growing pains
by meretricula
Everything hurt. Gareth rolled over in bed and let out a pathetic moan. If this was what growing taller felt like he'd rather be a midget for the rest of his life.
"You'd better not be wanking over there," Theo said from the other side of the room.
"Fuck off, Walcott," Gareth groaned. "Go get a girlfriend if you're that hard-up for someone to bother."
"One of these days I will, and then you'll be sorry," Theo teased, sitting up in bed. The worst part, Gareth thought moodily as he threw his arm over his face to block out the light, was that he was right, and he didn't even know it. Obviously Theo was going to get a girlfriend sooner or later - he was good-looking and outgoing and he was going somewhere with football; even if it had just been the last and none of the others he'd be able to find a girl somewhere - and Gareth wasn't looking forward to giving up his default status as center of Theo's attention. There wasn't anything he could really do about it, though.
The mattress sank down a few inches next to his hip, knocking the rest of Gareth's self-pitying soliloquy from his mind. "Hey. Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere," Gareth said miserably.
"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to be a little more specific, mate," Theo said, his voice warm with good humor. "What hurts worst?"
"My back." He'd thought nothing could be worse than leg injuries - if he couldn't run, he couldn't play. That was before his stupid body had decided it wanted to have a race to see which parts could grow the fastest. When his back was acting up, it didn't wait to hurt until he played, or ran. It hurt just sitting up.
"Okay," Theo said. "Roll over."
"What?" Gareth lowered his arm so he could see Theo's face. He wasn't laughing, and Theo had the world's worst poker face, so that meant it wasn't a prank. "Why?"
"Why d'you think, wanker?" Theo rolled his eyes. "Can't rub your back if I can't reach it, can I."
Gareth stared just long enough for Theo's cheeks to start going slightly red. He probably should have protested, told Theo he didn't have to, but… a backrub sounded amazing. And it was Theo.
With a grunt, Gareth managed to flop over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow. Theo put his hands between his shoulderblades and started to rub in circles, tentatively at first, then more firmly. Even through his shirt, Gareth could feel how warm Theo's hands were. "Lower," he muttered. "Base of the spine, like."
"Fuss, fuss," Theo said lightly, but he obediently shifted down. After a few minutes, he added, "I thought you were supposed to be finished with the back problems by now."
"It's a lot better than it was," Gareth said, muffled by the pillow. Theo mimicked the incoherent noise back at him; he sighed and turned his head a little so he could speak clearly. "It was worse before. It's flared up because I didn't rest properly, it'll go away eventually. Before it hurt all the time. I thought it was going to hurt forever."
"Sounds bloody awful," Theo commented.
"It was," Gareth said simply. It all seemed very far away at the moment, though, as he luxuriated in the feel of Theo's hands massaging away the ache in the small of his back. "God, that feels good."
Theo laughed. "I'll bet, you pervert. Hold still, would you?" The backrub came to an unwelcome halt. Gareth twisted his neck a little further to watch as Theo got up on his knees on the bed, shifted his hands to the mattress for balance and then climbed over Gareth's body. When he sat back again he was straddling Gareth's thighs. "Angle was rotten," he explained briefly, and went back to work. Gareth was not about to ask questions.
"So," Theo said, hands coming to a rest just above Gareth's ass, after a long silence that was still not nearly long enough. Gareth forced himself not to squirm. It was a perfectly natural reaction, he reminded himself. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Especially if Theo never saw it. "How's the back now?"
"Better," Gareth mumbled.
"Yeah?" Theo leaned forward until Gareth could feel his breath on the back his neck, and his - oh. "Better enough for this?"
Gareth would have ignored broken vertebrae for this with Theo. "Yeah, sure, I guess," he said with badly faked indifference. "I didn't think we were doing this again," he added, and immediately wanted to bite off his tongue.
