POV: You Love Charles Leclerc

28. Silently in Love

1595 words

Obviously, as a deaf person, there were limitations to what you could do. As much as you hated it, there were. You couldn't hold a proper conversation with the people you worked with if they didn't know sign was just one thing you couldn't do. You were in your dream job- a mechanic at Scuderia Ferrari for their F1 team- and were surrounded by amazing people but you still felt lonely. The only person you could communicate with was your interpreter for meetings (because zoom calls are apparently a thing instead of face-to-face) and one of your close friends, Antonio, who learned sign for you so you could be friends with him when he met you 2 years ago. You hadn't met any of the drivers or many important people and didn't really want to because it would be awkward, especially if they didn't know you were deaf.
You were on your lunch break, getting your food from catering when you bumped into someone. You were like a high school kid in the way that you wouldn't make eye contact with anyone in case they thought you could hear and began to talk to you but when you bumped into someone, making them drop what they were holding, you were forced to look up to apologise. When you did, you were met with a pair of beautiful brown eyes. The face felt familiar but you knew you hadn't met him before so you didn't know why you recognised him. He was cute though. Very cute. You saw him say something but he must have had an accent which made his lips hard to read so you just helped him pick up his stuff and gave him an apologising look before finding Antonio and sitting with him. Again, school kid.
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The next day, you and another one of your colleagues were working on a part of the seat for one of the cars when you were tapped on the shoulder. You sighed internally as you were working on something important but looked up (you were crouched next to the car) to see your colleague pointing at something behind you. You turned around and were instantly met with the same brown eyes from yesterday. He was crouched at your level and was smiling. You smiled back and then turned back to your work. You were tapped on the shoulder for the second time. This time, you accidentally sighed out loud but quietly. "Hello, my name is Charles." The man signed, very slowly and finger spelling a lot of the words. Now you recognised him. He was Charles Leclerc. You were sure that yesterday, he didn't even know you were deaf and now he had learned some sign language? Weird. You giggled as he stumbled his way through "What's your name?" and when he got to 'your' you showed him the sign for 'name'. He signed what you had shown him, kind of, and you both laughed at his poor attempt. He was cute and was learning sign? Wow. You spelled your name back to him and then had your interpreter translate what you were signing to him as you showed him the parts of the car you were working on. You couldn't help but notice that for most of the time, he was looking at you. You supposed he was just trying to pick up on signs but his eyes said something else. Something you didn't quite know.
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Over the course of the next few weeks nearing the start of the season, Charles came in to see the car more and more. He was always proud to show you any new signs he had learned and was actually starting to put small sentences together. Key word: small. Eventually, though, you were able to have a whole conversation with him in only sign and you could both understand each other. It meant the world to you that someone as important in your work as Charles (and as cute) would learn sign for you. You had always gone misunderstood and lonely, ever since you were a kid, as you couldn't communicate but now you could. You would smile stupidly when he would sign to you which would make him smile too.
As you were starting to spend more and more time with him, you thought you saw a spark inside of him lighting up when he was with you and you hoped something would happen but it never came to anything. You set aside your breaks for when he had his so you could teach him signing. He was pretty bad at it to start with as he would get confused but when you wrote the word and then signed it, he began to understand. When he signed though, the signs were rough and you found yourself adjusting his hand placement and the shapes he was making so they would be understandable. It made you laugh to see him get frustrated as you couldn't hear what he was saying so it just looked like he was using frustrated hand signals and pouting when he was actually swearing at himself that he couldn't get it. He would always smile when you laughed and you thought it was sweet- he had a very beautiful smile.
You hadn't seen Charles in a week as he hadn't come to see you this week. You couldn't lie, you missed seeing his smile, smelling his perfect scent, feeling him tap you on the shoulder as you sat back in your chair on your break. Yes, you admit it, you liked him. Like a lot. And you thought he liked you back but it was killing you to not know. Today, you were going to find him. Today, you were going to tell him how you felt. On your break, you went to his office in HQ and almost knocked him over as he was coming out. "Sorry!" You both signed immediately to each other. He stepped back as he saw it was you and let you in. You looked at him properly and saw he was wearing a suit and, wow, it suited him. He looked so good! "I need to tell you something." You signed to him, remembering what you were there for. "Me too." He replied. You guessed he was coming to see you then when he was leaving.
"You first." You signed, you wanted to know what he was going to say first as you were nervous to say yours.
"At the same time."
"Fine. 3, 2, 1. I really like you." You signed as he signed the exact same thing back to you. Your eyes went wide in shock, you weren't expecting him to say that. "What now?" You signed.
"I guess... will you go on a date with me would be appropriate." He chuckled, hoping you would say yes.
"Of course I will." He looked at you confused and you realised he had never seen 'of course' in sign so he didn't know what you had said. You laughed as you signed 'yes' 3 times so he would see your excitement. You grinned as he pulled you closer, now you could feel his breath on your face. You steadied yourself by putting a hand on his shoulder which he moved down to his chest. You felt his heartbeat under his shirt beating faster and faster as he closed the gap between you, gently placing his lips on yours in a soft kiss. He knew feel was a big thing for you since you couldn't hear and showing you the effect you had on him was more than he could ever get across in sign. And the kiss. Ugh. You couldn't get enough. His lips were so soft and felt so right against yours. It was the perfect moment. Of course, any perfect moment has to be ruined and yours was as you had to pull away for air. You regained your breath, both of you smiling widely. You saw the clock out of the corner of your eye and remembered how long your break was. You had to be back now! "I really enjoyed this and I really wish I could stay but I have to go." You signed, sadly.
"That's okay, ma cherie. Maybe I'll stop by later." He spelled out 'ma cherie' of course. You smiled in reply and then left. You were going on a date with the cutest guy you had ever seen who just so happened to be the Charles Leclerc. What was your life?
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3 years later, it was moving day. You were moving in with the love of your life and best friend, Charles Leclerc. This moment made you remember the moments in the beginning. Since day 1, it had been the most amazing relationship and still to this day, everything was perfect. Arguments were inevitable and you had them sometimes but it was a very healthy relationship that you were proud of. You loved him and he loved you and that's all that mattered when you were together.
His signing had also developed a lot more and now he was pretty much fluent, only sometimes having to spell out an uncommon word or let you lip read what he was trying to say and it would always make you laugh if he forgot some signs because he would throw his hands in the air after trying to remember for 5 minutes.
You couldn't wait to spend the rest of your life with this perfect idiot, silently in love.

A/N: Hope you enjoyed! I'm really struggling for ideas for some reason and I didn't know how to write the idea I had but I don't think it's too bad (and it features one of my favourite pictures of Charles so... 😁). I always want to post something for you guys so please send me ideas/requests for stories you want me to write because I love to read them and then I can get the ideas to write.
Remember, you are loved and strong and beautiful ❤️
-A