Chapter Text
“Marc, it’s time to go to sleep,” his mother sounds tired and maybe a tad more resolute than the last two times she’s asked. Marc mumbles a reply, the interview is almost over, and he doesn’t want to miss it. He’s never seen someone that shined so brightly on the track or even during interviews before.
The television has been left on the lowest setting Marc could set it so that he could hear it just enough that his mother wouldn’t be able to from the kitchen. It helps her forget, which is how he’s managed to stay up at least 20 minutes extra. Inevitably, his mother would remember
“5 more minutes,” he whispers, not wanting to be too loud and miss a part of the interview. Valentino Rossi, he thinks to himself. He hears his mother sigh, but she leaves him be just like the last two times. The questions changes again and despite the fact that the camera is focused on someone else, Marc has eyes for no one but him. Nobody else rides like him.
“For Vale, how has presenting as an alpha affected your performance? Do you think it has been helpful or more of a, hmmm, nuisance?” It’s clear the reporter’s trying to direct this conversation somewhere, but Marc doesn’t know what it’s supposed to do. He frowns at the question and the uncomfortable look the other drivers have on their faces.
“Allora,” here, Marc notes with glee, that Valentino has a new expression on his face as he pauses and considers the best way to answer. He’s buying himself time and then he smiles at the camera, wild and charming, voice filled with delight. “It has made me more popular with all the, come si dice, all the secondary genders.”
There’s a glint in his eyes that Marc knows means trouble. There’s a moment of suspense and then Valentino winks. The interviewer flusters, stammers something that barely resembles a thank you. Valentino is laughing in delight, eyes sparkling at their reaction. The rest is lost as his mother comes into the room and closes the television. This time, Marc knows that he won’t get away with it, but he still protests even as he’s making his way to his room.
He gets ready and then speaks up just as his mother is about to leave, “Can two alphas get together?”
His mother freezes and tells him to go to sleep, her eyebrows are furrowed together but she doesn't say anything else. Just closes the lights and then the door. Marc hears the click of the door closing and he would get up, go ask his mother again if it didn't mean that he'd likely wake his brother up.
He had been childish then. As per the old regulations, he’d been determined that he would present as an alpha, that he would be sitting where Valentino Rossi sat in a few years. At the time, he hadn’t been sure what he had meant when he asked that question, if he wanted to be together as in teammates or in a relationship.
The sentiment remained even after he met Valentino in person, if anything, it had strengthened his resolve. Meeting his idol had slightly worried his mother, an off-handed comment about Marc’s obsession with Valentino had been made, but she had quickly abandoned bring it up. Somewhere around the time he turns 19, Moto GP releases a statement that they want to be more inclusive.
By then, he’d already presented as an alpha, but a part of him aches. In a semi-recent interview, Valentino had made it somewhat clear that he was looking for an omega, rather than a beta. It shouldn’t have bothered him as much as it did, but in the end, he is glad that he’s presented as an alpha. He’d seen just what being a different secondary gender could do to one’s self-esteem and what it meant for their career choices.
The sport coveted alphas, willing to discard betas and omegas in order to have the traditionally more impulsive and aggressive alphas. He knows it plays a critical role in his selection, despite the so-called inclusivity attempts, betas still had a hard time joining the sport, and it was even worse for omegas.
Marc tries not to think about how much he thinks of these issues and just how much it has to do with Valentino Rossi. Just as he expected, and delights in, he gains the attention of his idol. It starts off slow, a few touches, congratulations there. Then they start to spend more time together, small talk that eventually evolves to deeper talks.
The time they spend off-track after races increases and they spend so much time texting that when Marc eventually accidentally spills to Alex that he’s potentially dating Valentino Rossi just before the beginning of the 2014 season, Alex laughs and says he knew. That anyone with eyes could see how well they got along.
Marc doesn’t think anyone else would agree but Alex has convinced himself, so he leaves it at that. A little more than halfway through the 2014 season, Marc and Valentino try to bond. Maybe it’s because they’re a bit reckless and so blinded by their love that the shock of reality hits even harder.
Valentino is snuggled against him, an Italian thing, Marc tells himself as Valentino pulls him closer. They’re lying on Valentino’s couch when the older man asks if Marc has ever thought about mating. Marc, all starry eyed and full of love is so quick to agree that Valentino doesn’t even have the time to tell him what he’s thinking of.
They stare at each other and break into laughter. It’s like Marc’s living his dream life, he’s finally found himself in Moto GP racing against the best of the best. He’s got Valentino Rossi praising him and somehow, he’s dating his idol despite the fact that they’re both alphas. It’s like the world has conspired to make Marc’s life a living daydream and everyday he gets to experience it.
