Chapter Text
When Eric was six years old, he already knew exactly where they would drive to in the summer holidays, where they would stay and what he would do.
He didn’t mind the fact that it was already his third time there, he really didn’t.
It was fun. He knew the people that lived there, the store that sold the best ice cream and the most perfect spot to jump into the sea.
The water was kinda cold, but it was just the way he liked it, even though Alicia, his sister, had just squealed ‘Cold! Cold!’ the last time they were there, but now she wasn’t a complete baby anymore so maybe he could go swimming with her. It was always more fun to do things together instead of hoping for his father to join him.
He always said he was too tired or too old to join in Eric's ideas lately, which Eric found kinda dumb.
How could you be too old to do something fun?
But right now, he didn’t care - about anything, to be honest. Not his father being boring, his sister throwing a tantrum on the car seat next to him or the guilty look his mother always had, claiming she was sorry that they couldn’t afford a better holiday for them.
He really didn’t care. Because when he looked out of his car window now, he could already see the sea and the beach and the town he knew like the back of his hand since he was three years old.
His summer had officially begun.
-
Like every year, they spent the two weeks in a rather small apartment not too far away from the sea. The landlady, who lived downstairs and always rented the rest of her house to holiday guests like Eric’s family, kinda looked like a witch and Alicia cried when she first saw her, but she was actually really sweet and always had a bit of chocolate to spare whenever Eric would pass her.
Another reason why this holiday spot was simply too superior to go somewhere else. He didn’t understand anything his parents were always saying. He loved it here.
Which was exactly why he didn’t wait for long after they arrived, before he barged into his parents room - he and Alicia would have their own one. “I’m going swimming”, he announced and his father raised one eyebrow. “Now?”
“Yeah! I feel all sticky from sitting in the car for so long!”
“It was barely two hours, Eric”, his mother said and patted his head softly. “Wait a bit, okay? We can go to the beach later on, but your father and I are a bit tired and you’re too young to go on your own yet.”
Eric pouted. “But that’s boring!”
His mother smiled her always sweet smile, which Eric saw way too little in the last few months. “If you want, you can go around the house for a bit, but not as far as the sea, alright?”
That didn’t sound too bad actually. “Can I go as far as the church where all the cats are around all the time?”, he asked.
“Yes, of course - but not further, got it? I know you’re a big boy now -” Yes, he was, thank you very much, the last time he measured himself he was already 119cm tall. “- but I still need you to be careful.”
“I’m always careful”, he answered and his mother patted his head again affectionately. “Yes, you are - be back when the church bell chimes six and don’t go with strangers!”
“Mom, I would never - and afterwards we go to the beach, alright?” He really needed to be sure. He hasn't gone swimming in ages.
“Yes, Eric, we will. Take care of yourself!”
But Eric didn’t really hear the last words anymore. He was already gone out the door, determined to pet all the stray cats he could find.
-
The church didn’t disappoint - it never did, really. Since it was quite cool there, a lot of cats would always lay around in front of the entrance and seemed to just wait for Eric to come and pet them.
Some of them he even recognized from the last years and he believed that they would definitely also recognize him - how could they not, if he always gave them so much love and pets and sometimes treats when his parents weren’t looking?
So he enjoyed his time petting them all - no cat would get neglected under his watch, they all received the same amount of love - until, all of a sudden, without any warning, a ball came speeding towards him from over the wall, which was built around the church - and Eric's face took the whole brunt before he could even think about ducking.
It really fucking hurt. His mother would definitely scold him for swearing if she were here, but Eric didn’t think about her now, but rather about who kicked the ball towards him and scared all the poor cats, which flew the second the ball hit him.
At least the cats were safe - but this thought also didn’t really calm him down, when he realised that he could taste blood and something wet ran down from his nose. Especially as it still hurt so incredibly much that Eric could feel the tears starting to form in his eyes.
“Oh my god, did I hit you?” A voice made Eric look up, holding one hand, which started to look red way too fast, under his nose to stop the bleeding as well as possible. He tried to blink the tears away in order to see who was standing in front of him, but everything was still a blurry mess.
“Oh my god, oh my god, I’m so sorry!” It seemed to be a boy, probably around his age, who now approached hurriedly and came to a stop rather awkwardly in front of Eric. “Uhm - are you okay?”
Eric just continued to blink at him, his nose still bleeding, a fact the boy only now seemed to realize.
“Oh - I’m so sorry!”, he said again. “Wait, no, it doesn’t stop, does it?”
Eric shook his head. “No”, he answered, grimacing when he could taste even more blood now that he opened his mouth.
It was gross.
“Do you - I live just down the street, I think my grandma can help make it stop?”
Now, when Eric finally got to clear his eyes from the tears, he belatedly could see the face of the boy in front of him. He definitely looked Eric’s age, a brown mop of hair on top of a very worried looking face, with gangly and thin limbs uncertainly hanging by the side of his body.
He looked nice. Even though he seemed to be the one who just shot a ball right into Erics face.
But - he did look kind. And kind of pretty. And to boys his age, the not going with strangers rule didn’t apply, did it?
So Eric just nodded curtly and stood up, regretting it in the same moment. He felt terribly dizzy.
The tears started forming in his eyes again and now Eric really wanted to cry. He never felt dizzy before. It felt terrifying.
Thankfully, the other boy carefully put his arm around Eric’s shoulders. “I’m so sorry”, he said again. “Come on - it’s not far. I'll help you.”
And so, Eric found himself sitting in a strangers bathroom, a wet towel on his neck and another one under his nose, where the bleeding had finally stopped a few minutes ago.
