I'm out of my league once again
Title: Collision Course (4/13)
Pairings: Steven Gerrard/Xabi Alonso, Xabi Alonso/Harry Kewell, Fernando Torres/Daniel Agger
Characters: The entire Liverpool squad and then some.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This is all fiction. I don’t own the boys.
A/N: University AU | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Boys do fall in love.
“From this point onward,” Mr Ferguson rapped his knuckles harshly on the blackboard to catch everyone’s attention, “Everything we do for this class will be in pairs. Please partner off and submit your names to me by tomorrow.”
Fernando was just about to poke Pepe away to tell him what their History teacher just said, but Dan was quick to act. Grabbing the striker by the elbow, he forced Fernando to look at him.
“What?” Fernando asked, startled.
“You want to pair up?” Dan asked as nonchalantly as he could.
Fernando raised an eyebrow and tried to stifle the smug smile. “You want me so bad, Agger.”
Dan’s cheeks burned a bright red. “I do not!”
“You tried to seduce me online.”
“Which worked-I mean, no, I would do no such thing.”
“And now, you’re trying to get me to be your partner,” Fernando wiggled his eyebrows.
Mr Ferguson coughed loudly, glaring at them warningly. Fernando clammed up and buried his nose in his History textbook. A few seconds later, he jumped, feeling Dan poke his side with his pen. Fernando threw him a dirty look.
Dan shrugged and whispered, “In my defense, I only invited you to be my partner because I was thinking that it would be easier for the both of us since we have the same after-school activities. There won’t be any schedule conflicts when we set up group meetings.”
Fernando hissed back softly, “Oh yeah? Why didn’t you ask Pepe?”
“Look, if you really don’t want to, then I will,” Dan snapped in annoyance.
Fernando didn’t buy it one bit. “Don’t be such a fucking prima donna, Agger. It doesn’t suit you.”
Dan scowled at the Spaniard and pointedly swivelled around in his seat so his back was to Fernando. All throughout the remaining part of the class, he focused attentively on the board no matter how many times Fernando kicked him under the desk, threw his ballpen cap at him or even called him underneath his breath.
Finally, the bell rang and all the students hurriedly stood up on cue, the cacophony of chairs scratching floors and books being packed overpowering Mr Ferguson struggling to cram last-minute announcements in front.
“Wha-What happened?” Pepe jolted awake at the sudden noise.
Fernando looked down at his half-dazed compatriot. “Class is over, Pepe.”
The goalkeeper scratched his bald head lazily. “What did I miss?”
“We’re working in pairs from now on,” Dan said over Fernando’s shoulder.
“Cool. Less work!” Pepe nodded at the blonde striker, “Hey, Fernando, do you want to team up?”
Fernando paused-looked at Daniel suddenly completely focused on picking at his nails. And against his better judgment and with a slight flutter in his stomach, Fernando smiled apologetically. “Uh, sorry, Pepe,” Fernando shot Dan a meaningful glance. “Dan and I paired off already.”
Pepe’s jaw dropped. “You traitors!”
Fernando grinned sheepishly, “You were asleep!”
Dan’s face broke into a smile too, casually slinging an arm around Fernando’s shoulders, “Oh, let it be, Pepe. You know Fernando has been lusting after me since the start of the school year.”
Pepe cracked up and started laughing.
“Excuse me, Dan asked me first,” Fernando protested, acutely aware of the exact spot on his neck where Dan’s arm pressed against it.
“Fernando, I knew that you were too shy to really do anything about your burning desire,” Pepe cracked up harder as Dan pat Fernando’s shoulder consolingly, “So I took the initiative to take the first step.”
“Oh, Dan, your dominance sweeps me off my feet!” Fernando answered sarcastically.
“Of course,” Dan shrugged smugly. “Rule #1 in our partnership: I top you in bed.”
Pepe stopped laughing abruptly, his eyes bulging out. “Okay, this is just gross. I’m leaving.” He held up his hands and walked away backwards.
“What?” Fernando asked innocently.
“You’re worse than Xabi and Stevie!” Pepe yelled at them before darting out of the room and into the busy corridor.
Sudden silence dawned as the goalkeeper left and his comment hung awkwardly in the air. Dan and Fernando exchanged uneasy glances.
“I’m sure Pepe meant that in this friendly sense, of course-” Fernando stammered, “Like, Stevie and Xabi as friends.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Dan blabbered back unsurely. “Or even, Stevie and Xabi as teammates. Because, I mean, it’s not like we’re really friends. I mean... we’re just History partners.”
Fernando snapped his fingers, “Exactly! History partners.”
They stopped talking again, looking everywhere but each other.
“So!” Fernando spoke up brightly after an awkward 10-second pause. “I better leave and go to my next class.”
“Yeah, as much as History is important-and not just because we’re together here,” Dan hurriedly corrected, waving his hands uncontrollably to gesture, “-You’d better get to your English class.”
Fernando stopped halfway out the room and turned around slowly. He asked, a silly smirk playing on his lips. “How do you know my next class is English?”
Dan gaped, blushed, then waved off the comment dismissively. “Of course I know your class schedule.” His face broke into a familiar smirk, “I want you bad, remember?”
*
“Xabi,” Steve purred against his ear, making the Spaniard look up distractedly. “Come on, you’ve been reading that chapter for an hour now!”
Xabi sighed, torn between Stevie and his History book. “It’s just three more pages.”
“Chemistry’s not til the afternoon. You can read that tomorrow over lunch,” Stevie nagged, turning Xabi’s desk chair around so he was face-to-face with his boyfriend.
Xabi bit his lip, “I don’t know...”
“Xabi!” Stevie pleaded, already playing with Xabi’s collar, fingers “accidentally” brushing against the Spaniard’s neck every once in a while. “I miss you already.”
“We’re together every day, Stevie,” Xabi laughed.
“Yeah, but today’s the only day Mikel’s out of town,” Stevie said simply, popping open the top button of Xabi’s uniform.
“Oh.” Xabi hesitated, before his eyes widened in realization and his cheeks burned a bright red. “Oh.”
“Exactly,” Stevie beamed at him, moving to straddle Xabi on the desk. He heard his breath hitch at the sudden contact and pressure. Stevie grinned wider before placing a quick kiss on Xabi’s lips.
Xabi was purring contentedly when they broke away. Leaning forehead against forehead, Xabi asked, “Are you staying over?”
“Yes, that was the general plan,” Stevie smiled wickedly, excitement already coursing through his veins. It had been too long since they last really slept together. But Xabi was more hesitant, reaching for his planner, “But, I think I still have a bit of work to do-”
Stevie grunted impatiently before snatching the planner out of Xabi’s hands and tossing it haphazardly on the floor, “There’s nothing you need to do for tomorrow anymore.”
Xabi made a move to retrieve his discarded planner again, but Stevie clenched his legs around his thighs tightly. -Stevie, after all, had strong legs. Hot, strong legs with well-cut muscles and a sexy layer of hair. Xabi groaned. Now his body was responding to Stevie.
Xabi’s mind went into overdrive. Technically speaking, he has spent too much time studying and maybe-just maybe-he deserved this break. And what could be more relaxing than letting Stevie fuck him in his bed, where they could take as long as they wanted and be as loud as they wanted because, for a change, the house was theirs to have.
Stevie placed light kisses along his jaw, and Xabi’s eyes fluttered closed, internally giving up his fight for the losing battle.
“All night you say?” Xabi asked, tugging at the hem of Stevie’s shirt.
Stevie grinned, “All night.” He lifted his arms so Xabi could pull off his shirt, before climbing down to his feet, pulling up Xabi with him.
“It’s been too long, Alonso,” Stevie said in between feverish kisses as they clumsily made it to the bed. “Get ready for the fucking of your life.”
