Mix & Matches (Neymar Jr) ✔

#41, Best marketing ever

Nobody said a word for a long moment. Neymar was frozen in his crouch in front of Tamira and didn't dare turn around to gaze at his father and Tamira's mother, who were standing in the doorway that led into the kitchen. Both their chins were hanging to the ground.

Tamira's eyes were wide as she slowly tilted her head enough to throw her mother a heartbreaking look.

"Tami? What is going on here?" Emilia managed to utter, confusion all too visible in her features. She kept looking from Tamira to Neymar and back again, doing her best to process what she'd just witnessed. Her daughter and the boy she'd argued with so much over the past few months. Kissing?

Where the hell had that come from?

"Well? Are you going to explain this to us?" Neymar pai demanded in a fierce voice.

Neymar closed his eyes and took a deep breath, finally waking up from the shock of being busted. He stood up, but not without giving Tamira's hand one last gentle and reassuring squeeze. Then he cleared his throat and turned his attention to his father. "What sort of explanation do you need anymore?"

Pai scowled at his son, anger barely contained. "The sort that tells me why my son and my girlfriend's daughter are making out in her kitchen! When, not too long ago, they made us believe they couldn't get along long enough to be around each other to enjoy a family dinner?" He was furious after having witnessed what they'd just walked into. "The sort of explanation that tells me why you would think that it was okay for you to go behind our backs about this for... how long has this been going on anyways? And what is this? A relationship? Or entertainment? Boredom? I'd really like to know!"

"Neymar," Emilia interrupted him when she saw just how much the words cut at Neymar and her daughter – Tamira was practically shaking in her seat, eyes wide and horror-stricken, and Neymar had balled his hands into fists, visibly biting his lip to keep himself from lashing out the same way his father was doing.

"Have you even thought about what this could do to your careers?" Pai continued, ignoring Emilia and the reactions his words were causing. "If this comes out–"

"So what if this comes out?!" Neymar finally called out. "You think we haven't thought about this? Talked about this? Did you think we planned all this? It's not like I said to myself one day, 'hey, how about I fall in love with my co-striker from the mixed gender team! That'll definitely promote the equality thought of the campaign! A frikking romance on the team! Best marketing ever, right?!'"

That exclamation got several reactions: the question "You're in love with her?" from Emilia and Pai both and a whispered "What did you just say?" from Tamira.

Neymar cleared his throat, struck by the admission he hadn't planned on. Of course, he'd felt like this for a while now, but hadn't dared to even think the words, much less say them. Especially not here, not now.

But there they were anyhow, out in the open.

He scratched his neck, sighing as he turned his attention to Tamira. She was glancing up at him, still wide eyed. But there was something other than the fear of what the consequences were going to be in them. There was a look of cautious hope – like she couldn't believe what she was hearing, but was fascinated by it nevertheless, wanting the words to be true and not just spoken out of anger towards his father.