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By now I hope you've seen the new Ronaldo trailer because it is fabulous :)
You may also have seen the silly fake video where Leo responds to it. Equally fabulous :)
In any case, here's how I think Leo actually responded!
When Leo stops by the locker room to say hello before visiting the trainers, he's surprised to see everyone huddling around Neymar's phone. "What are you watching?" he asks curiously, maneuvering his crutches around a pile of shirts by the door. He hadn't planned on going in, but they're all pretty quiet, and frankly... It's suspicious.
Geri whirls around. "Leo!" he greets, only half dressed, holding his shirt in his hand and hopping up and down in excitement. "Have you seen it? Have you seen it?" He shakes his finger at Leo and winks. The gesture is echoed by a buzz of laughter, as everyone apparently finds the action hilarious.
"Stop that," Leo mutters, once he's reached them. "Seen what? I have no idea what you're talking about." When Geri continues to shake his finger and wink outrageously, Leo leans forward and slaps his hand. "Stop that! What is wrong with you?"
Dani pushes his way through the crowd. "Okay, everybody back off." He hits Geri on the back of the head. "Jesus, let him sit down before you jump all over him." He puts a hand under Leo's elbow and helps him sit down on the bench. "He's talking about the trailer for Ronaldo's new movie."
Leo sits down a little heavily, even with Dani's support, still not used to using the crutches. He smiles in thanks as Adriano and Douglas take the crutches from him, ignoring the fact that Geri is practically vibrating in front of him....
Along with most of his teammates apparently.
Not everybody's there, some having gone outside to the pitch already, but Jordi and Neymar have their heads together with Arda and Sandro. They're all giggling quietly. And Luis is whispering something to Ivan and Marc over in the corner while looking at Leo like he knows something important. Sergio is elbowing Masche repeatedly.
And Masche is smiling.
Never a good thing.
Leo sighs, afraid of what's happening. It's times like this that he desperately misses Carles. And Xavi. And right at this moment, Andrés too.
Without them, there's absolutely no order in the locker room.
And Leo may be captain, but that doesn't mean anybody listens to him.
It's ridiculous.
He sighs, rubbing his aching knee through his sweatpants. It really only twinges, actually a welcome relief compared to the shooting pains he was feeling yesterday. But he's glad he'll be seeing the trainers after this. "For his movie? No, I haven't seen it."
Dani sits down at his side. "You're in it," he explains, setting a hand on Leo's thigh comfortingly. "Not a lot, but," he rolls his eyes, "they all think it's hilarious." He scratches his jaw and tips his head towards the group. "Personally, I'm not surprised."
Leo stares at him. "But, surely," he looks over at Geri and then back to Dani. "Just off to the side during the games, or something? Right? Are any of you in it?" He's still staring at Dani when Neymar sidles up on his other side to join them on the bench.
"Watch and see," Neymar says, waving his gold phone and cackling. He thrusts the phone into Leo's hands and presses play. Everybody else surrounds them immediately, pushing and shoving until they can all watch the trailer again.
Leo doesn't see what the big deal is, but he sits silently watching, smiling a little at Cristiano as a child. There are a lot of hoots and laughs behind him when Cristiano mentions being the best in the world.
"Until January!" Everyone choruses behind him.
Leo shakes his head and shushes them, especially as the video turns serious, showing Cristiano's mother and then his father, followed by Junior. He smiles again at Junior, because that kid is seriously adorable.
About a minute in, Dani nudges him. "You're coming up soon."
When Leo sees himself, slightly blurry, running in slow motion in front of Cristiano, he furrows his brows. "Is that it?" he whispers to Dani, surprised that there's been this much fuss about such a small glimpse of him. It's so quick that Leo isn't even sure which game the clip is from.
But Dani shakes his head. "Keep watching," he whispers back, warm against Leo's side.
And then, barely twenty seconds later, Cristiano's voice rings out, "I have what I have because I sacrificed a lot."
It's followed by a clip of Leo pointing and winking at the camera.
Leo smiles, Geri's hands tight on his shoulders, barely listening as the rest of the trailer plays. He does laugh, when Junior mentions wanting to be a goalkeeper. As the screen goes black, Leo can hear Claudio and Marc exclaiming that there's absolutely nothing wrong with goalkeepers and they'll tell Cristiano so the next time they see him.
"So?" Neymar says, taking his phone back. "Why didn't you tell us you were gonna be in the movie?" He slings an arm around Leo's shoulders. "Can I have your autograph? Oh, let's take a selfie to remember this moment."
Leo shrugs him off. "I'm probably barely in it," he protests, hand rubbing his knee again as it throbs dully. "Like five seconds, max," he says, holding a hand out towards where Sergi is holding his crutches as everyone starts babbling around them. "Not even a real cameo, I'm sure."
But Geri squeezes his shoulders. "Hey."
Leo tips his head up to look at him.
"A little birdie told me you're in it a lot longer than five seconds," Geri says, hands moving to tug on Leo's hair. His obnoxious grin subsides into something more genuine as Leo looks at him upside down.
"What little birdie?" Leo asks, as Geri begins to play with his ears. "Will you stop that!" he hisses, trying to pull his head away. "What little birdie?" he repeats, when Geri doesn't answer right away.
"Me," says a familiar voice from the doorway, behind Leo.