*
The fucking of his life that was, Xabi moaned tiredly to himself, resting his head on the cool wood of his desk, his eyes immediately dropping closed. His limbs felt heavy, his legs were aching and his ass hurt. And it was 8 in the bloody morning with Advanced Algebra about to start.
“All right, quiet down, class,” Mr Moyes flew into the room, a stack of papers in his hand. Stevie-looking half-asleep, half-dazed, but completely and utterly fulfilled-was right behind him, obviously trying to creep into the classroom without looking like he was late. He shot Xabi a quick grin, before taking a seat in the back.
Xabi’s forehead furrowed. Stevie always sat next to him in every class. He only sat in the back whenever-
“Okay, class, put your books away. I just want to see your ballpens and your calculators.”
Xabi immediately bent down to check his planner and sure enough, under this date, written in bright red ink was ‘Advanced Algebra Long Exam!!!’
“No frickin’ way,” Xabi muttered under his breath, blood running cold in his veins. He turned in his seat to look at Stevie, who was already deep in conversation with Carra who was next to him. No doubt, they were already planning how they would share answers.
Xabi gritted his teeth, livid with himself. How did he not remember that they had a long exam today?! And Advanced Algebra wasn’t even his best subject! He tried to sneak a quick peek in his notebook, but Mr Moyes stood in front of him and cleared his throat loudly.
Xabi looked up nervously. Mr Moyes shook his head sternly and motioned for the notes to be kept away. Xabi sighed and hung his head, dutifully returning his notebook inside his book bag and bringing out his calculator. Mr Moyes handed him the questionnaire and skimming through it, Xabi wanted to die.
There was a fair few that Xabi still remembered, but since it was a comprehensive exam covering a good part of the first two months in school, there were so many things that Xabi didn’t remember. Formulas, descriptions and definitions that flew out of his head and suddenly, his mind was like a sieve. And the twinge in his legs and his heavy, sleepless head did nothing to help his situation.
Steeling himself and making a quick sign of the cross for good luck, Xabi read question no.1 and began the exam with an uneasy churning in his stomach.
*
“Bloody hell, my brain hurt from that test!” Stevie ranted when Mr Moyes dismissed them. Xabi didn’t reply. He just placed a hand on Stevie’s arm, making him wait for the class to leave the room.
“What? More?” Stevie wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ve always wanted to have sex in a classroom.”
Xabi scowled, ignoring the dig. “Did you know there would be an exam today?”
“Yeah?” Stevie answered as if it were strangest question he’s been asked. “It’s kind of a big deal because Advanced Algebra isn’t really my strongpoint, you know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Xabi demanded, voice tight.
“Since when was I the paragon of academic excellence in this relationship?” Stevie rolled his eyes impatiently. “Now tell me what you thought of the exam! I kind of studied a bit on the way to school, and I’m proud that I actually understood some of the questions. But when I got to the logarithm part, I just gave up.”
Xabi gritted his teeth and turned around, pretending to busy himself with fixing his things to shut Stevie’s endless chattering.
“I mean, what’s a logarithm anyway? It’s not even like addition or subtraction, but it has, like, it’s own button in the calculator. How strange is that?”
“Stop!” Xabi threw his hands up in the air and exploded. “Stop it, stop it. I don’t want to talk about that fucking exam anymore!”
Stevie was taken aback. “Jesus, Xabi, surely it couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Yes, it was!” Xabi cried out helplessly. “Stevie, I completely forgot the exam was today. I knew nothing.”
Stevie’s eyes widened and his mouth snapped shut.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even remind me! We were together the whole time last night!”
“Hey!” Stevie’s jaw dropped. “How was I supposed to know?”
“You told me there was nothing else I needed to study!” Xabi accused hurtfully.
“Since when did you trust me for academic advice?” Stevie protested. “I just told you that so you would take a break from studying and we could spend time together.”
“Yeah, and you fucked the living daylights out of me, I couldn’t even understand half the questions in the exam.”
“So, it’s my fault?” Stevie crossed his arms over his chest defensively.
“No!” Xabi sighed and tried to re-explain, “You should have just at least reminded me. That way we could have stopped fooling around last night and I could focus on more urgent things.”
Stevie scoffed, “You would have chosen Advanced Algebra over me??”
“Yes,” Xabi said without blinking.
Stevie shook his head in disbelief, but he chose to ignore the remark instead. “Come on, Xabi, let it go.”
“No,” Xabi pouted, still remaining rooted in the spot.
“Stop whining,” Stevie snapped.
“Look, maybe it’s not important for you because you can just cheat with Carra whenever you see fit, but some of us actually think studying is important,” Xabi retorted.
Stevie’s gaze turned cold. “Foul. I’m ending this conversation.”
“Oh, come on, Stevie-” Xabi tried to interject and Stevie couldn’t decipher if Xabi was going to apologize or make a joke of his remark or worse, even defend it. But he decided he didn’t want to know anymore. Hitching his bag up his shoulder and nodding towards the door, he just waved at Xabi, “I’m going. I’m late for class.”
*
“Where are the others?” Fernando plopped down on the courtyard next to Daniel, carefully setting down his lunch tray on the grass.
Daniel shrugged distractedly as he busied himself with poking Fernando’s food with a fork. “What is this? It looks like something died and fell into the pot while the cafeteria ladies weren’t looking.”
“Thanks a lot,” Fernando snatched the fork away from the defender. “It was either this or the ground beef.”
Daniel gave another look at the unknown mass covered in a thick layer of what must be gravy. “I’d take ground beef if I were you.”
“Yeah, the ground beef that looks strangely like the hamburgers left over from last week,” Fernando pointed out.
“Nasty. Point taken.”
Fernando held back a shudder as he tried his luck stirring the crusty mashed potatoes.
Dan coughed. “You want to split my sandwich instead?”
Fernando looked up in time to see Dan halving his BLT. He laughed awkwardly, “You don’t really have to. I figure if I haven’t died from food poisoning in the past few months, I can handle this.”
Dan waved him away, “Come on.” He handed Fernando half his sandwich, “I’ll split you my lunch. Split your Gatorade with me.”
Fernando grinned as he shyly took Dan’s offer. “Deal.”
Dan opened Fernando’s Gatorade and took a long swig, before smacking his lips contentedly. “That hits the spot. It’s been too hot today.”
Fernando took the bottle from him and gulped down the drink too, only to stop halfway to spit it out.
“You’re gross, Torres.”
“Agger!” Fernando wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Did you smoke before lunch??” He demanded.
“Oh. Yeah.” Daniel grinned sheepishly. “Sorry?”
Fernando shook his head and gingerly took another sip of the Gatorade. He crinkled his nose after swallowing and held the drink away. “You can have it. It tastes terrible now.”
Dan rolled his eyes but happily took the drink for himself.
Fernando stuck out a bright yellow tongue and shuddered again. “So that’s what it’s like to kiss a smoker.”
Dan’s sandwich stopped halfway to his mouth. He smirked smugly, “Babe, the real thing’s so much better.”
“Really now?” Fernando blushed, and he found himself inexplicably licking his lips. “Are you proposing a demonstration?”
Dan smiled, inching his face closer, eyes fixated on Fernando’s tongue slowly wetting those pale pink lips. “Maybe.”
“Hey guys! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Daniel and Fernando jumped a meter apart.
Crouch cried out excitedly before easing himself between his two teammates, “Oh, wow, Gatorade! I’m roasting!-Pfft! What the hell? Who smoked and drank from this??”
*
“Heading out to lunch?”
Xabi’s eyes widened. He knew that voice. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, he took his time putting his books into his locker. Then, he turned around and put on a pleasantly surprised smile, “Harry! I don’t usually see you around this area.”
The Australian smiled brightly back at him. “Yeah, my locker’s at the opposite side of the building, but I thought I’d wander out of my way to check if I’d bump into you.”
