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Kevin couldn't work out whether he should be worried about what was unfolding in front of his eyes or not. Well it wasn't all in front of his eyes, but he was picking up on clues and he figured that it would be all in front of his eyes someday soon if things kept going the way they were, because he knew that both of his friends had a reckless streak.
It did not help that he was the only one who could see the full picture, or at least as much of the picture as anyone knew. They all knew Mario, but Kevin knew Marco much better than the guys who had only met him briefly when playing against Gladbach, or even the guys who'd got to know him through the national team over the last year. The only accessible piece of the puzzle Kevin had been missing was what Marco and Mario had been getting up to with Die Mannschaft, and he'd been able to extract that knowledge easily enough from Mats with the aid of a few beers one evening.
Of course, all the guys could see the scenes in front of them at training and when they were hanging out, but the fact they thought both of their teammates were straight blinded them to the real meaning of some of the actions and words.
At first, even though he quickly realised that Marco was developing a crush on Mario, he hadn't thought that much of it, because he had never had any doubt that Mario was straight. Yes, developing a crush on someone who would never return your feelings could be painful, but most people went through it at some point, and Kevin was not that worried about Marco. It was only when it dawned on him that both of them were acting the same way that he started to be a little concerned.
He knew that the rest of their teammates just saw Marco and Mario's behaviour as very touchy feely BFFs, but not only did Kevin know, unlike the others, that Marco was gay, he'd also known him long enough that he knew the difference between how Marco acted around his friends and how he behaved around guys he was interested in a different way. Undoubtedly, Marco and Mario were friends but it was obvious to Kevin that there was more going on than that.
Mario's behaviour had puzzled him at first, but he knew there was a fine line between BFF behaviour and flirty behaviour and Mario was definitely crossing it. It was a surprise, but when Kevin thought about it, Mario was definitely the type of guy who would be desperate enough to fit in that he'd pretend to be straight or conceal his bisexuality if he was actually attracted to girls too.
Every time he accidentally left something and had to return to the changing room, Kevin half expected to walk in on something because quite often with their hair obsessions, Marco and Mario were the last ones out.
So far, the closest he'd come was coming in to find them laughing over something, with Mario's face buried in Marco's shoulder. It had been adorable, and he'd half wanted to snap a photo, but he'd quickly grabbed his forgotten hat and left, not wanting to mess with their process of realisation by embarrassing them.
~*~
Mats, unusually, was fairly late out after training. He'd left home in a hurry, and he'd had to get changed in a hurry when he'd arrived, so when he returned to the locker room nothing in his bag was in the right order and it'd taken him a long time to get dressed and everything packed away after he'd got out of the shower. He wasn't amused with himself that both Mario and Marco, who normally spent forever sorting out their hair, had left before him. Quickly texting Cathy to let her know that he'd be home a little later than normal, he wasn't looking around him in the car park, until he almost walked into a car, and looked up, being a little dazzled by the lights on a car ahead. Mats recognised it as Mario's car, glanced into it on his way past... then froze.
There were two figures in the back of the car, both with their backs to him, but Mats could see enough to be sure it was Mario and Marco. Marco was behind Mario, leaning over him, an arm going around Mario's body and downwards... Mats almost couldn't believe his eyes, were they really doing that in the car park? The idea that there could be something between them wasn't too surprising, yes he'd thought they were both straight until Marco had arrived at the club in the summer, but there was so obviously something more than friendship developing between them that he'd immediately thrown out all his previous assumptions about their sexuality. Kevin quizzing him about what they'd been like with each other during National Team call ups had just confirmed to him that Kevin thought there was something going on too, and given Kevin knew Marco better than any of them after being together at Ahlen, that was a pretty good indicator Mats wasn't imagining it.
He did not, however, think that he'd find something happening in the back of a car.
Thinking that it would be better for him to embarrass them than someone else to catch them, he went closer, intending to knock on the car window... and then let out a sigh of relief as he realised that it wasn't what he'd thought at all.
Mario's eyes were fixed on the car floor, his hand moving towards something, and Marco's hand, that Mats had thought was doing naughty things, was pointing at something.
“There it is,” he just about heard Marco say through the glass.
