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Miami Summer Vibes
Leo hadn’t really known what to expect from his move to Inter Miami.
That it would be easier than in Paris? Sure.
That there would be no fans that would boo him? Definitely.
That communicating with his new teammates would be easier, because most of them spoke Spanish? Absolutely.
But what he hadn’t dreamed of was the ease with which he got accepted into the team. All of them had looked completely excited at the prospect of getting to play with him. Not only the young Argentines, that littered this team, who on the one hand were young enough to be his sons and on the other hand worshipped him like he was the second coming of Christ.
And usually he shied away from this kind of attention. Sure, he was honored that so many people believed that he was the best football player in history, but that was not why he played. He played, because he loved the sport, because in some moments he feared that this was all he was good for.
And Paris had sucked so much of that joy out of his body. More than a few times he had wanted to throw it all away. To quit and retire, just to get away from this toxic environment the PSG fans had created. But the prospect of getting the one thing he had dreamed of his entire life, with a team that finally seemed to be able to do this. That’s what kept him going.
He had also known that returning to Paris would be so much harder, after beating France for that third star. But deep down, he knew that nothing mattered more than said third star, he could now proudly present to his country.
No booing, no animosity, no ‘we wan’t to keep you here’ one moment; ‘go away as soon as possible’ the next could take the fact that Argentina was once again World Champion away from him.
His bucket list of football achievements was done. Fulfilled. All points checked and done. Everything that happened now, was an encore, extra time, to enjoy this sport he loved so much for as long as possible.
Which was also why he decided to answer David Beckham’s call instead of waiting until the people in Barcelona got their heads out of their asses, and decided that he could return to his beloved club. For once in his life he chose to be selfish. To think only how nice it would be to finally live with his wife and his husband and all of their four children under one roof.
He didn’t care that most of the world would see his move as him basically retiring, but so would have been a move to Saudi Arabia and in Miami, he could have a big family reunion and not just a lot of money.
And, as it turned out, he would also have Sergio Buquets back as teammate. Sergio, who of course knew about Kun’s spreadsheet and the Group Chat. But none of his other new teammates knew about it yet. He could basically feel his husband smirk as soon as Josef hoisted him up into the air (or rather Leo jumped into his arms.)
He hadn’t really expected to score his first goal in his first game with his new team, but when he got awarded a free kick in a very promising position, he couldn’t pass up that opportunity.
So he scored it. Shocked all the celebrities that came to watch his first game. Jumped into Josef’s arms and then winked at Kun, who he could also see losing his shit.
It was a good start to his new era.
“Cabrón, you really had to show them up like that, did you?” Kun slapped his shoulder, once they all returned back home. He already had his phone in his hand, ready to add Josef to their Chat.
La Reina de Argentina: Everyone please be nice to Leo’s new teammates, when they join.
Smurf Boy: Do we really count this one today? Did he really lift him?
Leo’s first wife: Yes Leo and I say yes
Leo’s first wife added ‘Josef Martinez’ to “So… You tried to lift Leo & succeeded!”
Smurf Boy: Alright alright… You’re the boss
Leo’s first wife: Damn right I am
Josef Martinez: What the hell?
What is this?
Pretty Boy: a group chat
Smurf Boy: What the title says you lifted Leo up.
La Reina de Argentina: Boys…. I said be nice!
Josef Martinez: But he… Jumped onto me…
Leo’s first wife: That still counts.
Wait, lemme send the rules for everyone once again.
[screenshot of the rules of the spreadsheet]
La Reina de Argentina: We should pin this one here somewhere. It would stop some of all of your fighting…
Anklebiter: Welcome to the chaos that is Leo’s very dysfunctional family, Josef.
Josef Martinez: uhhhh thank you?
… Suarez i imagine?
Anklebiter: What gave it away? The nickname?
Josef Martinez: Yeah, even tho i thought you bite arms not ankles.
Pretty Boy: 😂
I change my mind he’s funny he can stay.
Josef Martinez: As long as i don’t have to play the guessing game with all of you.
Kuni’s esposo ⚽️💦: I’ll give you a list next training session.
I’m Leo by the way.
“First you have to show up everyone at the game and now you have to ruin all my fun.”
Leo threw Kun a Look™, that said, if he would say one more sentence, he would sleep on the couch tonight. Kun only laughed and shoved him off said couch.
– – – – –
The next to join the chat was Robert Taylor. And it was again, because Leo had too much fun playing football. Scoring two goals in 22 minutes, as well as assisting one later, it all reminded him why he loved this sport.
He hadn’t exactly planned to plant himself on top of Robert Taylor after he had scored another goal, but seeing him already on the floor after he assisted him so beautifully, there was very little else he wanted to do at that moment.
So he took his opportunity basically flopping down onto Robert. The fin let out a little “oof”, clearly not having expected for Leo to just do that. But he recovered quickly, wrapping Leo into a full hug.
Leo was aware that his feet had left the ground - maybe he had purposely made sure they did, but that was only for him to know. In turn it definitely meant, Robert would be the next new member of their lovely group chat. He hoped Kun saw this as ‘lifted Leo up, with both feet leaving the ground’ - if not, he would use his veto right, to make it happen.
He had to admit, he did this because he wanted to, in a sense, introduce him to the rest of his boys. He really liked the Fin, he had been very nice to talk to, offering Leo to show him a bit around Miami. Leo hadn’t had the heart to tell him that Kun would probably insist on having that honor, and Kun had laughed his ass off, when Leo told him - “He knows you for barely two days and he’s already trying to make a move, can we expect him over for dinner soon?” - and Leo had never hated the teasing of his husband more.