Xabi’s cheeks felt warm as he shifted nervously from foot to foot. “It’s nice to see you.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“W-what question?” Xabi stammered, and he wondered why he couldn’t keep a normal, intelligent conversation all of a sudden.
“Out to lunch?” Harry winked, and Xabi thought he suddenly knew what it was like to be a female freshman charmed by the popular senior heartthrob.
“No, I thought of going to the library to catch up on some reading I have to do.” Xabi frowned and mumbled, “I failed my Advanced Algebra exam today.” Xabi cringed and prepared himself for the shocked (“What? How could you flunk that??”) or patronizing (“You’re exaggerating, you always get As.”) comments he usually got today. But Harry just shrugged and squeezed his shoulder, “Tough luck. You want help?”
Xabi found himself grinning in spite of himself. “You’re going to help me?”
Harry laughed, “You want to know a secret?”
Xabi nodded, and Harry motioned for him to come closer. Xabi obeyed until he was only inches away, smelling the cool scent of Harry’s aftershave.
“I almost joined the Mathletes last year,” Harry whispered.
“No way,” Xabi pulled away, eyes wide and twinkling.
Harry nodded, looking slightly embarrassed.
“No way!” Xabi yelped again. “Mathletes are usually big, ugly dorks.” Xabi gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. But Harry just blushed, which was probably a first for him. Girls (and guys) have fawned over him countless times before, it had lost all effect on him. But when Xabi gave him even the most backhanded of compliments, it felt like his insides turned into goo. It was a pretty nice feeling.
Harry took a deep breath and willed for himself to act unaffected. “So, what do you think? I can be a pretty good tutor.”
Xabi raised his eyebrows and casually leaned back against his locker. He met Harry’s gaze head-on. “I guess so Tonight?”
Harry smiled, restraining himself from pumping his fist into the air. “Sure thing.”
Xabi opened his mouth to reply, but the words died on his lips when Harry reached out and plucked the pen from Xabi’s blazer pocket and scribbled “Room A311” on Xabi’s palm.
“My dorm room, 8 PM, Alonso,” Harry walked away, raising a hand to wave a quick goodbye, leaving a stunned Xabi propped up on the bank of lockers.
“Hey, Xabi, there you are!” Stevie called out, rounding a corner and jogging up to the Basque. Xabi jumped up, his heart pounding as if he had almost been caught doing something wrong.
“Are you going out to lunch?” The Scouser offered a tentative smile. He was unsure if Xabi was still holding grudges about their argument this morning.
“Well, I was supposed to go to the library over the break.” Xabi relented after a tiny guilty voice kept nagging at the back of his head, “But I guess I could hang around for a while first.”
“Great,” Stevie grinned, relieved. Xabi and Stevie walked down the corridor and out into the courtyard where their teammates were sprawled lazily across the grass. Carra was already as red as a tomato, sweating buckets. Fernando was joking with Alvaro about stripping so they could catch their much-needed tans and Dan, who sat beside them, was obviously blushing and doing his best to look unaffected.
“If it ain’t the two lovebirds!” Kuyt heckled once Stevie and Xabi came up the hill.
Stevie and Xabi shifted awkwardly.
“Nah, stop teasing them, Dirk. They just got into a fight this morning,” Crouch winked at Stevie.
Xabi’s jaw dropped. “You told him?”
“No!”
“Oh, relax,” Crouch intervened. “It was just too obvious.”
“Yeah, you weren’t walking each other to class,” Penns kidded.
“And Stevie was more miserable than usual,” Carra added.
“And the sun wasn’t out and the birds weren’t a-chirping,” Kuyt nodded seriously.
Stevie and Xabi exchanged glances.
“I really am sorry for what happened this morning,” Stevie mumbled sheepishly, looking everywhere but Xabi’s eyes.
“No, it’s okay. It’s my fault,” Xabi whispered back.
Penns pelted the pair with an orange rind. “Oy, stop it you two.”
“We were just bloody talking, you twat!”
“Oh, stop it. We all know you two are too steady to really fight with each other,” Kuyt waved them off.
“I bet they just fight to give a little drama to their relationship,” Crouch rolled his eyes.
“Or, or, or, to give them an excuse to have make-up sex!” Carra piped up excitedly.
Stevie and Xabi froze, horrified, and so did the rest of the team.
“Okay, I just lost my appetite,” Dan dropped his half-eaten sandwich back to his paper bag.
“What? You were all thinking it!”
“You said it,” Riise shot back at the defender. “Carra, if anyone else in the team made that comment, it would be fine.”
“Hey!” Carra protested.
“Nothing can make a case for abstinence than Carra making a gay sex joke,” Finns said, shuddering.
“When I tell you all to stop making out with each other, you all call me a prude!”
“Yeah, and we like you as an uptight ass.” Danny pat Carra’s shoulder consolingly.
“It’s even more exciting to have locker room sex when there’s a danger of Carra walking in on you, screaming his head off,” Xabi grinned wickedly.
Stevie added devilishly, “Yeah, Xabi and I even have a game of how far we can go without-”
“Stop!” Carra pressed his hands against his ears, “Stop, none of that... that obscenity!”
“Ah, Carra!” Crouch slapped the defender’s back heartily, “You’re back!”
While Carra started mumbling to himself about early retirement, Xabi and Stevie sat down on the grass next to the others.
“So, you wanna hang tonight?” Stevie began.
“A couple of us are watching an old movie down at the cinema for extra credit,” Pepe suggested. “That might be your thing, Xabs.”
“Yeah, I heard about that too. Is this for Fergie’s History class?” Stevie asked.
Pepe nodded, “Me, Alvie, Dan and Nando are catching the flick. Join us?”
Stevie looked at Xabi expectantly, but the Basque hesitantly shook his head. “I can’t tonight.”
“Why not?” Stevie frowned.
“I... I have a tutorial.”
“What?” Dan butted in.
“It’s for Advanced Algebra. I’m having a really hard time with it,” Xabi answered defensively.
“Okay then,” Stevie said, not really eager to stir up another conflict. He gave changed the topic and asked brightly, “So, who’d you get to tutor you?”
The question caught Xabi off-guard, he ended up choking on his water.
“Are you okay?” Stevie pat his back in concern. Xabi rasped, “I’m fine, I’m fine. I just...” The others looked at him strangely. He continued, “I just got some classmate of mine to give me a few lessons, that’s all.”
“Really? Who?” Finns asked nonchalantly.
Xabi wiped his mouth with the back of his palm, and he thought he saw Fernando squint at him curiously. Then, he realized Harry had scrawled his dorm room number on his hand a while ago. He quickly put his hands down and clasped them together.
“Uh,” Xabi stammered, “Just some random Mathlete?”
“Cool. At least I won’t have to worry who you’re spending late nights with.” Stevie laughed, causing Xabi to tense even more.
“Of course,” Xabi forced an airy laugh, ignoring the dirty look Fernando was giving him. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
*
“Going out? On a school night?” Harry blocked the door, hands on his hips.
Fernando rolled his eyes, “Yes, father.”
“And where, may I ask, are you going?” Harry grinned mischievously. “Because if it’s not to get laid, I will be very disappointed in you.”
Fernando felt a blush creeping up his neck as he retorted defensively, “I’m just watching a movie for extra credit in History.”
“You know, I’ve always had a thing for sex in cinemas, but I’ve never tried it,” Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“It’s for school! I have a paper on it and everything!”
Harry closed the distance between them and pat Fernando’s shoulder patronizingly, “Fernando, Fernando. You’re a very bad liar.”
“But it’s true!” The Spaniard pouted, and Harry had to laugh. “I’m not saying it’s not for your History clas. I’m just saying I know you’re hoping to get some tonight too.”
Fernando flipped a finger at Harry and busied himself with changing into some proper clothes.
“I assume Daniel’s going with you tonight?” Harry asked in a singsong voice, plopping down on Fernando’s bed.
