Can you write something were reader is the younger sister of Charles. She is very close to Charles, Arthur and Lorenzo and often comes to the race. She is also very close friends with the other drivers. She is always smiling and happy but lately she is being more quiet. Reader is feeling a bit more anxious and she is missing their dad...but she doesn't want to tell her brothers about it. They are worried and so are the other drivers. Maybe during one day after the qualification some drivers find her sitting somewhere alone. They talk to her and she starts to open up. They convince reader to talk to Charles and Arthur.
Thank you
"you don’t have to pretend"
Pairing: platonic!f1 grid x leclerc!reader
genre: platonic, comfort, family angst, found family, protective grid
warning: grief themes/missing a parent
a/n: writing this honestly made me tear up a little. grief is such a strange thing because sometimes it gets quieter, but it never fully leaves you. a part of this fic was inspired by losing my own father, and while writing Y/N missing hers, it reminded me a lot of myself. i also kept thinking about Charles Leclerc losing his father at 19, which is close to the age i experienced that loss too. seeing someone continue chasing their dreams, continue living, smiling, loving people, and pushing forward even after something so painful makes me feel like maybe everything will work out eventually. maybe grief never fully disappears, but maybe one day it becomes lighter to carry. 🤍
everyone on the grid knew one thing for certain:
if Y/N Leclerc was in the paddock, you’d hear her before you saw her.
usually it was laughter.
sometimes it was her arguing with Charles over snacks. sometimes it was her stealing ollie's cap and sprinting away while he yelled after her. sometimes it was kimi dragging her around the paddock because they both spotted a dog at the same time.
she was always there.
always smiling. always bouncing between garages. always somehow convincing the drivers to take blurry group selfies at the worst possible moments.
the younger sister of Charles had practically become the grid’s collective little sister too.
Charles spoiled her endlessly.
Arthur let her sit in the Ferrari hospitality kitchen at 2 a.m. while he listened to her ramble.
Lorenzo checked if she ate properly every race weekend.
the grid adored her because she adored them first.
she remembered birthdays. she brought snacks. she congratulated rookies after rough sessions. she sat with drivers who had bad races so they wouldn’t be alone.
and maybe that’s why everyone noticed the change so quickly.
because Y/N going quiet?
that wasn’t normal.
it started small.
she stopped running into Charles’ driver room after sessions.
she stopped posting silly paddock photos.
during media day, instead of sitting with Kimi and laughing at something on his phone, she just smiled faintly and stared off somewhere else.
Lando noticed first.
“she’s tired,” he’d said.
but then Oscar noticed she barely touched her lunch.
Pierre noticed she’d started sitting alone after sessions.
Carlos noticed she flinched whenever someone asked if she was okay.
and Charles—
Charles noticed everything.
he noticed how she forced smiles now.
how she lingered outside the Ferrari garage like she wanted to come in but changed her mind every time.
how she kept saying “I’m fine” too quickly.
he tried asking gently.
“you okay, bébé?”
and she smiled immediately.
“yeah!”
too fast.
too bright.
too fake.
Charles exchanged a look with Arthur from across the paddock.
because that wasn’t their sister.
qualifying in Monza was chaotic.
Ferrari fans were loud as always, the paddock was crowded, emotions were high, and Charles was frustrated after narrowly missing pole.
everyone was busy.
engineers talking.
media running around.
drivers heading back to hospitality.
and somewhere in the middle of all that chaos—
Y/N disappeared.
“has anyone seen her?” Charles asked suddenly, looking around Ferrari hospitality.
Arthur frowned immediately. “I thought she was with Kimi.”
“She wasn’t with me,” Kimi said, already pulling out his phone.
the mood shifted instantly.
because normally Y/N was easy to find.
she gravitated toward people naturally. someone always saw her.
but now?
nothing.
it was actually George who spotted her first.
he’d gone outside to get some air after media obligations when he noticed someone sitting behind one of the paddock buildings near the barriers.
knees pulled to chest.
Ferrari jacket zipped all the way up.
head lowered.
alone.
George slowed immediately.
“…Y/N?”
she looked up too quickly, wiping at her face before he could fully see.
that alone made his chest ache.
because this girl never cried in front of people.
ever.
