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Jamie jolts awake to the sound of his phone ringing.
He's not seeing clearly yet, so he gropes around his bedside table blindly until his phone is in his hands. Something about the shape of it feels off, but he's too tired to register the difference. He answers the call and holds the phone up to his ear.
"Jamie!" Dani's cheery voice first thing in the morning is not at all what Jamie was expecting.
He flops back onto the bed and lets his eyes fall shut, wishing more than anything that he could just fall back asleep again. "Rojas, the fuck are y'callin' me so early in the mornin' for?"
"Early? It's ten o'clock!" Ten? Odd. Jamie hasn't slept in that late in years. "Did you forget about today?"
Dani sounds ever so slightly disappointed at the thought of Jamie forgetting about whatever plans they made together. Jamie searches through his memory and genuinely can't remember having made any sort of promise to meet with Dani. Last time he remembers speaking to Dani, it'd been right after practise. Dani was talking about going to see a movie with Thierry. Jamie was hoping to spend a quiet weekend for once however, so he'd declined on joining.
"This about the movie? Thought I said I wasn't up to it."
There's a full three second pause on the other end of the line, and then Dani says, "I'm coming over," before hanging up abruptly.
Jamie, still tired, merely drops his phone down on the pillow beside him and settles back in for at least another half hour of sleep.
His second waking is gentler than the last. He finds himself slowly pulled out of his sleep by the increasing awareness of someone's hand on his lower back. He lifts his face from where it's been pressed into the pillow, then turns to come face to face with Dani.
He's smiling down at Jamie, but his hair's all wrong. It's short, and it's shaved at the sides, and—fuck, is that a nose piercing?
"Your hair—"
Dani beams, right before he leans down to press a kiss to the corner of Jamie's mouth. Jamie's mind screeches to a complete halt then. Vaguely he picks up on the scent of vanilla and something else a little earthier. Mostly he's stuck on the sensation of Dani's lips on the edge of his, the brief yet lingering warmth. He'd done it so casually, so quickly, as if it was something they'd already done a hundred times before.
"Buenos días, mi corazón." Dani seems entirely unaware of Jamie's state of shock. "Do you like it?" He gestures to his nose ring. "Filming is finally starting tomorrow, and I wanted to show you the full look! Don't worry, it's not real." He removes the nose ring then, but he's not back to being regular Dani yet, since his hair's still all wrong. That's definitely not a wig either. "Unless... do you think I look good with the nose ring? If you do, maybe I'll get it pierced for real."
This is a dream, Jamie decides. An entirely too vivid dream, full of too real sensations and a too solid Dani, but a dream still. It has to be.
Mi corazón, Dani said. After he'd kissed Jamie. So, okay, evidently this is one of those romantic dreams. That's fine. He's had a handful of them about his friends before (right before he realised he had feelings for them, but that's neither here nor there), this is nothing.
In this strangely realistic dream of his, clearly him and Dani are an... item. That's cool. He'll just roll with it. Since his dream's assigned these roles for them, he might as well go along with it.
Carefully, Jamie twists himself around so that he's resting against the headboard, then reaches out to take one of Dani's hands in his. Dani stays smiling, doesn't pull away, so Jamie threads his fingers through Dani's. It feels new, in a decidedly undream-like way. Dani's palm is warm against his.
He watches their joined hands for a moment, marvelling at something he doesn't want to put a name to just yet, then looks up to meet Dani's eyes. "You uh, said somethin' about filmin'?"
Dani frowns a little, reaching out to place his other hand against Jamie's forehead. "Are you sick?"
Jamie's flushed, but certainly not because of any illness. "No, 'm fine, just a little forgetful this morning, yeah?"
"Hm." For a moment Dani seems suspicious, but then Jamie squeezes his hand a little desperately and Dani's expression loosens. "Then I guess I'll just have to remind you."
In this dream Dani is an actual, honest to god, actor. Jamie refrains from gaping as Dani goes on about the movie he's just about to start filming for, but his eyes do go a bit wide when Dani casually mentions a movie that they were both in a couple years ago. From the bits and pieces he picks up as Dani talks, the background for the two of them is this: they met on set while filming this big action movie together, hit it off, and have apparently been dating ever since.
Today Jamie was supposed to meet Dani at a restaurant they've gone on many dates in, getting in some last minute quality time with each other before Dani starts filming halfway across the world.
Oh, they're also living in L.A. of all places. Fucking Hollywood actors, the two of them.
