Chapter Text
Valdebebas.
''Hola, I'm Dani, nice to meet you,'' Dani grinned to their latest signing Mateo Kovacic as he led him into the living room of their facilities.
He was a young Croatian with sky blue eyes, dark hair and a nervous gaze, though when he smiled at Dani's offered hand, there were dimples forming in his cheeks.
''Hola, nice to meet you too,'' Mateo replied politely.
Dani had done a bit of research before he met him, as he always did and started a bit of small talk about Mateo's hobbies and passions.
He knew that Mateo would probably rather wait for Luka to show him around, seeing how they spoke the same language but Luka was home nursing a thigh injury. He should have asked Toni to come along really since he knew that Toni spoke far better English than he did, but Dani had always been stubborn and had a very helpful streak that revealed itself every time new people came in for their first day.
Alvaro always argued that he only did it to feel as if he was important to the club too. Somebody worth mentioning so to say. Not the right-back that no one who watched football knew about. Some of their rivals barely seemed to know who he was, they thought so low of him that they didn't even cover him. Alvaro was very close to the truth with that argument but Dani would never admit to it.
Yes, it was his biggest fear, that nobody would ever buy his jersey, would ever shout his name because he was far too insignificant for that. He wasn't special like Cris or magical like Luka and Marcelo.
However, Dani was so immensely proud of his club and their facilities that he just loved showing the newbies around.
Knowing that it was really Sergio's job to do it and that he would surely get his ass kicked for stealing that away from him again but Dani fancied himself a far better tour guide and a much more normal person than Sergio could ever be.
He came on so strong and overwhelming to all new people. Sergio could be highly intimidating in his enthusiasm. At least Iker had been down to earth and balanced but now that Sergio was captain-well let's just say that things had changed rather dramatically.
Dani admired Sergio quite a lot, and he looked up to him daily but in his eyes, the first captain really ought to be Pepe. Somehow Dani trusted him more.
He wasn't a loose cannon like Sergio could be.
The hot-tempered Sevillanos was ever changeable and impossible to predict. He was warm and incredibly caring, but could also explode without a warning and drive you over the walls with his crazy mood swings and loud and erratic behaviour. He was as unpredictable as an autumn day.
Pepe was calm and clever and incredibly perceptive toward the needs of his teammates. Whenever they had problems they would come to him for dad-vice as Isco liked to call it. Pepe was the designated father figure of the group, with Iker gone.
The slightly boring one according to the wilder Canteranos like Isco and Alvaro. But Dani, Nacho, Kiko and Lucas really liked to hang out with him.
''Sorry that Luka can't show you around, he speaks English better than me,'' Dani said when he started wandering around in their living room, looking for a spare room or Mateo to crash in.
''Oh that's okay, your English is fine,'' Mateo quipped upbeat.
Dani noticed that he had started to relax a bit more since their first meeting. He could only imagine how nerve-wracking it must be to enter a club like Real for the first time.
To see guys like Cristiano, Gareth and Sergio walking around beside you. And to not have the one person you actually befriended with you at that time. That must have been hard. Not having Luka there today.
Luka was one of the nicest guys that Dani had ever played with and he could only imagine that Mateo missed his comfort.
''Gracias. So during the day after training most of us just stay in the room playing games or just hanging out. Right now Sergio is probably asleep, it's his Siesta time. But I will take you to the others,'' Dani suggested.
Mateo swallowed thickly. Dani placed a hand to his shoulder. ''Don't worry, we will go room by room,'' he reassured him. He didn't want to throw the nervous midfielder into the deep immediately.
It was clear that Mateo was really anxious and uncomfortable about being the new kid and needed a slightly gentler hand than Sergio could have ever offered him. He would have thrown him into the deep without any form of a floating device.
The first room he knocked on was Pepe and Marcelo's. They usually roomed together and had done so since the start. Most players didn't share rooms but they enjoyed it. ''Come in,'' Pepe yelled.
Dani opened the door and gently nudged Mateo inside. ''Hey guys, I want to introduce you to Mateo Kovacic. Mateo, meet Pepe and Marcelo,'' he said formally.
Marcelo grinned widely. ''Oh christ, Sergio is going to kill you and bury your bones under the Bernabeu when he finds out you stole this away from him again, you do realize that don't you?''
''I don't care, he loves me. I'm his favourite Canterano,'' Dani shrugged.
