slow days in monaco | PG10
PAIRING: pierre gasly x single mom!reader
REQUESTED: [] yes [X] no
WORD COUNT: 2.2k
SYNOPSIS: a slow day in monaco is like a bad omen, or so you were told. what happens when formula 1 drivers pierre gasly and charles leclerc enter the café you work at and spark up a conversation with your son?
WARNINGS: fluff, son has a name (thomas), reader can speak both french and english (translations are included), probably more interactions between pierre and the kid (sorry, not sorry. I'm a sucker for guys interacting with kids)
A/N:Â hello, hello!! first post alert!!! i hope you guys enjoy what i came up with during my dad!pierre brainrot. please donât be a ghost reader! i love getting feedback, even if itâs just a small comment :)
( originally, this was supposed to be a series, and iâm more than willing to write more parts to this, but iâm not entirely sure if thatâs what people want. that being said, send me a message if you'd like another part and I'll see what i can do! )
although there never truly was such thing as a slow and quiet day in a coffee shop in monte carlo, the mornings were just a little bit more mellow after the start of the formula 1 summer break. or at least they were to you.
this was your first year working at le pain d'amour, a bakery and coffee shop popular with tourists and natives alike, so you didnât have much to go off of. you had started working there a couple of months prior to the monaco grand prix, and even three months later, you were still recovering from the weeklong madness.Â
long gone were the mornings where you made coffee for f1 enthusiasts and team members alike. now, your mornings were spent serving tourists looking for a good instagram-worthy latte, and suit-clad men complaining about their early mornings and lack of vacation days.
unlike other days, today felt like your longest morning shift yet; halfway into your five-hour shift, with only about five customers sitting inside the cafe. âa slow day in monaco is like a bad omen,â your coworker had said. to you, it just felt like torture.
another hour passed, the five customers long gone, now replaced with three individuals who sat scattered around the shop, all busy with their own devices. the bells above the front door chimed announcing the entrance of two men. with the way the two men loudly chattered in french, you doubted the need for the bells in the first place.
you moved from your spot leaning against the counter to the front cash register. your coworker, michelle, had stepped out not too long ago for her break, leaving the cafe in your very capable hands.
âbonjour! welcome to le pain d'amour, i can take your order whenever you guys are ready!â you channelled your best customer service voice and looked up. the smile you slapped onto your face faltered slightly when you realized the faces of the two men standing across from you.
there in front of you stood f1 drivers, charles leclerc and pierre gasly.
you snapped back into reality when charles opened his mouth, âbonjour! can i just get an iced coffee and a croissant sandwich?â
you nodded as you entered his order into the system, âand for you?â
your question was directed to pierre, who had been gazing at the (h/c)-haired boy sitting on one of the stools near the counter. his head snapped back to you, a smile following as he looked over your head at the menu. a quick apology left his lips as he requested some more time, before opting to get the same as his friend but with a cookie as well.
as you turned to make their orders, telling the men to take a seat wherever and that you would call them up whenever their order was ready, you missed pierre gesturing towards the young boy, pulling charles up to sit on the stools near the kid. the alpha tauri driver couldnât help but miss his nephew as he watched the young boy colour his page with great focus.
the quiet clicks of keys, and the music playing over the speakers was now overshadowed by the aggressive sounds of a crayon scraping against paper and the sound of the two drivers chattering in french. although loud enough for others to hear them, the speed at which the two men spoke made it hard to understand what they were saying.
âmaman, regardez ça.â mom, look at this.
you drew your eyes from the espresso machine to the five-year-old, thomas, and the paper held up in his hand. you absorbed the shapes and lines on the paper before looking at the boy who was smiling widely.
âdevinez ce que c'est!â guess what it is!
his energy was palpable, no thanks to the three hours he had spent sleeping on the couch in the backroom while you worked outside. you looked back at the machine, noticing the coffee just barely starting to stream.Â
you decided to entertain the boy, âhmm,â you furrowed your eyebrows in fake confusion, âest-ce un chien?â is it a dog?