“Pepe’s going too,” Fernando interrupted, jumping into his best denim jeans.
“What?” Harry demanded. “Why??”
“Because he’s our classmate,” Fernando turned around and gave Harry a withering glance, before slipping on a well-worn Nike shirt.
“Number one, Fernando, don’t you know anything? You don’t invite some random guy when you hang out with your prospect. That’s insane! I mean, unless you were hoping for a threesome, it’s not-”
“Ew, Harry!” Fernando threw his dirty shirt at his roommate. “The image of having sex with Reina is just too much.”
“And secondly,” Harry raised his hand, continuing as if he had never been interrupted, “If you really want to get any tonight, you don’t wear Nike.”
Fernando’s cheeks burned a bright red, “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m only going out for purely academic purposes?” Nevertheless, Harry still caught the striker looking down at his shirt self-consciously.
Harry shook his head and pushed past Fernando to rummage through his closet. After a few minutes of toppling over Fernando’s neatly-stacked shirts, he handed Fernando a thin black shirt he hadn’t worn in months because it had started to become too tight on him.
“Well?” Harry thrust the shirt at him expectantly. Fernando raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest adamantly.
“I hear Daniel gives a good blowjob.”
Fernando’s eyes almost bulged out of its sockets. Harry laughed out loud, “Too easy.”
Fernando gritted his teeth and glared at the Australian, but snatched the shirt from him anyway. After removing his beloved sports shirt and wearing Harry’s pick, his roommate finally nodded approvingly.
“Happy?” Fernando asked sullenly, holding his arms out so Harry could inspect him.
“Very. If Daniel doesn’t tap that, I would.”
Fernando blushed and took his phone and wallet from his desk. “Alright, I’m heading out. How about you?”
Harry played with Fernando’s bedsheets. “Oh, nothing. I’m just staying in tonight.”
“No chance of a certain Xabi Alonso dropping by?”
Harry opened his mouth, paused and thought. “Only for Advanced Algebra.”
“Harry!” Fernando admonished. “You realise he’s almost married to Stevie, right?”
“Of course I know that!” Harry sat up and snapped back crossly. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, “Sorry.”
“Yeah, no problem.” Fernando nodded slowly and moved for the door. Throwing his roommate one last concerned look, he said, “Just... be careful.”
Harry groaned and let himself fall back down on Fernando’s bed. He was royally screwed.
*
“Jesus, it’s packed,” Alvie cursed as the foursome entered the cinema. The movie wasn’t going to start for a good ten minutes, but almost all the seats were already taken.
“There are two over there,” Dan pointed to a couple of empty seats near the middle of the theatre.
“I claim one!” Pepe raised his hand immediately.
“Hey, I saw them first!” Dan shoved the goalkeeper.
“You guys left me partner-less. I think I get special privileges, yeah?” Pepe shot back smugly.
“Wanker,” Dan muttered under his breath.
“Oy, I heard that, Agger,” Pepe slapped him up the back of his head. “Now come on, let’s get those seats.” Pepe walked down the steps. Alvaro, Fernando and Daniel exchanged glances.
“You can go sit with Pepe, Alvie,” Fernando suggested.
Alvaro raised his eyebrows, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Dan answered, stifling a giddy smile.
“Every time the two of you are left together, you end up fighting and nearly killing each other,” Alvaro pointed out wryly.
“Fernando promises he’ll behave,” Dan winked, slinging an arm around Fernando’s waist and tugging him close. Fernando squirmed, feeling Daniel’s tight grip around him.
“Well, what are you waiting for, la?” Pepe hollered, a few rows down already. “Come on, Arbeloa. I don’t wanna sit with either of those two. They’re always yapping.”
“Go on, Alvaro. You wouldn’t want Pepe to throw a hissy fit, would you?” Fernando prodded, still not moving away from Daniel’s half-embrace.
Throwing one last reluctant glance at the two, Alvaro went ahead and joined an impatient Pepe.
“Well, that was easy,” Dan grinned down at Fernando, still nestled next to him.
“Not bad,” Fernando agreed, nodding triumphantly.
“Now come on, before the movie starts,” Dan said, as the lights turned down and the cinema was basked in darkness. Fernando nodded and blindly tried to go up the stairs. A second later, he felt Daniel’s hand clasp tightly around his.
“Follow me,” Dan said somewhere in front of him, but Fernando was too distracted at the thought of Daniel actually holding his hand.
“Over here,” Dan said, guiding Fernando. “There are a couple of seats at the backmost row.”
Fernando nodded and they clumsily climbed over people’s legs before tiredly plopping down on the nearest vacant seat.
“Well, move farther down,” Dan said, pulling Fernando back up and making his way to the darkest corner of the moviehouse.
“Why?” Fernando found himself whining. He wanted to sit down already for goodness’ sake.
“Don’t you want some privacy?” Dan whispered hotly against his ear. Fernando’s mind literally shut down at that point as he followed Daniel dizzily down the row and to the most isolated seats in the crook of the wall.
“Happy?” Fernando asked the defender as he sat down.
Dan took the seat next to him, “Not quite.” He pushed up the armrest between them before smirking at Fernando, “Now, I’m happy.”
Fernando’s heart banged against his ribcage wildly. He tried to keep his concentration on the screen in front of him. The opening credits were now rolling and some schmaltzy music startled cackling in the background. But in the corner of his eye, he could catch Dan twisting in his seat and pointedly facing him.
“You look different out of your school uniform.” Dan murmured softly, and Fernando didn’t know why he could hear him clearly over the blaring sounds of the film. And then he jumped out of his skin, when he felt nimble fingers playfully skimming over the front of his shirt.
“Uh,” Fernando gulped, trying to sound nonchalant. “This is just some old shirt I put on because I was in a hurry.”
“Really?” Dan was inches away from his jaw, Fernando could feel it even without looking. He could sense him smirk against his skin, “You look like you want to be fucked in it. Not that I’m complaining, of course.”
Now, Fernando had to look. “Dan, the movie...”
Dan raised a hand and tilted the Spaniard’s face to the side so they were eye to eye. “Fernando,” he was saying, fingers playing with Fernando’s hair, “You really want to watch that movie?”
The striker’s mouth ran dry, which was a bad time with Dan looming just centimetres away from him. He was so near, he could taste him-strong and heady.
“Brilliant! We still caught the first scene, Stevie!”
And not for the first time that day, they both pulled apart in shock at the interruption.
“Fucking hell. Finns?” Dan demanded.
“Oh, hey, Dan!” The Irishman plopped down on the seat next to him. “I didn’t recognize you guys. Stevie’s here too,” Finns jutted his thumb behind him and they all turned to see the Scouser pushing people away in irritation as he struggled to get to a seat.
“Finns, you bloody had to choose the farthest-Daniel?” Stevie asked incredulously. “Fernando??”
“I know, right! I knew you guys were watching the movie for class too, but who would have thought we would sit next to each other?” Finns laughed.
“Wow, it’s like one big fucking reunion,” Dan grumbled in his seat.
“Joy,” Fernando added, rolling his eyes and plastering a big, tight smile on his face.
“I knew there was a reason why we bought too much food!” Finns clapped Stevie’s shoulder.
Stevie nodded, not wasting time opening their purchases, “Now, who wants Twinkies?”
Dan and Fernando exchanged withering glances.
Dan slumped down in his seat grumpily, “So much for privacy.”
“Twinkies, anyone?” Stevie waved the box around and rattled its contents. “I also have Milk Duds! Finns, pass those two some Milk Duds, they look famished.”
I know I made everyone wait a little too long, so I hope the fourteen-page update compensates. ♥
Pairings: Steven Gerrard/Xabi Alonso, Xabi Alonso/Harry Kewell, Fernando Torres/Daniel Agger
Characters: The entire Liverpool squad and then some.
