Delivered to London
Title: Delivered to London
Pairing: Andy Roddick/Novak Djokovic
Other character: Andy Murray
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 2,598
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and this is a fiction.
Summary: Andy shows up in London even though he’s not playing in the World Tour Final.
Author’s note: Eh, I was heavily medicated when I wrote this. I guess I was inspired by Randy’s face popping up on the screen while I was watching Novak’s first match. The story is set right after Novak’s win against Kolya. My beta-reader crystaleyesd is back so this one is betaed. Many thanks to her as always :)
“Can we swap shirts?”
“Sure.”
Novak heard his opponent’s answer and took off his red shirt. He handed over his last adidas T-shirt and received Nikolay’s shirt as a souvenir before half-hugging him once more.
‘Where is he? Did he leave?’
Novak’s eyes had trouble locating the form of his boyfriend in the crowd. The world number six was supposed to be resting at home with his ugly, lazy dog but the Serb was sure that he had seen an Andy Roddick with lots of hair in the stands tonight.
‘How weird…’
The winner of the match went through the usual motions; thanking the spectators for coming and doing the many interviews.
‘But it’s not like him to show up in London for nothing. He couldn’t wait to see the off-season. Why would he spend even a day of it here?’
Novak laughed at himself as he realized that he had just won a tough match that had lasted more than two hours and a half and had made a good first step towards defending his title but he was thinking more about if he had really spotted Andy in the crowd.
He walked through the hall, smiling as the tournament organizers congratulated him on his victory. He really liked the new venue for the World Tour Final; people were friendly and helpful and the singles players got their own locker rooms with their pictures on the door.
‘I couldn’t have seen things. He was there.’
Novak took a deep breath and walked into the locker room. There he was, sitting pretty on the couch.
“Hi there, winner.”
Andy uncrossed his legs and opened his arms.
“Andy!”
Novak didn’t think twice before throwing his tennis bag on the floor and running towards the couch.
“How? When? Why?”
Andy laughed at the impatient questions and groaned at the Serb’s weight. With his new fitness program, the twenty-two year old had gotten a bit heavier.
“Oh sorry! Did I sit on your knees?”
Novak was quick to jump to his feet but Andy made him sit on his lap again.
“Nah, it’s just that you got heavier.”
“Geez, what a romantic way to say hi.”
Andy laughed again. “You should know better than anyone that I’m not a romantic person at all.”
“Is that so? Then what are you doing here in my locker room with a box of fine chocolate and a bottle of wine?”
Andy glanced over at the table beneath the mirrors. He had forgotten about the gift for a moment but apparently, Novak had already spotted them.
“Uh… There was a gorgeous guy who sold those in front of the stadium. Ouch!”
Novak didn’t feel sorry for punching his boyfriend in the ribs. It was a light punch. The American would live.
“You could’ve told me that you were coming to see me.” The Serb had his arms around his favorite neck.
“Who said I’m here for you?” Andy’s arms were around his favorite waist.
“Oh right. My apologies. You’ve come all the way from Texas to hook up with a guy who sells chocolate and wine.”
“Exactly.”
The two exchanged chuckles and Novak hugged his favorite Andy tightly. He had missed his boyfriend so much. They had talked to each other on the phone but it was nothing like meeting in person. He had won the Paris Masters without getting to see Andy and now it felt so much better, knowing that the American would somehow help him to relieve the pressure that he was feeling this week as the defending champion and as the player who had just won back to back tournaments.
“You smell great.” The Serb kissed the side of Andy’s neck.
“And you’re too sweaty to hug me.”
Despite the words, Novak could feel Andy’s hands getting tighter around his waist.
“I can’t remember a single event where you complained about me being sweaty.”
“Then you have a really bad memory. But I’m willing to be around and remind you every time you forget.”
“Aww… and you consider yourself not romantic?”
Novak didn’t wait for an answer and went straight to kiss the teasing lips. Ah, it was good to kiss someone with love.
After enough kissing - even though both of them didn’t believe that there could ever be ‘enough’ of it - Novak’s eyes grew wide with worry.
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought we were supposed to be careful.” Novak knew that it was rather late to worry about it but it still bothered him.
“Don’t worry. I was careful. Only the tournament director and Rafa saw me sneak in here.”
