ask, you’re already pulling back the blanket for him to slide under. 

He lets out a sigh once he gets comfortable beside you. “I needed this.” 

A hum in agreement comes from you as you scoot a little closer to Charles, a gust of cold wind blowing through the air. 

“There’s the big dipper.” Charles points his finger up to the sky, your eyes following where he’s pointing to. The two of you take turns pointing out what you think are constellations, but are undoubtedly random stars in made up shapes, but it doesn’t matter to either of you. 

The gentle lull of the waves crashing against the boat fills the silence that falls between the two of you once you’ve run out of things to point out. And you’ve somehow ended up cuddled into Charles' side, his arm wrapped around you, and your head on his chest. You couldn’t help it, he’s always been a walking furnace, and when the opportunity presents itself to be in his arms you were gonna take it. 

It was something that was happening more and more with you two recently– pushing the envelope per say on what your friendship entailed. Cuddling, staying the night at each other's apartments, hands lingering a little too long after a hug were all normal things for friends to do– right?  Friends who somehow while doing these things couldn’t tell that the other person felt the same as they did. 

Love may be blind, but in Charles and your’s case, you were blind to love. 

You don’t know how long you’ve been out here, but you think you could spend eternity out here with him. The feeling of comfort, safety, and the feeling of home that he brings you when he’s around is something you don’t think you can ever live without again. He’s your person and you hope you're his, no matter what the future for the two of you entails. 

The feeling of his fingers ghosting across your arm and down towards your hand tells you he’s searching for one thing and when his pinky finger links with yours you know he’s got something on his pretty little mind. 

“You wanna talk about it?” You whisper, your head still resting on his solid chest.

He doesn’t respond for a while and you think he perhaps didn’t hear you, but then he speaks and it sounds like blasphemy coming out of his mouth. 

“What if I quit?” 

Your body freezes at his words and you’re hoping he’s not meaning what you think, but when you lift your head to see nothing close to a joking manner on his face you know this is about to get serious. 

“I’d think you’d be miserable. You love racing, you were born to do it, it’s in your blood Charles. All the hard work you’ve put in from a literal child to now–” You shake your head, not even wanting to think about him quitting racing. “Don’t be stupid and throw it all away. You’re just only getting started.” 

A deep sigh comes from him, his eyes fixated on your now intertwined hands as he rubs his thumb over your knuckles. “I’m not going to, but there were so many times this past season that I thought about it. I know that’s crazy to say after I won three times, but god the lows of racing truly are lows. I’d have a good weekend and then have literally a weekend from hell the next race week. It’s just a lot– mentally. Trying to live up to everyone’s expectations, the teams, the fans, the media, and my own is like a mental prison sometimes.” 

You had sat up at this point, and almost like a small child Charles had clung to you, his head in your lap as you gently ran your fingers through hair. You knew he had a rough season, but you didn’t think it had taken this much of a toll on him. 

“And you’re right. I love racing and I’d be miserable without it, but sometimes I’m miserable with it.” 

The frown that had formed on your face moments ago had deepened at his confession. “I didn’t know the season had affected you this much Charles. Wish you would have talked to me sooner about it.” 

“Sorry.” He mumbles. 

“You have nothing to be sorry for Charlie, you’re allowed to feel how you feel. And I know you probably get sick of hearing me say it, but I’m still so immensely proud of you. Like I’ve said before, you could finish dead last in every race and I’d still be proud. I know this season was a rough one at times, but you won three times and were on the podium eleven times. That’s still something to be proud of. So for every time you're miserable because of racing, think about me telling you repeatedly how proud I am of you and maybe you’ll just be miserable because of me instead.” 

You see the corners of his mouth move up and you know you’ve gotten a little smile out of him. “That’s funny that you think me hearing you say that you’re proud of me would make me miserable. It actually has the opposite effect, so your plan may work, but it would result in me being happier instead of more miserable, which is what I think we want to accomplish right?” 

“Yes, I love happy Charlie, but I still love miserable Charlie too.” 

He’s sat up, the two of you sitting face to face now, and you aren’t sure if it's the cool breeze or him staring at you that makes a shiver run up your spine. “That’s good to know.” 

He’s still staring at you and even with only the moon as your source of light, those pretty blue eyes of his are as bright as ever, and staring into your soul. And for a split second you think he’s leaning in and you think this might be the moment he’s gonna kiss you, the moment you’ve been waiting for since you were thirteen. But you’re completely wrong, he’s only reaching for the blanket as he leans back onto the lounger once more. 

