Work Text:
They weren't teammates anymore. Dino knew they had done this many times before, he knew they would be fine in theory. They hadn't even started off as teammates. They were fine all the time they spent in F3 together, they were fine last year, and he knew they would be fine next year too, but something in him felt like they were being torn apart. Dino knew he just needed to talk to Luke about it, but both of them were so busy all the time, especially now, and he felt like his concern was stupid anyway.
While being in Hitech hasn’t been the most ideal for Dino, and the team hasn't been the best, Dino has loved being with Luke. It’s been nice to be able to spend every race with Luke, to be in the same room as him for their debriefs. He’s loved that he has gotten to be next to Luke for their first full season in F2.
He knew that if he wanted to really be able to make progress however DAMS would be a better fit for him. They had supported him well last year, and he was excited at the idea of getting to work with them again, but still the loss of his boyfriend as his teammate was grating in his head.
What if he lost Luke to his new teammate, what if Luke started to hate him now that they were competitors again? He couldn't afford to lose Luke, not again. They had broken up once, after a big fight because of a crash. Dino didn’t know how long he lasted before he was back at Luke’s hotel room door, tears streaming down his face, begging Luke to let him come back. He could remember it well.
———————————————————
Dino slammed his fists into the wood of Luke’s door, their fight had been bad, and he had told Luke they were done, Luke had agreed, he had said that he was wrong to think two racers could ever love each other. Dino had agreed, he had left in a huff, returning to his room, tears pricking at the corners of his eyes. He had tried to sleep, tossing and turning, no position quite right, too warm, the bed too empty.
Memories of him and Luek filling his head, the two of them together, their dates, their dreams of sharing podiums together, spraying champagne. He needed Luke back, he needed his personal ice cube that cooled down his naturally warm body, he needed Luke back now. It hit him like a F1 car, hard and fast. He bolted up in bed, reaching up as he realized he was crying, and rushed to Luke’s door, where he was now.
Luke opened the door and stared at him. Dino didn’t take the time to look at his boyfriend, if he had he might have noticed then that Luke had been crying, that Luke looked just as bad as Dino felt, but Dino didn’t look, he practically fell to his knees there, begging Luke to take him back. Telling him just how much he had missed the other even in the few hours they had been apart.
In that moment Luke had grabbed him and pulled him close, wrapping his arms around Dino. Speaking quietly of how hard it had been for him too. Whispering how much he loved Dino, they had cried in each other’s arms for a long while.
Dino knew he couldn't lose Luke again, because if just a few hours was too much what would forever be like? He knew if Luke broke up with him for someone else there would be no rushing back to each other’s hotel rooms, realizing they had been crying for each other.
Dino sighed, and rolled over in bed trying to get comfortable. Tonight was going to be another one spent without Luke, who had to go to a Williams thing. He wasn't going to be back home for another day, and Dino always struggled to sleep when his boyfriend wasn't around, but tonight it was especially bad. He shoved his face into the pillow, kicking off the blankets, he was still too warm despite the AC being on blast and multiple fans being on. He couldn't get comfortable, not without the weight of his stupid boyfriend who slept like a koala.
He sat up, sleepily moving through the apartment he shared with Luke, searching for a weighted blanket Ollie had gotten him as a joke a while ago when Dino had complained about not being able to sleep very well without the comfort of his koala of a boyfriend, he was also looking for his cooling blanket. If he was going to sleep with the weighted blanket he was going to need his cooler, which actually, he just needed anyway.
He rifled through their storage bins, searching for the box with his blankets. He really hadn't used them in a while so he had no idea of where they were. He frowned, crossing his arms over Luke’s shirt he was wearing. He really had no idea where he had put them, or if Luke had maybe moved them.
He was so caught up in what he was doing that he didn’t hear the front door opening, or the rustling of his boyfriend coming home a day before he was meant to. He didn’t hear Luke entering their bedroom and frowning at the absence of Dino in their bed. He didn’t hear Luke start to look for him, and he didn’t hear Luke find him.
“Hey baby.” Luke said, wrapping his arms around Dino’s waist and kissing him gently on one of the moles on his neck. “What are you doing?” Luke asked, as Dino started.
“Skit!” Dino turned to look at Luke. “You’re not supposed to be back till tomorrow.” Dino said, fully turning in his boyfriend’s arms so he could face the other. “What are you doing back here tonight?”
“I managed to get home early, I missed you.” Luke leaned down, placing a kiss on the beauty mark on Dino’s right cheek. “You didn’t answer my question, what are you doing? You should be in bed. I was going to surprise you in bed, but when I went into our room you weren't there.”
“I was looking for some blankets.” Dino shrugged, holding his boyfriend close, if there was a chance Luke was going to leave him, Dino wanted to have as much time with him as he could.
“What’s wrong baby?” Luke asked, pulling Dino’s face out of the corner in his shoulder, Dino had taken residency in.
“What do you mean?” asked Dino, avoiding eye contact with Luke, knowing he was giving himself away.
“Why aren't the blankets on our bed enough?” Luke asked.
“I was cold.” Dino answered, quickly before thinking. Out of everything he could have said, “I was cold” was probably the worst, Luke knew Dino ran hot, he knew that Dino was hardly ever cold.
“Dino.” Luke said, his voice laced with concern. “There is no way that's true.”
“I’m scared.” Dino whispered out.
“Of what?”
“That when we stop being teammates you're going to leave me, that it’s going to be all over again, but this time for real, and forever, and I don’t… I don’t think I can take it if that happens.” Dino said, his words bursting out of him like a damn being broken.
Luke went quiet for a moment and Dino found himself, going to pull away from Luke’s grasp, but Luke pulled him back, he pulled him closer cradling Dino’s head gently in his hands. “Dino… you're the only person I want to spend my life with. I don’t want to leave you. We weren't on the same team in Formula 3, we didn’t spend any of the 2024 Formula 2 season on the same team, and we didn't even live together then. They would have to rip you away from me.”
“Oh…” Dino found he didn’t know what to say.
“Does that help to quiet your fears?” Luke said, placing a quick kiss on Dino’s lips. Waiting for Dino’s to nod. Once Dino had and Luke had decided that Dino was sufficiently convinced that Luke loved him, he smiled. “Alright no can we go to bed, please? I got off a flight from Silverstone like an hour ago, and I’m very tired.”
Dino laughed gently, before pulling Luke to their bed.
Once they were in bed and ready for sleep, Luke wrapped around Dino, sufficiently cooling off the warmer Swede, Dino leaned into Luke. “Luke, by the way you’re the only person I want to spend the rest of my life with too.”
Luke hummed, “I should hope so.” he said, before grabbing Dino’s face, “Now we sleep.” Dino laughed.
“Okay, now we sleep.” he said, enveloping his boyfriend in his arms, the two of them drifting off to sleep.