"Y'think maybe we could spend the day here, instead?" Jamie asks. "Not—not here in bed, but just, uh, here at home?" Their home, that they share, which is still entirely insane to think about, even if this is just a dream. "Don't really feel up to bein' seen today."
Dani looks at him, eyes soft, like he's indulging him. "Okay, Jamie. We will stay inside today."
Jamie feels nervous and fluttery. He doesn't think that's normal for a dream, but he finds he doesn't really mind.
-
Something's off.
Jamie stretches out, then freezes. His bed's smaller, and his sheets are scratchier than they should be. Also, he can faintly hear the sound of something sizzling.
He snaps his eyes open. Wooden pillars. Why is he staring up at wooden pillars? What happened to his ceiling?
Something starts to sink in as he pushes himself up onto his elbows. Everything's different. Smaller. There's a rickety, handmade dresser a couple feet away from the bed, a few candles sitting on top of it, and a bunch of books piled up on the floor beside it.
From outside the slightly cracked door, some slightly off-key singing filters its way into the room.
Right. So this is another one of those dreams, then. The ones that feel too real and last just a bit too long.
Jamie gets to his feet, wondering if it's normal to wake up in dreams, before the thought flies right out of his head when he wanders into the main living space of the house to find Dani standing in front of the stove, completely naked.
Well, naked except for the apron.
His eyes linger on Dani's arse for probably a few too many seconds to be proper before Dani turns around. His hair's longer this time, much longer than it is in real life. He's got it tied up at the back, but has left a few long strands out to frame his face.
"Mornin'," Jamie says, licking his lips.
Dani opens his mouth to say something, but gets interrupted by an impatient mrow! Jamie startles a little, then looks down to find a black cat winding its way around his legs, demanding attention. The domesticity of the scene makes Jamie's mouth go a little dry as he bends down to pet the cat, melting a little when it butts its head against Jamie's fingers affectionately.
He remembers Dani telling him that he kept a cat once. It was a stray that him and his siblings had befriended before it eventually became an additional member of the family. She died right after Dani turned twenty, curled up in her favourite spot by window. Dani only mentioned her the one time, but Jamie still remembers the look he had on his face then, all soft and wistful, so different from his normal state of spirited and cheerful.
"She is always fighting me for your attention."
Jamie looks up to find Dani standing over him, hands on his hips.
The cat moves away from Jamie to rub her head against Dani's leg briefly, then saunters over to flop down on another spot on the floor, where the window has created a patch of sunlight for her to rest in.
Jamie stands back up, feeling out of place and awkward. Dani either doesn't see it or doesn't particularly care, pulling Jamie closer by his hip, until they're pressed up against each other.
So they're together too, in this dream.
Dani shuts his eyes. "I am waiting for my morning kiss," he says.
Jamie's heart jumps into his throat. Dani's lips are right there. They look soft. Perfectly kissable. And this is a dream, where the two of them are apparently living on their own in a tiny little house in the middle of the woods, with a cat. There's also definitely a ring on a certain finger on his left hand that he hasn't fully acknowledged yet, but it's definitely there. Kissing Dani would be the natural, obvious next step.
He leans in and pecks Dani's cheek.
Dani's eyes flutter open. He doesn't seem disappointed that Jamie chickened out from kissing him on the mouth. He leans in and gives Jamie a kiss on the cheek too, then unwraps his arms from around Jamie and returns to the stove to finish cooking up breakfast.
"Could you slice the bread, Jamie?" Dani asks.
Jamie takes a moment to calm down the erratic beating of his heart before walking over the cutting board, where a full loaf of bread is resting and waiting to be cut. It feels warm, and smells fresh, as if it's just come out of the oven.
He turns his head to glance at Dani, and notes the bit of flour on the front of his apron. Not as if, the bread really is fresh out the oven.
Jamie manages to cut two mostly straight slices of bread, placing them onto the plates laid out beside him right as Dani slides one sunny side up egg on each plate. They're oddly in sync, despite the fact that this is Jamie's first time doing this.
They eat breakfast on the table, with the birds singing and leaves rustling outside for background noise. It all seems too good to be true, magical even if there is no magic, like some fantasy version of the two of them. Despite that though, when they end up doing the dishes side by side after they finish eating, it feels normal. Sweet, but mundane still, like their practised passes on the pitch.
What does it mean if the house, the cat, the woods outside all feel fake, but the two of them—Dani and Jamie at the table, Dani and Jamie at the sink—feel grounded, feel true?
