"Seriously? Hungover again?" Dani asked shaking his head as he looked at his friend when he stepped into the locker room that morning, they had training in fifteen minutes and there was no denying that Neymar looked terrible.
This was not what he had imagined when he had heard that Neymar was going to join him here; he had expected better from the younger man and he wished that there was some way to snap him out of this.
There was already enough pressure on him without the pictures of him out partying nearly every night or at home; this wasn't the publicity that his time at PSG needed right now.
Neymar didn't respond as he made his way over to his locker and got changed for the training session; he didn't need to hear the lecture that he knew was coming his way.
He wanted to get through this training session so that he could go home and crawl into his bed, he wanted to sleep and he was sure the headache that he had woken up with was from exhaustion.
Dani sighed moving away from his own locker to approach Neymar, he was only trying to look out for his friend and he knew that none of this could be easy for him.
It was always hard moving from one club to another, he couldn't imagine doing it alone like Neymar had and he truly understood what a confusing time it could be for some people but he wanted to let his friend know that he wasn't alone.
"You know you can't carry on like this, you have friends here," Dani murmured, he glanced around the locker room sure that people were growing tired of his antics off the pitch and they wouldn't stay quiet for long.
It was hard to ignore what was happening with Neymar when he was on the front cover of some trashy magazine almost every other day for all the wrong reasons.
"Have you spoken to Valeria?" Dani asked sure that she couldn't be pleased with how he was acting, he wouldn't blame her for being upset with all those girls that were throwing themselves at him.
The two had been together for three years now and Dani was rather surprised that Neymar hadn't considered asking her to marry him.
Out of all the women that Neymar had been linked with in the past, it was Valeria that had stuck around the longest and seemed to offer him a sense of normality that others just couldn't seem to give him.
"We keep missing each other," Neymar mumbled starting to wonder just how his relationship was meant to survive if he didn't see or even speak with his girlfriend; surely something would have to give sooner or later.
Dani frowned at that, he had hoped that they would have been able to talk by now and he wasn't sure how to make this easier on them if they were struggling; he feared that if things didn't improve then they'd break up.
"Maybe you could go and visit her before the international break, I am sure she'd love to see you before she comes to Paris for the half-term break," Dani suggested hoping to cheer his friend up.
The partying and acting out was clearly a distraction from the fact that he was home alone and having his father around wasn't helping.
Neymar's father might have meant well but his actions would only end up with Neymar losing the one person in his life that mattered the most besides his son.
It was the last thing that Dani wanted to see happen, he rather liked Valeria and he loved how she kept Neymar's feet on the ground rather than inflating his ego.
"Maybe," Neymar mumbled not looking at Dani, his focus shifting to getting ready so that he wouldn't be late for training; he was determined to not fall behind his team-mates.
Dani stared at him for a moment longer before he shoo his head and headed back to his own locker; he hoped that Neymar would listen to him before something happened and he lost the best thing in his life.
There would be no winning Valeria back if he messed things up and Dani was sure that there were many who would be hoping to step into her place; something that wouldn't end well for Neymar.
Listening to his friend walk away, Neymar glanced down at his mobile knowing that Dani was right; it wouldn't hurt for him to drop in and see Valeria in Barcelona.
He could even make it a night trip if he planned it careful enough, it wasn't like Barcelona was on the other side of the planet.
***
Staring up at the house that until a few months ago was his home, Neymar was surprised to find that so little had changed since he had left to move to Paris; he wasn't sure just what he had been expecting.
Slowly making his way up the path to the front door, Neymar couldn't help but feel nervous about the fact that he was here; he wasn't sure what kind of welcoming he would get especially given his actions in the past couple of weeks.
He hadn't called ahead to let Valeria know that he was coming, he had wanted to surprise her but now he felt rather silly that he was so nervous about seeing her.
It made him think back to the time that he had surprised her with a bouquet of flowers when she had been at work and they had only been on a couple of dates, he cursed himself for not thinking about getting her flowers this time but it was late and nowhere was open now.
Opening the front door, Neymar grinned as his dogs raced to greet him; he ducked down to pet them pleased to see them, he hadn't seen them since he moved to Paris and he knew that it wouldn't be long before they joined him in Paris.
Making sure that the two dogs didn't get out, Neymar glanced around the foyer of his home wondering where Valeria might be; he was hopeful that she was home since her car was outside.
He hesitated for a moment listening to any sounds that might give away where his girlfriend was; he smiled hearing dishes being moved around in the kitchen before he headed that way.
Poker moved ahead of him, he hurried towards Valeria who was quietly making dinner with her headphones in; she didn't seem to be paying attention to anything but what she was doing.
Watching her for a moment, Neymar leant against the doorframe with a smile on his face; he missed coming home to things like this; it made him feel so normal compared to the parties that he had been throwing.
There was nothing that he had loved more than coming home to her and Davi in the house, dinner being prepared and the sound of laughter; it was something that his new place lacked.
His stomach grumbled at the smell of the food that had been prepared, he couldn't remember the last time that he'd had a proper home cooked meal prepared by someone that he loved.
Valeria nearly jumped when she turned around to see what had gotten the dogs so excited, she stared at Neymar not entirely sure what to say to him; it had been weeks since they'd had a decent conversation.
The two of them stared at one another, neither saying a word as they admired the sight of the other; Neymar couldn't help but notice that Valeria had lost a little bit of weight since he had last seen her.
"Hi," Neymar murmured slowly moving towards her, it was so great to see her again and he was happy that he had come to see her; he would have to thank Dani for the idea when he saw him.
Things hadn't been right since he had moved to Paris and he knew that he had been spiralling while alone; he hated that he had allowed things to get to this point.
"What are you doing here?" Valeria whispered taking out her headphones, trying to recall if he had a match the next day or not; things had been a little off recently and she had been finding it hard to focus.
She hated that she hadn't been paying him as much attention as she could have, she had wanted to tell him what was going on but over the phone didn't seem the best way to do it.
"I came to see you," Neymar said moving towards her, he wasn't sure what to expect and he knew that she would have seen how he had been behaving as of late.
A part of him was ashamed that he had allowed it to get to this point, he had never thought that being apart from her would have this sort of impact on him.
"I wanted to surprise you, I know things haven't been easy for us as of late," Neymar explained reaching out to take Valeria's hands, he was pleased that she didn't pull away from him.
He might be here for just the night but he was going to make the most of everything, he wanted nothing more than to make it special while he had the chance.
Valeria stared at him, she hadn't expected this when she had arrived home from work and she wasn't sure just what to make of the fact that he had come home to her.
Wrapping her arms around Neymar, Valeria closed her eyes knowing that she could not put off taking about the issues that had plagued the both of them since they had last seen one another.