#honesty week

in the order anon sent them:

Sebchal - one of the less bad ones but honestly? so much about it was idolised and cliche-ed out of proportions over the years. Seb was going through a lot at the time, as much everyone knew. As a 4 times champion coming to the most prestigious team, the pressure must have been enormous and he was failing the mission he set for himself. I think all of us dumb red horse team fans wanted him to win a championship with said team but it didn't look good and turned basically impossible the day Charles stepped a foot in the team. He probably had a bit of an boy crush on Seb who was still the mighty 4 times wdc and number 1 driver in his dream team. At least for some time it turned pretty sour especially on the track and ultimately every piece of content from that time (minus the infamous helmet message) falls a bit one sided and always has. Not to speak about how fan space is made up by fans first and content second and a lot of fans of sebchal just try to push the "he's like father to him" narrative that I can't help to find mildly disrespectful. I get and appreciate the fandom jokes about grid dads and grid kids and don't get me wrong, sometimes they are funny, but in this particular case it always felt like some people take it too far.

Chewie - one of the best ones honestly. I think they are friendly towards each other, Lewis hypes him like he always does with young drivers and Charles has a lot of admiration for him (and let's be real probably some jealousy too, because Lewis is the greatest driver there has ever been). So far so good but when people in the fandom get involved in shipping them I can easily imagine it as mildly problematic in the classical produced content (like fics fanart and stuff) - with age gap or stereotypes or whatever.

Piarles - I love that Charles has a bestie in the paddock that he grew up with and that he knows better than any other driver and hangs out with outside of racing too. But that's it. It was a lot sweeter back in the day and came out as more genuine. Maybe I just never paid that much attention or their different career moves changed them (and that's valid and definitely not something I should judge) but... if you follow the subtle patterns lately one side comes out as exploiting the opportunities that come out with hanging out of the other more. If you asked me years ago this might be my first go to though so to some extend I understand why people like it. What I don't understand are those who see besties hanging out together and start yelling about them being on a date or being in love or whatever. They got used to it no doubt, because one they're properly famous (which naturally comes with lots of people being weird about you) and two they're both fairly present on social media so I bet they saw things. That's on people who ship them and not on any of them personally tho. As someone who was on the receiving end of those "ur dating haha ur so in love" talks with multiple of my friends in the past, I can tell u that there's just a few things that made me so uncomfortable.

Chalex - this might honestly take the crown for the best current Charles ship? Alex knows him for a long time as well and also knows what it is like to be his team mate during the worst times (puberty lol). I can openly admit I wasn't always very fond of Alex because.... you guessed it, Red Bull. He just came out as quite arrongant (and I guess because for one you need to always be confident about yourself in this sport to continue doing it on such a high level and the moment you stop, you're out, and two of course your self esteem increases if you get a seat in a top team). I properly enjoyed him during the twitch sessions though, he always seemed (and seems currently) as the sweet happy-go-lucky person who knows how to live life fully. He's also a little tease and paired with Charles it just works somehow. Again, I just don't really enjoy when people take it too far and start speculating if it's real and what not. Alex is happily in a relationship and they're good friends who often joke with each other during driver parades.

Charge - this might be short, because there's not much to say. It's cute and I love the vibes. They give off the energy of George calling him snickerdoodle or gigglebunny or fuzzybear while Charles grows more confused and concerned each time and asks what if means to which George just thinks "goodness gracious...." and tries to patiently explain the british gibberish. Sweet, fun and niche but I don't think there's much to work with nowadays so twitch days were definitely more fruitful time for Charge shippers.