Chapter Text
First Date
“I cannot believe I hit your neighbors car tonight.” Charles’ cheeks flame with embarrassment. He huffs a laugh, shaking his head.
“That’s one hell of a first date story we’ll be able to tell our grandkids.”
Pause. Charles suddenly realizes he might have just made this voicemail awkward. His eyes close, cheeks heating again. Why does he lose all sense of decorum and control around you?
He presses on.
“I took you out, swept you off your feet…” Another pause, as if he’s replaying the entire evening in his head, checking to make sure his perception of the evening matched the reality. “I hope…”
He clears his throat. Moving on.
“And then BAM! Straight into a parked car. I am stupid.” It’s the same tone as that famous radio message and you are crying laughing.
“The FIA going to take away my super license next time. Please don’t tell Ferrari. I’ll never live this down.” Charles shakes his head, eyes rolling at the memory of the crunching sound his Ferrari made and the laughter that spilled out of you after the incident.
“I hope my inability to park hasn’t scared you away. I swear I’m usually smoother…”
‘Usually’ being the key word there.
Until he was less than a foot away from you in his car, your perfume so intoxicating that he’ll never get off of his mind.
“You just make me so nervous.” The vulnerability in his voice makes your heart squeeze.
“I was looking at you, listening to you laugh at my stupid jokes when I should have been watching where I was going.” Had he known you’d be wearing that little black dress and sky high heels, he would’ve hired a driver for the night.
“In my defense, you are so pretty when you laugh and parallel parking is hard.”
God, he hoped he hadn’t screwed this up. He already can’t stop thinking about you.
“Can I make it up to you with a second date? Please?”
And maybe a third. And fourth. And fifth?
Click.
First Kiss
“Mon dieu…” Charles sighs into the phone, lovesick and drunk on you.
“First I hit your neighbors car and then the poor woman catches us making out on the stoop.” He scrubs his hand over his face. He’s going to have to pay for you to move apartments, he’s so embarrassed. Charles will never be able to face your silver-haired neighbor ever again.
“She stood there for a long time though…which is weird.”
He chuckles finally, picturing the way she had stood there for several moments, glaring at you two, hands on her hips.
“I don’t think she likes me. Which, fair I guess.”
Charles been so lost in the fact that he’d finally worked up the courage to kiss you that he hadn’t heard the door creak open. Or the way your neighbor cleared her throat. Loudly. Six times.
“In my defense, that was the best first kiss turned first make out session I’ve ever had.”
Charles was ruined after that kiss. The way you had touched him, drug your fingernails across the back of his neck, up into his hair. Tugged a little bit.
A groan rumbles in the back of his throat as he turns the key to his newly-repaired Ferrari.
“If I promise not to try to make out with you in front of your neighbor, can we do it again?”
Something tugs deep in his gut at the thought of seeing you again. “I have to go to Maranello tomorrow for testing but I’ll be back Wednesday.”
That was in two days time. Two days too long.
For the both of you.
“Please apologize to your neighbor again. I swear I’ll keep my hands to myself next time.”
A pause. You can picture the grin sliding across his face.
“At least until we get inside.”
Click.
He Questions Everything
“I can’t do this anymore.” The anguish in his voice has your stomach twisting when you listen to the message.
It was late where you were. Or early. He didn’t know. He was in Las Vegas, you were in Monaco. Too many miles and too much heartache.
“I’ve given that team my entire heart. My youth. My best years and this is what they do? They can’t even listen to my suggestions. Can’t help but blunder themselves into P10 when I should’ve been on the podium.”
He’s rambling now. You’re his safe space though. The only one who won’t call him petty or ungrateful. Won’t judge or call him out. You see the pain his team causes him. The way he gives them everything and then some and still is expected to give more.
The line goes quiet for several moments. You think maybe he hung up, but the message keeps going.
Silence stretches but it’s full of everything he can’t bring himself to say.
“Red Bull’s been sniffing around, with Max retiring. Merc too, with George on his way to Cadillac.” He hadn’t told you this. Hadn’t told anyone outside of his manager. Charles was almost afraid to talk about it, even with you.
Because if he said it out loud, it meant he was considering leaving his home.
“Ferrari has…well, they’ve given me everything but…”
A sigh so deep and full of everything he can’t put words to. It feels disloyal to even think the things that have been turning over in his mind since he took the checkered flag hours ago.
“I don’t know if I can do this anymore.”
The sound of a suitcase zippering.
“I’m coming home. Can we spend the next two weeks somewhere warm so I can just stare at you in a bikini and forget the hell that this team puts me through?”
The thud of his suitcase echos.
“Please?”
Click.
A Surprise
“Before I tell you what I just did, I would like to remind you that I love you more than life, mon ange.”
You had frozen mid-step in the hallway of the apartment listening to that opening line.
“It’s really a funny story, to be honest. I think you’ll laugh.” At least that’s what Charles was banking on.
“It all started when Joris and I went to see an old friend of his after the gym today. He needed to get something for the car he’s been working on and this guy had the part.”
This story was suspiciously twisty and curvy, even for your boyfriend.
“So we get there and there are puppies EVERYWHERE.”
