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It wasn’t a secret anymore that Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz were dating. Everyone knew that on court. Everyone had entered at least once on Carlos pressing Jannik against a wall, kissing like they needed each other to breathe.
Some like Zverev liked to say it wasn’t kissing, it was eating each other and that should be forbidden. Needless to say that most of the time he was ignored because suffering Jannik and Carlos kissing was way better than suffering the two of them pinning over each other in silence for months.
If something, most of them were happy to see the two rivals being so open about loving each other. It was sweet and even if sometimes they could be a bit too … well much; they were often just loving each other and no one could blame them for it.
And what was funny was the fact they were trying to be sneaky about it from the media but it was so painfully obvious that no one was duped. From the way they always arrived covered in hickies at some Open to the fondness they obviously had to each other, everyone had figured them out. The only thing fans hadn’t figured out was if Jannik and Carlos were dating, crushing on each other or married.
But if the hickies weren’t already giving everything away, there was a little habit that Carlos had that was just so revealing of their relationship: Carlos was always seen using Jannik’s phone. It was easy to know it was Jannik’s because of the little picture of Yeti the cat in the phone case. But if it was easy to guess which phone it was, it wasn’t as easy to know why Carlos was using it.
Even other tennis players were wondering why Carlos was always on Jannik’s phone. For some, it was just because Carlos was talking with Jannik’s parents -but that was weird why wouldn’t he use his own phone then- but for the majority that was a complete red flag.
Everyone in the ATP knew Carlos could be easily jealous. They had seen him throw a murderous glare at Jack Draper or even Jannik’s double partner. It was a well-known fact that despite looking all nice and smiling, Carlos could have claws and he didn’t like when people were getting too near his boyfriend or flirting too much with his boyfriend.
So for many people, the answer was straightforward. If Carlos was using Jannik’s phone it wasn’t to text Jannik’s parents or whatever, it was clearly to have some control over him. And truth was, no one liked the idea of Jannik being controlled. But most of the players really hoped that they were wrong and that it wasn’t the reason.
The first time Jack realized that something was off with Carlos using Jannik’s phone was during one of Jannik’s double training sessions with Reilly Opelka. And Jack had seen that Carlos wasn’t pleased about how Reilly was behaving with Jannik.
But it was fine because they were used to Carlos being jealous. Everyone had seen the statement that he and Jannik wanted to play in doubles together at least once this year so for sure he might have not liked Opelka partnering with Jannik for Indian Wells.
But it wasn’t the jealous act that was something new. It was the way Carlos had come and had asked Jannik to give him his phone pretty please with a cherry on top. And Jannik who was always so closed off and didn’t like to over-share actually gave it to him.
Again that could have been normal. Perhaps Carlos didn’t have any battery left, and he needed to text someone or perhaps he had forgotten his phone. That wouldn’t have been a surprise for him. But to Jack’s disbelief Carlos had scrolled on Jannik’s phone as if he was checking his messages and just making sure that Jannik wasn’t … cheating ?
And if Jack hadn’t been across the training court, he would have perhaps walked to Carlos and given him a piece of his mind because how could the other even imagine that Jannik would cheat? When Jannik loved someone or something, he was giving his all. And he was loving fully and completely.
Plus, Jack had been one of the few victims of Jannik’s pinning when the Italian wasn’t dating the Spaniard. And there was no way Jannik would cheat on Carlos, not even for the French Open’s trophy and win. So the idea of Carlos being so controlling that he was checking Jannik’s message. It was annoying him to no end.
Jack had scolded himself because he knew Carlos and the theory of him controlling Jannik didn’t fit his character. But after a while, he watched in horror as Carlos texted on his own phone. It wasn’t about having no data and no battery. No, Carlos had been checking Jannik’s phone and messages and that wasn’t good.
So when Jack had crossed paths with Jannik as the other left to join Carlos, the British couldn’t have helped but say “Be careful Jannik.” with a worried look. He was worried for his friend and perhaps he should have talked about that to the two influential people in Jannik’s life: Simone and Darren.
The first time Simone saw Carlos using Jannik’s phone, he was surprised. Of course, he knew that Jannik and Carlos were dating. Absolutely everyone in the ATP knew they were dating and Simone was more than aware of their relationship.
If some people complained about walking on Jannik on Carlos kissing, they clearly never had walked on Jannik and Carlos in bed. That had been a vision that he would have loved to forget truly. He considered Jannik as a son and that hadn’t been a pleasant sight at all.
But if that had already surprised him, it was nothing next to the surprise he had had when he realized Jannik and Carlos got married in secret in Roma a few months ago. So it was weird to think that what surprised him most was the fact that Carlos was using Jannik’s phone.
Except that coming from Jannik, it was surprising. Only a handful of people knew his password and most of them were just people like him and Darren. But after all, it was normal for Jannik to give his phone to his boyfriend. What was weird was the fact that Carlos was always using it.
Jannik who was often going with one charge for the week was actually charging it almost everyday just because Carlos was using it. And Simone was actually sure that Carlos was checking Jannik’s message because he had seen him scroll way too much.