“Merci Y/N, truly. For always being here for me, especially for tonight. It was nice to finally get that off my chest. Je t’aime.’ 

You claim your spot back next to Charles and you don’t even second guess yourself when you lay your head back on his chest. “Je t’aime aussi Charlie.” 

Charles, while he can’t complain about having you in his arms and your head on his chest. He can kick himself for that moment mere seconds ago. He was finally going to do it, it was the perfect time, but he chickened out and reached for the blanket instead of using that hand to cup your cheek. He could drive a race car at 230 mph, but couldn’t work up the courage to kiss the girl he was in love with. Maybe he’d find the courage sometime in the next four years. But for now he could live with having you cuddled up against him and knowing that even if it may be platonic, you love him too. 

twenty three and twenty six 

The Monaco Grand Prix. 

An world renowned event. A pinnacle for motorsports. People from all around the world come to the tiny principality every year to watch twenty of the world's best drivers race around the streets of Monaco. 

As a child you watched the grandstands go up every year and you dreamed of getting to watch Charles race those very same streets that you took to school. The two of you as kids watching from the crowd, not knowing that some of those drivers Charles would drive alongside one day, even being teammates with some of them. Charles could only hope that one day that would be him on that top step, hearing his own national anthem play at his home race.  

That one day had yet to happen after six seasons in F1. After three DNF’s, horrible strategy, and two lost pole positions– Charles really didn’t think winning his home race was ever going to happen. He had started to believe the “Monaco curse” more and more year after year. 

You on the other hand didn’t believe that the curse existed. You did believe that the idea of one had made Charles be more in his head when the race came around every year, and in a sense perhaps making him not perform the best at times. But no, you didn’t believe in the Monaco curse.

Every year you had hoped he would win and sadly when he didn’t you were there to pick up the pieces. You knew his time would come and granted you didn’t think it would take this long. But the universe works in mysterious ways, there’s a reason for everything, and you knew there was a reason Charles hadn’t won yet. 

And as this year's grand prix rolled around you hoped that this time the universe was ready to give him what he deserved. 

You did have a good feeling about the race this year, or at least a better feeling than prior years. It was mainly because Charles had been so– carefree these past couple days. He’s usually already thinking about Monaco at the race the week before and the nerves have set in come media day, but this year he’s different. 

He’s excited of course, to be at home for the week and to see everyone for more than a couple days, but during the days leading up to media day he doesn’t show you any sign of nervousness or doubt. And you can’t help but think that this year is the year, he seems to finally be in the right headspace to win this thing. 

Charles and you had spent basically every free moment the two of you had together this week. It was nice, the two of you together again like old times. You had gotten the week off from work, a perk from your job, and it wasn’t like Charles had to travel to another country. So, the two of you took full advantage of the week. Dinner with both families together, hanging out with friends, and just enjoying each other's company filled your Monday through Wednesday. 

But come Wednesday evening you found yourself at Charles apartment after a long day on the water with all your mutual friends. You’re absolutely beat and ready to be back at your place when Charles asks you to come back to his, and you want to say no, but the way he looks in golden hour could be used as a hypnotization technique, so you say yes. 

He claims he’s got something to show you, but the whole car ride and trek into his apartment he won’t budge on telling you what it is. It isn’t until he sits down at his piano with a blush creeping up his neck that you know what he’s got to show you. 

“Have you been working on new music?” You ask with a hopeful smile on your face. 

His fingers ghosted over the keys and his pinky lightly tapped one– the sound filling the room. “For a while now and I think it’s finally ready.” The blush had made its way onto his cheeks and he’s fidgeting with his bracelets as he makes eye contact with you. “So, I think it’s only right that the person that it’s for should get to hear it first.” 

Your eyes widened in surprise and now you’ve both got crimson painted cheeks. “You wrote a song for me?!” 

“Yeah.” He states sheepishly. 

You’ve always loved hearing Charles play the piano. There were many late nights spent where you sat in his apartment and just listened to him mess around on the piano. Those nights were shamelessly some of your favorite moments with Charles, it was like the world didn’t exist and it was just you two and the piano. So to know that he thought and even cared enough about you to write you something had your heart about ready to leap out of your chest. 

“Well, let's hear it then.” You sat down on your usual spot on the couch and eagerly waited for the music to hit your ears. 

He hesitates at first, his fingers slightly slipping on the keys, but once he gets himself sorted the sound that comes from that piano nearly brings tears to your eyes. It’s beautiful and heartfelt and you can’t believe he wrote something like this while he was thinking of you. It’s tugging at those feelings you’ve still got for him after ten years and you try not to get your hopes up that this means he feels the same as you. 

