Chapter Text
Marc wasn’t an idiot.
He may not be the most in tune person with his body but he wasn’t born yesterday. He knew what was happening and it was not the time for his body to betray him. He didn’t spend the last several years suppressing every single one of his instincts and pumping himself with borderline illegal suppressants for them to not work anymore.
Now wasn’t the time to be in heat.
He wasn’t feeling well at all. His skin was burning and covered in sweat, making him feel like he was drenched from head to toe. His stomach was churning, sending waves after waves of cramps, bending him in two against his will. His head was not right either. It was like it was filled with cotton. He couldn’t even stand on his own feet, forced on the floor in a small ball like a pathetic dog. Marc gritted his teeth in annoyance. It couldn’t happen now. Not here. Not when he wasn’t in a safe place.
He knew that he wasn’t particularly well liked in the paddock, partly for his riding and partly from … well, what happened with a certain someone. In 2015, people chose sides. And most people decided to side with Valentino Rossi. He got it, he really did. When you saw what happened when you got on Rossi's bad side like Marc did, you didn’t want to be in his shoes.
If it definitely hurt at first, Marc got used to it. Used to people stopping their conversations and staring at him when he entered a room, used to people giving him a tense smile when they had to share a press conference or a podium with him, used to people whispering about him in his back and thinking he wasn’t aware.
But he did his peace with it. It happened 10 years ago. He was 32, an 8-time world champion and was riding for Ducati Lenovo. It didn’t matter anymore. And he wasn’t alone on top of that. He had his family and his brother. If they were always close, they were now attached by the hip. His father liked to say that if someone tried to hit one of them, that person would fail, since the other would bite them before they were able to. Their shared season at Gresini made them even worse. Nobody thought it was possible, but the familial and warm mood of the team made it possible. He would always be thankful for them, for giving him a chance to bounce back and to prove that he was still capable of not only riding, but also winning. Winning in Aragon in September made him hysterical, in front of his home crowd, with all his family and close friends present.
So yeah, even if it could be a bit lonely sometimes, he got over it. That didn’t mean he didn’t feel anxious for this season, with the new team and teammates . It was not the first time that his teammate was an alpha. Lord no. Omegas were rare in the sport. He was one of the only ones when he began his career. There definitely were some hidden omegas who passed as beta in the past but omegas were officially accepted in the paddock as riders and granted equal rights in the late 90’s. He remembers being a little kid watching the news and learning it. He didn’t have his presentation at the time, of course, but being ridiculously tiny all his life, most people predicted he was going to be one. It took almost 10 years for the first openly out omega to race in the main category with Dani Pedrosa. That was unquestionably a reason that the small Spaniard was one of Marc’s heroes.
When Marc finally reached the main category, there were very few omegas. The stereotypes were still very much believed and enforced. Many people didn’t expect his hard and no-bullshit riding. He would never yield to an alpha in a fight during a race. Many riders didn’t like him because of that. They felt like he was challenging their status and authority. Don’t get him wrong, Marc couldn’t care less about that. If their fragile egos couldn’t handle being beaten by an omega … well, too bad. Now, there were a few more omegas, especially in the lower classes. But even in motogp, since 2019, their numbers skyrocketed, sort of.
Marc had hoped to get close to them. They couldn’t hate him for his secondary status since they were the same, and he naively thought they could help out each other. But he quickly became disillusioned. The influence of the so-called god of motogp still doomed him to loneliness. He had been lucky with Fabio, the french one. Even if he had been a huge fan of Rossi, and was even his teammate, they got along pretty well. It was mainly because of the immense kindness of the Frenchman, who was sweet to everyone and didn’t like conflict. They had some good fights in the previous years, when Marc was still at Honda and Quartararo still had an acceptable bike. But they never talked about the disaster of the Yamaha, since the Frenchman would start to look all sad, like a kicked puppy. And Marc wasn’t the one kicking others. On top of that, Fabio was one of the only riders to check on him when he had his accident.