Leo freezes, recognizing it instantly. He meets Geri's eyes, smiling, hardly able to believe it. Geri winks back at him, tweaking his ears one last time as Neymar leans across to Dani and whispers, "Is he allowed in here?"
Leo twists around to face the door, watching as the crowd parts to reveal Cristiano. "What are you doing here?" he asks, unable to keep the grin from stretching across his face. "Don't you have to go to Sweden?"
Cristiano saunters forward, smiling brightly as players dance out of his way. He walks slowly, looking around in amusement, studying the plaques on the walls and the open lockers, ignoring that the whole team is staring at him. Eventually he rounds the bench and comes to a stop right in front of Leo. "I came to see you, of course," he says softly, as if they were alone.
Leo blushes as Cristiano kneels down on the locker room floor.
"I had to make sure you were okay," Cristiano murmurs, warm hands resting in either side of Leo's knee. "We leave for Sweden tomorrow morning. Anddddd," he says, flicking his eyes up at Leo's teammates and baring his teeth. "I wanted to see if you saw it." He ignores the burst of laughter around them.
Leo puts his hands on top of Cristiano's. "I saw it," he says, smiling. "But I'm not really in your movie more than that, am I?"
Cristiano turns his hands so his fingers can interlock with Leo's. "Do you really think," he says looking down at the floor for a second before continuing, "that I could make a movie about my life, and you wouldn't be in it?" He pulls Leo's hand to his lips and kisses it. "Without you... I have no life."
The locker room is silent now, the whispering and laughing dying down immediately.
Leo stares at Cristiano, unable to look away. Dani and Neymar are both pressed against either side of him on the bench, and Geri's hands are still on his shoulders.
He's surrounded by his teammates, but he only has eyes for Cristiano.
"And I'm sorry," Cristiano continues, "I'm sorry that I've been afraid." He shuts his eyes. "I know all our friends know about us. And that you wanted us to come out to the public." He opens his eyes, his mouth set in a hard line. "And I told you no. I told you that I was afraid the fans would turn on you. But that wasn't it, Leo."
Leo opens his mouth, but Cristiano squeezes his hands.
"That wasn't it," Cristiano repeats. "I was afraid *my* fans would turn on *me*." He takes a deep breath. "And so I made you wait. And I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
This time Leo does say something. "No," he says quickly, squeezing back. "Don't apologize for that. I said I would wait for you. And I will. As long as it takes." He shakes his head. "If you're not ready, you're not ready." He opens his mouth helplessly, wanting to reassure Cristiano, wanting to tell him he'll wait forever.
"But I am," Cristiano says, sitting back on his heels. "I'm ready to tell the world." He lets go of one of Leo's hands and waves his fingers at Leo's teammates. "Those who don't already know of course."
"You are?!" Leo says, brimming with happiness and excitement, "but--"
Cristiano cuts him off. "So I did."
"What?" Leo asks.
Cristiano grins. "I did, I told them with the movie." He laughs and kisses Leo's hand again, practically giddy.
"What?" Leo asks again, hoarsely. He's still confused, still not getting it, still so happy that he can't understand what's going on. "How? You didn't--didn't film me without me knowing, did you?" Because he thinks he would have remembered a film crew following him around while he was at home with Cristiano.
Cristiano ducks his head. "Of course not," he says. He peeks up at Leo and smiles. "But I used that footage of us dancing at my birthday party... And my mother's video of our last barbecue, you know, the two of us with the kids in the backyard?" He winks. "And that picture from Valentine's Day..."
Leo yanks his hand back. "Cristiano!" he hisses. "That was private!" He reddens considerably, remembering Cristiano taking that picture right after they...
Cristiano reaches for his hand again, capturing his fingers almost immediately. "Not that one," he says saucily. "The nice one from dinner."
Leo breathes a sigh of relief, smiling as he remembers their romantic dinner. There's furious whispering behind Leo about the other pictures, but it ends abruptly as Geri clears his throat and tells everyone to shut the fuck up.
Cristiano ignores it all. "The movie is supposed to be about my life. And it couldn't really be about my life, unless you were there... And if some people don't understand it, well," he shrugs, "I don't want them as my fans." He inches closer to Leo, careful of the injured knee, and gently frames Leo's face. "I don't need anything except you. I love you."
Leo sits frozen, unable to believe his luck, unable to believe that this--every thing he's ever wanted--could possibly be happening.
He's so desperately in love with the man kneeling before him.
Neymar elbows him. "Dude, this is where you kiss him." Dani is laughing on his other side, while behind him, he can hear a few sniffles. Probably Marc. He's always been such a romantic.
Leo laughs, tears coming to his own eyes. "I love you too, you idiot." He wraps his arms around Cristiano, pulling him into a kiss. And it's so full of heat and want and love, that Leo never wants it to end.
His teammates erupt into cheers, eventually wandering off as the kiss goes on...
And on...
And on...
Eventually it does end, both of them breathing heavily. "I have to--to go see the trainers," Leo murmurs, feeling Cristiano's hand rest protectively on his knee. "But after that, will you take me home?" His arms are still tightly wrapped around Cristiano.
Cristiano's lips curl into a smile, hovering over Leo's. "Of course," he says quietly. He turns his head and nuzzles the soft skin underneath Leo's ear as Leo shivers. "And later, if you're up for it, I'll even give you a private showing of the movie."
Leo can feel Cristiano smirking against his skin... But honestly, he wouldn't have it any other way.