Work Text:
Hey how’s it going any breakdowns yet today lol
Why would I have a breakdown?
Not YOU Leo
So nice of you to remember Cris’s birthday
For the comedy
You’re the worst
And no one has had any breakdowns at all
You cannot tell me he’s okay with turning 40!!
I am sure he’ll be fine
Once I find him
What happened?
He went for a run at 5am and he hasn’t come back
Have you checked if he’s off sobbing in his cryochamber ahahahaha
Okay Kun we talked about this
Sorry sometimes I just have to
I’m sure he’ll be back soon and it’s going to be okay
Yeah I hope so
I mean we were going to celebrate
What plans do you have?
Are you sure you want me to tell you?
Ewwwww Leo no don’t even imply it nooo
Sorry
Sometimes I just have to
Why are you like this
My horrible friends’ influence
Okay you win this one
Thanks so much
Okay, enough, I said you won
Did he come back?
Awwww you’re worried
I’ll tell him
He’ll be so happy
Do not dare
Unless he’s really down
You would sacrifice your pretend aloofness to cheer him up? so sweet
Leo honestly I hate you
Don’t worry
I’ll take it to my grave
THANK YOU
Probably
Leo hasn’t heard the door, but he does hear the shower start to run. Smiling and ignoring Kun’s indignant replies, he pockets his phone and heads back inside from the veranda.
“You’re awake,” Cristiano says distractedly once he steps into the room, running a hand through his wet hair. “I was going to be back before you woke up.”
“It’s almost 10, cariño,” Leo says, crossing the room to wrap his arms around Cris’s neck.
“I didn’t notice,” Cris says.
“Don’t worry about it,” Leo says. He searches Cristiano’s face for a moment, gauging possible reactions. “Happy birthday,” he eventually says, very gently.
Cristiano winces, but only slightly. He purses his lips, then slowly says, “Thank you.”
“Mhm,” Leo makes. “Are you happy?”
Cris shrugs, doesn’t say anything. Leo has a sinking feeling for a moment – he hates when he can’t make Cris feel better, hates the feeling of powerlessness that comes with it.
“It’s okay,” Cris says eventually, winding his arms around Leo’s waist. “I thought I might feel worse.”
“Yeah, so did I,” Leo says before he can stop himself.
Cristiano grins. “Uh-huh,” he goes. “How bad did you think I was going to be?”
“Uhhh,” Leo tries to stall. “Like – maybe a little.”
“Well,” Cris says. “I need to keep it together so that in a couple of years when you’re dealing with it I can say ‘I wasn’t nearly this bad.’”
“It’s not only a couple of years,” Leo says. “It’s two years and a half.”
“Eh, closer to two years.”
“No, it’s almost 2 years and 5 months.”
“All this protesting right now is making me think you won’t be chill at all about it, actually.”
“Okay, wow,” Leo says. “No need to worry, I’ll be great when the time comes. Forty is not old anyway.”
Cris winces. “Don’t say it!” he practically wails.
“I didn’t mean -”
“Oh god, I’m really forty now,” Cris groans. “And then next year I’ll be forty-one -”
“Yes, that’s how that works,” Leo mutters, but not very loudly.
Cris moves right past it, overlooking the worst parts of Leo’s personality as usual, thank God. “I mean, really, I know it’s all fine, but I just – I thought I was going to have a hard time with it, and then I was kind of fine, and then I started freaking out because I didn’t plan on accepting getting old,” he says, talking a lot faster than usual.
“It’s okay, cariño,” Leo says. “I love you.”
Cris sighs.
Leo grins. He knows so well how to deal with Cristiano when he’s like this. “Also, you’re sooo pretty.”
Cristiano laughs, clearly surprised, but he looks happy – of course he does. “Hmm, okay,” he says, and slips his fingertips under Leo’s shirt.
“We should celebrate,” Leo says.
“Yes, we should,” Cris says, immediately pulling Leo closer by the hips.
Leo rolls his eyes, not that he isn’t tempted. “No, I meant actually celebrate.”
“I was going to actually -”
“Don’t finish that sentence.”
