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[charlie-lec-stories]

Out the comfort zone // CL16 & MV1

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character / Max Verstappen

Summary: Sensitive matters should always be addressed with kindness, tactfulness and pinch of fun.

Warnings: Sexual comments and conversations, but from a mature and funny perspective.

Author’s Note: This story is about communication. Since our favourite trio relays a lot on it, this time you'll have the chance to witness them discuss a really sensitive matter on their relationship. Rate: +18 (Sexual topics)

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"No, no, no, no, no, no. This is not working, Max".

"Maybe if you move your leg to the left, Schat".

"What do you think I am, a gymnast?".

"Well, you are pretty flexible, Amour. Just open your legs wider. I can go behind you".

"This is getting kind of personal, guys, I don't think I want to be a part of this anymore".

"Oscar, don't be a baby".

"He is a baby, Amour".

"I'm 23!".

Lando, George and Alex couldn't believe what they were hearing. It wasn't enough for them to do the dirty together, they also had to mix Oscar into it. As the three of them walked further into the apartment, they found Oscar's hoodie on the floor, and the sound of Max grunting wasn't helping with the picture they were already making in their minds.

"I swear to God, I'm not that flexible. I mean, when it’s just us three, it's easier, but I think that four is just too much. Sorry Oscar, it’s not your fault".

"Way to make a man feel rejected...".

"I really am sorry. But if we keep going like this, I'm going to fall and my ass is going to hurt for days'.

Okay, maybe they should make their presence known. Looking at each other, George understood that he should be the one taking the lead.

"Hey guys, are you home?". He asked, but Lando just couldn't keep quiet.

"Please, tell me you haven't corrupted my teammate yet. He's just a baby!".

Walking into the living room, the three drivers were surprised by what they found. Tangled in a Twister mat, the other four were barely keeping their bodies up. Actually, Y/N was the first one to give up, falling butt first to the floor and taking Oscar down with her, who kicked Charles' right arm, making the monegasque lose balance and take down Max with him.

"Why is it that I can never guess it right when it comes to you three?". Lando asked, rhetorically. Every time he guessed they were doing nothing, he walked on them taking their clothes off, and every time he thought that they were having a private moment, they were just doing something completely innocent.

"Maybe you just think it too much". Max replied, smirking at the disgusted face Lando made. Oscar, Charles and Max got up, Y/N staying laying on the floor, legs and arms extended and exhausted look on her face. Everyone looked at her, expecting her to get up.

"Don't worry, I'll get up when I start feeling my legs again... Man, I hate Twister". She sighed. Oscar took his chance to get back at her.

"And I'm the baby...".

They all had dinner together, and after the guys went away, Max and Charles cleaned the kitchen while Y/N fixed the living room. She carefully folded the mat while listening to the boys chatting in the kitchen. They were discussing something about Carlos. Apparently, the spaniard had a fight with his girlfriend about anal sex. She found it weird that Charles and Max were open enough to talk about it knowing that she was around. It wasn't like she didn't know what they both did when they were alone, but they were never straight forward about either. She kept listening to the conversation. It seemed like Carlos' girlfriend was scared of trying it, and he took it as if she didn't trust him enough to do that with him. But she wasn't interested in what Carlos and his girlfriend did, she cared about what Charles and Max thought about the situation.

The thing is, they had their own ways of approaching sex and those ways were kind of limited. Mostly because of her. She was scared, as Carlos' girlfriend, of getting hurt while doing new things, and even if she had boyfriends before them, she was a little vanilla with them. It was a big jump going from one person to thinking about two at the same time. So the boys were patient, they "took turns" so she wouldn't be too overwhelmed with the situation. More than once she thought about how boring it must be for the one waiting, watching the other two have fun while he had to wait, and whenever those thoughts crossed her mind she felt the need to broaden her comfort zone a little bit.

She concentrated on the conversation again. Max explained that he could empathize with Carlos' point of view, it would hurt him a little to know that Charles or Y/N wouldn't try with him something they wanted to do thinking they could get hurt. He was clear with that: when you love someone, you don't let them get hurt, and you never, ever, hurt them yourself. Charles was little more on the girlfriend's side, he remembered the first time he let Max do that, and he was scared shitless, he also reminded Max that he begged Charles to go easy on him when it was his turn, and with that reminder, Max gave some more credit to the girlfriend's argument. It seemed like they both understood, not only for having been in that position before, but also from an empathetic side, how vulnerable it could be to let someone do that to you. She felt relieved.

"Hey, can I ask you guys about something?". She asked later that night, looking at her lap. They were getting ready for bed, Max was brushing his teeth and Charles was changing his jeans for a more comfortable pair of shorts. They both looked at her, curious about what she could be thinking about. She had been pretty quiet since the guys left.

"Sure, Amour. What is it?". Charles walked to the bed and sat down, placing his hand on her leg and running it up and down, easing her anxiety a bit. Max rushed up his routine so he could focus completely on her, going to the bed as fast as he could.

"I've been thinking about something. About us". Max didn't like the sound of that, he loved what they had too much, he didn't want to break up. "I know that we don't do a lot here". She patted the bed and they frowned at the same time.

"What do you mean, Schat?". He smirked at the thought of everything they had done on that bed. "We do a lot here".

"I mean, yes, we do, but it's how we do it". They weren't following her and it was frustrating. "I want us to do things together, the three of us, but it scares me. Every time I think about it, this fear of getting hurt paralyzes me".

"You mean that you want us to do things to you... together?". Charles was trying to be as polite as he could about the subject, Max was a little more direct.

"This is the type of conversation I like to have in bed. Who cares about the last episode of The Last of Us?". Y/N laughed under her breath, the pink on her cheeks softening a few tones.

"We can try whatever you want, Amour, as long as you feel comfortable. You're the one that will get the roughest part, we know that, that's why we never asked for more and waited for you to bring it up". That made her feel safer.

"We will always take care of you. We promise". She knew that Max was sincere.

"So, how do we do this?". The boys looked at each other, their eyes wide open.

"You want to try this now?". Charles asked and she nodded.

"Yes! I waited for this moment my whole life". Max exclaimed happily as he took off his shirt.

"Mate, calm down or you'll be the one getting it". Charles did what he could, but there was no cure for Max. If there was something that he had been waiting for was for the moment they all three did something together.

"I didn't know his love for butts extended this far". They watched Max go to the bathroom, looking for lubes and oils that would make the process a lot easier.

Charles just sat with her, holding her hand and smiling at her. Y/N and Charles had a different sexual history together than each of them had with Max. They started dating first and that meant that they started sleeping together before they added Max to the equation. Charles knew what, how and when she liked things. He knew her like the back of his hand, and had a different approach to intimacy than Max had. They were pretty equal in bed, but she usually let him take the lead of the situation and it was a wise decision, since he never guessed wrong what she wanted to do. Max was different, he worshiped her, he would do whatever she'd ask for if it meant pleasing her. That meant that she was the one taking the lead and he followed her like a warrior on a crusade. She didn't know what they were like when they were alone, for what she heard from them once in a while, they switched a lot, it all depending on their moods at the moment. When the three of them were together, Charles would usually go first, helping her relax and carry the situation, Max watching and doing little to no interventions. Then the Dutchman would follow with Charles still in the picture, but more coming from a caring side, taking care of them. He had a protective side that never rested and always shone with them.

Max gave Charles the space to ease Y/N's nervousness, while he decided to go to the living room for some scented candles and his speaker, already thinking on which playlist they should use to make the situation more relaxing for her. Charles took his time setting the mood, kissing and caressing every place of skin exposed before starting with her clothes. She was grateful that they didn't jump on her the minute she agreed to try this, instead they took the time to help her feel comfortable and, more importantly, loved. Once every piece of clothing was off, Charles looked at Max, a silent conversation about how Max could enter the picture as smoothly as possible. They decided for him to do something that Charles usually does: massages. So while Charles kept her busy, Max took one of the oils and gently started massaging the knots on her shoulders, easing the tension. They both knew the process, they knew what they had to do for her to be ready, so they just made sure to be open and verbal about what they were going to do before doing anything.

"It's going to hurt, you'll feel some pressure, Schat. It's normal, you just have to relax". Max told her after her and Charles had already been going at it for a while, as he carefully moved her legs to position her comfortably on top of Charles. "If you feel like you can't keep going, you tell me and I stop immediately, okay?". She nodded, still a little tense, even if she was worked up. Charles, under her pulled her flush against him, letting her rest her weight on him and running his hands up and down her sides.

"We need words, Amour, you know it". It was a rule that they had, nothing without explicit consent, specially new things.

"Yes, I understand. I want to do it". She sighed and prepared herself, focusing on Max's hand caressing her lower back.

It hurt, it took her some time to get used to it, she even let a few tears run down her cheeks. The boys stopped moving a few times to give her time, they whispered some comforting words to her and kissed her discomfort away. But she ended up liking it, once the pain was not there anymore, once she felt how connected she was to both of them in that moment, she realized that she was right on stepping out of her comfort zone. She had never seen them as happy as she saw them in that moment, Charles locking eyes with her from underneath her, Max's smile against the back of her shoulder as his hand grabbed Charles', both squeezing each other's hand tightly. It was special and it was great, two things she before feared the moment wouldn't be. She was glad that they all did that together.

"How do you feel, Amour?". Charles asked her as soon as he recovered from his post sex dizziness. She felt Max moving away from her, lifting his weight so she could move if she needed to, but she needed him close, so she grabbed his arm and pulled him back on top of her. Charles let out a huff when Max's weight fell on them again, being the one holding everyone on top of him was hard, but he wouldn't rather be anywhere else. Max chuckled at his huff and Charles slapped the back of his head, but ended up joining his boyfriend in the laughing fit. They stayed like that for a while, just close while their hearts went back to a normal rhythm.

"What about a bath, Schat? I think it'd be good for you". She let out a quiet 'yes', Max then getting up and walking to the bathroom. Charles took his time with the massages, working on all the new muscles she had used and were in need of care. When the water was ready, he helped her up and she went to the bathroom. While she relaxed, Max and Charles cleaned up. They changed the bed sheets, took all the candles, oils and lubes to their places and prepared some tank top and cotton panties for her to dress up with. She stayed there until the water got cold, and with still some discomfort, she got out and wrapped herself in a towel, emptying the tub before walking out. She dried and dressed herself quickly, and joined the boys on the bed, taking her spot in the middle. The tiredness on their faces was notorious, but they put on the effort to stay awake to make sure she was alright.

"You might feel a little sore in the morning". Charles said and then kissed her shoulder, his hand on her hip, on top of Max's.

"But the bright side is that you get breakfast in bed because of that". She giggled at Max's comment.

"I might do this with you every night if it gets me breakfast in bed in the mornings". She joked, but Max was grinning like he won the lottery. "I'm joking".

"Don't play like that with my heart". His smile dropped and she felt Charles shaking with laughter behind her.

"You seriously love butts".

"They are one of the best features of you guys, after your arms and Y/N's boobs". The other two looked at him holding their laughter. "What?"

"Bueno, para gustos, colores". Y/N said and snuggled up by bringing Max closer. They were used to her chanting some Argentinian sayings at them and they learned what most of them meant. This one meant that it was pointless to discuss personal preferences. "Thank you for being so good to me". She said after a while. "You have no idea how important it is for me that this moment went on this great".

"We love so much, Schat. You don't have to thank us for these things. We'd bring down the moon and stars for you".

"Je vous aime, mes chéris". (I love you, loves)

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Hey, I'm back with lestappen x reader. Hope you guys like it. I'm thinking about working a bit with smut, but from a more subtle and delicate perspective. What do you guys think about that? Would you like more content like that?

[charlie-lec-stories]

Everything happens for a reason // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Stroll!Sister

Summary: After a whole life of following her father's orders, Y/N's tired of being the good girl and when she finally stood up for herself with the help of her best friend, all hell broke loose.

Warnings: Sexual comments and scenarios, cheating, strong vocabulary.

Author’s Note: Well guys, gals and non-binary pals, you know I love messy stories, this is no exception. Rate: +18 (adult content)

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"UGHHHHHH". Y/N couldn't help but laugh out loud when her brother, Lance, sat down beside her, grunting as if it was the hardest thing his body had done in 20 years.

"Really, Lance, was it really that hard? Are you that old?". She rolled her eyes as the boy fixed his position on the roof, making sure that he wouldn't fall off. They had the tradition of sitting on the roof of their mansion after dinner and before bed time. They had an hour before the staff would start looking for them, the only time they could be normal and not billionaires.

"I'm not old, it was that hard, some of us train, you know. Not everyone is naturally gifted at driving cars". She laughed again. Even though her brother tried to act annoyed with her great driving, he was actually proud of her.

"I'm not that good". She lied, but he shook his head, then let it rest on her shoulder, getting comfortable next to her under the blanket she had. Her hand went to his hair, lovingly running her fingers through the locks.

"Don't lie. Gees, I'm not ever sure who you got that from, because dad sucks". She felt his body shake as he giggled at his own comment. "That old man may love racing but God knows he should never touch a steering wheel".

"Hey, don't be like that, he's an average driver...". Lance moved his head up to give her a pointed look. "He is!... When it comes to tennis karts he is". They stayed silent for a moment before bursting out laughing so hard that they got worried someone might have heard.

"Okay, okay, enough with roasting the old man". Lance said once they calmed down. He resumed his position close to her and changed the subject. "Are you excited for the new season? I mean, you have a real chance this time, sis".

"Carlos said the same". She said, sighing and looking into the horizon. The sun was setting and the sky had that perfect shade between pink and purple, it was lovely, it made her feel at peace.

"Well, we are right. I'm always right, as you obviously know, and Carlos is your best friend, he could never lie to you, that's illegal". Y/N smile, that was true, her best friend was the most honest person she had ever met, and if there were two people in the world she trusted with her life, those were Lance and Carlos.

"Speaking of Carlos, I have something to tell you about this season". Lance could feel the tension in her voice so he fixed his position again, showing her that he was giving her his full attention. "Nelson, you know, the PR guy, he told me that I have to get into a PR relationship. He gave me two options: Carlos or Leclerc. Of course, I chose Carlos. I'd rather fake-date my best friend than Charles-stupid-Leclerc".

"You should let go of that anger, your beef with Charles was years ago, he's a nice guy". Lance rolled his eyes at his sister. Y/N and Charles fought after a karting race when they were 16 and never got along after that. He was unnecessarily mean to her and she always over-reacted. But to be fair to Charles, she did say to him that he had a small penis in front of the whole grid, and that can be really harmful for a teenage boy. The fact that everyone knew that they had hooked up once only made the accusation seem more reliable, humiliating Charles even more in front of their peers. To add to the feud, Y/N called him "Peanut" and he called her "Matagot", which is basically a south-french mythology monster that only treats you well if you keep it well-fed, otherwise it can be your biggest nightmare. It was Charles' way of calling her a spoiled brat, that only cares for others when she can get something in return.

"He's not nice. But I don't want to talk about him, I want advice. I have never been in a PR relationship before and you have. It's pretty uncomfortable to have to do this with Carlos, but I have to make it work".

Lance and Y/N spent their hour talking, he gave her advice on what to do and how to keep the friendship strong after having to be all over each other in public. It was going to be awkward, but her contract said that there were things she had to do to get a better public image and Carlos was a great way to keep things interesting. Drive to Survive, the Netflix series about the sport needed something to talk about, and a relationship between two drivers from different teams was perfect, and that's how she ended up trapped with a PR relationship. Around 10 pm, they got down the roof and made their way to their rooms. Before bed, Y/N checked her phone and found a text from her best friend.

Chili-man: Hey kiddo! I know that this is going to be awkward, but remember that we're best friends first, if you ever feel uncomfortable, you let me know and I'll do everything to help out. Okay?

Y/N: Thanks Chili-man. I love to know that you're always on my corner. You're the best. And the same goes for you. It's gonna be weird, but at least I'm not fake-dating Peanut.

Chili-man: Don't be mean, he's a nice guy.

Y/N: You and my brother need to stop being such Leclerc's advocates, I'm sure he can pay his own defense lawyers, you guys don't need to do it for free. Anyways, good night and I'll see you tomorrow for the first day!

Chili-man: I promise he's not that bad. But whatever. Sleep tight kiddo. I'll see you tomorrow.

The next morning, Y/N woke up to the sound of her father shouting and her mother begging him to lower his voice. Still half asleep, she walked to the door and cracked it open. Outside, she saw Lance peeking out of his own room and after sharing a puzzled look, they moved their attention to their father. He was at the end of the hall, at the door of his room, their mother was pulling at his arm, trying to pull him into the room without success. It was strange to say the least, that their mother interfered with their father's affairs, she had her own business to worry about, but she seemed actually worried about the discussion their father was taking part in over the phone.

"I SAID NO. I don't care about the numbers, I don't care about the stupid show. She's not dating Carlos Sainz Jr. She'll do that over my dead body!". Both Lance and her looked at each other. Why was he so upset? He loved the Sainz; he had been friends with Carlos Sainz Sr. for as long as they could remember. "I DON'T CARE IF IT'S FAKE".

"Honey, please, they'll hear you". Their mother tried to calm him down, but he was furious.

"THEN USE LECLERC, BUT SHE'S NOT DATING CARLOS AND THAT'S MY FINAL WORD". She definitely didn't like that last statement. Her father hung up and stormed into his room. It was her turn to be upset, she didn't want to date Charles Leclerc, fake or for real, it was a nightmare both ways. A little later that morning she tried to convince her father in her favor, but he was so angry that it was impossible to make his change his mind. Carlos texted her mid-day, while she was on the jet on her way towards Bahrain, asking her what happened and why his PR team told him that he was replaced by Charles. She didn't want Carlos to feel bad or inadequate in the eyes of her father, so she lied and said that she had no idea and that as soon as she had an answer for that, she would tell him. When she made it to Sakhir, she was told to leave her luggage at her room and then go back to the lobby so she could wait for a car there with Nelson. They had to meet with Charles and his team to discuss the details of the arrangement. It was a quiet car ride, Nelson was aware of what she thought of Charles and that the change had not been her decision, so he let her off the hook for a few minutes.

"Welcome, Miss Stroll, please have a seat". Kathy, Charles' PR head of the department greeted her when they made it to the hotel where Ferrari was staying. The room they used for the meeting was a last time arrangement, but it had space and it made her feel better, considering how bad things could get once Charles arrived.

"Thank you". She sat down on the couch and Kathy handed her a glass of water. They didn't have to wait much before Charles walked through the door. If it wasn't for her being completely aware of how much of a prick he was, she was sure that she could fall at his feet over and over again every time she saw him. He was the most handsome man on Earth, she knew that, but he was also aware of that so it posed a problem for her.

"Sorry I'm late, I wanted to shower after the flight". He sat on the bed of the room and looked at Y/N when she scoffed.

"Thank you for that! Now the only thing that stinks in this room is your shitty personality". Charles growled. They spent less than two minutes together, 2 meters apart, and they were already at each other's throats.

"I told you this was not gonna work". He told Kathy. "She's a spoiled little shit and I can't stand her close to me. The feeling is obviously mutual, why force this?".

"Because you're the perfect marketing option and it's our job-". Kathy pointed between her and Nelson. "- to make you both a selling machine. So you'll both make it work or your teams will reduce money from your salaries for breaching your contracts".

"That's not fair. I need my money and this Matagot doesn't give two shits about her contract, her Daddy is a billionaire, you're giving her all the power in the world over me!". Charles complained. He knew that she didn't need the money, she could make his life a living hell without a problem and he would have to take it all like a good boy not to lower his income.

"Suck it up, Peanut. Compensate that small pecker of yours by being the bigger person!". She was enjoying the moment.

"The itinerary is long. Read it, learn it and follow it". Nelson explained to ease up the tension. "Remember to be caring and loving, but do not overdo it. Kiss once in a while, hold hands while you walk together. We'll take care of the interviews and the press. Act the part for Netflix and we'll help you with the conflict for the show-".

"We don't need help with conflict". Charles interrupted.

"We need conflict, not first degree murder, Charles". Kathy sent them a stern look as she let the comment out and both drivers looked at their laps.

"Okay, I got it all. Can I go now?". She wanted nothing more than to get out of there.

That night she texted Carlos, and he told her something interesting: His PR team and his father told him to put some distance with her. They were both surprised, since when did their parents dislike the idea of them being friends? They had been friends their whole lives, close since they remembered. They were like siblings, why couldn't they be friends anymore? They understood the whole PR thing, that she needed to sell and that there was drama that had to occur between her and her fake boyfriend, but why did it all have to happen with Carlos at an arms' length? It was weird and she needed to know. It was hard enough that her father had controlled her whole life, she was already old enough to make her own decision. Why did he care so much about her friends? It wasn't like she was going to date Carlos for real. Carlos had his own questions, he was almost 30, his father was stepping over a line trying to control his life like that, but he respected his old man and he was going to listen, as long as the decision didn't prove to be hurtful for his best friend.

"I'm not kissing you". She said as soon as she met Charles at the lobby of her hotel. They were supposed to show up together for the first day at the paddock. Of course, she wanted to make it difficult for him. "I'm not doing the same stupid shit twice".

"You don't have to do me this time, Matagot". Charles hissed at her. "Plus, it's not like I will enjoy it so shut up and make this easy for everyone".

"I said-". But he cut her off with his lips over hers. As fast as he did it, he pulled away and before she could say anything, he was practically dragging her to his car.

The day went by incredibly slowly, but at some point she became numb to holding hands and kissing with Charles. They would kiss and she would instantly start talking about something racing related, like Lance suggested she do to get rid of the awkwardness. Charles seemed okay with that. What was actually bothering her more was the fact that she spent the whole day without talking to Carlos. Charles noticed her looking for his teammate a few times but decided to ignore the raging fire it started inside his veins. He hated the idea that he had to date her, but he dated more the idea of her dating Carlos. He wasn't surprised when Carlos told him that he was going to date Y/N as a PR stunt, what surprised Charles was that they weren't actually dating for real. He could never understand why the Spaniard would refuse to date a woman like her. Charles found Y/N the most amazing woman, when she was nice, and she was definitely nice to Carlos. The older man explained that he never felt like that about her and it never made sense to Charles, after all, he did feel that way about her when she used to be nice to him. But that was a decade ago, and she had never been nice once to him since that time. Still, he felt pleased that Carlos wasn't a threat. She may have looked around for him, and liked him over Charles, but he didn't reciprocate her feelings, so Charles was safe. He was torn between a need for her to love him and constant reaction of disgust to everything she said.

"What the fuck are you doing here, Peanut? There are no cameras here". She said when he appeared at her room door.

"We need to talk". He made his way inside the room and she sighed, already too tired to complain.

"What do you want to talk about?". He sat on her bed and she went to the couch, not wanting to be near him.

"Do you like Carlos?". He decided that dancing around the question was pointless and she was kind of thankful that he cut to the chase.

"That's none of your business, Charles"

"Well, but we are fake dating, and he's my teammate, so I need to know". Lie, that wasn't the real reason, and she knew, but she let it slide.

"I don't like Carlos that way". She saw the accusatory look on his face and explained further. "We're best friends. Something happened. I don't know what. I think our fathers may have something to do with it. He told me that we can't hang out much for now. It's weird".

"Does this have anything to do with us getting together?". 'Failed act', Freud would say.

"We're not together Charles, we can't stand each other". He could pick up on her tired tone, maybe it was the right time to finally get her out of her shell.

"We used to. I remember that time. We had a great moment". But what he thought was going to be a comment that made her happy, completely backlashes at him.

"A great moment?! That's what it was for you? Just a great time?". She stood up, tears at the corners of her eyes and Charles suddenly felt the need to get up and hold her. He didn't, though. "That's why you just simply walked out and ignored me then? Because I was just another good time for you?"

"What? No, how did you even get there?! I never said that!". Now he was the one in a defensive mood.

"Your actions speak better than your words. You ignored me, after everything we did together, after how vulnerable I was with you. I gave you my virginity and you simply threw me away!". She was fully on crying and Charles just could take it anymore, he got up and pulled her to his body, hugging her as tightly as he could.

"I was embarrassed. I felt like I did it like shit. I was stupid and had zero experience. I came so fast because I liked you so much. I thought I let you down". He wasn't sure if she heard him, his words muffed by her hair and his sobs. "I thought you had not enjoyed that moment as much as I did and it was embarrassing, because I loved every second of it. I wanted to talk to you but your parents kind of scared me off from the house the next morning. It felt like I had done everything wrong. Then we saw each other at the race and you were so cold that I believed I was right. You then said those things... I- I just didn't know what to do".

"I shouldn't have said that. I was hurt and felt humiliated, I was wrong". She was grabbing at him as tightly as he was at her.

"We both were". He kissed her head and they broke apart. "I never stopped thinking about you. I always wondered what we could have been...". He let that linger in the air, the possibility. She took his hand and led him to the bed. Her actions spoke better than her words.

They woke up the next morning to someone pounding on the door. Charles quickly fell asleep again, but Y/N got up to tell the person at the other side to get lost. She was surprised when she found Carlos on the other side. The man didn't even say hi, he walked into the room, pushing her inside with him and slamming the door shut. The noise woke Charles up again, this time he did get up, furious when he noticed that his teammate was grabbing his girlfriend's arms with a python's grip. Carlos looked worried, but it was mixed with a bit of anger and something else Charles couldn't decipher. It wasn't until he spoke up that Carlos actually noticed his presence.

"What the fuck are you doing?!". The monegasque walked towards him, and Carlos noticed the lack of clothing, the black Calvin Klein's hanging from Charles' hips were the only thing keeping him decent.

"You two...". He suddenly smiled. "It was about time. A decade. Never met two people this slow".

"You're on thin ice, mate". Charles said, sternly.

"Then you're not going to like what I'm going to say next". Carlos took a deep breath. "I need us to fake-date, Y/N. I want to pressure my father. I think he's planning on setting me up with someone. But if he thinks we're dating even though he said no, he'll leave me alone". She looked at Charles, he didn't seem happy with the idea, but she also wanted to find out why her father was so against Carlos so suddenly.

"If- IF I do it, do you think we can make it happen sometime when both our parents are there?". Charles looked down at her frowning. "Remember last night, when I told you that I didn't know what happened? I want to find out".

"I don't know, mon Ange". She took his hand and his face relaxed a bit. He used to call her that, when they were younger, it felt right.

"I need to know, something feels off. This is the reason why we are together now. Over ten years of history fixed by one phone call by my father". He let out the breath he was holding, she was right. "Please, everything happens for a reason, Charlie".

"Okay, let's do this".

They had to wait until after the race. Carlos Sr. and Lawrence, Lance and Y/N’s father, were sitting at the hotel restaurant, chatting with frowns on their faces. Carlos and Y/N held hands and walked towards them, Charles following them close behind. He had a part in the plan, and he was ready to execute it perfectly, even if it was harder for him to act mad at Y/N now that they had made up. The older men looked up at their children when the three drivers approached them. To say that they looked horrified would be an understatement. Carlos Sr. seemed about to throw up, while Lawrence was simply shocked. The first part of the plan was done, keeping the element of surprise. Now to phase two: the lie itself. They sat at the table, Carlos in the middle of Charles and Y/N, his hand interlocked with hers resting on the table so their fathers could see them. It took the older men a moment to get the color back to their faces, but when they did, Lawrence went from white to red in a second.

"What the hell is this?". He asked, trying to keep the little cool he had left.

"We're dating, Mr. Stroll. We wanted you both to know". Carlos was the oldest, he took the lead.

"You can't". Carlos Sr. said with his voice rough thanks to the lump in his throat.

"That's not your decision, Dad". Everything was going as expected, but they had to admit that their fathers did look more disturbed than they had foreseen.

"It is. You won't date Carlos, you will date Charles as it was planned by the PR team and I don't want to hear anything else about it". That was Charles’ cue.

"I won't date her if she's in love with my teammate. We can barely stand each other, I won't get stuck into this mess for her". It hurt, but he had to say it like that. The other two didn't budge, and they had to pull out the last resort they had to press their fathers' buttons. Y/N saw their mothers walking to the table, so she took Carlos by the chin and started to get closer to him, ready to kiss him. Before they could make contact, Carlos Sr. was pushing them away.

"You can't do that, don't do that". He was almost losing it.

"Why?". She whispered, her eyes looking into his and a chill ran down her spine.

"You're half-siblings". It was Lawrence who said it. There was a long list of options that Carlos and Y/N had made of what could have happened, being siblings was not on the list.

"What?". Charles was as stunned as them. Lawrence and Carlos Sr. sighed and rested against the backs of the seat. Their wives, paralyzed behind them, were still unnoticed by the rest of the table.

"I had an affair with Lawrence's assistant. Of course your mother didn't know about it". Carlos Jr. had an expression impossible to read as his hand gripped Y/N tightly. "She got pregnant, asked me to leave your mother. I refused. She had the baby, Y/N. But then she got postpartum depression. She killed herself three weeks after giving birth".

"Y/N, you mother had just lost a pregnancy, no one knew, I found you in that house, alone, crying. It was the chance to give your mother a baby after the one she lost". Lawrence continued.

"You had the power and money to make it happen". Charles was officially angry, and it wasn't even his identity on the line. "What did you do with her mother? Where is she buried?".

"She was cremated. I took care of everything. I gave her the best there is". Carlos Sr.'s wife was looking at Lawrence's with pain in her eyes. She knew, all this time she knew that they were raising her husband's offspring and she hid it from her.

"Why did you let us become friends?". It was Carlos Jr.'s time to ask. 

"I wanted to keep in contact with her, watch her grow. You two got along so well, she ended up liking racing too. Everything led to you two in my life". Carlos Sr. let a few tears free. "Ten years ago, we considered letting you know the truth".

