POV: You Love Charles Leclerc

18. Our Little Secret

1538 words

This was it. Your dream job. You were so excited. Today was your first day as an engineer for Scuderia Ferarri, the F1 team. You had done an apprenticeship for a few years and finally worked up to the job, making the carbon fibre parts fir the car. You worked in the factory and it was pre-season so you weren't expecting to see anyone important today but you were so happy that all your work had paid off and you were here, living your childhood dream.
You arrived at the factory and got settled into your workspace. You were shown around and then shown the car. It was beautiful- scarlet red and sleek. It had no stickers on it yet so you didn't even know who's car you were working on and to be honest you didn't really care- you were just appreciative that you were there at all.
Finally, you got to work on it. You were adding a part to the seat that the driver would be sitting in for the whole race so it had to be perfect. There were only just a few adjustments you could make as the driver would have to come in to do the rest so you took a small break. As you sat down, one of your colleagues, Antonio, walked in.
"Hey Y/N. Why aren't you working on the car?" He asked in Italian.
"Oh hey, didn't see you there, you creeped up on me!" You laughed, "I was working on the seat but all the stuff that has to be done needs the driver so I took a break to reassess and see if I could do anything else." You replied, also in Italian.
"We'll why didn't you say so! You're in luck today, your driver is actually in for sim testing. I'll go and ask for him now but it could take a while if he's in the sim or busy." He said, turning to leave.
"Are you serious, Antonio? I get to meet him and sort out his car with him? Thank you!" Your smile just grew 5 times bigger, reaching your ears. Antonio chuckled, "newbies." He muttered just loud enough for you to hear.
"Hey! I heard that!" You laughed as he ran out, pretending to be scared of you.
——————————————————————————————————————————————————
You worked on some of the steering wheel parts as you knew some of the biometrics were off and, even though it wasn't your job, you knew what to do. You were smoothing a part on the seat when you heard the door open again. You assumed it was Antonio again as he had been in and out to get components for another part of the car until you heard a French accent. "Sorry, I was kept up in the sim but I heard you needed me to sort some stuff out here?" It didn't click who it was until you turned around. "Yeah, that would be great. So I just need you-" you cut yourself off as you turned around to see Charles Leclerc standing next to you, looking over your shoulder at what you were doing. Some unspoken connection took place in the next few seconds as you locked eyes before you looked down at the car. "So yeah, you were saying." Charles prompted you so it wasn't awkward.
"Oh yeah," you shook your head slightly, bringing yourself back to reality- that was embarrassing. "You probably want your gloves too, I did some stuff with the biometrics on the steering console so that would be useful to test too." You pointed at the shelf with a pair of driving gloves on it. Charles went over and came back holding them. "So all I did was smooth this part so it doesn't dig in as much because I believe that last time it was?"
"Yeah, and I think this part needs to be cut down or something because it wasn't feeling right." Charles showed you a part on the edge of the seat that had been irritating his legs.
"Okay, yeah that's fine. I can do that for you. Anything else?"
"I don't think so, you seemed to have fixed the other things." He smiled at you. You returned the favour before you replied, "It will probably be easiest if you get in the seat so I can see what I need to do and make sure that what I've done is actually right."
He chucked. "I'm sure it will be. I've seen your stuff, you're good." You propped the seat up on some tires so that it was in the same position on the car and Charles got in. You took some measurements and checked everything was sitting comfortably. "I don't like how your arm is sitting there, is it bothering you?" You asked, pointing to his left arm.
"Yes, a bit. And just under my legs," he showed you where it was cutting into him.
"Well yes, I haven't done that part yet." You laughed. "How do you expect it to have changed?" He laughed in response and got up so you could draw the changes on the seat. Then you strapped the seat into the car and told him to get in. He did and then you handed him the steering wheel to put on. "Right, put your gloves on and see how it feels. Tell me if anything feels funny. I know the seat won't be all that comfortable but I'll change it later, I just need to know what I'm doing while your here." You explained.
"Yes ma'am." He said which made you laugh. "Everything with the wheel feels perfect. You did more than I had asked for actually."
"Well I saw your measurements and then adjusted based on those. I saw there was more than what you had asked for to be done so I did it when I was waiting for you." You finished up with Charles and thanked him for coming in to help you.
"Not a problem," he replied. He quickly scribbled something on a post-it that you had on the desk before giving you a small kiss on the cheek and leaving.
You were going to leave the post-it but curiosity got the better of you so you decided to read it.
You, me. Tonight. Meet me after your shift behind the sim block.
His number was also scrawled across the bottom. You knew where the sim block was from your tour today so you knew where you were going. You finished with the seat so you packed up for the night. As you left, you picked up the note and put it in your pocket. When you got outside, it was getting dark. It was January after all. You made your way over to the sim block and saw a shadow in the corner, waiting and looking at his phone. The sight of him gave you butterflies, hopefully you didn't mess up.
"Hey! Didn't think you were coming." Charles called you over.
"Yeah, sorry. I was just finishing the seat and packing up. I smoothed the arm down and cut the edge down so it shouldn't dig in as much on your legs. I took some photos, do you want to see?" You pulled out your phone but were interrupted by Charles putting his hands on yours. "Y/N. Chill. It's just you and me."
"That's the problem, Charles." You mumbled, not expecting him to hear.
"Huh? What do you mean?" Charles looked worried.
"I tend to ramble when I'm nervous." You said, looking at your feet. He used two fingers to lift up your chin to bring your eyes level with his. God, they were beautiful.
"You're nervous, ma cherie?"
"I mean... yeah." You said quietly, lost in his eyes. He smiled, ugh, he was so cute. "You and your voice and your smile and your presence doing things to me. The butterflies, ugh." You admitted.
"Butterflies. Interesting..." Charles smirked.
"Wha-" you started but before you could continue, Charles brought his hands up to cut your cheeks and pulling you in. You didn't really know what was happening until you felt the sparks flying, soaring over you and Charles. He pulled away, you both wore perfect smiles. You missed the feeling of his lips on yours already so you pulled him in again for a passionate kiss.
"God, Y/N. I've been wanting to do that all day."
"I'm glad you did." Was all you said, you didn't want this moment to end- everything was just perfect. You felt your heart beating out of your chest but in an amazing way and the butterflies didn't let up for a second you were with him.
Charles left you at your door at the end of the night. "You look beautiful tonight, Y/N." He said.
"Hardly," you scoffed, "I'm covered in carbon and I'm in my work clothes."
"You always look beautiful." He kissed you gently again. "Our little secret." Was all he said before turning away to go to his car.
Our little secret.
His words repeated over and over in your head for the rest of the night. You knew then that Charles Leclerc was the one.

A/N: Hey guys! Hope you enjoyed. This was quite a long one but you know me, I just waffle 😂 I think it was very cute anyway but let me know what you guys think. A Ferrari engineer would be my top dream job so that's where this one came from. Also sorry for not posting as much as I would have liked, I'm not trying to make excuses but I've been lacking motivation to do anything recently so writing is hard for me but I'm getting better so hopefully I'll be more frequently uploading soon. I have plans for all the ideas I have at the moment, I just need to write them so I'll try and get those done soon for you so you can have some more cute Charles content 😁
Remember, you are loved and strong and beautiful ❤️
-A