Cristiano grins and presses a quick kiss to Leo’s lips. “Fine,” he says, after he’s pulled away a little. “What did you have in mind?”
Leo chews on his bottom lip for a moment. “Play with me.”
“You just told me not to,” Cris says, smirking.
“Good to see age hasn’t made you any less obnoxious.”
Cristiano pushes him up against the nearest wall and kisses him breathless. If picking Leo up like this is Cris’s way of proving he’s still young, Leo’s not going to complain. At all.
“Play football with me,” Leo eventually gasps, in between pressing his lips and teeth and tongue against Cristiano’s throat.
Cris groans. “Fuck, I love you.” He presses his forehead against Leo’s for a moment before letting him back down. “Yeah, let’s do that.”
They pass a ball around on the grass outside, trying very hard not to keep score – though of course silently, they both do. It’s fun in a way that makes Leo feel ten years younger, and in the end he gets so dizzy with want that he has to kick the ball into the pool to get Cris to pull him back into the house and upstairs to bed.
“I miss Clásicos.” Cristiano sounds sated, a little tired, and very content with himself. There actually isn’t a lot of difference between Cristiano after winning a match and Cristiano after sex.
“Yeah, me too,” Leo mutters.
“But you know, some of these kids playing nowadays, they’re pretty good,” Cris says.
“You sound so surprised,” Leo says, smirking. “And kind of personally offended.” Not that he doesn’t know the feeling. But only a little. Honest.
Cris shrugs. “Sometimes. But no sense brooding about the past,” he adds, grabbing Leo around the waist and pulling him closer. “The present has its compensations.”
Leo grins. “Oh yeah? You think so?”
“You have to agree with me, it’s my birthday.”
“Okay, only for today,” Leo says seriously.
Cris runs his fingertips down Leo’s side, where he’s ticklish, and Leo squirms and laughs. “Fine,” he says. “I agree every day.”
Cristiano kisses him. “Good. That’s all that matters to me.”
Leo blinks up against the ceiling through the mid-day sun and he loves it, even if it’s just one day, the two of them at home, Cristiano being ridiculous and dramatic and sweet next to him. He loves all of it and he wants it forever.
He could say all of those things but instead he turns towards Cristiano and says, “Age has made you wise.”
Cristiano does exactly what Leo thought he would do, feeling around for the heaviest pillow and hitting Leo with it.
“Are you just going to spend the rest of the day making fun of me?” Cristiano says.
“Unless you can think of something better to do,” Leo says, smirking.
Cris stretches and grins down at him. “Just give me ten minutes.”
Leo opens his mouth but Cristiano puts his hand over Leo’s lips. “If you say one more thing about my age, I will find a way to take revenge, I swear!”
“Okay,” Leo says, trying very hard to keep himself from laughing.
Cristiano gives him a mock-strict look, so Leo kisses him until he smiles again. “No more jokes, I promise,” he says.
“Well, not today,” Cris says. “But you know I like it when you’re funny. So you can make some more jokes when I turn forty-five.” He pauses and briefly shuts his eyes. “Oh god, that’s only five years away.”
“Okay, let’s stop the maths,” Leo says. “I don’t feel like it’s helping.”
“No, yeah, it’s definitely not. But you are, you know. Helping. By being here, I mean.”
“I’m glad,” Leo says. “I was thinking during the flight that you might rather be alone.”
Cris shakes his head. “No. I thought about it as well, because I thought I might end up being miserable and taking it out on you or something.”
“You weren’t and you didn’t, though,” Leo says.
“But I did hurt you earlier today when I couldn’t tell you I was happy,” Cris says. “I didn’t mean to. I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to tell me you’re happy if you aren’t,” Leo says. “That wouldn’t be right.”
“No, I know,” Cris says, sounding like he’s about to get lost in his thoughts.
“Look, I know I was joking earlier,” Leo says. “But you know I’m here even when you’re sad or frustrated or tired. Yeah?”
“I know,” Cris says. “Ask me again?” he adds after a moment.
Leo pushes himself up on one elbow, looking down at Cristiano’s face. “Are you happy, cariño?”
Cris grins, all perfect cheekbones and white teeth and sparkling eyes. “I am.”