The boy took him to his grandmother who thankfully knew what to do and now hovered behind him, looking incredibly guilty when Eric looked at him in the mirror.
“I’m Eric, by the way”, he said to fill the kinda awkward silence that remained after the boy's grandmother had gone back to the living room again, telling Eric to stay still for a little longer.
“I’m Joan”, the boy - Joan - replied, “And again, I’m so sorry for hitting you! I really didn’t know anyone would be there and I just wanted to practice this trick, but then I kinda screwed up and it went full speed over the wall.”
“And into my face”, Eric tried to joke a bit, but it fell flat when Joan's expression fell even more. “I’m so-”, he started again, but Eric shushed him, before he could apologize again.
“It’s okay. It really hurts, but it’s okay - what trick did you practice?”
And it seemed to be the right question, because for the first time, Joan’s face lit up a bit.
“It’s one my brother showed me!”, he said, and Eric watched a bit dumbfounded at the smile now radiating from the boy in front of him. He looked - maybe a bit weird, but in a good way, if Eric were to describe it. He’s never - in the six long years he’s been living on this earth - seen anyone with a smile like Joan’s, and it looked really nice.
“-but I can’t really explain it - I could show it to you?”
Oh. Eric wasn’t listening. So he just nodded at Joan's question. “Yeah, for sure”, he said - until he realized where he was supposed to be. “Wait, no - has the church bell already rang six times?”
“Uh - I don’t know?” Joan looked confused. “Why?”
“I need to get back to my parents when it rings six times, but I didn’t hear it.”
“I didn’t either - I actually don’t know what it means when the bell rings, so i never really listen to it”, Joan said.
“It tells you the time. I think the six stands for six pm, but I don’t know how to read the clock.”
For a few seconds they just looked at each other through the mirror.
“Let’s ask my grandma”, Joan said.
And so they did.
Apparently, the bell had already chimed six times half an hour ago, so Eric basically fled the house, but not before thanking Joan’s grandmother for her help - he was proud to be a polite boy, something people always seemed to like about him.
His parents would hopefully understand.
-
It took five days before he saw Joan again.
He hadn’t thought about him that much, only when his nose hurt on the first day - but he still was kinda excited when he saw him again.
Joan had actually been nice to him, even if he had kicked the ball into Eric's face.
But afterwards he took care of him and apologized so many times that Eric had taken a liking to the other boy.
When he saw him again, it was actually at the church - again. This time, he brought Alicia with him to pet the cats while their parents had to buy some groceries or something.
His little sister loved cats even more than Eric did, so she was really delighted.
But Eric - Eric was almost more delighted about the ball that came rolling through the gates of the church wall, and more importantly about the boy that came running after it.
Joan.
“Hi!”, Eric said before he even could think about it and Joan's face snapped towards him, before his weird-but-nice smile appeared on his face again. “Eric! Hi!”
“Who is that?”, Alicia asked a bit warily.
“That’s Joan. He was the one who kicked the ball into my face.”
“I’m sorry-”, Joan started again, hearing Eric's answer while coming closer.
“It’s alright.” Eric grinned at him. “It doesn’t hurt anymore.”
“That’s good”, Joan said genuinely, before looking at Alicia. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Alicia - my sister.”
Alicia waved from behind Eric's back, still wary. “Why did you kick a ball to Erics face?”
“It was an accident, I promise!”, Joan said and looked so apologetic just again, that Eric decided to change the topic. Well, kinda.
“Did you screw up a trick again?”, he asked and pointed towards the ball that Joan had collected.
“Uh - yeah, actually”, Joan answered. “I just can’t seem to get it right! I think I’ll just leave it be.”
“Want to play football with me, then?”, Eric asked.
Joan smiled his smile again. “If you want?”
“Yeah!” Eric would never turn down any opportunity to play football. “Ali - you can just stay here, okay?”
His sister simply nodded, before she turned to Joan. “Don’t kick a ball in my brother's face again.”
Eric dragged Joan out to the street before he could apologize again.
-
Playing with Joan was fun. He wasn’t as good as Eric was, but he always laughed and joked during it and Eric enjoyed every second of playing with the other boy.
When his parents came around eventually, they agreed to meet again the next day.
And then the next and the next and the next.
At some point, every day after he went swimming with his family, he would meet up with Joan at the wall of the church and they’d play football together.
He learned a lot about the other boy during those times. He was six, like Eric, but was born in Spring, while Eric was born in Winter. He had an older brother called Lluis who was apparently the best goalkeeper there was. His grandparents had a dog called Gatsby and Joan loved him very dearly. He didn’t like chocolate ice cream. He really sucked at any football trick ever.
And - he really was nice. And when Eric's mother announced that they would drive home the next day, he almost burst into tears.
He didn’t want to leave yet!
Joan noticed Eric's gloomy mood the minute he turned around the corner to their usual meeting spot.
“Hi, Eric”, he said, smiling as always, before tilting his head. “Is something wrong?”
“We’re leaving tomorrow”, Eric answered him and Joans smile faded. “What?”
“We’re going back to Barcelona tomorrow. It’s my last day.”
“Oh - that’s…”
“Yeah”, Eric said, before taking the ball from Joan. “Let’s just play, okay?”
And so they did.
When Eric left again that evening, when the church bell rang eight, he just smiled at Joan and Joan smiled back and weirdly, Eric felt like crying again. But he didn’t.
Just when he got back, he realized that he could’ve told Joan that he’d be back next year. Maybe they could see each other again next summer. But until then, Eric had to wait.