âwhat?!â he gaped at you, ânot even close! rĂ©essayer.â try again.
you giggled at the young boyâs exasperated face, âdĂ©solĂ©, mon petit. je dois retourner au travail.â sorry, my child. i have to get back to work.
if it wasnât for sanitary reasons, you would have reached over and ruffled his hair to get him to smile. instead, you resorted to calling out to him again, âstop pouting, amour.â
thomas grumbled, a mess of both french and english, albeit both sloppy, escaping his small lips.
a voice broke his muttering, âpuis-je deviner?â can i guess?
both you and the boy looked over to where pierre sat, a small smile gracing his lips. you looked back at the young boy, eyes wide open and jaw slacked.Â
you huffed a small laugh, âtommy, ferme ta bouche.â close your mouth.
thomas sat up straight, âyouâre in f1!â
he turned to look at you, âmaman!! driver! un pilote de course!â a racing driver!
it was endearing, listening to him exclaim in both french and english. you, yourself, had been raised in a bilingual household, with your father being a native english speaker, who met your monĂ©gasque mother on his summer vacation. you grew up in a household where both english and french were spoken in tandem, and now, with your own son, you couldnât help but raise him the same way.Â
you turned back to finish making the drinks that said driver had ordered, âoui, and he asked you something. sois poli et rĂ©ponds-lui.â yesâŠbe nice and answer him.
tommyâs eyes grew wide again and he turned back to the driver next to him, âpouvez-vous rĂ©pĂ©ter votre question?â can you repeat your question?
pierre pointed to the drawing, repeating his question in english this time, âcan i guess what you drew?â
thomas looked down at his drawing. an attempt at copying the foam art you had done on his long-empty cup of hot chocolate.
he looked back at you for guidance, gesturing you to come closer to him with his hand. you placed the sandwiches and coffees in front of the drivers, smiling apologetically to pierre for your sonâs blatant avoidance of his question.Â
âiâll get you your cookie in just a minute,â you stated, to which he responded, âpas d'inquiĂ©tude.â no worries.
as you neared the cookie display, and thomas, he reached up and whispered into your ear, âwhat if he thinks my drawing is really bad?â
you looked down at the boy, a small smile gracing your lips, âiâm sure heâll think youâre very talented, and if he doesnâtâŠâ you trailed off as you placed the cookie onto a plate.Â
after placing the cookie in front of pierre, you leaned down to whisper in your sonâs ear, âiâll fight him.â
thomas giggled, moving away from you to push his drawing in front of the driver, âmaman said if you think iâm a bad drawer, she will fight you.â
charlesâ chortle was loud, turning into a series of coughs as he choked on his coffee. you gasped quietly, quickly turning away from the three to avoid pierreâs amused gaze and get charles a tissue, to which he nodded with a red face, eyes watering. you began cleaning your station, ears not having to strain to hear the conversation going on behind you.
as charlesâ coughs died down, pierre sighed, âwell, we wouldnât want that now, would we?â
after a small sip of his own coffee, he continues, âis this a cup?â
you couldnât see it but pierre was pointing to a spot on the drawing.Â
thomas nodded excitedly, âmhm! c'est une tasse comme celle-lĂ .â
the five-year-old pointed to the large array of coffee cups and mugs just to the left of where you stood.
pierre nodded, âis this design on top one of those foamâŠâ he trailed off forgetting the words.
charles piped up from his spot, âlatte form art?â
again, thomas nodded fast, âyes! but maman says i canât have coffee so she makes me it on hot chocolate!â
both charles and pierre nodded at his words, âyour mother is very smart, then.â
you turned around just in time to catch thomas nodding super fast, cheeks turning red at the compliment.Â
pierre took a bite out of his sandwich and charles decided to reach out and make conversation with the kid, âwhatâs your name, buddy?â
âthomas! with an h,â he started, going on a ramble about his classmate who also shared the same name, but without the h.Â
your attention got pulled from the conversation as you heard the bell chime again. this time, however, it was your coworker coming back from her break, keeping the door open for the person who was leaving the shop.
