Chapter Text
It was public knowledge that Pedri used to drive Gavi to training. Well, he also drove him – everywhere. They would be all over town together just because Gavi was too curious about the city and Pedri was too easy to convince, and they would just spend hours outside from destination to destination. The first few times, he was still a bit nervous no matter how extraverted he really was, but sooner or later, Pedri really helped him get used to the life in the team at such a young age. Everytime the older brunet smiled, he felt a little warmer in his stomach – his honey coloured eyes always managed to calm Gavi down. In essence, he was still nothing but a child, and the best thing he could think of doing was stand by Pedri during practice, sit with Pedri during lunch, play FIFA with Pedri and sing together with Pedri in his car.
There was nothing better than this, than enjoying his childhood dream with a new-found best friend who could help him through the integration period. It was never a PR stunt – their friendship, they had a great relationship, they enjoyed each other’s company. Gavi liked Pedri a lot, anyone would, and he had never ever thought otherwise, no matter how many childish feuds or bickering they did, they always stayed together. Passing to each other in training, giggling as they walked down the streets of Barcelona, enjoying dinner together with the full trust of Gavi’s parents. And maybe, just maybe, Gavi thought more about Pedri than his friend ever would reciprocate. Maybe he thought of him as a little more than just a friend. It didn’t matter, of course, he just wanted to spend time with Pedri. Rationally, he knew that he could never act upon this crush, so all he did was swallow it up, and smile extra sweetly when Pedri paid attention to him.
But of course, these moments were not exclusive to Gavi. Sometimes he would sit on Pedri’s passenger’s seat, pouting and complaining about how much it was reclined backwards, or get so annoyed at the smell of perfume that he discretely rolls down the passenger-side window. No matter what, he refused to move from the seat, he reclined it back to the angle he was used to, didn’t hesitate to get the smell of his deodorant in the car, never forgot to leave some sort of belonging of his in Pedri’s car. All of this was laughed off again and again, but he did it over, and over, and over again. This was a childish feud he had with this mysterious girl that was invading his life, or maybe the girls who were taking his place – but whatever, he liked the time he had as he proudly took the passenger’s seat. If he didn’t see it, he would ignore it, and he would stick with Pedri, beg him to grab some food for him, and stay out for as long as possible before his mom bombarded his phone.
He knew those days would come to an end, just not this abruptly. Sure, there was once where he slammed the glovebox after seeing a lip gloss tube there, but that was what he thought was the maximum. Of course, he was wrong. After practice ended, he couldn’t find Pedri – first red flag, then, he couldn’t find Pedri’s car. That was probably where he should’ve accepted the situation. But no, no he didn’t, until he received a clearly hurriedly written text.
[Pedrito :p] 19:06
hey, sorry but i gyt a date so is it alr if you take an uber home? Sry i couldn’t tell you earlier
Ill pay the uber money
Gavi looked at the text a little defeatedly. Maybe he could ghost Pedri? But the pathetic truth he had to face was Pedri was probably too busy with that girl to even notice. So begrudgingly, he texted back.
[Me] 19:18
dw about it, gl with her
You def owe me a fifa session tho
Yk an uber from training is expenssivveee
He stared at the screen until it went black.
Delivered.
Whatever.
He scoured through his bag for his airpods and plugged them deep into his ears. His mom was out with her friends tonight so he was expected to have dinner outside, well, maybe she expected him to have dinner with Pedri like he always did, and that was the worst part of this. In all honesty, he wasn’t really hungry, he rarely was by this time anyways. Gavi looked up at the sky — the sun hasn’t set on him yet, that’s a good start.
Gavi wandered around the carpark a bit, by now the sky had dimmed slightly. He had spent countless summers in Barcelona, but it had never been this irritating – in fact, it was July, which meant the sun still set later without any pleasant change in temperature. He could say that it was a good thing, but it just made his little endeavours ever so slightly more miserable. The light, hazy remnants of sunlight carpeted the concrete road as he disrupted the dissolving luminescence with every step. At this point, he feels his emotions turning into a tantrum more than anything, he’s a few minutes away from straight-up stomping like a child. It wasn’t like he never had to go home alone, it was just that he knew he didn’t have to, and having that option stripped away from him was just so irritating.
Why did Pedri have to pick today? Why did it have to happen so soon? Gavi, unbeknownst to himself, did not actually know his way around the carpark. He knew where Pedri would park his car, but that was it, he never had to use his brain to navigate the place. He looked up at the signs, taking a few hesitant steps towards the huge “SALIDA” sign and arrow. You know what? Screw it. Gavi thought, as he walked up to a pillar, put his drawstring bag on the ground and leaned up against the wall. He was so tired and worn out from practice that he just wanted to rest – he didn’t even want to call an Uber, he just wanted to leave. To leave this place, to leave his thoughts, to go home, get something to eat and to go to bed.