“Got it!” Mario cried out in triumph a few seconds later.
Mats walked away quickly, aware that once they weren't so absorbed in retrieving whatever had got under the seat they might notice him, glad he hadn't knocked before he'd realised what was actually going on. Them working out what he'd thought would be almost as embarrassing for him as it would've been for them if he had actually caught them getting off.
He still thought that he might catch them at it one day, though.
~*~
Kevin had never spent so long biting his tongue, ever.
Normally he just said what he felt, intentionally or not, but he really didn't want to ruin what Marco and Mario were so obviously heading towards. So, he'd spent the whole of their boys' night in with Mats and Robert playing FIFA at Marco's place biting his tongue and stopping himself from yelling “get a room!”
Watching them more closely, he noticed that when they touched or were talking as if there was only the two of them in the room, Marco looked like he wasn't thinking at all about what he was doing, whereas Mario was more hesitant. That made more sense, Kevin thought, as for all he knew, Mario might well be questioning his sexuality for the first time, whereas Marco was confident about it and had accepted it years ago.
Watching their shoulders brushing as they laughed yet again, Kevin figured that surely it had to be only a matter of time now. Catching Mats' eye, he realised that his friend was thinking the same thing. And Christmas was coming...
~*~
Mats groaned when he saw Manni attaching the mistletoe to the ceiling above the beanbags in the corner, because it was so obvious, looking around the room, that that was the spot where Marco and Mario would end up. He was pretty sure that most of the team had realised where those two were heading, so he didn't think a kiss in front of everyone at the Christmas party would be an issue, but he just worried that it might push them into something before they were ready.
He didn't want to spend the whole party worrying about Mario and Marco, though, so he wandered around Sebastian's house, picking up a beer and chatting with several of his teammates before returning to the lounge to find that his suspicions had been correct and that Marco and Mario were sitting on the beanbags under the mistletoe, obviously not having noticed it yet.
Someone wasn't prepared to let their obliviousness continue, and just as Mats was about to wander over to them in the hope of being able to come up with a reason to coax them away from the beanbags a voice called out, “Marco! Mario! Look up!”
Mats spun around to glare at Neven, and by the time he'd turned away from his unrepentant best friend and looked back, Marco and Mario were already kissing.
Marco had one hand on the side of Mario's face, the other arm looped around his waist, and Mario had an arm looped around Marco's back and the other sat on his own leg. Although Mats could see a little tongue, it was still a slow, tender kiss and Mats almost wanted to usher the rest of his teammates out of the room because this should have been a private moment.
Thankfully, after some initial catcalls, none of their teammates seemed to inclined to tease, and after Mario and Marco pulled apart, everyone started talking and going on with what they had been doing before, and Mats could see out of the corner of his eye Mario and Marco quietly talking before Marco got up, pulled Mario to his feet and they both left the room.
~*~
Kevin had been relieved when the mistletoe prank had worked out and not backfired. He'd yelled at Neven – wrongly assuming that as he'd pointed the offending greenery out, it must have been put it there – because it could so easily have backfired if Marco and Mario hadn't been ready. Mats had intervened, and told him that Manni had been the culprit for putting it there in the first place, by which time Kevin had calmed down enough to be satisfied with simply glaring at Manni and making a sharp remark about having been lucky the risk had paid off.
Eventually, Kevin decided that this was one Christmas party he wanted to be able to remember, and called a taxi before heading to the bathroom to have a pee before going home.
He tried the handle, which moved, and so he opened the door, before freezing.
His suspicion he might walk in on something one day had turned out to be correct.
Marco had Mario pinned against the wall, and they had a hand down each other's trousers, their breaths coming in pants. Kevin decided that he better get out of there and ask Sebastian if he could use the en suite in his room, but just at that moment Mario looked up and saw him, and pushed Marco away just enough that the blonde looked around. It turned out that they both looked adorable when they turned red in embarrassment.
Kevin jumped in before either of them had the chance to say anything.
“It's okay, guys, really.” He reassured them, but he couldn't resist teasing Marco a bit, and as they were meeting up with their old Ahlen teammates for a Christmas meal and night out the following day, he added, “You'd just better hope there's not a game of truth or dare tomorrow, Marco,” with a wink.