#and they just hear what they think is the pitlane alarm

[albonium]

why did they have to pick the standard fire alarm as the pitlane alarm

[thepavementsings]

PLEASE tell us more about your piarles soulbond au

Back broke and happy Cause you're near Cause you're near Nearer to me

It's really more of an idea rather than anything, but here's a collection of notes app thoughts i've been compiling on it since 2021 (I started trying to clean it up but tbh I gave up, so some parts more coherent than others)

Silverstone 2016 

When you’re as young as Charles and Pierre were when they first met, bonds come and go. Charles used to feel the tug of his peers the same way he felt the tug of the finish line.  His bond with Pierre has felt like that for as long has he can remember: a part of them that feels as natural as a pedal under his foot. 

It doesn’t feel like that anymore. Not when sharp pain and cold sweats wakes him up instead of his snooze alarm. He thinks of his parents first, and then his girlfriend, all back home and suddenly too far away. 

When he hears about Pierre’s accident on his way into the paddock, his knees buckle. When he watches Pierre win the next day, he feels it all in his chest: the adrenaline, the fear, the relief. They should probably talk about it. 

Japan 2017 

Pierre knows he shouldn’t beg. Marko doesn’t take well to being told what is best for the team. But he thinks if he could just be there, even as a replacement, he can prove himself worthy.  

If he can just get there. It’s been lonelier in Japan then he thought it would be. With the crazy schedule and the opposite timezones from all his family and friends, his soul has felt like it’s been pulled to every corner of the world except where he is all year. Until now. Right now his soul is in one place. For himself, for Charles down the next pitlane, he knows it’s where he needs to be. 

If he begs a little, sue him! He’ll do it for both of them right now. Pull them by the current of their shared dream. 

Australia 2018 

Charles can feel the thrum of Pierre’s fingers on his shoulder before he even sits down in his chair, a strong arm slotting behind him as he leans back into it. 

“Get comfortable Charlo, Alonso’s seen the video of Lewis with his belts loose. 50 euros we’ll be here for at least an hour” Pierre jokes. 

Something in Charles settles. He’s trying to take it all in, like everyone has kept reminding him to do. That first weekend Charles? When you get here, cherish it. The feeling of Pierre’s laughter grounds him in the moment

“100 we’re here until lunch” he beams back. 

Pierre slips two bills and a protein bar into his hand as they part their way down the pit lane. He’s beaming. Charles could do this forever. 

Monaco 2019

Turns out Pierre doesn’t feel the same.

(Sorry this is where it just becomes a string of loose plot points lol i gave up) 

What does it mean to be able to physically FEEL someone else’s triumph when you’re drowning in your own defeat and vice versa?

A Charles who is always trying to be positive and strong and bright! A little scared of big negative emotions, always trying to carry them instead of feeling them. A Pierre trying compartmentalize his horrible year from how Charles is feeling at Ferrari... In a way craving any positivity he can hold onto and in another way feeling like he's leeching it out of Charles. 

It all comes to a head when Helmut calls in the summer and he loses his seat. He tells Charles that everything all feels like too much. CHARLES takes that as Pierre saying HE is too much. And Charles knows he feels so many things and he feels guilty. Guilty because he feels like he's putting more onto Pierre (not realizing that he is taking just as much on himself - I carry sadness like a sibling in my arms etc etc) but he can't give up that chase for Ferrari. Because it's bigger than him.

So Charles tells him that maybe it's best if they break their bond. Because thinks that what Pierre needs and is too nice to ask! And he’ll do it for Pierre. So he doesn’t have to feel as much. And Pierre is like. Of course Charles cant love him if he's a failure! 

So over the summer break they go to the clinic and it takes.. days. The doctors say because the bond had been there for so long. They aren't sure if they can get it all etc etc. It’s horrible. They’re both doing the prep both like numb and miserable and afraid and they can only feel each others’ fear and its the last thing they feel before they both go under.

Spa 2019

then they go to Spa.... And even if they don't NEED each other anymore... they need each other.

Charles can feel it he thinks. On the podium. That it didn't break the whole way. He should probably call the doctor right away. But Pierre is barely holding on as it is, so he can’t bring himself to pick up the phone.

maybe it can be enough.. just to be there. And surely Pierre doesn’t feel anything off Charles (he thinks!) so it’s ok. He can handle for both of them, at least for a little while. Pull them both through by the current. 

[yifeiyay]

charles doing sth dumb and cursed which leads to pierre and esteban swapping bodies for a week or so go wild

ok so i messed up the prompt a little and went with swapping identities instead, but i hope you enjoy it! i had a lot of fun writing this fhsjfjks

The shaman Charles had arranged to meet was seated behind a screen. Light shone from behind him, illuminating his silhouette. The room smelt strongly of incense.