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: This is all fiction. I don’t own the boys.
A/N: University AU | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Boys do fall in love.
“From this point onward,” Mr Ferguson rapped his knuckles harshly on the blackboard to catch everyone’s attention, “Everything we do for this class will be in pairs. Please partner off and submit your names to me by tomorrow.”
Fernando was just about to poke Pepe away to tell him what their History teacher just said, but Dan was quick to act. Grabbing the striker by the elbow, he forced Fernando to look at him.
“What?” Fernando asked, startled.
“You want to pair up?” Dan asked as nonchalantly as he could.
Fernando raised an eyebrow and tried to stifle the smug smile. “You want me so bad, Agger.”
Dan’s cheeks burned a bright red. “I do not!”
“You tried to seduce me online.”
“Which worked-I mean, no, I would do no such thing.”
“And now, you’re trying to get me to be your partner,” Fernando wiggled his eyebrows.
Mr Ferguson coughed loudly, glaring at them warningly. Fernando clammed up and buried his nose in his History textbook. A few seconds later, he jumped, feeling Dan poke his side with his pen. Fernando threw him a dirty look.
Dan shrugged and whispered, “In my defense, I only invited you to be my partner because I was thinking that it would be easier for the both of us since we have the same after-school activities. There won’t be any schedule conflicts when we set up group meetings.”
Fernando hissed back softly, “Oh yeah? Why didn’t you ask Pepe?”
“Look, if you really don’t want to, then I will,” Dan snapped in annoyance.
Fernando didn’t buy it one bit. “Don’t be such a fucking prima donna, Agger. It doesn’t suit you.”
Dan scowled at the Spaniard and pointedly swivelled around in his seat so his back was to Fernando. All throughout the remaining part of the class, he focused attentively on the board no matter how many times Fernando kicked him under the desk, threw his ballpen cap at him or even called him underneath his breath.
Finally, the bell rang and all the students hurriedly stood up on cue, the cacophony of chairs scratching floors and books being packed overpowering Mr Ferguson struggling to cram last-minute announcements in front.
“Wha-What happened?” Pepe jolted awake at the sudden noise.
Fernando looked down at his half-dazed compatriot. “Class is over, Pepe.”
The goalkeeper scratched his bald head lazily. “What did I miss?”
“We’re working in pairs from now on,” Dan said over Fernando’s shoulder.
“Cool. Less work!” Pepe nodded at the blonde striker, “Hey, Fernando, do you want to team up?”
Fernando paused-looked at Daniel suddenly completely focused on picking at his nails. And against his better judgment and with a slight flutter in his stomach, Fernando smiled apologetically. “Uh, sorry, Pepe,” Fernando shot Dan a meaningful glance. “Dan and I paired off already.”
Pepe’s jaw dropped. “You traitors!”
Fernando grinned sheepishly, “You were asleep!”
Dan’s face broke into a smile too, casually slinging an arm around Fernando’s shoulders, “Oh, let it be, Pepe. You know Fernando has been lusting after me since the start of the school year.”
Pepe cracked up and started laughing.
“Excuse me, Dan asked me first,” Fernando protested, acutely aware of the exact spot on his neck where Dan’s arm pressed against it.
“Fernando, I knew that you were too shy to really do anything about your burning desire,” Pepe cracked up harder as Dan pat Fernando’s shoulder consolingly, “So I took the initiative to take the first step.”
“Oh, Dan, your dominance sweeps me off my feet!” Fernando answered sarcastically.
“Of course,” Dan shrugged smugly. “Rule #1 in our partnership: I top you in bed.”
Pepe stopped laughing abruptly, his eyes bulging out. “Okay, this is just gross. I’m leaving.” He held up his hands and walked away backwards.
“What?” Fernando asked innocently.
“You’re worse than Xabi and Stevie!” Pepe yelled at them before darting out of the room and into the busy corridor.
Sudden silence dawned as the goalkeeper left and his comment hung awkwardly in the air. Dan and Fernando exchanged uneasy glances.
“I’m sure Pepe meant that in this friendly sense, of course-” Fernando stammered, “Like, Stevie and Xabi as friends.”
“Yeah, yeah, sure,” Dan blabbered back unsurely. “Or even, Stevie and Xabi as teammates. Because, I mean, it’s not like we’re really friends. I mean... we’re just History partners.”
Fernando snapped his fingers, “Exactly! History partners.”
They stopped talking again, looking everywhere but each other.
“So!” Fernando spoke up brightly after an awkward 10-second pause. “I better leave and go to my next class.”
“Yeah, as much as History is important-and not just because we’re together here,” Dan hurriedly corrected, waving his hands uncontrollably to gesture, “-You’d better get to your English class.”
Fernando stopped halfway out the room and turned around slowly. He asked, a silly smirk playing on his lips. “How do you know my next class is English?”
Dan gaped, blushed, then waved off the comment dismissively. “Of course I know your class schedule.” His face broke into a familiar smirk, “I want you bad, remember?”
*
“Xabi,” Steve purred against his ear, making the Spaniard look up distractedly. “Come on, you’ve been reading that chapter for an hour now!”
Xabi sighed, torn between Stevie and his History book. “It’s just three more pages.”
“Chemistry’s not til the afternoon. You can read that tomorrow over lunch,” Stevie nagged, turning Xabi’s desk chair around so he was face-to-face with his boyfriend.
Xabi bit his lip, “I don’t know...”
“Xabi!” Stevie pleaded, already playing with Xabi’s collar, fingers “accidentally” brushing against the Spaniard’s neck every once in a while. “I miss you already.”
“We’re together every day, Stevie,” Xabi laughed.
“Yeah, but today’s the only day Mikel’s out of town,” Stevie said simply, popping open the top button of Xabi’s uniform.
“Oh.” Xabi hesitated, before his eyes widened in realization and his cheeks burned a bright red. “Oh.”
“Exactly,” Stevie beamed at him, moving to straddle Xabi on the desk. He heard his breath hitch at the sudden contact and pressure. Stevie grinned wider before placing a quick kiss on Xabi’s lips.
Xabi was purring contentedly when they broke away. Leaning forehead against forehead, Xabi asked, “Are you staying over?”
“Yes, that was the general plan,” Stevie smiled wickedly, excitement already coursing through his veins. It had been too long since they last really slept together. But Xabi was more hesitant, reaching for his planner, “But, I think I still have a bit of work to do-”
Stevie grunted impatiently before snatching the planner out of Xabi’s hands and tossing it haphazardly on the floor, “There’s nothing you need to do for tomorrow anymore.”
Xabi made a move to retrieve his discarded planner again, but Stevie clenched his legs around his thighs tightly. -Stevie, after all, had strong legs. Hot, strong legs with well-cut muscles and a sexy layer of hair. Xabi groaned. Now his body was responding to Stevie.
Xabi’s mind went into overdrive. Technically speaking, he has spent too much time studying and maybe-just maybe-he deserved this break. And what could be more relaxing than letting Stevie fuck him in his bed, where they could take as long as they wanted and be as loud as they wanted because, for a change, the house was theirs to have.
Stevie placed light kisses along his jaw, and Xabi’s eyes fluttered closed, internally giving up his fight for the losing battle.
“All night you say?” Xabi asked, tugging at the hem of Stevie’s shirt.
Stevie grinned, “All night.” He lifted his arms so Xabi could pull off his shirt, before climbing down to his feet, pulling up Xabi with him.
“It’s been too long, Alonso,” Stevie said in between feverish kisses as they clumsily made it to the bed. “Get ready for the fucking of your life.”
*
The fucking of his life that was, Xabi moaned tiredly to himself, resting his head on the cool wood of his desk, his eyes immediately dropping closed. His limbs felt heavy, his legs were aching and his ass hurt. And it was 8 in the bloody morning with Advanced Algebra about to start.