Leaning against the cold concrete, he took a deep breath, then turned on his phone. 19:36. Time flew a lot quicker than he would like, but it’s not like he could do anything about it. Reluctantly, he unlocked his phone and began swiping through his apps, purposefully ignoring the little black icon, clicking into the messages again. Still delivered. Ugh. Then, he found himself scrolling through social media, just taking as much time as possible before he seriously had to consider heading home. He knew damn well he couldn’t stay here forever, but he really, really, really wanted to. If he scrolled enough, he wouldn’t have to think about all this, and his brain would probably solve everything–
Honk!
No matter how loud his music was, he definitely heard that. He blinked a few times, his eyes irritated by the bright headlights. He wasn’t in the way or anything… Picking up his bag, Gavi shuffled to the car, and it didn’t take long for him to recognise the black Porsche. Ah, it’s the Polish guy. His brain said, as he scanned the driver’s side, seeing his new teammate’s face. The driver clearly saw him take a few steps back, and he pulled up a little closer to Gavi. See, if it was anyone else, hell, even if it was Xavi, he wouldn’t be as nervous – but it was the way Robert’s blue eyes were so deep, it always tripped him up. The man was also sixteen years older than him, so for a team filled with people below twenty five, he often avoided interacting with this new teammate of his. But what was he going to do? With a small sigh, he took out one earphone, and got closer to the sleek car as Robert rolled down the window.
“Why are you still here? I thought you leave with Pedri?” The man spoke. His Spanish had such a distinct foreign accent, but nonetheless, Gavi heard him and the annoyingly parent-like concern in his voice loud and clear. After a pause, he spoke in slowed Spanish as he felt the man’s eyes fixed on him, “Uh, he has something else to do today, so I’m just going to get an Uber.” Robert blinked a few times, then met his eye again. “Oh, I see. Do you need a ride? If you haven’t called an Uber yet.” See, Gavi clearly anticipated this offer, but it was still a little awkward when he stuttered and mumbled, “No, it’s fine, you live in Castelldefels right? I live the other direction so it will take too long.” He waved his hand amidst the sentence, not even comprehending why he couldn’t respond properly.
“Oh it’s fine, going home for dinner?” The way Robert insisted with such a soft spoken voice got Gavi into that child mindset again, taught to be polite, agreeable and respectful to adults. “I’ll drive you, it’s irresponsible of me to leave a lost child by the road, no?” The amused tone the man had was a little unnerving to Gavi, as if he was being made fun of, but whatever, a ride was a ride – even better that it was free. “My mom isn’t home, I haven’t had dinner.” He flinched at how weak his voice seemed to sound. At this point, Gavi knew that there was little to no point in turning down the offer, so he turned his head a little, and shook his head. His new teammate seemed trustworthy and reliable, both during games and day to day life, so by the time Gavi was aware of what he was doing, Robert was reminding him to put on his seatbelt. His drawstring bag piled at his feet because he insisted on keeping it with him. It was a comfort of familiarity, that was the answer he was going to give, but Robert seemed like he didn’t intend to ask. Whatever, it was weird enough that he was getting driven home by an unfamiliar colleague. That was an unfair statement, he had followed Robert on Instagram since the start of his career in Bayern, but that is very different from being less than a metre away from this man that he once looked up to. Yeah, he barely knew anything about the man. Stranger danger lesson number one — don’t get into a random older man’s car at the offer of a dinner, but oh well, something about the comfort the maroon leather seat brought him and the floating smell of cologne told him he’d be alright. He won’t get abducted, at least.
“There’s a nice Italian restaurant near Turo Park, twenty minute drive, great food.” After a moment of silence, Robert spoke again, looking over ever so slightly at the young boy, his voice was soft as always, but it always gave Gavi the sense that he was being absolutely dissected. Every move of his was under this man’s watch, and there was no way out of that. He didn’t look at the man’s face, instead, he stared at the dimming, golden-lined hazy blue sky. “Oh, okay. You know Barcelona really well.” Gavi heard himself mumble out a response with a small smile. “You forget that Marc is German, he helps out. And this one has private rooms, so that’s why I know.” The older man shrugged as Gavi tried his best to not scroll on his phone.
His Spanish is so boring, Gavi thought, and he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself.
