point of a knife
title point of a knife
rating pg
pairing sergio ramos/fernando torres
summary first times with the national team, fernando's pov
note happy birthday (slightly belated) to the wonderful and amazing gummy_love! i hope you like it, darling.
2003
Fernando’s fingers shake as he laces up his boots. He doesn’t know how to be the rookie anymore- all he knows is how to be someone the team depends on. He is Atletico’s backbone, and he knows how to play the role. He does not know how to be a part of the Spain team. He does not know how to become teammates with his bitter rivals.
He knows how to score goals, so he decides that that will be his new role.
After a week of practice with the national team, they aren’t strangers anymore. Fernando is beginning to feel like they are really teammates, he and Raul, as they practice volleys. Theirs is a silent rhythm- the dull thunk of Raul crossing into the box and the smack of Fernando’s laces against the ball are the only noises apart from their increasingly labored breathing. But the silence is easy, not hostile the way Fernando had anticipated it might be. They are two points of a knife, he thinks, deadly in their precision, and they are usually pointed at each other.
Now, they point the same direction.
2005
Sergio is different.
His smile is wide and easy and he jokes around with Iker as easily as Fernando has seen him do at the Bernabeu. In the locker room before the match, he is loud and jovial and he dances a little flamenco while he puts on his kit. Fernando cannot believe it is his first game with them- he seems as at ease here as he does anywhere else. Fernando recalls his own beginning, remembers feeling like he might throw up in the tunnel, remembers how grateful he was to Raul, that his captain kept a strong hand at the small of his back as they walked out, making him think of their practices, the quiet and the focus. Fernando looks at Sergio and sees none of the anxiety.
Sergio waits until everyone else is leaving the locker room, and then Fernando sees him start to unravel at the seams.
They aren’t so different, then, he and Sergio, Fernando thinks, but Sergio hides it better.
Fernando pushes himself off of the bench and puts a hand on Sergio’s shoulder before they walk out. It is warm under his palm, more solid than he thought it would be. Sergio isn’t the little boy defender from Sevilla anymore, Fernando realizes. He squeezes a little with his fingers.
“Okay?” Fernando asks.
Sergio nods once. “Scared shitless,” he says conversationally. “But in a good way.”
After the game, Sergio loops an arm, heavy and loose, around Fernando’s neck and directs his jokes and easy laughter at the striker instead of Casillas. Fernando blushes and awkwardly holds on to Sergio’s waist, unwilling to let him go, too afraid that if he does, Sergio and his innocence and his optimism will dissipate.
Sergio is different because even though he and Raul are from the same club, Sergio abandons Madrid wholeheartedly in favor of Spain. Fernando discovers that he isn’t the point of a knife around Sergio the way he is around Raul.
Around Sergio, Fernando is just- Fernando.
rating pg
pairing sergio ramos/fernando torres
summary first times with the national team, fernando's pov
note happy birthday (slightly belated) to the wonderful and amazing gummy_love! i hope you like it, darling.
2003
Fernando’s fingers shake as he laces up his boots. He doesn’t know how to be the rookie anymore- all he knows is how to be someone the team depends on. He is Atletico’s backbone, and he knows how to play the role. He does not know how to be a part of the Spain team. He does not know how to become teammates with his bitter rivals.
He knows how to score goals, so he decides that that will be his new role.
After a week of practice with the national team, they aren’t strangers anymore. Fernando is beginning to feel like they are really teammates, he and Raul, as they practice volleys. Theirs is a silent rhythm- the dull thunk of Raul crossing into the box and the smack of Fernando’s laces against the ball are the only noises apart from their increasingly labored breathing. But the silence is easy, not hostile the way Fernando had anticipated it might be. They are two points of a knife, he thinks, deadly in their precision, and they are usually pointed at each other.
Now, they point the same direction.
2005
Sergio is different.
His smile is wide and easy and he jokes around with Iker as easily as Fernando has seen him do at the Bernabeu. In the locker room before the match, he is loud and jovial and he dances a little flamenco while he puts on his kit. Fernando cannot believe it is his first game with them- he seems as at ease here as he does anywhere else. Fernando recalls his own beginning, remembers feeling like he might throw up in the tunnel, remembers how grateful he was to Raul, that his captain kept a strong hand at the small of his back as they walked out, making him think of their practices, the quiet and the focus. Fernando looks at Sergio and sees none of the anxiety.
Sergio waits until everyone else is leaving the locker room, and then Fernando sees him start to unravel at the seams.
They aren’t so different, then, he and Sergio, Fernando thinks, but Sergio hides it better.
Fernando pushes himself off of the bench and puts a hand on Sergio’s shoulder before they walk out. It is warm under his palm, more solid than he thought it would be. Sergio isn’t the little boy defender from Sevilla anymore, Fernando realizes. He squeezes a little with his fingers.
“Okay?” Fernando asks.
Sergio nods once. “Scared shitless,” he says conversationally. “But in a good way.”
After the game, Sergio loops an arm, heavy and loose, around Fernando’s neck and directs his jokes and easy laughter at the striker instead of Casillas. Fernando blushes and awkwardly holds on to Sergio’s waist, unwilling to let him go, too afraid that if he does, Sergio and his innocence and his optimism will dissipate.
Sergio is different because even though he and Raul are from the same club, Sergio abandons Madrid wholeheartedly in favor of Spain. Fernando discovers that he isn’t the point of a knife around Sergio the way he is around Raul.
Around Sergio, Fernando is just- Fernando.