"Your mother and I discussed it, but then we saw that Charles was in the house, we kind of got rid of him to talk to you, but then you looked so upset. You got disqualified from the race for fighting with Charles. We understood that you were going through a lot, so we desisted". Lawrence added.

Carlos Jr.'s mother made her presence known and the three drivers took the chance to run away from the situation, knowing that the argument the two couples had was going to be too much to witness. The three ran to Y/N's room, crossing paths with Lance on their way there. Telling Lance that his sister was not his biological sister was one of the worst conversations they had. But they were all victims of so much, they found solace in sharing the tears together. They refused their parents' calls for the night, sending a text explaining that they needed time and that they would reach out when they felt like it. The four of them stayed in the room, chatting and calming themselves down. The irony of it all struck Y/N like a lighting and she couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny, mon Ange?". Charles asked and then kissed the back of her hand.

"If my parents hadn't scared you off that morning, we would have never discovered the truth". She explained, but her brothers didn't follow. "Charles walking out on me that morning is the reason why we fought that day in the race. Because of the fight in the race, we started hating each other. Because of the rivalry, I choose to fake-date Carlos instead of Charles. Because of my choice, Dad made the call and everything else followed".

"So, if you and Charles had made up that day...". Carlos started.

"We would have probably been together today, no need for PR, no need for your fathers to say anything".  Charles finished. All four laughed softly. "I was so sad that things didn't work out back then".

"Everything happens for a reason".

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Okay, this is a LONG ASS STORY, sorry guys for not posting in months, I've been so caught up with work I literally thought I could get fired, but I had some time to edit this one. I hope you liked it. Remember to like, comment, reblog and all those beautiful things you do.

[charlie-lec-stories]

(Remember that this options are related to the usual Charles x reader fics I post and the Lestappen x reader series).

I’m sorry I’ve been MIA for some time, I was overwhelmed with work and had no time to edit anything. Buuuut, this week I have time to edit 2 stories!

[charlie-lec-stories]

Drama King // CL16 & MV1

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character / Max Verstappen

Summary: Already used to Max's shenanigans, Y/N finds out that Charles with the flu can be quite a challenge.

Warnings: None, this is fluff, fluff and even more fun. (Only one paragraph about homophobic Jos Verstappen)

Author’s Note: Gees, there's nothing worse than a guy with the flu. Also, there's a little introduction of Max and Y/N's parents and the relationship they have with their children. Rate: PG

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She was used to Max being a drama queen, after so many years being friends, she already knew how he could turn a minimal problem into a world-ending alarm. His computer froze for 5 seconds? It was probably broken. He couldn't find his phone? He probably lost it forever. He was hungry? He couldn't function until he ate. She had fun with that, because Max's little drama stunts were never something that came without a good laugh for her. She would watch him run around the room looking for his phone, or quickly throwing a tantrum when his computer'd go slower than he'd like it. Charles was a lot more composed, which was also funny because he was the one that go into serious trouble more often. He set his dinner on fire? It wasn't that bad, he's not afraid of fire. He's at the police station because he tried to jump the fence when he forgot his keys? Just a little inconvenience and he made new friends! He hurt his hand trying to fix the toaster he just broke? Well, he has a lot more blood in his body, nothing to worry about. Sometimes she wished that Charles would take the bizarre situations he got himself into a little more seriously.

But she takes that wish back, dear God, she takes that back.

It all started with winter break, they were off season and they had been together for a year now, their first anniversary on the 26th of December. Charles, who loved to spoil his partners, decided that they deserved a week for themselves, before they all had to part for New Year's celebrations with their respective families. Plus, they knew that Max was less than happy to have to spend the holiday with his father, so the idea of chilling together, somewhere away from the world was more than appealing. The Monegasque made a reservation at a very private cabin complex, where they could be alone in the middle of nowhere, in Germany. From the 25th at night all the way to the 31st at noon, they would turn off their phones and ignore the rest of the world. Max was more than happy for that, he needed to recharge batteries before facing his father, and Y/N knew that this little trip was perfect for her to sleep all the hours she missed that season. It was the perfect plan, and it went amazing. They relaxed in the woods, lit a bond-fire, swam on the lake, and the cabin even had a jacuzzi, which they used every day. But, when they finally went back to reality on the 31st, happy memories weren't the only thing that Charles brought back home with him.

"Tu es pâle, mon garçon". (You look pale, my boy). Pascale, Charle's mother, said when he arrived at her door for New Year's dinner.

"Je vais bien, ne t'inquiète pas, Maman". (I'm fine, don't worry, Mom). She wasn't convinced, and she was proven right when Charles started coughing in the middle of their meal. The poor man started his new year with a fever.

Arthur called Lando, who made up an excuse and called Max. The Red Bull driver was supposed to spend a week with his father, Jos, the two of them going on a "healing" trip to "help Max outgrow his queerness". The moment he got the call from Lando about "Sassy being sick", he canceled his plans with his father and flew back to Monaco. His father was more than displeased with that, and didn't believe a thing his son told him, but he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He had an already difficult relationship with his father, coming out as having two partners and having to tell him that they were his rivals was not something he needed to do at the moment. Jos Verstappen hated Y/N with passion, and it was a mutual feeling. He believed that the girl wanted to distract Max on purpose, to take advantage of that on the races. He also believed that she was trying to get into Max's pants to "trap him" with a kid. But, he would rather have her as his daughter in law than a man. He had never been as mad as when he discovered that Max was bisexual, the idea of having his son dating another man was his worst nightmare. He made it his life goal to "cure" Max and his son knew that if his father ever knew that Max was skipping his trip with him for Charles, he would straight up force Max into an asylum. Jos disliked Charles the most, after Lewis Hamilton, so if he didn't like the idea of Max dating a man, he would probably lose it with the fact that he was dating Charles.

Max made it back to Monte Carlo on January 2nd, but he called Y/N to let her know that he could take care of Charles and she should enjoy her time with her family. She had a big one, and she didn't get to see them much, he didn't want her to miss that chance. He could deal with Charles for a week, how hard could it be? She thanked him and let him know that she could fly back if he ever needed her, but he assured her that they would be alright. At the airport, he was welcomed by Lando, who coincidentally came back home from England to prepare everything for his New Year's party, a tradition he started two years prior and that was the most awaited event of the grid. The brit offered Max a ride and, together, they made their way towards the apartment that Max shared with his partners. Lando lived just a block away and offered to help out if he and Charles needed anything. He also let Max know that Oscar, Alex and George were flying to Monaco on the 4th, to help him out with the party, so there were going to be some extra hands. Max felt grateful, even if his father was not there for him, he had his grid family that loved him for who he was.

"Charlie? I'm home!". He called out when he opened the door. Usually, Charles would drop whatever he was doing to greet him and ask about his day. He was an active listener and enjoyed asking people things, but this time he was greeted by the faint sound of a cough and the pets, Pete, Charles' golden retriever, and his two cats. He dropped everything he had in hand and quickly walked to the bedroom followed by Pete. "Hey, Poepie, how are you feeling?". (Sweetie),

"I think I'm dying". Max had to actively do an effort to suppress his laugh. Charles was on the bed, the blanket up to his neck and his voice was barely over a whisper, but he was definitely not dying.

"I think you're doing pretty well!". Max said with a smile and sat on the bed next to Charles, but he pushed Max away. Pete jumped on the bed.

"Don't get close!". He yelled as loud as he could and then coughed again. "You'll get sick too and this is a nightmare".

"Charlie, it's only the flu. I'm Dutch, I'm used to cold weather and never get sick". He placed his hand on Charles' forehead and noticed that his boyfriend was burning up. "Don't worry about me".

"At least you got away from your dad". Charles said as he did the best he could to sit up. Max helped him a bit.

"Yeah, your stuffy nose definitely saved me from that". Charles smiled, his eyes shining in a mix of sadness and fever. He hated Jos for everything he put Max through.

"I'm your knight in shining armor, even when I'm sick". Max laughed out loud and Charles followed, but started coughing again.

"Okay, Sir Charles, let's make you some tea to warm up that throat".

The first night was terrible, Max didn't sleep, not even one second, Charles turning around and whimpering all night, uncomfortable and bothered by the fever. He was cold and hot, all at the same time, so he was pulling at the sheets constantly. Max wanted nothing more than to go to sleep on the couch, but he couldn't leave Charles alone. He turned the Monegasque around and spooned him to keep him from moving too much. They slept through the morning hours, until the pets woke them up asking to be fed. Max got up at lunch time to feed them and make some soup for Charles. He had two big black spots under his eyes and every now and then, a yawn would escape his mouth. Y/N texted him, asking about Charles and how he spent the night. Max didn't want her to worry, so he told her that Charles slept like a baby. It wasn't exactly a lie, never specified which type of baby, he slept like a possessed baby. Charles' fever went down through the day, but he still felt like he didn't have any strength. The medication was doing its magic, but he was probably going to get a fever again at night. And Max was right, Charles' fever came back the second night, sentencing Max to another sleepless night.

"If I die, I leave my sim to Y/N and my underwear to you". Charles told him at 3 am as they were cuddling. Max snorted, almost offended.

"I'm the one taking care of you and I get the underwear while she gets the sim?". Charles looked up at him in the dark, his eyes narrowed. "Make your own soup tomorrow, traitor".

"My underwear it's all Ferrari!". Max already knew that. "It's really important to me. I don't know what you're complaining for".

"It's a good thing you're not dying". Max chuckled and they fell silent for a few minutes.

"If I die and you don't wear that underwear, I'm haunting your ass". And he knew that Charles meant every word.

On the 4th, Lando called Max to let him know that the boys had arrived and offered to stop by and help out a bit. Charles was in a good mood, after Max promised to use the Ferrari underwear if he died, meaning that the visit was a good way to keep up his good spirits. While they waited for their friends to arrive, Max called Y/N to give her an update. She scolded him for refusing to wear the Ferrari briefs, and then she thanked him again for taking care of Charles all on his own. She was convinced that it was an easy task, Max was the drama king after all, but she was grateful anyways. Max decided not to tell her how much of a pain in the ass Charles could be, he would rather have her believing everything was alright. He took Pete out for a quick walk and then went to feed his little demons again, Sassy and Jimmy already planning on eating Charles if he let another minute pass without feeding them. Lando arrived with Oscar, George and Alex, and they all ran to the bedroom to say hi to Charles, but he had a fever again, and what they found was anything but festive.

"You look like shit". Lando said without thinking, and Max hit the back of his head.

"You don't, Charlie". But the Monegasque was already mentally writing his will.

"It's okay, dying must be the only thing that doesn't look good on me". Max rolled his eyes.

"We should help you get better". Oscar added, willing to help. The other three looked at him with their noses scrunched.

"I think we're all more useful at a safe distance". Alex looked around the room as he made the comment, looking for a place he could sit down and not get too close to Charles.

"It's just the flu, stop acting like he's got a deadly disease". But they all ignored Max as Oscar organized them to cover all of Charles' needs.

"Alex, you'll make the food. George, you'll bring Jimmy and Sassy, since Pete's already here. Lando, you'll pick a movie. I will gather all the blankets I can find. And Max...". Oscar looked at him, unsure of what Max could do. "You'll comfort him, but please, keep it decent".

"I'm not doing that while you guys are here". Max said, annoyed.

"Just making sure!". Lando laughed as he remembered the situation in the hotel room.

Oscar's plan was kind of chaotic, as always. While Max laid on the bed with his sick boyfriend, he could hear Alex fighting with the kitchen, George chased the cats around the house and Oscar opened every closet in the apartment looking for blankets. To add to that, Lando just couldn't pick a movie, going through all the streaming platforms and genres. Charles still acted as if he was dying and even though Max loved every person in that house, he was too sleep deprived to tolerate the chaos. After an hour, George walked in with Sassy and Jimmy, his shirt covered in holes and wearing kitchen gloves. He placed the cats on top of Charles and they both snuggled on his chest, purring and relaxing against their Papa. Max looked at George worried, as the brit just kept a wary eye on the cats. He couldn't help but chuckle at the situation, Sassy and Jimmy were the most loving cats in the world, but they loved to drive people crazy. Alex brought to the room the worst soup Max had ever tasted, but Charles was so sick that he couldn't even taste anything, so it wasn't a problem. Oscar placed all the blankets on top of Charles and, even though Max thought Lando would never pick anything, he actually did, and they all sat in the room to watch it together. Charles was finally asleep after 30 minutes and Max had never felt more relieved.

Around 6 pm they all left and Max took the pets to their beds. Pete slept on a pretty fancy bed that Charles had brought for him, it had Ferrari's emblem all over it, still, the dog loved his Red Bull toy, no matter how many times Charles took it away from him. Max gave Pete the toy and the dog curled up on his bed, ready to sleep, hugging the toy. Jimmy and Sassy had high beds, ones that Max had attached to the wall so they could sleep as up high as possible. He told them to go to bed, in Dutch, since it was the only language they understood, and they both obeyed instantly. If there was something that Max loved about their pets was how well behaved they were, George might not agree with that, but that seemed like George-problem to Max. After everyone was on their beds, Max went back to his room and lied next to Charles, his little snores making Max smile. Maybe they could finally sleep for a few hours. But they didn't. Charles' fever came back and he started moving around again. At some point, Max even heard him crying.

"Charles, are you okay?". Max asked as he turned Charles around to look at him and see if he could find what was hurting. "Does anything hurt?".

"I don't know!". Charles said, already done with being sick. "I just feel like shit and I'm tired and my head hurts... and... and my throat is sore!". Charles complained in between sobs. "And my nose is so stuffed! I just want to feel better and do my things, like training and going out. And I miss Y/N too".

"Charlie, it's okay". Max tried to comfort him, ignoring his own tiredness as best as he could. "Be patient, you'll feel better soon. I promise".

But Charles kept turning around all night again, coughing, mumbling, sighing loudly, blowing his nose. Max was close to losing it. There is so much time one can spend not sleeping and Max was close to his breaking point. At 4 in the morning, he got up and decided to call Y/N. She was in Buenos Aires, so it would be around midnight there, she was definitely up, no one slept early in Argentina. He felt terrible calling her to complain about their boyfriend, but Max just couldn't take it anymore, he needed to sleep and their friends were too loud and energetic to actually help. He confirmed that the day before. So she was his last resort. He sat on the toilet with the lid down, looking at his phone and re-thinking about calling her or not. She was having fun, spending some time with her family, people she missed all year round, he didn't feel comfortable ruining that, but he didn't know what to do. He heard Charles cough from the room and dialed his girlfriend's number. It rang a few times, then, he was met with the sound of music and people speaking loudly.

"Hey, Maxie, it's everything alright?". She greeted him. He could hear her friends mocking her, saying "Maxie" over and over again, her grandmother scolding them, and Y/N laughing at the situation. "Wait! It's like 4 am there. Max, is Charles alright?".

"YES". He quickly reassured her when he noticed how worried she was. She sighed in relief. "I just...".

"What is it?". He heard the noise turn down, she had probably moved away from people so they could talk better.

"I lied to you. Charles has not been easy to deal with. At all! He's terrible, and I miss my sleep and we miss you and he's coughing all the time and the guys came by and it was a mess...". He kept rambling about how the last few days had been horrible for him and she patiently listened to him. It was bad that Charles was still with a fever, that wasn't normal, since he was taking medication for that, but Max was also someone who could escalate a situation pretty quickly, so it was hard for her to know exactly if the situation was that bad. Nonetheless, she let him let it all out, once she noticed that he was done, she offered a solution.

"Listen, Amor, give me two days. Tomorrow I will say goodbyes and then I'll be on the first plane I can catch, okay?". She heard him let out a breath he had been holding. "We'll take care of him together".

"Thank you, Schat, thank you so much". He said, feeling a lot better.

On the 6th, around 8 pm, Y/N finally got back home. She slowly opened the door, Pete went to her to greet her. She patted his head and scratched the back of his ears, earning a little huff of approval from the dog. Sassy and Jimmy went next, rubbing against her legs and meowing, showing their Mamá how much they missed her. She tried to shush them, noticing that Max and Charles were probably sleeping. Quietly, she dropped her suitcase by the door and took off her shoes, walking around the dark apartment towards the bedroom. The door made a minimal cracking sound as she pushed it open softly and she cringed about it, but she discovered that her boys were wide awake inside, completely unbothered by the sound of the door. Charles was in a semi-awake state, his eyes glossy and forehead shiny with sweat, probably still with a fever. Max was next to him, his eyes tired and the bags under them prominent, like he hadn't slept in days. The Dutchman's eyes light up with her presence, the tiredness still there but now mixed with relief.

"Schat!". He jumped up and ran to her, picking her up and spinning her a few times, before he set her back down and kissed her, like his life depended on it. Maybe his sanity did. "You're here!".

"Yeah, how have you guys been?". Max was frowning at her instead of answering her question. "What?"

"Weren't coming back tomorrow?". She was the one frowning now. "I told you we could wait, I can't believe I made you leave your family so soon".

"No, Amor, I said two days, that was the day before yesterday". She went to the bed and sat down, placing her hand on Charles' face and caressing his cheek.

"No no, today's the 5th, Schat".

"Max, it's January 6th". She took her phone out of her pocket to show him the date. "When was the last time you slept?"

"I don't know...". Y/N looked at him, worried, taking into his pitiful state. Charles was still out so she got up and dragged Max to the living room. They sat on the couch and he rested his head on her shoulder.

"You should sleep here tonight, I'll look after Charlie". He hummed in agreement. "Did you guys eat already?". Max nodded. "Good, then lie down and rest".

"Thank you, Schat".

Max lied down and closed his eyes, falling asleep instantly. Y/N walked back to the room, changed for the night and got into bed with Charles. He had the flu, how bad could it be? Really bad, she discovered that night. The Monegasque spent the night complaining, she wasn't able to close her eyes for a minute. Between Charles' never ending turning and how tired she was from the trip, she was wishing she could go to the living room with Max. When the morning light came, she was still awake and extremely tired. Charles was the most annoying patient in the world. If he was complaining like that for the flu, what would he do for a stomach bug? They were lucky that Charles rarely got sick. Max went to the bedroom around 11 am, better rested and ready to treat his girl better than last night. But she was looking just as miserable as he did the past few days. Charles was finally asleep, so she got up and the two of them went to the kitchen for breakfast. Max, with more energy than her, made some Stroopwafels, while Y/N just rested her head on her hand, slumped over the table.

"I think it's time for Charles' meds, Amor". She told him after a few minutes in silence. "Where are they?".

"First drawer, my nightstand. It's a bottle that says-"

"Paracetamol, I know, my mother's a doctor, remember?". He noticed the pain in her voice, under the tiredness, but he chose not to keep up the conversation about her mother, she was not rested enough to talk about that woman. She walked back to the bedroom and opened the drawer, the bottle being the first thing she saw.

"Here's a glass of water". Max told her as she walked up to him, the bottle in her hand.

"Have you been giving Charles this?". She showed him the bottle.

"Of course, every 8 hours". He proudly answered.

"It's expired, Max". His smile dropped instantly. "This expired in 2020".

"You're fucking with me". He took the bottle from her and inspected it. "It can't be expired".

"This is so old I wasn't even in F1 when it stopped being useful". She ran her hands down her face and sighed. "I'll run to the pharmacy and buy a new one. Of course he's not feeling better, the meds don't work once they are expired, it's like giving him nothing".

Y/N brought a new bottle of medication and Charles was already feeling better that night. They all finally got some proper sleep. The next morning, Charles was a new man, back again with his good spirits and big smiles, as if he hasn't been the most over dramatic person for the last few days. Max and Y/N were still exhausted as he walked into the kitchen for breakfast.

"I can't believe you flew all the way back here just for the flu, Amour, it wasn't that serious!". He told Y/N as he took a bite of his Stroopwafels. "And I took it like a champ".

"Yeah, sure, Corazón". She said, condescendingly.

"Get sick again, Charles, and I'm personally burring you with your Ferrari underwear, you fucking Drama King".

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This one is pretty long, but i had fun writing it! Hope you guys like it!

[charlie-lec-stories]

Good enough // CL16 & MV1

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character / Max Verstappen

Summary: Max is not always the confident man he looks like.

Warnings: Self-esteem issues, some dark thoughts, talks about eating disorders.

Author’s Note: Men can also suffer from low self-esteem and body insecurities. Rate: +16 (inappropriate language)

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She always slept in the middle and Max was okay with that, because even though he loved to cuddle Charles, he was a living heater, like Max. Y/N was like an ice cube and it was great to have her in the middle, cooling them down. Watching her peaceful face in the morning was also a plus. That was the sight he found that morning, her laying face up, her lips slightly parted, Charles half on top of her, his nose buried on the crook of her neck and his left arm over her protectively, his fingers brushing Max's middle. The Monegasque was snoring softly, the noise muffled by Y/N's collarbones. As always, Charles was shirtless, it was impossible for him to rest well with clothes and it wasn't like the Dutchman or their girl would complain about it. On the contrary, she started progressively to sleep with less clothes on. Max wasn't sure when it happened but she went from loving to trying different PJ's and seeing which one was more comfortable to sleeping in just a tank top and a pair of cotton panties. Again, there were no complaints about that. Max could never complain about seeing them with little to no clothing, they were literally the most beautiful people he had ever met.

He knew that she was perfect since the first time he laid eyes on her, while they were teenagers. He felt his breath itch just looking at her face, and when they became closer and she started hugging him more, he became addicted to the touch of her skin, soft and plush under his fingers. He could remember the first time he saw her in underwear like a core memory, they were still friends and he had never felt so guilty for anything as he felt for his thoughts that night. She spent the night at his house, they both had a race the next day and her parents couldn't take her, so he offered her to stay at his house and go with him the next day. His father was less than pleased with his idea, but agreed anyway. She changed in front of him like it was the most normal thing in the world, he was her best friend and she felt safe with him, the tug of guilt he felt in his heart for looking at her like she was a whole meal still haunted him. But he thought she was breath-taking, every inch of her body was just too perfect to be real. He was seventeen at the time, so his mind went to places that he wasn't proud of, but even if he wasn't sexualizing her all the time now that they were older, he still could say that she was the most beautiful woman in the world.

Then there was Charles, who Max knew for a fact was the most wanted man in motorsport. People just worshiped his body like it was a whole temple and Max couldn't agree more with those people. He would definitely join a cult about Charles' body. From his cute, messy hair to his toned legs, Charles was a living Greek God and Max thanked Zeus every day for making his boyfriend figuratively allergic to wearing shirts. Summer Charles was his favorite, all hot and bothered, walking around sporting his smallest shorts and needing someone to apply sunscreen on his back three times a day. Max would always volunteer for that. But Spring Charles was also great, always wearing half buttoned shirts, chest showing teasingly. Max's second favorite was Autumn Charles, who liked to work out in compression shirts, leaving him and Y/N looking at his body the whole time they should be training. Winter Charles was less of a show off, but that doesn't mean he didn't serve... There were few sights as beautiful as the Monegasque in winter attire, with his nose reddened and smile on full display. Max could spend hours just looking at Charles sitting in front of the fire, warming up while chatting with Y/N about all of his favorite things.

He watched them both sleep for a few minutes, following the ups and downs of their chests, the covers up to Charles' hips, giving away just a peek of the navy blue panties Y/N wore that time to sleep. He felt lucky, but he also felt terrible about himself. As he got up from the bed, he sighed softly, doing the best he could to suppress the negative thoughts that tried to settle down on his mind. Walking down the hallway and towards the kitchen, he couldn't stop his body and it positioned itself in front of the mirror at the entrance of the living room. He looked at his reflection with a shy gaze, the dark shirt made him look slimmer, or at least he told himself that. The deep breath he took was shaky and when his hands moved to his hips, the hem of it tensed, highlighting a little roll on his lower belly. He looked away disgusted, his hands falling back down by his sides and walked quickly to the kitchen to start breakfast. He focused on his Stroopwafels, he wanted them to be ready before Charles woke up, or else he would complain about eating in the morning and skip breakfast. His boyfriend was a disaster when it came to food, he didn't like many dishes, and the Stroopwafels were one of the few things Charles liked to eat in the morning.

Max thought about skipping breakfast and instead going for a run, burning that roll he saw in the mirror, but he knew that it was not healthy behavior. He didn't like the way he looked, he did feel ugly, but he was aware of the limits between feeling bad about himself and doing risky things to achieve the body he wanted. Still, once in a while, his low self-esteem would entertain the idea of skipping a meal or extending a training session. He didn't resent his partners for being physically perfect, but he did feel like he wasn't good enough for their perfection. He would sometimes look at them, so incredibly good-looking together, and think that he didn't look as good as he should, like he was out of place with their beauty. The fact that they loved him was important to him, he understood that they loved him for his personality and not for his looks, and he wasn't a superficial man, constantly thinking about his or other people's looks, still, he sometimes wondered what they saw in him. When he was making out with them and they felt so into it, he would ask himself once in a while how it was possible that someone like him could turn them on. It was some kind of miracle that a woman who could have any man in the world, who already had Charles fucking Leclerc would want to have sex with him, or al least that's how he felt like.

"Morning, Amor". (Love). He heard Y/N voice as her arms wrapped around him, her cheek pressed against his back. He felt her kissing his shoulder and then playfully bite him. He laughed.

"Morning, Schat. How did you sleep?". He took the last Stroopwafel out of the pan and then turned around to face her.

"Bien, but woke up around 3 am wanting to peet and went back to sleep right away because you both were squeezing me so bad that I couldn't even go to the bathroom". (Good). She pouted and then giggled, making him smirk, loved her giggles. She stood on her tip-toes and kissed him, her hands moving to his hair to pull at it a little, he moaned but gathered his composure back quickly.

"No funny business, no time for that". He said against her lips and she huffed. It was a Wednesday and they were all traveling to the USA for the triple-header.

"It won't take too long, I promise". She dragged her hands down his torso, he loved every second of that, until she reached the hem of his shirt and her fingers touched the skin of his lower belly. He grew self conscious fast and then pushed her hands away. She looked at him worried, not for him not wanting to have sex but for him to refuse her touch as if it was burning him. He had those reactions once in a while and it always made her wonder what was wrong, but he never seemed open to talk about it.

"I just don't want us to be late, Schat". He quickly lied and she let it slide. He kissed her again, just to let her know that they were good. They heard Charles' footsteps and the conversation died there.

In Austin, they were gratefully surprised with the fact that they were staying all in the same hotel, which meant that they could share a room all five nights. Charles and Y/N didn't even bother on settling down in their rooms, knowing that they weren't spending a second there, instead, they took their suitcases to Max's room and then plopped down on the bed. Max was still acting weird, he barely let them cuddle him on the plane, didn't ramble about anything and then just went straight to the shower, taking his sweet time there. Charles, even though he had been close to Max for less time, also picked up on his strange behavior. They knew that Max was allowed to have bad days and be moody, but these episodes were different from being moody. He looked sad, like the spark he usually had suddenly lacked power. The two talked about it, wondering what could have happened and how to bring up the subject to Max without scaring him off. The last thing they wanted was to make him feel uncomfortable or pressured to open up about something he wasn't ready. Once he walked out of the bathroom, completely dressed to bed, they made themselves comfortable and drifted off.

"You look stunning today, Y/N". Max heard one of the reporters say while they were all on the media pan. Max suppressed an eye-roll, she always looked great and someone always had to point it out. He was a little jealous, but the fact that he had felt particularly bad about himself the last few days didn't help.

"Thank you". She said with a tight grin, she wasn't a fan of physical compliments, she would rather people calling her a good driver instead. The reporter proceeded with his question about her good Qualifying that afternoon and she then gave him a complete answer with her feedback about the track and the car. He watched her talk, the way her hands moved as she explained something, her lips that did the best they could as she struggled with her pronunciation and how her nose scrunched when she talked about the least things she liked about the track.

"Max". He turned around to look at Charles, the Monegasque discreetly leading him to an empty room when the media pan was over. "Are you alright, babe?".

"Yeah, sure". He tried to play it cool, but the concerned look on Charles' eyes was making it really hard.

"Are you sure? Because you haven't looked fine for a few days now". Max knew what he meant, he knew that Charles was talking about his mood, but Max couldn't help but associate Charles' words to his body."I know I don't look fine, I'll do better". He walked out of the room, leaving Charles even more confused than before.

Austin went terribly for Charles and Y/N, both of them ending up disqualified after the race, the Ferrari driver losing a P6 and the Mercedes a podium. Max had won and still he didn't feel any better, so the mood back in the room wasn't the best. "Couples that get disqualified together, stay together" was the caption that their PR managers decided to use when they posted their joint post about the FIA's decision. Max looked at the picture over and over again, even sad they looked nice. Or maybe it was him that loved them so much that was unable to see a single defect in them. He didn't care, they were perfect in his eyes, and he wasn't good enough, no matter how much he could win. The next stop was Mexico and Max was already in a bad mood to also having to deal with Checo's fans. He got the chance to share his podium with Charles and Y/N there and that made everything a little bit better, but watching their pictures online, the three of them together was painful. And to top it, between Mexico and Brazil, Y/N trended on Twitter when a particularly good picture of her after the race "broke the internet". She was being called the most beautiful woman of motorsport, and it was all too much for Max.

