Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Good day?”

Alex was draped over the sofa, fan on the floor opposite aimed straight at him, making him occasionally blink as the cool air hit him in the face.

“No.”

Marc was struggling to keep his eyes open. It was now almost 930pm, Dani had finished at 3 just after Alberto had arrived, and the younger rider had been at work until they’d closed up just after 9. Yes, he’d had a long lunch break after Dani had practically shoved him into the staff area, obviously wanting some peace from the ‘charm offensive’, but it was starting to take its toll slightly. In between keeping his bike, Alex’s bike and the race bikes going, he was also trying to run a house, which was harder than his mother had made it look, have a girlfriend? and be the first amateur to win 3 regional titles in a row. Which wasn’t easy. Or, it would have been easier, but everything else was enough anyway. And now a job. But that part certainly isn’t optional.

“Dani again?”

“Dani, and I’m tired. Don’t lecture me!” He grinned wearily at the look on his brother’s face, poised for an ‘I told you so’, and shook his head. “I know I caused a lot of it. But…seriously. It’s like I fucked his girlfriend and killed his mother. I don’t know what I’ve done to him, but he’s really not letting it go.”

“Some people are just like that.”

“But he’s not.” Marc flopped down in the chair next to the very-full sofa and stretched out his foot to edge the fan into a more just, equidistant position, earning a frown from Alex. “Not with Alberto. I heard them, when they switched over…I was outside but the door was open and there were no customers around…and he was laughing and joking like…a normal person. If I’d just heard that and he wasn’t being such a dick, I would…” How do I phrase this? “…really want to get to know him.” That will do.

“Well..I don’t know. But it’s only day 2, give him some time…” Get to know him.

“I know. It’s just…” Actually having an effect on me. “Getting a bit…” Don’t say- “…hard to swallow.” If you get me. Haha.

“Well, again…just ignore it? If you keep being nice, he can’t keep it up forever.”

“Hmm.” Marc rested his head back and sighed, staring at the ceiling. “I’ll try.”

*

Dani’s evening off started with a ride the very long way round back to his house enjoying the sun, leaving his jacket at the station and running the risk in jeans and a t-shirt. When he got back, he opened a beer and then he listened to his answer machine.

“You’ve still not sent that ring back, Dani. Can you do it, please? You know it’s important to me. And if you’ve sold it to pay for raci-“

He pressed delete before hearing her out, sighing and shaking his head at the idea of ever having been in love with her. But at least I found out before I put the other ring on her finger…

Marc had worked outside most of the day on his second day in the job, and that was meant to be his job. But the smile, the one he was spending every minute trying to ignore, was a powerful weapon and Dani could understand why Alberto had done it. Just one more thing he’s better at than me. The older rider was pretty sure the younger had pocketed 3 or 4 phone numbers from different women he’d charmed throughout the relatively short time they’d both been there, too, including one that must have been at least ten years older than him, although admittedly he would have given a limb for that scrap of paper, too. He’d mentioned that to Alberto and been shrugged off in the same way. “He’s a young guy just having a bit of fun. And it’s not bad for business.” “And if he calls them all once and then never calls again? That’s not good for business.” “Maybe not, we’ll see. But give the kid a chance.”

I did, I gave him a chance. And he threw me on the floor. He stripped everything off and left it in a trail between the front door and the shower, turning the water onto ‘as cold as possible’ and standing under it for a few minutes, thumb over the top of his beer before he eventually decided that was crossing some sort of line and he balanced it on top of the toilet cistern, realising that was also crossing a line but finding less judgment in his own brain for it. Finally. Peace. He then showered, collected the beer, and went and sat outside for a few minutes until his phone rang.

“Hello?”

“Hi! It’s me. Still bruised?”

“No, not too bad. And yes he still has a job.”

“Urgh, what an asshole. Anyway, I’ve got the evening off and I’m somewhere north of Lleida. Went for a ride. Beer?”

“Sounds good. Where?”

“Wherever. I’ll come to you, and I’m paying. I owe you 50 or 60 beers by now.”

“Ok. Sounds good!” Genuinely does sound good. “Meet you at 9? I’m going to go to sleep for a couple of hours now…”

“Ok. You didn’t say where so I’m guessing at the Gaucho place?”

Gaucho place. That always made him smile, ever since they’d had the moment that had made it ‘The Gaucho Place’ in the other man’s mind. “Yeah, the Gaucho place. See you later.”