Darren had also seen it and they talked together about it because they were scared that the Spaniard was actually way too possessive. If he controlled Jannik … that could be dangerous. What if he had too much control? Darren was thinking like Simone, they couldn’t let that happen. Simone was sure they had to warn Jannik about it before something bad would happen.
Many times they had tried but many times they had also dropped it because Jannik looked so happy with Carlos. How could Simone actually betray Jannik’s joy and trust? No. He shouldn’t do that. Cazzo, Jannik didn’t deserve that.
No, Simone was sure they were paranoid and after a while, he just dropped it. Darren was thinking the same and until someone else would have the same feeling, they would just keep quiet about it. It was easier like that. He didn’t want to ruin anything for his favorite.
The next person who witnessed the strange habit of stealing Jannik’s phone was Holger Rune. He wasn’t Carlos’ best friend in the entire world but he knew the way his friend worked. And he knew that something was going on when he saw Carlos scrolling through Jannik’s phone.
Holger had watched Carlos pout at Jannik and the Italian giving his phone without really looking at his husband. It was almost weird how Jannik just did it without asking why Carlos needed it. That had surprised Jannik. Of course they were boyfriends but Holger found that very weird too.
And he knew that Jack Draper, Matteo, Simone and Darren were also wondering. So he was the one that came to them. With a plan because he didn’t like the idea of his friend being controlling over someone as nice as Jannik.
And so, a plan was formed. They needed to warn Jannik about it. Of course, it might ruin his happiness but he would thank them in the end. And perhaps instead of ruining happiness him and Carlos would actually talk and instead of breaking up things would become better. With a bit of luck and communication, the two of them could be better.
It explained why they had asked Jaime to distract Carlos. The little Alcaraz hadn’t asked many questions and just accepted. And now, all of them were staring at Jannik who was sitting on the bench and looking at them with a frown on his face.
"Okay, Jannik." Darren said. “We must talk with you about something Carlos does and that worries us.” He sat down on the bench next to him, a hand on his shoulder as Jannik was frowning, not understanding why they cornered him here.
“I am sorry what?” Jannik frowned and then looked at them scared. “Is he doing drugs? I can help him go to rehab … And I know he eats a lot of chocolate but that’s not that much of an issue right? But why aren’t Juan Carlos or Juanki here if we’re talking about Carlos … I …”
“Wow, wow!” Jack said. “No. Wow. Nothing like that. We’re just worried because … Well we know he has been controlling your phone a bit too much.” He looked at Jannik with a brief nod, patting his back. “And how can we help you ?”
“What?” Jannik asked in disbelief and the others all frowned because Jannik was manipulated more than they thought. But to their surprise, Jannik only laughed with a smirk and that was even weirder because why was the other laughing. “Guys, what the hell are you on about?” He snorted and shook his head, laughing so much that it was almost scary to be fair.
“We have noticed how possessive Carlos acts.” Simone explained as gently as he could. “We noticed how he is always using your phone and checking your messages. That is not normal, you know that, right? In a healthy relationship he doesn’t have to check it all the time. This controlling behavior … You should avoid it at all costs.”
And to their surprise, Jannik just doubled over even more. It was as if he was on drugs, unable to stop his laugh. It was worrying to be fair because the others weren't laughing that much usually. And they clearly didn’t understand what was so comic at the moment.
“Oh dio mio, you all are so wrong.” Jannik smiled and said after finding his breath. “You think Carlos is checking over my texts? And messages? No!” He shook his head again and as if he was called, Carlos entered the room.
“Why is my husband being interviewed?” Carlos asked, his eyes finding Jannik and everyone could see just how much fondness he had for him. “What is happening? Is this a private party I’m excluded from, hum ?”
Carlos leaned to steal a small kiss, and the other gave it freely before saying “Carlos, they all think you are controlling me and always checking my phone in case I am cheating.” He was smiling, but the others froze in fear because what if Carlos would actually become mad and yell or whatever? Simone was already ready to snap.
But Carlos only smiled wider and took Jannik’s phone, opening it. “Wait! I’m gonna show you what I’m really doing.” He smirked and suddenly all of them were imagining disgusting pictures from Jannik and the looks of disgust on their faces made Carlos laugh even more. “I will not show you Jannik naked you pervs.”
Instead, Carlos showed them a game. “What?” Holger asked, not understanding. “Why are you … Why is the game Subway surfers on Jannik’s phone?” It was as if confusion had downed every one except Jannik and Carlos who were laughing like crazy.
And Carlos only laughed more. “You all know I have a slight tendency of downloading a few apps.” Which was an euphemism because everyone had witnessed how many apps Carlos had on his phone. The answer was : too many. “Well, it makes my phone too slow. I don’t have storage left on my phone so I can’t download more.”
“And so …” Jannik finished. “I let him use my phone to download more games.” He shrugged, and the tension left the room. “Now if all your worries are buried because you realized Carlos is not dangerous, I’ll go back doing what I do the best.”
“Kissing me.” Carlos said, already ushering Jannik away from the room. “Good bye guys.” He laughed and pushed Jannik out of the room. “I am gonna kiss my husband.” He winked and when they disappeared out of the room, Simone sighed.
“These two.”
And everyone just nodded because that was the truth. These two were something. And perhaps they truly knew that they were good for each other. That they were perfect for each other.