“All right, quiet down, class,” Mr Moyes flew into the room, a stack of papers in his hand. Stevie-looking half-asleep, half-dazed, but completely and utterly fulfilled-was right behind him, obviously trying to creep into the classroom without looking like he was late. He shot Xabi a quick grin, before taking a seat in the back.
Xabi’s forehead furrowed. Stevie always sat next to him in every class. He only sat in the back whenever-
“Okay, class, put your books away. I just want to see your ballpens and your calculators.”
Xabi immediately bent down to check his planner and sure enough, under this date, written in bright red ink was ‘Advanced Algebra Long Exam!!!’
“No frickin’ way,” Xabi muttered under his breath, blood running cold in his veins. He turned in his seat to look at Stevie, who was already deep in conversation with Carra who was next to him. No doubt, they were already planning how they would share answers.
Xabi gritted his teeth, livid with himself. How did he not remember that they had a long exam today?! And Advanced Algebra wasn’t even his best subject! He tried to sneak a quick peek in his notebook, but Mr Moyes stood in front of him and cleared his throat loudly.
Xabi looked up nervously. Mr Moyes shook his head sternly and motioned for the notes to be kept away. Xabi sighed and hung his head, dutifully returning his notebook inside his book bag and bringing out his calculator. Mr Moyes handed him the questionnaire and skimming through it, Xabi wanted to die.
There was a fair few that Xabi still remembered, but since it was a comprehensive exam covering a good part of the first two months in school, there were so many things that Xabi didn’t remember. Formulas, descriptions and definitions that flew out of his head and suddenly, his mind was like a sieve. And the twinge in his legs and his heavy, sleepless head did nothing to help his situation.
Steeling himself and making a quick sign of the cross for good luck, Xabi read question no.1 and began the exam with an uneasy churning in his stomach.
*
“Bloody hell, my brain hurt from that test!” Stevie ranted when Mr Moyes dismissed them. Xabi didn’t reply. He just placed a hand on Stevie’s arm, making him wait for the class to leave the room.
“What? More?” Stevie wiggled his eyebrows. “I’ve always wanted to have sex in a classroom.”
Xabi scowled, ignoring the dig. “Did you know there would be an exam today?”
“Yeah?” Stevie answered as if it were strangest question he’s been asked. “It’s kind of a big deal because Advanced Algebra isn’t really my strongpoint, you know.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Xabi demanded, voice tight.
“Since when was I the paragon of academic excellence in this relationship?” Stevie rolled his eyes impatiently. “Now tell me what you thought of the exam! I kind of studied a bit on the way to school, and I’m proud that I actually understood some of the questions. But when I got to the logarithm part, I just gave up.”
Xabi gritted his teeth and turned around, pretending to busy himself with fixing his things to shut Stevie’s endless chattering.
“I mean, what’s a logarithm anyway? It’s not even like addition or subtraction, but it has, like, it’s own button in the calculator. How strange is that?”
“Stop!” Xabi threw his hands up in the air and exploded. “Stop it, stop it. I don’t want to talk about that fucking exam anymore!”
Stevie was taken aback. “Jesus, Xabi, surely it couldn’t have been that bad.”
“Yes, it was!” Xabi cried out helplessly. “Stevie, I completely forgot the exam was today. I knew nothing.”
Stevie’s eyes widened and his mouth snapped shut.
“I can’t believe you didn’t even remind me! We were together the whole time last night!”
“Hey!” Stevie’s jaw dropped. “How was I supposed to know?”
“You told me there was nothing else I needed to study!” Xabi accused hurtfully.
“Since when did you trust me for academic advice?” Stevie protested. “I just told you that so you would take a break from studying and we could spend time together.”
“Yeah, and you fucked the living daylights out of me, I couldn’t even understand half the questions in the exam.”
“So, it’s my fault?” Stevie crossed his arms over his chest defensively.
“No!” Xabi sighed and tried to re-explain, “You should have just at least reminded me. That way we could have stopped fooling around last night and I could focus on more urgent things.”
Stevie scoffed, “You would have chosen Advanced Algebra over me??”
“Yes,” Xabi said without blinking.
Stevie shook his head in disbelief, but he chose to ignore the remark instead. “Come on, Xabi, let it go.”
“No,” Xabi pouted, still remaining rooted in the spot.
“Stop whining,” Stevie snapped.
“Look, maybe it’s not important for you because you can just cheat with Carra whenever you see fit, but some of us actually think studying is important,” Xabi retorted.
Stevie’s gaze turned cold. “Foul. I’m ending this conversation.”
“Oh, come on, Stevie-” Xabi tried to interject and Stevie couldn’t decipher if Xabi was going to apologize or make a joke of his remark or worse, even defend it. But he decided he didn’t want to know anymore. Hitching his bag up his shoulder and nodding towards the door, he just waved at Xabi, “I’m going. I’m late for class.”
*
“Where are the others?” Fernando plopped down on the courtyard next to Daniel, carefully setting down his lunch tray on the grass.
Daniel shrugged distractedly as he busied himself with poking Fernando’s food with a fork. “What is this? It looks like something died and fell into the pot while the cafeteria ladies weren’t looking.”
“Thanks a lot,” Fernando snatched the fork away from the defender. “It was either this or the ground beef.”
Daniel gave another look at the unknown mass covered in a thick layer of what must be gravy. “I’d take ground beef if I were you.”
“Yeah, the ground beef that looks strangely like the hamburgers left over from last week,” Fernando pointed out.
“Nasty. Point taken.”
Fernando held back a shudder as he tried his luck stirring the crusty mashed potatoes.
Dan coughed. “You want to split my sandwich instead?”
Fernando looked up in time to see Dan halving his BLT. He laughed awkwardly, “You don’t really have to. I figure if I haven’t died from food poisoning in the past few months, I can handle this.”
Dan waved him away, “Come on.” He handed Fernando half his sandwich, “I’ll split you my lunch. Split your Gatorade with me.”
Fernando grinned as he shyly took Dan’s offer. “Deal.”
Dan opened Fernando’s Gatorade and took a long swig, before smacking his lips contentedly. “That hits the spot. It’s been too hot today.”
Fernando took the bottle from him and gulped down the drink too, only to stop halfway to spit it out.
“You’re gross, Torres.”
“Agger!” Fernando wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve. “Did you smoke before lunch??” He demanded.
“Oh. Yeah.” Daniel grinned sheepishly. “Sorry?”
Fernando shook his head and gingerly took another sip of the Gatorade. He crinkled his nose after swallowing and held the drink away. “You can have it. It tastes terrible now.”
Dan rolled his eyes but happily took the drink for himself.
Fernando stuck out a bright yellow tongue and shuddered again. “So that’s what it’s like to kiss a smoker.”
Dan’s sandwich stopped halfway to his mouth. He smirked smugly, “Babe, the real thing’s so much better.”
“Really now?” Fernando blushed, and he found himself inexplicably licking his lips. “Are you proposing a demonstration?”
Dan smiled, inching his face closer, eyes fixated on Fernando’s tongue slowly wetting those pale pink lips. “Maybe.”
“Hey guys! We’ve been looking everywhere for you!”
Daniel and Fernando jumped a meter apart.
Crouch cried out excitedly before easing himself between his two teammates, “Oh, wow, Gatorade! I’m roasting!-Pfft! What the hell? Who smoked and drank from this??”
*
“Heading out to lunch?”
Xabi’s eyes widened. He knew that voice. Taking a deep breath to regain his composure, he took his time putting his books into his locker. Then, he turned around and put on a pleasantly surprised smile, “Harry! I don’t usually see you around this area.”
The Australian smiled brightly back at him. “Yeah, my locker’s at the opposite side of the building, but I thought I’d wander out of my way to check if I’d bump into you.”