Charles walked inside the room with his spare key, they were both at the same hotel in Brazil and Y/N staying just a block away, to find Max on the bed. His knees were all the way up to his chest and Charles could see that he was crying, thanks to the shaky movement of his back. With soft steps, he walked to the bed and sat down next to Max, placing his hand atop his shoulder and squeezing. The sob that the Dutchman let out broke Charles' heart in a million pieces. He quickly pulled out his phone and sent a short text to his girlfriend, requesting her presence, then he got into bed with Max, pulling him to his chest and letting him cry as much as he needed. Y/N arrived 20 minutes later, having to work her way through some PR duties before she could be free. Max was a lot more calm when she made it there, her two boyfriends resting on the bed, while Charles moved his hands up and down Max's back. The Ferrari driver looked up when he heard her walk in and they shared a look before she sat down at the other side of Max and ran her fingers through his blonde locks. She saw him let out a sigh and then a few more tears fell down his cheeks.

"Amor, what is it?". She spoke as gently as she could, not wanting to startle him. "Please, we want to help, Max".

"You can't. I'm the problem, not you". His voice was hoarse, the crying taking a toll on his throat.

"You're not a problem, Max. What are you saying?". Charles was almost offended at Max's comment, how could he call himself a problem when he was so darn amazing?

"Okay, we're not avoiding this anymore". She changed her tone from sweet to serious. "Both of you, sit up". They followed the order, Max resting his back against the headboard of the bed. "What's up with you?"

"Don't play dumb". Charles warned him after he saw Max was ready to straight up lie to them again. They waited patiently, and Max just looked around the room, feeling self-conscious. Their gazes were too intense and he couldn't take them.

"I've been feeling bad about myself". He whispered it, hoping that they wouldn't ask for him to repeat himself. They didn't.

"About your body?". Y/N placed a hand on his thigh as she asked the question, Max just nodded.

"But why? There's nothing wrong about you, Max". Charles made the comment so nonchalantly that Max almost laughed.

"Everything is wrong with my body!". He laughed bittersweetly as he said that, like he was amused by the fact that they didn't understand.

"Max, you're going to have to elaborate on that, because we can't see anything wrong with you". He could see that she was concerned, it wasn't just the tone of her voice, but also how hard she was pressing her hand against his tight.

"I'm ugly, so ugly. I don't even understand how you don't see it!". Charles was straight up horrified by the comment, Y/N kept a neutral face, she wanted to see where this was leading so she could fix it. "I'm fat and my face is not pretty or anything like that. Clothes don't fit me right and I look terrible in pictures".

"This stupid, you're saying stupid things". Charles couldn't believe what he was hearing and the string of French curses he let out after his comment just proved further that he was not agreeing with Max's perspective of himself. Y/N was more concerned about Max fat-shaming himself, as if gaining weight was something bad or even him getting fatter was true, considering he was a pretty fit guy. They had a long journey of self-love ahead.

"Charlie, you're not helping". She tried to calm him down, but Charles was angry.

"He's saying stupid stuff! How can he say that?!". Max stayed quiet. "Anyone would kill to be you, you're fucking perfect!".

"What?". That took Max by surprise. He had called them perfect for so much time that he felt the term foreign when it was directed towards himself.

"There's nothing wrong with you, Max". He turned to look at Y/N, she moved her hand from his leg to his face, running her thumb over his cheekbone. "We think you're amazing, perfect".

"But why? You're both so good-looking!". He couldn't believe it. "How could you think that of me looking like you guys do?"

"This is stupid". Y/N rolled her eyes.

"Looks like "stupid" is the word of the day". That made Max laugh softly, she smiled and shifted her position on the bed to sit on his lap. "I love your smile, I love it even more when it reaches your eyes because they look even better".

"You make it sound like he's doing it himself, it's easy for his eyes to look great when he has those eyes''. Charles was being actually useful with his angry comebacks.

"I also said that I love his smile".

"He has the whitest, most perfect teeth on Earth, you could turn off the lights and still find him if he smiles". Max smiled at that, looking at the frowning Charles that huffed and kept cursing in French. Y/N grabbed Max's face and made him look at her.

"We love you, Max. Not just the fact that you're an incredible person or a generational talent driving cars. I love looking at you and I love having sex with you". He blushed, she giggled. "I'm not sure where this idea of you being ugly came from, but I can assure you that you're extremely handsome and hot to me".

"Of course he is! Mon Dieu, thinking he's ugly... Simply stupid". (My God).

"He agrees". Max properly laughed this time. She kissed him, pressing herself against him to make him feel her heartbeat. They broke apart after a moment, both needing to breathe. "I know that getting those thoughts out of your head is not easy, but please, if you ever, ever think about yourself like that again, tell us. I promise you, we will prove you wrong".

"Really?".

"Yes, really. We love you, even when you talk stupid".

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Hope you guys like it!! Happy New Year everyone, and have a great 2024.

[charlie-lec-stories]

Invisible string // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Vettel!Sister

Summary: While on a difficult time in his life, Sebastian discovers that his family is way bigger than he thought.

Warnings: Alcohol and drugs consumption, strong language.

Author’s Note: This story is and is not about Charles, but it's a nice story and I thought that it would be nice to include it on this blog. I'm not comfortable with writing about the death of real people, so even though reader is Sebastian's little sister, I changed the names of his parents and to feel more comfortable with the plot. You have to remember that this stories are originally done for my own fictional characters and I adapt them to the F1 world to include Charles on them, so when I write about Sebastian's family I am not speaking of the real one. Rate: +16 (sensitive language and mature activities)

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"Sebastian, I'm so sorry for your loss". It was the tenth time he had heard that phrase in an hour, and even though he was grateful for so many people being there for him, he was sick and tired of the condolences. He smiled sadly at yet another friend of his father, Klaus, and quickly looked around, searching for Hanna, his wife, to save him from the situation. He found her at the other side of the room, she instantly understood him and made her way to where he was. She started some light conversation with the older man, sending Sebastian a complicit look, giving him his cue to leave. He swiftly escaped to the kitchen and hid there for a few minutes. 

"Hi, kid". Sebastian looked up to find Henry, his father's best friend. The British man was like family to Sebastian and now that his father had joined his mother in Heaven, Henry felt like the last piece of family Sebastian had. "I've been looking for you".

"Well, you found me. I thought I had done a better job at hiding though. I'm not really in the mood for more condolences". Henry pulled away a chair and sat next to him, patting his back lightly, trying to be as comforting as he could.

"You don't need to hide from me, Seb". They both laughed softly, the tension on Sebastian's back loosening a bit.

"I know. I'm just... overwhelmed, I think". He let out a long sigh, and Henry squeezed his shoulder, his heavy hand finding a home there.

"I know, I felt the same when my father passed away. My brother was a good help at the moment, he took care of everything, I just felt like it all was too much. I actually went to your father's and hid there for hours. Came back home, stoned as fuck, just in time to put the old man to the ground". Sebastian smiled, he knew that story, his father had told him about the time he and Henry smoked weed like two Woodstock hippies the day Henry's father died. "Klaus was a good friend, but sometimes I feel a big debt with my big brother, he really stepped up that day".

"You're lucky to have a brother to be there for you at a time like that. I think that's one of the cons of being a single child". Sebastian felt Henry tense up, and the warm hand that was once on his shoulder, now slipped away, as if Henry was unable to maintain the contact. "What? What is it?".

"Seb...". The tension grew so thick that Sebastian had to move away slightly. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. "You know I wasn't just your father's best friend, I was also his lawyer". The younger man nodded slowly, his narrowed and confused eyes focused on the older man. "I may just give you this now, I would rather see you next week for the will's reading with this information a little bit more processed".

"What are you talking about?". Henry looked inside his coat, taking an envelope out of his pocket and handing it to Sebastian, who took him with trembling hands. "Henry, what is this?".

"That's a letter your father wrote to you, twenty years ago". Sebastian took the letter out and started reading right away.

"A sister? A baby sister?". Henry saw the array of emotions that passed the younger man's eyes: confusion, anger, sadness, disappointment, happiness. Sebastian felt every emotion he was capable of in just a few seconds, as his father's words sunk in. The letter was about the time when his parents had briefly separated and Klaus had gone to Henry's home in England to spend a few weeks, while he decided what to do about his marriage. He wrote about how he met a lovely woman, and that after one night with her, he decided that he was getting a divorce, but then, a 9 years old Sebastian called him and asked him when he was coming home and he understood that he loved his life in Germany, with Sebastian and Lina, his wife. He left the lovely woman behind and went back home, just to get a call a year later, letting him know that he had a daughter but the lovely woman wanted nothing to do with him. The letter finished with Klaus begging for Sebastian's forgiveness. 

"He left half of everything he had to that little girl, who's not so little now. He asked me to find her once he passed away and let her know that there were some things that he wanted her to have, but, most importantly, he wanted you both to meet". Sebastian, who just then noticed that he was crying, wiped his tears away angrily.  

"Why? Why hide this from me?". Henry gathered the courage to place his hand on Sebastian again and ran his finger through the grieving man's blonde locks.

"Because he was too scared to do anything about this while he was alive, but he knew that you deserved to know the truth".

A week later, Sebastian was sitting in Henry's office, Hanna by his side and Henry drinking a cup of tea in front of him while they waited for the girl to show up. Henry found her in the same town Klaus had met her mother, a little town that was Henry's home for a short period of time in 1996. It was crazy, but she was born on July 3rd, 1997, exactly on Sebastian's 10th birthday. He had always wanted a little sibling so it kind of felt like a birthday present, one he had hoped to know about way sooner. They waited but as the minutes passed, Sebastian started to lose hope on ever meeting his sister. What if she didn't show up? What if she didn't want to meet him? Henry sent the letter, but she never answered. What if she just didn't care about her father's side of the family? Hanna grabbed his hand and he felt a little bit of comfort, but the fear in his heart could only subside with the mystery girl's presence. There were some muffled voices that rang on the other side of the door and Hanna turned around expectantly to see who they were, but Sebastian couldn't move, not even when the door opened and his wife gasped, him too afraid to turn around. 

"Good afternoon, is this Mr. Henry Wood's office?". Even if the thick Northern British accent took him by surprise, Sebastian was still petrified, and he saw Henry get up to welcome the people who walked in. 

"Yes, I'm Henry. You must be Eleanor". Two sets of feet could be heard and Sebastian understood that his sister didn't show up alone. They both reached the desk and just then, he could move to look up. There was an older woman, in her 50s, dark reddish hair and green eyes looking down at him with an expression he couldn't quite read. Next to her was a younger girl, her face shared a lot of features with him, she was unmistakably his sister, a Vettel without a doubt. It was strange, looking at her, a complete stranger, and still finding himself looking back. Her hair was lighter than her mother's, but they both shared green eyes. 

"Yes, I'm Eleanor. This is Y/N". The girl shook Henry's hand, but she sat down not even looking at Sebastian once. 

"Seb, if you don't mind, I'd like to start with Y/N's part of the will". Hanna had to elbow him, because he was zoning out looking at the girl.

"Yes". He finally said, looking back at Henry and clearing his throat. "Of course I don't mind".

Henry took his time, properly going through every part of Klaus' will. The older German left the summer house, one car and half of his bank account to his estranged daughter, and the rest to Sebastian, which included the family home, one car and the other other half of the money. Y/N never said a word, if it wasn't for him constantly looking at her, he could have sworn that she wasn't even there. Eleanor spoke up a few times, asking about legal processes and such, she sounded like a sweet woman, but Sebastian could see that she was trying to put on her mean face, doing her best to protect her child. Hanna had excused herself in the middle of everything, a chaotic call from their children sending her out of the office to play referee between their arguing toddlers. Henry walked out once the will was completely read, telling them that he needed to grab some other papers for them to sign. Eleanor started telling her daughter about what they were going to do with the summer house, that they could keep it or sell it, that if she wanted to sell it, they could rent a hotel room and use the money to do some remodeling and sell it for a higher price. Y/N spoke for the first time, agreeing with the selling.

"You're welcome to stay with us-". Sebastian started, but Eleanor cut him off.

"No, thank you". She had a hard look on her face, but the broken gesture on Sebastian's softened her a little. "I made a choice twenty years ago, and I stand by it, Sebastian. She's not a Vettel".

"But-". Eleanor got up and pulled her daughter with her.

"I said no. She's been more than fine without her father's influence. She won't start with this now". With that, she started to walk away, ready to wait outside for the final papers.

"I am not my father". Sebastian's angry tone made the two women turn around to look at him. He was still sitting, his body resting on the back of the chair, his gaze on the ground, until he looked up at them, tears threatening to spill out. "I was lied to, for twenty years. You knew we existed, I didn't. I was robbed of the chance of meeting her sooner, of watching her grow. I was robbed of the chance of being a brother, of forming a bond. So excuse me for trying to start now! Excuse me for wanting to get to know my sister!". Eleanor exchanged a look with Y/N, then, the girl walked up to Sebastian. The staring contest went on for a few seconds, then, she sat back down and wrote her phone number on a paper that she found on the desk. 

He was shocked when Y/N showed up at his door the next month without Eleanor, her mother still choosing to stay in a hotel instead of Sebastian's house. Even though it was unrealistic, when he let her into his home, he kind of expected them to click instantly, but his bubble quickly popped. The following two weeks were a disaster, Sebastian learned that they not only had nothing in common, she actually seemed to dislike him. If he said white, she said black, if he said sweet, she said sour. Sometimes he wondered if she was doing it on purpose, just to start a fight. He had never met anyone so different to him and they argued for almost every little thing on a daily basis. He complained to Hanna every night, he didn't know what to do, he wanted his sister to like him, he wanted to build something great with her, but she only pushed him away. But Hanna told him something that made him keep fighting: "She could go back home whenever she wanted, she could even go to her mother, staying just fifteen minutes away from us, still, every night, she chooses to stay here. She may be having a hard time letting you in, but she's not backing down and neither should you".

There was one thing that he noticed she couldn't hate about his life, and that was racing. Every day she walked down the stairs, he could hear her stop for a few minutes to stare at his pictures on the walls, most of them from his Red Bull days, but some from his now Ferrari era. He could tell that she liked Formula 1, even if she tried to hide it, he could see the spark in her eyes whenever she lingered a little too long on a trophy in the living room, or when he and Hanna went over the last details of the new season starting next month. She always seemed to listen to those conversations without making any mean remarks. That shared interest gave Sebastian an idea, he could take her with him to the races, maybe she would like him a little better if she could see him in his element, doing what he loved and maybe showing off a little. It was also a chance to spend more time with her, just the two of them, getting to know each other better. It could be his chance to be an older brother. She accepted the offer, not before making a whole scene of her showing almost zero interest and telling him that she was doing it more for the chance of meeting cute drivers than to spend time with him. He pretended to believe her, whatever means necessary if it meant her spending time with him.

"Y/N, are you ready?". He yelled from the bottom of the stairs, his German punctuality stressing over the fact that she was taking her sweet time, guaranteeing them to be 10 minutes late for the time he had to be at the airport. 

"Stop yelling! Jesus, you're insufferable". She complained as she walked down the stairs, her luggage heavy and hitting the edge of every step. He almost puked when she stood in front of him and saw what she was wearing. She had a white shirt with a Mercedes logo and number 44, Lewis Hamilton's name written on the back. She smirked at him and he looked back at her seriously, not finding anything funny in her little act. 

"You know my number is 5, and I drive for Ferrari, right?". He loved Lewis, he was one of his closest friends, but there was no way in hell his sister was wearing that to the paddock.

"I know". She simply stated and walked past him, saying goodbye to Hanna and going to the car. He spent the whole ride to the airport thinking of a good excuse to give to his Team Principal about why she was wearing that, but there was nothing that he could come up with.

"Well... That's... something". Maurizio, his team principal said as Y/N sat on the jet and put on her earphones, ignoring everyone.

"She's not my biggest fan". Sebastian admitted, sighing as he looked at his sister buckling up.

"I can see that". Maurizio laughed a bit, finding the situation a lot funnier than Sebastian.

"I already like her". He heard Kimi, his teammate, add without looking up from his phone, his eyes hidden behind dark sunglasses. It was going to be a long season.

To say that a white Mercedes shirt stood out in the sea of red would be an understatement. She was like a LED sign saying "I hate Sebastian Vettel'' and her little number caught the paddock's attention instantly. Walking into the paddock, she quickly ran away from him, going who knows where while he did everything that was required before the first practice. He spent all Friday without seeing her, until it was time to go back to the hotel and on Saturday, she was already making friends around and ignoring him. Her insistent effort to pretend like he didn't exist only fueled him to win, still, Lewis got pole and Kimi followed the Brit on the starting grid. Sebastian was fuming when he saw Y/N grin as she looked at him, satisfied with his anger. She was a menace, like a Vettel, but he could be even pettier, that's why, on Sunday, he ended up winning the race and enjoying the little tantrum she did before going back to the car locking herself in until he was ready to take her back to the hotel.

The next race, Sebastian got pole and won the race, enjoying more the fuming expression of his little sister than the win itself. But then came China and he ended up 8th even though he got pole position and it was her time to laugh. After almost a month hanging around the paddock, Y/N had made a lot of friends, especially with the drivers that were close to her age. She quickly befriended Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, who introduced her to the Alfa Romeo rookie, Charles Leclerc. Sebastian liked Charles, he was a talented kid and there was this rumor, almost confirmed, that he was the one that would take Kimi's seat the following season and become Sebastian's teammate. But Charles was a boy, and the German soon discovered he didn't like her sister hanging out with boys. The next two races ended up with Lewis taking the P1 spot and Sebastian wasn't sure what he hated more, losing or his sister being so incredibly happy with Lewis' wins. Maybe what he hated more was Y/N going out every weekend, clubbing with her new favorite drivers while he waited awake and stressed out for her to go back. She was twenty, it wasn't like he could ground her, but she was still a kid in his eyes and the idea of her drinking with those three boys wasn't his happiest thought. 

"I'm going out". She informed him casually, then, he walked out of the bathroom and grabbed his jacket. She looked at him, frowning.

"Let's go". He said as he walked to the door.

"What are you doing?".

"It's obvious, innit?". Replied, smirking and making fun of her accent.

"There's no way you're coming with us". She crossed her arms and they heard her phone ring with a message notification, probably one of the boys telling her that they were outside to pick her up. 

"I'm not asking you. Answer the text, tell your friends that I'm taking us to the club". She opened her mouth to complain, but he saw her face morph into a big grin.

"Sure, Seb". She took her phone out of her purse and quickly replied, with a suspicious look, she watched her walk out of the room and he followed her. 

He learned that night that, if he pushed her buttons, he'd probably end up paying a high price. She drank her weight in alcohol and made out with half the club, she even got into a fight with a guy way bigger than her, and he was the one that ended up with a sore cheek. He had to literally tear her away from Max Verstappen, and then from Charles Leclerc, and somehow, from three other guys. She did everything she knew would make him mad and the next morning, she ignored his 20 minutes long sermon about her actions. But, she didn't win. He kept joining her on her clubbing and made it his mission to keep her away from trouble - and Charles' disrespectful hands, well she wasn't exactly complaining, but Sebastian still didn't like it-. 

It was around their birthdays when they discovered that they were actually having fun together and, before they could notice, they ended up walking out of clubs laughing their asses off. The press had a field day with them, but Ferrari didn't seem to care, and it wasn't like he was getting in any trouble with Hanna for his nights out. Austria was the race before their birthdays and Max won, Sebastian coming in third. The Dutch celebrated shoving his tongue down Y/N's throat and Sebastian decided that he had enough, he could deal with the fights and the drunken mischief, but she was definitely not dating a driver. They spent their birthdays together in England, the first time they had a good time together without alcohol doing its magic. Charles Leclerc sent a gift and it had Sebastian rolling his eyes in annoyance, but it still was a sweet gesture, one he noticed his sister liked a lot. Eleanor was in a better mood, and Sebastian could appreciate a sweeter side of her. It was his best birthday so far. Thirty-one felt great and being an older brother felt even better, even if they still were having some issues. 

The next weekend was Silverstone, and the Vettel siblings fell into their previous dynamic. It was Y/N home race and Sebastian wanted to win it more than anything, but she still wore Lewis' shirt. The Brit got pole position, but Sebastian won the race and, for the first time, his sister congratulated him for his win. They hugged tightly, he even let some tears roll down his face, it was their first time ever hugging. They didn't go out that weekend, instead, the party kids decided to join the Vettels for a nice and tranquil dinner. Sebastian got to appreciate better the developing relationship between his sister and Charles, how the young driver was slowly but surely winning her over, and he didn't like it, Sebastian didn't like it one bit. He thought he disliked Max, but he discovered that he could dislike Charles even more. Hanna noticed, because if there was someone on Earth that knew Sebastian like the back of their hand, that was Hanna. She could see the possessive spark in his eyes, the way he tensed as he watched Charles whisper something in Y/N's ear while she giggled. She knew that he was close to exploding, but to her surprise, Sebastian didn't do anything.

The following six wins from Lewis were interrupted by Sebastian's win in Spa, and again, even if she was still wearing white, his sister was there to congratulate him. He could feel that they were getting closer, but as their relationship got stronger, so did hers with Charles. By the end of the 2018 season, Sebastian finished second in the championship and his sister had officially started dating Charles, who was confirmed to become his teammate for the 2019 season. It was going to be uncomfortable, especially since Sebastian had made clear that he didn't like the relationship. He was convinced that Charles would cheat on her, because there were very few drivers that could be trusted and, from Sebastian's perspective, Charles wasn't in that selective group. She spent Christmas with the Vettels and her mother and New Year in Monaco, with the Leclercs. Sebastian was fuming, but he did what he could to keep himself in check. His relationship with Y/N was better, but she still kept him at arms distance, she still didn't trust him fully. 

There were no words to express just how happy Sebastian was when he saw her dressed in Ferrari red, but the number 16 was definitely bugging him. Him and Charles got asked a lot about the tension of being teammates and in-laws in press conferences, and the German did what he could to play it cool, even if he was constantly day-dreaming about cutting Charles' hands off. Charles was nice and seemed to admire Sebastian a lot, he was a four times world champion after all, but the older driver just couldn't stand the Monegasque. It was a shame, because if it wasn't for Charles' relationship with Y/N, Sebastian was sure that he would like Charles. The thing is, he was jealous, he hated the fact that she trusted Charles more than him, even if she had known him for less time. The couple shared so much, and Sebastian just wanted his sister to share just one little thing with him, but they were in this weird position where she accepted him as her brother, but they weren't close. Charles had gone to her house, been in her room, knew what she liked, knew childhood stories and shared some inside jokes with her. Sebastian didn't know anything more than what he could guess from the time they had known each other, but she refused to share information with him. They were amicable, but they didn't have a bond and Sebastian hated that she did form one with Charles.

Mercedes dominated and won the first eight races, Max won Austria again and then, after a very tense first half of the year, it was Sebastian and Y/N's birthdays again. After that, came Silverstone, and the tension that had been building up for so long was finally ready to explode. The race was the last drop, the glass was full and Sebastian was ready to set the world on fire. Charles finished on the podium and Sebastian 16th, after being given a ten-seconds penalty for nosing Max's car with his Ferrari. He did the best he could to smile for the cameras but he wanted nothing more than to go back to the hotel and take the longest shower of his life. He watched Y/N kiss and hug Charles before he went to the podium and something inside him just snapped. He grabbed his sister and pulled her to the Ferrari garage as quietly as possible. They started arguing, because they were amazing at getting each other angry, and what started as a petty but harmless sibling fight, ended up with Y/N crying her eyes out and storming out of his driver's room. He went back to the hotel and took his so wanted shower, but when he got out, he didn't feel any better. As the time passed, he felt worse, and when he got an angry message from Eleanor, he knew that he had to fix what he had broken. He knew that she wasn't exactly helping to make things easier, but he was the big brother and if he really wanted the role, then he had to step up.

The trip to Eleanor's house wasn't long, and he noticed that he spent more time standing outside the door than he spent driving there. It was the first time he went there, the previous year they celebrated their birthdays in a restaurant and Y/N had refused to invite him to their home. He walked up to the door and after three failed tries, he finally rang the bell. He waited, the anxiety eating him alive, his heart beating faster as he heard footsteps getting closer to the door, what he didn't expect was Charles to be on the other side of it. He frowned, while the younger driver looked back at him, unamused. Charles actually looked like he was judging him and that angered the german, still, he did his best to contain himself and remembered, he was there to apologize. 

"She's not here". Charles said and Sebastian raised an eyebrow at him, Charles rolling his eyes and then explaining. "She went to buy some ice-cream with her mom".

"Can I come in and wait for them?". He saw Charles hesitate, but then move aside to let him in. They sat on the living room sofa, in complete silence. Sebastian took a moment to look around, a lot of pictures of his sister hanging on the walls. "Do they leave you alone here often?".

"Well, yeah". Sebastian was curious, how could Charles have all that privilege while he was constantly begging for his sister's attention.

"This is my first time here". He admitted, and Charles just nodded, shifting uncomfortably on his end of the couch.

"Uhm... I know". Sebastian just scoffed. 

"Of course you know. You know more about my sister and our relationship than me". Charles could hear the venom dripping from the words and tried to calm down.

"Don't say that. It's not like I know everything". The sour laugh Sebastian let out was pushing Charles closer to the edge.

"Well, you must be more than aware that she hates me". 

"She doesn't-". But the other cut him off.

"Don't lie to me, not about this". It was the hurt in Sebastian's voice that gave Charles the last push.

"Come with me". Charles got up and he followed, both of them walking up the stairs and stopping in front of a white door, Y/N name painted on it. "I promised her I wouldn't tell you, but I can't stand this anymore". The Monegasque opened the door and walked in, Sebastian right behind him. The sight inside left him speechless: His face was everywhere. There were posters, Red Bull merchandising, Ferrari flags, everything with the number 5, everything with his name. The posters were notoriously old, some were even roughed up by the years. "I know that you think she knew about you her whole life, but she didn't. She got a letter, for her twentieth birthday, from your father. Her mother had to tell her then, the truth about who her father was. But the craziest thing is, she was your biggest fan, even when she didn't know you were related. She saw you win your first championship when she was thirteen and begged her mother to buy her everything she could find about you. You were her hero. She worshiped you, Seb".

"I signed this". He said, his fingers faintly gazing at a Red Bull cap that was hanging from the headboard of the bed.

"She went to Silverstone 2012, Webber won, you were third. She was outside the paddock when you walked up to them as you were going in. Signed her cap and told her to follow her dreams. It meant the world to her. She used to race in karting". He couldn't stop the tears even if he wanted to, full on crying as he sat on the bed and hugged the cap close to his chest.

"But then why does she hate me so much?". How could this happen? She felt it, she felt the bond. Even when they didn't know, she did, deep down, she did. 

"Your father went back to your family, left her mom alone, then her mother wanted him out completely when she had the baby. She just grew up hating the man that used her mom as a night-stand and then ran back to Germany. When she learned that the same man she hated her whole life was also your dad... it was just too much". Charles walked up to the bed and sat down next to him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "She loves you, Seb. She loves you so much".

"What the fuck, Charles?!". They both looked up and found Y/N and Eleanor standing at the door, Y/N furious as she gripped a bowl of ice-cream. The Monegasque opened his mouth to explain, but she was quicker. "How could you do this to me?".

"Mon amour, I'm so-".

"Bullshit! You're not sorry, you're a fucking traitor". Her accent got a lot thicker the angrier she got. Sebastian, still crying, got up and stood in front of her.

"Don't, please, don't get mad at him". Sebastian begged. "I needed to know this, I needed to know that you actually like me. Y/N, please, I love you so much. I dreamed and begged for you my whole life, you have no idea how much happier I am knowing that you exist. I know that my father was a piece of shit to you both, I know that I can't fix that, but please, I'm begging you, give me a chance". He saw her doubt, he saw her hurt, but the moment she jumped on him and gripped him tightly he knew they were never letting go. "Thank you". He whispered on her hair and she just squeezed him on a deadly grip. They pulled apart and she looked at Charles, who was patiently waiting for her to forgive him, or kick him out. "You know, Charles is alright. I mean, 16 is not that bad of a number".

"I'd rather wear number 5, though". She said and Charles looked down. "But I don't want to be a shitty girlfriend, so I guess I can wear a cap with the number 16 along with my Vettel shirt". Charles looked up again and smiled wide at her. "Okay, listen, I swear to God, if you spill my secrets again, I'm dumping your ass".

"Won't happen again, Amour, I promise". He then looked at Sebastian. "So... I'm alright?".

"Don't push it, Leclerc". 

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This story was based on a real case of two brothers separated when they were little, and the younger became a fan of his older brother's band without knowing they were related. It was really bittersweet when they discovered that they were brothers. I hope you liked this.

[charlie-lec-stories]

A lovely mess // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Summary: Four times Charles overreacted to becoming a father and one he actually failed to react. Or Charles being a mess through the best and most scary adventure of his life.

Warnings: None, this is pure wholesomeness.

Author’s Note: This one was inspired by some stories my own dad and uncle told me about the times they had their first children. Yes, some of those stories are based on things my father did when him and my mom were expecting me hahahaha. Rate: PG

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Every man reacts differently to pregnancy, but the most common response is just simply becoming a mess of a human being. And because of that, Charles, for once in his life, could be considerer an average man. He had been exceptional his whole life: excellent student at school, talented in arts, languages and sports, remarkable people skills and loved by everyone. People assumed that he was going to be an exceptional father too, and he knew he was committed to the role since day one, but none of that made the experience less scary. The monegasque had always want kids, he had always pictured himself growing old with a woman he loved and raising a bunch of little humans. When he knocked up his girlfriend he was definitely not planning on becoming a father so soon in his life, but he was happy nonetheless. His history with his girlfriend was kind of complicated too, her family didn't like him much, or more precisely the fact that Charles' job made her travel around the globe, away from her family all the time. He knew that he loved her more than he had ever loved anyone in his life, he knew that every time he pictured himself in the future, that future was shared with her, but it would be a lie if he'd say that the pregnancy didn't complicate things. His in-laws weren't too happy when they found out and Charles' mother was kind of worried about the whole situation. But Charles and his girl loved that little "accident" more than life itself and they actually never cared too much about anyone else's opinions. He convinced his girlfriend to move in with him and she also agreed on keep traveling with him until she ultimately had to stay home for the baby's safety.

