Work Text:
Without Luka
Mondays, oh Mondays. This is the best day of the week. Honestly. Because after some rest on Sunday, it's only logical to wake up at 5 a.m. the next day, ready to train at Stadion Alfreda.
…. Sarcasm.
At this hour, no one wanted to be awake.
Except for Cristiano, who initially appeared to have no concept of what it means to NOT be a morning person.
They meet around 6 a.m., and while everyone else is getting ready, eating breakfast, and so on, Cristiano spends the hour before just training.
To be honest, good for him, but the rest of the team was not like that.
Fortunately, the laps around the pitch were enough to wake most of them up whenever they started to train.
So there was nothing before that.
Except for a few mumbles here and there, the locker room was very quiet. The people inside moved slowly and tiredly, with no one's brain appearing to function just yet.
Marcelo was lying on one of the benches with his eyes closed. Lucky him for always being the first one ready so he could relax a few more minutes.
Nacho was mumbling with Kroos, but neither could really understand each other because Kroos switched to German several times during his sentences. Isco was in the bathroom, trying to wake himself up by letting Bale dap him with cold water.
Wasn't really working.
All in all, no one was really attentive..
Apart from Cristiano, that guy was already outside stretching. maniac -
As for the squad…
The only person who was absent from the team was-
BAM
The team groaned at the sound of the door slamming open.
… Ramos. Sergio Ramos.
The only man on the team who hated mornings more than anything else. He probably despised mornings more than he despised Culés, which says a lot.
However! However.. He wasn't usually this way. He had coffee beforehand, so he wasn't as angry as he usually is. And even if he didn't have coffee, he didn't slam the door open. He vented his rage on the field, kicking every ball he could into the net.
Long story short; Sergio had levels of anger. From the highest, an angry red card, to the lowest, just angrily grumbling to himself. And mornings themselves were on the lower side of anger.
The Spaniard's last and only genuine anger in the morning was...
Marcelo opened his eyes, turning his head away from the ceiling and toward Ramos.
"Is it Luka?"
"Fuck off," Sergio said as he walked over to the empty bench and dropped his bag onto the floor with a loud bang.
"... Yup, it's Luka."
Isco, who was tying his shoes on the bench next to Ramos', blinked and looked over at Marcelo "What??? Luka annoyed him? How'd he manage that?"
“Er ist krank”
Isco blinked “Come again?”
Kroos yawned into his hand before repeating himself, this time in Spanish “He’s sick”
Ah, yes. Sergio was angry right now, just like the last time, due to the same reason.
Winter wasn't exactly kind to the Croat. Usually he was very careful though, Sure, his teammates laughed at how many layers of clothing he wore to stay warm (Because it looked HUGE on his small size), but Luka never minded. He never gave it much thought though. After all, he knew his team cared about him.
Having said that, Luka was aware that he needed to stay warm.
So how did the Croat get sick?
"How did he become ill? He's been wearing his armor" Nacho had to inquire, and Kroos replied, "He said he stayed out too long, without a jacket."
"That doesn't sound like him at all."
Kroos simply shrugged once more.
Sergio huffed “Fucking liar”
The 4 teammates turned to him, to which all Sergio had to do was glare ill they all looked away.
"What'd he do?" Nacho asked, brave enough to ask the absolutely pissed Ramos
"He's an idiot that doesn't know when to say he's cold, that's what he did"
…
"It's your fault he's sick?" Marcelo asked
"FUCK Y-"
"Guys, let's go, it's time"
Cris, bless his heart, got into the locker room just in time to before the fire was let loose.
Thankfully, Sergio complied, not so thankfully, Sergio was glaring at Cris the whole time during training after that. As if Chris was at fault for everything wrong with the earth.
Didn't help that Chris was more confused than anything, so he tried to talk to the Spaniard. Eventually someone had the guts to tell him why Sergio was upset and after that Chris just stopped asking.
They all knew Luka was a gem to this team. Especially to Ramos.