Xabi’s cheeks felt warm as he shifted nervously from foot to foot. “It’s nice to see you.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“W-what question?” Xabi stammered, and he wondered why he couldn’t keep a normal, intelligent conversation all of a sudden.
“Out to lunch?” Harry winked, and Xabi thought he suddenly knew what it was like to be a female freshman charmed by the popular senior heartthrob.
“No, I thought of going to the library to catch up on some reading I have to do.” Xabi frowned and mumbled, “I failed my Advanced Algebra exam today.” Xabi cringed and prepared himself for the shocked (“What? How could you flunk that??”) or patronizing (“You’re exaggerating, you always get As.”) comments he usually got today. But Harry just shrugged and squeezed his shoulder, “Tough luck. You want help?”
Xabi found himself grinning in spite of himself. “You’re going to help me?”
Harry laughed, “You want to know a secret?”
Xabi nodded, and Harry motioned for him to come closer. Xabi obeyed until he was only inches away, smelling the cool scent of Harry’s aftershave.
“I almost joined the Mathletes last year,” Harry whispered.
“No way,” Xabi pulled away, eyes wide and twinkling.
Harry nodded, looking slightly embarrassed.
“No way!” Xabi yelped again. “Mathletes are usually big, ugly dorks.” Xabi gasped and clapped a hand over his mouth. But Harry just blushed, which was probably a first for him. Girls (and guys) have fawned over him countless times before, it had lost all effect on him. But when Xabi gave him even the most backhanded of compliments, it felt like his insides turned into goo. It was a pretty nice feeling.
Harry took a deep breath and willed for himself to act unaffected. “So, what do you think? I can be a pretty good tutor.”
Xabi raised his eyebrows and casually leaned back against his locker. He met Harry’s gaze head-on. “I guess so Tonight?”
Harry smiled, restraining himself from pumping his fist into the air. “Sure thing.”
Xabi opened his mouth to reply, but the words died on his lips when Harry reached out and plucked the pen from Xabi’s blazer pocket and scribbled “Room A311” on Xabi’s palm.
“My dorm room, 8 PM, Alonso,” Harry walked away, raising a hand to wave a quick goodbye, leaving a stunned Xabi propped up on the bank of lockers.
“Hey, Xabi, there you are!” Stevie called out, rounding a corner and jogging up to the Basque. Xabi jumped up, his heart pounding as if he had almost been caught doing something wrong.
“Are you going out to lunch?” The Scouser offered a tentative smile. He was unsure if Xabi was still holding grudges about their argument this morning.
“Well, I was supposed to go to the library over the break.” Xabi relented after a tiny guilty voice kept nagging at the back of his head, “But I guess I could hang around for a while first.”
“Great,” Stevie grinned, relieved. Xabi and Stevie walked down the corridor and out into the courtyard where their teammates were sprawled lazily across the grass. Carra was already as red as a tomato, sweating buckets. Fernando was joking with Alvaro about stripping so they could catch their much-needed tans and Dan, who sat beside them, was obviously blushing and doing his best to look unaffected.
“If it ain’t the two lovebirds!” Kuyt heckled once Stevie and Xabi came up the hill.
Stevie and Xabi shifted awkwardly.
“Nah, stop teasing them, Dirk. They just got into a fight this morning,” Crouch winked at Stevie.
Xabi’s jaw dropped. “You told him?”
“No!”
“Oh, relax,” Crouch intervened. “It was just too obvious.”
“Yeah, you weren’t walking each other to class,” Penns kidded.
“And Stevie was more miserable than usual,” Carra added.
“And the sun wasn’t out and the birds weren’t a-chirping,” Kuyt nodded seriously.
Stevie and Xabi exchanged glances.
“I really am sorry for what happened this morning,” Stevie mumbled sheepishly, looking everywhere but Xabi’s eyes.
“No, it’s okay. It’s my fault,” Xabi whispered back.
Penns pelted the pair with an orange rind. “Oy, stop it you two.”
“We were just bloody talking, you twat!”
“Oh, stop it. We all know you two are too steady to really fight with each other,” Kuyt waved them off.
“I bet they just fight to give a little drama to their relationship,” Crouch rolled his eyes.
“Or, or, or, to give them an excuse to have make-up sex!” Carra piped up excitedly.
Stevie and Xabi froze, horrified, and so did the rest of the team.
“Okay, I just lost my appetite,” Dan dropped his half-eaten sandwich back to his paper bag.
“What? You were all thinking it!”
“You said it,” Riise shot back at the defender. “Carra, if anyone else in the team made that comment, it would be fine.”
“Hey!” Carra protested.
“Nothing can make a case for abstinence than Carra making a gay sex joke,” Finns said, shuddering.
“When I tell you all to stop making out with each other, you all call me a prude!”
“Yeah, and we like you as an uptight ass.” Danny pat Carra’s shoulder consolingly.
“It’s even more exciting to have locker room sex when there’s a danger of Carra walking in on you, screaming his head off,” Xabi grinned wickedly.
Stevie added devilishly, “Yeah, Xabi and I even have a game of how far we can go without-”
“Stop!” Carra pressed his hands against his ears, “Stop, none of that... that obscenity!”
“Ah, Carra!” Crouch slapped the defender’s back heartily, “You’re back!”
While Carra started mumbling to himself about early retirement, Xabi and Stevie sat down on the grass next to the others.
“So, you wanna hang tonight?” Stevie began.
“A couple of us are watching an old movie down at the cinema for extra credit,” Pepe suggested. “That might be your thing, Xabs.”
“Yeah, I heard about that too. Is this for Fergie’s History class?” Stevie asked.
Pepe nodded, “Me, Alvie, Dan and Nando are catching the flick. Join us?”
Stevie looked at Xabi expectantly, but the Basque hesitantly shook his head. “I can’t tonight.”
“Why not?” Stevie frowned.
“I... I have a tutorial.”
“What?” Dan butted in.
“It’s for Advanced Algebra. I’m having a really hard time with it,” Xabi answered defensively.
“Okay then,” Stevie said, not really eager to stir up another conflict. He gave changed the topic and asked brightly, “So, who’d you get to tutor you?”
The question caught Xabi off-guard, he ended up choking on his water.
“Are you okay?” Stevie pat his back in concern. Xabi rasped, “I’m fine, I’m fine. I just...” The others looked at him strangely. He continued, “I just got some classmate of mine to give me a few lessons, that’s all.”
“Really? Who?” Finns asked nonchalantly.
Xabi wiped his mouth with the back of his palm, and he thought he saw Fernando squint at him curiously. Then, he realized Harry had scrawled his dorm room number on his hand a while ago. He quickly put his hands down and clasped them together.
“Uh,” Xabi stammered, “Just some random Mathlete?”
“Cool. At least I won’t have to worry who you’re spending late nights with.” Stevie laughed, causing Xabi to tense even more.
“Of course,” Xabi forced an airy laugh, ignoring the dirty look Fernando was giving him. “You’ve got nothing to worry about.”
*
“Going out? On a school night?” Harry blocked the door, hands on his hips.
Fernando rolled his eyes, “Yes, father.”
“And where, may I ask, are you going?” Harry grinned mischievously. “Because if it’s not to get laid, I will be very disappointed in you.”
Fernando felt a blush creeping up his neck as he retorted defensively, “I’m just watching a movie for extra credit in History.”
“You know, I’ve always had a thing for sex in cinemas, but I’ve never tried it,” Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
“It’s for school! I have a paper on it and everything!”
Harry closed the distance between them and pat Fernando’s shoulder patronizingly, “Fernando, Fernando. You’re a very bad liar.”
“But it’s true!” The Spaniard pouted, and Harry had to laugh. “I’m not saying it’s not for your History clas. I’m just saying I know you’re hoping to get some tonight too.”
Fernando flipped a finger at Harry and busied himself with changing into some proper clothes.
