Chapter Text
That Monday couldn't have come soon enough, well it did because it was only a day away but that didn't make Jamie dread it any less. He had prepared himself for this moment for hours, he was going to meet Danis' team, the whole ass team, alone, with Dani, for the first time in almost a year.
Fuck.
He sighs deeply and adjusts his scarf before deciding that it needed to go completely, tossing it on his bed and looking at the clock on his bedside table. It was about ten minutes from when he would have to leave because he was walking there. His car was in the shop over the weekend, and he couldn't help being a bit glad, he didn't want Danis teammates thinking he was an egotistical asshole- anymore of course.
Grabbing his wallet and jacket he heads on out walking swiftly to his destination, he left about five minutes too early but if he knew anything about Dani the man would be a half an hour early to a team practice if he could help it, so it didn't seem amiss that he could be there just five minutes sooner.
The walk was only a bit longer than he had expected, he had taken the long way to get some air and to stop his hands from shaking as much as they did. His mind wandered as he walked and he wondered how everyone would act to him, if they would be like Dani who's always impressed, or more like Jean who just says things without thinking, or even like the old him who was a grade A asshole.
He shook his head the closer he got to the breakfast spot, Dani would allow anyone to be that mean to him, be barely even allowed Jamie to be mean. Not in a combative way but really the guy had a way of making sure he never felt any hit come his way verbally. Except when it came to comments about his home team or his family and country, then it was a big deal, that Dani was scary.
Jamie shivers a bit when he opens the door, he was only about two minutes too early, and he was quite happy that he had taken the long way to get there so he wasn't as early as he thought he was going to be. He spied Dani in the corner booth, early as always.
He walked over and put on his best smile which he hoped looked happier and less like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown that would get him locked up. He goes to hold out his hand to shake when he was abruptly pulled into a hug.
Dani had stood up without a moment's hesitation and was squeezing the ever-loving crap out of him. He wrapped his arms around Dani's back and made a piss poor attempt at hugging him back, it wasn't that bad it was just that Dani always had the better hugs.
“There you are! I was wondering when I would get to see you again!” Dani says excitedly, he pulled away from Jamie and was holding him by his shoulders eagerly.
“Come come sit down! The rest of my team couldn't join me today so it's just you and me!’
Jamie had half a mind to think that Dani had set it up this way, just so that they could catch up but there would be no pressure on his end, he expelled that thought from his head the moment it came up, Dani wouldn't lie about inviting people over to go for breakfast, he was much to kind for that kind of thing.
“Oh, that's ok don't worry about it,” he says sitting down and smiling a bit bigger, watching Dani light up, he studied his movements before asking.
“When did you leave the team?” The question was innocent enough, but the underlying meaning was there and prevalent, Jamie had wanted to ask out right what had happened, but it seemed just a little too soon for that, so he could settle on just knowing the bare minimum about what happened.
Dani blinked, once, twice, then paused his movements and smiled lightly “three weeks after you did,” he says lightly, grabbing his cup filled with what Jamie wanted to assume was hot chocolate, but it smelled more like espresso with a ridiculous amount of sugar.
“Really?” He was slightly confused, if he had left around that time, how in the world did he make it onto the Olympic team?
“I can sense the confusion,” he says laughing a bit “I’ll have been training with the Paralympic team for a few years, me losing a leg was premeditated” he says lightly spinning the spoon in his coffee “I had- well I still have, diabetes, and my father had it as well, and so on down the line of men, there have been cases where my family members have lost limbs due to poor circulation because of diabetes but we didn’t think it would happen to me because I’ve always been so active.”
Jamie was shocked, he didn’t say a single thing, realizing that Dani was still talking to him, it would have been rude to interrupt.
“Well, surprise to nobody except my mother about a year ago I started experiencing circulation issues in my leg, so really up until this year we’ve been working to keep my leg but knew that it could be needing amputated if the circulation wouldn’t come back” he takes a sip of his coffee, laughing a bit to himself.
Jamie nodded “oh that sucks” he said lightly, shaking his head “I’m sorry bro” he really didn’t know what to say, he wasn’t used to somber Dani, or maybe this was normal Dani? He didn’t know-
Dani tried to hold back another laugh, before setting his coffee down “actually that’s not the worst of it, we figured out I was losing circulation not only because of the diabetics, but because of stage two soft tissue sarcoma cancer! Which I hadn’t noticed because, well I didn’t exactly have much feeling in my leg in the first place. Luckily, we caught it right in time, and I decided that amputation would be the best-case scenario to both A. Make sure that my circulation didn’t worsen, and I lost my leg to some form of diabetic necrosis, and B. To ensure that my sarcoma had the least chance of spreading to the rest of my body.”
Jamie was stunned, deciding in the heat of the moment to crack a joke that he probably should have thought out a bit before “well, you had fit legs I’m not surprised they didn’t notice it before” the moment it left his mouth he immediately drew his lips taught and frowned a bit “piss poor timing I’m-“
A roar of laughter was heard from the man across from him, who had put one hand over his mouth and the other on the edge of the table as he laughed.
“Oh, amigo you don’t know how refreshing it is for someone to crack a joke, we try to joke on my new team, but nobody does it like you” he says rubbing his side to get rid of a stitch he had developed from the sudden laughter.
Jamie’s face relaxed, smiling slightly and snickering a bit as well “I’m glad I could bring joy” he teases, finally May walks over, raising her eyebrow but not saying anything. He just looks over at Dani and then back at her “just a tea May,” he said lightly “please and thank you.” He adds on to the end, he’s a changed man!
May smiles softly and just writes it down, she didn’t feel like she had to say anything, earl grey is the obvious choice anyways. Turning on her heel she leaves the two of them alone.
Dani just looked at him, smiling softly “so! I hear you are back on the team! That’s exciting!” He says happily, taking a sip of his espresso and making a face when he realized it had gone cold in the moments he was laughing.
He couldn’t help but laugh at Dani, just a little bit- the man’s face had dropped so dramatically Jamie could have easily assumed he was having a stroke. “Thank you, I’m glad, coach, well he’s good for me” he says lightly, took a lot to admit that, even less when it was Dani he was admitting it too.
The man across from him looked shocked for a moment before grinning and shaking his head “ah yes, I get that feeling, I’m glad I still can play with them for practice” he says, looking at Jamie with renewed interest “speaking of that will you be practicing tonight? I just wanted to know if I would see you at the stadium because I know that coach is only bringing a few people in to practice this afternoon while the rest practiced this morning” he gums a bit.
Jamie blinked and looked down at his still broken phone “to be honest I don’t know, my phone is still broken, I was texting you on my laptop because I broke it right after I texted you the first time” he conveniently left out the fact that he had blocked Dani in the first place, more for his own peace of mind.
A smile crossed Dani’s face, a softer one then before, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms, he looked Jamie up and down because snickering a bit “you do seem like the kind of guy who would end up breaking their phone at the worst possible moments in time, here I was thinking you’d ignored me!”
“What no!” Jamie panicked, his eyes wide as he almost leapt out of his seat, he just placed the palms of his hands on the table as a way to satisfy the urge and also not to tip over May's chair- Lord knows she would kill him if he caused any more damage to her furniture.
“I mean” he sits back and looks away “no that would be rude, I wouldn’t do that to you” he mutters softly. He looked back at Dani and was met with a shining face.
“Don't look at me like that I don't trust your happy face,” Jamie says without any malice in his voice, being delighted when he got to hear Dani burst into laughter, a smile graced his face again and he knew right then and there that the rest of the day would go great.