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“O-kay! Perfect Marco, thank you. That take was good. Let’s rewatch it.”
Marco closed his eyes and smiled, rolled his shoulder and walked over to the video team. He was confident the last take was good enough for him to finally leave. It was late in the afternoon already and he still had to do some last minute christmas shopping for Rubik. There was a new toy being restocked this week and Marco wanted to get it for his dog as present.
“It’s alright, you can take the other posts.” he shrugged it off and collected his sweater to pull over the shirt he was wearing.
“So, you sure about them?”
Marco received some raised eyebrows but only shrugged it off. Everyone was going to do these silly videos to keep the fans entertained over the winterbreak. They’d done pictionary, a laughing challenge (which he won! To the surprise of a lot of people in the paddock.) and so many other videos for the team, Marco was just happy this was the last for 2025.
One of the guys at the table nodded and expressed his thanks to Marco, wished him joyous holidays and gave him a heads up he’d send the cut video once they were done with it. Marco forgot about it pretty much as soon as he left the building and made his way to the car to get home.
It was a bit pathetic - how he was lazying on his couch, hot chocolate in one hand, phone in the other, scrolling through all sorts of social media posts he was supposed to like or leave comments under. Aprilia wanted to improve Marco’s image as a matured and neutral rider since he had left the VR46 team and his close affiliation with Valentino. A factory rider was not supposed to express negative comments towards champions.
So, he was going to like every post any of the motogp champions had done. Even if that meant going on Pecco’s profile, scrolling down his following list and clicking on Marc’s profile. He was so normal about this (no, he would not follow him).
There were videos from Ducati, posts with Alex too and, to the big surprise, also a karting video. Huh, that was new.
Marco found himself rewatching that video a few times, how the suit sat snug around Marc’s shoulders and waist and how - good, no, he would not admit that - the colour red suited him. He bit his lip for a moment and then closed the app, sighed loudly. Rubik next to him looked up in hopes of getting a christmas biscuit, to no avail.
(MB) Did you know about the karting thing?
Marco wanted to know, if Pecco was also supposed to have a karting experience, or if it was supposed to be the two Ducati riders on a kart instead of the Marquez brothers. Something was odd about it and Marco had felt sad for the way Pecco’s season turned out eventually. It was always tough to be Marc’s teammate, but even worse when the teammate was your best friend on the grid and he was being skinned alive by media and the team itself too.
It felt unfair and Marco knew, it wasn’t Marc’s fault. But it was easier to blame him.
Marco sighed again and closed his eyes shut, pushed the phone on the table. It was the last day of the year and he was supposed to get dressed soon and go to the Ranch for the New Years Party.
Closing the box of biscuits, Marco got up with another loud sigh and whined until he stood under the warm water stream, washing his curls and scrubbing the tiredness from his eyes. He just wanted to sleep, or race. Not do all these media things and giving interviews and talking about his expectations for the next season. Who knew - everything would be new and nothing was new actually. Same team, same tracks, same … well, teammate. Same rivals, probably.
Marco supported his body against the tiles, let the water flush over his back and the curls sprang up again. He couldn’t stop thinking about how he wanted to fight against Marc and Pecco and how nothing of this all had happened. Eventually not even Marc himself fought anyone, really. Pecco, he fought with himself and the bike, most of all.
Marco had to admit to himself that he was happy with the Aprilia and how things had turned out. It wasn’t an easy season, the first time in a factory team and no teammate to help build the bike, give guidance, especially as reigning champion.
God, Jorge’s season had been such a disaster. It reminded Marco of Marc’s 2022 season where the Spaniard had been absent a lot and only managed one podium, yet finished just ahead of himself.
Sometimes it was infuriating, how good Marc actually was. But Marco couldn’t lie and continue spilling shit. Marc was one of the best, despite all the hardships he’s never stopped racing and fighting.
There was something about him, that needed to be studied - that was something he’d overheard being said, or commented on some older posts of the motogp account. Or somewhere else, Marco couldn’t recall anymore after he’d gone through a bunch of instagram and twitter accounts and tried engaging positively with anything Marquez-related.