''Luckily for you that's true,'' Pepe sneered. He rose from the bed and gave Mateo a brief hug. ''Nice to see you again, how was your flight?''
''Good, thanks, some people of the club made sure my stuff got to my new house. Nice to see you again Marcelo,'' Mateo said as Marcelo embraced him too. ''You too, it's been a while,'' Marcelo replied. They had played each other during the world cup in Brazil. Which now seemed ages ago to Dani.
''So, how is Dani functioning as your tour guide?'' Marcelo wanted to know, a mischievous smirk dancing on his lips. ''Great, he's been really nice to me,'' Mateo retorted.
''Yes, he's our little sweetheart that Dani. The kindest kid on the team. If you need anything he's your go-to guy,'' Marcelo informed him wisely.
''Shut up Marce,'' Dani interjected, knowing that Marcelo was just teasing him. Dani was easily embarrassed by compliments, especially compliments from Marcelo. He looked up to him in more ways than he could ever say out loud. He could only hope to one day become such a good back like Marcelo was. So he decided to quickly sidestep his shame and change the topic. As was one of his specialities. ''Wanna go meet the others?''
''Yes, please,'' Mateo was still so damn shy that Dani worried how he would take to Isco. He would eat him alive if he noticed it. Literally.
Isco had a thing for sincere shyness. He was drawn to it like a moth to a flame.
Which was highly ironic seeing how his boyfriend Alvaro was anything but shy and timid. It was one of the reasons why Alvaro always watched Isco like a hawk whenever he was flirting with Toni.
He knew that guys like Toni were Isco's biggest aphrodisiac.
But unfortunately for Isco, Toni had already been officially ''claimed'' by Lucas. Though Toni didn't know it yet. Lucas had started a personal crusade to get Toni to fall in love with him ever since he met him, but so far without any real success.
As far as Dani knew. But Lucas told him pretty much everything so if anything had happened he would have told him. He and Lucas had always been very close. They were a lot alike.
Toni did seem to like Lucas more than the others, hell he even flirted with him on a daily basis, but then again, Toni also flirted with Isco, right under Alvaro's nose. Considering Alvaro's insane possessiveness that wasn't exactly a smart idea.
Dani wasn't sure what kind of game Toni was playing but all he knew was that the calm German wasn't half as innocent or held back as people assumed he was.
They said goodbye to Pepe and Marcelo and Dani lead him to Toni's room. Best to break him in slowly. Toni opened the door himself when he knocked. ''Hey Carva, come in. Oh, and you brought Mateo with you! Hello, it's nice to see you again,''
Toni offered a formal hand to Mateo who shook it firmly. Toni's calm, stoic presence seemed to relax Mateo a lot. ''Hello Toni, how have you been?''
''Great, thank you. I hope you had a nice flight,''
''I did, thanks,''
Toni nodded and then walked toward the bathroom door and started knocking on it. ''Hey Lucas, get your ass out of that bathroom and say hello to Mateo!''
For a moment Dani was completely stunned when he saw Lucas emerging from the bathroom, clearly fresh out of his afternoon shower. A towel draped loosely around his waist, his hair still damp.
''Hey! I'm glad you're here Mateo, Luka is always bragging about how great you are. Good to meet you,'' Lucas smirked as he shook Mateo's hand.
''Yes you too,''
''Uh, wait a minute, since when do you have a roommate?'' Dani interrupted, turning his sharp gaze to Toni, who was a bit taken aback by his question and blushed. ''Uh well-''
''Why not?'' Lucas interjected, using his smart-ass tone that indicated that he would really rather not talk about it and that Dani would be wise to let it go.
Dani gazed at him for a moment, hesitating on whether he should argue further but decided to let it slide.
He didn't want Mateo to get into an awkward situation by them bickering.
He and the rest of the Canteranos argued over everything, mostly because they had known each other since they were children and therefore were more like brothers than just teammates. Especially he and Jese could go at it, but now that he was gone Dani mostly bickered with Alvaro.
''Come on, let's go meet Karim and Rapha, they're cool,'' Dani said and he took Mateo away from Toni and Lucas before he would lose his patience.
Karim and Rapha were warm and welcoming as Dani had known they would be. They were the general good, mellow guys of the pack who never stirred shit up or got on people's nerves. They kind of kept to themselves.
