beginnings; six drabbles
Title: 9 September 2005
Pairing: Pre-Sergio Ramos/Íker Casillas
Rating: G
Sergio used to think that Íker Casillas (1) yelled a lot because he was the new kid (read: kid) and he didn’t quite understand the way things work yet (the way Íker Casillas works), until months later when he debuted for Real Madrid Club de Fútbol and found that Íker Casillas was still yelling. Now he thinks this is the way Íker Casillas works and this is where they work, the Santiago Bernabéu is fresh and overwhelming every single time but none so more than the first when there’s Íker Casillas yelling and Sergio Ramos (4) thinking this is work.
Title: Phrases
Pairing: Ricardo Kakà/Andriy Shevchenko
Rating: G
There are two phrases that he does not understand; he knows the beginning and he knows the end-so then what is the beginning of the end and then the end of the beginning? People, he thinks, have a habit of making situations unnecessarily complicated and he-well, he is a simple man, a believer, and he believes that there are things that cannot be defined or explained. When Andriy leaves, however, he believes that it is a situation of one or the other or perhaps both and it is unnecessarily complicated and he hates that he does not understand.
Title: tre
Pairing: N/A; Character is Paolo Maldini
Rating: G
Paolo watches Daniel perform a perfect sliding tackle on Seedorf and feels a swell of pride in his heart, which he keeps on his back (oh, the sweet years), carries on his shoulder (as Capitano does), but doesn’t wear on his sleeve because he is a man of great passion but few words on the pitch, where he lets his actions speak instead (has let for twenty-three years and one club)-these actions, he believes, he hopes, have passed on to the boys and he realizes, before the new (last) season, that it’s anything but the end of a legacy.
Title: Unbuckle
Pairing: Steven Gerrard/Xabi Alonso
Rating: R
The first time you let him fuck you was the first time he’d ever fuck anybody; it was painful and messy and you didn’t come. You didn’t think he enjoyed it very much either, the way he hastily withdrew and disposed-then awkwardly settled back with you, sticky-clumsy hands hovering slightly above yours and you had to reach out to grasp them, to reassure him. “It’ll be better next time,” you said, knowing that there will be many more next times because, terrible as that might have been, it was only the beginning of the next stage of your relationship.
Title: Un punto in tempo
Pairing: N/A; Character is Andriy Shevchenko
Rating: G
Life, you think, is measured in years, months, weeks, and days-then there are hours and minutes and seconds: the tick- and (you know to anticipate) the -tock which haunt you at 2:27:07 (and counting; the night is only starting) when you fake a breathing pattern and stare straight ahead-
But that’s not what you know or how you know, because you know by beginnings and middles and ends, and you remember by beginnings and middles and ends. Each night you start at the beginning (it’s what you feel too), close your eyes then-and dream in red and black.
Title: ventidue
Pairing: N/A; Character is Ricardo Kakà
Rating: G
They ask you what number you want and you hesitate because you don’t immediately understand-several Italianesque gestures and a Cafu later, you smile, boyish and fervent, and say ventidue.
There are a number of things about it that attracts you; it is the number of years of age you will be in your first season with your new club (the club), of the date of your birth, of players on the pitch-it is not the number of legends, they tell you, not 3 or 7, 10 or 11, but you smile, boyish and fervent, and sign KAKA’ 22.
Pairing: Pre-Sergio Ramos/Íker Casillas
Rating: G
Sergio used to think that Íker Casillas (1) yelled a lot because he was the new kid (read: kid) and he didn’t quite understand the way things work yet (the way Íker Casillas works), until months later when he debuted for Real Madrid Club de Fútbol and found that Íker Casillas was still yelling. Now he thinks this is the way Íker Casillas works and this is where they work, the Santiago Bernabéu is fresh and overwhelming every single time but none so more than the first when there’s Íker Casillas yelling and Sergio Ramos (4) thinking this is work.
Title: Phrases
Pairing: Ricardo Kakà/Andriy Shevchenko
Rating: G
There are two phrases that he does not understand; he knows the beginning and he knows the end-so then what is the beginning of the end and then the end of the beginning? People, he thinks, have a habit of making situations unnecessarily complicated and he-well, he is a simple man, a believer, and he believes that there are things that cannot be defined or explained. When Andriy leaves, however, he believes that it is a situation of one or the other or perhaps both and it is unnecessarily complicated and he hates that he does not understand.
Title: tre
Pairing: N/A; Character is Paolo Maldini
Rating: G
Paolo watches Daniel perform a perfect sliding tackle on Seedorf and feels a swell of pride in his heart, which he keeps on his back (oh, the sweet years), carries on his shoulder (as Capitano does), but doesn’t wear on his sleeve because he is a man of great passion but few words on the pitch, where he lets his actions speak instead (has let for twenty-three years and one club)-these actions, he believes, he hopes, have passed on to the boys and he realizes, before the new (last) season, that it’s anything but the end of a legacy.
Title: Unbuckle
Pairing: Steven Gerrard/Xabi Alonso
Rating: R
The first time you let him fuck you was the first time he’d ever fuck anybody; it was painful and messy and you didn’t come. You didn’t think he enjoyed it very much either, the way he hastily withdrew and disposed-then awkwardly settled back with you, sticky-clumsy hands hovering slightly above yours and you had to reach out to grasp them, to reassure him. “It’ll be better next time,” you said, knowing that there will be many more next times because, terrible as that might have been, it was only the beginning of the next stage of your relationship.
Title: Un punto in tempo
Pairing: N/A; Character is Andriy Shevchenko
Rating: G
Life, you think, is measured in years, months, weeks, and days-then there are hours and minutes and seconds: the tick- and (you know to anticipate) the -tock which haunt you at 2:27:07 (and counting; the night is only starting) when you fake a breathing pattern and stare straight ahead-
But that’s not what you know or how you know, because you know by beginnings and middles and ends, and you remember by beginnings and middles and ends. Each night you start at the beginning (it’s what you feel too), close your eyes then-and dream in red and black.
Title: ventidue
Pairing: N/A; Character is Ricardo Kakà
Rating: G
They ask you what number you want and you hesitate because you don’t immediately understand-several Italianesque gestures and a Cafu later, you smile, boyish and fervent, and say ventidue.
There are a number of things about it that attracts you; it is the number of years of age you will be in your first season with your new club (the club), of the date of your birth, of players on the pitch-it is not the number of legends, they tell you, not 3 or 7, 10 or 11, but you smile, boyish and fervent, and sign KAKA’ 22.