When the song is over his head immediately turns to you for reassurance, but all he sees is your body barreling towards him. You’ve got your arms around him before he can even process what’s happening, but from your excited words of nonsense he knows you loved it. 

“Oh mon dieu!” Is the first coherent thing you’re able to get out. 

“I take it you liked it?” 

“Liked it? I loved it Charlie! It was beautiful and the fact that it was for me made me love it even more. Truly what did I ever do to deserve someone like you in my life? Merci a million times.” 

“I’m glad you loved it. I’ve been working on it for months, wanted to get it perfect in time to show you now.” 

You’re both beaming at each other and to anyone from the outside looking in, the two of you looked so in love it was crazy. Crazy that the both of you have been harboring feelings for each other for years and years and neither of you have made the first move. 

“Will you play me some more?” You try to give him your best puppy dog eyes and of course he can’t say no to you, puppy dog eyes or not. You give him one last hug as a thank you before you sit back down on the couch and let the melodic sounds soothe you. In fact it soothes you so much that combined with the tiredness from being on the boat all day you end up eventually falling asleep. 

You don’t even realize you’ve fallen asleep until you feel Charles gently shaking you awake telling you that is time for bed. It’s not uncommon for the two of you to spend the night at one another’s places. You’ve spent many nights in Charles' guest bedroom after drunken nights out or sometimes just for fun. You’re clinging to him, still basically asleep, as he helps you walk towards what you think is the guest bedroom, but it’s his. 

Charles was only going to grab your pajamas that you had left here last time, they were just in the laundry basket on his dresser and it would just take a second. But you followed him into his room still thinking it was the guest room and Charles doesn’t even know you’ve come in behind him until he turns around to see you crawling into his bed.

That all too familiar feeling starts to bloom in his chest as he sees you curled up and comfortable in his bed. He’d want nothing more than to climb in next to you and hold you all night, but he knows the guest room is his room tonight. Charles doesn’t even make it two steps before you call out his name. When he turns around he’s not expecting to see you lying there staring at him with those sleepy eyes, comforter pulled back as you pat the empty spot next to you. He knows he shouldn’t, this is different than cuddling on the couch or sharing beds as kids, it feels different at least. But against his better judgment he climbs in next to you and like he’s your missing puzzle piece you instantly slide into Charles arms. 

It’s like home, being in each other’s embrace. 

The next morning when you wake up in Charles' room it takes you a minute to remember everything, but the blush that creeps onto your face at the memory of you and Charles cuddling in his bed is embarrassingly bad. And you thank god Charles isn’t next to you right now to see it. 

You do wonder where he’s gone though. He’s not in the living room or kitchen, and it’s still too early for him to have left for media day, but then you hear complaining coming from the bathroom. 

“Maman! No, that's going to be too short!” 

As you peek around the door frame you find Pascale cutting Charles' hair, a tradition the two of them have had every year before the Monaco GP. 

“Charles last time I checked you’re not a hair stylist, let your Maman do her job.” You teased as you finally entered the bathroom and you see him roll his eyes at you in the mirror.

Pascale lights up at the sight of you and leans over to give you a quick kiss on the cheek. “Mon amour, you’re here early.” The look on her face tells you she knows you spent the night, but it’s not like it’s something new or anything happened. Hell even if she didn’t know she could definitely tell you had just rolled out of bed. 

“I spent the night. Fell asleep after we were out on the boat all day.” You shrugged your shoulders, it truly was no big deal (you sleeping in his bed and cuddling with him aside). 

She doesn’t say anything, but she does nothing to hide the smile on her face and sly looks she gives you and Charles the whole time she’s cutting his hair. She’s been waiting for the prophecy to fulfill itself forever and that prophecy just so happens to be Charles and you ending up together. Call it Mother’s intuition, but she’s known you two were made for eachother since you were kids. If you didn’t end up together soon she was going to have to do her own plotting to get you two to fess up about your feelings.

Pascale can see how you two look at each other, how Charles’ eyes light up when you enter the room. How you’ve always been his soft spot since you were little kids. The way you speak about Charles like he’d hung the stars and the moon in the sky. She knew you fell first and Charles a couple years later. All these little things she’s noticed and stored away for that eventual wedding day. 

You can see Charles staring at you through the mirror and it’s making you squirm, his eyes burning into you. “You gonna get rid of that facial hair too?” You try to get him to focus on anything other than you at the moment. 