"You have the spell, right? To help me win the championship."

"Of course." The shaman's voice is low, and he doesn't quite sound like he's from around here -- Charles had expected a shaman near Maranello to be Italian, but then again, stranger things had happened. Perhaps he was just travelling.

The shadow reaches to his side, but there isn't anything there. "Give me a moment," he says, sounding slightly more frustrated, as he disappears through a door behind the screen.

There's the sound of something falling over and muffled yelling.

"Sorry about that. Here's your potion." That was a different voice, right? Charles hesitates when the hand pushes two vials of liquid towards him from under the screen. But he doesn't have time to figure out whether he wants to accept them or not, because there's a sound from behind the door that sounds like glass breaking. And then more yelling.

"Fuck. You've paid, right? Just take it." The other shaman rushes off, leaving Charles with the two vials of potion.

Well, he had paid...no harm in taking them.

***

It's testing, and Carlos is out in the car now, which meant Charles was left to sit alone in a secluded corner of the paddock, rolling one vial in his hand. Was there a time limit to this magic? Should he drink it now, or wait till the season was properly underway? Was this even right?

Fuck it, let's try one.

He opens the cap, and is just about to down the vial, when Esteban walks up from behind him. Alarmed, the vial nearly drops from his hands.

"Hey Charles! What are you doing back here?"

"Uh, hi."

Esteban raises an eyebrow. "That wasn't an answer, but okay. What've you got there?"

He points at the vial in Charles' hand, and he panics. What was he supposed to say? He definitely looked suspicious now.

"It's...the newest coffee sweetener." That should work. "Sugar free. I, just happened to get a sample. Like, sponsors, you know?"

Esteban nodded, thoroughly convinced. Phew! Good job, Charles. You did well this time-

"Can I try one?"

"Huh?"

"You know how it is being this height. Got to keep it trim. Just let me take one home to try. You have other samples, right?"

"Uh, I guess?"

"Thanks, man."

***

Charles is sat in bed, thinking about that day's testing. Alpine had actually set some surprisingly good times. He thinks about Esteban holding the driver's championship trophy. God, that would be insane, wouldn't it?

Pierre would be so mad.

He hears the doorbell ring, and then the door open. Just when he was thinking of him! It must be Pierre. He would always ring the doorbell before letting himself inside, just to let Charles know that he was here.

Should he tell Pierre about this?

Wait.

Charles tries to sprint down the stairs to the best of his abilities, but he's wearing socks and he doesn't want to get injured so close to the start of the season. All he can do is pray. He had poured his remaining vial into his glass of water to drink. But he had forgotten about it after getting distracted by his phone, and now he had to make sure Pierre didn't-

He was too late.

Pierre sits at the counter, glass of water half-drank, smiling at him.

If Pierre and Esteban were fighting for the championship this year...this was beyond what Charles could imagine.

***

"Marcus! Where's my vial?"

"What do you mean, 'your vial'?"

"You know, the liquid. The identity-swapping liquid." Callum flopped down on the sofa, having finally cleaned up the place they had refashioned into a shaman's office for this stunt. "You gave one vial to Charles, didn't you?"

"...Oh. He only needs one."

"Don't tell me you gave him both!"

"I mean- look, how was I supposed to know?"

"Logically speaking," Callum wrung his arms, exasperated, "you need both parties to be involved in any kind of identity-swapping spell? The whole idea was for me to swap identities with someone so I could race on the grid with Mick, and Charles was the best option, because who doesn't want to be the Prince of Ferrari, and well, because he's the only one who would fall for this. How am I supposed to answer to him now?"

"So that's where you got the potion from? From Mick?"

***

When Mick arrived in the pitlane, he could feel that something was terribly wrong. Granted, the presence of the person on the other side of the garage was also something terribly wrong. If he could find a way to spike Nikita's food with the identity-swapping potion, he could. And then Callum would be his teammate, and all would be well in the world. (Well, perhaps he was exaggerating there. But things in the paddock would be better, at least.)

He has to do a double take when he walks past the Alpine garage. Number 14...and Number 10? Pierre Gasly?

He pulls out his phone, and does a google search. "Pierre Gasly takes his first podium in Sakhir". "Pierre Gasly replaces Nico Hulkenberg at Renault after taking one year off racing". "Pierre Gasly is replaced by Lance Stroll at Force India, now to be called Racing Point".

Wait, what?

"Hey Mick! How's it going?"

It's Yuki. He couldn't have arrived at a better time. "Hey, Yuki. Who- How's your teammate?"

"Esteban? He's been alright. He's helping me get used to the new team, helping me brush up on my Italian. He's got a flair for languages. I'm going to teach him Japanese when I get the chance."

Oh. Oh, no.