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In his life Valentino had only one rule: never get his personal life involved with his professional life. Which means: never date or have a one night stand with people who work with him.
He’s the most successful rider ever, he still rides the best bike and he has the boys from his Academy to keep him company. That’s why he never bothered to look for a partner, being man or woman, he’s happy like this and having his affairs one in a while with someone he finds attractive.
He never even looked that way to the people who work with him, engineers, mechanics, PR people, chiefs, teammates… until Repsol Honda decided to sign a young rider. Valentino already knew him by name, he never bothered to learn about other riders, only his own, but he saw this doing some incredible things in the other categories and he was looking forward to this new challenge. He’s not that young anymore and many people say he should already retire and give space to other riders, and also that he won because he didn’t have good teammates. Well, now it’s time to prove that he can accept a good challenge. He doesn’t care if he wins or loses, but he wants to have fun with the rider on the other side of the garage.
And his thoughts before properly meeting his teammate turned against him. Because within months he was already in love with Marc Marquez.
And it fucked everything. Because Marc’s not only indeed a good rider, but he’s also funny. Valentino never thought he would enjoy that much having the younger rider as his teammate, because after discussing the strategy with the team, they always have a good time together. The photo shoots were never this fun, because Marc likes to joke a lot. They laugh and their photos together are always fun to see.
On top of it, of having an amazing personality, Marc’s beating him on track. And he’s not mad. He thought he would be, even if he said he wanted the challenge, no one beat him before. But it ends that he actually enjoys seeing Marc so happy. Well, Marc was happy on the first race in Qatar, when he finished second behind Valentino. He was smiling from ear to ear, speaking a broken italian that makes Vale go weak. It was in that moment that Valentino realized he was long gone, he had already broken his rule and fell definitely in love.
And there was nothing he could do, each moment they spent together was a reminder of this, and they spent a lot of time together. Of course Vale also invited him to go to the Ranch, to train with the boys, he made sure to show Marc every part and to teach him every secret of the track.
By the end of the year, the end of their first season together, it was Marc who got the most points. And again, Valentino wasn’t angry as many people thought and some journalists ever wrote about, no, he’s proud. So proud of this young man, of how far he came only in his first year, of how he pushes himself to be better and better everyday, to always keep learning and be humble.
Valentino likes to think Marc learned something from him too, that having the most experienced rider by his side was also a positive thing that led to the Spaniard being the best rider that year.
They ended up drinking the whole night after that race in Valencia, because Marc made sure he was there with him, and it was not the whole team, just him. He was still unsure if Marc could handle all the drinks, he can’t even drink the podium champagne, imagine having shots in a random club. But somehow he didn’t pass out, but he was singing non stop ‘we are the champions’, which annoyed Valentino a little, because he hated to relate the song to himself, but it’s Marc and he can do whatever he wants that Vale will let him. Somehow they managed to find a room in the hotel, and ended up there, sleeping together with the clothes still on, but they were a little too close from what is normal.
“We can’t do this anymore, Marc,” he says the day after the celebration.
“What do you mean?” Marc asks. They are both hungover and Vale thinks he’s even more beautiful like this. “This is not because I beat you, is it? I-I thought we were good,” Marc says, clearly trying not to cry. And Vale curses himself for not being direct, he’s clearly not that good with communication as he thought.
“We are, Marc, you are perfect, and that’s the problem…” he starts, but Marc interrupts him.
“What? Why’s that a problem?”
“Because I love you, I fell in love with you the first time we talked as teammates, when I saw how you truly are… I fell in love with everything about you… And you are so young, Marc... but I can’t hide it anymore,” he finally says, waiting for Marc to say he’s crazy, that he never wants to talk to him again.
But no. Marc did the last thing he expected him to do: he actually kissed him.
It was not a soft kiss, it was full of force, passion. The exact same thing they do on track. And Vale wouldn’t want it another way.
When they break apart to breath, it’s the time for Marc to confess. “I’ve always been in love with you, Vale. I was so excited to be your teammate, but I knew I was out of your league. I’m not a child anymore, I know what I want. And I love you too, Vale.”
And oh, he has no idea what to do now, Marc broke all his rules, but now, maybe, he thinks that having rules is useless. Well, at least they are together. In everything.