His mouth opens in fake shock and Pascale curses him for moving. “I’m actually thinking of growing a full beard.” 

“Oh please don’t.”

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘’t.” 

Charles and you don’t speak about you spending the night in his bed or in his arms. In fact you don’t see him again until qualifying on Saturday where he puts it on pole. You’re ecstatic and you can tell he is too even though he’s trying to remain calm and collected while he does his press duties. He’s gotten pole two times before in Monaco, he knows pole doesn’t mean you win, but he can’t help but think it’s a good sign. 

That night you find yourself back at Charles' apartment by his request once again. Which was a surprise, you figured he’d want to be alone the night before the big race. But it’s quite the opposite, he wanted your company, he can’t get how good it felt to have you in his arms in his bed the other night and he selfishly hopes it happens again tonight. 

“Feeling good about tomorrow?” You asked as the two of you sat down for an amazing pre race dinner of pizza. His trainer may not like it, but you two thought it was a good idea. He needed all the positive energy he could get and if that meant pizza for dinner, then so be it. 

“Yeah. The car has been consistent the past two days and I’ve got pole.” He paused for a moment and you can tell he wants to say something, but he stuffs his mouth with pizza instead. You don’t press the matter anymore, figuring he didn’t want to talk about it anymore, didn’t want to possibly jinx anything. It’s a relatively quiet dinner the rest of the time, he asks about how your job is going and you two shamelessly gossip for a moment about two old friends who recently broke up. 

It’s not until you’re putting the leftover pizza into the fridge that he brings up tomorrow again. 

“It feels right this time.” He’s leaning against the counter, eyes trained on you as you turn back around to face him. “I mean tomorrow– it feels right. I think it’s gonna happen.” 

A smile tugs at the corners of your mouth as you move to lean against the counter next to him. “I think so too. You’ve been different too, more relaxed this week. Think it might be the universe telling us it’s finally gonna happen?” 

A deep sigh comes from Charles. “Mon dieu I hope so.” 

You glance over at the time on the microwave– 11:00 p.m. Shit. You didn’t think it was that late already. 

“It’s getting late Charles. You should be in bed and I should be heading home. It’s a big day tomorrow.” You go to give him a hug goodbye, but he’s just staring at you, and it throws you for a loop. “What’s wrong?” 

He swallows hard, his adam’s apple bobbing in his throat. Was he sure he wanted to ask you this? Would it make things weird? It never has before when he’s asked you, but this time felt different. Fuck his palms were drenched in sweat and he could feel his heart beat racing. 

“Um– well you could just spend the night if you wanted to” 

You try not to act like you weren’t silently hoping the whole night that he’d ask you to stay. You had figured he wouldn’t want you to again after you basically invaded his bed the other night, so hearing him tell you to stay made you a little giddy. 

“Traffic is a nightmare this time of year…” You act like you're weighing your options while you fully know you’re going to say yes. “Probably take me twice as long to get home, even at this time of night.” You fake ponder some more, really putting on a show. “Yeah I guess I’ll spend the night.” 

He tries to hide the smile on his face when he hears you finally accept his offer and as much as he would like to stay up and talk some more, he really did need to be getting to bed. “Well, I probably should be in bed by now. So I’ll see you in the morning, yeah?” 

“Yeah. I should go to bed too.” 

So you follow him down the hall towards the bedrooms. When he reaches his room he opens the door, but lingers in the doorway. You being a couple paces behind him, figured he was just waiting to tell you goodnight. But when you reach the guest room, which is across from his room, he doesn’t say anything to you. Your hand lingers above the door knob and something inside of you tells you not to open it– to turn around instead. 

You’re met with his piercing blue eyes staring at you as you turn around. His gaze sometimes could be so intense, but this time you matched him. There was an obvious tension in the air, but neither of you were brave enough to be the one to break it. Then suddenly you see Charles nod his head towards his room before finally going past the doorway. He’d left the door open behind him and you knew that was just another unspoken invitation. And like a moth to a flame you followed behind him, not even second guessing your actions. You hadn’t even opened the guest bedroom door, you were a goner as soon as he asked you to spend the night. 

For the second time in a week the two of you shared the same bed, not sexually, but it definitely wasn’t friendly or at least how normal friends would share a bed. But tonight he’s in your arms, your fingers lightly combing through his hair as he rests his head on your stomach. He falls asleep rather quickly, his light snores filling the room, but sleep evades you that night. Your heads a mess, you can’t help but think that Charles has to feel the same way as you, there’s just no way that he doesn’t. 