"Is six weeks really that bad, Amour? I mean, maybe you're jet lagged or something". Charles nervously wondered from sitting at the bottom of the bed, his girl anxiously pacing around the room.

"That's not how periods work, Charlie". She was trying to stay calm and not bark at him, but that was a difficult task.

"Then let's buy a test and find out". He got up and started walking to the door when she grabbed his arm.

"Wait! You can't just go to a pharmacy and buy a test!". She looked at him like he was insane.

"Why not?". If there was someone humble enough to always forget he's rich and famous, that was Charles.

"Because you're Charles fucking Leclerc, that's why!". She let go of his arm and ran her hand down her face, exasperated. "The press is going to have a field day if you do that".

"Shit, you're right". He sighed and his shoulders sunk. He could see her shaking, scared and stressed and all he wanted to do was give her answers so she could get some peace of mind. "I'm sorry, Amour, I just don't know what to do".

"Let's call Lorenzo, maybe Charlotte can buy it for us".

He watched her take care of everything: call his brother, open the door for him and Charlotte, explain the situation, decide over test brands with his sister in law, drink loads of water, all while he sat on the couch, his mind running faster than he had ever drove his Ferrari. How could she think so clearly even with how scared she was? What would he do if the test was positive? What if she didn't want to keep the baby? Why was he feeling so sad with the mere idea of the test turning up negative? Was he really ready to be a father? There were so many questions and so little answers. He could hear Charlotte walk out the door and his girlfriend go their room, he clearly felt his older brother sit by his side on the couch, but he just couldn't move. Lorenzo said something Charles never caught, too drown inside his own head.

"I really want this baby, Enzo". Was all he let out and his brother just squeezed his shoulder.

Charlotte came back pretty fast, a paper bag with at least five different tests for his girl to do. The older woman explained the younger which ones were more effective so they could compare the results later. The possible future mother lock herself into the bathroom while the other three waited outside. Charles felt like he waited for an eternity before she came out with the five little white sticks. She placed them over a napkin on the coffee table and Lorenzo set the timer. Now, they had to wait again. She was sitting on the same couch he was before, looking at everything but the tests in front of her, so he sat down and took her hand in his, hoping for the contact to be enough to ease her thoughts. He wasn't exactly the epitome of calmness and the sweat that covered his hand made it hard to grip at. She looked at him and smiled, she knew that he was going to be there for them, no matter what, but she was still scared of what he would think, she still needed to know if he really wanted this. Still, she refrained from asking and simply rested her head on his shoulder, searching for comfort on his scent. She had her eyes closed when she suddenly flew to the other side of the couch while Charles' loud yelp filled her ears.

"What the fuck was that?". She looked around, trying to find what could have startled him so much to trow her like that, but all she could see was Charles clumsily trying to grab one of the tests while his feet barely kept him up. She had never seen him so uncoordinated in the two years they had been together. His fingers had a mind of their own and his legs were trembling.

"Two lines, this one has two lines". Charles, who had been quiet and petrified for the past hour, was mumbling like a madman as he showed his brother one of the tests. In the background, the alarm set by Lorenzo started ringing and they all looked down at the coffee table, searching for the lines of truth. Charles grabbed the the tests smiling wide as he showed them to the others. "THEY ALL HAVE TWO LINES". He was hyperventilating, his whole body shaking and Lorenzo couldn't help but let out his loudest laugh as he watched his younger brother loose the little bits of sanity he had. "CAN YOU SEE IT, BABY?!". He shoved the sticks into his girlfriend's face. "It's a baby! We made a baby! Putain de merde! I'm going to be a Papa!".

"Yes, Charlie! I see it!". She said sharing his enthusiasm. But then she saw him go pale really fast. He walked backwards a few steps and Lorenzo caught him from behind before he could fall butt first on the ground.

"Okay, I think you need to process this rollercoaster of emotions while sitting on the couch, Cha". The older Leclerc helped his bother to sit down next to the now confirmed future mama. There, Charles took her hand and smiled, a high-like expression covering his eyes. He may be scared, but he had never been happier.

If Charles' reaction to the pregnancy was that chaotic, it was a sure thing that the following nine months would be as well. Before the first trimester was up, he had already brought another house to move to, where the baby could have their own room and a playroom. He brought every piece of Ferrari merchandizing he could find on the internet, he didn't even care if it was original or not. Was it pretty? Yes. Was it Ferrari? Yes. Then he was buying it. His girlfriend even went to the extent of taking away his cards and threatened with getting rid of wifi to make him stop. He didn't, took her extension in the middle of the night and kept binge-shopping for his baby at 4 am. He brought furniture for the bedroom and the playroom, and then he found his biggest rival till the day. A rival he wanted to beat more than Max Verstappen: a crib. She wasn't even showing and he was already putting a crib together, or let's rephrase it, fighting with the crib and losing pathetically.

"Cela n'a aucun sens". (This makes no sense). He complained while he tried to attach what was supposed to be 'Part B' to 'Part 3.1'. Why there was a part 3.1, he didn't know and was too stress out to try and figure it out. He growled, he literally growled when the whole crib came crushing down in front of him. "Je déteste cette merde". (I hate this shit).

"Charlie? What's wrong? I heard a loud noise". He looked at the mother of his child and all he could feel was embarrassment. "Are you alright?".

"Yes. I'm fine". He answered from the floor, looking at his lap. He wanted to cry, but he also didn't want to upset her.

"Hey, you know you can tell me anything, right?". She sat next to him on the floor and searched for his eyes, but he kept looking away from her. "What is it, Charles?".

"I-". He tried to start talking, but he was cut off by his own sob. She quickly made him turn towards her, looking for injuries, but he seemed to be physically fine. She saw the tears running down his face and did the best she could to wipe the away. Moving to sit on his lap, she threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself flat against him, trying to get as close as she could. He cried on her shoulder, soaking her his hoodie and crushing her with his arms around her waist. They stayed like that for a while, until Charles stopped crying. She scratched his head to calm him down and after some time, he did. In a painfully soft whisper, he admitted his fear to her. "I'm going to be a terrible Papa".

"Don't say that. We both know that's not true". Shushing him, she pulled away and grabbed his face, forcing him to look at her. "Is this about the crib?".

"I've been fighting this crib for four days. Our baby is going to sleep on the floor and it's all my fault". She laughed and for a moment, she regretted it, seeing the hurt in his eyes. She calmed down and pecked his lips.

"Charlie, our baby has barely formed their ears yet, you have more than enough time to figure this out". He didn't look convinced at all.

"But what if I don't?". She smiled at him.

"I know you will. Do you want to know why?". He nodded and she ran her fingers through his hair to move it away from his face, so they could look into each others eyes and make him believe her. "Because you already are the best Papa in the world, Charles".

He won against the crib just in time to catch up with the worst part of the cravings period. They were into the fourth month of pregnancy and the little bump was proudly starting to show. Charles couldn't keep his hands away from it. He was constantly touching the bump, kissing the bump, talking to the bump, even scolding the bump whenever he saw some discomfort tinting his girlfriend's face. In the paddock he practically forced her to go everywhere with him and on interviews he answered every question while looking at her. He insisted on people staying at least ten centimeters away from her and he even took upon himself the task of preparing every meal she ate, just to make sure that it was safe and she didn't get food poisoned. He checked places' and foods' temperatures, chairs' and couches' safety, if her shoes were properly tied (at least 20 times a day), the only thing missing was him wrapping her on bobble wrapping. He safety proofed the every hotel room they stayed in so she wouldn't 'accidentally hit the bump against unknown furniture in the dark'. At some point, she had to put a stop to the madness, specially when Charles' newly-daddy paranoia messed with her cravings.

"Amour, what are you eating?". He asked when he caught her hiding with Lando and Max behind the Red Bull garage, a massive greasy half eaten hot dog on her hands. Lando was opening a mayonnaise sachet with his teeth and Max was feeding her french fries with his bare hands, all three of them sitting on the floor. It wasn't exactly the most sanitary situation, but the fuzzy feeling she felt inside her chest thanks to that hot dog made it all worth it. Charles could swear he had an aneurysm just by the sight of it all. "Where did you get that?".

"Uhm...". Her and Lando looked at Max, waiting for him to answer, since he was the one who brought it.

"Well... It's from a professional, I can assure you that, Charles". The monegasque frowned and Max swallowed, scared, just to find out his mouth was completely dry. He wasn't an easily scared guy, but something about Charles' over-protective-dad mood just terrified him.

"And where's the professional's place? Can you show me?". Max, still sitting on the floor, looked at everything but Charles.

"Oh, you see-".

"It's from the stand outside of the paddock". Lando blurted out, followed by him covering his mouth with both his hands and the three of them heard Charles growl.

"Max did you just feed my pregnant girlfriend a hot dog from a dirty street-stand? YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THE PERSON WASHES THEIR HANDS-"

"They definitely don't, I mean, they don't have where to".

"Lando, you're not helping me, mate". Max advised, not moving his eyes from the fuming Charles above him. Then the pregnant girl decided to intervene.

"Charlie, babe, it's okay. I asked him to buy it for me". Charles then looked at her, his gaze softening a little, but still angry.

"Amour, you know that's not good for you". He walked to her and hooked his arms under hers to help her off the floor.

"But the baby wanted it". Max still followed Charles, afraid of what the future father could do to him for messing with his unborn baby's diet. Lando stayed very still, hoping to make himself invisible. "I was just craving this so bad! And you never let me have this type of food. The baby is fine, I promise".

"Don't do that face, it's not fair". He complained when she gave him her best puppy eyes. She didn't stop, and he finally dropped the attitude. "Okay, maybe we can make some room for a hot dog once in a while. But you have to keep eating healthy, we don't want the little Tifosi to come out malnourished".

"Yay!". She squealed and hugged him tight, the hot dog almost falling from her hand. Charles hugged her back and then directed his gaze towards the other two drivers.

"And you two". Max and Lando looked at him wide-eyed. "This better be the last time you pull off something like this. Did I make myself clear?".

"Yes, sir". Both said at the same time and got up from the floor.

"Okay, go on. And think about what you did". They nodded their heads, Max handing the girl the fries and then walking away with Lando.

"I like you daddy-voice". Charles shrugged at her comment.

"Amour, don't call it that or I won't be able to use it without laughing".

Charles' paranoia got better. He calmed down a little, but then the fear of being a bad father came back. Around the seventh month, already knowing they were having a boy, Charles found himself with insomniac. At the beginning of the pregnancy he was scared of not knowing what to do to take care of a baby's basic needs: bottle feed, change diapers, help him to sleep, and things like that. But as the date of the delivery got closer, Charles' fears shifted to the more existential type. What if he was unable to guide his son through life? What if he failed on teaching him good values and a strong sense of ethics? What if he ended up raising a spoiled kid, arrogant and narcissistic? What if he couldn't make his boy happy? What if his kid hated him? Those questions kept him up at night, turning over and over on the bed, and cold sweat covering his body. He would walk to the baby's room and look at the painting his girlfriend did on the walls, the name 'Jules' written on lilac on a clear sky, over the race track so carefully crafted. What if his son didn't want to race cars? What if he was forcing him to do so when he wasn't even born? Sitting on the rocking chair, he would look out the window, the yachts at the bay clearly visible from there. What if his son didn't like Monaco? What if his son would rather adopt his mother's nationality and culture over his? The dark sky adorned with shinny little dots would look back at him without answers.

"Charlie? Why are you up, love?". He heard his girl's sleepy voice call out to him from the doorway. He smiled at her, his eyes glossy as he fought the tears that wanted to escape.

"Just thinking, Amour. Don't worry". He gave her his best smile, but she could read his real feelings underneath it. "Go back to bed, I'll join you in a minute".

"I think we love each other enough to cut the bullshit, babe". She walked further into the room and stopped in front of him, her big belly at his face's height, and he couldn't help but reach forward and kiss it. "What is it?"

"It's... it's just a lot and it's late. Don't worry, really-"

"Charles, I'm not sleeping until I'm convinced that you're alright". He sighed, and pulled her to his lap. The weight was a little bit more than what he was used to, but he loved that, it made it impossible for him to overlook the fact that his baby was there, with them. He made her rest her back against his chest and rocked he chair, hugging her tight against him and resting his chin over her shoulder. They both looked out of the window and she patiently waited for him to tell her what was going on inside his mind.

"I'm scared. I feel this huge responsibility over Jules". She smiled, loving whenever they talked about their baby using the name they choose for him. "I just want to be a good Papa, but I'm so scared of messing up, of making the wrong choices, of using the wrong words, of leading him in the wrong direction. What if I don't raise him right? If I'm not a good role model?"

"Well, you're not alone in this, Charlie, I'm with you till the end of the line. Like Bucky and Steve. I know that we'll be alright. I just know it". She sounded so sure of herself. He wished he could be that sure about everything.

"How do you do it? How do you manage to always be so sure and composed?". She laughed and he felt the baby kick under his palm, he always kicked when she laughed.

"I've been the least composed person and you know it, Charlie! I break down crying at least five times a day. You've seen that! You're the one who comforts me every time". He laughed softly, that was true, those had been some pretty crazy seven months. A true rollercoaster of emotions. And they still had two more months to go. "I know that we'll be alright because we're already asking ourselves these questions. Because we care about Jules so much that we truly take time to think things through. We are going to be alright because we love our baby and we both know we will always do the best we can for him. We won't let the bad choices from our parents be repeated and we'll make sure to copy the best from them to give to Jules. That's why I'm so sure". She turned to look at him for a moment. "I trust you to be the dad of my baby because I know how great of a human being you are, Charles".

"I love you". He said, feeling a lot better. He kissed her tenderly, and then another kick was felt under his hand. "Thanks for being here for me, Amour".

"Always, just as you had always been for me". She nuzzled her nose against his. Another kick and they both laughed. "Let's go back to bed, Papa".

The two months passed by in a blink. Charles asked Ferrari to give him a leave of absence for the first two races of the season. He wanted to be world champion, but he would rather be there when his son was born. Ferrari let him take his time, but Jules decided to be born at eight and a half months. It seemed like he couldn't wait to meet his parents, because everything happened so fast that Charles had barely had any time to react. They were having lunch at his mother's house, and he was having the best time. His girl looked amazing, all radiant and happy, her belly covered by a cute but comfortable dress, his sisters in law both touching the belly and fighting for godmother duties. Lorenzo and Charlotte were definitely the chosen ones, but they hadn't tell anyone yet, after all both Lorenzo and Charlotte were there for them when they needed them. His mother was showing him little clothes that she had crocheted for Jules and his brothers discussing which one was going to be the 'responsible uncle' and who the 'funcle'. Arthur was definitely unable to be the responsible one, so he was already chosen to be the 'funcle'. Every conversation was cut short when the faint voice of the future mama rang through the air.

"Charlie". Her shaken voice called out, and he turned around to see what she needed. There was a wet patch under her and she was grabbing her belly, a painful expression on her face. "I think my water broke".

"The baby is coming!". Arthur shouted excitedly, but Charles' brain just stopped functioning. He saw everyone running around to grab things, Charlotte and Carla helping his girl out of the house and towards his car, Lorenzo grabbing the baby bag the carried around just in case since the beginning of the last trimester, Arthur pushing him outside and his mother speaking, but he just couldn't move. H was petrified. He felt like his blood pressure had dropped in a second and if it wasn't for Arthur behind him, he would have certainly fallen to the ground. His mother took his car keys out of his pocket and then they pushed him on the back seat, next to his girlfriend. Her hand crushing his brought him back from his outer-body state and he was able to react, turning to face her and running his other hand down her arm, doing his best to sooth her.

"It's okay, mon amour. Breath, breath with me". He instructed her and he started to exaggerate his breathing so she could copy her. She did and that calmed her down enough to count the seconds between one contraction and the next. "That's it, Amour, you're doing so good". He praised her and she smiled a little, her happy expression cut short by another waive of pain. She screamed and cried, sweat covering her forehead and running down her face, mixing with her tears. It was probably the most messy she had ever looked, but he had never seen her as beautiful as in that moment. "I love you so much". He whispered it, but by the squeeze she gave to his hand, he knew for sure she was saying it back. "We're almost there, hung on a little longer".

He almost carried her out of the car and into the hospital the second Arthur parked the car. Then, they found out that she was ready to deliver in that second. Jules didn't want them to keep him waiting, she was brought to the delivery room and Charles was given surgical gown so he could join her. Inside, the whole process was quick, in 30 minutes, Jules was crying on the doctors arms and Charles could feel his heart skip a beat. Wrapped on towel and with the small hat they had for him on, Jules was passed on to his mother, who took him instantly while she cried her eyes out. Charles, still on delay with reality, was trying to process the information. That was his baby, he was finally there, he could finally touch him. The doctor walked to him, placing a hand on his shoulder, Charles couldn't stop looking at his girl and little Jules. He heard a softly "go ahead, meet your boy", and that was enough for him to place a shaking and gentle hand on Jules' head. He ran his thumb over the soft little cheek and the tears started to fall. He felt his girl's hand wipe away his tears and heard her laugh softly. She just found funny that after overreacting about every little thing for the past eight months, Charles was barely able to react that day. He was a mess in that moment, but he was the perfect mess in her eyes. The most extraordinary mess. He finally smiled and reached down to kiss her head, then he looked at Jules.

"I am your Papa, Jules. I love you. I'm so happy to finally meet you".

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I hope you guys liked this one!

[charlie-lec-stories]

Better // CL16 & MV1

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character / Max Verstappen

Summary: You can cure the enmity between Max and Charles, but never their competitive drive.

Warnings: A tiny little bit of angst, but not much. Charles and Max taking things too far (like always).

Author’s Note: A story that explores the power battles inside a poly-relationship where there are three dominant people. A little story time: I wrote this while living in Argentina -something about me, I'm Spaniard but been living in Argentina for like, forever- and since my characters were inspired by friends of mine, the characters were originally Argentinian. I'm actually too lazy to think of another nationality for the female character and also it'd take too long to change it all the time to do something more culturally neutral, so I will leave it like that, sometimes you may find some things about her being latina, but not too much, so if you'd rather ignore it, knock yourself out! Rate: +16 (inappropriate language)

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She loved them. She really did, with her whole heart, but she had never felt so tempted to throw them both out the window as right now. It started as a harmless breakfast, just the three of them, and what was just a simple comment of how much she loved the perfume Max brought for her, became the spark that ignited Charles' competitive side. He just couldn't help it, he had to say that the Channel one he brought was better on her. She never said anything about Max's being better, she just said that she loved it, because she did. Of course, Max took that personal, and five minutes later they were spraying her wrists with both perfumes and pressuring her to choose which one was better. Because that was the word that always meant trouble around them. They had fought their whole lives to settle which one of them was better and they just needed to bring that into the relationship too. Who wore the best outfit, who was a better driver, who was better at video games, who played football better, who was smarter, who read more books, who could name more capital cities, who had more points on Grill the Grid, you could make her moan first, who could unclasp her bra faster, who lasted more, who got less tired, who brought the best gifts... It was constant. At first, they would argue about it, random accusations of cheating at every game or challenge they faced, convinced that the other one simply couldn't be better. Mean comments thrown in the middle of situations that should be about love and pleasure. After a few times of Y/N simply grabbing her clothes and getting dressed again, leaving them alone in the room, they stopped arguing, but never competing.

"C'mon, mon amour. I know that you love this one". Charles insisted, caressing her hand and smiling at her.

"I do-"

"I told you". Charles cut her off to show Max who won.

"She loves mine more, that's why she wears it all the time. Right, Schat?". She just wanted to be swallowed by the earth.

"Of course I love yours-".

"More, you love it more". Max finished the sentence for her. She was not going to say 'more', she was planning on saying 'too', but it was pointless to argue. It was true, she wore Max's often, but she also kept Charles' for important occasions, it was just that both perfumes were for different types of situations. Charles' was too elegant and expensive to use it everyday, and Max's has perfect to wear on her daily basis. But they didn't want to hear about that.

"She didn't wear it for the gala last year. I don't think she likes it that much, Max". Charles was definitely looking for an argument.

"She just said it, are you deaf?". Things were escalating quickly.

She barely got out of that alive.

The next week it was race week, and they were already on edge with the competitiveness. The first free practice session went alright, Charles was the fastest, 0.011 faster than Max, and the Dutch just couldn't take it. He wanted to do better than Charles in practice two, but he just simply couldn't. When it came to speed, Charles was an expert and Max had a hard time accepting that. He complained the whole drive back to the hotel. She had agreed to go to and back from the paddock with him because they were staying at the same hotel. He talked about Charles and his powerful Ferrari engine like they were Netherlands' number one enemies, stating the he was kicking Charles' ass the next day at practice three. She just let him talk, take things off his chest. It was just Friday and they were already racing. She was competitive, you can't thrive in Formula One without competitiveness, but she did the best she could to leave that out of the relationship. Even if she wanted to win and do better than them on the sport, she was aware that love celebrates each other victories and supports through the defeats. Once back at the hotel, Max did what he always did when he felt like he had given a bad performance on the track, he searched for reassurance. Sex had been, though the whole history of human kind, one of the most primal ways of getting someone else's approval, and even if she enjoyed it, it wasn't the most healthy coping mechanism for his frustration.

"Max, we should sleep". She said while he kissed her neck and pulled at her clothes, they had barely set foot inside the room and he was already all over her. "We have practice tomorrow, and Qualifying. We need the sleep".

"I'll make you feel good and then we sleep". He kept softly pushing her towards the bed, his hand sneaking under her shirt after she didn't take it off as fast as he wanted her to. "I promise, Schat, please".

"Okay, but we can't stay up too late".

They did stay up late, and the next day she was extremely tired, the few hours she got of sleep not enough for her to be properly rested. Charles noticed instantly what they had been up to the night before. It wasn't the first time that Y/N and Max had alone time, just as he had with her sometimes or as the two men did whenever she was out with friends or back at home visiting family. But the sight of her fighting sleep and Max's big ass smirk when he passed him by just fueled Charles' most petty side. It was the implied 'I won' that made Charles furious. Max did better at free practice three and then, got pole in Qualifying. Charles ended up fourth, behind Y/N on second place and George Russell between them. Now it was his turn to be pissed. He went straight back to his hotel and sent Y/N a message, telling her that he wanted to see her. She knew what to expect, so when Charles pinned her against the door, she wasn't surprised.

"Don't. We're not doing it, Charles". He stopped attacking her collarbones instantly and looked up at her eyes. She was dead serious. "I mean it".

"Okay". Breathing heavily, he moved backwards just a few centimeters, giving her some space. "Can I ask why?". She huffed. "I know that you don't own me an explanation, I'm just curious. I promise".

"I'm just tired. I need to sleep". She looked genuinely exhausted. "I can't be the referee of your competition with Max tonight".

"I don't want to make love to you just to compete with Max, Amour". She scoffed, feeling kind of insulted.

"Tell yourself that enough and you might believe it". She was properly angry and Charles started to recognize that things were going too far.

"I'm sorry for making you feel that way". But she was way past apologies.

"You're just a pair of troglodytes!". Charles did a mental note to search for that word later, it definitely wasn't good, but he just didn't know how bad it was. "I'm sick and tired of being in the middle of your little beef. If you want to know who fucks better just go ahead and fuck each other and leave me out of it". With that, she stormed out of the room.

"Troglodytes veut dire... hommes des cavernes? Putain". (Troglodytes means... cavemen? Fuck).

They did fuck up bad.

Charles woke up the next morning with Max pounding his fist on his room's door. He checked the time before getting up, a lot earlier than when he needed to be up. He walked to the door and let Max in. His boyfriend was notoriously anxious, he kept rambling in Dutch and mixing it with some English words. From what Charles could grasp, Y/N refused to let him into her room last night and then left him on seen when he texted her goodnight. Charles already knew she was mad but for Max, she had just gotten angry out of nowhere. "We are troglodytes", Charles informed Max, who looked kind of surprised that Charles would use that word. But she was right, as a pair of cavemen, they just kept sizing each other, as if being better would make them more worthy, and through all that competition, they both lost. They had to fix it, whatever it took. If they wanted to be better so bad, then they had to do better. They sat together and thought about what they should do. Buy a gift? Make her some good dinner? Charles started writing a list of options on his phone. Max was more worried about starting on the first row with her at the race. If there was something that could scared them, it was their girlfriend driving angry. He was in trouble. At the paddock, Max and Charles were given the cold shoulder, not only by their girl, but also by Oscar and Lando, who most surely were up to date with what happened.

"Lights out and... We're racing in Hungary!". Max was forced out of the track in a blink, the Mercedes car that started next to him taking P1 and sprinting off. He went down to P3, overtaken by George too. It was kind of embarrassing, how easily she stole the race from him, just like that. Charles was close behind, in P4, and he knew that he had to build some distance because Charles couldn't be trusted with any gap. The Mercedes just flew off and Max decided to focus on keeping P3 and getting himself into the podium. P5 was Fernando Alonso, to say that Max was worried would be an understatement. He had to fight Charles while also making sure that Fernando didn't overtook them both. After his first pit stop, he got to pass George -who went down to P5- and get P2, Charles still visible on his right mirror, trying to take the inside line. They mede a little contact at the turn and Christian complained over the radio. He was in trouble, but Max couldn't do anything, the car was slow and he was doing what he could. Ferrari was so quick he could barely keep Charles at bay. GP, his race engineer, informed him that Fernando was on DRS range to the Ferrari number 16 and that the chances of the monegasque getting overtook were high. Max tried to decide: getting close to Charles and risk P2 or put some distance and then fight Fernando, who was faster than his boyfriend.

"I'll push, then focus on Fernando". He couldn't concentrate on everyone, he had to choose. Leaving Charles on his own gave Max time to build a gap with Fernando, and also made the Ferrari waste more tyre, giving him an advantage over Charles after Fernando inevitably overtook Max in a few laps. At least he could get P3.

No one was shocked when Y/N won the race, she had driven like a beast, completely untouchable. After parking her Mercedes behind the P1 sign, she ran to her team and hugged everyone. That gave Charles time to weight himself and take all of his head protections before running to her. Even if the world didn't know about Max, their relationship was public and they agreed on keeping it like that. He waited patiently for her to finish with her team and then walked to her, helping her take off her helmet and balaclava and kissing her fondly. He might be P4, but his girl won the Hungarian Grand Prix and he couldn't be happier. Max walked to them and hugged his girl, kissing the side of her head and telling her how proud he was of her. She walked out to the podium with her chest filled with pride, the Argentinian national anthem putting a smile on her face. Charles found himself proud too, as he watched his girl get her trophy and golden medal, Max standing at her right and looking at her with adoration.

The drive back to Max and Y/N's hotel was quick, them leading the way and Charles following. She was in a better mood, but she still felt like they needed to apologize properly to her for being a pair of machos, as she called them when she complained to Lando and Oscar. It was actually the brit's idea to fuel her anger to make her a menace on the track. The McLarens could barely grasp P10 there so he knew that they weren't winning that race, if he had to choose someone to get P1, he'd choose her. He made it clear: "They fight to see who's better but they never stop to consider that you could be better than them both. Doesn't that make you angry?". And damn angry she was. He wanted to watch the world burn to the ground so he could gossip about it later. "Show them who's truly the best". She walked out of Max's car not even looking back at him and completely ignored Charles, who parked next to them. They both followed to her room in complete silence. Inside, they sat on the bed and looked down at their laps, not knowing what to expect. Will she yell at them? Will she threaten with braking up? She opened a bottle of vodka from the minibar and poured 1/3 on each of the three glasses she had on the room's table, filling the rest of the glasses with orange juice. At least, if she was going to scream at them, they could down it with some alcohol. But after handing them the glasses, she never raised her voice. On the contrary, she changed her clothes in silence and sat on the little couch in front of the bed, at the other side of the room.

"I was named the most stylish person in motorsport by Vogue, trice. I have a 7 time World Champion as my mentor and Sebastian fucking Vettel as my race engineer. I can play almost every sport. I finished high school with perfect grades. I can play the viola and cello. I can sing. I have the best score on Grill the Grid. I'm the first woman to ever win a Grand Prix and the first latina to ever race a whole F1 race. I bagged Monaco and F1's golden boy and the most dominating driver of the decade. I just have to give you one kiss and you're on your knees, desperate and begging". She made a pause and Charles and Max looked up, watching her observe the bottom of her glass like it was the most interesting thing. She sighed and stood up, walking up and stopping in front of them. They looked at her from below, following her every move. She placed the glass on the nightstand and clicked her tongue, disappointment tinting her next words. "You both acted like pricks, the only things that you didn't measure against each other were your dicks, and if you did, I don't wanna know". They both looked away, blushing, the answer to that comment revealed, and she rolled her eyes. "This competition of yours has been the most pathetically macho thing you have done and you forced me to not only witness it but, also, be a part of it".

"We're sorry, Schat, we-".

"I'm not done talking. Don't interrupt". Max shut up and nodded. "What you did sucks and I should totally be mad at you for some time, but I think you learned your lesson tonight, after the demolishing victory I pulled against you". They both nodded eagerly, happy that she was forgiving them.

"Thank you, mon amour. We'll try and do better". Charles said and reached out to her, his hand coming to the back of her knee to bring her to his lap. She decide to place each leg between theirs, sitting on both Charles' left leg and Max's right. She took their faced in her hands gently, to make them look at her.