michelle smiled at you with a wave, tapping on her wrist as if to indicate the time. you looked at your own wrist, eyes widening to realize your shift was due to end in about 10 minutes. as slow as your shift had started, in the presence of the two drivers, you couldnât help but be amazed at how fast time had passed.
there wasnât much for you to do, waiting for the time to pass. as thomas continued chatting up the two f1 drivers, you made rounds around the tables placed in the shop, cleaning up any messes left behind.
with thomas and pierreâs loud voices filling up the air, it wasnât long before michelle pulled you by your arm, eyes widened at the sight of the two very famous men sitting next to your son. her inquisitive look made you laugh quietly, explaining that they had come in not too long ago and had already ordered, and finished most of their food by the looks of it.
the ten minutes went by quickly, and you found yourself apologetically disrupting the very important conversation between thomas, charles, and pierre about whether or not a velociraptor could outrun charles in his ferrari. (charles: âvelociraptors cannot run as fast as a racecar.â pierre, smacking his hand on the table: âyou canât believe everything you read on the internet!â thomas: âyeah! raptors are fast!â)
you smoothed out thomasâ hair, âhey, mon petit chou. iâm gonna go get our stuff from the back so we can get ready to go, okay? why donât you start wrapping up the conversation?â
you left before charles could ask for your opinion on the matter, not wanting to face the wrath of either side if you defended the other.
by the time you made it back out, thomas was sitting on his stool, hunched over a piece of paper, a red pencil crayon held tightly in his hand as he drew something. the plate with pierreâs cookie now sat next to the boy, small teeth marks indicating that instead of the man who had ordered the cookie, the young boy was the one eating it.
pierre, noticing your return, smiled sheepishly as if embarrassed. whether it was for not ensuring your son had packed up before you came back, or for the fact that he got caught giving your son a cookie, you werenât sure.
 âsorry, he said he wanted to draw something for us,â pierre started, his eyes catching the movement of thomas taking another bite of the cookie before darting back to your amused face, âand sorry for the cookie, i always intended on giving it to him, but i realize now i should have probably asked before if he could have one.â
you smiled at him, âdonât worry about it, either of the things. the cookies are by far his favourite item on the menu and heâs not had one yet, so no harm done.â
charles leaned over from his spot, pushing against pierre, âso, do you think i could beat a velocirapt-â
pierreâs groan cut him off, âfermez-la dĂ©jĂ .â shut up already.
charles poked pierre with his elbow, âno, you,â before he turned back to you, âgoogle says raptors only travel about 40 km/hâŠâ
you laughed, âiâm afraid i cannot give my answer without risking my life,â you gestured your head towards the boy still colouring, now with a blue pencil in his hand instead.
âi think that gave your answer perfectly.â though his words were directed to you, charles couldnât help but stare at pierre, a cocky smirk planted on his lips.
before pierre could retort, thomas sat up eagerly, âj'ai fini!â i'm done!
he pushed the piece of paper into the middle of the counter, right in front of pierre. looking over thomasâ head, you couldnât help but smile at the picture he drew.
two racecars, one red and one speckled with blue, the numbers 16 and 10 drawn on either car respectively. in between the two racecars stood four people. three squares bodies and one triangle, three boys and one girl. as thomas pointed at each aspect of his drawing including the people, not that any of them needed any supporting description, you couldnât help but smile at the fact that the triangle stick figure was connected at the hand to the smallest square figure. you and thomas, holding hands.
after pierre and charles thanked thomas profusely, you helped him hop off the stool. you turned to look at the two drivers one last time, âthank you for keeping him entertained today, you really didnât have to.â
ânonsense, heâs a good kid.â charles smiled, pierre nodding at his words, âhopefully, weâll see you both again.â
you smiled, âwell, iâm here nearly every morning, so yâknow.â
you helped thomas put his backpack on, âhave a good summer break, both of you. hope the rest of the season treats you two well!â
the racecar drivers smiled, waving bye to both of you as you walked towards the door. before stepping foot outside, however, thomas turned around.
 âmamanâs number is written on the back! bye!â
A/N: second part is now posted!! read lonely nights in monaco here!!












