Don't let me go to a date ever again: Alex Dunne x gn!reader
💌Day 4: Your ideal date /♡/ Your favourite hangout spot /♡/ Fix a date that didn't go well
Summary: Alex goes on a date with a girl that ends up not being super interested in him. The F2 class convinces teammate!reader to cheer him up.
Tags/warnings: Not much tbh. Mentions of horrible first dates and alcohol (none is consumed). Alex’s date happens to be a Lando Norris fan, but no hate towards his community. Kinda of a himbo Sebastian Montoya and veiled Dino Beganovic/Gabriel Miní, just because I can.
Word Count: 1994
Author's note: I saw the perfect excuse to try out writing about the F2 2026 grid + platonic!reader and took it, zero regrets. Thanks to my lovely moot Star for organizing this event <3
It usually goes like this during race weekends; it has come to be sort of a Saturday evening tradition after the sprints. Debriefing, then a bit of alone time to get out of the racing suit and shower, and after it most of the grid comes back together once again. Either the dining area or some random common room gets turned into a weird blend of exchanging races' impressions, table games, jokes, and poking fun at eachother. Yeah, competitiveness shows up every once and then; but when all of you are close in age and have been racing against each other for quite some time now, it's difficult not to get along. Closeness brings fondness, they say, and so the thing goes.
Right now half of the drivers are reunited in a small lobby on the second floor, not far away from your room. Gabriele and Sebastian are sprawling on the sofa because Dino insisted they should give it a try and watch hockey with him. Goethe is on the phone with someone, walking from one corner of the room to the other. And you are sat with other rookies around a table with Rafa attempting to teach you a Brazilian card game called Fodinha. This is your third round of the evening, and, to Rafael's dismay, none of you seem to have completely grasped the logic of it yet. Nikola claims that you would probably play better if you went for real shots, as the usual game goes, instead of the energy drink alternative you were using whenever someone lost. Because drinking the night before a feature race, as tempting as it may sound, would give you all a problem with your respective managers and team chiefs.
Beganovic cheers from the other side of the room after his hockey team scores. Oliver has finished his call and announces he is leaving for his room. The room goes slightly quieter for a few minutes, only altered by Mari's protests about the game. Usually your teammate, Alex, would be hanging around with you and the others, but a week ago he had started talking with a local girl, and he had asked her for a date just after the sprint. So now you are on your own, trapped in a never-ending game of cards, in between Boya's sore losing-ness and Câmara's infinite patience.
"I just don't get it! How can the rounds you win not matter at all?" Mari asks as he is made to drink another shot of Red Bull.
"That's the whole point of it, you don't have to win. Just guess if you will or not and how many times."
"Nah, he has understood that, Rafa." Tern rolls his eyes. "He was just so overconfident about winning the last ten rounds."
Rafa sighs slightly desperately as you start another round. The hockey match has finished, and the ones who were watching it finally come to the table.
"Talking about competitive people," Gabriele says while sitting in front of you. "Evening, Dunne."
Everyone turns to the lounge's entrance, where Alex is now standing, mildly blushing and with his previously sharp white shirt all sweaty and wrinkled.
"Hi everyone." Your teammate mutters, almost embarrassed, as he takes a seat by your side.
There's something in the way he talks and moves that seems off, almost exhausted. He reaches for your Red Bull, asking for permission before he chugs it all. Alex smirks, wipes off some drops of the energy drink from his mouth. Still, he is not acting as usual, the smile doesn't quite reach his eyes, and you decide to ask about it.
"How was the date?"
"Come on, y/n! Have you seen him?" Montoya comes from behind you two and starts massaging Dunne's shoulders, as he had just won a race. "It's our resident charming man, after me, the one we are talking about. Of course the cat got the cream!" With the Prema's driver being so confident, Alex can't help dropping his facade.
"Sebas, could you please stop?" He shoves his hands away, earning a "sorry, man" from the Colombian.
"Rough nigh?" Dino, the only one standing, says while resting on Minì's shoulders.
"No, it was grand, really." Alex replies sarcastically before stealing and drinking Roman's glass this time.
Everyone at the table stays silent for a few seconds, if there's something you had learnt something while racing together is that, by any means, you should not cross Alex Dunne when mad. Aggressiveness is needed in your sport, however, out of the track, it's a difficult quality to handle. Alex is aware of it, and he attempts his best to calm down before adding anything else.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have said that," you place your hand on his shoulder for some comfort. "Just don't let me go on a date ever again," his gaze rests on you for the briefest time, his smile wry. "Any of you." He clarifies looking at those around him.
Gabriele is the first one to break the short silence after it. "Alex, was it that bad?"
"Was she ugly?"
"Sebastian!" Several voices complain in unison for his lack of touch, but at least it gets a laugh out of the young Irish man.
"It wasn't anything to do with her appearance."
"¡Gracias a Dios!" Mari nudges Montoya off before he can add anything else.
"What happened then?"