And so, Marco did, did study what it was about Marc that made him become a champion. He would deny that his studies verged on obsession, but seeing the multiple notebooks filled out with paragraphs of writing, printed out statistics and especially his google search history, one might think otherwise.
Mostly, he found, Marc didn’t care about the other riders as much as he cared about his own race and fights. There was no gain in bringing others down. This might have been the hardest pill to swallow and now, that Marco was walking back into this bedroom, picking out a fitting outfit for tonight’s party, he looked over to the stacks of notebooks he’d kept next to his desk. The older ones were filled with bouts of rage, detailed word-for-word commentary of what other people said about him, news clippings, a whole folder for each year with all the stuff that happened between Marc and Vale since their falling out (or whatever Vale wanted to call it).
Maybe he should bring this all to the Ranch and burn it in the big bonfire they were going to make. It was tempting. Getting rid of it all - it didn’t make any of this undone, but after this season, and trying to get on with Marc, it felt weird having this all sit around in his home.
Marco shook his head and got dressed finally, picked up his phone and bothered Rubik a bit. A few messages had come in and some notifications from instagram too, but he ignored them, gave Pecco a direct call to ask him about tonight. He didn’t want to get to the Ranch too early and get drunk before midnight and possibly miss the farewell to this exhausting year.
Pecco was already at the Ranch helping with some preparations, so Marco winced and hurried up to not leave him alone with Vale for too long. At least, Luca was there too and kept the chaos at bay.
Marc Marquez started following you
Marco arrived at the Ranch an hour later, Rubik tucked cosily in the basement at his parents’ place with his favourite toys and comfort blanket. Some of the academy boys were sprinting around with bycicles, most likely because they had some booze already and Luca was the only responsible Rossi-family member here and told them not to go on the bikes.
Upon seeing the notification, Marco’s heart fell in his pants, started beating louder than Celestino was shouting for him. All colour drained out of his face and immediately went up in his cheeks again. He took a screenshot and then slid the notification away from the screen, snuck his phone back into the inner pocket of his coat. This year needed to end faster.
“Good to see you, are you drunk already?!” Luca greeted him with a quick hug and a smug smile.
“No, no, all good! Too sober, actually.” Marco pressed out through gritted teeth. He followed Luca into the kitchen, put his coat on a hanger. There were tables full of food, snacks, booze, biscuits, panettone and all the good things Marco craved.
“Ready to leave 25 behind?”
Luca mixed a good amount of gin in the glass and filled it up for Marco to drink. He took it with a nod and gulped down half of it, gritting his teeth even more from the strong taste of the alcohol.
“Can’t wait to forget today.”
Marco went back to the entrance and grabbed his coat again to head out where the other guys were sitting together and joking already. Pecco patted on the spot next him on the bench and Marco sighed as he slipped between Pecco and Diggia, bumping their shoulders as greeting.
“Starting strong?" - "Ending this year strong!”
They all lifted their glasses and drank onto that.
“What did you mean about the karting?” Pecco asked quietly as the guys started joking around again and some of them hopped on their bycicles to chase each other around the track.
Marco made a knowing sound and whipped out his phone to show Pecco the post. He went on instagram, used the search bar (like a normal person) and Marc’s profile popped up.
Follow back
He ignored it, scrolled down to the post with the karts and shoved his phone into Pecco’s hands. The gin tonic was getting dangerously low and he’d need more to fare this odd year farewell.
As Marco made his way back into the house, Luca stepped out and gave him a funny smile Marco decided to ignore. He filled up his glass and went back out again only to find Luca and Diggia oogling over Pecco’s shoulder as they scrolled around on his phone. Oh dio - these kids.
“You’re following Marc now, and he wrote you.” Luca giggled as he let Marco slide back on his seat and get his phone handed back to him.
“At least do it properly, you know.” - "Looks like you’re stalking him if you only like his posts but don’t even follow back."
Luca chuckled loudly and patted on Marco’s back without saying anything at all.
