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The sound of the lock echoed softly through the apartment before Loki finally stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind him with one hand.
The cool Paris morning air hit him the moment he stepped outside the building. It wasn’t really cold, it was that mild Sunday weather where the city seemed to move slower than usual.
He checked the time on his phone while going down the last few steps; Hugo should arrive in a couple of minutes.
He slipped the phone back into his jacket pocket without much concern, leaning for a few seconds against the building’s gate while watching the street.
He was dressed simply, ridiculously simply for someone who normally appeared in sports magazines every two weeks.
A black sports jacket, slightly oversized, open enough to reveal a light gray shirt underneath. Comfortable dark straight-leg pants, probably chosen more for practicality than style, and white sneakers with soles already somewhat worn down from using them so much for walks after training.
Nothing matched particularly well.
And yet, he still looked good.
He had no need to dress too nicely. He was far away from cameras, interviews, or stadiums.
It was just him waiting for a date.
A short vibration in his pocket made him pull out his phone again.
«I’m close.
Beep-beep.»
Loki let out a breath through his nose, faintly amused as he read the notification.
He didn’t reply. He simply looked up when he heard the distant sound of a bicycle passing down the street, followed by overlapping conversations and music playing somewhere far along the avenue.
It was very much a Sunday thing. Paris always sounded different on Sundays.
Julian barely managed to frown when he noticed the near total absence of cars moving through the main street.
He barely turned his head just as he saw Hugo approaching down the sidewalk with absurd calmness, a closed book tucked under his arm as if he had gone out for a random walk instead of heading to a date they had planned two weeks ago.
And by the way he walked,
he clearly still hadn’t noticed.
The redhead raised a hand slightly the moment he saw him, as if months had passed since they last met instead of barely a day since their last training session.
“You’re early.”
“Meetings become more efficient when both people are punctual.” Hugo smiled faintly as he stopped in front of him.
He was dressed just as simply: a cream-colored jacket with dark blue details, sleeves partially covering his hands, dark pants, and comfortable sneakers.
The book under his arm was still there, completely blank from the outside.
Loki never understood how someone could carry that thing everywhere without actually reading it.
Hugo tilted his head slightly, looking him up and down for a long second.
“You look good.” Julian glanced away toward the street.
“You too.” Vivian adjusted the book more securely under his arm before starting to walk beside him as if he already had the entire route calculated in his head.
“If we continue straight, we’ll reach the park in exactly twenty minutes.”
“Exactly?”
“Approximately exact. We’ll walk a little farther to the next street and take a taxi. It should take around fifteen minutes; between waiting for a taxi and arriving at the park. With the remaining five minutes, we’ll walk until we find a place we like and eat something.”
“Sounds good to me,” he replied, taking his partner’s hand. “Then let’s walk.”
Hugo nodded and returned the touch, tightening their joined hands slightly before beginning to walk.
It wasn’t until they turned the main corner that Julian finally confirmed what he had suspected: closed streets, cyclists riding down the middle of the avenue, musicians set up near open cafés, and families walking calmly where cars would normally pass.
The midfielder kept walking for a couple more steps before noticing that his boyfriend was no longer holding his hand, having stayed behind. He turned his head when he realized.
“Julian?” The forward pointed toward the empty street.
“It’s Sunday.” Hugo opened his eyes slightly before looking around. The barriers, people walking, the temporary signs.
A kid skating right through where traffic would normally be.
And then he finally looked back at Loki.
“.. Fuck.” The forward burst into loud laughter when he heard him.
“You forgot?”
“.. I planned the most efficient route on the wrong day.” He ran a hand through his hair, slightly embarrassed.
Vivian stayed still for a few seconds, clearly reorganizing something in his head.
The canceled route, altered timing, different variables.
Julian simply walked a little farther ahead and held a hand out toward him, relaxed.
“Well, then let’s walk.” He said it like it wasn’t a problem, like the change of plans didn’t really matter.
Hugo looked at that hand for a second before taking it without dramatics, intertwining their fingers as they resumed walking.
“.. You’re not upset with me?” he asked, slightly tense because of the change in plans. There was a faint tension in his voice. Small, but noticeable.
Not because he thought Loki would actually get angry, but because he hated making mistakes when he had planned something for him.
Julian glanced at him from the corner of his eye as they kept walking through the crowd.
“Why would I be upset?”
“The date turned out differently from how I planned it.”
“It’s still a date.”
“Yes, but not in the optimal way.” The other let out a breath through his nose, amused.
“We were going to walk anyway once we got to the park.”
“But now we’ll walk more.”
“And what’s wrong with that?” Hugo stayed quiet, lowering his gaze slightly as he glanced at the empty road. “It’s fine.”
Vivian turned his head toward him again, watching him silently for a few more seconds as they kept walking down the closed street.