Alex ponders the question you have just made, like it was something he was almost ashamed of admitting. "She was much more into F1 than into me." He ends up putting it simply, almost cynically. Yet Roman tries to get something more out of him.
"How can you be so sure?"
"Well, when she spends half the date talking about how cute Lando is and the other asking why I left McLaren, she makes it pretty obvious."
"Oh, she was one of those." Nikola drinks the last Red Bull on the table, trying to think of something smarter to say. The words never come.
"Yep, so by the time we were done with dinner I made a filthy excuse, had a hard time finding a taxi and walked all the way towards the hotel."
"Hence the sweatiness."
"Do you want a golden star for that, tesoro?" Gabi mockingly attempts to stop Dino from pointing out the obvious.
"Hilarious, just… if I ever tell you about going on a date ever again, knock some sense into me, will you?"
"Not every person you date will be like that, Dunne." That's Rafael trying once again to make everyone see the bright side of things.
"Probably not, but I am too knackered right now to try to act positive." Alex shrugs, standing up and starts walking to the door. "See you all tomorrow at the track."
Despite this being your rookie year in F2 you have known your teammate for a while now. He had watched you race a few times on F3 and in the few months you have been part of Rodin you have learnt to consider him a close friend. Your field is not the kind that is prone to forming lasting bonds. With anyone trying to push himself as hard as they can to fight to be one of the top motorsport athletes in the world, its hard to think about friendships. Even in moments like this, when you hang around other drivers, you can't stop seeing them as acquaintances at best outside the competition and fierce rivals while the race lasts.
However, things with Alex are slightly different. He was the one who showed you the ropes, the one who pushed you hardest and yet the one you knew you could have a good laugh with. Your contract with Rodin in F2 was signed halfway through last season and since then you have seen almost every side of Alex Dunne. Euphoric on the podium, determinate in the gym, furious when the whole thing with Red Bull happened… Yet as hard as you make an effort to remember it, you can't recall a time you have seen him like this. Weary, disappointed, like it was not even worthy to be mad about it. Tern is the one that finally gets you out of your own thoughts.
"Aren't you coming after him?"
"Why should I?" You tell him, somewhat confused, but Dino makes an excellent point to keep in mind.
"He races more cutthroat while angry or upset."
"And you are usually the one that calms him when he is like that." Câmara adds, picking up all the cards still scattered around the table.
"You just want me to save you from going against the wall tomorrow, don't you?" You roll your eyes, you have already accepted that trying to help Alex is the sensitive thing to do. But that won't stop you from making them worry a bit longer.
"And we care about him," Gabriele assures you, "we are friends."
"Sort of." Seb corrects without a trace of seriousness.
"You owe me one."
Sharing hotel room with your teammate is actually quite helpful for your task tonight. For the last half an hour you have been running around the hotel looking for what you need, hoping to have given him more than enough time to clean himself up before you finally knock at the door.
"Have you lost your card again?" Alex opens the door, curls still wet from the shower and with some plaid pyjamas on that you have told him countless times make him look like a grandpa.
"No, but I wanted to talk to you about something, so I thought it was only proper to knock."
"I am fine y/n, it wasn't my first awful date." He tells you as you carefully place a bowl of fresh-made popcorn on his nightstand. "You didn't have to come on to check on me, and you didn't have to bring snacks either."
"I know, but you surely didn't get much eating done with the chit-chatting of that girl." You prop yourself in his bed without much thought, as he has had on yours too many nights before races like this. "So I brought some popcorn and I have a two-hours-long Verstappen's highlights and funny moments compilation queued on youtube."
"That doesn't sound half bad."
Alex throws himself in the bed by your side; not much later you are halfway through the list, the bowl is already empty and his hell of a date almost belongs to the past now. A timid yawn from your part indicates that you should be heading up to sleep.
"Time's up, the team will kill us if we stay awake any longer." Alex pulses pause on your phone's screen. "But thank you for tonight."
"Don't mention it, mates before shitty dates." You shrug it off as you move to your bed.
"Noted, but I am still beating your ass tomorrow on track."
"You wish."
The two of you start falling into an easy but comfortable before-bed routine. The lights are already turned off when you make your point to him one last time.
"Alex, forget what that girl said," you stare at the ceiling because neither of you are used to saying emotional things to each other, "Norris couldn't hold a candle to you."
In the darkness you can still hear his quiet laugh.
"I mean it, and someday you will find someone who sees it. "You can't even believe you are voicing these thoughts, you will very likely cringe at yourself for this later. But your teammate needs it, so you will say them anyways. "Someone who likes you genuinely, not just as a driver, but as a person of your own."
He takes a few minutes to respond and his words don't surprise you at all, "you get corny while sleepy."
You laugh with him because that's the easy answer, and when you are already drifting off to sleep you notice him mumbling one last thing.
"Thank you for everything, y/n."
Hope you enjoyed it, likes and reblogs are appreciated <3