“What? Only?”
“Relax. I told the tournament director that I wanted to check out the locker rooms so I’ll be extra motivated to play here next year.”
“What about Rafa? You know how it works in the Spanish armada. He talks to Nando, Nando talks to Feli, Feli talks to Juanqui, Juanqui talks to David, David talks to…”
“Nole, relax. I told Rafa that I know about him and Andy. He’ll keep our secret if he wants me to keep his.”
Novak shook his head, hoping that his brain would come back to its proper place. “I’m sorry. Come again?”
“Hmm? He’ll keep our secret if…”
“No. The first part. He and who?”
“Andy.” Andy answered as if it was a well-known fact.
“Andy who?”
“Duh, I don’t know. Maybe Roddick?” Andy snorted.
Novak got off his boyfriend’s lap and stood there in shock. “Rafa’s going out with Andy? Since when? How did you know? Andy didn’t tell me!”
“I overheard Rafa call Andy’s name on the phone with unmistakable affection.”
“When was that?”
“In Shanghai.”
“Ah…” Novak nodded as a sign of understanding. His best friend Andy had missed the event with an injury and his boyfriend Andy had rushed back to the States with an injury as well. It hadn’t been the appropriate time to discuss who dated whom.
“I could’ve told you on the phone but I wasn’t too sure until Rafa went pale earlier.”
“So he admitted it!” Novak was excited at the surprising news.
“Yeah. What are you so hyper about? We’re supposed to keep the secret.”
“I’m happy for Andy! I felt bad for him ever since I’ve gone out with you. Now we can arrange a double date or something.”
“Weren’t you the one who said we should be careful?” Andy pointed out.
“Oh, right. We’ll get too much attention if we go out with them.”
Novak sat on the couch, next to Andy and his shoulders slumped. He wanted to do something fun. He had played more matches this season than any other player and it was getting very difficult to stay focused on each and every match when he didn’t have much energy left.
“I could use some distraction.”
Novak turned to his right and ran his fingers through Andy’s hair. It was amazing to see what a few weeks without a sweaty cap could do to someone’s hair.
“You need to take a shower and get some sleep. It’s past midnight already.”
“But you’re here.” The younger player rested his head on the elder one’s shoulder.
“Yeah, to give you a boost, not to wear you out.”
“Are you really my Andy? Cause he doesn’t say no to sex.” Novak looked up from the comfortable shoulder and got a pinch on the nose in return.
“Hey, it’s the last tournament of the year. I want you to focus so you won’t regret it afterwards. Think of me and play well for both of us. I can’t believe I got injured again at the end of the season.”
“I’m so sorry, Andy.”
Novak hugged his boyfriend as he recalled memories from last year’s Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai. The American had rolled his ankle during practice and was forced to pull out of the tournament before running into Novak in the hotel elevator after getting heavily drunk in the bar.
“I can still smell the alcohol from that elevator.” The Serb spoke in a quiet voice.
“Well, I can still remember how you yelped when I kissed you.” Andy reminisced with a pleasant smile. He had kissed his fellow player who had only offered a kind hug.
“I’m glad I didn’t yelp louder. I guess I was too shocked to let out my voice properly.”
Never had Novak imagined getting jumped by a colleague inside a hotel elevator around midnight. He had only been up that late because the younger Murray and he couldn’t sleep without getting some ice cream.
“I kissed you until Murray screamed even better than a girl.” The American stroked his boyfriend’s arm as he continued the story.
“I ran out of the elevator with the ice cream pot and Andy asked me if I was okay, which I apparently wasn’t.”
“I took the elevator to my floor but decided that I needed to talk to you. So I went back to you guys’ floor and saw you two still standing in the middle of the hallway.”
The two held hands as they each took turn to rebuild the scene about how they first got to see each other differently.
“Andy and I stared at you, wondering what you were doing there…” Novak felt his heart race as if he had gone back to the past.
“And I walked over to you and kissed you again! Believe me, I just wanted to say sorry, but I found myself pushing you against the wall and that wild Scot threw me on the floor.”
“Ahaha… Funny that you should call him wild.”
Novak giggled as he remembered how he couldn’t move an inch from the wall, too stunned at the aggressive kiss, until his best friend on tour had kindly saved him.
