Sergio woke up panting, sweaty, with his eyes wide open and sitting up as a reflection of his dream.
Sweat ran down his face and fell down his chin to his hands that tightened the sheet that covered his legs, he felt drugged by the change between the unreal and the real processing everything he had just dreamed, then he was aware of the discomfort that he felt between his legs and the bulge in his pajamas.
He ran his hand over his face, pulling his cheeks as he groaned, with his free hand he took and turned on his cell phone to check the time. It was too early in the morning and it was the day of the match against Atlético Madrid, he wouldn't have training until two and a half hours later.
He let out the closest thing to a grunt, embarrassed for not only having just had an indecent dream, but that his fellow Croatian midfielder was its protagonist.
He was doing a lousy job of removing his feelings and now he didn't even know how he would look into the blond's eyes without feeling guilty or uncomfortable. When he closed his eyes he could still see fragments of his dream tormenting his eyelids, seeing the image of Luka made a mess because of him and in his ears he could hear the ghost of moans caused by the older man.
He got up so fast that he nearly twisted his ankle in the process and ran to the bathroom to take the coldest shower possible, as he turned on the cold water he pinched the bridge of his nose trying to ignore the sensation below his pelvis. It was going to be a long day for sure.
...
He left too early for his liking and now he was alone in the Real Madrid changing rooms in his workout clothes.
He remained seated on one of the benches with his legs open, looking at the ring that he and Luka shared, mentally berating himself for having imagined his friend the way he did, he felt wrong, incorrect and like a disgusting pervert, no matter how hard he tried to think of something else, the dream always came back to be his main attraction.
He got up to put the box in his things with a loud groan, ran his hand through his hair pulling strands of it and let his gaze rest on a dead center on the wall.
- "I never thought I'd see you be the first to arrive"- he heard a voice with a Croatian accent that it was impossible for him not to recognize, his whole body tensed because fate was laughing at him and he turned around to face it because he didn't see what was funny of it.
- "Hi, Sese" - Luka spoke again, approaching to greet his friend with a kiss on the cheek,
Sergio, tense as a rock, turned his face away, stepping back and perplexing the older man, who, after showing surprise on his face, frowned in confusion.
- "Hey, Lukita" - he greeted as normal as possible while he patted the foreigner on the shoulder, fully stretching his arm and avoiding as much contact as possible.
-"Is everything fine?- asked with calm Luka, still frowning.
No -"yeah!"- lied 'cause he couldn't tell him that the reason he was strange was because his dreams where they were the protagonists.
Luka didn't answer 'cuz he knew it's a lie and every word he knew died on his tongue. Still hesitating, he went to his locker to put away his ring, at the same time he ran his hand through his hair and placed his ribbon to avoid discomfort in training, all under the watchful eye of the Sevillian. A flash of his dream passed through Sergio's eyes remembering his friend's face below him, panting with red; that was the only signal he needed to get out on the field instead of being locked up with just the Croatian.
He focused on stretching trying to clear his mind of all unwanted thoughts, he felt like a high school student and that at the same time made him feel stupid, «I'm 31 years old, my God! I shouldn't let a dream affect me so much», he thought.
He kept warming up and stretching, at least until Luka went out onto the court, as soon as he saw the Croatian appear his body reacted against him and it seemed like a perfect idea to start jogging (running) around the court as a way of warming up, it was without no doubt, a coward.
After a few minutes he began to jog for real, feeling his legs tense and the sweat running down his back, he noticed that running helped him forget his torments and he continued jogging because he was unable to do two things at once.
- "Why are you ignoring me?"- listened to his side and realized with a fright of a new presence. Luka was facing him jogging next to him, he loved that he said what he wanted to say, but today the love for that didn't arise.
- "I'm not ignoring you"- He denied even when his actions said otherwise. Again in the last days Sergio hates being like an open book and easy to read.
-"Yes, you are. Did I do something wrong?"- said Luka, shy in a certain way.
Sergio felt the guilt beating in his throat next to his heart, but again his mind mocked him and the image of Luka in his dream returned to his mind.
He could see Karim appear in the distance like a glimmer of salvation and he ran towards him, fleeing from Modric. He really wanted that day to be over.
...
His day was being based on avoiding Luka, he knew he couldn't do it forever but the discomfort was still obvious, and he believed that everyone had already noticed the distance between them. Cris, Marce and even Nacho asked if they were okay, he was being a disaster.
The match against Atlético Madrid had finally started and Sergio tried to act as lively as possible, cheering on his team, showing a wide smile when greeting and giving his best during the match.
Even so it wasn't enough, it was never enough and his mind wasn't helping, no matter what he tried not to think to play better, his mind had him spinning in the memories of that morning and how attractive Luka looked while playing, and that made that his game wasn't all that good.