“I thought you’d be annoyed about wasting time because of me. I thought about the fastest routes, the places where taxis usually arrive more often. I had everything perfectly calculated so it would be the ideal date.”
“I’m with you. I don’t care about anything else.” The distant sound of street musicians filled the comfortable silence between them as they continued down the avenue.
Loki lightly swung their joined hands forward once while they walked, distracted.
“Besides,” he continued, “you’re much more pleasant when you’re not trying to optimize every second of existence.”
“Hm? That’s statistically false. I’m pleasant in every aspect.”
“See? There you go doing it again.” Vivian sighed, eventually moving slightly closer to him as they kept walking through the calm streets of Paris.
The conversation died naturally after that.
The sound of footsteps, bicycles passing nearby, and strangers’ conversations filled the space between them while they continued down the street.
Every now and then, Hugo would start talking about whatever absurd thing crossed his mind.
“People usually walk slower on Sundays.”
“…What makes you think that?”
“The brain tends to associate noise with urgency. In big cities, everyone walks fast or even looks like they’re running most of the time. In rural places, technically nobody is in a hurry for anything. There’s less noise, so people take their own time.”
“Hm. I don’t think that’s true.”
“Why not? It makes sense.”
“To me, everyone is slow.” Hugo laughed quietly, moving a little closer to him before giving him a small kiss on the cheek.
They turned another corner, and the sound of a ball bouncing against the pavement caught Julian’s attention before anything else.
A group of kids were playing improvised soccer in the middle of the street, taking advantage of the lack of cars and using their backpacks as goals.
One of them kicked the ball too hard, and it flew straight toward the sidewalk.
Loki stopped it automatically with his foot before it could cross the street.
The kids froze the moment they recognized him.
One of them opened his eyes wide.
“…No way.”
“IT’S JULIAN LOKI!” one of them shouted automatically.
Fuck.
Vivian turned his head slightly toward him, clearly entertained by the situation.
Loki kept the ball trapped under his foot for a few seconds, watching the small group slowly approach, still looking disbelieving.
“Is it really you?” one of the kids asked while wiping sweat from his forehead.
“Yeah.”
“What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be training? Is this your day off?”
“I’m walking,” he replied without giving any further explanation.
“…Oh.” One of the kids then looked at Vivian too.
“AND YOU’RE HUGO!” he yelled, running toward him and hugging his leg.
“Correct.”
“WHY ARE YOU TWO TOGETHER?!”
“Because we’re on a date,” Hugo answered immediately.
Loki jabbed him hard in the ribs with his elbow.
“No, it’s not a date. We’re simply enjoying our day off together as teammates.” Vivian looked at him silently for a few seconds after the elbow, then nodded.
“Correct. We are colleagues having a recreational social interaction.”
The kids looked just as confused.
“…What?”
“Tch, never mind. Forget it,” Loki muttered tiredly.
One of the kids was still processing everything while another was already much more concerned about something else.
“Can you play with us? Please say yes!”
The dark-skinned man sighed, rolling his eyes.
“Five minutes.”
The kids practically celebrated like they had won something. They shouted every time they managed to steal the ball from him, even if only for a second, while Loki was clearly holding himself back from humiliating them too badly.
At one point, he quickly moved the ball before one of the kids could take it from him. Within seconds, the ball had already crossed the improvised goal.
“That doesn’t count, you’re way too fast!”
“Skill issue.”
“WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?!”
Hugo implicitly refused to play and sat calmly on the edge of the sidewalk as if he were about to witness an interesting simulation.
“Aren’t you going to play?” one of the kids asked.
“No. Julian is better at entertaining crowds.”
“That sounded rude..”
“It was admiration.” Hugo watched everything with his chin resting against one hand, calm.
Sometimes he corrected things automatically.
“Your center of gravity is too high.”
“WHAT?!”
“If you bend your knees more, you’ll have better balance.”
“Why do you talk like a robot?”
“Because he has the soul of a GPS,” Loki replied with a laugh.
“That was cruel,” the midfielder said.
“And accurate.” The kids ended up laughing too.
After a while, one of them managed to score an improvised goal, and they all started yelling in celebration as if they were in a world final.
Julian ended up letting out a short laugh while running a hand over his sweat-damp forehead.
Finally, after saying goodbye and promising to sign a ball next time, the two of them resumed walking down the street.
For a few minutes, they didn’t talk much. They just walked.
The noise of the children could still be heard behind them.
But Hugo was the one who broke the silence first.
“I didn’t like it.” Julian slightly raised an eyebrow.
“Like what?”
“Lying.” His boyfriend glanced ahead.
“I didn’t lie.”
“Yes, you did.”
“I just.. simplified the explanation.”