-
"Jamie, you can open your eyes now."
The wind caresses his cheek, rouses him into consciousness, which is when he realises that one, he is not in his bed, and two, he is suspended in mid-air.
Well, Dani's suspended in mid-air, Jamie's just clinging onto his back and along for the ride.
"Fuck," he squeaks.
They're surrounded by nothing but white and blue, and it would be beautiful, if he didn't just wake up and realise exactly how high up in the air they are. Jamie's arms tighten around Dani's neck, and fuck, there is definitely some sort of cape flapping underneath his weight.
Dani's Superman. Does that make Jamie Lois Lane?
"Are you okay?" Dani sounds concerned. His hands are sturdy underneath Jamie's thighs, carefully holding him up.
Jamie exhales. Blinks. Tries to remember that this is all a dream, and very much not real, and so if he somehow accidentally ends up plummeting to his death, it'll be fine. "Yeah... just need a moment to adjust."
Dani gives him his moment, doing nothing but floating still in the air while Jamie collects himself.
There's another small gust of wind. Jamie can feel it messing with his hair. It's a good thing that Dani can't see him like this.
This high up, they're the only things around. There are no birds, no planes, just the two of them and an impossibly large expanse of sky. The view's breathtaking, despite how simple it is. Blues and whites and yellows. It's maybe the best thing Jamie's ever seen.
"Oh," he murmurs.
Dani turns his head to the side a little, just enough for Jamie to glimpse a smile. "It's beautiful, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it's... amazin'." Jamie finds himself staring at the back of Dani's neck now, at a freckle just below his hair. "You're amazin' too," he finds himself saying.
It seems almost impossible, that in a world where Dani is Superman, they still managed to find their way to each other. He wonders if Dani wears glasses in his regular day to day, if that's what stopped anyone but Jamie from getting too close. It doesn't seem likely, for there to be anything that can damper Dani's charms.
Dani laughs. "I think you're the amazing one, Jamie. You loved me and accepted me, even when you knew I was keeping a big secret from you."
Jamie blushes, even though Dani's not really talking about him him. It doesn't seem all that hard though, to love and accept Dani as he is. It'd be harder not to, he thinks. There's no secret Dani could keep from Jamie that would make him turn him away, unless it was something truly horrific, but if Dani was capable of something like that then he wouldn't be Dani, would he?
"Don't sell yourself short, mate. I'm no walk in the park either. To love a prick like me, y've got to be pretty damn spectacular."
His record with relationships has never been all that pretty, he's sure it wouldn't be any different even if he was Lois Lane. Maybe in whatever newspaper company he's working for in this dream world, he's got Ted for a boss. Maybe he'd taught him a couple things here, just like he's done for Jamie in real life.
"I don't know. For me it was pretty easy, falling for you." Dani says this so smoothly that it makes Jamie's heart constrict painfully in his chest for a moment. "And I don't think you're a prick, Jamie. I think you're wonderful."
Fuck. What could he have possibly done to deserve a sentiment like that? Just by him not being a miserable bastard? If anyone's wonderful here, it's obviously Dani. Dani, who never once let being a good player get to his head. Dani, who never took his anger out on people who didn't deserve it. Dani, who smiled at Jamie no matter how unfriendly he was being.
Jamie drops his head on Dani's shoulder. "Think you might be too good for me."
"You think so?" Dani sounds vaguely amused.
"Oi, I'm bein' serious here."
"I know." Dani turns to face him again, but with where Jamie's head is positioned, Dani's lips end up grazing the top of Jamie's head. "I just don't think it matters. It's not about if we're deserving of each other or not. It's just about whether we love each other or not, don't you think so?"
Trust Dani to boil it down into just an unnecessary worry. I just don't think it matters, he says it like it should be simple. Jamie can't fathom it actually being that easy. In this dream though, it doesn't have to be anything but what it is.
Jamie pulls his head back to brush his lips, ever so gently, across the back of Dani's neck. He feels Dani's full body shiver and smiles a little to himself.
He reckons he makes for a pretty good Lois.
-
Something soft and vaguely hand-shaped lands on Jamie's face.
He blinks his eyes open in the dark, waiting a moment for his sight to adjust. Once it does, he finds himself staring into the eyes of a little girl. Ghost, is the first thing he thinks. Scary little ghost girls are in every single horror movie ever for a reason. They're fucking terrifying.
Jamie's about to scream, when the girl reaches out and slaps her hand over his mouth.