“I really can’t leave you alone for a second, huh.”
Marco hissed and locked his phone to put it away promptly. He’d deal with whatever message later, or tomorrow (next year). For now, he didn’t want to think about social media duties. His interest in Marc was nothing but purely duty, right.
“He’s not so bad as some make out…” Pecco then whispered as a car rolled over. Valentino’s.
Luca stepped forward to greet his brother, threw Marco a last glance over the shoulder.
They’d been somewhat friends, close, since a long time already. Marco couldn’t wrap his head around this friendship and how Luca could even like and actively approach Marc when Vale was his brother and grew up with him. All the rivalry - he’d been there, has seen what had happened and.
Dio, Marco needed to shut up internally too. He gulped down the gin in one go and took a deep breath before greeting Vale. His wife and daughter also came around, the little girl clinging onto Luca who carried her into the house upside down, shaking her around and making her laugh out loud.
Marco’s phone vibrated again in his pocket, a message coming in. Probably some people who were not here tonight writing their new years wishes. Maybe some ad email, maybe some other notification he could ignore until tomorrow. Marco bit his lip - did Marc really write him?
He wanted to know, and if Pecco or Diggia had instigated something and Marc was angry now because these two bothered him via Marco’s instagram… He was doing so well all year long, he couldn’t risk them messing this up. Marc was on somewhat talking terms already and they sometimes greeted each other in the paddock.
Marco went back in with his phone feeling like having a burning piece of coal inside his clothes. Luca was in the dining hall explaining all the different dishes to Giulietta while Francesca was already bringing some more dishes in from the car while Valentino was occupied with the smallest girl.
He nodded over to Luca and went back in the kitchen, poured some more alcohol in his glass and pulled out his phone. His hands were shaking as he unlocked the screen and opened instagram.
There it was, a notification that Marc had written him.
He gulped empty.
Opened it.
(MM) realised i don’t have your number jajajaja
(MM) the video is fine for me, very funny
Marco hovered over the keyboard, clicked to the emojis, put a thumbs up in the message row, deleted it again. What was Marc talking about.
Marco typed out his number and added a few emojis of glasses clinking together. He didn’t even know what else to say. Did he comment on a video of Marc? He’d only liked posts, never said anything directly. Had Pecco talked to Marc about the kart video?
He went out again, grabbed some snacks off the buffet, and forgot about the interaction for a while. The boys were huddling together around the fire they had started now that Vale was here already, and everyone talked about this year and the new rookies for next year.
Most of the evening they were celebrating, eating, drinking, mocking each other, singing and playing games. It was lighthearted and full of joy until Franky got back from the toilet and mentioned Marco’s phone going off in the hallway.
His ma had called, more messages from fans had come in and other people had either called or written him. Along the messages was also one from a Spanish number.
(MM) now you have my number too ;)))
Marco didn’t open it, ignored it. He wouldn’t even know what to reply - it was Marc, he was pretty sure about that. And the more he thought about it, the more he sobered up and thought about all the bullshit he had said about him over the past years. Seeing Vale here with his wife and their beautiful daughters, he wondered, if Vale was actually aware of all the damage he had done.
Of course Marco wasn’t completely stupid. He had rewatched a lot of races from the moment Vale had always said their friendship had changed. He’d rewatched interviews and even found old news articles, tried to make sense to any of this.
And amongst all these accusations and the chaos he found out what other fans had done. Fans, Marco wasn’t sure if these people were allowed to call themselves fans of Valentino Rossi. They had done dubious stuff, to say at least. And all that because Marc was, simply racing. He too had idolised Vale, like Marco himself.
Marco felt like throwing up. It was long past midnight and some of the younger guys were sleeping soundly already while he was still up with Pecco and Diggia and Franky watching a horror film. He excused himself and slipped in the room he shared with Pecco. Sitting down with a long drawn sigh, Marco pulled out his phone and saw another new message.
He decided to properly save Marc’s number and reply, even if he didn’t know what he meant.
