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Hakimi was new to the whole Real Madrid squad. After all, he just joined a month ago and he hasn't exactly settled down just yet. His teammates have been nice to him and have taken him in without question, but he still didn't exactly.. talk to anyone. None of those people were his friends. Hakimi has always had a problem with that, it isn't new, he's just very shy when it comes to new people, especially if they're some of the best footballers like Ronaldo, Ramos, Modrić, Benzema. The only one he kind of talks to sometimes is Mateo, who is very quiet as well and only talks with Luka, who welcomes him with open arms and a warm smile.
And Hakimi isn't jealous of that, of course not. Why would he be jealous that a friend/mentor/teammate/one of the best on the whole team was so accepting and loving yet unlike everyone else on the team Hakimi literally HID his face when Luka greeted everyone in the morning, because, just like he said, he's shy. Why would he be jealous of the fact it came so naturally to people to talk while he had to stay in the background because his palms sweat at the thought of talking and doing or saying something wrong.
His lack of communication also prevented him from joking around with the team, he watched them and chuckled a bit here and there, but he never contributed. There were moments when he really wanted to, like when Lucas stole Kroos' shirt and the team threw it to each other, not letting Kroos even get to it. And he almost did join in, but just as Asensio called out his name and the soft material landed in his hand he froze.
He didn't know who to pass to.
So Kroos got to him and he had to listen to the disappointed groans of his teammates. Though he knew it wasn't at him he couldn't help but feel guilty, ashamed, like he had messed everything up for his team.
It really wasn't that deep and he knew that, it was a football match, but he couldn't help it.
So he had decided to not play along and hide away whenever a joke came up. He decided to just watch, no matter how much his chest burned, because his teammates' happiness was important.
However, that plan lasted a few days at best. He had no choice but to join in when early in the morning, 7 am, Hakimi and a few other teammates heard a loud groan of Sergio Ramos from behind the closed dressing room door.
Casemiro and Kroos sent each other a confused look, while Lucas and Mateo stared at the door. Hakimi merely glanced up before going back to his phone, scrolling away on Instagram. It's probably nothing anyways. Sergio hated mornings and no matter what was annoyed by the fact he had to wake up early.
That's what Hakimi thought was the problem, but then the door slammed open and an annoyed Sergio walked in.
And behind him a smiling and innocent looking Luka, who just greeted all of his friends with a wave before closing the door after them.
"Guys, he's doing it again" Sergio ran a hand over his face, "I'm not awake enough for this shit"
Hakimi was left confused.. What was wrong? Everything seemed normal.
"He's doing what?" Kroos asked, and Hakimi thanked him for doing so. Inside his head.
Sergio looked at his friend with the most announce he could muster "Tell him good morning"
Kroos raised an eyebrow "Okay.." he turned to the tiny Croat, who was sweetly smiling and had his hands neatly folded behind his back..
"Good morning, Lukita" Hakimi will never get over the fact the team chose a nickname the fans came up with and adopted it. It was adorable.
"Dobro jutro, Toni"
… Hold on what?
But Casemiro and Kroos seemed to understand, because a look of realization crossed their faces before it settled on amused BUT a bit annoyed as well..
Hakimi was very lost.
"See?" Sergio gestures to Luka, "I picked him up this morning and he just says THAT to me- Did we do something? Or is it one of those days where he's just like 'I hate all of you so I won't talk'?"
"Ne mrzim vas, samo mi je dosadno" Luka responded, now frowning a bit, but Sergio just glanced at him before looking back at the two teammates. He didn't understand croatian.
"Volim te, Sergio"
"I love you too but fucking hell, Luka" the Croat laughed..
But he apparently understood that at least, Luka must say it quite a bit.
"Hey" Hakimi jumped but turned his head to find Lucas next to him, giving him a small smile "You're new to this, want me to explain?"
Hakimi didn't respond, worried that his voice would give up on him. So instead he nodded his head.
"Luka sometimes just does this" Lucas replied, shrugging his shoulders and not really minding the lack of words "If he gets bored enough or annoyed enough he switches to his mother tongue and talks in it for a whole day. And no matter what we do he continues it, because he finds it funny how we react."