What man is this intimate with someone in a non sexual way and doesn’t have the slightest bit of feelings for them? But then your heart breaks at the idea of him just stringing you along and you know you’ve got to set up some boundaries to protect yourself. Unfortunately you were never going to be the one to admit how you felt first, so unless he spills his guts, then this was the last time you’d share a bed with Charles like this. 

The next morning he’s already gone and at the track by the time you wake up and when you grab your phone from the nightstand you see he’d sent you a text. 

Charlie: i left early this morning and you just looked too peaceful to wake up before i left. so i’ll see you before lights out. 

A sigh escaped past your lips as you tossed your phone on the bed, today was going to be a long day. 

You made the journey back to your apartment to get ready and then fought the traffic again to get down to the circuit. The hustle and bustle distracts your brain from continuing your spiral session from last night, something you were grateful for. You were here to cheer on and support Charles, not go into a frenzy once again about whether or not he likes you. 

A good amount of your time is spent in Ferrari’s hospitality chatting with everyone and discussing potential outcomes for the race. You don’t end up seeing Charles until the time between the drivers parade and race time. He’s in his drivers room when you find him and he’s literally the calmest you’ve ever seen him before a race. 

His face lights up when he sees you and he’s immediately pulling you in for a hug. “Didn’t think you were gonna come for a second. We’ve usually seen each other by now.” 

“You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Just got caught up talking to everyone and you know how our Moms get in a large group. I had to wrangle them in before they invited everyone over for dinner tonight.” 

“Well I don’t plan on being home for dinner tonight. I’m going to be out celebrating.” He’s got a cheeky grin on his face as speaks. 

You laughed lightly at his new found confidence. “Oh someone is sure of themself.” 

He only laughs along with you, as the two of you sit down on his physio table.

The two of you chat some more about random things, like if he’s planning on going to Jimmy’z or someplace else tonight. You don’t even realize how long you’ve been talking until he gets a knock on his door letting him know it’s twenty minutes till lights out. Before you leave you stand in front of him, holding out your ring clad pinky finger and like a natural reflex Charles wraps his around yours, pulling them close to his chest. 

“You’re gonna do great and when you take that top step on the podium I’m gonna be there front and center cheering you on.” 

“You better be.” He’s serious, he doesn’t want to win this thing if you aren't right there alongside him.

“I promise Charlie.” 

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

You think you might pass out or throw up when the lights go out and the race finally begins. It then turns into thinking you’re going to do both when there’s a red flag not even halfway through the first lap. Your mind automatically goes straight to Charles and your stomach churns at the idea of him being hurt, screw the win, all that mattered to you was that he was okay. Thankfully he’s not involved in the crash, but the red flag lasts for what seems forever. And eventually you have to endure the start of the race again. 

You’re a nervous wreck the whole race, but you think with how hard Pascale has been gripping your hand that she might be more nervous than you. It’s the longest 78 laps of your life and you’re praying he can maintain the lead, put a big enough gap between Oscar that he can just ride this race out. Lap by lap he’s holding steady but that just makes you more nervous. The knot in your stomach grows more and more as that lap number gets closer to 78. 

He’s driven so well the whole time you couldn’t have been more proud. You’d been holding back tears since lap 68, but when you hear him over the radio on lap 75 say that he’s just going to bring it home you can’t help but let a couple tears fall. And by now you know the win is his. He’s got almost a nine second lead and as long as he keeps his head clear he was going to be the first one to see the checkered flag. 

The feeling of seeing Charles cross the finish line and knowing he had won was indescribable. The whole Ferrari unit was going crazy, already rushing down to be there when Charles got out of the car. You’re cheering as tears run down your face, your Mom and Pascale hugging you, the two of them also in tears. It’s surreal, him finally winning, you can only imagine what he’s feeling like right now. You waste no time in heading over to get the best spot to watch the podium ceremony. You’re front and center, the metal barrier pressed up against your abdomen as more people fill the crowd behind you. 

The feeling you got seeing him come out, take that top step, and proudly hold that trophy was something you wished you could feel forever. To see him wrapped up in the Monaco flag as the anthem played, the visible weight taken off of his shoulders. You were so unbelievably proud of him and so utterly in love with him. The tears just wouldn’t stop coming as you watched him shine up there. The universe had finally decided that this was his time, he was destined to win this race today. 