Can ghosts touch? Ghosts shouldn't be able to do that. Are they evolving? God, it would be just his luck to meet an evolved, fleshy type of ghost instead of the normal see through, plasma filled poltergeists.
"Don't wake up Papá," ghost girl says.
Jamie bites back the urge to start screeching anyways, and removes the girl's small hand from his face so he can turn and see who Papá is.
Unsurprisingly, it's Dani, nestled into the sheets beside Jamie. This is the first time Jamie's woken up beside Dani in one these dreams.
The girl tugs on Jamie's arm, making an impatient noise. Jamie turns to look at her, properly this time. She's got a head of dark, curly hair, and eyes just like Dani's. Not a ghost. A real kid. Dani's kid. Jamie chokes a little on this information as he slips out of bed and follows her out the bedroom door.
She brings him all the way to the kitchen. Jamie flicks the lights on because she can't reach.
It's a nice kitchen. Modestly sized. The fridge looks old, probably came with the apartment. There are drawings and pictures stuck all over it. Jamie's eyes get stuck on the biggest picture, one of the three of them, Dani, Jamie and the kid, wrapped around each other on an ice rink. Beside the picture, there's a drawing made with crayon of three people stacked on top of each other. The one on the bottom is labelled 'Papá', the one above him is 'Jamie', and then the one on the very top is 'Martina'.
Martina, like Dani's grandmother that died when he was ten. Martina, his daughter.
Something lodges itself in Jamie's throat, this new kind of longing, and an old and familiar kind of aching.
Martina pulls Jamie's hand. "I'm hungry."
Jamie blinks down at her.
He is way out of his depth here. He's never once had to take care of a kid. He had no nieces or nephews to speak of, no young cousins, no friends with babies (none that he'd met, anyway). The last time he'd spent any time with a kid was with Phoebe, but she was eight, maybe nine. Martina looks to be five or six at most. She seems like an entirely different beast.
"What're you allowed to eat again?"
Martina's face scrunches up for a second, before she seems to get an idea and beams. "Papá says I can eat anything!"
Jamie snorts. "Don't believe that for a second." Martina's expression deflates. "Right, well, I'm a shite cook, so, I'm thinkin', bit of peanut butter, bit of Nutella, and some bread. What d'you think?"
"Nutella!" Martina's on board, then.
Jamie, unsure of how exactly he's supposed to hold a child, grabs Martina by the armpits and hoists her up onto the counter. She laughs a little when she's set down, so he figures he can't have fucked that up too badly. He then starts rifling through the cabinets for the things he needs. He finds the bread, passes it onto Martina, who struggles to get the bread clip off of the bag. Then he fishes out two plates, and sets them down beside Martina on the counter, before finally finding an almost full jar of peanut butter and an almost empty jar of Nutella.
As he starts spreading the peanut butter on the bread, making sure to get it all the way to the edges like Martina urges him to, she begins babbling about how excited she is to go to the zoo tomorrow. Jamie pretends that's something he already knows about, and asks her what she's most excited to see. Penguins, she says, right before she begins listing everything she knows about them.
And it's a lot. Definitely more than Jamie ever knew about them. She manages to talk her way through the entire sandwich, ending on something about how penguins give shiny rocks to who they want to mate with.
"That's fascinatin'," Jamie says, half distracted as he holds Martina's head still so that he can wipe her mouth clean.
After that's done, right as he starts wondering about how to get her to brush her teeth, a pair of arms from behind wrap around his middle and he feels a chin hook onto his shoulder.
"You two didn't finish the Nutella, did you?" Dani's sleepy, slightly hoarse voice drifts over Jamie's shoulder.
Martina claps both her hands around her mouth and shakes her head.
Dani chuckles. Jamie can feel the rumble of his laughter against his back. Dani's arms feel strong around his waist, secure.
It hits him then, standing there in the kitchen with Martina in front of him and Dani behind: he wants this.
The familiarity with which Dani touches him, the warmth of his chest against Jamie's back. He wants it. Aches for it. If there is a single possibility of his future turning out to be this, he wants to grasp it with both hands.
Outside of this dream, in the version of reality where Dani and Jamie play football and pass each other in the locker room. He wants it. He wants Dani. He might've wanted him way before these dreams ever began.
Jamie leans back against Dani's weight, momentarily out of breath.
"Babe," Jamie says, acting as if the word babe in this context isn't making his heart do somersaults in his chest, "if we were in like, an alternate universe or somethin', and we were both football players playin' for the same team, how would you like me to ask you out?"