"You're welcome". They sent her their best smiles. "I know that you'll keep competing against each other to see who's better... just know that if I'm in the picture, you're always fighting for P2".

They both were well aware of that.

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Okay, since I've seen that most of you guys like this series, I'll give it priority over other stories. Thank you for reading!

[charlie-lec-stories]

McLaren Detectives Department // CL16 & MV1

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character / Max Verstappen

Summary: One day Max is totally furious with Y/N and Charles' relationship and the next he's completely fine with it, Lando is not buying it.

Warnings: Suggestive talk, Lando and Oscar rambling on conspiracy theories, Oscar being the annoying little brother, Lando being unable to mind his own business.

Author’s Note: This one is quite funny, I hope you guys like it as much as I do. Rate: +16

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Lando Norris was a simple man, he grew up with the commodities and luxuries of an upper class boy and had never in his life took a bus, but you could take away all of his privilege and he could manage to survive. He could adapt, change his ways, work his way back to the top of the chain again, whatever it took. As long as he could interact with other people on a daily basis he didn't care what happened in his life, because he was fueled by one thing and one thing only: Gossip. Nothing in this life moved Lando more than gossip, he was a sucker for it and when he was paired with Oscar Piastri in McLaren, he found someone as unable to mind his own business as himself. They could spend hours just gossiping, about their friends, other drivers, celebrities, their families, whoever lived on Earth, they always had something to chat about. And their favourite part was drama. They loved it when some scandalous situation reached their ears and they'd spend the rest of the week talking about it and trying to keep up with the updates. The rest of the people who worked with them knew they were like that and more than once they would fake drama just to watch them ramble to each other about it for days. Their capability to gossip was the main entertainment of the garage.

Of course, when Y/N, Max Verstappen's best friend, and Charles Leclerc, Max's rival, started dating, it was the biggest drama the paddock had seen in years. Max and Charles going at each other's throats every weekend was like "Keeping up with the Kardashians" for Lando and Oscar. They would try to use any chance they got to listen to the arguments and comebacks the Ferrari and Red Bull drivers would throw at the other. Lando was close with Max, while Oscar was close with Charles and Y/N, which also meant that they would usually get more information from them, making their gossip sessions even more interesting. Lando loved to hear Max complain over and over again about Charles, telling him how much of a prick the monegasque was and constantly wondering what Y/N ever saw in him. Oscar and Y/N loved ice-cream, and they would go out for it pretty often, there, she sometimes talked about how worried she was about Max and Charles fighting all the time and Oscar did what he could to help her out. On the other hand, when Oscar and Charles went to play pool on Mondays, the Australian gladly listened to his friend complain about Max and his possessiveness over his girlfriend, getting a little possessive himself. All of this made Lando and Oscar fans number one of the Max-Y/N-Charles drama developing in the paddock.

The whole season, they watched the progress of motorsports' favourite couple. From Charles flirting with Y/N at the Mercedes garage, to the last race where Y/N hugged and comforted a defeated Charles who had just lost the championship. The McLaren boys witnessed the couple's hard launch on Instagram during summer break, with a scandalous picture of them kissing on Charles' yacht, Y/N sitting on his lap and Charles shamelessly grabbing at her ass. They had a feast with the fans' reaction to the picture and they had even more fun watching Max's live, while the three of them were together grabbing a beer. The dutchman's ears going red and his eyes hyper-focused on the screen of his phone, so angry that Lando was sure some smoke could go out of his head. They also had the pleasure to watch Max call Charles "stupid" on open TV, with millions watching, followed by the FIA's response to that and Max's public, and notoriously forced, apology. They were both aware that Y/N and Charles' relationship was the thing that Max despised the most on this world. He could spend weeks rambling about why the two should break up and how terrible of a combination they were.

It was suspicious, to say the least, when the first race of the next season, Max entered the paddock along with the couple, chatting amicably and even laughing a bit. Lando and Oscar stared at the sight of the three drivers skeptically, how come they were all friends now? What crucial episode of the telenovela did they miss? Something was off. They watched as Y/N and Charles walked holding hands towards the Mercedes garage, Max chatting excitedly with his best friend not even caring about her relationship anymore. At the entrance of the german team, Charles kissed his girlfriend goodbye and Max gave her a friendly peck on the cheek, then the girl went into the garage and the two guys walked to their own garages, talking lively just the two of them all the way. The whole day, the tree of them crossed paths and exchanged some words with big grins and happy auras, all of the previous tension completely dissipated.

"I don't get it, mate. They hated each other three months ago!". Lando said to Oscar while they were chatting in Oscar's driver's room. "I just can't get it".

"Maybe they talked?". Oscar suggested.

"Nah". Lando dismissed his idea with a flip of his hand. Oscar threw a little papaya ball at him, Lando caught it and threw it back. "I met with Max plenty of times during the off season, he would had told me".

"True". The other agreed and passed the ball again. "I also met with Y/N and Charles, went to their house for dinner a lot at the beginning of the year. They would've said something".

"Maybe it's a PR thing". Lando wondered as he played with the ball before passing it back. "Like, maybe they were scolded so bad for their behavior that now they have to act like they like each other to clean up their public images".

"That actually makes sense, I mean, Max did call Charles stupid on TV". Oscar chuckled and threw the ball back at Lando. "Amazing, mate. Sometimes, you do speak some sense".

"You're so funny". Lando threw the ball harder at Oscar, hitting him on the chest as a response to the other's teasing. Oscar let a huff out at the impact and then laughed a bit, satisfied with the annoyed reaction he got from Lando.

With the resolve to find out what made the other three change their act so drastically, Lando and Oscar started trying to gather some information. They spoke with other drivers, people from Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull, friends they all had in common, even Charles' brothers and Y/N mentor, Lewis Hamilton. Little by little, they both discovered that no one knew anything about Charles and Max putting their differences aside and were as shocked as them to see them hanging out in the paddock. Lewis asked Y/N about it and she told him that nothing happened and that everything was like always, which was obviously a lie, but he didn't want to pressure her on the matter. Lando and Oscar spent four race weekends melting their brains trying to work out what happened. Lando had enough. Everything was the same? He wasn't buying that. He walked to Max and asked directly. The dutchman was as direct with his answer: "I still want to jump his throat. I'm just being civil about it".

"Is that what he said?". Oscar asked and Lando just nodded his head while he bit his apple.

"He said that and then walked away. He didn't even give me time to ask more". Oscar played with the papaya ball, that seemed to be his new favourite toy.

"That's weird".

"I agree, if there's something Max isn't, is civil". Lando added with his mouth full. They were frustrated, they had even more questions than before.

Over time, Lando kept trying to extract more information from Max, but all he got were answers like "I have a lot of self control, that's all", "Just trying hard to do the right thing", "I'm trying to make him trust me a little more", "Just want to be close to Y/N again", and things like that. But there was a conversation that put Oscar and Lando on edge. They were discussing the Qualifying session, one where Max got pole and was closely followed by Y/N, Lando on third place. Y/N was explaining that she didn't like the circuit, she felt like every lap she was learning new information and she just could never feel like she was familiar with it. That led to talking about perceptions and how other things like lights and unnecessary noises could divert your attention from what's right in front of you. "Sometimes you need someone to remove everything you don't need so you can finally see clearly". Max said and he placed his hand on her hip, squeezing it lightly. Lando noticed the motion instantly. Max's eyes went from Y/N to behind her and the brit followed his gaze, landing on Charles, who was talking with George Russell and Alex Albon. The comment, the possessive squeeze, the way he so intensely looked at Y/N and then Charles, Lando felt a chill down his spine. Not a good one.

"You're crazy, mate. You finally lost it". Oscar said as he shook his head, shutting down the possibility right there and then.

"Think about it!". Lando paced back and forth on the little room, running his fingers through his hair. "He wants to get close to her again? Someone has to remove the things she doesn't need so she can see clearly? He believes that he's doing good at self control?". Oscar replayed the phrases inside his head. They did look suspicious.

"He still wants to jump Charles' throat...". Lando stopped on his tracks at Oscar's addition.

"We need to do something". There was this weight on their shoulders now that they finally understood Max's intentions. "Max is a great lad, we can't let him turn into a...". Lando struggled with the word, so he whispered it. "A killer".

They both agreed on that, they couldn't let Max go on with his plan of eliminating Charles. They liked them both, they weren't losing their friends just because they couldn't see eye to eye about their relationship with Y/N. They took turns to follow Max around, the only free time being when they had to focus on their jobs. They knew that Max wasn't killing Charles in the paddock, with so many possible witnesses. Every night, they both followed Max to his room and stayed there, hiding in a corner of the hotel hallway for an hour, making sure he wasn't coming out. Oscar even went to the extent of suggesting Charles getting bodyguards, when the other asked why, Oscar just ran away, leaving Charles extremely confused. Every chance they got, they did what they could to keep Max away from Charles, which was kind of hard since the dutchman was constantly following the couple around and trying to chat with them. Lando ended up running out of excuses to pull Max away and they understood that they had to do something about the situation.

One particular night, they followed Max to his room as always, but after 45 minutes, they saw him go out again. He wasn't wearing his usual Red Bull attire, instead, he wore black clothes, sunglasses and a cap, the hood of the hoodie covering his head. If they didn't know better, they would have never guessed it was Max. He went straight to the stairs and they followed him quietly, already suspecting where he was going. Oscar stopped to grab two brooms from a service room and Lando frowned at him. "We may need weapons", was what the Aussie said and Lando took one while scoffing. They hid at the stairs, watching Max stop on front of Charles' room. For insurance matters, Y/N stayed at another hotel, with the Mercedes crew, so Charles was most surely alone in the room, it was the perfect opportunity to kill him. First time in the season Red Bull and Ferrari stayed at the same hotel. Max looked around and opened the door as quietly as possible, walking in and shutting the door behind him.

"We need to go in, now!". Oscar said and tried to run off to the door, Lando grabbed him and pulled him back behind him.

"We need a plan. Let me think". Was he actually ready to stop his friend from killing another of his friends? He had never physically fought anyone, could he really stop a murder?

"Fuck a plan, we have to save Charles!". Oscar ran again and this time Lando followed him. They stopped at the door. There was music playing inside and they could faintly hear Charles' voice.

"No, Max, wait. Wait!". That was it, they were barging in.

"No, Max! DON'T DO IT, DON'T KILL HIM". Oscar screamed as they ran into the room with their brooms up, ready to attack. What they didn't expect was finding Max on his knees, in front of Charles, trying to undo the button of his jeans. "Oh... OOOH!".

"Putain de merde!". (Holy shit!). Charles cursed as he pushed Max's hands away from his body and backed away. Max fell backwards. Lando covered Oscar's eyes, they dropped the brooms. For a second, the room fell silent.

"Kill him?". Max asked, confused.

"I think we misread the situation...". Lando added, then, he thought about Y/N. "I can't believe you could do something like this to Y/N". He sneered.

"Are they decent?". Oscar asked, his eyes still covered. Lando removed his hand.

"It's not what you think-". Max started, but Lando cut him off.

"Oh, sure, you were just checking if the zipper of his jeans worked fine, weren't ya?". Oscar shook his head slowly, backing Lando up on his disappointment.

"Don't give me that look, you two barged in with brooms asking me not to kill Charles". Max said. "Sucking him off is way better than killing him". Lando saw Oscar make a face, like he was actually considering Max's point, he elbowed the younger driver and made him go back to his disappointed posture.

"We promise, it's not what you think". As Charles was saying that, the bathroom door opened, Y/N walking out with a blue and red lingerie set. She opened her eyes wide when she spotted to kids that weren't supposed to be there. Lando covered Oscar's eyes, again.

"Okay, I'll give it to you. It definitely wasn't what we thought". Y/N was still there, shocked. "Please, get dressed, there's a baby in the room".

"It's me, I'm the baby". Oscar added, his hands coming up over Lando's to make sure he didn't see anything. Charles ran to Y/N and covered her with his Ferrari hoodie that was close to the bathroom. Lando lowered his hand and Oscar opened on of his eyes to peek if it was safe, he then opened the other one.

"We fixed our problem". Max explained.

"We can see that". The brit stressed.

"We're uhm... all together?". Lando and Oscar looked at Charles when he added his comment. "We've been... you know".

"Fucking?".

"Among other things". Y/N corrected Lando. The two McLaren boys just nodded, synchronized. "We're happy like this, all together. We'd appreciate it a lot if you could keep the secret for us". Lando and Oscar smiled and nodded again.

"Of course, we will". They grabbed their brooms and got ready to leave. "We'll leave you to it".

"Thanks". Max said, the two were going out when he called them again. "And guys...". They turned around to look at him. "Don't play detective again. Do us a favor and buy yourselves a board game".

"Copy that". Oscar gave them a military salute and Lando just smiled. Outside, they both ran back down the stairs as fast as they could, giggling like teenagers. On the street, they kept laughing uncontrollably, walking back the three blocks to their own hotel.

"Mate, we're not gossiping anymore". Lando said, knowing pretty well that they will keep doing it.

"Deal". The rest of the way they just kept laughing and then, at the hotel, they went to their respective rooms, calling it a night. While lying in bed, Lando just couldn't sleep, repeating the night in his mind and giggling, there were a lot of sexual jokes and remarks he needed to let out. He went to grab his phone to text Oscar, ready to gossip again, when it vibrated on his hand. Lando laughed out laud at the message:

Oscar: "Can you top when there are two other people?".

Lando: "Dunno mate, but's gonna be a hell of a challenge to guess the bottom".

Oscar: "Challenge accepted".

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Well this one is a lot of fun! I thought Lando and Oscar were perfect for this one. Thank you for reading!

[charlie-lec-stories]

Hand written letters // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Summary: Y/N, a pretty cold and moody woman, has the hardest shell to break through, but Charles will take his time if he has to.

Warnings: Descriptions of child abuse, character death (not Charles or Y/N), descriptions of mental health issues.

Author’s Note: This one is kind of sad at many points, but it's a wholesome story after all. Rate: +16 (descriptions of violence)

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"Cold hearted bitch", that was the most heard opinion about Y/N around the paddock and the media. When she first started driving for Red Bull everyone thought that she fitted right in with their "bad boys" particular brand, but with time, people discovered that she could be even more ruthless and mean that Max Verstappen himself, who could be extremely hurtful if he put his mind into it. Y/N literally scared people away. She didn't care about how she delivered the message as long as it was delivered and people's feelings weren't her first concern. She wasn't violent, she never raised her voice or threatened anyone, but there was this aura of danger around her that naturally frightened people. Christian Horner, Red Bull's principal, loved that. It w the perfect trait for a world champion and, to that point, competing against each other was the only way for Red Bull to compete with anyone at all. They were fully dominating the sport and things were getting boring. Max and Y/N had a good relationship with each other, but even Max was kind of scared of her, always rethinking what he wanted to say before letting anything out, which was something that he never did with anyone else.

It was common knowledge that Y/N grew up as an orphan, raised in the system along thousands of other kids like her. She wasn't open about that, but being famous means losing any privilege of privacy you have, so everyone knew where she came from. Red Bull Academy found her at 15, after she stole a car and the police had to do the pursuit of their lives to catch her. She learned to drive at 13, with one of her temporary tutors, not exactly a good guy. The sole purpose of teaching her that was to have someone tall enough to be the driver of the get-away car, and he rather have her driving than using a gun. The whole thing was shown on TV and Red Bull contacted the judge immediately to ask for her release under their supervision. She was still in the system but, in exchange for good behavior and finishing school, Red Bull would cover her whole tuition as a driver. She excelled everyone's expectations, but her interpersonal interactions were terrible. The only people she got along with were the other kids from the orphanage where she remained living in until she turned 18. Jenna was her closest friend and a terrible influence, she would constantly drag Y/N into trouble and more than once, it meant Y/N being on thin ice with Red Bull Academy. Many instructors tried to convince her to cut loose Jenna, but Y/N refused, the girl was the only family she ever had.

Charles held his first proper chat with Y/N when she moved to F2. He was 19, it was going to be his last year in the category, and she was 18, just fresh out of the system. She ignored him the first three times he tried to speak to her. He was like a golden retriever, he just wanted everyone to like him, but she was like the most feral cat on Earth. After three races without luck he gave up but, surprisingly, she was one of the firsts to approach him when his father died. She didn't do it personally, she sent him a letter, something he found rare since no one wrote letters anymore. It was handwritten and he knew she had wrote it because he had seen her lettering before. The letter was short but he found the gesture incredibly sweet. She just wrote a quote from the poet Thomas Campbell:

"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die".

No condolences, no "I hope you feel better", no more words than that, hand written on an old paper and he wondered if it belonged to that notebook she always carried around. If he was correct, that made the whole thing a lot more special, she notoriously loved that notebook. He kept the letter and had it framed to hang it in his house. He tried to thank her for it, but she completely ignored him again. She was had to understand for him, nonetheless, it made her even more appealing to him. He wanted her to be his friend.

They never became friends, he moved onto F1 in 2018 and she stayed in F2 for another 3 years, replacing Alex Albon at Red Bull from the 2021 season and on. By that time, Charles was just as scared of her as the rest, but he still saw potential, so once in a while he tried to get close. He would approach her before interviews, offer her some of his lunch, ask her about her car, everything. She would just simply look at him uninterested, like he was most likely bothering her. He started noticing that she read a lot of book: poetry, history, art, technical, academic, fantasy, music. You name it, she probably read it. Charles started reading as much as he could too. It hurt him to see her alone all the time, he wanted to find something to make her click, that way he could sit next to her and keep her real company, doing something she actually likes. It took him years for her to al least answer back to some of his approaches. He started walking up to her to ask for book and music recommendations, and she seemed to engage to that easily. He would read and listen to everything she suggested as quickly as he could, and then he discussed that with her. He learned that she liked poetry, but that the academic papers related to psychology and sociology were her favorites. Charles wondered if her particular interest about society and its work had anything to do with the way she grew up. He was happy, he couldn't say that they were friends, but she wasn't pushing him away anymore and he would take that as a win.

On the summer break of her fourth year in F1, he asked her out for a drink and she said yes. He never expected her to do so, but he was glad she did, it seemed like all his persistent work finally got him into her circle of trust. It would be the first time ever they would meet outside of the paddock, and that was important for Charles. It meant progress. They went out to some pretty private bar in Monaco, Charles always careful about his words and that him got a glint of how funny and nice she could be when she relaxed and let her guard down a little bit. What started as friendly and innocent, became flirtatious quite fast. Before they knew it, they were at his apartment, making out on his bed and giggling and smiling like teenagers. They already had their shirts off and he was about to unclasp her bra when her phone rang. He told her to ignore it, kissing and biting her neck to persuade her, but she knew that the ringtone was Jenna's, and she expected nothing good from that. She sat on the bed, grabbing her phone and picking up, and Charles got the chance to look at her back in the dim light. She had marks all over it, belt marks, covering her whole. They were all old, he could tell, but there were some that looked way older than others, the unfiltered truth of how the terrible childhood she had. He understood then just how hard it must have been for her to simply trust anyone. She grabbed her shirt quickly and put it on, promising the other person on the phone that she'll be there as soon as possible. Her mood changed completely, she went back to cold and emotionless, telling him that she had to go and nothing else. He didn't get a chance to say goodbye before she was out of his room, faster than the speed of light, the sound of the front door of his apartment haunting him the rest of the night.

He spent the whole summer break holding onto his phone, waiting for a call, a text, even a social media notification, but she never contacted him. He wanted to call her, to check up on her, but he feared he could be crossing a line. He met up with Max, who was the only one that had a decent relationship with her, aside from him, and asked for advice. The Dutchman was as lost as him. It turned out that Max had encouraged her to go out with Charles, partially sure that she liked him, partially because it was hard to know for sure what went through her head most of the time. After the date, Max never heard from her and he suspected that the date just had gone bad. Charles told him that everything went great actually, still he also added about the mysterious call and how moody she was after it. They went over the numbers again, three weeks had passed and none of them knew anything at all. Worried, Max called Christian, who also confirmed that she was MIA, and since Y/N was such a private person, they didn't know who else to call for information. They had no other option but to wait for a few more days until everyone reunited at Zandvoort. Charles, frustrated, waited, but he just needed to know what happened and if she was alright. He looked at the letter hanging on his wall everyday and thought about her, about the marks, the cold look she threw everyone and how soft her gaze was that night, while she told him about her cat and the new trick it learned. She could be so endearing and kind. He thought about how gentle she was while kissing him, as if she wanted to go easy on him, to be careful. At first, he just wanted to be her friend, but after that he couldn't go back to friends anymore.

Zandvoort finally came, and Charles got there early to make sure he could catch her. He muted everyone around him, staying close to the main entrance of the paddock and waiting for her. She had to show up, Red Bull never said anything about replacing her, but after two hours, she was nowhere to be found. It didn't make any sense, she was never late. He was about to go looking for Christian to convince him to report her missing when he saw a car pulling up at the drivers' parking lot. A sigh of relief left him when he saw her came out of the driver's side. It wasn't her old sport car, the white Lamborghini, it was a BMW black SUV. He also noticed that she looked different, her hair was shorter and dyed a chocolate shade, instead of her previous long blonde; her clothes were a more smart-style, navy blue satin pants with a white blouse, not her typical tank tops and baggy jeans. She opened the back door and a blond boy not older than 10 came out, followed by an equally blonde little girl around 6 or 7. She said something to them, and after that they grabbed each other's hands and waited by the car while she walked to the other side. From the car, she brought another boy out, younger than the other two and with brown hair. Then, she moved away from the car with a baby that she carried on her arms. The older kid took a bag out of the trunk and handed it to her, she hung it from her shoulder and took the brunette's hand, while the older kid grabbed the other little kid's hand. All together, they walked to the main entrance, the kids scanning their on paddock passes themselves while she made sure they walked trough the turnstiles safely. She spotted him through the mass of people, but as quickly as their gazes met, she looked away, carrying the kids along with her on her way to the Red Bull garage.

He did a hell lot of interviews and some of them gave him the chance to cross paths with Y/N. She was like a whole new person, talking to the press in a relaxed and sympathetic manner, answering questions without looking bothered or bored. He tried to catch up with her a few times, but she slipped away every time. He found Max, who was as surprised as he was, not even being able to explain to Charles anything. They both went to Christian and he wasn't helpful at all, he told them that Y/N was the one that had to decide if she wanted to open up about everything and she didn't authorize questions about the kids to the press, so he was sure that it wasn't his place to talk about it himself. Once Friday was over, he went straight to his hotel and tried to think about what to do. He didn't want to pressure her into tell him anything, but he wanted to let her know that he was there for her. No one becomes a mother of four over-night, something must had happened. He laid in bed, thinking, until he finally came up with something. He went to his suitcase and pulled out a paper and a pen.

" Just in case you ever foolishly forget, I'm never not thinking of you".

He knew that her and the kids were staying at the same hotel as him and with new found resolution, he walked to their door and slipped the note with the Virginia Woolf quote under it. He heard some movement on the other side and the kids running around and went back to his room.

The next morning, he went to the paddock with a more hopeful aura. Maybe she would walk to him, telling him that she received his message and that she wanted to resume what they left on a cliff hanger the last time they met. She was already in the paddock when he arrived, but once again, he was completely ignored again. Kind of hear-broken, he went to his garage, where he found a note on his car:

"The hottest love has the coldest end".

Okay, it was a pretty depressive quote from Socrates, he didn't expect that, but it was still an answer, a for of communication between each other. He had to keep the conversation alive, so he ran to his driver's room and looked for paper and a pen. Thinking about everything he read before, all the books and music they discussed together, he tried to find a quote that could summarize what he wanted to tell her. He could understand by the quote that she was sad and saw no point in letting him in. He tried to think about a quote that expressed happiness and love, all at the same time, something to show her that he wanted to make her happy:

"The supreme happiness of life is the conviction that we are loved".

Les Miserables, by Victor Hugo, was one of those books that they particularly enjoyed together. There was no way this quote couldn't work. He folded the paper and kept it close to himself. He spent the rest of the day trying to get close to her. They bumped into each other a few times, but there was no private moment to give her the letter. Closing up to the time for Qualifying, he decided to be bold and stop looking for the right moment. They were on the round of press between FP3 and the time of truth, he was finishing up when he asked the press who they wanted to talk to next. Someone said Y/N and he ignored completely that other people asked for different drivers, he smiled from ear to ear before going to get her for them. She was a few meters away, Charles walked up to her, placed his hand on her back and told her that there were people asking for her. She murmured a soft "thanks" and walked past him. He grabbed her hand, the letter making contact with her palm and making her look at their locked hands. He wished her good look and left the paper on her hand, walking away and leaving her standing there, the little paper burning her fingers.

She was visibly affected by the note for the rest of the day, her qualification was great, as always, but the sweet and relaxed façade that she showed the day before was falling apart. Charles could see that she was trying to decide what she wanted to do and he chose to give her some space to think. He avoided her the rest of the day and tried to focus on the race the next day. He went back the hotel around 2 in the morning, after a tiring meeting with the strategy team, they definitely needed to change that team, he was doing all of the work himself at that point. Exhausted and kind of moody, he stopped on his tracks when the elevator doors opened and he found Y/N at his door, sliding a paper under it. It was like catching your parents placing the presents under the three on Christmas, like catching someone doing something naughty. She quickly straightened up and turned around to face him. Charles walked up to her, slightly caging her against the door so she wouldn't run away. She was trying to escape when he decided to let her know that the game was over, that they were solving this puzzle right there and then. He opened the door, the one she was still resting against and she tumbled backwards inside, stepping on her letter in the process.

It was a little paper, definitely from her notebook. Charles closed the door behind him and picked it up:

"(...) loved for ourselves—say rather, loved in spite of ourselves".

That was easy to understand. It was the following part of the quote he sent to her, telling him what he already suspected: She didn't believe that she deserved to be loved. While he looked at the letter, her gaze was was fixed on the ground, as if being present while he read the quote was something made her feel ashamed. They had made out before, but admitting that you have low self-esteem is a more vulnerable situation than any other Charles could think of, so he understood. Placing the letter on the table next to the door, he decided not to wait anymore, he walked up to her a kissed her, no words needed. She was kind of taken aback at first but after that first shock, she kissed back as deeply as him, her arms around him like they belong there, his hands firmly grabbing her face. He was afraid of breaking it, but he knew that they had to sort things out. He wanted something more and they couldn't grow old together solely relying on letters. He pulled away, grabbing her hand and guiding her to the bed. He laid back on it, tugging at her hand to silently ask for her to join him, which she did. With her head resting on his chest and his hand mindlessly running up and down her arm, he finally asked about the call. She barely answered him with a whispered "Jenna died" and Charles automatically placed a kiss to the top of her head. He knew that it wasn't enough to take away her pain, after all, he knew that Jenna was the only family she ever had, but he hoped that he could at least make her feel like she wasn't alone. They stayed like that for a while, until she moved her arm to reach to her back pocket, and pulled a folded paper out of it. She handed him the paper and fixed her position on the bed, hugging him at the middle and burying her face on his chest. He unfolded letter and started reading it to himself:

"Dear Y/N: I feel like I should start this letter with an "I'm sorry", but more lies it's not what you want to hear right now, so I'm going to start with a "Please, forgive me". Please, forgive me for everything I did to you over the years. Please, forgive me for forcing you to babysit me our whole lives, and please, forgive me for making you babysit my own kids too. Please, forgive me for all the times I did drugs and all the times I asked you to do them with me. Please, forgive me for ever putting you in the position of having to choose between Red Bull and me, and for every time I endangered your future with them. Please, forgive me for using you so many times, for taking your money and never giving it back, for every time I choose to stay by your side because it was the smart decision and not for love or loyalty. Please, forgive me for never being there for you, for not backing you up about the Petersons and for not being a good friend to you when you needed me to. Please, forgive me for getting pregnant 4 times and each one make you pay for the fees, for asking you for money so many times and for never try to look for something to do to provide for myself and my kids. There are a lot of things I need you to forgive me for, and I know I don't deserve it, but the thing I regret the most is what I'm doing tonight. Please, forgive me for ruining your first time ever to go on a date with someone who cares about you, for doing this the same night you go out, for probably being the reason your night is ruined now. But I have to do it today, I have to do it now, because if not, I'm probably not going to do it ever, and I can't keep going like this anymore. I can't keep going knowing that I hurt you, the only family I have. I can't keep going knowing that you hate me for everything I've done to you. I know that I don't deserve any mercy from your end, but please, don't let the kids go to the system. Please, give them the life I could never give them. Ps.: As proof of how much I mean everything I said on this last letter, I left something I stole from you when we were younger. Something that you had to make the Petersons' pay for what they did to you and that I took because I didn't want to lose my place of privilege in that house. The tape is on the second drawer. I know that the crime hasn't proscribed yet, you can still get justice for yourself. Please, forgive me for keeping that from you too. Jenna."

Charles let the letter down, a long sight leaving him as he took all of the information in. He waited for her to open up, to give some context to the letter Jenna left for her. After a few deep breaths, Y/N explained everything to him. She told him how she found out before their date that Jenna was stealing money from her, and how she faced Jenna about it. How they agued and Y/N was in a terrible mood, because the argument was distracting her from her date with him. How she told Jenna that she was a horrible person and that now that she found great people who treated her with respect - "great people" meaning Charles - she understood that she didn't need to keep up with her shit anymore. How Jenna told her to go fuck Charles and that she was a bitch for caring more about a dick than her life-long best friend. How Jenna confessed that it was her who told the orphanage that Y/N was lying when she called out the Petersons, a temporary family of them both, for hitting her with a belt and making her live like a dog. For some reason, the Petersons loved Jenna and hated Y/N, and Jenna confessed that she lied to the orphanage's director so she wouldn't be removed from that house. Y/N had filmed them with an old VHS camera, but the tape was lost and she could never show that proof to anyone.