Afterwards, Mateo asked to meet Cristiano. Of course, all new players wanted to meet Cristiano.
He was like an enigma when you had never met him before. But once you got to know him, he was actually quite easy to read and even slightly boring.
Cristiano was rather predictable and had very solid routines and schedules that he followed to a T. He never deviated from them unless it was absolutely necessary.
Dani checked his watch and knew that Cris would be up at this time, doing his afternoon exercises in the gym.
So they walked down the stairs and slipped into the gym where they did their fitness.
Dani hated fitness. He wouldn't work out if it were up to him, but unfortunately, he had no choice. He didn't mind running around but those fucking exercises were truly annoying and boring.
Cristiano was doing his squats when Dani and Mateo entered. ''Hey Cris, sorry to bother you but I dropped by to introduce you to Mateo,''
Cris seized his workout immediately and rose to his feet, wiping the sweat off of his forehead with his towel. ''Hey Mateo, it's great to see you again,''
''Again?'' Dani asked confused.
''Yeah Dani, we met during some international games-remember?'' Cris sighed impatiently, clearly annoyed that Dani hadn't managed to remember all games that the Portuguese had played in.
''Oh right, I'm so sorry that I can't remember all the games you ever played in,'' he huffed, rolling his eyes.
After some small talk where Mateo did little more than stare at the Portuguese, Dani said Cris goodbye and took the Croatian back upstairs. ''I forgot you two already knew each other,'' Dani murmured.
''I was surprised that he remembered me honestly,'' Mateo retorted, blue eyes huge with shock.
''Oh Cris remembers fucking everyone he ever played against. He's like a sponge, he sucks up all the information before he starts a game. He knows everything about the statistics and players he's up against. He never forgets anything,''
''Huh, I didn't know that,''
''You do now,'' Dani nudged him in his elbow and grinned.
After that, they met Isco, Alvaro and Kiko. Which went about as well as Dani had predicted it would go.
Mateo was clearly a bit baffled and intimidated by the loudness of the Spaniards and the thousand questions they bombarded him with until Dani finally rescued him out of their claws.
Mateo met Zizou and his staff next and finally the rest of his other teammates. Until there was only one left. Nacho.
Who was in Dani's room, as usual, reading a book.
Dani opened the door to his room with their key and smiled at Nacho who was draped on the bed, on his back with a stack of pillows against the headboard.
He was reading the last Harry Potter book, his personal favourite.
He looked up and smiled warmly at Dani when he saw him. ''Hey Nach, brought our latest addition over to say hello,'' Dani explained.
''Sure, come on in,'' Nacho said as he rose from the bed and walked toward them.
''Mateo, this is Nacho, the most normal one of us all. Nacho, meet Mateo,'' Dani introduced them formally, as he had learned from his father. He did it in English, knowing that Nacho spoke above average English, unlike most of the others.
Nacho was one of the smarter guys in the team, one who was well-read and educated and who had actually paid attention in school, learning new languages quickly.
When Dani, Alvaro, Kiko and Jese were out playing football, shooting the shit and skipping school, Nacho stayed in and studied.
''Great to meet you, please sit,'' Nacho smiled as he gestured toward the chairs at the desk. Mateo sat and accepted a bottle of water from Nacho.
''Oh, by the way, Dani before I forget, Isco is baby-sitting Alejandra tonight,'' Nacho told Dani with a nod to the sleeping child in the nearby baby bed.
''Aw she's adorable,'' Mateo said friendly, making Nacho gleam with pride. ''Thanks, she's very cute as long as she's asleep,'' he joked.
Nacho usually took her with him to Valdebas, seeing how he didn't trust nannies, aside from his mother and brother Alex. They were out of town this weekend so he had taken Alejandra with him to the facilities.
''Hold on, why is Isco watching her? I'm right here,'' Dani blinked confusedly. Alejandra was his godchild, why would Isco be watching her if he was available? He wandered toward the little girl and pecked her warm cheek, making her stir a bit but luckily didn't wake her.
''No you're not, because we're going out to dinner tonight. So Isco is watching Ali,''
Dani involuntarily felt his heart rate speeding up expectantly. ''Dinner? Why?''
Nacho's stunning blue eyes were beaming mysteriously. ''I'll tell you tonight, so anyway Mateo tell us a bit about yourself,''
As Mateo was telling his life story for the umpteenth time that day, Dani felt himself losing attention to it. His thoughts were drifting off to whatever Nacho wanted to discuss with him at dinner that night.