Theo just laughed. "Hey, I don't see you with a girlfriend yet either. Might as well, yeah?" He rolled his hips, rubbing against Gareth's ass, and Gareth couldn't stop himself from arching up into him. "Yeah, like that," Theo said, pulling him up onto his knees. Gareth braced his hands against the mattress and rocked back against him. Theo started to moan, then stifled the sound by biting Gareth's shoulder, shirt and all.
If that was what he really wanted, Gareth probably would have held still and let Theo hump him all night, but Theo's erection pressed against his ass through two layers of pajamas wasn't going to make him come. He'd been hard almost since Theo put his hands on his back; he wasn't feeling particularly patient. "Little help here?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Theo said, and belatedly reached around to palm Gareth's cock. "Is this okay?"
Gareth didn't bother to answer, just sighed and let his hips push forward into Theo's hand. Theo was always just this side of too fast and too rough, but it got Gareth off anyway so he wasn't going to complain. If he asked for it slower, Theo might give it to him. Then Gareth would want to ask if they could take their clothes off first, and then if they could maybe do it face-to-face for once, and that wasn't what this was. He didn't want to push his luck.
Theo's breathing in his ear sped up, then started to stutter; his thrusts against Gareth followed suit, and he collapsed on top of Gareth with a soft oof. He pushed himself back up almost immediately, and jerked Gareth off with dutiful attention. Gareth closed his eyes and thought about doing this for real, with someone who liked him like that, someone who wanted to kiss him and not just to get him off as fast as he could. Someone with brown eyes and a brilliant smile and - "Theo," he said breathlessly. "Theo."
"Yeah?"
"Theo," he repeated, and made an absolutely humiliating noise as he came.
"You need a tissue?" Theo asked, only a little awkwardly. "Hang on, I've got some." He climbed off of Gareth's bed and dug around in the practice bag he'd dumped on his own. "Here."
"Thanks," Gareth said. He pulled off his pajama bottoms and underwear and threw them in the direction of his laundry pile, caught the packet Theo tossed at him and cleaned himself up as best as he could. Theo was already changed and under the covers when he finished, so Gareth aimed for his head when he threw the tissues back.
"You should've come into town with us tonight," Theo said, yawning.
"Didn't know you were going." Gareth switched off the light, pulled back the covers on his bed and crawled in. He didn't feel like going all the way down the hall to brush his teeth. He'd probably be sorry in the morning.
"Well, if you ever answered your phone," Theo retorted. Gareth could hear him roll over onto his side. "There was the prettiest girl working in Claire's."
Gareth forced himself to laugh. "You went to Claire's?"
"Shut up, all right, I saw her outside the shop. I'm gonna get Zach to talk to her. Maybe he can get her number for me."
"You could just talk to her yourself," Gareth said. He felt weirdly divorced from his own mouth, like someone else was speaking while he sat and listened to the words coming out of it.
"Zach said he'd do it." Theo yawned again, and his voice started to trail off. "She had really pretty eyes. Blue. They looked like yours."
"Oh." Theo didn't say anything else; he was probably asleep already. It took Gareth a long while to follow him. His back was starting to ache again.
Notes:
1. Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott were teammates in Southampton's youth system for a number of years, and for the one year they both lived at the academy (Gareth had spent several years prior at Southampton's satellite facility in Bath, and Theo transferred to Arsenal not long after he moved to Southampton proper) they shared a room. That year was the 2005-06 season, during which Theo also met his long-time girlfriend, Melanie Slade. The story about sending Zach (Kalthoff, another academy resident) into Claire's to speak with her for Theo is true. And while this is no doubt purely coincidental, Mel Slade and Gareth do both have blue eyes. (source)
2. When Gareth was about 14, the year before he moved to Southampton, he suffered from back pain (literal growing pains, from getting taller too quickly) so much that it was feared he wouldn't be able to continue with football. He was only given a scholarship to come to live at Southampton's academy when it was clear it had been a temporary problem which he had outgrown. (source)
3. Gareth never answers his phone or his texts. Theo complains about this in interviews a lot. (source, source)
4. Infinite thanks to mardia, who got dragged kicking and screaming into shipping this and yet has somehow written these two more than I have, and always and forever to aramley, who Britpicked for me even though it's not her fandom. ♥ you, darling!