“Ok. And I’m sleeping on your floor. I’m not riding back in the middle of the night and limiting myself to one.”

“I guessed. See you later.”

*

“Are you going to go to bed soon?”

Marc snapped out of his half-doze with a little snort and stared at his brother. “Wha..?”

“Are you going to go to bed soon…”

“Oh. Maybe. Why?” He could see the ‘please can we just…’ already forming on Alex’s lips and started trying to muster any energy needed to say yes.

“Please can we just go out for a beer? Or two? I’ve been here all day and I want to kill things I’m so bored.”

He wakes you up and passes you tools, you don’t tell him how much the bills are and you try and never say no to making him smile. That’s how it works. “Ok.” More energy. “No problem. Let me grab a Red Bull, and we’ll walk down, yeah?”

“Thank you.” Alex grinned at him and bounced up off the sofa. “Sorry I know you’re tired.”

I am. I’m also frustrated enough to fuck half the town. “Nothing some caffeine won’t fight off.” Because of that pretty little chocolate-pools-for-eyes prick at work.

He was 21 now, and the first time he’d been with a guy was 3 years ago. He’d been too drunk to really think about being weirded out, the only things going to his brain being the sensory overload of fingers, tongues and skin, all of which had sent his eyes rolling back in his head, legs clamped around the guy’s waist, clamouring for more until he’d found himself crossing a line that would never be un-crossed. The next day he’d freaked out completely for a couple of hours, or, being honest, 8, then walked round town with his new hot-man enabled vision and found, to his surprise, that there were a few. Some older, some younger. Some obviously gay, some maybe, some pipe dreams. And he grew into it, learnt to recognise a smile from a smile, and had had a lot of fun. Fun that he’d never told to anybody, and fun that was going to come out at some point. Because it’s the kind of fun our house now has room to accommodate.

He splashed some cold water on his face and switched his shirt for a fresh one before necking a Red Bull and leaning against the sofa to wait for his brother.

Has he figured that out? Or would he freak out?

“Ready?”

He nodded at Alex and grabbed his denim jacket on the way out.

That that’s why I want this guy to like me? So, so much?

*

“So you and…sorry, I can’t remember her name…it’s over?”

Jorge nodded at him and necked some more beer from the bottle. “Yeah. Lucía. Over. Very over. As in, the fire damage cost me 2000 euros…” The Mallorcan raised his eyebrows in response to Dani’s face and nodded. “I know. Fucking bitch. Seriously. I miss-“

“Don’t. Not now. I miss her too.”

The amused confidante vibe suddenly turned somber and they sighed and took mirroring sips. “Sorry. I know. But…yeah. So, Lucía was fucking crazy. But work is good. We just opened our second shop, this one’s in Milan. So it’s going well. And I think I have a pair you can have tucked somewhere in my bag. Black, silver-ish lenses...”

“Good. And they don't actually sound too horrific.” He smiled and shrugged. You know. And I’m still here. “I’m happy for you!"

“Which is funny in itself.” Jorge grinned at him and shrugged at the friendly glare he got in return. “I hated you. I mean…well, no…I didn’t hate you. I just thought you were such a dick.”

“Funny, I’ve heard this story quite a few times, now. And I’m the dick? I’m not the one who sat in this very bar riding a chair, genuinely believing myself to be an Argentine cowboy.”

“Fuck off.”

“You sh-“ Dani stopped abruptly and felt his mouth drop open as his eyes caught it across the room. Marc. Marc? He tracked the figure across the room and managed to keep breathing. Definitely Marc. He zoned out as he watched the younger man greet a couple of people, watched his hand gently touch them in the middle of the back as he leaned in to say hi over the noise, watched the bartender nod at him and pass him two beers, one for him and whoever he was with, returning the smile that was radiating off him so easily. Marc.

“Hello?”

Dani snapped his mouth shut and looked back at Jorge. “What? Sorry. I-“

His friend turned, frowning, wondering what had caused that, before his eyes followed Dani’s gaze and settled on his 21-year old colleague. “Is that the guy by any chance?”

“The asshole? Yeah.”

Yeah, you’re looking at him in pure hatred. Nothing else at all… The Mallorcan studied him as he continued looking at Marc, trying to figure it out, and then made the eye contact that was offered back to him once Dani managed to break to tractor beam. “He’s getting to you isn’t he?”

