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“Oi Ney! Do you wanna come with us later? We’re gonna go party at our usual place.”
Marquinhos thumped him hard on his back, startling him from his quest of finding Leo. A bit dazed he turned around:
“Huh? What? No, thank you…” Usually he would never turn down an invitation to party, but tonight he just wanted to find Leo. And cry.
Their captain seemed to understand, because he pulled Ney into a quick half-hug, before he said:
“Leo left for the locker rooms about five minutes ago.”
Ney swallowed.
Of course, Leo wouldn’t stay longer than absolutely necessary out in front of these horrible ultras. Leo had been their best player on the pitch in almost every game since the world cup, but these uncultured, so-called fans had booed and whistled him at every move.
Only from a distance Ney had to watch how Leo became more and more depressed, retreated more and more back into his shell, and stopped talking. He would have loved to comfort him more, but due to his injury, he couldn’t be there most of the time.
He left Marquinhos and everyone else to go and aplaude the fans, while he tried to walk into the tunnel as calmly as possible, but as soon as he was away from the camera’s he sprinted to the locker room.
He knew he had to be fast, because Leo had mentioned that he would take the first possible flight back to Barcelona. Antonela and him had already brought most of their things back there over the past few weeks.
He was lucky. Once he entered the locker room in a rush he almost fell over the ‘Best Assister of Ligue 1 2022/23’ and the Ligue 1 trophy, both dropped carelessly to the ground behind the door, while Leo sat curled in his seat, knees pulled under his chin, head buried in his arms. His shoulders shook like he was crying silently.
“Oh Leo…” Ney tried to sound as gentle as possible, when he sat down next to his friend and squeezed his shoulder. Leo lifted his head to blink at Ney through the tears. Ney knew it was most likely tears of relief finally spilling over.
He had to lean forward to hear Leo whisper: “It’s over, Ney. It’s finally over.”
“I know, carino, I know.” Neymar felt like crying. Yes, Leo would finally leave their horrible fans, and bad jabs in the locker room behind. But he would also be leaving Ney behind. Ney also felt tears well up in his eyes. He figured that this was kind of karma for 2017, when Ney left Leo and Luis behind in Barcelona.
As if Leo had read his mind, he suddenly took a shuddering breath and looked over to Ney:
“My flight won’t leave until tomorrow evening. There are some things we still need to sort for the kids.”
“Oh, I thought you would be on the first flight away from here.”
“Me too. But it’s not that easy. I still have 20 more hours left.”
Twenty hours. They had twenty hours left together. Then Leo would leave Paris… and Ney again. He had to fight against the tears, but Leo knew him too well, so that he couldn’t hide that fact from him.
“I’ll miss you, Leo. So much.”
Leo pulled him closer, always the one to comfort Ney.
“Hey, I’m not gonna be out of the world. We’ll visit each other. You have my number and you know where I live.”
“But it’s not the same… I hoped we had more time together.” Ney could feel the sob break out of his chest and before he knew it, Leo had pulled him into his lap, stroking through his hair.
“Hey, hey, shhh, mi sol, treasure the time we had together.” The tears were still running down Leo’s face as he held Ney closer, who finally lost his composure and started sobbing into Leo’s chest. The last time they were in that position it had been Leo who had sobbed into Neymar’s chest.
They stayed like this for a while, Ney lost all feeling for time. Only when Leo’s phone started ringing, Leo gently pushed Neymar away from himself. He took Ney’s face into his hands and wiped the tears away with his thumbs, before he answered the phone.
“Hm?”... “Yeah, I'm in the locker room."..."Ney is here too."
Ney looked up questioning, and Leo mouthed a quick 'Anto' , before he went back to the phone call.
"Like expected. But we're coming home soon."... "Yeah, I think he needs me today."... "See you later. Love you."
Leo hung up and slowly got up from the seat to stretch out his limbs, before looking back at Ney, tears still glistening in his eyes.
"You want to come back to our's for tonight? Or go to the party?"
Ney wanted to whimper, because how could Leo think that Ney would want to go to the party tonight, if he could go and cuddle with Leo one last time.
"Can I come with you, please I need to stay close to you tonight."
"Of course, mi Sol, let's get out of here… for good." He grabbed his backpack and moved to leave, not bothering to change out of his kit.
"What about your trophies?" Both of them were still laying discarded by the door.
