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Carlos has been searching everywhere for Jannik but couldn’t find his favourite Italian, and he couldn’t just ask people; that would have been odd. Carlos had then tried Jannik’s hotel room — the Italian had given him the pass the previous day. He had silently let himself in, entered the main room, but was met only with silence. He wandered around the suite, looked everywhere but saw no sign of him, just all of his things neatly arranged. He sighed and decided to head back to his hotel, he would reflect there. Luckily, it was a quick journey and, as he threw his bag on the floor, clearly upset, when he finally entered his room, he freezed. On his bed, over the still-made bed, Jannik was laying, sound asleep. Carlos didn’t dare to move, afraid to bother him. As silently as he could, he made his way to the bed and sat on the edge, just looking at the older man. He looked peaceful, his pretty curls splayed on Carlos’ pillow. It might have been five, maybe ten minutes of Carlos admiring him, his relaxed expression, when Jannik suddenly frowned and let out a small whimper. Carlos moved silently over the bed and rested his back against the headboard. He gently petted the red curls, feeling so soft between his fingers, to try to soothe the older man. Gathering more courage, he let his fingers rub, ever so gently, against the scalp with all the tenderness he had. The effect was almost immediate; he looked more relaxed, his head moving unconsciously towards Carlos.
Carlos managed to take his phone from his pocket and, first, he took a photo, because he could melt because of the cuteness, second, to let Jannik’s team know he was there. He preferred to tell them something they already knew rather than having them look everywhere for their player. After he took a lot of photos, he checked his notifications. Not only had Jannik’s team already reached out to ask if he was with him, but Juanki had also texted him to let him know that the redhead was inside his room. He replied to everyone, deeply focused because one of his hands was still on the pretty red curls. He was so focused that he didn’t notice that he was being watched by pretty sleepy eyes. It’s only when he put his phone down to check on Jannik that he almost jumped out of his skin when he realised he was very much awake and looking at him with a soft expression, a little smile on his lips.
“Hi” he managed to say after a second, a hand over his racing heart, his voice not as assured as he wished it was.
Jannik smiled a little, he looked so tired now that he could really have a look at him. His eyes were not fully opened, his dark circles were really pronounced, he was more pale than usual and looked so exhausted.
“Hi” Jannik had to clear his voice because it was rough. “Juanki let me in. Said you were doing some stuff and would be back later” he explained.
“You’re always welcome here” replied Carlos, still petting his hair. “How are you feeling?” Of course he was worried, likely like every sane person.
“Like shit. It hurts, they don’t see anything truly wrong with the elbow but it hurts like hell. They gave me painkillers, now it hurts and I’m exhausted. a yawn muffled the last words.
“Can you give me 10 minutes to take a shower and change into comfier clothes? I just got back from the gym, I must stink”
Jannik smiled and nodded.
“Okay, I’ll be quick”, Carlos whispered before he leaned in, kissing the red curls, his thumb rubbing his head one last time before he quickly went into the bathroom.
He took a quick shower and put on comfy fleece shorts. He grabbed a few things from his bag and made his way back into bed. He slipped under the sheets before looking at the redhead who was looking at him with expectant eyes. Once Carlos was settled, he gently tapped his muscled chest for him to lie on. Carefully, Jannik moved from the side of the bed he had claimed to rest his head ever so gently on the warm skin of Carlos’ chest. Timidly, he rested his hurt arm over the Spaniard’s ribs and abs - probably the comfiest arm rest there is. With the biggest grin, Carlos wrapped his arms around his shoulders, holding him tightly and close to him. Without asking, he slipped one hand under Jannik’s shirt to gently draw soothing forms on the skin of his back, while the other hand returned to play with his soft hair. When the Italian let out a breath and finally relaxed his tensed shoulders, Carlos kissed the top of his head.
“I’m here, okay? You just rest now” he whispered in his curls and he meant it.
“Danke, Charlie” he murmured against his chest before gently kissing the warm skin there, his pretty eyes already closed. It was safe to say that Carlos’ heart missed a beat.
In no time, Jannik was deeply asleep, which seemed logical given the match he played, the injury and the medicine he had been given. Carlos had seen the fall, it didn’t look that bad but he could tell the grimaces of pain were real and that hurt him. He wanted the second act of their final, a fair one and if his Jannik was injured, then they would not be equal and it wasn’t how he wanted to win.