He saw Luka watching him during the game and he was sure that he had noticed his lack of concentration during the match. However, after Atlético Madrid's first goal, his mind went completely blank, he felt as if he had been abruptly dragged back to reality.
So when he saw Marce on his knees on the grass, the score 1-1 and the whistle filled his mind, he knew it was over and now they had wasted 2 points that could lead them to win LaLiga, 'cause although it wasn't a defeat and the name of the club was still on top, he knew that two points could ruin any chance of victory.
He put a hand to his hair and pulled it away with a sigh.
...
The journalists and the interviews had taken longer than he thought, there was no one on the court anymore and he hoped the dressing rooms would be the same, cuz he didn't want to have to talk to anyone, he was tired and wanted to go home so that day stop tormenting him.
However, his luck continued to be a disaster and when he entered he found Luka sitting on one of the benches facing the door. He smiled as best he could but he could feel a twitch in his eyebrow.
-"You took a while there"- heard the hoarse voice and characteristic accent of the Croatian.
Sergio made an affirmative sound - "I thought you would have left by now" - he walked towards his locker with his jersey number avoiding eye contact.
- "I think it's comun for us to be the last to leave" - said Luka, following him with his eyes.
-"Yeah, I think so"- no matter if he tried, the discomfort was obvious in him.
- "Why are you avoiding me?" declared the Croatian.
- "I'm not..."- He tried to deny it but was interrupted.
- "Save to deny it, because we both know you're doing it" - Luka was direct.
- "I don't know what you want me to tell you" - He shrugged looking towards his locker instead of seeing the only person in the room.
- "I want you to talk to me and tell me what's wrong"- He listened again.
-"Nothing's wrong"- He let the lie melt on his tongue and go down his throat with a bitter taste.
- "Sergio"-.
-"Nothing is wrong"- He denied again - "I don't know why you think about it so much" - the guilt resting in his stomach.
- "Then why can't you even look me in the eye?" - Luka questioned and Sergio felt how he got up and approached him.
Sergio turned to face him and the eye contact was like falling under an addictive spell for both of them, now they were close to each other falling into the abyss.
- "I want you to trust me, as you used to do."- Luka murmured without looking away, leaving his mouth half open. Luka's eyes were like seeing the night sky full of stars, it was beautiful and you never want to look away.
There was a comfortable silence for both of them as they got closer, Sergio could swear to listen to Luka's heart which had increased its pumping, the breaths collided and mixed in the air hypnotized by the opponent's gaze. Sergio shifted his attention from the midfielder's eyes to his lips, forming a triangle in his movement.
- "Luka..."- he let out like a sigh and Luka responded with a shaky breath.
The tension was in the air and Sergio just wanted to kiss the lips in front of him, they were being drawn to each other like magnets looking into their eyes, a strange scene if you considerate that just a few hours ago they couldn't even talk. They were so close that he could feel Luka's breath on his cheek and he knew that with one move forward they would end in a kiss. They looked tenderly drunk from the atmosphere and the situation in which they were prepared to lock lips.
Except that it never happened, 'cause when Sergio approached, Luka received a shock of reality and turned away from the minor with his face and ears turning red. He saw the desire dance with the sadness in Luka's dark eyes and his face screamed shame. He bit his lip and looked back with pity because everything in Luka said that he finally realized why he was running away, Luka realized his feelings and felt the blood begin to bathe his lip under his teeth.
- "No"- said Luka in a whisper that could easily be swallowed by air, he turned away from the captain and began to twirl his ring on his finger, rereading the engraved initials as if they would disappear if he looked away, terrified to see up again.
- "Sergio" - Luka repeated, looking up and seeing him like a deer under the brightness of a car's headlights, however his eyes didn't express the same thing, they looked sad as the wind that morning.
The uncomfortable silence reigned within the walls, pressing on his neck and leaving him breathless under Luka's sad eyes, it feels strange that the eye of God is colorless and yet can make him feel with his heart in his throat.
He opened his mouth to speak because he was tired of being a victim of his own feelings and Sergio couldn't keep his feelings in, he was an open book and easy to read and it doesn't matter how much he repeat it because it will never stop being true, so why bother to lie when he only lied to himself and not even he believed his lies.
- "No, Sergio..." - he sounded dry and hoarse, as if he hadn't drank water all day, but he was interrupted by Ramos who knew better.
- "I like you Luka, I really like you, am I wrong for doing it?" - Sergio said the inevitable and let Pandora's box open.
The sound of the doors being opened and closed with too much force echoed through the dressing room, leaving only the sound of his heart hammering in his ears and his words floating in an empty room. He took his ring and went home because he is tired and just wants to be happy.
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Sergio's dream is the closest thing to +18 that this story is going to have, on the other hand, here begins the first stage of the story ;]