“hey,” George said softly.
a few seconds later Kimi appeared too, having followed George after overhearing Charles asking around.
the second Kimi saw her expression, his face dropped.
“oh,” he said quietly. “something’s really wrong.”
Y/N immediately tried smiling.
it looked painful.
“I’m okay.”
George crouched slightly in front of her.
“you don’t have to do that.”
“…do what?”
“pretend.”
and that—
that nearly broke her immediately.
Kimi sat beside her first.
not too close.
just enough.
quiet enough that she didn’t feel cornered.
George leaned against the wall nearby, arms folded loosely.
neither of them pushed.
which somehow made it worse.
because Y/N realized they were waiting.
patiently.
gently.
like they actually cared.
and she was so, so tired.
“Charles is worried,” Kimi said softly after a while.
her eyes dropped instantly.
“I know.”
“Arthur too.”
“…I know.”
George tilted his head slightly.
“then why are you hiding from them?”
and her lips started trembling before she could stop them.
“I don’t want them to worry more.”
the words came out cracked.
small.
Kimi frowned immediately. “More?”
and suddenly tears were sliding down her face no matter how hard she tried stopping them.
“I just…” she whispered shakily. “I miss my dad.”
silence.
heavy silence.
because instantly they understood.
not fully—not really—but enough.
grief didn’t disappear just because time passed.
sometimes it waited quietly before crashing into you all over again.
and race weekends made it worse.
because motorsport was everywhere.
Ferrari was everywhere.
family memories were everywhere.
her dad should’ve been there for all of it.
for Charles.
for Arthur.
for her.
“I didn’t wanna say anything because Charles already has so much pressure and Arthur’s trying so hard and Lorenzo worries about everyone and I just—”
her voice broke completely.
“I feel bad because they’re trying to be okay and I’m not.”
Kimi’s expression cracked immediately.
because Y/N was always the one comforting everyone else.
seeing her like this felt wrong.
George sat beside her now too.
“You know,” he said carefully, “your brothers would probably be devastated hearing you felt like you had to hide this from them.”
she wiped at her face angrily.
“I know but every time I think about saying it out loud I feel guilty.”
Kimi shook his head immediately.
“You missing your dad isn’t something to feel guilty about.”
and that sentence—
that one sentence—
made her cry harder.
eventually more drivers quietly joined them.
not because they wanted drama.
but because the grid had become weirdly protective over this girl.
Lando arrived with snacks.
Oscar brought water.
Pierre sat nearby without speaking.
Carlos rubbed her shoulder gently when she cried too hard to talk.
it became this silent little circle of people just…being there.
no cameras.
no headlines.
just family.
the kind you’re born with.
and the kind you accidentally find.
“you should talk to Charles,” Carlos finally said softly.
Y/N immediately shook her head.
“I can’t.”
“yes, you can,” Pierre replied gently.
“He loves you too much to want you hurting alone,” Oscar added quietly.
and honestly?
they were right.
when Charles finally found her, Arthur right behind him, both of them looked terrified.
Charles’ expression changed immediately the second he saw her crying.
“bébé?”
Y/N broke instantly.
because that was her brother.
that was safety.
that was home.
Charles crossed the space so fast she barely had time to stand before he wrapped his arms around her tightly.
Arthur joined them a second later.
and for the first time all weekend—
she stopped trying to act okay.
“I miss him,” she cried into Charles’ shoulder.
Charles held her tighter immediately.
his own eyes watering.
because he understood.
of course he did.
“I know,” he whispered shakily. “I miss him too.”
Arthur pressed a kiss to the top of her head.
“You never have to hide that from us.”
and somewhere nearby, the grid quietly looked away to give them privacy.
because sometimes love looked like this.
not podiums.
not trophies.
not cameras.
just siblings holding each other together in the middle of a loud paddock after the world got too heavy again.
later that night, someone posted a blurry photo on instagram.
Charles, Arthur, and Y/N sitting together in Ferrari hospitality long after everyone left.
Y/N tucked between them.
all three smiling softly.
safe again.
and the comments under the post were filled with one collective thought:
the paddock would protect that girl with their lives.