Dani had been head over heels in love with Nacho since the day he met him, but he had always been a hundred per cent convinced that his love would never be answered.
That Nacho saw him as his best friend, his brother from another mother, but nothing more.
For the last two years, Dani had been living in Nacho's house because his girlfriend Maria had left him when Alejandra was just eight months old. Dani had moved in the next day to watch over Nacho, to make sure that he wouldn't destroy himself out of grieve.
He became a second parent to Alejandra and now that she was two she had grown accustomed to having Dani around as another caregiver.
After her birth, Nacho had asked Dani to be her godfather, a task that he had instantly accepted. He loved that child as if she was his own blood. And she loved him.
Nacho and Mateo's murmuring seized when the door flew open and a furious Sergio appeared in the doorway. He was slightly panting and his face was rather red. This was not good.
He was clearly beaming with anger that Dani had stolen his captain prerogative once again. ''DANI!!! You scheming little fucker!! You're a fucking dead man!!! You hear me! Dead!'' Sergio shouted as he dove on top of Dani and keeled him backwards onto his bed, stomping and simultaneously tickling him mercilessly.
He always did this, whenever anyone disobeyed him or messed with him he would get you back ten times harder. Sergio had never been good at losing face or being made to look bad.
Dani couldn't help but laugh when Sergio went for his sides.
They were his weakness and Sergio knew it. ''Stop-stop it!!!'' he groaned. Nacho, as always, stopped the ''fight'' and intervened, pulling Sergio off of Dani who gave him a grateful look.
Iker had been the only one who could talk some sense into Sergio, tame him in a way but with him gone, he seldom listened to anyone anymore. Still, whenever he did something really stupid, Pepe would call Iker on him, who would fly over to talk some reason into his best friend.
''Lucky you huh, saved by your boyfriend again,'' Sergio sneered with a pissed off look at Nacho. ''For the thousand time Ramos, he isn't my boyfriend,'' Nacho said coolly, as he crossed his arms. Even though Dani had heard him say that a million times, it still tore his heart in half when Nacho said that.
''And yet you live together,'' Sergio never knew when to shut up. It was his worst quality.
Dani could literally feel Nacho's anger rising to his chest as if it was his own.
''Not now,'' he told Sergio.
Sergio raised a dark eyebrow. ''Excuse me, sweetheart?''
''Just get out, take Mateo with you okay,'' he gave a knowing glance at Nacho and finally the penny dropped in Sergio's head that it might be better to leave before Nacho would erupt into a volcano of resentment and grief.
Nacho seldom got angry but Maria leaving him so heartlessly had damaged him beyond repair.
Jokes about their unique living situation were the one thing that truly set Nacho off.
Dani knew that he hated the insinuations that they might be gay because they shared a house and Isco wasn't exactly helpful seeing how he brought rumours into the team's gossip mill by stating that they were actually fucking. When Nacho learned that Isco had spread that rumour, he hadn't spoken to him for a week.
''Fine, but don't think you're getting out of this so easily, we're going to have a nice little chat about this,'' Sergio warned and Dani rolled his eyes at him. ''I can't wait for your lecture, señor Iker-light,''
Now, this was a comment below the belt and Dani knew it. He saw Sergio's features hardening rapidly, but he knew the pain and heartache that lingered below his captain's charade of a mask.
Sergio missed Iker every day and him bringing it up again wasn't exactly helpful.
But Dani was truly angry at Sergio for insulting Nacho and he had never been afraid of Sergio, knowing full well that he was indeed the captain's favourite pet and that Sergio would pretty much forgive him for whatever he pulled.
Besides, Dani had always been very protective of the older Canterano and when anyone touched Nacho he sprung into action.
He would have done anything for Nacho. Absolutely anything. He would kill for him if he had to.
If it were up to him he would never move out of Nacho's house and would spend his entire life with him, raising Alejandra as his own daughter. But life wasn't a fairytale. Nacho had never felt that way about him and never would. He wasn't gay.
Sergio gave Dani a glare that would terrify the devil himself, but Dani never flinched. ''Fuck you,'' he choked out. ''Come on,'' he bristled at Mateo who followed him quickly, not daring it to say another word.
