Chapter Text
Ollie is thrilled when he’s called into Fréd’s office asked to race in place of Charles, assuming it was just a small illness and he would be back in F2 next week. He’s shocked when he finds out he could be needed for the next few races until they figure out how to get Charles back to normal.
Normal? Why wouldn’t Charles be normal?
“What do you mean, is Charles okay?” Ollie asks worriedly, Fréd just sighs and stands up gesturing for Ollie to follow him.
“Well, he's not hurt or anything. But he’s unable to race right now” Is the response Ollie gets, the Brit frowns in confusion but follows the older man into Charles’ driver room.
Oh.
He’s greeted with the sight of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen playing with a small toddler, the kid stops running when he hears the door open and turns to face them.
“Ollie!” The toddler shouts, stumbling over his name in the most adorable way. Ollie waves at him a little confusedly and turns to Sebastian.
“Charles, did you know Ollie is going to be racing for you today?” Sebastian asks, Ollie’s draw drops in realisation.
The kid is Charles.
“Charles?!” Ollie blurts out, the kid- Charles, nods and runs over to him. Ollie reluctantly lifts the boy into his arms when he makes grabby hands.
“Oui, tu course pour moi?” Charles suddenly asks, Ollie stutters a little and looks over at the others for help.
“He’s asking if you’re racing for him” Kimi says, Ollie hums in understanding and turns to the toddler in his arms.
“Yes Charles, i’m going to race for you until we can get you back to normal alright?” Ollie says, Charles smiles and nods happily.
“Oui, vous êtes doué” Charles tells him, resting his head on Ollie’s shoulder. Sebastian just gives him a thumbs up and that’s all Ollie needs.
“Thank you, Charlie” Ollie responds happily, Kimi can’t stop himself from smiling. The 19 year old seems to be thrilled he’s technically not the youngest Ferrari driver anymore.
“Alright Ollie, we better get you ready for the race” Fréd interrupts them after a few minutes, Ollie nods and says goodbye to the three of them and follows Fréd out the door.
“How long till the race starts?” Kimi asks, keeping a close eye on Charles as the toddler runs around babbling French nonsense with a small red car in his hand.
“About an hour, let’s see how long we can keep this one entertained for” Sebastian says, Kimi chuckles and nods in agreement.
By the time the race has started, Charles can barely keep his eyes open after running around his driver room for so long. He falls asleep in Kimis arms, his red pacifier bobbing in his mouth.
He wakes up with about 10 laps to go, immediately starting to Cheer Ollie and Carlos on. The race ends in yet another win for Max, Carlos close in second and Oscar in third.
Ollie had finished in p6, a great result for being thrown in a few hours before the race. Charles seems to be babbling to Seb about how good of a job Ollie did, the German can’t really understand him but nods in agreement anyway.
“Maxy!” Charles shouts when he spots the red bull driver walking past them, Max turns around and makes his way over to the three of them.
“Hey guys, enjoy the race?” Max asks, ruffling Charles’ hair a little. Sebastian and Kimi are quick to congratulate him on the win as Charles tries to quite literally climb up him.
“Be careful, Charlie” Kimi says warningly, the Monegasque huffs to himself and finally relaxes when Max adjusts him onto his hip.
“What are you up to, mister?” Max chuckles, the boy just shrugs and looks around to try and spot Ollie. The other three chat for a few moments as Charles seems pretty content, happily sucking on the pacifier.
“Ollie!” Charles pretty much screams, startling the three of them. Sebastian scolds him gently as Ollie makes his way over.
“Hi Charles! Congrats on the win, Max” Ollie smiles brightly, Max thanks him and congratulates him too before handing Charles over and making his way over to his team as they call him.
“Bien joué, Ollie” Charles mutters, Ollie doesn’t know French but it’s pretty easy to understand what Charles is saying.
“Thanks, buddy” Ollie responds, it’s not long before Ollie is called off to do some interviews and Charles is left with the two retired drivers.
“Cawlossss” Charles whines, realising that he still hasn’t seen the Spaniard yet. Carlos is probably still in the media pen at the minute, so they need to try and distract Charles before he gets upset.
“Why don’t we.. go and see Pierre first?” Kimi starts, sighing in relief when he seems the Frenchman not too far away from them.
“Pie!” Charles squeals as they make their way over to the alpine driver, Pierre rushes over and takes Charles out of Sebastian’s arms, gently throwing him in the air.
“Bonjour, Charlie” The Frenchman says, hugging the boy close to him. Charles excitedly starts to ramble on to him about the race, Pierre nodding along with him.
Finally someone who can understand him.
Charles is distracted with Pierre for a while, much to Seb and Kimis delight as they decide to go for a walk to congratulate some of the others whilst Charles stays with Pierre.
“Charlieee!” A voice calls from behind them, the toddler turns around and shrieks when he sees Carlos making his way over to them.
“Cawlos!” Charles giggles, wriggling until Pierre puts him down. As soon as his feet hit the floor, he starts running towards the Spaniard.
Well, more like stumbling, but it’s still cute.
“Hola pequeño” Carlos hums when Charles is in his arms. The Monegasque giggles and wraps his arms around Carlos’ neck.
“Bonjour!” Charles says quietly, finally seeming to relax now that he’s with Carlos. Both of them decide to give Seb and Kimi a break and take Charles back to the hotel.
They end up in Carlos’ hotel room and Pierre sends a message to the group chat inviting them over once Charles had settled. An hour later, the room is full of f1 drivers trying to entertain a baby version of Charles.
Charles knows he’s got them wrapped around his finger, the second he asked for something he would get it immediately.
Which is probably the reason why he ended up having a huge sugar rush. Who can say no to those puppy eyes?
Carlos comes up with the idea of watching a film to try and calm him down, so the grid end up huddled together in the living room watching Cars. Charles ends up falling asleep half way through, bless him, Carlos doesn’t move him until the movies over and everyone is ready to leave.
Not before they all got a huge scolding off Sebastian for giving Charles all of that chocolate.
Carlos laughs as they all leave embarrassed, he quietly changes Charles trying not to wake him up and places him in the bed. He says goodnight to Kimi and Seb, apologising one more time before climbing into his bed and falling asleep, Charles curled up next to him.