“No.” Deep breath. “Look, I’m not denying he’s pretty hot. But he completely ruined my race on Sunday, and he didn’t apologise properly. And he doesn’t even remember me. Ok, that sounds stupid. I just mean…he acts like he owns everyone and everything. And he doesn’t even remember almost putting me in hospital. So selfish.”

“Hmmm.” That’s all it is, of course. No jealousy. “Well…I w-“

“I know what you’re going to say. Don’t judge people…I know. I didn’t. But now I have, because I know enough.”

But you want to know more. Jorge drained the last of the beer in his bottle and picked up his friend’s to take back to the bar, and refill. And recon. He walked over, drowning out the sounds of Dani trying to stop him, and leant on the bar right next to Marc, ignoring him but not rudely, making eye contact with the bar tender and putting the bottles down, asking and paying for two more, aware of the heat from the younger man leaning behind him. Facing away, but close. I knew it wasn’t going to be an experiment, that one guy before. This guy’s getting to you. He took the two new beers and turned again, nudging Marc accidentally-on-purpose but misjudging it slightly and spilling a couple of small splashes of beer on the younger rider’s shirt. His head turned towards Jorge and finally made eye contact.

Wow. “Sorry, man. Didn’t see you there.”

“No problem.” The younger man smiled at him, wide and genuine, and nodded his forgiveness. “I wasn’t paying attention either.”

I thought I was 100% straight. Maybe 99. “Can I buy you a beer? To apologise?”

“Sure. Never going to say no to a free beer.”

Jorge looked at the bartender again and then passed the bottle over. “Enjoy. Sorry again.”

“No problem. And thanks!”

And then Marc turned, tapped the guy he was with to get his attention, brother, looks like his brother and handed him the beer.

Selfish.

Jorge walked back over to Dani and put his beer down in front of him.

You'll have to explain that one.

*

“Marc.”

He turned back at the sound of his name, finding his Alex’s face smiling at him, tinged with something between caring and concern. “Yeah?”

“You know…that I know, right?”

“What?”

“I know.” Alex pointed at the guy Marc had spent the last 20 minutes pretending he was ignoring and smiled. “Take him home!”

Woah. The older brother felt himself flush slightly and red appear on his cheeks, not only over the comment, but also because of who he was looking at. “Wh-“

“It’s fine. You really thought I didn’t know?”

“I…er….I don’t know…I mean, I didn’t know how to-“

“You don’t have to. Go and talk to him.” Bless. “Go on! He’s cute. I mean…I imagine he would be…” He trailed off and shrugged. “You know what I mean.”

I do, but- “I can’t.” Marc blurted it out and then bit his lip as Alex frowned, never ever used to any sort of nervousness in situations like this. Not with girls, anyway.

“Why?”

He’d realise, eventually. Wouldn’t he? Probably. “Because…” Urgh. “That is Dani. From work.”

Alex’s mouth dropped open. “What!”

“Yeah.” Marc turned back to the bar and took a long swig of beer, staring straight ahead. “And I know he’s seen me, and he keeps looking at me. And not in a nice way.” And my jeans are going to burst.

*

By 11.30pm, Marc and Alex had a group of people round the bar. Marc had stopped drinking, noticed something other than Dani, and was getting himself ready to walk over and say hi to his new fixation. The girls in the group weren’t making it easy, though, and eventually he told them he was going to the bathroom, intending to walk the long way round through the people and find the guy. But the guy found him.

So they sneaked out the back way.

Jorge and Dani were on the balcony in the upstairs of the bar by this point, looking out across the town and reminiscing, Jorge trying to unravel why his friend seemed quite so downtrodden at the moment, when the quiet hum of crickets was interrupted by a laugh. They looked down, Dani with some sort of pre-knowledge on his face, prepared for it, and saw Marc. Laughing, with a guy maybe a few years older than him, walking out the bar, talking. Flirting. Strangers with a mutual attraction. This is going to be interesting. Jorge stole a look at Dani’s face and watched the conflicting emotions wage war before looking back down to the street.

Marc was now dragging the guy into the shadows cast by the next building, being pressed against the wall, hands raking over his date’s back, head against the wall, neck exposed and being covered in kisses, moans making their way up from the street to the onlookers' ears.

“I want to go home.” Dani’s voice cut through the spell as he slammed the beer down on the table and walked off. “Now.”