“That’s still lying.” The forward ran a hand over his face, frowning slightly.
“I didn’t want to make it weird in front of the kids.”
“They didn’t seem to care that much.”
“It’s not about them.
It’s about the press.”
“I don’t like that you have to hide me.” Those words immediately made Loki turn his head toward him.
“I’m not hiding you.”
“Then why did you change what I said?” The other didn’t answer, because honestly, he didn’t know how to answer that without sounding worse.
Hugo lowered his gaze slightly toward their hands. Despite the conversation, they were still intertwined.
“I don’t mind waiting,” he continued calmly. “I understand why it makes you nervous.” Julian felt something uncomfortable tighten in his chest.
The forward slowly let out a breath through his nose while looking ahead again.
Paris kept moving at the same slow pace, indifferent to the small tension that had just settled between them.
“It’s not that I want to hide you..” he finally muttered. “I just… don’t want everything to turn into a spectacle. People talk too much.”
“People always talk too much.”
“I know.”
“Then I don’t understand the difference.”
Julian didn’t know how to explain it either, maybe because there wasn’t any real logic behind it.
There wasn’t any real logic behind criticizing two people who were simply in love.
Silence returned for a few more seconds while they kept walking.
Until the dark-skinned man finally let go of his partner’s hand just to shrug off his black jacket with obvious annoyance.
“It’s hot..” The piece of clothing ended up hanging loosely from one of his shoulders while he adjusted the gray shirt lightly clinging to his body from the previous movement.
“Your body temperature increased after running.” The other rolled his eyes slightly, though this time the tension wasn’t as present anymore.
That was when Hugo noticed the small ice cream stand set up near the next corner.
A white cart decorated with pastel colors, surrounded by a few families and children taking advantage of the sunny day.
The midfielder slowed his pace slightly.
“Ice cream.”
“Hm?”
“We should buy some.”
“Was that a suggestion or a logical conclusion?”
“Both.” Loki laughed when he heard him.
“And then what? Are you going to optimize flavors too?”
“I already did.”
“Of course you did.” Hugo moved a little closer to him as they resumed walking toward the cart.
“Chocolate.”
“I thought exactly the same thing.”
“Because statistically, we have similar tastes.”
“Or because we’ve been together too long.”
“Both options can coexist.”
A few minutes later, they ended up sitting on a nearby bench with their ice cream in hand while the city continued breathing slowly around them.
The ice cream was good.
Ridiculously good.
Loki rested one arm along the back of the bench while absentmindedly watching people walk past them. Cyclists, families, tourists taking pictures of anything that looked remotely Parisian.
And beside him, Vivian was eating his ice cream with absurd seriousness, as if he were analyzing every spoonful.
“What?” Hugo barely lifted his gaze toward him when he heard Loki speak.
“Nothing.”
“You were staring at me.”
“I’m thinking.”
“That never reassures me.”
“Couples usually sit closer.”
“Are you studying human behavior now?”
“I’m observing patterns.”
“How romantic.”
“Thank you.” Loki laughed again, shaking his head slightly before taking another lick of his ice cream.
A street musician started playing something on a saxophone a few blocks away, blending with the distant noise of conversations and footsteps against the pavement.
“.. I think I like it better this way,” Hugo murmured.
“Like what?”
“Without the plans working.” That actually surprised him a little, because Hugo normally hated unexpected changes.
“Doesn’t it bother you?”
“Not particularly.” He looked around for a few seconds before continuing. “The original route was efficient, but this version has more positive stimuli.”
“You talk like AI.”
“And yet you’re still in love with me.”
“I am.” Hugo let out a tiny laugh through his nose, incredibly small.
But this time, Loki actually kept looking at him a second longer than necessary.
Because it wasn’t common to hear him laugh that softly.
The wind lightly moved a few reddish strands of Hugo’s hair while he kept watching the street.
And Julian felt that strange sensation in his chest again, the same one as before.
Only calmer this time.
“.. Sorry about earlier.”
“Hm?” The forward looked down at his ice cream.
“I don’t want to act like I’m ashamed of you.”
“I know that.”
“I still do it sometimes.”
“Yes.”
“.. I’m trying to stop.”
Vivian stayed quiet for a few seconds. Then he simply nudged his knee lightly against his on the bench.
“I know,” he answered calmly. “That’s why I’m still here.”
They finished their ice cream slowly.
The forward finished his first, absentmindedly crushing the napkin between his fingers while watching Hugo still focus on the last bites of chocolate as if he needed to finish them methodically.
“Did you know you eat ice cream absurdly slowly?”
“Speed affects the sensory experience.”
“You literally just made that up.”
“.. Yes.” Julian let out a short laugh while standing from the bench, stretching slightly.
The sun was beginning to lower slowly between the buildings of Paris, painting the streets in a warmer tone that made the whole city seem even calmer.