But the truth was… they probably could expect him over for dinner soon, or at least sooner than those eight months it had taken Leo to get comfortable around Kylian or that half of a year it had taken him to get used to the fact that he was teammates with Sergio Ramos. (who he had just heard, would go back to his own childhood club in Sevilla - Leo was not a bit jealous at all, definitely not)
Getting up from his perch on top of Robert - even though it had been very comfortable -, he tried to shake these thoughts out of his head, they were still in the middle of a game and Kun was right, he barely knew all of these guys yet.
That didn’t stop him from having a good laugh, when he saw his boys discussion, whether this should count as lift or not afterwards. (it did count, Robert got added and got about as confused as Josef did.)
By the time the other Leo - how Kun had promptly named Campana - also joined the chat, it was a bit of an open secret within the team that this chat existed. Rodrigo had at first wanted to enforce a rule, that no one outside the chat could know, how to get in - sue him, he was taking his bodyguard duties seriously, even if he was now on the other side of the Atlantic for most of the time).
Leo had tried to honor that request at first, but it quickly became too much of a hassle, because they all knew how much he loved being lifted up and hugged.
And so by week four of Leo’s Inter Miami journey, the whole team knew there was some kind of chat, but not how to get in it. Until, Leo had set his sights onto the very youngest member of their team.
Benjamin Cremanschi, half Argentinian, insanely talented, and Leo had to stop himself from thinking about the fact that he had been playing football on a professional level for longer than this kid was alive - jesus christ, was he getting old? or was the kid just still incredibly young?
Either way, said kid was currently having some sort of crisis in the back of their plane, where they were on their way to Nashville for the Leagues Cup final. Leo had exchanged maybe ten words with Benjamin in passing and training. The youngster seemed too shy to approach Leo openly yet.
That was okay. Leo knew how to deal with youngsters. Thiago Almada, Enzo and Julian had been the same in the beginning (well, to be fair he broke the ice with Enzo by jumping into his arms, after assisting him in the World Cup.
He could try that today, but the better approach was probably, if he just joined him now and spoke with him - especially because he was the captain of this team. It was just like with his Scaloneta boys, he could take care of them.
“Hey Benjamin, can I sit here?” Leo pointed to the empty seat next to Benjamin, frowning a bit when he startled out of his thoughts.
“Yeah! Sure, of course, Lionel Messi.” He looked a bit like a deer caught in the headlights, but took his jacket off the seat, where he had thrown it at the start of the flight.
“Call me Leo.” Leo sat down and smiled at the young man. “You seemed troubled, so I thought I’d check in on you and see if there’s anything I can help you with.”
More staring.
“I- You- Don’t need to do that…”
“Yes, I do. It’s what a good captain does. And I might not have been on this team for long… and I might only be captain here because David thinks he has to offer me things like this so I stay, but…” Leo took a deep breath and tried not to slip too hard into his slurry Argentine accent, like he would to sooth his Scaloneta youngsters - he didn’t know if the kid was that used to that kind of Spanish, “...but, since I do have plenty of experience leading a team - through a final nonetheless - I gladly take this responsibility.”
“Oh…”
“So if you are comfortable, please tell me what’s bothering you and I will make sure I will find something to make it better.” He wanted to reach out and wrap his arm around Benjamin’s shoulders, like he would do with his other ‘kids’ in his teams.
“It’s just– I’ve never played a final like this before… so I guess I'm nervous… I don’t know how you did that so many times…”
“Oh…” Oh. “Well… It’s not like it always worked out all that often…” He stopped himself from saying more, because he didn’t want to make Benjamin even more unsure. “I can promise you, we’re going to work it out, we're a team. And one thing that I can tell you is, don’t think of it as a final. Think of it as just another game, we’re going to win.”
What he would NOT tell Benjamin was that Leo would be the one worrying about pulling this team through the final - as he usually does.
“And that worked for you in the past?” Benjamin looked a bit skeptical and not really less nervous.
Oh, kiddo…
Leo chuckled and now really wrapped his arm around the younger’s shoulders and pulled him into half a hug.
“I said, you don’t have to worry. I’m different. I’ve always worried about finals, so let me do that today too and you just enjoy the game. I’ll– We’ll do it, I promise.”
He felt Benjamin leaning closer to him and Leo smiled. Looks like he got another one. He gently put his hand onto Benjamin’s hair and pulled his head onto his shoulder.
“You don’t need to worry, kiddo. I’ve got you. Come on, try to sleep a bit, we still have a bit of time before we land.”
He felt Benjamin do just that, while he could see Busi smile and wink at him. Yeah, he definitely got another one.
He carefully pulled out his phone, not wanting to disturb the kid.
El Rey ⚽: I think I just adopted another kid…
Reina 👑: Oh?
Príncipe 💞: I’m guessing Cremaschi?
El Rey ⚽: Yeah, he’s currently sleeping on my shoulder…
Príncipe 💞: Softy.
Reina 👑: Kun.
It’s cute. Make sure, he ends up in the big group chat tonight, Leo. 😉
El Rey ⚽: hehe, I’ll try. I’ll also bring him over sometimes.
Reina 👑: Please. Now good luck later.
Not that you need it, you’ve beaten France. So you will definitely beat Nashville.
El Rey ⚽: 😘
He smiled fondly. He loved everything about his move to Miami.