“Couldn’t he have said ‘Get off my friend, please’? No need to give me a blue ass.”
“Which I got to see the next evening.”
“And dared to laugh at it!” Andy hissed while Novak died laughing, just like he had done on their first night.
“See? We’re not cut out to be romantic.” Andy got the perfect opportunity to make his point.
“Maybe we weren’t at the beginning. I laughed at your blue butt and you laughed at my admiration for your perfect ankles.”
“Hey, I never said I didn’t appreciate your high level of aesthetic awareness. I just thought that you’d find some of my other body parts perfect.” Andy’s voice was full of confidence. He had been told from many people how special he was.
“Wow, you really have no shame in speaking highly of yourself.” Novak shook his head but Andy didn’t miss the small smile on his lips.
“And you have no shame in rubbing your leg against mine.” Andy wanted to rip off his own jeans so he would be able to feel skin-to-skin everything his boyfriend’s leg had to offer.
“Got a problem with that?” Novak asked, already aware of the answer.
“I do.”
Both of their heads snapped towards the door where the other Andy was standing.
“You didn’t lock the door?”
Novak rolled his eyes at his boyfriend’s question. Apparently, he had been too excited to see the American to bother about the door.
“Jesus, Nole, for the safety of my eyes, lock the door when you have your drunkard in here.” The Scot joked as he closed the door behind him.
“Hey, I’m not a drunkard and you could’ve knocked.”
“I did knock but someone was too busy feeling up my friend.”
“Perhaps your fist is too small to knock properly.”
“Perhaps you’ll get to know my fist better if I punch you in the nose.”
“As if you’re fast enough to actually do that. You only got lucky that day because I was thoroughly spent.”
Novak sighed as the Andys engaged themselves in yet another cat fight. The two were worse than Tom and Jerry and he honestly couldn’t believe that they still argued about that night in the hallway every once in a while.
“Cut it out, guys! And you, guess who’s sleeping with the mighty Spaniard. How could you not tell me?” Novak chose to aim his frustration towards his best friend.
The Scot’s mouth shut tight while the American literally glowed. Ah, the sweet scent of childish victory.
“When were you going to tell me, huh?” Novak had his arms crossed over his chest.
“Sorry, I was going to tell you next week when we’re off. We both didn’t want any distractions from tennis. You know we haven’t been doing well lately.”
Novak gathered his friend in his arms and this time, the other Andy glowed… until he realized that the Serb hadn’t taken his shower yet.
“Seriously, go jump in the shower.”
“I was going to when you showed up. Why did you come see me anyway?” Novak wondered what the Scot was doing in the center court at this time of the night.
“Ah, I almost forgot. I need to borrow something. Um…” Then, Andy whispered what he needed in Novak’s ear.
“Ahaha, okay. My boyfriend says I need to focus throughout the week so I guess you can keep it until I’m out of contention.”
The world number three opened his bag and handed over a tube of lube to his friend.
“I’ll talk to you later. Congrats on your win.”
Andy felt that he ought to have said those words as soon as he had seen the Serb but he figured that it was never too late to congratulate someone on a great win.
“Thanks. Say hi to Rafa for me.”
Novak quickly let the Scot out of his locker room before the Andys could exchange more brutal words.
“Can’t you be nice to my best friend? Just once?”
“Hey, I was nice when you invited him to your birthday party.” Andy answered as he felt like a young school boy.
“Oh well, what’s the point of getting mad at you. You were sweet enough to come all the way to support me.”
“Exactly. Now go hop in the shower so I can dry your hair and we can go back to the hotel and eat up all that chocolate and wine.” Andy got up from the couch.
“And where are you going?” Novak asked while only his head was outside the shower room.
“To go watch how Murray and Rafa ruin the court.”
Novak was happy to know his boyfriend well enough that he actually wanted to make sure that the lovebirds wouldn’t get caught and embarrass themselves on tomorrow’s headlines.
“Andy?”
“Yeah?” The American looked back with shiny eyes. He had missed that voice calling his name.
“Thanks for coming. I missed you.”
“I missed you too, Porcupine.”
The defending champion smiled one last time before closing the door to the shower room. It was going to be a hard week but at least, he had his personal energy bar right where he wanted.