Y/N told Charles how she yelled at Jenna and told her that she hated her. How she told her to lose her number and never speak to her again, how she told Jenna that she was an ungrateful bitch and that she didn't deserve any good in life. How she told Jenna to make her kids a favor and disappear from the face of the Earth as she walked out of the apartment, and how Jenna's painful look at her made her regret her words instantly, but her hurt and pride forced her to swallow her apology. She told him how she went back home and did what she could to feel better for their date and how she literally forgot about Jenna while she was with him. She finally told him how Jenna called her that night again, asking for her to go to her apartment because she needed to apologize to her. How she initially said yes, but once she was out of Charles' apartment, she changed her mind and went back home, not wanting to explain anything to Charles by coming back in but also not wanting to go to Jenna's. How Jenna called her again around 5 am, her words slurred, as she apologized for everything over the phone. How she drove to the apartment to find her lying on the floor of her room, how she had to keep the kids out of the place as she called the police and did what she could to bring Jenna back. How she failed and how guilty she felt about that. How she ended up taking the kids in with her and how much of a betrayer she felt when the oldest, Oliver, told her that she was a better mother than Jenna after a week living with her.

Charles listened attentively to every word she said and understood why she felt like she didn't deserve anything, and even less, with him. In her mind, Jenna died because she told her to disappear and went on date with him. She felt guilty because she was happy while her friend was back home, planning on leaving this world. Yes, her words were terrible, and yes, she crossed a line, but Jenna didn't do what she did because of her words, she did it because of her own heavy feeling of guilt. Jenna did hurt her and it was understandable if she was angry. After all, Jenna wasn't the only one who faced an abusive environment and she wasn't the only one affected by trauma. He learned that Christian and some other people from Red Bull's highest places on the chain backed her up for the custody of the kids and that she won a temporary one, and they promised secrecy about the whole situation. In one night, her life turned around and she wanted him out of that mess. She wanted to keep him safe. Charles had so much he wanted to say, he just didn't know where to start. He was sure that he loved her, it didn't matter what she said, what she thought she was guilty of. To him, it didn't matter if she made mistakes, if she regretted words, if she wasn't perfect. He loved her nonetheless, and he wanted to make her happy and help her love herself once and for all. She didn’t give him any time to day anything though, right after she finished telling him everything, she ran away from the room. Again.

The next day, when Y/N walked to her car, she found Charles standing next to it, a little paper in his hand. She walked to him and read the letter. There, she understood that he loved her, not matter what, and finally let him in, sealing a deal of a happily after-ever-after with a kiss that they'll remember till the last day of their lives. To the ground, fell the paper that meant the start of everything:

"To fall in love is to create a religion that has a fallible god".

Jorge Luis Borges.

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It's a long one, took some time to edit it, but it's one of the saddest, most psychologically complex storied I have ever written. Enjoy!

[charlie-lec-stories]

One too many // CL16 & MV1

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character / Max Verstappen

Summary: When you have one too many it's great to have two boyfriends.

Warnings: Alcohol, suggestive dancing, suggestive talk, wholesome Charles and overprotective Max.

Author’s Note: I almost forgot I wrote this, the Vegas GP reminded me of it, took a while to edit but is finally done. Rate: +16 (descriptions of violence)

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"It's Friday theeeeeen... Then Saturday, Sunday, WHAT?!".

Her silver dress moved around as her hips skillfully followed the tempo of the song. She was an incredible dancer, Max and Charles loved that about her and they equally loved the little shows they got to enjoy whenever she decided that the world was worthy of seeing her dancing on a table under the ever-changing lights of some club. What they didn't love was how unable she was to say no, and when Lando gave her another drink and she accepted it gladly, they both knew that they were in for a long night. Max had to drink some himself to stop the urge of going to that table, pick her up and take her home and Charles was just following her around, letting her be while also trying to keep her safe. They both had different approaches to the relationship, they had no trouble sharing with each other, but Max had a hard time with outsiders. He hated when other people looked at Charles or Y/N, he was convinced that everyone had second hand intentions and was constantly worried that someone could just not care about boundaries. This fear was mostly with Y/N, since she wasn't only a woman but also an eye-catching one. Men were trying to win her over all the time and he was sure that she'll never cheat on him and Charles, but the chances of crossing paths with a guy who could refuse to listen to a no made him want to keep her safe at home and never let her out again. Charles, on the other hand, had no problem with other people looking at his partners, actually, it made him quite proud. He loved to show her off and how pretty she was, and to show people how much of a champion his boyfriend was. He loved it when people would look at Y/N or listen to her talk and he could tell that they were thinking "Charles, you lucky bastard". He knew that people could be mean and sometimes disrespectful, but he loved how carefree she was and didn't have the heart to rain on her parade, so instead of trying to take her home, he just followed her around and kept an eye on her.

"And here's a Monster with vodka for you, darling". Max heard Lando say as he handed Y/N yet another drink. Enough was enough.

"No need for another drink, Schat". (Babe). He quickly grabbed the glass and moved it away from her. His British friend looked back at him frowning, probably because he didn't catch what Max said over the loud music. "You've had enough, mijn liefje". (My love).

"But Maaaaax". She whined and that only made the Dutchman feel even more sure that they had to call it a night.

"C'mon, let's go". She sighed and he helped her down the table. It was messy, she had zero balance and her dress was too short, making it harder to bring her drown without exposing her too much. Charles walked up to them to help but the monegasque's presence just made Y/N a lot less focused and she ended up falling on Max. He caught her and placed her securely on the floor, where she quickly threw herself at Charles and wrapped her arms around his neck while Max looked for her purse to finally go home.

"You are the most handsome man on Earth, Charles". She slurred her words a lot over the music, but Charles understood perfectly. He smiled wide at her. Even if she had admitted before that she used to feel like he was out of her league for years, he was the one that felt lucky that she ever laid eyes on him.

"Thank you, mon amour. You are the pretties girl ever". (My love). She giggled and he couldn't help but feel his heart warm up at the action. She was really cute when she was drunk.

"Okay, I think we're ready to go, are we?". Max asked Charles once he walked back to him with Y/N's purse in hand. The girl moved her gaze from Charles to Max and smiled drunkly at him.

"You can take me wherever you want, Maxie". She bit her lip while shamelessly checking him out and Max laughed out loud, he found her extremely funny when she flirted. She suddenly changed her expression to a frown.

"Is everything alright, Schat?".

"Bathroom". Was all she let out while she ran away. Max and Charles sprinted off behind her but she was thinner and scurried away between the mass of bodies easier than them. When they finally made it to the women's bathroom, after pushing their way though with much difficulty, she was already coming out. They were a few meters away when they saw a man approach her. They started arguing immediately and Max's protective instinct just switched on. "I said no!".

"You heard the lady, she said no". Max looked the guy up and down, putting his big frame to good use, puffing his chest out a little and feeling encouraged by Charles standing straighter next to him, ready to back him up. "Fuck off".

"Get your own bitch, dude, I found this one first". The man grabbed Y/N's wrist possessively and she started pulling her hand away, trying her best to break the grasp.

"I said fuck off. Do as you're told or I'll break your fucking face". The guy must have seen the killer glint in Max's eyes because he was letting go of Y/N's hand and running off in a second. "We're going home". He stated. "Now".

Y/N fell asleep the second they got on the Uber, she rested her head on Max's shoulder and grabbed Charles hand, sighing. They were close to their house and when they made it, they didn't have the heart to wake her up. Charles picked her up while Max paid the driver. The Dutchman opened the door to the building and they walked in, inside the elevator the space was narrow so Max covered Y/N's head the best he could so she couldn't hit it with the walls and Charles moved her a little make himself and her fit inside. They were both glad to be home, Y/N was a handful when she drank but the night went pretty good compared to others. The elevator stopped at their floor and Max unlocked the door to the loft. Charles carefully walked out and into their home, then went straight to the bedroom. He placed his girl on the bed and took off her heels. She murmured something but didn't wake up. He could hear Max in the kitchen, probably getting water and then go to the bathroom to grab an aspirin from the first aid kit. Their girlfriend was up for a hell of a hungover the next morning. He moved her to make her laid on her side and unzipped her dress. Max walked in and placed the pill and the water bottle on one of the nightstands and went to the closet to grab an old shirt for Y/N. Charles took her dress off and Max handed him the shirt, the monegasque looked back at his boyfriend with a stern look when he noticed that the shirt was a Red Bull one.

"What? She used one of yours the other night". Max defended himself, walking close to his boyfriend. Charles scoffed.

"She had her PJs in the laundry basket. They are clean now". Charles argued, both of them trying to keep their voices down.

"I won the last race. I want her wearing my shirt. Stop messing around or I'll ask you to wear one too". Charles quickly pecked Max's lips then laughed at his childish behavior, putting the shirt on Y/N anyways. The whole conversation and all the movement finally woke her up.

"Where are we?". She asked softly, Charles caressed her cheek and moved the hair out of her face.

"We are home, Amour". She smiled and grabbed his hand.

"Great. I like home". Max chuckled.

"Good to know you like home, Schat". He sat on the bed next to her and started moving at the sheets so she could get under them, but her drunken mind was going somewhere else. He felt her sneak her hands under his shirt and run her nails over his abs. "Stop playing around, you're drunk, nothing's happening tonight".

"Ugh, you're boring". She turned her attention to Charles and her hand went directly to the button of his jeans, he grabbed her hand gently and pushed her down on the bed.

"You heard Max, no action tonight, Amour". She huffed, frustrated.

"But I'm horny as fuck". Max took off his jeans and shirt, putting on some shorts he found lying around. Charles laughed when he noticed that those were his, Ferrari's logo at the edge of the right leg, but he didn't tell Max.

"No sober, no consent". Said Max as he got into bed and tugged her close to him, making room for Charles who was also taking his clothes off to get more comfortable. He grabbed some Mercedes shorts that Toto gave him as a joke-gift when he stated dating Y/N and then went to bed. If Max was wearing something Ferrari and Y/N a RBR shirt, then it was fair he wore something from Mercedes, right?

"Okay, but we have to do it in the morning". She turned around so Max could hug her from behind, while Charles laid in front of her, snuggling close. She buried her face on his chest and inhaled his scent. They moved as close as possible and fell asleep in a blink.

The light coming from the window woke Charles way earlier than he wanted to wake up, the warm feeling on his face comforting, but his eyes hurting. Y/N was still in his arms, sound asleep, and Max next to her, awake and face up, his right arm covering his eyes. They forgot to draw the curtains before going to bed but they were both too lazy to get up and fix it. Charles loved days like this, where they could stay in bed all day if they wanted to, cuddling, watching movies and chatting. They spent all of their time together, working on the same field and living together, still, he never got bored or needed time alone. He just loved to be close to them both. He knew that Max liked that too, even if he didn't express it that much. Max came from a pretty cold family, while Charles came from a warm one. His parents were lovely, and he had a close relationship with his mother, even more since his father passed away. Max, on the other hand, was kind of distant with his mother, even thought he loved her a lot, and was forced to be civil with his father, who he strongly disliked. It was weird for Max to finally end up with a family that was this warm with him, who cared so much about him. So he enjoyed every second they had together. The little family they created was Max's most precious treasure and he cherished it with his whole heat. They stayed laying on bed for a while, until Max couldn't take it anymore and got up. He draw the curtains and then went to the bathroom. Y/N moved closer to Charles and he kissed her head, she still smelled like champagne and even though he loved the smell, she still needed a shower. The sound of Max flushing the toilet woke her up and she stirred a bit, moving away from Charles. She opened her eyes and smiled at him, then she moved around to look at Max, but she couldn't find him. Charles giggled at her pout.

"He's in the bathroom". She turned around again and brushed her nose with his. He went down for a kiss but she moved away. Now it was his turn to pout.

"My breath is terrible". Max laughed from the bathroom doorway.

"Doesn't surprise me, Schat. You mixed almost everything on stock and then threw up in the bathroom". She groaned and drop her head on the pillow, closing her eyes. The two men chuckled.

"Don't laugh at me. I'm suffering". She started getting up. "I'm never drinking again".

"You said that last Monday". Charles reminded her.

"And the one before". Max added, she just flipped them off.

"Fuck you both".

"Yeah, you tried that last night". Max told her when she finally walked up to him on the doorway to the bathroom.

"Really?". She walked past him and prepared everything to brush her teeth.

"Yes. Nothing happened, of course, but you're a persistent woman, Amour". Max went back to the bed and just then noticed that he was wearing the Ferrari shorts. He groaned and Charles let out a burst of laugher, Max sending him a killer gaze. Y/N walked out of the bathroom to find Charles spread out on the bed while Max took off his shorts.

"Oh, I guess we're picking up where we left off?". She walked to Max and kissed him fondly, her minty breath mixing his. But her head started hurting and she had to step away. "Ugh, my head is killing me".

"Maybe you should sleep a little more, Schat". Max suggested, ignoring completely the effect the kiss had on him.

"Here, take the aspirin". Charles passed her the pill and the water bottle. She took them and he got up, going to the bathroom too. Max went back to the bed and Y/N swallowed the pill with some difficulty. They heard Charles brushing his teeth too and she followed Max back into bed. They started kissing again, but at some point he pulled away, knowing that they all needed more sleep to recover from the night out.

"I want to be in the middle again". She told him and Max rolled his eyes.

"You're so needy". She hit his shoulder but he let her take his place anyways. Charles walked out and went straight back to bed. They resumed the position they were all in before.

"Can I have my kiss now? We both brushed our teeth, Amour". Y/N giggled and moved close to him, grabbing his face and pulling him in for a kiss. Their lips moved in sync for a while, until Charles started to feel the same effect Max felt before and broke the kiss. "Let's stop here and get some more sleep. You need it, Y/N".

"Okay, but we have fun when we wake up". Max chuckled behind her and kissed her shoulder.

"Of course, Schat".

They all fixed their positions to get more confortable and tried to go back to sleep again. Charles and Max grabbed each other's hand and rested them on Y/N's waist, Charles running his thumb in circles over Max's hand. The boys were almost asleep when Y/N spoke up.

"Thank you for taking care of me". She whispered it, vulnerability dripping from her words. "I know that I can be a handful". She sighed and they both hugged her tighter. "I love you both, so much".

"We love you too, Amour". Charles kissed her forehead. "You don't have to thank us for taking care of you. We'll always look after you".

"Always. No matter what, Schat".

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Okay! I hope you guys liked it! I'm in the process of editing three more stories, so more content will be uploaded soon. As always, thank you for reading.

[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 5.2: The whole truth // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: Y/N finally finds what happened with Maud. Max has to risk everything for a friend and Charles does the one thing he never wanted to have to do again.

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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"En in dit laatste geval, zijn er de afgelopen twee jaar zes mensen vermist in het bosnd". Y/N heard Mikel Horton say on the news.

"Six people, that's crazy, Max". She told him and he just grunted.

"I don't understand why people think the woods are the problem". Maud added while applying her makeup. "I know it's a maze there, but if something happens that's literally the best place to hide, no one can find you there. If people are stupid enough to get lost, that's not on the woods".

"Well, I kind of agree with that". Y/N said, Max finally looked up from his phone. "I hid there the other day, to skip Math and that horrible test".

"You hid in the woods to skip that test?". Max asked incredulously. Maud just laughed out loud.

"Mate, my mom would literally kill me if I don't pass that test".

"She's gonna kill you for skipping anyways". And to that, Y/N had nothing to say. They heard a car park in front of the house.

"It must be him!". Maud said, excited. It was 7:55 PM. With Max and Y/N's help, Maud climbed out the window.

"Have fun". Y/N said and she smiled.

"I owe you guys!". She jumped down the remaining height and ran off to the car.

She felt chills with the anticipation of finally getting to go out with Connor. The warm Spring breeze moved her dress around and gave her hair a little messy touch that actually complimented her. She jumped a little when the car window rolled down and inside, she didn't find Connor. The guy in the car was a little older, maybe in his early twenties and he gave Maud the feeling that she should go back inside. His black hair covered his eyes a little, he kind of reminded her of the emo bands Max loved so much, but when he looked at her he didn't look that threatening. He told her that he was Connor’s cousin, Martin, and that Connor got out of practice late and asked him to pick her up and take her to Connor’s house. He smiled at her and she saw the happiness get to his eyes, blue like Connor's. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and when she pulled it out she saw her date had sent her a direct message on Facebook. "Did Martin pick you up yet? He's my cousin". She answered with a simple "yes" and got in the car with Martin. They talked for a few minutes, she told him about racing and he said that he knew nothing about that, but that he gladly hear all about it some other time they meet. She smiled at that, maybe Connor really liked her, he sent his cousin to pick her up and take her to his house after all, that must meant that he wanted her to meet his family at some point. Martin started telling her about his life in Amsterdam, but then Maud noticed that they were going in the wrong direction.

"This is not the way to Connor's house, you should have turned right, not left". He looked at her and, for a fraction of a second, Maud could see him frowning.

"I just need to do a 'quickie pit-stop'". Maud felt her heart skip a beat. 'Quickie pit-stop' was something that she told Connor, one of those times they talked about races. How did Martin know that term if he knew nothing about racing? She tried to unlock the door, but for some reason, the lock wouldn't lift.

"What are you doing?" Martin asked her in harsh tone.

"I want to get out". She started pulling at the lock, desperately, but it wouldn't budge.

"What? Why?". He grabbed one of her arms while still driving.

"Stop the car, I want to get out!". With as much force as she could, she loosened his grip on her arm and tried to pull out her phone. He tried to snatch it from her and the argument turned into a fight. She did what she could to keep her phone and he tried to drive while moving his arm around, looking for it. He stoped the car in front of the woods and she took the chance to try and break the window. Martin, not having to drive anymore, finally took her phone away and threw it to the backseat. Then, he tried to keep her still, but she was fighting him with everything she had.

"Just stop it!". He yelled at her and followed that with a smack to her left cheek. Understanding that things could only get worse, Maud did what she could to jump on top of him and scratched his face as much as she could. She just tried to move fast, not giving him time to respond to her attack. Martin, on the other hand, was surprised by her fighting back. On top of him, and still attacking him with one hand, she opened his door and threw herself out of the car, falling harshly to the dirt road. Instinctively, she ran to the woods, looking for a place to hide. She could hear Martin calling for her and running not too far behind, but that only made her run faster.

The woods were dark and the little moonlight that filtered through the trees made the flowers shine. She tried to remember the type of flowers she saw, to make sure that she'll remember her path back home. The warm breeze she loved earlier became a humid atmosphere that made her sweat even more and between that and the fear she felt, her whole body was shaking. She found something that looked like a small cave and hid there, waiting for Martin to go away. She waited for what felt like an eternity, thinking about why she had to say yes to this date and how she could be so stupid to fall for all of that. All she wanted was to get back home, to turn back time and never jump out of that window. But she couldn't, and now she felt the humid air of the woods hit her skin like a thousand knives.

The minutes passed by and she thought that she was safe to get out and run back to the town. She barely made it out of the cave when a pair of hands grabbed her and threw her to the ground. She looked up, finding Martin on top of her, a pocket knife on his right hand. He never said a word and she wanted to know why. Why do this to her? Why? But she never got to ask, a sharp pain paralyzing her instantly. Maud wanted to look down, to actually see what he did to her. Looking down made it real and she wanted to forget. So she went back home, back to Max and Y/N, to her parents, to school. She went back to that morning and her mom making breakfast, the smell of the butter hitting the pan and instantly melting filled her nose. She went back to school and how excited Y/N and her were that Max was coming back from his karting race in Spain. Then to that afternoon and all the planning they made for the fake sleepover, how her best friends promised to help her choose an outfit, without even thinking that it would be the last thing she ever wore. She remembered the last hug she gave her parents before getting out of the house. She was so deep into the memory that she never felt the second stab, or the third, she didn't feel anything, just her mother's arms tightly around her frame as she breathed in her perfume. Lastly, she went to one special memory, the day she met Max. She knew that he was the one the moment she saw him, but she was so scared to ruin their friendship. She looked at the flowers, shining in the dim moonlight, all orange, yellow and purple. Closing her eyes, she let Max's blue orbs be the last picture she brought up.

Martin felt like he couldn't stop, maybe he didn't want to, he didn't know, but he had already done it. He got up and looked at the kid one more time. The mess he made was terrible for the business, but the merchandising was useless dead, so he didn't care much about that. But it was a shame, she was prettier than most. Still, there were a lot of 14 years-olds naive enough to pick up. By the corner of his eye, he saw some movement, like a shadow, and before the predators could smell the blood he decided to leave. Those woods were a lot more terrifying that he expected and now he felt more like the pry. He saw the shadow again but this time, he didn't feel threatened by it, in fact, he felt like the shadow was glad of what he did. He looked back, discreetly, and saw the shadow cover the body of his victim. A sense of safety fueled his body and gave him the strength to run back to his car, he wasn't that deep into the woods anyways. He heard some rustling behind him and stopped in his tracks to watch the body be dragged into the small cave. Assured that the evidence of his crime was erased, he finished his run to the car. He never expected to encounter the supernatural, and for sure he never expected it to help him cover up a homicide, but he was glad that he did. Back at the car, he picked up the girl's phone from the backseat and texted her friends, letting them know that she was having the time of her life with Connor and hinting that she wanted it to never end. Around 10 PM he told them to go to sleep and they told him, or their friend actually, that they were going to bed and that she should call them when she was going back to the house so they could help her through the window. He sent a smiley face and after 5 minutes turned the phone off. He drove back to Amsterdam, broke the phone and threw it away. He expertly covered his tracks and started working on the next clueless girl he could find on Facebook.

The tears in her eyes made the adjustment to the darkness of the cave a lot harder and her shallow breaths weren't enough to let the oxygen into her lungs. There was this suffocating hurt inside her chest as she felt what Maud felt that spring night, over a decade ago. She hugged the jean jacket close to her chest wishing for it to be full of life, full of Maud. The silence around the cave was deafening, like she was unable to feel anything. But then, she felt the faint touch of hand on her shoulder. Not letting go of the jacket, Y/N turned around ready to face her destiny in the hands of the shadow, but instead, she found her little friend, still 14. She looked exactly as she remembered her, her bright blue eyes and shiny blond hair, the beautiful half smile that always adorned her face was still plastered on her features, like it never left. Y/N extended her hand, slowly, afraid that the smallest of touches could make her disappear. She noticed her hand was a lot smaller, her wedding ring baggy on her finger and it caught Maud's attention.

"Your wedding was so beautiful". Maud said in a whisper and Y/N felt herself shred more tears at the sound of her voice. She missed her voice so much. "I remember how we used to talk about getting married and our weddings when we were younger. I'm so happy that you got to live that. You deserved it".

"You deserved it too". Maud smiled at that. Y/N recognized her own voice a lot higher in pitch. She understood then, they were back to were they left off.

"Max looked great. I couldn't help but think about how good he would of looked at our own wedding". They shared a bittersweet giggle.

"He still loves you, so much". Y/N could see the pain in her friend's eyes.

"I know and I will always love him, but he needs to move on. He needs to be happy. You should have never came back here. You should've stopped looking for me long ago". That confused Y/N.

"What do you mean? You came to me after the crash, you asked us to come back". Maud shook her head quickly, frowning.

"I can see you, but I could never contact you out of the veil. It was her, the shadow, she was the one that lured you here". Maud looked around, making sure they were still alone. "She's... death. The Death, or, I guess, one of them. She feeds on us, the living, every time one of us dies. She lives in the woods and, at night, she gets people and eats them. Like she ate me".

"She's been trying to eat us, all this time". Maud nodded.

"I've heard her for years, complaining that you and Max never got out of the tent. She loves it when people give into her, she doesn't like to take you, she likes to break you. She likes to get healthy people and make them... I can't even say it. She says that it tastes better". Y/N shut her eyes tight, disgusted.

"But how did she make me see you like that? She was never able to do that before". Sha had never hallucinated before, not matter how hard the trip to the woods was.

"When you died, in Qatar, you crossed the veil. She saw that and you bonded, she bonds with everyone that crosses. That bond probably went back with you when Charles and the doctors brought you back". Y/N remembered her crash, and for the first time, she was able to remember the short time she was dead. She saw Charles, trying to bring her back, desperately doing CPR, begging her to stay with him. Then, in front of her, there was the shadow. It got closer and closer, until it touched her face. She felt like everything got colder and Charles' voice was further away. Looking down, she saw how she was flowing into the shadow. But when she thought she was gone for good, she barely heard someone yell "clear" and a burst of energy went though her. The next thing she remembered was waking up in the hospital, Charles by her side and Maud's rotten figure at the foot of her bed.

"She just wanted me to come back to the woods so she could take me. She knew I would bring Max too". Maud looked at her, sad.

"The only way for you to get rid of her is destroying her".

"We have to go to the camp, we need to tell Charles and Max to leave. She's gonna try and get them too". Y/N tried to get up, but Maud placed her hand on her shoulder again and stopped her movements.

"We can't". She saw the confusion that tinted her features and the realization hit her. "Oh no". Y/N just looked at her, impatient. "Y/N, love, you're almost dead. That's the only reason you can see me, you're at the veil again". Maud took Y/N to the entrance of the cave and showed her something outside. "That's you, holding onto the little life you have left. She hasn't took you yet, once she does, she'll bring your body here, to her collection. Like she did with me. For now, she can't take you. You haven't given up. Charles and Max have to find you and bring you back. But you have to destroy the shadow first, or she'll haunt you until she can take you".

Max and Charles ran to the cave as soon as they understood that Y/N was taken by the shadow. At the entrance of the cave, Charles faced a sight he saw before but he never wanted to see again: his wife dead. Max, who had took a bag from the camp before sprinting off, kneeled next to her and took her pulse. Sighing, he opened the bag and took out some needles. Charles looked at him puzzled.

"You have no idea how much illegal stuff you can buy on the internet if you have enough money". Max told him, sensing Charles' confusion. "Now I'm sure. The shadow, I know what it is".

"What is it?". Charles wasn't actually sure if he wanted to know the answer to his own question.

"It's a Reaper. A Death. I suspected it with the amount of people that went missing here in the last 15 years". The Dutchman moved Y/N's body to make her lay face up and with her arms and legs extended. He then turned around, towards Charles. "Listen. This needles have two cocktails. One to stop the heart, one to restart it. You are the best one doing CPR, Charles. You brought her back once. I need you to bring us back again".

"Us? Max, what the fuck do you thing you're doing?"

"Do you really think that the Reaper will let her go again so easily? Someone has to give her a hand, I'm not good at CPR, not as good as you. You can bring us back". Charles knew that arguing was pointless. "Start doing CPR to Y/N, I'll inject myself. Give me 90 seconds. She she'll be back by then, and you inject me the other other cocktail. There's a hand defibrillator on the bag. If I don't come back in two minutes, use it on me. I promise you, Charles, I'll bring her back to you". And with that, Max laid next to his best friend and stuck the needle in his arm, while Charles started CPR on his wife... again.

"She's back". Maud informed Y/N while they hid in a corner of the cave. They had spent a minute trying to think how to defeat the shadow.

"We have to attack it now. I've been dead for three and half minutes, I have to go back before seven or I'll have brain damage". Y/N told her. They had no plan and no weapons to attack this being that they didn't even know how to kill. But if Y/N had to go, she'd go swinging. They were about to jump on her when Max suddenly appeared next to them. He looked young again and for a second, everything felt fine, they were all together again.

"Maud". Max said, perplexed. She smiled at him, without thinking, they both jumped to each other, melting on the hug they waited so long for. "I love you. I have loved you my whole life".

"I know. I love you too and I always will". He squeezed her tight, but she knew they couldn't waste time. "Listen, the shadow is-"

"A Reaper". Max finished, proudly. "I figured it out".

"We have to destroy her or she'll never leave Y/N alone. But we don't know how". Max tried to explain everything quickly.

"I know. Before the trip I did a little research. You need to grab her so I can force my hand inside its chest and touch her heart, or something like that, it was an old book, it'd free the energy she ate and kill her.". Maud's eyes grew bigger at his explanation.

"Its core, you have to touch its core". She sad excitedly. "I know where it is, it's where my life went when I died".

"We don't have much time, Y/N's been dead for four and a half minutes".

The three of them ran to it, Y/N and Maud grabbed it by what seemed like its arms but when Max tried to make his hand go through the shadow, it hit her chest like it was a hard surface. The Reaper angrily pushed them away and jumped on top of Y/N, starting to eat her life. Maud and Max were desperate, he looked at the entrance of the cave and saw Charles doing CPR on Y/N's body, giving it his all. He couldn't fail Charles, he promised him to bring his wife back to him, he couldn't let him down. Maud understood immediately what she had to do.

"You're not fully dead, not yet. But I can go through her. I can destroy her". Maud turned Max's head around and quickly pecked his lips. "I love you. Please go back and live the life we both deserved, live it fully".

With that, Maud ran to the shadow and forced her hand through its back, getting to her core. The shadow pushed her off and Max ran to Y/N to keep her safe. He looked back at Maud, their eyes meeting for a brief moment, then she didn't simply forced her hand, she forced her whole being into the shadows core, both of the exploding in a bright white light. Max felt different, he felt like he wasn't caged anymore, he felt light. Picking Y/N up, he dragged them both to the outside. Charles was there, stopping CPR to inject Max. The blond felt the shot of adrenaline through his body and in what felt like a blink, his eyes opened and he was looking at the sky, back in his body and back his age. He saw Charles going back to CPR, Max sat up as fast as he could and went to grab the defibrillator, he knew that Y/N was weak after what the shadow did to her, she needed a hand coming back. Charles cut her shirt open. Max placed the pads of the machine on her chest and followed the instructions it said out loud. The machine said "clear" and they both moved away from Y/N. Her body went stiff and then relaxed, then the machine informed that there was pulse again.