Sergio slammed the door shut with a tremendously loud bang. Miraculously, the sleeping toddler still hadn't woke up from the noise. Then again, Dani was certain that she could sleep through a war without waking.
Dani exasperated loud and sank into his mattress, clasping onto his head, wondering why he couldn't shut his big mouth for once in his damn life.
Then again, that was the side of him that Sergio resembled the most, the one he usually liked about Dani.
But not today. He had stepped so far over the line that he couldn't even see its foundation anymore.
Nacho sat down beside him and their knees brushed together. ''You shouldn't have done that,''
''I know, I'm going to pay for that one later,''
''You definitely will yes,''
''Thanks Nach, that helps, stating the obvious,''
Nacho conveyed a sideways smile. ''You're welcome,''
''So why are we going to dinner tonight?''
''I'll tell you tonight, be patient for once in your life okay,''
''Yeah, that's not exactly my strong suit,''
''I know, but I'm not going to tell you anything so you can stop fishing now,''
Dani sighed. Nacho was about as stubborn as he was and would never budge. He could spend the rest of the afternoon trying to find out what the plan was but Nacho wouldn't reveal anything.
They hung out quietly for the rest of the afternoon and at night when Nacho brought Alejandra to Isco and Alvaro's room, Dani put on his nicest light blue shirt and favourite black trousers.
When Nacho returned and saw him he grinned. ''Jesus dude, you're way too overdressed for where we're going. Go change into something normal like me,''
Nacho was wearing his favourite pair of jeans and a blue shirt that brought out his eyes so much that Dani had to literally tear his gaze away from them before he would drown in their beauty and sheer mystery once more.
Dani had spent his entire fucking life trying not to get swallowed by the stormy oceans of Nacho's eyes. They were his most beautiful physical feature if you asked Dani, he could get lost in them forever if Nacho let him. They were like a siren call, luring him in like a desperate sailor.
''Where are we going then?''
''That's a surprise, but trust me, no formal shit,''
Dani hated surprises, something that Nacho knew all too well. And yet to be fair, most of Nacho's surprises were usually a lot of fun.
Dani had just never liked it to hand over control to someone else.
Not even to the person he trusted the most in the entire world, which was Nacho. It had always been Nacho.
His best friend, his confidant, his rock.
The boy he so foolishly loved, despite all his better judgement and knowing that it could never work between them.
Dani knew that loving Nacho had never been a choice, not for him. It was just something that had happened. Like getting struck by lightning. You couldn't avoid it, it just hit you.
Meeting Nacho for the first time had been-inexplicable. Inevitable. Hopeless. Ridiculous. Oh and not to forget his personal favourite: pathetic. It was just his luck to fall for the one guy in their slightly bisexual group that wasn't into guys.
He changed into a pair of jeans and a cyan coloured t-shirt completed with Adidas sneakers. ''Much better,'' Nacho said appreciatively.
''Good, can we go then?''
Nacho walked over toward him and grinned. ''Hold up. I always gotta fix you up don't I?'' his hands smoothed the creases in Dani's collar until they looked neat and freshly ironed.
Dani swallowed thickly as he remembered just in time that he had to breathe in order to survive. ''Well we all have our roles to play, right? Saving my ass is your job,''
Nacho's eyes turned more serious as he cupped Dani's jaw lightly and forced him to look him in the eye. ''Is it? I could have sworn it was the other way around,''
This took Dani by such a shock that he was unable to come up with a reply. Nacho embraced him before he could say something sarcastic and ruin the moment, sensing that Dani was on the path of awkward destruction again.
So he held him tight, for no apparent reason and they stood there like that-silent and calm.
Dani felt his heart hammering in his chest, wanting so badly to kiss Nacho and never let him go, but that would ruin their friendship forever.
He had learned to control himself years ago, even through their teen years, which hadn't been easy with all the hormones raging through his body and Nacho being so insanely attractive and alluring.
Nacho released him just in time before he could see Dani's held back tears bubbling up. ''Ready?'' Nacho asked when he had smoothed his clothes straight.
Dani could only nod, not trusting his voice just yet.
He followed Nacho to the taxi as tons of questions arose in his mind. Why had Nacho just held him like that? Why did he say those nice things? Did it mean anything? Was he seeing things again?
And before he knew it he was lost in his thoughts again, musing on the man who had been haunting his every step since he had been a child.
Some days it really sucked to be Dani Carvajal. Truly.
TBC.........