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1- Laugh
Cristiano’s laugher quickly becomes Pepe’s favorite sound in this world.
There is just something so soft about it, a contagious quality that makes it really hard to not laugh with him and honestly Pepe don’t understand how some people can look at that man and be incapable of seeing past the offensive picture the media paints of him. Cris’s laugher summons his personality, loud and contagious and a bit obnoxious at times.
Pepe is not ashamed to admit that the first thing he loved in Cristiano was his laugher, the first sign that there was more to him that people imagined.
2-Sugar
Pepe has a secret sugar tooth that he always does his best to keep hidden for reasons that even he can’t explain. He thinks he is doing a good job of hiding it from his national team’s teammates, most of them complete strangers that he has no idea of how to approach, until he starts to notice candy bars or small cakes being left in his things, the healthy kind that still manages to be tasteful, and then it became his obsession to find this mysterious person who took time to do this.
When he accidentally see Cristiano carefully putting a cake in his bag he can’t stop smiling for days.
3- Ignore
“Ignore them” Pepe grits through his teethes during a match away, doing his best to not sound as angry as he feel and glaring at the home fans like he could make them stop the offensive chant with the power of his mind
“It’s okay” Cris smiles and it’s bittersweet and a bit tired “I’m used to it”
“But you shouldn’t” He insists but is meet with a dismissive shrug and a pat in the back
When Cristiano scores a beauty not even five minutes Pepe makes sure to grab his jersey and show his name to the booing fans.
4- Dangerous
“Do you think I’m dangerous?” Pepe asks in a sunny training day
“What? No.” Cristiano asks turning to him with a frown “Why would I think that?”
“I don’t know, this is what everyone else seems to think about me, what all type of media says, just wondering if you do too” Pepe shrugs and tries to not show how much this matters, how much it hurts
“Do you think Sergio is dangerous?” Cris asks after a few seconds of contemplation
“What? Of course not! Why would I think that?”
“Exactly. Because that’s what the media and people say about him.” Cris looks at him and there’s something fierce in his eyes “Don’t listen to what people who don’t know anything about you have to say.”
5-Gifted
Pepe hates the term “gifted”. He hates the idea of someone being better than others because their talent is born with them and in his opinion this is pure bullshit, especially in football. You don’t get far in their world without working hard, without giving blood and tears game after game, there is no “gift” there is hard work and yes natural talent exists but it’s nothing without dedication.
He hates how people use that term to give Cristiano a hard time, to try to make him seem less than others. It’s not fucking fair and anyone who knows him had to hear about it at least once. So every time there’s a ridiculous article, every time someone uses the cursed word, Pepe makes sure to reminder Cris how amazing he is, how brilliant.
6-Temporary
“Do you think this will last?” Pepe asks breathless after breaking their kiss, his fingers still clutching his boyfriends expensive clothes
“This as in…”
“Us”
Cristiano laughs then, equally breathless and utterly fond and brings his hands to Pepe’s face and makes sure they are looking at each other eyes before answering.
“I think this will last as long as we want it. And you?”
“I think this is a great idea, I like it” He says with a smile before crashing their lips again, butterflies in his stomach like this is some ridiculous movie
7- Complex
“You are more than that.” Cristiano tells him one night, there’s anger in his voice but he knows it’s not directed at him “You are so fucking more than that and you deserve better from this piece of shit journal and his biased opinions”
“Cris it’s okay” He smiles and shakes his head, he’s tired of this already “They want to see me as this monster and they will just keep to their agendas.”
“It’s not okay” Cris murmurs and brings his hand to his face, gentle like Pepe is something fragile “You are a human being, you are more than that and you deserve to have people recognize your good side just like they recognize the bad.”
Pepe shakes his head fondly and pulls Cristiano for a kiss.
8- Run
It's night and Pepe is almost asleep when Cristiano abruptly gets up and starts pacing around their room, for the first time in a long time looking unsure and vulnerable. Pepe’s heart ache with the want to take the pain away.
But he knows that sometimes it’s better to let him be, to give Cristiano space to sort his thoughts and wordless support is more meaningful, Pepe learned early in this relationship that this is the ultimate proof of trust, not Cristiano sharing his every doubt and fear, but him not running away and letting Pepe see his vulnerable side.
9- Escape
“Do you ever think about leaving?” Cris asks one night when they both are lying in the bed sleepless after a defeat “Of going to another club?”
“Everyone thinks about it at some point in their career” He murmurs softly like the words itself are a betrayal “Why? Are you thinking about leaving?”
“I don’t know. Maybe” They stay in silence for long minutes before Cris completes, equally as soft “It would be more like escaping of this pressure, this toxicity, finding a better place”
Pepe doesn’t know what to say so he says nothing, just grabs Cristiano’s hand and kiss it, whatever he decides he will have his support.
10-Decisive
“You are the fucking best player in this world” Pepe laughs breathless, still high in the adrenaline of winning La Duodecima, not even caring about how strained his voice sound “The fucking best and this club is so so luck of having someone like you, who always step up and delivers when we need, who is always decisive”
He’s rambling and being sappy and he doesn’t care because he’s in love and he’s in heaven right now. Nothing matter more than this victory and the man that he is currently hugging like his life depends on it, nothing else matters, it’s the same euphoria he felt in France when they lifted the Euro.
Pepe is in love and nothing else matters.
11- Doubtful
The future is always doubtful for a footballer.
Where I will be next season?
What will happen in the next match?
Will I be able to perform like they expect me to?
Doubts are a part of life and one day, when Pepe is feeling overwhelmed by talks of renovation and rumors of transfer in every journal, he looks at Cristiano, at this man to whom he would give his life and can’t help but ask.
“Is there anything in this world that you know for certain?”
“I know that you love me and I love you”
12- End
It doesn’t end with Real Madrid. It doesn’t end when Pepe leaves Spain, hurt and disappointed with a club he loves so deeply. It doesn’t end with tears and with pain or heartbreak.
Cristiano looks at him in his last night in spanish soil and his eyes are fierce, his head high and his hands steady, he doesn’t cry because he believes in them and so does Pepe, it will be hard they both know and they will miss each other daily but some things are bigger than a club, bigger than a crest.
It will not end like that.