Dani hums, mouth dangerously close to Jamie's neck. "Why are you asking me out? I think I would like to ask you out instead."
Still perched on the counter, Martina is no longer paying them any attention, instead she's attempting to stick her hand into the Nutella jar to scrape out what's left on the bottom.
"In this scenario you don't like me... yet."
"But we are on the same football team, no? We take showers together? See each other everyday?"
Jamie flushes a bit. "Yeah."
"Then it's impossible for me to not like you already." Dani tips his head forward just a bit and kisses Jamie's jaw. Jamie feels it all the way down to his toes.
"Let's just pretend, yeah? Tell me, how do I win you over?"
Dani pauses to think. Jamie feels his nerves flutter in his stomach, only for them to get chased away when Dani suddenly releases his hold on Jamie so that he can spin him around until they're facing each other.
He raises one hand to cup Jamie's cheek. Jamie goes just a little weak at the knees at the look in his eyes. "I think, in any universe, you will not need to do much to win me over," Dani says, smiling softly. "Just be sincere. It worked on this universe's me, and Martina. It will work on any other me that's out there."
Jamie hopes to god that Dani's right.
-
Jamie is awake long before his alarm goes off.
He stares at his spotless white ceiling, stays on top of his soft, expensive sheets for just a couple moments longer, before he exhales and turns to shut his alarm off.
Everything is as it should be. His phone has that small crack at the bottom of his screen, and on the back is the blue phone case Simon had got him last Christmas. His bathroom looks the same too, including that painting of some house next to a beach hung up over the toilet.
By the time he's done with breakfast, he's bent over the kitchen island, wondering if the house has always felt so empty, or if it's been the dreams he's been having the last few days that's changed his perspective on living alone.
He pulls his phone back out, thumb hovering over Dani's name in his contacts, before he eventually gives in and decides to call him.
Dani arrives on Jamie's doorstep within the hour, smiling brightly.
His hair's not too long or too short. It's just right, and he's beautiful, and Jamie finds himself suddenly tripping over his words as he invites him in.
Dani's either too nice to acknowledge it, or genuinely doesn't notice. Jamie's hoping for the latter as they shuffle to the living room, where he's got Mario Kart set up. Dani turns to look at him in delight when he sees the switch set up. Jamie flushes, pinned under his clear eyes, and manages to lose the first three rounds because he's too busy trying not to notice how close they are to each other the entire time.
It isn't until lunch has been ordered and Jamie's put some show Keeley's been telling him to watch on the television that Dani finally brings up how strange he's been acting.
"Are you feeling okay, amigo?"
Jamie laughs a little breathlessly. "Yeah, 'm fine, muchacho. Just... can I ask you a question?"
"Of course!"
Jamie fiddles with the strings of his hoodie, looking just slightly to the left of Dani's face. "Y'know when you first got here, what it was like, with me 'n the team?" Dani nods. "I know y'weren't around for the worst of it, but I really was a giant fuckin' prick. 'n I've been tryin' to be better, ever since then. But it's like, uh... sometimes when somethin' good happens to me it feels like it shouldn't? Like I don't deserve it." He hesitates here, wondering if it's a good idea to voice all this. "Before, I wouldn't know if a good thing happened to me until I fucked it up somehow. Now I'm... too scared to take a chance on somethin' that might be great 'cause I get all stuck in me own head about it, wonderin' if I'm worth it."
He takes a breath, steeling himself for a second before finally looking Dani in the eye. Dani's got a patient and understanding expression on his face.
"I was just thinkin'," Jamie continues, "I'm tired of bein' scared. 'S not helpin' me any, so..."
Dani seems to sense something in Jamie's hopeful gaze, if his eyebrows jumping up in surprise is anything to go by. He doesn't look upset though, which is probably a good sign. Seems kind of pleased, if anything, which is probably a really good sign.
"What is your question, Jamie?"
Right.
Jamie coughs, as if he's gearing up to say something potentially life altering. "Can I kiss you?" He asks. (It is absolutely a life altering question.)
Dani smiles, and it's definitely the best thing Jamie's ever seen. "Yes."
Jamie finds himself smiling too as he leans in.
When they finally meet in the middle, Jamie can't help but think that with this kiss, it's yet another version of him that's now tied to Dani. Something tells him those dreams could've gone on for years, and he would've found himself waking up to Dani's face every time.