They went back to the town and straight to the hospital to have both Y/N and Max checked out. When they were given the green light, they told the Chief of Police about the cave, that was a lot bigger when they went back. The power of illusion the of the shadow made people believe that it was a small cave when it was actually a bigger one. Thirty-six bodies were found, Maud included. Her family did a little service for her and Max and Y/N got to say good-bye again. Y/N went back to visit her parents and then the three of them went back to Monaco. On the plain, Charles and Y/N talked.

"I'm sorry I lied, the truth is I was so ashamed of what happened, felt so guilty that I thought you'll never love me if you knew". She sighed and looked at him, trying not to cry. "I understand if you want a divorce. I know that everything I did, the lying, the hiding, it was all wrong". Charles took her hand and brought it to his lips, giving it a soft kiss.

"Do you remember that night at the bar, where you told me a secret so I could tell you one of mine?". She smiled at the memory, of course she remembered. It was the first time he finally let go and kissed her like he meant it. He kissed her with the love she wanted him to give her.

"Yeah, I could never forget". Charles sent her one of his signature smiles.

"'Today I was rooting for you, and even though you DNFd, I still feel like a winner when you look at me'. That was the truest and more honest thing you've ever said to me, I know that. So believe me when I tell you this: I've been feeling like a winner since the first time I laid my eyes on you, 20 years ago, on that karting race". She finally let her tears fall and he kissed them all before they could reach her jaw.

They had a lot to work on, a lot to overcome, but just like they overcame this madness, they would fix this too. Because they shared a little secret:

They were winners together.

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Okay! This was not my plan at all, I wanted to publish this TWO WEEKS AGO but shit happened and I couldn't. I'm really sorry for the cliff hanger.

So... the end! I cried my eyes out writing this one. I hope you guys liked this, I really enjoyed writing it. I hope you felt scared and happy and sad and had fun, that's the whole point of this.

I'll be active again, now that I think I will have more free time.

See you all on the next story!

[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 5.1: Clemency // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: The woods are difficult at night, how much madness can Charles endure before breaking?

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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Charles spent most of the night awake. The first hour once they all went to sleep went down fine. Between the cold and his lessened anger, he ended up cuddling his wife and falling asleep fast, but he was woken up by the sound of heavy footsteps close to them. His first instinct was to try to get out and face the probably furry intruder, but Y/N grabbed his arm tightly and reminded him that he had to stay inside, no matter what. Max woke up too and decided to stay awake for a while to make sure that Charles didn't leave the tent. Not sure if that was a good idea, Charles stayed inside. The whole night he could hear like something was out there, walking around the camp and breaking things. He just wanted to get out and see what was doing that, just to make sure they were safe, it was most likely a wild animal looking for food. Max kept his gun in hand while he guarded the entrance to the tent and Charles put his next to his pillow, ready to use it if it was necessary. After hours awake, he was tired and pissed off. When the morning light came, Charles felt like he had enough, he walked out of the tent and started gathering his things, some of them broken. His wife and Max looked at him worried, they should have never took him into the woods.

"I can't do this". He said and the other two understood, they were spooked like that the first night. "I want to go home".

"I understand". Y/N told him softly while Charles was packing up his plate and glass into his backpack. The monegasque stopped his movements and looked at her, frowning.

"Is that all you have to say? That you understand?". He stood straight and Y/N could feel the anger radiating from him. "You had been lying to me our whole relationship, I choose to let you get away with it. You then told me you have been seeing the ghost of your friend and asked to come here, I supported you. And if that wasn't enough, a fucking wild animal spent the whole night messing around with out stuff and you didn't let me do anything about it. Seriously, what else do want from me?!". Y/N winced at him screaming the last part, that made Charles lower his tone. He was tired, angry and, mostly, done. "I just can't keep avoiding the fact that I'm angry at you. I'm so fucking angry at you".

"I know that you are. I think you have the right to be angry. Fuck, I even understand if you want nothing to do with me, Charles, but please, I need you to believe me". She was looking at him with those big eyes he could never resist. She was his weakness, no matter how crazy he thought she was right now.

"I do believe you, but this is all too much". Charles was close to a breaking point. He loved her, he did, but everything was starting to get suffocating.

"You can't go back, you'll get lost". Max added, trying to make his friend stay. Charles frowned again.

"I'm not going back alone, you're both coming with me, of course". He said like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Max and Y/N shook their heads quickly.

"We're not going, Charlie". Y/N could see how pissed off he was. "I can walk you back to the car, but I'm staying here for as long as I can"

"I'm not leaving you here, Y/N!". None of them wanted to say it, none of them wanted to be the one to force the other to do anything. After a few moments looking at each other, Charles dropped his backpack and started walking towards the tent to grab his expedition bag. "Putain de merde" (Fucking hell). He mumbled, and walked past the other two to go to his quadrant.

Their second day went as uneventful as the first and Max was starting to loose faith. He wanted to believe that they could find Maud, but the woods were tricky and he knew that Charles wasn't going to deal with the following nights very well. They were risking a lot, and even if he wanted to find Maud, he didn't want it to cost them Charles and Y/N's marriage. His best friend and her husband were on thin ice at the moment and he didn't want them to fall apart. He watched Y/N search and he could understand why she needed a win so bad. Over ten years they spent looking for her, they needed to find her, they needed to move on. Even with his legs hurting like hell, he searched and searched, because he needed answers. He felt like it was the only thing that could finally set him free. Before 6 PM he had already searched his quadrant. Back at the camp he saw Charles and Y/N sitting at opposite sides of the bon-fire, avoiding looking at each other.

"Ready for dinner?". Max did what he could to break the tension.

"Not hungry". Charles simply answered, getting up and going straight to the tent, again leaving her alone with her thoughts.

"Maybe you should sleep in the middle tonight, Max". Y/N said sobbing softly. "He needs the space".

Following Y/N's request, Max laid in the middle, with Y/N by his left and Charles by his right. The monegasque just turned his back on him and went to sleep, Max decided to do the same, turning around and facing Y/N. In the dark, he could still feel his friend, crying, even if she wasn't making any sound. After a whole life being friends, he was able to simply know what was going through her mind, not even having to ask. He knew that Charles learned to do that after so much time dating her, but he also knew that no one could read Y/N better than him, that's why they were best friends. He hated to see her like this, he knew how much she loved her husband, he had never seen her as happy as when Charles asked her to marry him. Well, maybe one time, at the wedding. But there he was, facing her in the dark as she cried herself to sleep, sure that the love of her life hated her.

He remembered the time she told him about Charles. They were 20, Max was already in F1, and she had went to his race to support him. Charles was also there, in F2, and he had his self-esteem thought the roof for becoming champion the previous race weekend, in Spain. That weekend was Abu-Dhabi, and even though Max didn't get a podium, it was still the last race of the calendar and that deserved a drink. Charles went to the same bar as them and did everything in his power to get to talk to her. After loosing sight of them for at least half an hour, Max started to worry. Y/N was wasted but still ready to keep on dancing, she stumbled on her way to the table and Max called it a night. He helped her out and on their way to the cab he got to see Charles, his face red and with a clear stain of lipstick on his jaw and lips, his hair was a mess and his shirt was missing a few buttons. "You did a number on him, Bunny". He told his friend while he carried her to the car. She just giggled. "Don't tell Max". He laughed out loud at that, maybe his friend was a lot more drunk than he thought. "I won't, don't worry".

In the car, Y/N started spilling her secrets. "Let me tell you something". She started. "But you have to promise that you won't tell Max, I'm just looking for the right time to tell him, okay?". She slurred a little through her sentence. "I promise". Even the cab driver seemed interested on what she had to say. "I've been hooking up with Leclerc for a few months". Max feigned surprise. "Don't look at me like that! He's cute". The driver snorted and Max couldn't hold his laugh any longer. "I'm sorry, keep going". He said after she glared at him. "You're laughing because you haven't slept with him. Otherwise you'll be jealous". Max chocked on his own spit and the driver almost looks back at them. "I don't need details about that, Bunny". She smirked. "I think you do... I mean, it's the best sex I've had in my life! He does everything right. Everything. And you won't believe how big his d-". Max cut her off with his hand on her mouth. "That's enough information". She giggled under his hand and he removed it.

"I think I'm in love with him". She blurted it out, like it escaped from her mouth. "You think so?". Max asked her in a more serious tone, he could feel the driver looking at them through the rear-view mirror. "I know it. Here". She placed a hand on her chest, over her heart. "I even lied to Max for him. I have never lied to Max before". He quirked an eyebrow and she sighed. "In October I told Max that I couldn't go to his race in Japan because of college, but it was actually because I was going to Spain, to see Charles' race. It was the race to secure his championship. I'm glad I went, I got to celebrate with him on a proper date". Max looked at his lap, frowning. "Why did you lie to Max about that?". He knew that taking advantage of his drunk friend to get information was wrong, but he wanted to know why she lied. "It's just that I don't want him to be mad at me. Charles and I, we're not serious yet and I'm scared that if I tell Max what we're doing he's going to say that Charles is using me or something like that. Maybe it's true, maybe it's not, but I don't wanna hear it. I'm so in love with Charles. I don't care if we have sex and don't make love. I just want to be with him, I'll take whatever he gives me, I don't care. I want to believe that one day he'll kiss me and love me like he means it, like this is more than just fun. That someday he'll let me in.". Max nodded his head. "I think you should tell Max all of this. I mean, he's your best friend and I'm sure that he'll be happy for you". And that she did. The next morning, Y/N told Max how a lovely stranger convinced her to tell him everything, and Max supported her, even if she fell for his rival.

He could see the shadow that moved around outside the tent, Max knew what it was and he knew better than to go out and face it. He took Y/N's hand and looked over at Charles to make sure that he was actually asleep. He was. Then, Max took a deep breath and tried to sleep, doing the best he could to ignore the shadow lurking around. He didn't break for over a decade, he wasn't breaking now. When he woke up the next morning, Charles and Y/N were already up and fighting outside, Max just couldn't watch his friends fight anymore. But everything got to the worst point on the third night, after another day of pointless search, when Charles threatened with divorce.

"Maybe we should just call it quits, Y/N". He told her, angry. "This is pointless. We're here for nothing, there's nothing here!". Y/N just cried. "I love you, but I can't keep doing this".

"One more day, Charles. Just one more". Max begged him. "If we can't find anything tomorrow, we're out".

"You promise?". Charles looked Y/N, even thought Max was the one that asked.

"I promise".

The third night was terrible, they heard cries the whole night. In the morning, Charles was the first one to get up and walk to his quadrant, he just wanted to get this over with. But just as if it was a sick joke, he found a small cave. It was the perfect place to hide and it got him thinking about something Y/N said at the house: maybe Maud could have gone into the woods to hide from her attacker. He thought that in Maud's shoes, he would have gone for a cave like that as a hiding spot. He went into it, it wasn't deep at all and when he sat down, his hand touched something. He moved the dirt away from the spot with his fingers, gently, and underneath it, he found a bracelet. It was in bad shape, but he could still read that it had the name Maud written on it. Opening his eyes wide, he called for Max and Y/N, who ran there as fast as their still healing bodies let them. Max cried a little at the sight of the bracelet, he gave her that, for one of her birthdays. The Dutchman picked up the jewelry and traced it carefully. Next to Maud's bracelet, there were other objets that neither Max or Y/N recognized as hers. Night was falling, and they couldn't report it until they could go back to the town. They walk back the camp and for the first time in days, they actually had a nice dinner together. Charles finally started to give in, he loved his wife, he didn’t want a divorce. He wanted to fix their marriage when they'd get back home.

That night, Maud went to the camp. Max and Y/N could hear her calling and they were using all of their strength not to get out and see her. This is why they knew that four nights was their limit, another night of this and they were sure they could go insane. Maud kept talking about a shadow and that caught their attention. Their friend had never spoke about that before. They looked at each other for a moment, actually considering going out. Charles couldn't believe that after everything they went through, they were thinking about getting out of the tent. He refused instantly, but Y/N had already made up her mind. She was going out. With a hug to Max and kiss on the lips to Charles, she opened the tent's zipper and walked into the dark. For a few minutes they heard Y/N walking around. She kept asking where Maud was, under her breath, but suddenly, they heard some rustling sound and silence that followed. Charles called her name many times, but Y/N never answered. Desperate, he went out and looked for his wife, Max walked right behind him. In the dark, they couldn't see her anywhere.

Y/N woke up in a humid place, but before that, the thing that first caught her attention was the smell. Rotting smell. Adjusting her eyes to the dim light, she looked around. She could see that she was in a large cave but what seemed to be the entrance of it, looked pretty similar to the little cave Charles found. Confusion clouded her mind as she tried to make sense to her surroundings. She wanted to explore, see if there was something she could use to defend herself or even try to make her way to the exit of the cave, but her hand landed on something that felt like jean. Looking down, she saw a jacket that she knew too well, she recognized it because she choose it for the date. She always wondered if Maud was cold, if at least the jacked helped her stay warm for a little longer. The clothing wasn't alone, there were bones under it and the skull was still close to the neck of the jacket. She had finally found her. Too late, but at least she now knew. Sobbing, Y/N thought about her friend and how much she hopped that life would had had more clemency for such a young soul. She placed her hand over the skull.

"Now I know the truth, Maud". But then, everything went black.

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Part 5! It ended up being way much longer than I expected, so I had to divide this part in two. This one tonight, the other part tomorrow. I know Halloween would be over, but at least the final part would be out for the day of the dead. Happy Halloween everyone! Have fun!

[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 4: Forgiveness // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: Charles follows his wife and Max to the woods in Roosteren, where they wish to finally find Maud.

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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"No, this is nuts". Max said, shaking his head furiously. "We're not going, we promised it was the last time!"

"Don't you get it?! She's asking for out help!". Y/N yelled back at Max moving her hands around to bring more emphasis into her comment. Charles was just sitting on the couch, trying to process everything. His wife had just told him that she spent a decade traveling back home with her best friend to camp in the woods and look for the body of a childhood friend. And now she wanted to do it again because she had been seeing... The ghost of that friend? Was that what she said? The ghost?... what the actual fuck. He couldn't help but prefer the option of her cheating on him with Max, is sounded less crazy. "We gave up, Max! We gave up on her and now she wants us to keep looking! We know that she's there, everyone used to go there. If something happened, she obviously ran there! We just need to keep looking".

"You're hallucinating, Y/N! You're probably suffering from late brain damage!". Max was just about to explode and Charles could see it. "We need to take you to the doctor! You're not making any sense. You know that going back madness".

"Charles believes me!". She defended, and her husband snapped his head towards her with an almost neck-breaking force, his eyes wide open. "Don't you, babe?"

"Uhmm...". His silence and hesitation were divorce-worthy, he could see the pain in his wife's eyes and he didn't have the heart to call her crazy. "Yeah, uhmm, of course". Max pulled off his own hair, exasperatedly. "I believe you, mon amour".

"For fuck's sake, Leclerc! You're such a-". Max cut himself off before he could say something actually offensive. "She's hurt, Charles. And even if she wasn't, I can't go and help her!". He then added a lot calmer and pointed at his legs, still weak from the accident.

"I'll go with you and help you search". Charles knew that it was a terrible idea, but he had already said that he believed Y/N and he couldn't back down. Together in sickness and health, right?

"It's too dangerous. It took us our whole lives to get to know our way through there enough for us to be safe". Max shook his head. "We're not taking you there, Charles".

"I'm not a kid, Max". Charles retorted offended. "I can go with you and be careful, you two have been walking around those woods since you were teenagers. I can do it as an adult".

"I know that we agreed on stopping". Y/N said sounding a lot more like her old self. "I know that we said we'd stop because it hurts you, because you need to move on, Max". Max was crying again. He couldn't do this all over again. He needed to stop. "But you know I'm not hallucinating. You know that what I see is real. She's calling me back there. She's calling US, Max, and we need to answer ".

There were perks in Max owning a private jet, one of those was flying from one place to the other without bringing too much attention to themselves. Max had even learned how to fly it and had his license that allowed him to go wherever he wanted. However, Max choose to get a pilot this time, there was a lot of planning they needed to do and they couldn't risk it getting recorded on the black box. It was ilegal to camp on those woods, it wasn't the first time that someone had disappeared on Roosteren and the police didn't want the kids of the town lurking around in the dark. Max and Y/N paid a large amount of money to bribe the Chief of Police each year and make him look the other way. They were probably paying doble to bring Charles in with them, but they didn't care, they'd spend the money they had to. The plan was simple, yet, it required their absolute focus on each part to secure a win. Woods are usually just plants, insects and the lonely furry predator you can find, they had guns for that, still, these woods weren't normal woods, they had a certain... effect, on people, that's why Max and Y/N went for just four days and on summer break, there was something different on summer, something less dark around, as the days were longer and the nights shorter. Still, nighttime kept as terrifying as the rest of the seasons, they both had tested their limits over the years, how much they could endure, how much they could take before breaking. Four nights, that was their limit, and that wasn't a big help to their search, five days and four nights are not enough to look for someone, it's too little time to cover so much land. Nights were off the table when it came to searching, the nights were reserved to survival and survival only, the main point of them was making it to the next morning.

"You need to follow every order we give you, no matter what, Charles. This is important". Max told him, the deep tone and the frown on his face showing how serious he was. "Specially at night".

"You can't trust yourself out there at night". Y/N added.

"What's so bad about the nights?". Charles was starting to ask himself how come he could have been so in the dark about so many things for years.

"Those woods... They do things to you". Max looked at his lap, as if the mere memory of what place did to him was too much to bear with.

"That's why you always come back so sad and shaken up, no?". It kind of angered him, that Y/N never told him any of that.

"Yeah". She could feel his anger, but she didn't have the guts to talk about it now. She knew she fucked up, that she kept the love of her life in the dark because of pure and terrible shame. Charles deserved better than to be lied to.

They arrived at Amsterdam at 2 in the morning and traveling to Roosteren would take them two hours, driving at a legal speed. They weren't walking into the woods at 4 AM, ready to be totally consumed by it, so they booked some rooms and spent the night in Amsterdam. Max got his own room, retiring to it instantly, on the other hand, Charles and Y/N waited some more to go to bed. There was this tension, so many lies and so many secrets. Charles needed to know more, he needed to feel like she trusted him, because if she couldn't, then he couldn't trust her back. They drank some whisky in the bar of the hotel, sitting in a dark corner, trying to avoid curious eyes. He watched her down her glass like it was water and it brought him back to an old memory, one created not too far from there, in Belgium.

It was his rookie year in F1, and she was there to support him, but she wasn't letting him know that so easily. They had hooked up a few times before but they never have brought up the talk about feelings. It was hard for Charles, getting close, it didn't matter how much he liked her, he had trouble letting her in. She was as cold on the outside, like an iceberg, and if it was hard for Charles with easy-going girls, getting along with this one was even harder. The race went terrible, he DNFd and Max got a podium, which made things difficult between them. He was sitting in a bar, abusing of the privilege of not being so famous yet, drinking his weight in whisky, behind his trainer's back. She spotted him instantly, her red hair loose and her eyes bright as she entered the bar. He couldn't tear his eyes away from her when he caught the swing of her hips as she waltzed towards his table. She sat down without saying a word and they drank together, until they couldn't take it anymore. He had the confession on the tip of his tongue, he was just a little push away from telling her how much he loved her, but there was still this fear, this distance he couldn't walk. "What is it, Charles?", she asked him, with rosy cheeks and a big smile, talking for the first time since she sat at the table. "Nothing", he shied away, avoiding her eyes. "You know, you can trust me any secret you have. I won't tell", she teased him with a smirk and he couldn't help but mimic the action. "It's too big of a secret, you'd ran away the moment I tell you", that picked her interest. "What if I told you a secret of mine first? To build some trust". She ran her hand up his arm, her touch ghosting his skin and he could feel all of his nerve-ends on fire. "Okay, Cherie, tell me". That earned him a giggle from her and with her lips close to his ear, she let out her secret. "Today I was rooting for you, and even though you DNFd, I still feel like a winner when you look at me". She paused, not missing on the hitch in his breath, before continuing, she licked her lips. "So c'mon, Charlie, if you still think you can't tell me your secret... try me". He turned around, his heart pounding inside his chest and he finally met her gaze. With a full heart and new found courage, he kissed her like he had meant for a long time to do so. Spilling his secret wasn't the only thing he did that night.

"Are you guys ready?". Max asked at the other side of the room's door.

"Yeah, we'll be out in a minute". Y/N yelled back the response. They had barely slept and it was the first time in years that they both shared a bed without touching at all, like even the smallest of caresses could just break them down instantly. "Do you have everything, love?"

"Yes". He was the one being monosyllabic now. But it was alright, she felt like she deserved it.

"Morning". She greeted Max once they were out of the room and towards the rented car Max got while they were still getting ready. Her best friend gave her a small smile, looking back and forth between her and her husband, who was a few meters away, paying for the room. She tried to reassure him. "It's okay".

"You need to fix this, Y/N". Max told her and she looked at him curiously. "I know I wasn't his biggest fan before, but I like the guy now, okay?". She scoffed. "I mean it, don't loose him, not like this". She looked down. "You fix this, whatever it takes, Bunny".

The drive was tense but short and even shorter was their encounter with the Chief of Police, who robbed them 500.000 euros to let them camp in the woods. They didn't hesitate and paid the money without complaining. At the car, they pulled out the map and looked for the best route to get to the points the haven't searched yet. There wasn't much land that they needed to cover, the only reason Max and Y/N stopped was because everything had become too much for them to bear. The last time they went there, a few months back, the last night was so tough on them that they promised they wouldn't go back. There was still hope though, that they could find Maud in that little part of land that was left untouched. Charles seemed to get everything in pretty quickly, he was a smart guy and it didn't take him long before he was even putting out ideas and suggesting paths on the map. They were going to camp in the center of the land they were searching and their tent would stay there for the whole five days, it was not just for them to have some kind of base to go back to, but also a geographical reference for them, so they wouldn't get lost. Every distance they walked was previously measured from their camp, they would walk and check a quadrant of 10 meters each day, which meant that every day they would walk 10 meters further away from their confort zone. The 50-meters distance they'd reach by day 5 was the most dangerous, because they'd be more tired and worn out by then, making it harder to get back to the camp if they needed. Charles knew that he had to try and sleep as good as possible if he wanted to be ready for that.

"Remember, we're on October now, we have to get back to the camp at 6 PM at most". Y/N reminded them. "Everything after that would be dangerous".

"Charles, I just want to make sure you remember everything". Max started and the monegasque looked up from the map to meet his gaze. Max wanted him to repeat the night plan again. "Please, just one more time".

"I take a leak before dinner, eat, wrap up everything, get in the tent and never get out until sunrise". Charles chanted for the tenth time.

"Never get out before sunrise, no matter what you hear, no matter what you see". Y/N added. "Promise me".

"I promise".

Charles had never, ever in his life, pictured himself looking for a dead body. Ever. But there he was, moving dirt around, trying to see if he could find anything that proved to be a grave. Max and Y/N gave him a compass, a map, a pen, water, food, a gun and a book of plants to help him search the ground. He had learned that there were some plant that fed on decaying tissue and he could use the book to see if any of those plants grew on his quadrant. Max was doing what he could, considering that his legs were still in pretty bad shape, Charles wondered if he needed help. On the other hand, he was kind of glad that he could be away from Y/N the whole day, he was still angry and didn't want to say something that he would regret later. The time alone could help him cool down. He searched and searched, stopping only to eat and drink twice. Searching wasn't that demanding physically, but the attention to detail he needed to decide if he could move from one place to another was exhausting. He felt the pressure, what if he decided that there was nothing in that square meter and he made a mistake? What if his mistake meant they'd never find Maud? It was a lot of pressure, so he made sure, completely sure, that there was nothing there before he moved on. Though the day, once in a while he saw his wife in the distance, they weren't that far away on that first day. She meticulously checked every plant and carefully removed the dirt to check underneath it. He felt his chest heavy, he wanted nothing more than to go to her and hug her, he could see she was hurting, but the pain he felt because of her lies kept him away. He rather focused on his own task. At 6 PM, he walked back to the camp.

"Do you want more?". Max asked Charles, extending his arm to hand him another sealed can of tuna salad. They had stoked themselves with a wide variety of canned foods to eat for over a week, making sure to over-stoke themselves in case something happened. Even if Max hated tuna, he ate it like it was the best food he had ever had. It was like in those woods, they were so deep into their survival mood that nothing superficial mattered anymore.

"No, thanks, mate". Charles refused. "I don't want to eat too much and then wake up feeling all heavy and tired"

"Yeah, I get it". The Dutchman paused and looked away, unsure if he should ask, but his best friend was using a tree as her personal bathroom and it was his only chance alone with Charles to ask. "How are things between you two?"

"Well...". Max felt terrible for asking when he saw the flash of pain in Charles' eyes. "I guess we have a lot to talk about when we get back home". Max just hummed.

"I'm all done". Y/N informed them and sat back down between them. Max looked at her sternly, he didn't like that she went there alone after dinner. "I'm sorry, but I really had to go again".

"Let's just go to sleep". Max said retiring to the tent. Charles and Y/N didn't move, looking at anything but each other. The tent wasn't big and they couldn't just sleep with Max in the middle. After a moment of silence, Charles sighed and got up, walking straight to the tent and not looking back.

All she hoped for was forgiveness, haunted by the ghosts of all of her regrets, it seemed like the thing she wanted the most was the only one she couldn't get.

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So... another part here! I hope you guys like this Halloween special. I love writing horror, suspense and sci-fic, so I'll probably start including some of my stories in the future.

[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 3: Maud // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: Max and Y/N dirty secret needs to be brought to light. Who is Maud?

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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"Ik kan hem niet uitstaan". (I can't stand him). Max complained as he walked into the room, not even bothering to greet his friends.

"Leclerc?". Maud asked, earning a scoff from Max, who threw himself on Maud's bed and closed his eyes trying to contain his anger.

"Hij is zo'n eikel". Y/N raised an eyebrow, her dutch was not that good when it came to insults.

"What does that mean?". Max opened his eyes again and looked at the redhead, he didn't want to do the translation, a part of him refusing to be the one teaching that language to his friend.

"He called Leclerc a jerk". Maud explained as she braided her long blonde hair in front of her mirror, and Y/N just nodded, pensive.

"I know that we hate him a bit-". She started but Max cut her off.

"A lot, Bunny, we hate him a lot".

"Okay, a lot, but I have never met him! How come I haven't in all these years racing? I'd like to meet him". Maud shrugged her shoulders, finally sitting on the bed next to Max.

"I guess it's just bad luck. I raced him a few times when I was younger". Max scoffed again.

"Bad luck? She's lucky she hasn't cross paths with him!". Max sat straighter. "He pushed me off into a puddle after the checkered flag was out! It was so unfair! And do you want to know what he said about that?". The two girls nodded eagerly. "'Just an INCHIDENT on the race'. The idioot can't even speak properly". Now he was just looking for excuses to be mad.

"Inchident? He said 'inchident'?". Y/N giggled. "That's cute".

"No, it's not cute. It's just-". Max's new rant was cut off by the sound of a Facebook direct message incoming. The three 14 years-old quickly got up and ran to the computer. Maud sat in front of it, opening her inbox and smirking.

"This is cute, Y/N, not Charles' terrible English". Maud said smugly as she opened the message, Connor Lee's name big on the screen. Connor was an older boy, he was 17 and every girl on their school liked him. Usually, Connor never talked to anyone on Max, Y/N and Maud's year, but Maud had liked one of his posts and then he sent her a message from his second account, one he had to talk to his closest friends. She was 10 days away from turning 15 and that meant that her age gap with Connor "wasn't that bad", or at least that was what she thought.

"He's not that great. You both have horrible taste". Max, who secretly had a crush on Maud, stated as he rolled his eyes. Maud was extremely pretty, her mother was an ex Beauty Queen and her father a model, and she got the best of both of them. It was genuine surprise when she told them that she wanted to race cars and not be a model like everyone guessed she'd want to be.

"Shut up". Y/N instructed Max and then looked over Maud's shoulder, trying to read the message. "What did he said?"

"He keeps insisting on meeting tonight". Y/N smiled excitedly, her best friend was going to date the most popular guy in the school and maybe that meant that she had a chance with Lucas, Connor's best friend and Y/N crush since she was 12.

"You should go". Max frowned at Y/N comment.

"She shouldn't. Going out with an older dude is the most stupid idea you two ever had!". This time it was Maud's turn to scoff.

"It's not like I'll be going out with a stranger, Max. It's just Connor". Y/N nodded her head in agreement.

"If he's so great why doesn't he ask you to join him for lunch or something like that? He ignores you at school, Maud!". Connor had told her that other people wouldn't understand that they liked each other, so he asked for her not to approach him at school.

"Oh, shut up, Max. You know why. You're just being negative because Chales Leclerc drove you into a puddle in front of everyone". Max sent her a deadly stare.

"Your parents won't let you go anyways". He said after sighing. He knew that he being petty because he was jealous, but he wasn't admitting that in front of the girls. Maud smiled wide.