He knew how to calm everyone down and how to bring positivity into most situations. The man always tried to keep the team happy, or at least get them out of a bad mood. You just never felt bad around him because of that.
That's the way Luka is
And Ramos was the one that loved Luka for that. The Captain adored the Croat.
It was a surprise the two weren't dating yet-
But that's besides the point. The point IS that Luka is Ramos's good luck and happy place.
That was gone currently-
Hopefully everything will be okay soon..
Because Navas had no idea how many more balls kicked at him at the speed of sound he could take.
With Luka
A few days later Luka was finally okay enough to show up to training. He wasn't allowed to do much but he was there..
Good.
The others had bruises from Sergio from how rough the Spaniard was playing the entire time..
It was Saturday and the team was exhausted
So they were allowed to show up a slight bit later than usual. Around 7:15 let's say, cause the guys needed some break after working constantly with a fuming Sergio for about 5 days.
The team was showing up one by one, mumbling to each other, talking, getting ready for another awful day with Ramos..
That was until..
"Good morning" spoke a gentle yet deep voice. It was slightly gravely, probably due to it being morning.
Everyone's heads just.. shot up, looking towards the entryway.
Modrić paused, blinking his eyes as the door behind him closed with a gentle click..
"... Is everything okay?" He asked, to which he still didn't get a response. " Was i not supposed to show up today?" He asked "Should I go-"
"NO!" they all yelled at him and Luka jumped "Okay okay-"
"Luka!" Navas was the first one to yell out, running towards the Croat and hugging him tightly "Oh for- Where WERE you!? I was dying here!!"
Luka sloooowly hugged back "I.. was sick?"
Marcelo, who was suddenly awake, ran over next, hugging Luka along with Navas "We missed you- Fuck- It was awful.."
"Why?" Luka asked "Did something happen?"
Next was Nacho. One by one the teammates hugged him, all sighing in relief and only confusing the poor Croat further.
"What am I missing?"
"Don't.. don't question it just.. we're happy you're here now" Navas simply told him
"Okay.."
Luka pulled away from the group and went to a bench, putting his bag down "You're all being weird"
Marcelo sighed "Yeah well.. You'll know one day, Luka, one day"
The Croat rolled his eyes
A few minutes later the door slammed open once again, to which everyone tensed up immediately. Except for a certain blonde Croat, who seemed to look around, once again, very confused..
Sergio slammed the door shut, huffing angrily as he looked around the room..
"Heeeey.. Sergio-" Navas said
"You're my next victim"
"Why is it always me?!"
"Because."
"But I was gonna tell you-" all it took was a glare for Navas to immediately shut up
Sergio walked ove to a bench away from Modrić and dropped his bag too, huffing and mumbling to himself..
Everyone looked to Luka, who stared back, and they gestured to Ramos. As if Luka could fix him in three seconds.
Luka slowly walked over, confused, looking at others for some sort of explanation..
He got none.
"Kroos, get away or I swear to everything holy and unholy-"
"Sergio? Is everything okay?"
…. The Spaniard froze, staring at the locker in front of him with wide eyes..
Luka blinked, staring worriedly at the other's.. head. He got a bit worried, realizing he wasn't getting a response back.
"Hey, It's okay to be upset sometimes, but that's no reason to be angry at our teammates" he laid a hand on Ramos's shoulder "Come on, look at me"
… He did
…. And he also picked up Luka and spun them both
"Luka!!"
"Jesus Christ, Sergio!"
The teammates watched with smiles as Sergio happily went around the room, carrying Luka and showing him off to the whole team like he was some sort of trophy they had just won.
"He's back!" Sergio yelled, "Guys, our positivity came back!"
"What's going on-?!" Luka wondered aloud, looking around in shock for answers, which he got none of yet again. He latched onto Sergio though, not wanting to be dropped-
"I fucking missed you" Sergio hugged the guy close "It was hell.."
"Why? What happened???"
Marcelo rolled his eyes
"Just Sergio without Luka"