Charles feels on top of the world as he looks down at everyone in the crowd, he can’t believe he’d finally won his home race. He’d immediately spotted you as soon as he took that top step and he could see how happy you are for him, tears streaming down your face paired with that beaming smile. His heart has never felt as full as it does right now. And as he stands there hearing his national anthem play at his home race he knows that today was meant to be. The universe put him here, put you here, for a reason. He’s tired of pretending like his life wouldn’t be better without you being his. The two of you haven’t broken eye contact for awhile, both of you grinning like fools, and he decides that now is the time. 

“Je suis amoureux de vous” He mouths to you. 

It takes you a moment to realize what he was saying, but when you do you think you’re dreaming. There’s no way he just admitted to being in love with you right here, during his podium celebration. You pinch yourself just for good measure before mouthing it back to him. And if it was even possible his smile gets even bigger. 

You’re the first person he wants to see after the celebratory champagne pop. He can’t wait a second longer to tell you how he actually feels out loud. He doesn’t care that he’s drenched in champagne or that there’s hundreds of people around. He’s waited too long to let a moment like this go by. He’s pushing his way through the crowd to find you, he’s basically getting manhandled, but he doesn’t care, you’re his priority. And when he finally finds you it’s like a scene straight out of a movie. 

His adrenaline is pumping and he doesn’t even think about what he’s doing, he’s just running straight towards you, his heart fluttering when you smile at the sight of him. His hands cup your face and in an instant his lips are on yours. It takes you by surprise, but once your brain finally processes what’s happening, you grab him by his race suit, pulling him closer to you, deepening the kiss. He tastes like champagne and sweat, his lips soft, and his facial hair tickles your face. Kissing Charles is everything you could have ever dreamed of and more, you’d never thought the day would come. 

When you finally pull back it feels like the world is spinning and Charles laughs at you being drunk off one kiss from him. His hands cup your face once more causing you to focus on him. “I’m in love with you. Have been for years, but I’ve just been too scared to say anything, but winning today let me know the universe was on my side. And I couldn’t pass up the opportunity once again to tell you how I feel.” Your eyes widen at hearing him say he’s been in love with you for years. “Don’t act so surprised. I made it painfully obvious sometimes.” His dimples peaking out as he smiles at you. 

“I’ve been in love with you since I was thirteen Charlie.” 

Now it’s his turn to look surprised. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

“Was too scared that you didn’t feel the same.” 

“I could never not love you Y/N. It’s always been you, you’re my person. I wish I would have  told you sooner so I could have been doing this more often.” He pulls you in for another kiss and you think if he didn’t have his arms around you your legs would have given out. 

Never in a million years did you think that Charles would be confessing his love to you after he’d just won his home race. If thirteen year old you could see you right now she’d probably die. You can’t believe the man you love with every fiber of your being loves you back. The universe definitely wanted today to be a win not only for Charles, but for you. 

He grabs your hand and presses your ring clad pinky finger to his lips. “Mon coeur.” Then he presses another kiss to your lips. “Je t’aime.”

“Je t’aime aussi.” 

thirty three and thirty six

The summer sun had started to make her farewell to the principality of Monaco, pink and orange hues swirled in the sky. A little boy and girl play on a weathered playset, their giggles echoing through the open air. The sound of a screeching sliding door tells them that their Maman is coming to get them before they even hear her holler their names. “Come say goodbye to grand-mère and grand-père!” 

Their tiny bodies run towards the house and are soon met with lots of hugs and kisses from their grandparents, who they see very often, but it wouldn’t seem like it by the way they were acting. 

“Ok, who wants ice cream?” Their Papa asks after all the goodbyes are said and they are out the door. 

“Me!” Is said in unison from the two children. 

The little girl has her Papa wrapped around her finger, he just thinks the world of her as they walk hand in hand down the street, while the little boy is definitely a Maman’s boy. 

“You know your Maman and I used to come to this place all the time when we were younger.” 

“We know Papa, you’ve told us a hundred times, and we come here all the time.” The little girl sasses her Papa.

“I know but I just like to reminisce.” The man gives his wife a wink and she knows he’s about ready to go down memory lane.

The journey to the ice cream shop is filled with stories about their younger years and luckily for the children the ice cream shop isn’t that far away. 

That all too familiar sweet smell soon fills the parents senses and it brings them back to when they were around their children’s age. That same bell on the door dings as they enter and that same old man who should have retired a decade ago is still working behind the counter. 

“Ah the Leclercs! My favorite family. You know I’m gonna have to start making extra vanilla ice cream just to accommodate you guys.” 

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