At that very moment, a little yip comes across the line and Charles groans.
“Leo!” He scolds.
Oh, great. He’s already named him. This was not going to end well.
“Leo!” He repeats. “Now you’ve gone and spoiled the surprise.”
Leo yips again, louder this time. Like he’s just discovered he can make that kind of noise.
“Surprise!” Charles says weakly.
“He was the runt of the litter. He’s blonde. Like you!”
The moment the words are out of his mouth, Charles knows he’s in trouble.
“I mean…”
Leo barks. Charles tuts.
“I’ll be home in ten. You’re going to love him, I promise!”
He hoped.
Click.
He Feels Left Out
“What on earth were you texting Maman today, amore?” Charles grumbles into the phone.
“She was giggling like a school girl anytime she looked at her phone.” He slots the key into the front door.
The lock clicks.
Leo barks.
You’re in Paris for work, missing your boys.
“And then she refused to tell me what you were talking about.”
It’s so cute when your boyfriend gets jealous of your relationship with his mother. It was innocent though. You had sent her a meme making fun of Charles’ most recent parking accident on the streets of Monaco.
Charles was just so easy to tease.
“All she would say was that she was talking to you and that you were having a very funny conversation.”
A pause. The jingle of Leo’s leash.
You can practically feel the pout on his face.
“Probably at my expense, no?”
The elevator to your flat dings and Leo barks again. It’s about time for his nightly walk but you can tell Charles is still grumpy by the way he won’t let this go.
“What were you two talking about?” He whines.
If FOMO had a spokesperson, it was Charles LeClerc.
“You two are so mean to me.” He pouts.
“I love you. Call me later.”
Click.
Grocery Store Fumble
“Amore, we have a problem.” You can tell Charles is desperately trying not to panic.
“Why are there so many tube shaped green vegetables at this market?”
He stands in the middle of the produce section of your tiny grocery store. You were a few blocks away, in the middle of cooking dinner.
“Whoever thought it was a good idea to put the cucumbers next to the zucchinis has a sick sense of humor.” He grouses.
Theres a rustle of plastic as he opens the produce bag. You had just asked for one zucchini and now Charles was spiraling.
“The sign says ‘Cucumbers and Zucchinis! Buy 2 get 2 free!” He’s panicking. “What kind of sick joke is this?”
Dinner rests squarely on his shoulders and right now, it’s not looking so good.
“Does it matter?” He asks like he’s expecting an answer. Like he’s not talking to your voicemail.
“Can you use a cucumber instead?” Deep breath. “What if I get this wrong?”
He picks up two green vegetables, one long and skinny, wrapped in plastic and another shorter, thicker, a deeper green. His eyes scan the deserted store. No one was around to help.
He was on his own.
“How different can they be? They’re both green. Both long and skinny. Although this one is a little…thicker.”
The giggle that starts low in his throat has you rolling your eyes when you listen to the message a few hours later.
“I’m sorry, that was inappropriate.”
A frustrated sigh morphs into a groan.
“You know what? I make professional athlete money. I’ll buy all the green vegetables so that way I don’t get yelled at for being stupid. Again.”
He’s so dramatic.
Another bag rustles open.
“I’ll be home soon. I love you.”
Click.
A Song For You
Soft strains of music float across the line. Charles doesn’t speak. Doesn’t actually realize he’s accidentally called you. He’s at his piano, lost in the piece he’s working on while you’re away on a trip. He’s missing you fiercely and coping the only way he knows how: music.
The song meanders on for several moments. Soft. Careful. You can feel the adoration he’s pouring into every note, even through the muffled sounds of his phone being tucked away in his pocket.
He doesn’t know he’s giving you the best gift.
The music dies and it’s quiet.
“Do you like it, Leo?” Charles rasps, his voice unsteady.
Leo doesn’t answer, just lifts his head to look at your boyfriend.
“Do you think she’ll like it?” He sounds…nervous.
Charles rarely gets nervous.
Except when it comes to you.
“I’ve been working on it for ages now and it’s finally coming together. Finally feels like it’s a reflection of how I feel when I look at her.”
A heavy pause. He still doesn’t realize the phone is recording his confession to Leo.
“I’m going to marry your mama one day.” He tells the dog.
“I’m going to marry her and this is the song that’s going to play when she walks down the aisle towards me.”
A few notes drift across the line again. Delicate. Like he’s piecing together a puzzle.
“She is everything, Leo.”
His voice his reverent, like he’s planning on getting down on his knees and worshipping you the next time he sees you.
“Your mama has the prettiest eyes, doesn’t she? The prettiest smile? And when she laughs. God, when she laughs it’s like the sun finally peaking out from behind a days worth of storm clouds. Bright. Warm. Everything.”
Charles chuckles, shaking his head. “And she turns me into a total sap apparently.”
A sigh.
“I miss her.”
You’ve only been gone for 24 hours.
“Do you miss her? I miss her, Leo. I know she’ll be home soon but…”
A pause as he reaches for his phone to call you. Chuckles when he sees he already has.
“Hello, amore. I guess you heard all of that, oui? Come back to Leo and I. We miss you. I have something I want to play for you.”
Another pause.
“I love you.”
Click.