For the other omegas, he had even less chance. Jorge Martin looked like he was swallowing a lemon every time he was talking to or about him. He didn’t know why the other Spaniard disliked him that much, especially since they both had a good friend in common ; Aleix Espargaro. Even if friendship isn’t probably the right term to describe the nature of the relationship between Aleix and Jorge. Marc. relationship with Jorge took the last blow when Marc got the Ducati seat. Everyone was so sure that Jorge would have it, being in the championship battle and then winning it. But Marc fought like hell for it, and he won. He would never apologize for it, and Jorge started to avoid him like the plague. It wasn’t very surprising when Aleix stopped texting Marc as much as they used to, but again, Marc was used to not being the riders first choice. It stung. But he was used to it.
The 3rd omegas who arrived in 2022 was Marco Bezzecchi. God. Marco Bezzecchi. If Marc had to say who was the lap dog of Rossi, he would have no hesitation. He didn’t have anything against the rider. Even if he was part of the VR46 academy, Marc knew better than to judge someone based on their affiliation. Alex suffered enough from it just because they shared a last name. He even remembered the boy liking every single of his instagram posts and asking for a picture before Sepang. But apparently, Bezzecchi thought he could get Rossi conditional love all to himself by acting as his little soldier. The Italian insulted him numerous times and would accuse him of dirty riding. But it didn’t affect Marc half as much as the now Aprilia rider would like. He was just repeating what others said and it was just annoying most of the time, like a fly who would keep on putting itself on you. But curiously, when the curly-haired Italian joined Aprilia, his attitude toward Marc got considerably better. They even started to joke a bit together in the press conference, the insults had completely disappeared, at least in front of him and they hugged after a race. He didn’t really know where this sudden friendliness came from but he was definitely welcoming it. However, he still remembered to be cautious. Better safe than sorry.
The last omega was Pedro Acosta. The Spanish KTM rider did the opposite thing than Bezzecchi. He used to be quite friendly, in his own weird and snarky way, but he said multiple times that he liked Marc. When he entered the main category, he apparently decided to wipe a big part of his life, including his admiration and respect for Marc. You can also add that he decided to get rid of Fermin, to the great dismay of the young alpha. It made Marc even more cautious of Acosta. Being able to get rid of one of your closest childhood friends like that was strange and violent. It probably didn’t help Pedro’s case that Marc was very fond of the Gresini rookie, who was considered by the fans like the third Marquez brother. Marc didn’t say anything about it, but it warmed his heart. The tall Spaniard was so friendly and expressive, Marc felt like he was a rookie again.
But that’s all the omegas present in the paddock. Many people said that it was already too much. Those omegas weren’t made to ride, but to be at home. It’s kind of ridiculous when you compare statistics. They were 5 omegas riding, and 4 of them were world champions, even if it’s a moto2 championship for Acosta. Out of the rest of the betas and alphas, the numbers weren’t as glorious. But this specific argument, Marc was keeping it for the heated debate with douchebags during parties. If he would say that to the press, he would be in great trouble and the bruised egos of the other riders would make it dangerous.
But that wasn’t the kind of trouble that Marc was currently in. Now, he kind of wish he was. He was in Italy. In Misano. On Valentino Rossi territory. On good days, he would be booed, screamed at and would see puppets of him being hung when he raced in Italy. They were a tiny bit less aggressive since he was racing in red. Like Davide said, Marc was in red now. But if he was rather confident with his capability in defending himself most of the time, he didn’t want to know what would happen if an Italian would find him like that, in heat and completely vulnerable.
And it made no sense. Marc hasn't had a heat in almost 7 years. The suppressants he was taking were not allowed by rider standards because it was completely suppressing his heats all the time. They were supposed to get them every 3 months. But Marc couldn’t afford to have them anymore. The sheer pain of them, the anguish he was feeling during every single one of them was too strong. His heats were never pleasant. He was more in pain than anything, burning and unable to do most things : speaking, feeding himself. He wasn’t always that bad. Before 2015, it was bearable. But then, it wasn’t anymore. He couldn’t bear his heats alone. He needed a partner to relieve the pain and terrible emptiness he was feeling. He tried. Until 2018, he tried his best. He even tried other partners, sexual or not.
Of course, it was because Marc had hoped. He thought that maybe, his situation would get better. Maybe Rossi would understand that he never tried to rob him of a tenth title. He just raced, like he used to do. Like Rossi liked him to do. But then he didn’t. Because Marc had hoped until the end of 2018, that maybe, Valentino would get back to him. Marc had been stupid.