Of course, life gives them a brutal reminder then. Marc shuffles closer until he’s straddling Vale’s lap and tilts his head. He doesn’t mind taking the bite, doesn’t care if it’s the other way around. All he wants is that proof that would bind them together. And anyway, it might be stupid and impulsive, but he doesn’t think he will ever see himself with anyone other than Vale.
Vale grins up at him, kisses him and then bites down so hard Marc actually almost jolts back and injures himself. Vale’s hand prevents him from accidently tearing his own throat open and Marc waits. He’d heard from omega friends about how good the bite would eventually get, but he doesn’t feel much of a change.
He frowns but it’s not concerning enough that it stops either of them. Eventually, Valentino eases off, sharp fangs coated in blood. He grins up at Marc and offers his own throat and Marc, the fool that he is, thinks that nothing could ever go wrong as he bites down. Vale inhales sharply but otherwise there isn’t much more that happens.
“Do you feel the bond?” Vale blinks when Marc eventually pulls off. They stare at each other, and a moment passes but Marc thinks that even back then they both knew that something was wrong. Supposedly, every couple Marc had known and talked to had mentioned how quickly the bond snapped into place.
“I’ve read that alpha bonds don’t always take,” Marc supplies after a moment, staring intensely as the bite around Valentino’s neck keeps slightly oozing blood. A part of him is terrified that the bond isn’t settling, but Vale is laughing now and he’s pulling Marc close and licking at the closed wound. Marc wiggles, a bit ticklish at the touch.
“Then we’ll just have to try until it takes,” Vale says with the kind of determination that someone who isn’t aware of just how hard that would be could say. It’s neither of their faults that they don’t have an inkling of just how truly rare it is that their bond would take. So, Marc lets himself be reassured and they try, laugh about the results.
Looking back on it, he thinks the only reason why they didn’t get tired after a whole year of trying was because of how their schedules only allowed for rushed kisses and often left them tired or bruised enough that they didn’t think of the issue enough. It takes a bit of a nosedive in the winter of 2014, Marc thinks he might have been more frustrated than Vale back then.
He remembers thinking that maybe he should have presented as an omega, that everything would be so much simpler. But still, Vale holds him close, laughs into his hair when he mutters it one night out of frustration. Vale asks him if he wants to go home with him to Italy and Marc agrees. It’s one of the other things that goes wrong.
Obligations have him running around and Vale tells him they can always go back next year. Marc apologises, doesn’t realise that it’s maybe one of the last times he apologises without thinking. In fact, sometimes he wonders if after he had ever apologised and meant it as much as he did back then. He doesn’t recall or maybe he doesn’t want to recall those days.
Then of course, 2015 happens and well… lovers’ spats happened more and more.
“Stop thinking about him,” Alex voice brings him out of his thoughts. He startles and is about to protest that he isn’t thinking about Vale, but the look Alex gives him says everything he needs to know. He’s thinking too much again, but it’s normal to reminisce, he tells himself. Except maybe it’s not normal to reminisce about your ex turned enemy.
“I’m not,” he says nonetheless because Marc is stubborn. He thinks it’s the main reason why how even after 10 years his relationship with Vale is still at the stage it was back then. He adjusts his position and sighs as Alex gives him an unimpressed look. It’s uncanny how Alex knows him so well that he can tell between regular upset and Vale-type upset.
“Maybe it’s time for you to go out,” Alex suggests like he hasn’t been trying to gently, or as gently as he can with the subtility of a sledgehammer, nudge him toward moving on. Honestly, Marc thinks that maybe Alex is right. Last year, he’d thought that after their 10-year incident anniversary that maybe Vale would contact him.
Sepang had been an intense time, not only for Alex but also for Marc. Sure, he hadn’t raced, but he’d wait and waited, wondering if it was finally time for things to move forward. In the end, no text nor call had come, nothing interesting. He’d congratulated Alex on his win and that had been that. Still, a part of him had hoped that he would get something, anything.
At the same time, he’d loathed the idea that he was still waiting even after all this time for the other man to make a move.
He knew that if he made the move then it would have been called desperation. Valentino would probably sneer at him, smear his name some more. Marc doesn’t know and maybe he doesn’t care, maybe he’s finally past the point of caring, he thinks as he sits there after winning in Austin. “Fine,” his answer is so surprising that Alex finds the need to startle.
“Fine?”
“Fine,” Marc hisses out, not petulantly despite the look Alex gives him. He sees the way his brother’s eyes light up and half pays attention to his rambles about this amazing place. The grin his brother gives him tells him he’s in for something that’s beyond him. He rolls his eyes fondly at his brother and tells himself that a change in scenery will do him some good.
Marc thinks that maybe it’s finally time to move on.