Work Text:
Kylian Mbappé leads a pretty amazing life - he is a global football star who plays for his childhood dream club; he proudly captains his national team at only twenty-seven; and he has a wonderful village with his amazing parents, a lovely little brother he loves to bits and many supportive friends. Yet, as exciting his day to day life - leading international and club tournaments, breaking records and earning trophies - can be, nothing in his highest of highs will ever feel as satisfying and grounding as time well spent with the people he loves the most, preferably at somewhere with a good view of the deep blue ocean under clear skies next to the calming sounds of the gentle waves lapping at the sand, the same sand which he happens to be laying on now.
You see, it's the summer break, and after having delivered a tough but well-fought football season, Kylian thinks he's fully earned this couple's retreat he's taking with his boyfriend on a private island off the coast of Eastern Spain. It's a wonderful little moon-shaped isle, very cozy but well-kept and it comes with a discrete house halfway hidden by the rocks and a lush greenery that overlooks the gentle Mediterranean waves. Most importantly, the floor to ceiling windows in the bedroom faces a clear horizon undisturbed for miles by other land or boats or humans. This was a big plus because truthfully, while Kylian had been to his fair share of beautiful exotic locations, privacy remains a big problem. He can't even begin to count the number of times he's been caught on holiday mid-nap by the paps and sometimes even overzealous fans when he's only trying to relax. Once, they found him on his yacht in the middle of the sea and he could only gawk as the speedboat with high frequency shutter sounds zoomed past and disappeared in seconds. High resolution photos of him in Captain Tsubasa swim shorts were plastered over the tabloids in the next fifteen minutes. They hadn't even had the decency to edit out the large zit on his forehead.
Needless to say, when Kylian heard from his French teammate that this island couldn't even be spotted on satellite maps, he jumped at the opportunity to have it for a week. It is the best place to have a discrete little holiday with his tall British beau - the first holiday they've taken as a couple - considering the latter's penchant for pressing him into hard and soft surfaces to lap at his neck like an overgrown puppy whenever and wherever he feels like it. Jude had, silly him, actually pitched going to a public resort which Kylian shot down promptly despite the pathetic little puppy eyes he got. It's so laughably bad of an idea that Kylian is convinced that Jude only suggested it because of his obvious exhibitionist tendencies, which he will not admit to despite multiple incidents of him grabbing the striker to snog him (among other things) in the showers after intense games, which lead to close-call incidents where they nearly got caught by coaches, teammates, and once, an unsuspecting Lamine Yamal after a particularly vitriolic El Clasico game. In any case, Jude's clearly turned around on this island, if the enthusiastic way he pinned Kylian against the window and stretched him against the backdrop of the setting sun last night was any indication.
Now, lying on his cosy towel underneath a comically large beach umbrella, Kylian feels sated and relaxed. He sighs lightly and shifts further on the blanket when a warm hand found its way to his waist and he felt a soft peck on his temple.
"Here you go, love." Jude passes him his favourite chocolate ice lolly as he settles into his beach towel. Kylian happily pops his favourite ice cream into his mouth and relishes the cold sensation on his tongue.
It's only the second day of their weeklong holiday and Kylian has never felt better. They'd been dropped off on this wonderful little paradise late afternoon yesterday by seaplane and were greeted by a fully stocked pantry, a satellite phone for emergencies and a skilful but discrete cook who kept to himself most of the time. Kylian had been insistent on not having any service staff around and politely turned down the maid and butler service offered, but after giving some thought about his marginal success with cooking and Jude's abysmal ability at the stove, he decided that they can't live off crackers, wine and sex for a full week so they should keep whatever help they can get in this department.
He plopped back into his towel and a genuine smile spread across his face when he felt Jude reach over to entwine their fingers together and rub his palm with his soft thumb. The soft and melodic splashing sounds are nearly lulling him into sleep and he has a whole summer ahead of him with the man he loves. It was turning out to be a perfect time.