"They don't need to know". The other two didn't like where this was going. "Y/N can tell them that I'm staying at hers and I just go to the date. Connor can drop me off at Y/N's and I climb through her room window". She looked at them as it was a master plan. "Easy".

"I don't know, Maud...". Y/N hesitated. "I don't like lying to your parents". They had done that before and it always made Y/N feel bad. She liked Maud's parents as her own and she felt like she was betraying them every time they lied.

"Please, Bunny". Y/N looked at Max, who didn't seem to like the idea either, but since he didn't refuse out loud, the redhead said yes.

"Okay".

That night the three of them told their parents that they were having a sleepover at Y/N home. Max and Maud were dropped off there by 5 pm, with their bags full of snacks and DVDs. They displayed everything on Y/N room to make it look like the three of them were sleeping there, Max's Sylvester the Cat's blanket on the ground over his sleeping bag and Maud's Lola Bunny's one on the bed next to the window. Max and Y/N were supposed to stay awake and wait for Maud to get back from the date so they both brought some Rock Star energy drinks and a lot of candy to stay up late. Maud and Connor agreed to meet by 8 pm, he was picking her up from Y/N's house and dropping her off back there at 10 pm, since it was just getting some ice cream together. The next day they had a local race and Y/N parents were supposed to take them all to the track in the morning. Even though they were going to be tired the next day, the date with Connor was a once in a lifetime opportunity in Maud's eyes and her friends just wanted to be supportive. After a nice dinner, they all excused themselves to "go to bed early for tomorrow". In the room, they put some pillows under Maud's blanket and when a car stopped in front of the house, Max and Y/N helped Maud out the window.

"Have fun". Y/N said and Maud smiled.

"I owe you guys!". She jumped down the remaining height and ran off to the car.

Maud sent them some texts though the next hour, telling them how much fun she was having with Connor. Max and Y/N played their part, feigning sleep when Y/N's parents checked on them around 9 pm. But as the night went by and 10 pm got closer, Maud started to tell them that she didn't want the date to finish just yet. Max didn't like it one bit, but there was nothing he could do about it. The blonde just told them to go to bed and she would call them when she was on her way back so they could help her up and through the window. Max and Y/N just followed her advice and went to bed, making sure that their phones weren't on silence mode so they could hear Maud calling. They woke up the next morning at 7 am and when they looked at Maud's bed they found the pillows still there. Max checked his phone, but no call or message was there, Y/N did it too, with the same luck. They called her but the calls went straight to voice mail, her phone was off. Panic started to set into them and now they had to explain to Y/N's parents why Maud wasn't there. They both walked down to the kitchen, their palms sweating and stomachs aching.

"What do you mean she snuck out?!". Y/N's mother yelled at them. The teenagers just looked down at their laps, sinking into the couch as far they physically could. But the hardest part was explaining to Maud's parents that their single child was nowhere to be found.

Before they knew it, Max and Y/N were explaining to the police that Maud was last seen the night before and that she was on a date with Connor Lee. It was as simple as going to Connor's and pick her up from there, but when the police made it to Connor's house, Maud wasn't there and Connor assured them that he had never talked to Maud before. A few hours turned into a day and the day turned into a week and Maud was still missing. It turned out that she wasn't talking to Connor and that Facebook account wasn't his. Max and Y/N soon realized that they were all played by a stranger, but the guilt of helping Maud sneak out never left. Maud's parents didn't blame them, which was something that surprised them a lot, because they did it themselves. Both of them deleted their Facebook accounts and for some time they spent countless hours of their weekends looking for Maud. They searched the woods close to their school, hoping to find her hidden there, probably freezing and hungry. Maybe she got lost escaping from her attacker. Those weren't thick woods but you still could get lost in them. The police was looking for a dead body, but they were not losing hope, not when there were people who had gotten lost in the woods and came back. The young two drivers grew even closer than before in the next few months. They spent all of their time together, not letting the other out of their sight. Y/N started to fear men and Max became extremely overprotective when it came to her. That's how they dealt with everything that happened. That same year, Y/N saw Charles for the first time, but when he walked towards her to talk, she ran off to Max, too afraid to get closer to anyone else.

Maud was never found, not even her body. Time went by and the police assumed that Maud was kidnapped for sexual trafficking. Her parents did all they could to keep the case alive and even moved to Amsterdam to see if she was there. Max and Y/N went on with their racing careers, but on every summer break they went back home and spent four days camping in the woods, looking for Maud. They didn't expect her to be alive, but they needed to find her. There was this guilt inside of them that even after a decade hey couldn't shake off. Max paid every private investigator he could find, but no one succeeded. Maud was the love of his life, he fell for her when he was 10 years old and never stopped loving her. He just couldn't move on and Y/N felt like terrible that she knew that Maud liked him back and never said anything. She used to be afraid that if Max and Maud dated, they would leave her alone, so she kept the secret. On the fifth anniversary of Maud's disappearance, Y/N confessed to Max all of this and how she felt like she pushed Maud towards her horrendous end by being selfish. Max forgave her, but she had trouble forgiving herself.

"I'm so sorry, Maud!". She cried looking at the decaying image of her childhood best friend, standing at the other side of the living room, behind a pale Max. "Please, please, please!". Maud just looked at her accusingly, like she had been doing for the past few days, since Y/N was brought back to life. Charles kept asking Max questions but the Dutch just couldn't answer. What could he say? What could they say? How could Charles understand? She was so ashamed of what happened, of what they did, she couldn't admit it to Charles. She couldn't loose him. In a blink Maud was standing in front of her, her mouth open, but no words came out of it. A worm moved under her skin and Y/N felt like throwing up. Maud lifted her rotting hand, a single finger pointing at Y/N and the redhead knew what she had to do:

She had to find Maud.

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[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 2: Guilt // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: After going back home, Charles and Max notice that Y/N is acting strange, is it all PTSD or is there something else?

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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After two days at the hospital, Charles ended up not only taking his wife back home, but Max too. The Dutch lived alone and he was specifically told not to be unsupervised for at least a week. That's how Charles ended up back in Monaco, his wife sleeping on next to him and her best friend snoring in the guest room. Physically, they were both as good as one can be after a car accident, their bodies were sore, they had some cuts and bruises but nothing major. Max had passed out from heat exposure and dehydration, so once he was recovered from that, he was better, his legs took the worst part of the crash, they hurt a lot and had a lot of cuts covering them, three had to get stitches. He had some trouble walking and for his own safety Charles invited him to stay as long as he needed. Y/N got the worst part with the concussion, she ended up with some swelling and a lot of pain. The doctors did three MRI and everything seemed to be fine, nonetheless, no one could ignore the fact that she died, so she had to rest and be under extreme supervision. There were a few symptoms the doctors told Charles to stay alert to because they could indicate that late brain damage could be developing: black-outs, dizziness, nausea, disorientation, persistent headache, confusion, and worse, convulsions or seizures, sensory affections, slurred speech and severe episodes of loss of consciousness. Charles and Max agreed to keep an eye on her and make sure none of those symptoms were showing.

"Hey, good morning, mon amour. How are you feeling?". Charles kissed her nose when she stirred on the bed.

"Better". She simply answered and moved closed to him, hiding her face on his chest and sighing contently. He hugged her closer and stayed quiet for a moment. He wanted her to say more, but since the accident, she started talking less, always answering monosyllabically to everything he asked. She wasn't like that and it pained him to see her like this. The doctors told him that many patients of resuscitation suffered from depression, anxiety and some from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). He knew that he had to patient with her, and he will, because he loved her and he had her back, he wasn't losing her again.

"Do you want breakfast now or later?". He ran his hand up and down her back and he felt her relax against his body.

"Later".

"Okay, amour, later then". He felt her tense up again. "What is it?"

"Worried". Her word muffled by his chest.

"About what?". It was so hard for him to understand her sometimes since she answered giving so little information.

"Max". He kissed the top of her head.

"What about him?"

"Guilt". The wetness he felt in his chest was all the proof he needed to know she was crying.

"Don't worry, Max knows it wasn't his fault. It was FIA's and if he ever forgets that, we'll remind him. He's your best friend, he would never hurt you on purpose, he knows you know that".

"Okay".

An hour later Charles was in the kitchen making breakfast for the two convalescent drivers. Max was the first one to get up, walking to across the apartment with the help of his two crutches. He sat down at the kitchen table while Charles served him his breakfast. The monegasque was a terrible cook, but his childhood rival choose to ignore that and eat anyways, after all Charles was kind enough to let him stay at his home and cook for him. The truth is, even though they liked each other now, they didn't have a friendship and it was kind of awkward whenever Y/N wasn't there with them. For Charles there was something strange about Max's friendship with his wife, like they both shared this huge secret that Charles wasn't part of, which made things kind of uncomfortable. For Max was this guilt that stung at the depths of his chest for such secret, he was fully aware that Charles suspected something and all he could wish for was for the monegasque to never find out. Their time alone together was so weird, the atmosphere so charged with unspoken words that the air felt heavy, literally heavy. But there was also moments when they genuinely liked each other and Max was notoriously happy that his best friend married Charles.

"This is great, Charles. Thank you". Max lied through his teeth, praising the awful breakfast. Charles clicked his tongue, accepting the lie.

"You're welcome, mate". He placed two other plates at the table and then the mugs, sitting down and waiting for his wife to join them. "How are you feeling today? Is the pain any better?"

"Yeah, I think that the medication is working". Max took another sip of coffee. "But I think I'll feel a lot better once I finally get rid of this dreadful stitches. Can't stand them anymore".

"Give it time and keep them clean and you'll get rid of them before you know it". They both heard some muffled sounds coming from the main bedroom, Y/N getting up and ready for breakfast.

"How's she doing? Anything weird?". Max whispered at Charles, trying to find out how his friend was doing.

"She's fine". Charles answered on the same tone as Max and then continued. "She's worried about you. Maybe you two should talk".

"She's not speaking, mate. That's the problem". Max sighed. He really wanted to talk to his friend, but she wasn't doing any talking with him.

"I know, Max. Be patient with her. I know that she's not speaking, but just try. Okay?". Max nodded his head and then they heard the footsteps getting closer. "Morning, mon amour. Breakfast?". He asked once she was at the kitchen's doorway. She nodded and sat down, mumbling a soft 'morning', which Max mimicked.

"I need to get some things from my apartment". Max started after a few moments of silence. Charles looked up and Y/N just picked on her food. "I was thinking that maybe we all could go together and get some fresh air. What do you guys think?".

"I think that's a good idea". Charles instantly agreed. Y/N barely nodded her head. "Fresh air will do wonders for you two".

After Charles' horrendous lunch attempt and the take-out he brought to compensate that, they all changed out of their pijamas and started their long process to get down to the garage of the building. Between Max's difficulty to walk and Y/N not being allowed to be unsupervised, going out took time to do it right. After twenty minutes of Charles helping Max putting on his jeans and sneakers, while they both bickered at each other in the process, they were ready to go. Charles helped Max in the backseat, making sure that his legs were comfortably placed across the seat, then he watched Y/N get in the passenger's seat, always keeping an eye on her to see if she did alright on her own. Charles' Ferraris had little room for three people, so he ditched the sport cars and switched to a SUV for them all to have more space, specially Max. The drive to the Dutch's apartment was not long, but the traffic on Monte Carlo was pretty bad that day. They were at stop light when Charles felt his wife's breath change next to him. It became irregular and she looked pale, her eyes big and focused. Max felt the change too and Charles saw him sit straighter in the backseat through the rearview mirror.

"Everything alright, Bunny?". Max asked and Charles took her hand to try and calm her down. Her eyes were looking at the corner across the street, but Charles couldn't see anything that could have freaked her out like that. The light changed to green and Charles kept driving, Y/N following the corner until it was out of sight. She spent the rest of the drive looking at her lap, notoriously shaken up.

At the apartment Y/N seemed to have calmed down and Charles made the mental note not to take that street driving back home, she didn't need to be more stressed out after everything she went through. Max showed him the clothes he wanted to take to the Leclerc's household and they started packing everything up in a suitcase. Charles had been at Max's apartment a few times, but never in his room. It was everything Charles expected though: messy and full of Red Bull's merchandizing. There were a few pictures hanging off the walls, mostly from his childhood, he would have never guessed for Max to be the melancholy type, but he always knew that he was a family guy. He could see the young and cheerful face of his wife's teenage and child versions in some of the pictures, both her and Max posing with trophies and toothless smiles in some. He took the time to admire them while Max looked through his closet and Y/N waited in the living room, relaxing on the couch. He noticed that there were a few familiar faces, like Alex, George and Pierre, he himself was even, in one picture. Fate had made it impossible for Charles and Y/N to cross paths when they were kids, but there was a girl in the pictures that he remembered from a few races when he was kid. He didn't remember the girl's name but he remembered her helmet, pink with a dog's paw draw on it, it was a peculiar helmet, that's why he remembered it.

"I remember this girl". Charles said out loud, Max just hummed without looking at him. "I can't remember her name...".

"Which one?" Max asked, still not looking at Charles.

"The one here with you and Y/N, with the pink helmet". Charles was met with silence, the sound of Max moving things inside his closet no longer in the air. He waited and waited, but Max never spoke up.

"She's a Dutch driver". Max said after a while and before Charles could ask more about her, Max continued. "I have everything I need. Let's go". The blond grabbed his crutches faster than the speed of light and limped out of the room like his life depended on it. Charles stayed behind, frowning at the door of the room, his mind racing with thoughts. He knew that Max and Y/N childhood was a sensitive topic, but he didn't expected to be that sensitive. With one last look at the picture, he walked out of the room.

Max's mood didn't get better after that. He asked to go back to Charles and Y/N's apartment right away, even though he was the one that suggested they went out in the first place. Once back at the apartment, Max went to his room and stayed there till the next day, not even coming out for dinner. In the morning, the Dutch acted as if nothing happened and Charles decided not to bring back the topic again. After a week, Max was getting better, his stitches healing great, but Y/N was getting worse. Every day she would get scared looking at literally nothing and Charles and Max started to suspect that she was hallucinating. They constantly asked her what was wrong, but she always dismissed their worries. 'Nothing', she would say every time and even thought they didn't believe her, she refused to tell them what had her so frightened. Charles knew that she had mandatory therapy and hoped that she was at least telling her therapist what was happening inside her head. Worried about his wife, Charles called her parents back in Netherlands and told them everything.

"She gets so scared out of nowhere, Mr. Y/L/N". Charles explained to his father in law. The older man hummed at the other end.

"Did you tell that to the doctor?". Charles sighed.

"Max and I believe that she could be hallucinating, but since she denies it, I'm not sure what to do. I can't force her to go to the doctor if she insist that there's nothing wrong". The older man hummed again. "Maybe she needs to go back home and spend some time with you two. Maybe I can take her there and we can stay for a few days".

"She doesn't like it here, never comes back when she feels alright, not gonna come home feeling unwell, Charles. But maybe we can go to Monaco". Charles found that strange, she went back every year.

"What do you mean? She goes back with Max every year on summer break". He heard the man scoff.

"Here? It's been years since she last came home". The silence that followed was so thick that it could almost be touched. "Charles, are you messing with me boy?"

"I think I need to talk to my wife, Mr. Y/L/N. I'll talk to you soon. Take care". Charles didn't even give the other time to say goodbye before he quickly hung up.

What the hell was his wife doing with Max then? Was she cheating on him? He never expected her to do something like that. He was sure that they had a sick friend or something when they told him that they were visiting an old friend, but now he didn't know what to think. She always told him that they stayed in her childhood home but now it turns out that they weren't? He never talked to his in-laws unless it was necessary, he didn't had a bad relationship with them, but he wasn't close either. He never thought about bringing up those trips to them, not wanting to talk bout such a delicate topic while they were having a nice time. Maybe he should have. He respected Y/N's privacy and it turns out that she was lying to him. He heard the living room TV from the bedroom, knowing that the movie Max and Y/N were watching was still on. He let Max in his home, gave him a bed, cooked for him and he had been screwing his wife behind his back all these years? He felt so betrayed that he could break something, probably Max's legs but before he could actually decide what he wanted to do, he heard his wife's scream like she was right next to him. He forgot about everything he was mad about once he set foot in the living room. She was sitting in a corner, crying her eyes out, while Max did the best he could to limp towards her.

"What happened?". Charles asked, Max looked at him panicked.

"I don't know! She just screamed and ran to the corner". Charles walked to Y/N, curled up with her face hidden on her knees.

"Y/N, what's wrong?". He tried to speak as softly as he could, not wanting to scare her more than she already was.

"I'm sorry". She mumbled between sobs. "I am so, so sorry. Please, forgive me!". She said louder this time, rocking back and forth.

"We'll get though this". Charles told her, not even knowing he could be so forgiving, for fuck's sake, she shamelessly cheated on him for years. She looked up, but instead of looking at him, she looked past Max, to the other side of the living room.

"I'm so sorry, Maud!". She cried. "Please, please, please!". Charles frowned, she wasn't speaking to him, she wasn't speaking to Max. Who the hell was Maud? There was no one else there. He looked back at Max and saw him pale, his eyes with a hint of hurt as they got glossy with tears. He had never seen Max cry before.

"Max, what is she talking about? Who's Maud?". But Max didn't answer him, he kept looking at Y/N, not moving a muscle as the tears kept falling down his face. "Max, answer me!"

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Second part is here! I hope I can finish this before Halloween.

[charlie-lec-stories]

Dirty Little Secret - Part 1: Qatar // CL16

Pairing: Charles Leclerc / Original Female Character

Series Summary: Charles' wife went to The Other Side and came back, but her past did too.

Chapter Summary: Qatar's high temperatures prove to be deadly when a terrible crash happens on the track.

Series Warnings: Death, descriptions of CPR and a car crash, sexual comments and implied sexual acts, mentions of blood, mentions of suicide and depression.

Author’s Note: This is a special I decided to write inspired by Halloween and the Qatar GP, it's five parts long. It's the first time I write something for this page instead of editing thing I have written before, I hope you guys like it. Rate: +16 (descriptions of medical procedures).

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The first memory Charles had of his wife is from a rainy day twenty years ago. He was getting ready to jump into his kart when he saw her, red hair blowing in the air, a lilac helmet under her arm and a matching race suit, with her name, Y/N, embroidered in black cursive letters. She was the prettiest girl in the world, he was sure, so sure that he told his father that he was marrying that girl when he was older. But that pretty redhead was not seen again for many years. He kind of forgot about her and that smile that missed a few tooth, the memory of her appearing once in a while, triggered by the combination of red and lilac. They crossed paths again when they were fifteen but the relationship they developed was anything but amicable. Charles spotted her instantly, her hair exactly the same as he remembered it, but what he also noticed was that she was hanging from Max Verstappen's arm. They were laughing and talking excitedly as Max explained something to her. He could feel his blood boiling inside his veins, now that he finally saw her again she had to be around his most hated rival. He tried to approach her once he found her alone but the second she saw him she walked away, right back to Max, who put a protective arm around her shoulders and sent Charles a dirty look.

It took a few years for Charles and Y/N to get along and then just months to start dating. Charles learned that Max and Y/N were best friends since she moved from her home country to Netherlands. She lived in Monaco for a few months in between that, that's when they first met, and then her family settled in Roosteren, a town in Netherlands bordering with Maaseik (Belgium) where Max grew up. They went together to school and karting, becoming close pretty quickly. That's why she initially didn't like Charles, his rivalry with Max was so strong that she even disliked Charles. But with time his relationship with Max evolved into mutual respect and Charles and Y/N started getting to know each other better. When they were twenty, Charles made a bet with her: if he got to win the F2 Championship, she had to go on a date with him. She said yes and after he won they went to the first of many incredible dates they had together. Max took the relationship way better than Charles expected and he even gave them a gift for their first anniversary. Both Charles and Y/N gave everything to the relationship and Charles was elated with that, he loved how committed she was from day one. He felt like they were perfect for each other, a match made in Heaven. Being that close made it difficult for Charles when Y/N would spend so much time with Max, but he understood that they were best friends and needed some time for themselves.

After almost six years of dating, Charles and Y/N got married. It was a little celebration with their families and closest friends. It was also Y/N rookie year in F1, driving for Aston Martin along Fernando Alonso, with a contract until 2026. Everyone was happy, they were glowing and already planning for a year off together to have children when her contract was over. They married during summer break and moved their honeymoon to the off-season because Max and Y/N had their annual trip to Netherlands together right after the wedding. One thing Charles noticed was that Max and Y/N always went together back home on summer break and whenever he suggested they changed the date, both refused instantly. The trip wasn't long, it was just four days and they stayed at Y/N's childhood house. Charles never went with them, he suspected that the trip was more than just wanting to visit a childhood friend, but he could see that the topic was kind of delicate to them. He asked once about it and Y/N showed such hurt about it that he regretted asking. "We always go back to visit a friend of ours, it's complicated". He got that answer on their second year dating and was never told anything else about it. He never dared to ask Max and by the gloom mood the Dutch always wore for the trip, Charles knew better than to pry. It was something that Charles really wanted to know about since it seemed to affect Y/N pretty bad. Each time she came back extremely depressed and quiet. The last one hadn't been different, still, she recovered and went back to racing, winning two races in a row. Now, it was time for Qatar.

The heat was unbearable, Charles could feel it sweeping through his seat and into his suit, and that shouldn't happen. Lewis and Fernando had just been denied their petition to cancel, the two older drivers having taken the matter into their own hands to protect the younger ones. Max had talked to Christian to see if they could do something with Red Bull as a team. Nothing worked, the FIA wanted the race to happen so it was going to happen. They were all exhausted from the sprint the day before and they all felt terrible. Y/N looked down, she didn't do well with heat. Charles walked to her and sat by her side, taking her hand and kissing her knuckles gently.

"How are you holding up, Bunny?". He asked once he was sitting next to her on the floor, as everyone waited for the order to go to their cars. "Bunny" was a nickname that everyone had for her, she was a Loony-Tunes fan and had a lot of merchandising of it: mugs, shirts, hats, bags, you name it, she had it. Charles usually watched it with her, Bugs Bunny was her favourite.

"I think my teeth are sweating". She was frowning with annoyance, but that was quickly replaced with a giggle when she heard Charles laugh at her comment. They kept laughing softly, avoiding looking at each other, knowing that the cameras were following their interaction. She didn't like public displays of affection, not even with Charles, it made her uncomfortable to have her relationship analyzed all the time, so she just agreed to some light kissing and quick hugs. With her friends it was also a no, a lot of rumors circulated all the time, with almost every driver, even with her teammate, old enough to be her father, who she called her "racing dad". Fernando was the best teammate a rookie could have, he was experienced and patient, he took the time to explain things to her and guide her through everything that the racing world threw at her. They were really close, she was the kid he never had.

"Bunny, I tried, but they won't cancel". Fernando stood in front of them, an apologetic look on his face.

"I'm sure you did, Dad, don't worry". Next to him was Lewis, fumming,

"We should refuse to race. All of us together". The seven-time champion was an expert on getting people to work together for shared goals, and he was fearless when it came to things being unfair.

"Some of us could loose our seats for that, Lew". She knew that even if the four of them were safe, other drivers weren't that lucky. Most of the contracts said that they couldn't refuse to race, not without the green light from their Team Principal, and they were directly commanded to race.

"I know...". Lewis bit his lip, trying to contain his anger. "It's just so unfair". He shook his head when he heard the call for them to go to the cars. Y/N took Fernando's hand and got up. Charles gave his wife a hug and a quick kiss before parting to his car and hear her say her last bit to the conversation.

"Sadly, I think not even a tragedy can make them prioritize our lives over the money".

It was a 57-laps race. Charles and Y/N had their radios connected all the time, they couldn't talk to each other, but it gave them some peace of mind to hear the other's voice through the race. Everyone was complaining about the heat. Esteban threw up inside his helmet, Logan had to retire and Fernando asked to be drenched in cold water, something that was definitely not happening but God... he wanted it to. Charles felt like he was dying, his head hurt, it was hard to breath and the sand on the track made the car difficult to control, much more strength needed to keep the car on the track. It was lap 38 and he already wanted it to end, the first time in his life that he hated his job. He could hear that Y/N was complaining a lot, her voice tired and annoyed on the radio. She was uncomfortable on her seat, she had cramps on her hands and legs due to dehydration and her head was pounding non-stop. Still, she didn't feel like retiring and she made it clear. He could see her car moving around the track in front of him. She was P3, Max P4 and he was P5, with a prominent gap of almost 4 seconds to Max.

"Max is not doing well. He will retire this lap". Charles heard Xavi, his race engineer, on the radio and then heard his wife talking again, probably after getting the news about Max herself from her own radio.

"This conditions are inhuman". She sounded angrier than before, she was probably worried about her friend. "I can't believe they didn't cancel, I can't beli-". The radio transmission was cut short as Max's car collided with hers. Charles saw the whole accident happen in front of him, even having to drive out of the track himself because of it. They were all on turn 4, she turned, Max didn't. He didn't even break, his front wing impacting the right side of her car and pushing her against the wall of the track in a T-shaped crash. Everything happened so fast Charles was having trouble processing the information. Xavi kept asking him if he was alright, but he was already getting out of the car. He wanted to run, to fly even, to get to her as fast as he could, but his legs weren't as fast as he wanted them to be. Max wasn't moving, unconscious in the cockpit. He could see Y/N moving and climbing out of her car, walking towards Max like she was drunk, her feet unsteady and her arms moving strangely. She seemed like a mix of tired and dizzy. He kept running but felt like he wasn't getting closer. He never noticed how much physical distance 4-seconds gaps actually were. He saw his wife doing what she could to get Max out of his car, a fire burning tall were their cars connected, close to Max's cockpit. She was walking backwards, Max's body limp against hers and she was using all of her strength to carry him away from the fire. Charles was a few meters away when she suddenly shook, a little yelp coming from her then falling to the sandy ground with a muffed thud, Max atop of her.

"Bunny! Max!". Charles screamed as he ran towards them. He kneeled next to the pair and quickly removed Max from his wife. The Dutchman was breathing softly, his chest barely raising with each little breath. Y/N, on the other side, was still, too still. He removed her helmet and balaclava and the first thing he saw were her eyes slightly open and unfocussed. Panic spread through his body when he couldn't find her pulse on her neck and no air seemed to come out of her, nor come in, her chest not moving at all. He removed his own head protection as fast as he could and opened her suit to move her clothes out of the way to start CPR compressions. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix". Charles counted, the sweat from the heat and the strength the CPR took mixing with his tears. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, vingt". One more set and he had to do two ventilations. He decided to focus on his task, even if a thousand thoughts went through his head. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, trente". He moved her head up and pinched her nose with that hand, pulling softly at her chin with the other to open her mouth, covering it with his own as he exhaled into her. Twice. He could only cry and plead as he moved away from her, to start the compressions again. "Please, mon amour, please don't leave me". He placed his hands on her chest again. "I love you too much, please stay with me". The pain inside his chest made it impossible for him to notice the heat anymore. He needed her back, he couldn't loose her. "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix".

"Charles, you're gonna finish the set of compressions and then we're gonna take it from there, do you understand?". He never noticed when, but the paramedics made it there. As he nodded his head and kept working, he saw how some medics got Max on a stretcher and gave him oxygen.

"Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, trente". He was pulled away from Y/N when he made it to thirty. His first instinct told him to fight, to crawl back to his wife and never leave her side, but the arms that pulled him away were giving everything they had to keep him there. It didn't matter how much he cried or fought. The doctor cut her fireproofs open and placed the pads of the defibrillator on her chest. He could hear the machine talking, explaining that there was no pulse. "No! No! No!". He repeated as he kept fighting the marshal holding him down. Another medic was ventilating her with a bag valve mask. The machine told them to clear and everyone pulled away from her. Her body went stiff and then relaxed. The machine made more sounds and Charles felt like everything was taking too much time for his liking. Swiftly, Y/N was moved to a stretcher and took into the ambulance that just then Charles seemed to acknowledge. The last time he could see his wife, the machine was saying something but he was unable to hear as he was pulled away towards the safety car that had to take him to the garage, the ambulance taking off and disappearing from his sight.

He can't remember how he made it to the hospital, but the next thing after the safety car, he's sitting in a room, an IV connected to his arm and Joris rubbing his back. He could see thought the little window of the door that Arthur, his younger brother, was outside with Lorenzo, his older brother. The other two Leclercs were arguing and Charles could only worry as he felt his body too relaxed but his head racing. A doctor walked towards his brothers and after talking for a few moments, the three of them walked in. The doctor stood in front of him.

"Mr. Leclerc, your wife is stable now". She said with a small smile. Charles could feel the wet pattern of his tears on his cheeks. "She had a concussion. A big one, and between the dehydration and the effort of carrying Mr. Verstappen out of the car, her heart gave up and she had a heart-attack". Charles nodded. "You save her life. Her heart stopped working and the CPR you did on her kept her brain oxygenated enough time for us to start her heart back on. She's alive because of you".

"Can I see her?". He felt his throat dry and stiff as his hoarse voice came out in a whisper. The doctor nodded her head and helped Charles up.

"Yes, you can". She walked him through the hospital with his IV still connected, to help him recover from his own dehydration. Joris took the pole with his IV bag and carried it. "She's asleep now and we're getting her strong again with a supplement we're giving her through her IV". The doctor explained while they walked. "She has to stay for observation for 24hrs and then, if her MRIs are alright, you'll be able to go home". He nodded and took a deep breath when they stopped at the door of his wife's room. Then, anxious about what was waiting for him at the other side of that door, he pushed down the handle and walked in. He sat next to his wife and held her hand, kissing it softly. She moved a bit, stirring, and with her eyes still closed she called out:

"Maud?"

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This is the first part! Enjoy.