"Eh, you can keep them. I just… want to get out of here…"
Ney grabbed them both, telling himself that he would just give them to Anto later.
In silence they made their way out to Leo's car, but before they could get in the car, there was someone yelling across the parking lot:
"YOU'RE NOT GOING TO LEAVE WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE, ARE YOU?"
Leo froze with the hand on the door handle, as Sergio Ramos was jogging up to them.
"I- I did say goodbye?" Leo looked confused up to the defender's face.
"Yeah, with a wave and a mumble, I'm hurt, I thought we were closer than that."
Leo blushed.
"Sorry…" Leo dropped his arms and let himself be pulled into a hug, by Sergio. Ney watched as Sergio buried his nose into Leo's neck and pulled him close.
"I'm going to miss you, Chiquitito. And I'm glad we finally got to play with each other."
"...Me too. You're great company. When you're not trying to break my legs."
Sergio chuckled and pressed kisses to each of Leo's cheeks before pulling away.
"Don't be a stranger, Chiquitito. Maybe visit me in Madrid sometimes."
"I will, Sergio. You were a great teammate. I'm sure we will meet again."
They pulled apart and Leo finally pulled out of the parking lot for the last time. Ney leaned back on the passenger seat and watched the Argentine closely.
With every minute they were further and further away from the Parc des Princes, Leo seemed to relax more and more. His eyebrows unfurrowed, the crinkles by his eyes became more and more relaxed and by the time they pulled up to the Messi residence there was a small smile on his lips.
Anto opened the door, telling them to be quiet, because the kids were already asleep. Then she looked Leo up and down:
"You haven't showered yet, have you?"
Leo looked a bit sheepish, while Ney was still clinging to him.
"No, I needed to get out of there as fast as possible."
"Fair, but please shower now, before you two cuddle on our bed.”
Leo just nodded solemnly, but Neymar stared at her:
" C-cuddle on your bed?!"
Anto smiled kindly: "You need him tonight and Leo hates sleeping on the couch."
Ney could feel his cheeks burn, especially with what he was about to do next. He knew Leo needed to shower and that he was probably acting like a needy child, but he didn't want to let go of Leo for as long as he could get away with it.
" L-Leo? Can I… shower with you?" He hated how small his voice sounded, like he was still that star-struck little boy from all those years ago.
Anto snorted, while Leo stared at him blankly for a beat too long, making Ney regret that he ever opened his mouth.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity - Ney had almost started to apologize - Leo smiled and nodded:
"Of course, mi Sol."
He lets Ney grab onto his hand as they make their way to the ensuite bathroom of the master bedroom, only letting go as he strips out of his sweaty kit.
Ney did the same and was already halfway under the warm spray of the shower, before he noticed that Leo had stopped and was staring at the jersey in his hand.
At the 30 and his name on the back; at the PSG logo on the front. It was the new jersey for the new season. A season Leo would not be there for anymore. A season Ney would be alone again.
He had to hold back another sob, as Leo gently folded the jersey and put it into the hamper. Then Leo took a deep breath and all remaining tension seeped out of his shoulders.
Then he turned around to smile at Neymar, but his smile froze again, when he saw the silent tears running down his face. In a quick step, he was in the shower as well, cupping the younger ones face with gentle hands, pulling their foreheads together.
"I'm going to miss you so much."
"I know, querido, I know."
"I wish I could go with you." The sob that had been stuck in his throat broke free and he started to cry so much he almost choked on his tears.
Leo pulled him closer, ignoring that they were standing naked in the shower. He looked worriedly at the Brazilian, a hand stroking through his curls, while he tried not to start crying again. And failed.
Wrapped around each other they stood under the warm water until their fingertips pruned and they ran out of tears.
Ten minutes later they were cuddled into sweatpants and oversized hoodies on Leo's bed.
Ney had his arms tightly around Leo's waist, Leo's head laying on Neymar's chest. Neymar hoped that he could stop the time and stay right here.
Leo had started to softly snore as soon as his head layed down, as Leo usually did. But Ney couldn't sleep, he didn't even want to sleep, he just wanted to soak up as much Leo-time as possible, in the little time they had left.
19 hours later.
Leo's plane left the tarmac of Paris and Neymar could feel his heart break.
Their time together was over. For good. And Neymar didn't know how he was supposed to survive the next season on his own.
But he would have to. Somehow.