“What?” They stopped at a red light, the light beeping of the traffic lights partnered with the low buzzing of the air conditioner made their words and breaths intertwine. “You speak like an old man.” Although Robert had been talking and starting small talk, this is really the sentence that gets him to respond. “I’m sixteen years older than you, you should be more respectful to your elders Gabby.” Despite how offended he sounded, the playful smile on his face was a clear signal to Gavi that it wasn’t anything that made him mad. “Yeah, yeah, Gramps, go take a nap or something.” Gavi waved his hand dismissively, also simultaneously removing the last bit of discomfort he was feeling. “How about you go to bed? It’s probably way past your bedtime.” Weak rebuttal, but the delivery with the unfamiliar Spanish was perfect as he rolled his eyes. “Okay, okay-” Gavi was about to speak more when all of a sudden, the man turned to look at him with a slightly concerned look, “Sorry to interrupt you- Are you eighteen yet? Do I need to call your mother?” Okay, is he serious? Gavi rolled his eyes – they’re going to be sore if he rolls them one more time.
”Yes, technically yes.” That response clearly did not please the Pole, the man frowned as he started up the car again, “Technically? So you’re not. Call your mom, she’ll be worried.” Robert was not exactly unhappy with that answer, it only gave him an increased need to be responsible, but getting a kid some dinner for whatever reason was somewhat of a good deed. “She’s out today so if she sees the missed call, she’ll panic, call me twenty five times, and call the police.” Gavi knew this was coming, but it was really, really annoying. Yes, okay, technically, he was still 17, but his birthday was one month away — did it actually matter? “Text her, come on, at least text her.” Robert made a few hand gestures before resting his hands on the steering wheel.
“Seriously?” Gavi’s face was much more animated.
“Yes, come on now.” Robert replied with a slight frown.
“Okay, jeez.” Gavi picked up his phone, scrolling to WhatsApp and ever so slightly flinching at the lack of response. Oh well.
[Me] 19:41
hey ma I’m eating dinner with Pedri again, probably back by 9 or 10?
love you ma
After that flurry of aggressive typing, he set his phone down, looking up at Robert. “Happy?” He raised an eyebrow. “Very.”
“Now, isn’t it your turn to text your wife?” The moment that phrase left Gavi’s mouth, he winced at how weird it sounded, but this foreign man clearly didn’t find anything wrong with it — or at least, he acted like it because he didn’t think Gavi meant it that way either. “Ah, no, Anna’s in Poland. We haven’t finished moving.” He smiled, the name of his wife was glazed with something like syrup – it sent a creep up Gavi’s spine again. Did he really have to know about how everybody was so lovey dovey with their lovers? “Oh, okay…” His lips curled a little, but oh well. In the end, they were two people that had to go home to face an empty dinner table, so enjoying dinner together wasn’t half bad.
The rest of the night went as normally as possible. They made their way to a private room without being noticed, enjoyed dinner, spoke over dinner, and had a few drinks — non-alcohol, of course. It was only during these hours where Gavi actually began learning about his new and rather mysterious teammate. Has he looked up to Robert ever since he was a child? Yes. Has he watched tons and tons of YouTube highlights of this guy? A more hesitant, but definite yes. But he couldn’t act starstruck anymore, they were teammates now, he had to act somewhat mature.
— the starry puppy eyes certainly didn’t help him with that.
He spilled all the stories about La Masia, about growing up in footballing royalty, about going around Barcelona for the first time. In turn, he heard about the winters of Warsaw, reigning in Germany, and a few comments about each of the different European metropolises.
Well spoken, eloquent, and above all, one of the best strikers Gavi had ever seen. He was in Barca when Bayern swept the first team so violently, and despite being a diehard Culer, a small part of him cheered and adored the performance of Bayern — especially a certain player.
Now, for Robert, all of this was extremely obvious. The moment the boy’s caramel eyes began melting on him, he was aware of the situation. He’s met fans before, and the boy in front of him was no different. He never had an issue with Gavi, he’s heard many things, but all accounted for, he was just a child — children acted this way. This was the first time he actually interacted with the young player considering how much they were supposed to interact in the team. Robert often spent his time with Frenkie or Marc, or just generally away from the extremely young but promising players. He planned to continue that, but seeing the boy and his puppy eyes in that dimmed parking lot really made him take it back. Maybe it was time he connected with his younger teammates, he thought.
By the time he got home, Gavi was a lot happier than he was when he was essentially lost in that parking lot, but waving Robert goodbye in his Porsche as he walked towards his door felt more comforting than it should’ve. It was weird that he enjoyed this so much, but there was nothing left for him to think about. For a second, he just wanted to sleep. He didn’t want to check his phone, he didn’t want to check the time, he didn’t want to think about anything else.
[You have 6 unread messages]
[Pedrito :p] 22:43
date went p well, thx man
fs we should hangout again soon
how much was the uber?
[Ma ❤]21:27
oh, sounds great gabi! You should thank him for this, you know, it’s very polite of him! Anyways, I’ll be back at 11 maybe?
I love you too Gabi, xx from ma
[Unknown]23:18
Hey, this is Robert, I got your number from Marc. Hope you got home safe. Sweet dreams.
And so he did.