Out of the dark
Title: Out of the dark
Pairing: Ernests Gulbis/Novak Djokovic
Rating: PG
Word count: 1,668
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and this is a fiction.
Summary: Ernests wakes up from a nightmare and gets some comfort.
Author’s note: This is a short Ernests’ POV story, inspired by the song “I’ll be there” by Sweetbox.
Thumpa-thumpa.
I’m dancing. The music sounds a little strange and I can’t really feel the rhythm but since my body’s moving, I guess this is dancing. I look around and see faces that I do not recognize. They all look rather rigid and cold but maybe I’m just not in the mood to hang out with other people tonight.
Huh… When did I walk into a club anyway? Nole and I don’t dance much in clubs unlike some people might think. We do like to dance to crazy music but we prefer to keep it behind locked doors. We occasionally invite other players who are of similar age when Novak gets a big room from the tournament and I remember that I had a great time when we had some French players in the room.
Talking about Novak, where is he?
Wait. Where did everyone else go? Why am I alone here? Is the club closed? It can’t be that late.
The music stops and I know something is wrong. In fact, something has been wrong from the very beginning. No matter how hard I’ve been trying to remember, I have no memory of walking into this place. What date is it today? I remember signing up for quallies in Montreal and Nole gave me a breathtaking kiss as soon as I opened the hotel door for him. He also told me that I didn’t need to get discouraged because of my new ranking.
Ah, perhaps he brought me here to make me forget. I’ve had nightmares over the past few days thanks to my horrible three-digit ranking; 101. It’s like one hundred and one Dalmatians! I’m ranked even lower than Mario Ancic who hasn’t played anything since spring and near Carlos Moya who’s still recovering from an injury when I haven’t had any kind of injuries or sickness all along.
I know that I haven’t won two matches in a row for a while… well, a little longer than a while, but to be honest, I didn’t see this coming. Getting kicked out of top 100? Not being able to find my name on the first page of the ranking list? Ouch, it hurts way more than I expected.
I’m lucky that I have a caring boyfriend by my side. He’s not having a great year either but his fighting spirit inspires me to do better and the people on his team kindly give me a hand when I’m in the same city as him. Ah, I feel like giving him a suffocating hug right now. Where is he?
“Ernie!”
I hear his voice. My heart starts to race a little faster. He can’t be far away if I can hear him.
“I’m here! Where are you?”
I look around to see where he is but the whole place instantly gets dark. No more shiny lights and I can’t even see my own fingers.
“Ernie?”
“Nole? I’m over here!”
I desperately wave my hand in the air now that I’m starting to freak out. It feels like I’m trapped. I just realized that I can’t move my feet and something blunt is poking me everywhere.
“Ah! Go away!”
I yell as hard as I can. It doesn’t hurt but it’s clearly disturbing. I can’t see who or what it is and I’m suddenly cold.
“Leave me alone! Ahh!”
My reaction becomes frantic and I can’t hear my boyfriend’s voice anymore.
“Nole! I’m here! Help!!”
I struggle, hoping that whatever has me trapped will give up soon. Did I get abducted by an alien? I knew that some of those alien stories had to be true.
“Here you are.”
Out of nowhere, Novak is standing in front of me. I’m safe now.
I try to take a step forward and yes, he must have beaten the alien with his racquet. My hero! I reach out for his hand and the warmth is simply overwhelming.
“I’ll take you out of the dark, Ernie. I promise.”
He doesn’t lie to me so I believe him. But just to be sure, I nod over and over again so that he will have no other way than to stick to his promise.
“Ernie…”
“Hmm?”
The Novak in front of me hasn’t moved his mouth but I swear I heard him call me. How strange. I didn’t know he could imitate a ventriloquist.
“Ernie! Wake up!”
Oh. That makes things clear. I was dreaming?
I open my eyes and see the real Novak who looks very worried.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, my voice a little hoarse.
“What’s wrong? That’s what I’d like to ask you, Ernie. You had a bad dream?”