The next days were spent in a blur of sunbathing on the beach, making out on the beach, eating delicious dinners with a view of the setting sun, (Kylian) getting dessert eaten off himself against the setting sun, frolicking in the water, (Kylian) getting groped in the water, watching movies in the starlight, doing the hanky panky under the blankets while watching movies under the starlight, etcetera and repeating it all over again the next day. Kylian finally had to put his foot down on the fourth day at Bellingham's third time reaching out for his sore ass in the past hour and shooed him off to play by himself in the waters. His six foot tall boyfriend was upset but acquiesced, dragging the paddle board to the coast and turning around every three steps to see if Kylian would change his mind, then finally entering the sea when his hard-hearted baby refused to meet his gaze with his big watery eyes.
They stay out in the sun for another hour to Edith Piaf's greatest hits playing from the portable speaker. Kylian reads his book, subtly eyeing his silly petit ami's failed attempts to stand up on the paddleboard and secretly laughed when he found him on a floating donut before his chapter was finished. The sun slowly loses its vicious edge as the minutes trickle by and soon Jude was back to snuggle into his side, kisses sweet and gentle and tired while his washboard abs glisten with salty drops.
Kylian is used as Jude's personal bolster as he drifts off to sleep. Kylian accommodates and pats him in a rhythm to lull him while attempting to balance his e-reader between Jude's shoulder blades. Soft snores interrupt his thoughts and Kylian sighs as he turns off his reader and flicks it into his beach bag before he shifts the dead weight Brit onto his side.
He's just a baby. Kylian smiles softly, gently pressing his lips onto Jude's nose. His beautiful boyfriend looks soft and sweet and unbelievably young when he's asleep, and Kylian tries to kiss out the harsh worry lines on his forehead. As his teammate, watching Jude push himself and take responsibility everyday makes it easy for everyone to forget how young he actually is. After becoming his boyfriend, Jude has tried even harder to be protective and mature so that he can be a man that Kylian relies on. Even at the start when he just joined Real Madrid and they hadn't started dating, Jude hadn't hesitated to pull him into his territorial circle and tuck him behind his back to square off against opponents when they got overtly aggressive. Off the pitch, Jude is also attentive and loving. He provides Kylian with acts of service on the regular and a warm shoulder to lie on with encouraging words on a bad day.
So he's glad, truly, that this vacation has brought out the more relaxed, childish and even petulant side of his boyfriend. He did tell Jude as such, much to his chagrin, when Jude tried to whine for another bite of Kylian's veal at dinner the second night, but unfortunately, Jude has quickly learned to exploit Kylian's newly exposed soft spot and has successfully whined his way into getting his way a few too many times this week. Kylian feels his cheeks warm at the thought - just this morning, Jude successfully wriggled his way yet again into having a steamy session after failing to catch Kylian at a game he suggested himself. He looked so forlorn and upset that the striker had to run back to catch his baby's face and kiss away his frowns, only to be tackled unsuspectingly and dragged underneath the beach umbrella to do unspeakable things under the morning sun.
A particularly loud squawk from a sea bird broke him out of his thoughts and woke Jude up from his slumber.
"Baby is awake." Kylian kisses him on the lips. Jude beams through his foggy mind and pushes Kylian into the towel.
"Mon cœur" he whispers in accented French, and snuggles into Kylian's neck in response. "What do we do tomorrow?"
"Well I can call a boat to come in the morning and take us snorkelling" he replies. "Or we can relax and do nothing again."
"Both sound great to be honest."
Kylian couldn't agree more. In the setting sun, an icy margherita at his side and an armful of his favourite midfielder in the world, he feels that life couldn't get any better.
*Note:
This one-shot started bc of a headcanon that Jude and Kylian were playing the "let your girlfriend run with a 10-second headstart and see if you can catch her" game on TikTok. Clearly Jude is unable to catch up to Kylian, who is a roving cheetah on land, and has to resort to dirty tactics to win.