Hakimi blinked "Why doesn't Mateo just translate it?" The question left his mouth before he even realized it, but Lucas really didn't seem to mind. In fact his smile widened a bit "He finds it funny too. He even joins in sometimes."
That checks out. Mateo looks at Luka starstruck on a regular basis.
“So he’s just.. going to speak Croatian? What if Zidane says something?” Hakimi wondered, looking towards the Croat who went over to his locker, still smiling.
Lucas shook his head “He won’t. THe first time he saw Luka do this he was very onboard with it. It’s like.. training I guess. Even with a language barrier we have to understand each other.”
Hakimi hummed, tilting his head a bit as he watched Luka..
Then the blonde turned around, noticing eyes on him and Hakimi tensed up, blushing immediately. He got caught.
But Luka didn’t seem to mind “Bok” He waved to Hakimi, who hesitated but waved back.
“Kako si?”
Hakimi didn’t know Croatian by any means, he even thinks that’s his first time hearing the language being spoken so casually. But he knows Luka.. kind of anyway. And he knows what Luka asks whenever he says hi to someone. He’s a nice and kind person and genuinely cares about the people on his team..
Lucas got up, walking over to Sergio when he called for him.
And Hakimi took in a deep breath, calming his racing heart “I’m good”
Luka froze. He turned to Hakimi yet again, but this time the smile was wiped away and replaced by a surprised and curious look..
“Shvaćaš me?”
Again, Hakii assumed what the other asked, purely based on the reaction given to him.. “No, I just.. assumed- I’m sorry-” Why did he even try talking to Luka?
“No, there’s no need to be sorry” Luka was quick to comfort the man, “I was just surprised..” he hummed, taking a glance towards his teammates, who seemed to be too busy talking amongst each other. He then walked over to Hakimi, sitting next to him on the bench. Hakimi immediately tensed up, surprised by the man sitting next to him. Luka, being himself, noticed the reaction and scooched a bit away so he could have his space.
Hakimi was thankful..
“Want to help me out with my thing?” Luka asked, now in Spanish, and Hakimi couldn’t believe the man broke his own rules just so he could get in on the joke. He couldn’t help but blush a bit.. “You want me to..” “Act like you can understand me. It’ll be funny to see their reactions, you’ll see.” Luka smiled “Are you in?”
And Hakimi wanted to say no. He didn’t want to mess up Luka’s fun, he didn’t want to say something or DO something wrong.
But with Luka smiling at him like that and the comforting and kind vibes radiating off of the Croat, filling Hakimi with warmth he really couldn’t help it..
“Yes”
And Luka lit up “Okay, good, just talk to me now, okay? They’ll notice eventually”
Hakimi nodded his head, agreeing with the man easily enough “Okay, I can do that”
Luka smiled “Je li danas dolazio Zidane u svlačionicu?”
Hakimi only understood the word Zidane, so he tried to guess what the man had asked, blinking his eyes, “Zidane isn’t here yet I think, he’ll be late”
“Zašto? Što je bilo?”
Hakimi just went with it “I don’t think so”
Even if it was the wrong answer, Luka continued on talking as if it wasn’t “Znaš kad će doć?”
He suddenly felt comfortable talking, even if he didn’t understand a word the Croat was saying. He felt lighter and less worried than before. “He said he’s stuck in traffic, but he’ll be here”
“Dobro, trebamo se onda spremit”
"Yes" Hakimi responded, "He'll be coming back soon"
"Hakimi" the man jumped and turned his head.
Only to find the entire team that was in the dressing room staring at the two of them in shock. Even some other teammates showed up, like Ronaldo and Marcelo, and they were also staring at them wide eyed.
Aaaaand Hakimi felt very self-conscious all of a sudden.
"You understand him?" Marcelo asked, blinking his eye in confusion, "How?"
Hakimi cleared his throat, glancing at Luka, who gave him a small comforting smile, before he turned back to the guys and responded "My aunt lives in Croatia"
He lied.
But on a lucky note they seemed to believe him..
"Well what's he saying? Can you translate for us?"
Hakimi looked at Luka
Luka winked.
And Hakimi smirked before turning back to his teammates
"No"
"Oh come on!"
The team was disappointed, but he and Luka laughed.
Maybe he does have a place in the team after all.