He rubs my forearm, probably to make me feel better but unlike other days, I need something more.
“Tell me you’re going to keep your promise.”
I know. I’m not that delusional. I can perfectly tell the difference between a dream and reality but I have always believed that those two are connected in some sort of mysterious way that has not been known to mankind yet.
“Promise?”
Novak makes a thinking face for a second and breaks into laughter. Maybe I’ll get another piece of proof that my dream-reality theory is right.
“Yeah, I’ll take you to that new restaurant tonight. I already made the reservation while you were napping.”
“Oh. Great.”
Well, perhaps taking me out to dinner in a fancy restaurant is one of the many steps of taking me out of the dark. Who knows? I don’t care how he does it. I just need to know he’ll do it.
“What about going back to sleep? I can hold you if you want.”
Ah, what a nice boyfriend he is. He knows how much I like it when he holds me in his arms. Sometimes, I think I like it even more than any other activity we do together and that means a lot!
I’m glad that I asked him for some advice on how to stay sane on tour two years ago. He had just gotten the number third spot in the world and I had so much admiration for him. I’m happy to realize that I admire him more now, watching him deal with less greater days. 101 is just a number. It shouldn’t do this much damage to my confidence.
“Wow. I offer to hold you while you fall asleep when I’m not sleepy at all and you dare hesitate? Your heart doesn’t beat for me anymore, you cold-hearted man!”
My boyfriend puts on a dramatic show in front of my nose, making a girly crying sound as he puts his face in his hands.
“Bwahaha…” I can’t help but burst into wild giggles.
“Now you’re even laughing at me! Boohoohoo-”
I sit up a little and hook my arms around his neck and lie back on the bed. He’s on top of me now, just where I want him to be. He drops the act and starts to stroke my hair that’s covering more than half of my forehead.
“I should get a haircut. I feel like a poodle.”
“I think you should leave it. I like it this way, all long and fluffy.”
“But I look like one of the Murrays and that’s not exactly a nice thing when we’re talking about hair.”
“Really? I always found Andy’s hair… entertaining.”
“Entertaining? Is that supposed to be a good thing?”
“Um… I guess.”
“But he’s your friend. You’re biased.”
“And I’m your boyfriend. I’m sure you’ll still look adorable when you’re all bald, but for now, I really like this hair.”
I pout but I know that I’m secretly enjoying his fingers playing with my hair and how he won’t back off and leave me do whatever I want to do with my hair. It can only mean that he cares a lot about it.
“Nole…”
I whine as I feel him hold the back of my hair rather tightly. My chin gets lifted up and his lips are right in front of mine.
“See? It’s ideal to kiss you.”
His kiss lands ever so softly and I point out something that’s pretty obvious.
“But it’s not like you won’t find a way to kiss me anyway.”
“True. But this makes things easier.”
“I thought you liked the challenge.”
“Challenge? No offense, baby, but you’re not exactly difficult to kiss anyway.”
“Hey!”
“Hey, I’m not complaining. It’s good because we can use that valuable amount of time for something more useful than playing mind games.”
His other hand, the one that isn’t brushing the back of my neck, is over my eyes. I automatically close my eyes and enjoy the warmth of his palm.
“Go to sleep now. You already yawned twice.”
I nod. I had a nightmare which means that I didn’t get to sleep well.
“Does your offer still stand?” I ask even though I know it does. I’d like to hear him say it.
“Sure.”
I feel his weight leave my body and he seems to be lying on his side of the bed.
“Come here.”
I turn to my right and breathe into his chest. Something tells me I’ll sleep well this time.
Chu.
Soft lips tickle the tip of my nose and I yawn one last time. I’ll need my energy to make it up to him after dinner for his nice gesture. What could I specifically do? Perhaps I could try…
“Ernie, stop thinking about the rest of the day and hop in the boat to Dreamland.”
I smile. He knows me so well. Fine, I’ll think about a good plan later. For now, it’s time to get some real sleep.