“I assume Daniel’s going with you tonight?” Harry asked in a singsong voice, plopping down on Fernando’s bed.
“Pepe’s going too,” Fernando interrupted, jumping into his best denim jeans.
“What?” Harry demanded. “Why??”
“Because he’s our classmate,” Fernando turned around and gave Harry a withering glance, before slipping on a well-worn Nike shirt.
“Number one, Fernando, don’t you know anything? You don’t invite some random guy when you hang out with your prospect. That’s insane! I mean, unless you were hoping for a threesome, it’s not-”
“Ew, Harry!” Fernando threw his dirty shirt at his roommate. “The image of having sex with Reina is just too much.”
“And secondly,” Harry raised his hand, continuing as if he had never been interrupted, “If you really want to get any tonight, you don’t wear Nike.”
Fernando’s cheeks burned a bright red, “How many times do I have to tell you that I’m only going out for purely academic purposes?” Nevertheless, Harry still caught the striker looking down at his shirt self-consciously.
Harry shook his head and pushed past Fernando to rummage through his closet. After a few minutes of toppling over Fernando’s neatly-stacked shirts, he handed Fernando a thin black shirt he hadn’t worn in months because it had started to become too tight on him.
“Well?” Harry thrust the shirt at him expectantly. Fernando raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms over his chest adamantly.
“I hear Daniel gives a good blowjob.”
Fernando’s eyes almost bulged out of its sockets. Harry laughed out loud, “Too easy.”
Fernando gritted his teeth and glared at the Australian, but snatched the shirt from him anyway. After removing his beloved sports shirt and wearing Harry’s pick, his roommate finally nodded approvingly.
“Happy?” Fernando asked sullenly, holding his arms out so Harry could inspect him.
“Very. If Daniel doesn’t tap that, I would.”
Fernando blushed and took his phone and wallet from his desk. “Alright, I’m heading out. How about you?”
Harry played with Fernando’s bedsheets. “Oh, nothing. I’m just staying in tonight.”
“No chance of a certain Xabi Alonso dropping by?”
Harry opened his mouth, paused and thought. “Only for Advanced Algebra.”
“Harry!” Fernando admonished. “You realise he’s almost married to Stevie, right?”
“Of course I know that!” Harry sat up and snapped back crossly. He took a deep breath to calm himself down, “Sorry.”
“Yeah, no problem.” Fernando nodded slowly and moved for the door. Throwing his roommate one last concerned look, he said, “Just... be careful.”
Harry groaned and let himself fall back down on Fernando’s bed. He was royally screwed.
*
“Jesus, it’s packed,” Alvie cursed as the foursome entered the cinema. The movie wasn’t going to start for a good ten minutes, but almost all the seats were already taken.
“There are two over there,” Dan pointed to a couple of empty seats near the middle of the theatre.
“I claim one!” Pepe raised his hand immediately.
“Hey, I saw them first!” Dan shoved the goalkeeper.
“You guys left me partner-less. I think I get special privileges, yeah?” Pepe shot back smugly.
“Wanker,” Dan muttered under his breath.
“Oy, I heard that, Agger,” Pepe slapped him up the back of his head. “Now come on, let’s get those seats.” Pepe walked down the steps. Alvaro, Fernando and Daniel exchanged glances.
“You can go sit with Pepe, Alvie,” Fernando suggested.
Alvaro raised his eyebrows, “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, we’ll be fine,” Dan answered, stifling a giddy smile.
“Every time the two of you are left together, you end up fighting and nearly killing each other,” Alvaro pointed out wryly.
“Fernando promises he’ll behave,” Dan winked, slinging an arm around Fernando’s waist and tugging him close. Fernando squirmed, feeling Daniel’s tight grip around him.
“Well, what are you waiting for, la?” Pepe hollered, a few rows down already. “Come on, Arbeloa. I don’t wanna sit with either of those two. They’re always yapping.”
“Go on, Alvaro. You wouldn’t want Pepe to throw a hissy fit, would you?” Fernando prodded, still not moving away from Daniel’s half-embrace.
Throwing one last reluctant glance at the two, Alvaro went ahead and joined an impatient Pepe.
“Well, that was easy,” Dan grinned down at Fernando, still nestled next to him.
“Not bad,” Fernando agreed, nodding triumphantly.
“Now come on, before the movie starts,” Dan said, as the lights turned down and the cinema was basked in darkness. Fernando nodded and blindly tried to go up the stairs. A second later, he felt Daniel’s hand clasp tightly around his.
“Follow me,” Dan said somewhere in front of him, but Fernando was too distracted at the thought of Daniel actually holding his hand.
“Over here,” Dan said, guiding Fernando. “There are a couple of seats at the backmost row.”
Fernando nodded and they clumsily climbed over people’s legs before tiredly plopping down on the nearest vacant seat.
“Well, move farther down,” Dan said, pulling Fernando back up and making his way to the darkest corner of the moviehouse.
“Why?” Fernando found himself whining. He wanted to sit down already for goodness’ sake.
“Don’t you want some privacy?” Dan whispered hotly against his ear. Fernando’s mind literally shut down at that point as he followed Daniel dizzily down the row and to the most isolated seats in the crook of the wall.
“Happy?” Fernando asked the defender as he sat down.
Dan took the seat next to him, “Not quite.” He pushed up the armrest between them before smirking at Fernando, “Now, I’m happy.”
Fernando’s heart banged against his ribcage wildly. He tried to keep his concentration on the screen in front of him. The opening credits were now rolling and some schmaltzy music startled cackling in the background. But in the corner of his eye, he could catch Dan twisting in his seat and pointedly facing him.
“You look different out of your school uniform.” Dan murmured softly, and Fernando didn’t know why he could hear him clearly over the blaring sounds of the film. And then he jumped out of his skin, when he felt nimble fingers playfully skimming over the front of his shirt.
“Uh,” Fernando gulped, trying to sound nonchalant. “This is just some old shirt I put on because I was in a hurry.”
“Really?” Dan was inches away from his jaw, Fernando could feel it even without looking. He could sense him smirk against his skin, “You look like you want to be fucked in it. Not that I’m complaining, of course.”
Now, Fernando had to look. “Dan, the movie...”
Dan raised a hand and tilted the Spaniard’s face to the side so they were eye to eye. “Fernando,” he was saying, fingers playing with Fernando’s hair, “You really want to watch that movie?”
The striker’s mouth ran dry, which was a bad time with Dan looming just centimetres away from him. He was so near, he could taste him-strong and heady.
“Brilliant! We still caught the first scene, Stevie!”
And not for the first time that day, they both pulled apart in shock at the interruption.
“Fucking hell. Finns?” Dan demanded.
“Oh, hey, Dan!” The Irishman plopped down on the seat next to him. “I didn’t recognize you guys. Stevie’s here too,” Finns jutted his thumb behind him and they all turned to see the Scouser pushing people away in irritation as he struggled to get to a seat.
“Finns, you bloody had to choose the farthest-Daniel?” Stevie asked incredulously. “Fernando??”
“I know, right! I knew you guys were watching the movie for class too, but who would have thought we would sit next to each other?” Finns laughed.
“Wow, it’s like one big fucking reunion,” Dan grumbled in his seat.
“Joy,” Fernando added, rolling his eyes and plastering a big, tight smile on his face.
“I knew there was a reason why we bought too much food!” Finns clapped Stevie’s shoulder.
Stevie nodded, not wasting time opening their purchases, “Now, who wants Twinkies?”
Dan and Fernando exchanged withering glances.
Dan slumped down in his seat grumpily, “So much for privacy.”
“Twinkies, anyone?” Stevie waved the box around and rattled its contents. “I also have Milk Duds! Finns, pass those two some Milk Duds, they look famished.”
I know I made everyone wait a little too long, so I hope the fourteen-page update compensates. ♥