Chapter Text
Carlos watches as Juan Carlos stares at his phone, his eyebrows drawn together in doubt and his fingers nervously hoovering over the screen, before he shakes his head and puts his phone away. “Are you alri-” Carlos starts, but his boyfriend has already left the room, before Carlos can finish his question, which is very weird.
Carlos frowns. Well, that was strange… but perhaps Juanki is just very lost in thought or stressed or something. He has a lot more work to do than Carlos, managing Carlos’ training, the academy and his family, he probably has a lot more on his mind than Carlos.
Carlos decides to let the situation slip for now. Sometimes everyone just needs time for themselves and maybe Juanki just needs a nap or something. He has been complaining about recurring headaches lately.
Juan Carlos continues to behave weirdly the rest of the day though: first of all he is strangely quiet the rest of the day, including at dinner when Carlos is trying his best to hold a conversation and continues through the evening. He never is like that usual. Carlos and him are always talking nonstop, discussing tennis or movies or their plans for the next few days.
Today though, Juan Carlos seems absent mentally and curls up on himself as soon as they get to bed. He pushes Carlos away when he tries to initiate cuddling and drowns in his biggest hoodie on the very edge of his site of the bed. Carlos has never seen his boyfriend like that.
Again, Carlos tries to come up with excuses and reasons why Juanki is being so weird, but it is hard to. This cannot just be stress. Juan Carlos is not just quiet or stressed or annoyed, he is very drawn into himself and seems sad in ways. Carlos sighs and turns around in bed so that he is facing his boyfriend. He cannot go to sleep with his boyfriend being so strange. Carlos worries way too much about him right now and he decides they are both not going to sleep before the situation is dealed with.
“Juan Carlos, what is wrong?” Carlos asks quietly and uses his full name to underline he is being serious and worried.
“Mmh?” Juanki just makes and peaks up at Carlos from underneath his hoodie and blanket. Usually he would look cute like that, Carlos likes when he can see the softer side of Juanki, not the one where he is being the older partner, who always feels like he has to be responsible. Right now Carlos cannot really take this cuteness in though, he is too worried.
“What is wrong today?” Carlos asks carefully. He scouts closer and gently runs a hand through Juanki’s hair. He loves it outgrown like that.
“Nothing” whispers.
“Love… we promised not to lie” Carlos reminds his boyfriend carefully. He does not want to force Juan Carlos to share something he is not ready to share, but he also does not want his boyfriend to suffer through anything alone. Juanki often has the feeling that he has to deal with issues on his own, because of his age and because he does not want to worry Carlos.
Juan Carlos shifts uncomfortably and is not able to meet his boyfriend’s eyes. “I read something online today” He finally whispers.
“Oh… well, okay?” Carlos mumbles. “And … and what did you read?” Carlos then asks. He is not sure what could make confident, smart and witty turn into this quiet, sad looking mess. Juanki is the epitome of confidence, on court, at work, in private and he is never like he is now.
Juan Carlos quietly pulls his phone out of the pocket of his hoodie. He unlocks it and seems to search for something, before he turns his phone around for Carlos to see. Carlos takes the phone and finds himself confronted with a bunch of screenshots from social media:
@Carlos Idc about you being gay, but why the hell would you date that old guy?! Grandpacomplex?
Carlos, I could fuck you so much better than that ugly ass coach of yours, who is probably too old to last more than one round
@JuanCarlos you must be one hell of a maschine in bed to pull a guy like Carlos with your looks and age, lol
Juan Carlos used to be hot back when he trained more, now … well… guess even man age like milk
Whoever said all the gays are like super hot has never seen Juanki, lol
Some girls are blush blinde, Carlos seems to be look blind when it comes to boyfriend
@JuanCarlos, bro, you certainly don’t have face card, but at least you used to have the body, now … time to get back to the gym, grandpa
Guess Carlos is into ugly guys? Get your looks fixed, Juan Carlos
Carlos stops reading the screenshots after that, because it makes him feel sick. “Juanki” He mumbles.
Juan Carlos curls up more in his blanket and hoodie. “I know they are right” He mumbles.