Charles Leclerc Imagines

First Sight

Charles Leclerc has never found himself as thoroughly engrossed in the dynamics of street racing as he is right now. He has, of course, been vaguely aware of it before, as someone who was born in Monaco's lap of luxury and then subsequently indoctrinated in the grand and glorious art of racing sports cars, but not like this. Never like this.

If he were in the mood to be particularly honest, Charles would admit that he's not just interested in street racing all of a sudden because of the same need for speed that's consumed his life and led him to Formula One. Nor is he here because he's developed a taste past sports cars to souped up tin cans. No, he's here because of one driver, a woman. A woman named Y/N L/N.

See, this was never Charles' intent. He would have been able to skip this unfortunate little obsession in his life were it not for the fact that he's best friends with Pierre, and Pierre is way too fond of his girlfriend Kika to ever say no to her. So, when Kika begged Pierre to come with her to watch a friend's street race, Pierre decided that he simply couldn't do it alone and forced Charles to tag along as well, because of course there's nothing Charles likes more than third wheeling the two of them on yet another flirtatious date night.

Charles had assumed it would be another long night of alternating between wishing he was back home, worrying he should be on the simulator more often, and wondering if he should have dragged along a brother or two so he wouldn't have to watch Pierre and Kika ogling each other for the thousandth time that night. However, all of that changed when Kika led them over to meet her friend Y/N, who was racing that evening.

Charles is no stranger to pretty people. Every race, some new slew of celebrities gets a tour of the Ferrari motorhome. Charles has seen plenty of actresses and singers pose by his car and wear his merch, but it's never really meant anything to him. He can tell when they're fans or if they're just doing it for good PR. Most celebrities are just people in higher tax brackets with higher rates of avoiding their taxes. You meet one, you meet them all. No amount of perfect smiles or dazzling faces can change that.

Y/N, though, was different. She was gorgeous, and Charles immediately felt as if he might have been run over by his own car several times. One look from her and he was lost in it, tumbling over and over in his mind. She had this charming confidence that Charles could only wish to emulate, the sort of ease you get when you know you're better than everyone and don't need to remind people of it because you know you'll prove it the second you get to work.

If it were not obvious by now, Charles is in love, alarmingly so. Even after Kika makes some quick introductions and Charles manages to shake Y/N's hand and stammer out a few pleasantries about it being a nice night for a race, he's still left wishing he could get himself together long enough to be a real human being. Y/N probably thinks he's insane, but she's still smiling when she leaves them, so at least he hasn't done too terribly.

Pierre, by contrast, seems to think otherwise. Y/N is barely out of earshot when the other driver turns him, unable to hide his laughter. "Charles, man, what was that? You look like you forgot your own name."

"I don't need to remember mine," Charles murmurs, watching Y/N go, "Just hers."

Pierre rolls his eyes. "Be serious. You fall in love a hundred times a week."

Charles sputters indignantly. "That is not true. And besides, this is different."

Pierre can't persuade him otherwise. The drivers on the scene that night start their engines, and Charles watches from the sidelines, captivated, as Y/N accelerates to an early win. Once the race is over, Y/N runs over to Kika, who embraces her friend with an excited hug.

"Well?" Y/N asks Charles once she's released from Kika, "What does the Formula One driver have to say about that? Fast enough for you even without V6 engines?"