Hugo finally finished his ice cream and stood up too.
“The saxophone is still playing.” Loki slightly raised an eyebrow.
“You want to go?”
“Yes.”
And honestly, that was strange too.
Hugo normally didn’t deviate for things like that.
But they walked toward the sound anyway.
After turning down a few more streets, they finally found the musician set up near a small café, playing casually while a few people watched nearby.
The melody was soft and slow. Perfect for a Sunday like that.
The two of them stayed still for a few seconds, listening.
Vivian seemed particularly focused on the notes, lightly following the rhythm with his fingers against the spine of his book.
While Julian simply watched the musician play.
The way he closed his eyes, how the sound effortlessly filled the entire street.
Then, without saying anything, the forward searched for a few coins in his pocket and dropped them into the open case in front of the saxophonist before continuing to walk.
Hugo caught up to him a few steps later.
“You like street musicians.”
“Not particularly. I just like people who are good at what they do.”
“That sounded dangerously sentimental.”
“Tch. Shut up.”
They kept moving down the street, far more relaxed now than at the beginning of the date.
And that was when Vivian noticed the row of bicycles parked near the next corner.
Public bicycles, available for rent.
“Julian.”
“I don’t like that tone.” The man with long eyelashes was already walking closer to the bicycles.
“If we continue walking at the same pace, we’ll reach the park in approximately thirty-seven minutes.”
“So?”
“With bicycles, it would be twelve.”
“There’s the problem.”
“I don’t see one.”
“You are not driving.”
“Why?”
“Because you’d probably get distracted looking at buildings and we’d end up dead against a bakery.”
“That could statistically happen.”
“Thanks for confirming my suspicions.”
“You can’t drive either.”
“What?”
“You would go too fast.” Loki frowned when he heard that.
“Then what do you suggest?”
“I insist on being the driver. You sit in the back.”
“What a romantic offer.”
“Thank you.” And honestly, Loki couldn’t find a real reason to refuse.
The bicycle squeaked slightly when Vivian finally managed to pull it free from the rack.
“Done.”
“I still feel like this is a bad idea.”
“That’s because you don’t trust the process.”
“I don’t trust you driving.”
“I drive perfectly.”
“The last time, you almost crashed into a pole because you were looking at a bookstore.”
“It was a very interesting bookstore.” The other Frenchman ended up laughing anyway as he climbed on behind him.
The back seat was uncomfortably small, forcing him to sit much closer to Hugo than necessary.
He didn’t really mind, though. His hands automatically settled around the redhead’s waist while he started pedaling.
The warm wind brushed against their clothes. The wheels hummed softly over the pavement, the city moving slowly around them.
Hugo rode much calmer than Julian expected.
He wasn’t going fast, he didn’t even seem interested in arriving quickly.
He just moved relaxed through the open streets of Paris while the sun slowly began painting everything in orange tones.
“You know?” Vivian murmured after a while. “I think this ended up being a better date.”
The dark-skinned man lightly rested his chin on his shoulder.
“Because your plan failed?”
“Because it left room for improvisation.”
“That almost sounded poetic.” he said, smiling faintly against his shoulder.
And slowly, he relaxed even more against him.
There was no longer any strange tension, no uncomfortable conversations, no worry about people staring.
Just the sound of the wind and Hugo pedaling calmly while Paris passed by around them.
They finally reached the park much later than planned.
But honestly, neither of them seemed to care.
The lake reflected the last warm colors of the sunset while a few people still walked peacefully around it.
They found a small patch of grass near the shore and ended up sitting there without much ceremony.
First apart, then a little closer.
Until eventually, Loki ended up leaning against Hugo while he rested the white book over his own legs.
The only sound between them was Vivian’s breathing trying to steady itself. A little later, he slowly ran a hand along his boyfriend’s arm while they watched the lake barely ripple with the wind.
“I still think we should stop hiding it.”
The forward didn’t answer immediately. He kept staring at the reflection on the water for a few more seconds before sighing softly.
“.. Yeah.” He didn’t sound scared this time, just tired.
“You don’t have to do it quickly.”
“I know.”
“Or perfectly.”
“I definitely learned that today.”
“Because I forgot it was Sunday?”
“Because your «perfectly calculated date» ended up being wandering around without a destination, playing soccer with kids, eating ice cream, and stealing a public bicycle.”
“We didn’t steal it. Technically, we rented it.”
“Sure.” He smiled faintly.
And Julian watched him for a few seconds longer than necessary before finally leaning in to press a distracted kiss against his temple.
The wind softly moved the grass near the lake while the sky slowly began to darken over Paris.
And for the first time in a long while, Loki felt like he didn’t need to rush anywhere.
Because he was already exactly where he wanted to be.