TRIGGER WARNING: mention of death.
Sophia's POV.
"Have you noticed that you always do that?"
Charles gives you a confused look.
"Do what?"
You grin as you sway your feet to keep the double seater swing that you're on with Charles moving.
"Light up when you talk about your family," you tell him with a smile.
You've noticed it from the beginning actually. Whenever he talks about his parents or his brothers, he immediately gets extremely excited. It's very attractive actually, to see that he cares so much about the people close to him. You wonder whether you could mean as much to him one day.
He immediately starts to blush.
"No, no. Don't feel ashamed of it. It's really beautiful to see," you immediately add.
He starts to smile.
"I mean... yeah. They're my world honestly. I would be nowhere without them," Charles tells you
You give him a big smile.
"I admire that Charles. It warms my heart to hear you talk about them. Please continue."
His smile gets bigger and you can tell he's once again excited to talk about this topic.
"We're very close you know. It all started with my father. He was my biggest inspiration and I would've never become an F1 driver if it wasn't for him. And when he passed away... I knew I had to continue racing. For him. It was a difficult time for my mum and my brothers but it made us stronger. My mum has been the most amazing mother I could wish for and somehow she made it all work. But I still miss Dad every day," Charles says with a small smile.
You look at him with teary eyes. The way he talks about his family and his father particularly is always very touching to hear for you. It's clear how much it has hurt him to lose his dad - his inspiration and best friend - and he has also lost more people close to him. Nobody deserves that and definitely not Charles. But you can tell that it made him stronger and it probably made him appreciate his family even more. It just makes you emotional for some reason.
"I'm sure he's watching you Charlie, and I'm sure he's super proud of you," you tell him as a tear rolls over your cheek.
You can't help but think of your own parents. You wish you could tell him too. Charles is so open about his family and you've never told him about yours. You know he wanted to ask about your parents when you were at the lake and to be fair, it would've been the perfect moment to tell him about what happened. But you just couldn't do it.
You've literally never told anyone. Nobody. It's the biggest secret you have.
And it's not that you don't want to tell Charles. You genuinely trust him. But it's just so damn difficult to get the words out. You've never even said the words. It's just so scary.
Charles gives you a confused look as you look at him with teary eyes.
"What's wrong baby?" he asks you concerned as he wipes your cheeks dry.
You give a small smile to notify him that you're okay.
"Nothing..." you tell him with a sigh.
"I just find the way you talk about them very beautiful. And like your dad, I'm sure your whole family is proud of you. I'm proud of you as well Charlie," you say with a small grin as you peck his nose for a second.
He laughs lightly and then pulls you into a hug.
"Come here you cutie," he says as he ruffles your hair.
"I'm proud of you too," Charles tells you as he kisses your head.
You smile against his chest as Charles keeps the swing moving.
Today has been a very nice day. You've spent your time strolling through Budapest with Charles and it's been very pleasant. It's actually the first time you've hung out with Charles in public and you can't deny that it's been rather scary. You and Charles agreed that whatever is going on between the two of you does not need to be picked up by the media for several reasons.
Being Sebastian Vettel's little sister, you've had to deal with a little bit of spotlight before and you've never liked it. You don't want people to know stuff about you because you fear that it might be used against you at some point. Seb has always tried his hardest to keep you out of the fame and you really don't want all that effort to be for nothing.
But the biggest reason the media can't see you hanging out is because the team really cannot be influenced by your relationship with Charles. It's already a pretty weird triangle between you, Charles and Seb, and you're not sure if the team will like it. You don't even want to think about it yet. It's all too early for that.
Anyways. Charles disguised himself as much as he could which seems to have worked because apart from a few fans, almost nobody recognized him - or you for that matter.
"You know... before we both go back to our homes tomorrow, I actually had one more thing planned," Charles tells you with a small smirk.
You look up from his chest and raise your eyebrows.
"Another surprise? Really Charles?" you ask him sarcastically.
He starts to grin as he stands up from the swing and starts to tug on your hand.
"Yessssss, let's go Soap! I promise you'll like it," Charles tells you excitingly and you finally let him drag you up.
He suddenly starts to run and you have no choice but to follow his pace as he's still holding your hand.
"Charles!!! Not so fast," you tell him as you try to keep up.
He looks behind at your probably red face and starts to laugh.
"We're almost there. Right here," Charles says as he drags your around the corner.
What you see next makes you stop dead in your tracks.
No.
Out of all the fucking things.
Not this.
YOU ARE READING
Redemption {Charles Leclerc}
Fanfiction"Charles. You're my redemption." redemption [ri-demp-shuhn]: noun / an act of redeeming or atoning for a fault or mistake, or the state of being redeemed.
