Chapter Text
Not wanting to lose anymore time, he grabs the present, pats his hair down and slips into his shoes. He holds the present by his waist as he walks down towards the restaurant.
He sees the table where he’s supposed to sit and slides down into the empty seat beside Sebastian.
“Finally decided to show up?” Sebastian chuckles, patting him on the back.
He wants to say something, but his throat closes up and if he even tries to speak it would probably release a dam of tears right there and then.
So, he sits there gaping like a fish as Sebastian stares in concern.
“Charles, is everything alri-“
Sebastian is stopped mid-sentence as Charles shoves the package into his chest. He holds it there until his teammate gently take a hold of it, his hand carrying it with the upmost care.
“What’s this?” He asks softly.
His eyes start to sting but he barrels through, looking down into his lap and away from Sebastian’s stare.
“A present.”
This elicits a small laugh out of him, “I know that, but what for?”
Charles stays silent. He can’t even explain and he want to scream at how pathetic he’s being when Sebastian places the gift on the table and scoots his chair closer to him so that they have their own little bubble of conversation.
Again, he asks ever so softly, “What’s this, Charles?”
“Father’s Day,” he manages to get out, his voice cracked and small.
He’s frozen in his chair as his head stays down, eyes glued towards the ground. He can’t even run at this point.
“Charles,” Sebastian encourages, “Look at me.”
He looks up and is greeted with Sebastian staring at him with watery eyes, before he’s being pulled into a rough hug.
He hugs so tightly that his hands pull at Sebastian’s jacket, fingers balled up into a fist. It’s a little awkward since they’re both sitting down but Charles hasn’t felt this warm and happy in a long time. As cliché as it might be, he doesn’t want to let go.
“Happy Father’s Day,” he whispers.
Sebastian pulls away and Charles sniffles, messily rubbing at his nose while he lets out a wet laugh.
“Oh, you little rascal,” he ruffles Charles’s hair and offers him a tissue that materialized out of nowhere.
“Thank you,” he blows into the tissue loudly.
Sebastian looks at him with a mix disgust and adoration and pulls him into another hug. This time he can hear sniffling coming from his teammates end.
“Thank you, Charles,” he says thickly, his accent becoming more prominent, “Thank you.”
They both pull apart and Sebastian joking prods the parcel. “You wrapped it yourself!”
“I did,” he answers sheepishly.
They spend the next ten minutes playing a guessing game of what’s inside before Sebastian opens it carefully, not wanting to tear the wrapping.
He laughs happily when he pulls out the model and squeezes Charles into another hug, their dinner forgotten.
-Now-
Charles swallows his food, not really paying it any attention as he enjoys the moment with Sebastian.
Between having different teams, being in a new relationship, and the races, he hardly has time to sit and relax with him.
He still hasn’t told Sebastian about Max. He isn’t exactly scared, no. A more accurate word would be; embarrassed. Charles knows Sebastian would sit Max down and have a talk with him. Or, maybe he wouldn’t even approve.
Oh God.
He needs to steel himself for the oncoming barrage of questions and tells Sebastian that he needs a quick trip to the men’s room.
Once there, he splashes water onto his face and groans loudly. There would be no way of putting this off. Charles doesn’t want to ruin the perfect evening he’s having. If Sebastian were to be disappointed, he would regret it forever.
If this caused distance between them; Charles would never forgive himself.
Calm down. He chides himself. It’s Seb, he’d ruffle your hair and call you his kid no matter what.
- - - - -
Sebastian taps his foot against the leg of the table, humming Darlin’ by The Beach Boys under his breath. He feels warm and at ease, finally getting to catch up with Charles.
Charles, who seems a little jittery tonight but he’s glad to see him none the less.
The kid needs to give himself a break every once in a while.
The humming stops as his phone starts buzzing, a couple of texts messages being received.
He glances at his phone.
Max Verstappen :
Has he told you yet?
He said he was gonna do it tonight haha
Sebastian grins and opens up WhatsApp, typing back quickly.
Sebastian Vettel :
No. He seemed very nervous and ran to the bathroom. He probably went in there to touch up or do whatever you kids do in toilets nowadays.
Max Verstappen :
I told him it wasn’t a big deal
Sebastian smiles and lets out a small laugh through his nose. They really were made for each other.
Sebastian Vettel :
It might be a big deal to him.
Max Verstappen :
Yeah, cuz its you mate. He loves you like you hung the moon
His smile grows, and so does the warm feeling through his chest.
Sebastian Vettel :
I don’t think that’s how the saying goes but, I’m flattered. I’m glad he has you.
Max Verstappen :
I’m glad he has you dude. Update me when its over 😜
Kids and their God-forsaken emojis, or emoticons. Whatever they’re called. Charles abuses his keyboard when he sends his messages and he often chides the him on his use of them. The first time he complained about the emojis, Charles had simply taken his phone and changed his contact’s name.
Sebastian opens up their chat and is greeted with an assault on his eyes.
Charles ❤️🏎️
I found a stray cat!! 🐈😍😍😱
If he hides a small smile behind his hand, no one but him would know.
He suddenly hears the chair in front of him being pulled back and Charles settles into it once again.
Sebastian offers him a wider smile and he can see Charles visibly relax. Wasting no time at all, the kid spits out the secret he’s been harbouring for weeks; “I’m dating Verstappen.”
It took all of Sebastian’s willpower not to bark out a laugh. “I know.”
A second later the whole restaurant is staring at them after Charles had shouted a rather loud ‘what’.
“Sorry,” he hisses, “What?”
Sebastian pats him across the hand, “You’re not exactly subtle,”
“But I…” He was sputtering now, confused as ever.
“You make a good couple. Strong.” He wants Charles to know that he is more than okay with it.
“Seb…”
“I’m proud of you.”
Charles’s face burns bright red, but its no contest to the blinding smile plastered on his face. It means that the little shit is happy, and that makes him happy in return.
“Do I need to give you the safe sex talk?”
Charles yelps, shaking his head violently, “No, there’s no need!”
“Are you sure? I’m very experienced in this field.” He waggles his eyebrows. “Lewis taught me a lot.”
“No!” Charles squeals, “And don’t talk about your sex life with Lewis to me, I don’t want to hear it.”
“Aww,” Sebastian pouts. He clicks his tongue twice, “That’s too bad.”
Although their plates are long licked clean, and the restaurants patrons are slowly decreasing, they both sit there together, giggling about everything there is to be talked about.
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
Roughly 4000 kilometres away in Switzerland on Sebastian’s fridge, sits several drawings from his kids. A supposed red fiat 500 drawn by his two year old son, a chicken by his youngest daughter, a seaside landscape by his eldest daughter and a Father’s Day card by his 23 year old son.