Carlos looked over at him for a long time, making sure his sleep was peaceful, until the door was silently opened. Juanki and Simone were standing there looking at them at first with matching neutral expressions, but they couldn’t hide their smiles at the adorable scene unfolding before them. Simone made his way to the bed and crouched next to the bed and with a hand on Jannik’s shoulder, he tried to gently wake his player up. After a few seconds, one tired eye opened.
“Hey, sorry to disturb your sleep but you really need to take this, it will help with your elbow, okay? Then you can go back to sleep” he said softly in italian, rubbing Jannik's shoulder.
Carlos reached for his bedside table, where he grabbed a water bottle and handed it to the sleepy redhead. Jannik sat down on the bed and swallowed the pills in one go. Simone said a few things to his player while Carlos looked at them with a pout because Simone took Jannik away from him. The sight made Juanki smile. He entered the room as well and made his way to the other side of the bed, ruffling Carlos’ hair.
“Stop pouting, no one’s taking your boy away from you. Just, be careful, okay? And no funny business or anything close to that. You’re playing tomorrow, I expect you to start your warm-up by 9, not after”.
“Of course” he smiled, this adorable and genuine smile of his and even Juanki couldn’t resist it.
“And don’t forget he’s still your potential opponent, no giving him secrets about your training you’re working so hard on”
“I won’t say anything, I promise, I’ll be ready by 9 tomorrow”.
“You better be” he said with a smile on his face. Juanki adored the boy.
Once the door was closed behind the two older men, they remained silent, both sitting on the bed.
“Do you think you’ll be able to play the quarters?” Carlos knew it was a dumb question because, of course, Jannik himself didn’t know yet, but Carlos needed to know because he wanted to play him in the final and no one else and that bloody fall was preventing him from doing just that and that was really frustrating to say the least.
“I’d love to beat you in the final too” replied Jannik instead, absent-mindedly rubbing his hurt elbow.
“I’d win” he said proudly but with an adorable smile, he knew Jannik knew he was only teasing him.
“We’ll never know because of this stupid fall” Carlos said flatly. He then moved closer, reaching to put his hand on Jannik’s, over the one that was holding protectively his hurt elbow. “Where does it hurt?”
“I won’t tell you, you’re going to have it memorised and you’ll use it against me in our final” he said with malicious eyes and a teasing tone. “I know you, Charlie” he smiled.
“I-”
“Don’t lie to me” he interrupted him and laughed, “I can see that you’re worried, like, genuinely worried and it touches me because I know you really mean it, but I can’t tell you, because at the end of the day, we’ll maybe play against each other for a grand slam” he added more seriously. “I adore you Carlos but you can’t ask me this kind of thing in this context, even if I would love to tell you all about it and give you updates”.
Carlos remained silent for a moment, just looking at the red-haired man. Then, almost timidly, he cupped his jaw, his thumb rubbing on his cheek for a moment, over his pretty freckles, just feeling the soft skin under his finger. And, slowly, he leaned in, giving time to Jannik to say no, to move away, but he didn’t; he was patiently waiting for Carlos to get there, to reach him. The kiss was slow and gentle, lasting for a long time. It was intimate, full of love. Yet, neither of them ever labelled their relationship. They would kiss, cuddle together even after losing against the other, spend most of their free-time together, sleep together and stay the night after to share breakfast, sometimes leading to more while they had to get ready for the day; even their teams knew they saw each other, they were fully exclusive but yet, neither ever brought up the “boyfriends” topic.
“So you adore me?” whispered Carlos against his lips on a teasing tone.
“You’re precious Charlie, and lovely. Really really dear to me” he replied in a breath, kissing him once again.
Carlos gently pushed on his shoulders, without breaking their kiss, until the older man was lying on his back, his head over the pillow, his pillow. They kissed for a little bit longer until their lips were all swollen. They kept it soft and slow because they knew that was all they were allowed to do and it was easier than waiting awkwardly for their bodies to calm down.
“Ugh, I wish we could do more” whispered Carlos.
“You’re such an horny teenager” laughed Jannik. “But I wouldn’t have said no to more” he still added.
“Let’s not mention it, how do you want to sleep? I guess I’m your plushie for the night?” he teased.
“Of course” Jannik said as if it was obvious. “I’m hurt, it’s your role to make it better”
“And I will, count on me, cariño ”
Jannik wrapped himself around Carlos like he did earlier but without his shirt, because Carlos wanted to be able to touch his soft skin. They cuddled for a bit longer, their fingers gently touching each other’s skin, soothing and loving.