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Jamie rolled his eyes, he had gotten his contract back in the hands of Richmond, and when he got back nothing was truly the same, of course, it shouldn't be... He was a horrible dick to everyone when he left, and when he came back Dani wasn’t there, they said that someone injured him and that he had to go back home because of it. Jamie was of course upset, Dani was the only one who didn’t despise him at some point, and he made Jamie a better person. He didn’t realize it, but Dani’s infectious smile and good playing made Jamie want to be a better teammate and player all on his own when he was around him like he actually wanted to be better around him, for him, with him. Of course, he realized something about himself when he returned to the team, not like this could be an easier realization in any way (it was not), and that was that he was bisexual, a surprise to really only himself apparently. It took a lot to explain that to Ted, and massive amounts of therapy, but Keely just screamed happily as if she had just won the sexuality lottery, she always was happy about him finding things out about himself, and he didn’t really mention it to anyone else, that would be another story he supposed.
The eye rolling was a different story, the remote to his own tv had been stolen from him by Keely, who somehow makes the executive decisions about his living room, to be fair Roy and Ted and Sam took over his kitchen so that was their domain, and the rest of the team was over to watch the Olympics, well the Paralympics technically but Jamie wasn’t really paying attention, he was entirely too focused on the game on his phone, glaring at Keely when she took it from him “hey!” He says annoyed, “what was that for” he grunts trying to get it back before not so nicely being shoved back onto the couch by Isaac “Jesus! Ok ok I’m sitting,” he says lightly, choosing to watch the TV the soccer game was going on. The rest of the team watched the tv with almost rapid attention that they would only have when the coach was giving a pep talk, or if someone mentioned some sort of rom-com that Jamie would have to add to the never-ending list of movies he has to watch. Also to be fair he’s never seen Collin sit this still, or Sam has such a straight look on his face, these guys were acting like they were there playing with this team- what the hell's up with that…
The TV was bright with color as it panned to the kicker, who was about to kick a corner, the smile on the man’s face made Jamie’s heart slip, flip, and turn around as he realized who it was “that’s fucking Dani” he says lightly. The whole team looked at each other and realized that none of them had really informed Jamie about what happened to Dani, they kinda just forgot once they forgave him for what he did, oooo bad on their part…… to be fair they thought he would have caught on! Isaac just looked down at Jamie and smiled sheepishly, he may be captain now but he could feel Roy’s glare on the back of his neck, clearly, he was in trouble for not telling Jamie the whole thing-
Jamie looked kinda betrayed before the camera zoomed in on Dani’s leg, well a robot leg attached to Dani, then the kick, somehow, with the grace of god on Dani’s side, not that Dani needed god, he was already incredible. Still, the ball made it in without anyone's help. Which already was an incredible bout of luck, but again, Dani created his own luck. His teammates and the crowd erupted into cheats and all Jamie could do was scramble for his phone that Keely had dropped and run upstairs, not ashamed or anything, but he didn’t like crying in front of people. He closes the door and slips to the floor, his breath coming in short huffs, trying to process what he saw.
Dani was an amputee.
Dani didn’t have most, if any, of his left leg, and his team just didn’t tell him.
Dani, the man who was just as good if not better than Jamie at being an ace, was playing on the Paralympic soccer team.
Dani Rojas, the sun in the sky, someone who was so perfect that it was painful to think about him negatively, was an amputee, and not a single person bothered to tell him.
Jamie concluded right then and there that he was equally the idiot. He never inquired about Dani’s whereabouts, thinking he was just back in Mexico. He couldn’t tell anyone how long he was sitting there with his back against his door, squeezing his phone in his hand a few times before immediately going to his block list, he forgot to unblock Dani after Man City had pulled him back and he shut himself down. He quickly unblocks it and feels his mind break into little bits.
Dani had been messaging him, not in an obsessive way, but just videos, crossbar videos, videos of the team out, of his new team out, and updates like he thought Jamie would never unblock his number.
Jamie gulps and sends a quick text “I saw you make that kick, you’re incredible” before quickly, albeit in a horrible panic, chucking his phone. Sadly, it didn’t make it onto the floor, and instead decided to John Wick it's way down, hitting the bedside table, the corner of his bed frame, and somehow a pair of upside-down cleats before finally landing screen down on the carpet. Jamie scrambled over and realized with absolute horror that some were along his phone's warpath to destroy itself, the screen had cracked fully. It seemed to have landed on the world's poorest-placed muscle relaxer roller thing that Keely had gotten him. Shit. He just texted his crush, his reemerging crush, what he hoped was a crush, and in an incredible bout of stupidity that even Keely would wince at, he broke his phone…. On a weekend…. When not a single shop would be open for him to get a new one. Fuck.