(MM) if you want to know, i do
(MB) sorry marc, i hope you have a good start into this year. i have no idea what video you are talking about
After this, he put his phone on silent and went to sleep, forgetting about this interaction completely until he was back at home the next evening. He didn’t really feel good or sober, but a hot shower and some soup his mum had made helped to start off the new year. Marco didn’t plan on doing anything for the first few days other than relax and eat healthy food, go on long walks with Rubik and watch old films.
He found himself snuggled up a few days later, chatting with friends on various platforms, sending each other shit while some comedy ran on the tv in the background.
Marco didn’t focus on anything really until Celestino was video calling him, Pecco and Luca in the background, in racing gear, dirt smeared all over their faces.
“Dude!! What did they do with you, did you see the video?!” they all cackled into the phone and oogled at Marco as if he had eaten a live octopus in front of them.
“What?" his voice was cracking and he sat up properly now, asked again which video. Why was everyone talking about a video!
oh.
OH.
Marco pulled up the motogp account on his laptop. It was still connected to his tv and then he saw the mess on the big screen.
dai… perche mi fai fare questo
Really, why did they do this to him. And why did he react to this all.
And oh.
One for the Marc & Marco fans.
Marco cringed. Hearing and seeing himself say he liked Marc - and " hopefully he also likes me” - on a 70inch screen felt like being stabbed in the chest. Multiple times.
He didn’t want to retake this one because he hoped they wouldn’t select it then, would have to discard of the imperfect shot. But it was spot on, with his silly lopsided smile and wrong word choice because English was such an odd language.
There was no going back from this, huh.
Marco gave the guys a thumbs up, felt hot and cold at the same time. He could already think what Vale would tell him and for how long the academy riders were going to mock him about this.
"hopefully he also likes me"
Dio, he sounded like a fangirl. This must have been some punishment for drinking so much on New Years Eve. Or for saying all the nasty things he had said towards Marc in earlier years of his career.
How things had changed over the last year.
“I think he likes you too." came Luca’s message after a while. Marco was still poring over the post and his comment. He had’t really understood what "marcmarc” meant, didn’t bother to ask, just wanted to get done with it. Rewatching the Hungarian GP now, especially the podium, he wasn’t any smarter what this meant, but he did remember what Marc had written him.
The video was fine for him, and - he did.
Marco rewatched their post race moment again, in order to put some sense to it. They talked about the start, Marc touching him on the rear tyre. All the while, Marc sat propped on the table, facing Marco and not even looking at the reply. He was watching Marco watching the replays, talking to Pedro. They showed the overtake, Marc taking the lead from Marco, his eyes still on Marco. It still made no sense. They talked about tyre choices and then got sent out on the podium.
Marco would like to say it had been muscle memory from there on. He wanted to win more, wanted this overwhelming feeling of being in front of so many people to be over and get used to it. It was embarrassing and weird and most of the time he didn’t know what to do with his hands, where to look at.
Opening his messages now, seeing that Marc had written him a “you will see jajajajaja" message he replied that now, he did see. He replied to his previous message that this was nice to hear, couldn’t hold back saying that especially after all the nasty things he had said before it was truly nice that Marc felt this way.
About him, about them - he didn’t write this. It was too pathetic to think about Marc assuming he turned a pr-bootlicker, even if that was the case for most of the time.
(MB) i am giving you a handshake, through the phone
Marco saw three dots appearing, waited in surprise that Marc too was on his phone at this time. It felt weird knowing that the other man was also present in this moment.
Marco could just call him. Not that he’d do this - but it felt weirdly intimate knowing that Marc took time out of his day to reply to him. When it came to Pecco or Celestino, or even Vale, Marco knew exactly when they were available or not. With Marc, this was completely new territory, and one that Marco didn’t want to find out. There was a whole world between them.
(MM) we can do the handshake next week
(MM) i will be in borgo, it’s not far from rimini, no?
Marco jumped off the couch.
He put the phone on the table and walked into the kitchen.
He filled a glass with water and drank it, put it in the sink.
His fingers were vibrating and his eyes hurt.
(MB) i would like that. which days are you here?