Everything hurt. Gareth rolled over in bed and let out a pathetic moan. If this was what growing taller felt like he'd rather be a midget for the rest of his life.
"You'd better not be wanking over there," Theo said from the other side of the room.
"Fuck off, Walcott," Gareth groaned. "Go get a girlfriend if you're that hard-up for someone to bother."
"One of these days I will, and then you'll be sorry," Theo teased, sitting up in bed. The worst part, Gareth thought moodily as he threw his arm over his face to block out the light, was that he was right, and he didn't even know it. Obviously Theo was going to get a girlfriend sooner or later - he was good-looking and outgoing and he was going somewhere with football; even if it had just been the last and none of the others he'd be able to find a girl somewhere - and Gareth wasn't looking forward to giving up his default status as center of Theo's attention. There wasn't anything he could really do about it, though.
The mattress sank down a few inches next to his hip, knocking the rest of Gareth's self-pitying soliloquy from his mind. "Hey. Where does it hurt?"
"Everywhere," Gareth said miserably.
"Yeah, I'm gonna need you to be a little more specific, mate," Theo said, his voice warm with good humor. "What hurts worst?"
"My back." He'd thought nothing could be worse than leg injuries - if he couldn't run, he couldn't play. That was before his stupid body had decided it wanted to have a race to see which parts could grow the fastest. When his back was acting up, it didn't wait to hurt until he played, or ran. It hurt just sitting up.
"Okay," Theo said. "Roll over."
"What?" Gareth lowered his arm so he could see Theo's face. He wasn't laughing, and Theo had the world's worst poker face, so that meant it wasn't a prank. "Why?"
"Why d'you think, wanker?" Theo rolled his eyes. "Can't rub your back if I can't reach it, can I."
Gareth stared just long enough for Theo's cheeks to start going slightly red. He probably should have protested, told Theo he didn't have to, but… a backrub sounded amazing. And it was Theo.
With a grunt, Gareth managed to flop over onto his stomach and buried his face in his pillow. Theo put his hands between his shoulderblades and started to rub in circles, tentatively at first, then more firmly. Even through his shirt, Gareth could feel how warm Theo's hands were. "Lower," he muttered. "Base of the spine, like."
"Fuss, fuss," Theo said lightly, but he obediently shifted down. After a few minutes, he added, "I thought you were supposed to be finished with the back problems by now."
"It's a lot better than it was," Gareth said, muffled by the pillow. Theo mimicked the incoherent noise back at him; he sighed and turned his head a little so he could speak clearly. "It was worse before. It's flared up because I didn't rest properly, it'll go away eventually. Before it hurt all the time. I thought it was going to hurt forever."
"Sounds bloody awful," Theo commented.
"It was," Gareth said simply. It all seemed very far away at the moment, though, as he luxuriated in the feel of Theo's hands massaging away the ache in the small of his back. "God, that feels good."
Theo laughed. "I'll bet, you pervert. Hold still, would you?" The backrub came to an unwelcome halt. Gareth twisted his neck a little further to watch as Theo got up on his knees on the bed, shifted his hands to the mattress for balance and then climbed over Gareth's body. When he sat back again he was straddling Gareth's thighs. "Angle was rotten," he explained briefly, and went back to work. Gareth was not about to ask questions.
"So," Theo said, hands coming to a rest just above Gareth's ass, after a long silence that was still not nearly long enough. Gareth forced himself not to squirm. It was a perfectly natural reaction, he reminded himself. Nothing to be embarrassed about. Especially if Theo never saw it. "How's the back now?"
"Better," Gareth mumbled.
"Yeah?" Theo leaned forward until Gareth could feel his breath on the back his neck, and his - oh. "Better enough for this?"
Gareth would have ignored broken vertebrae for this with Theo. "Yeah, sure, I guess," he said with badly faked indifference. "I didn't think we were doing this again," he added, and immediately wanted to bite off his tongue.
Theo just laughed. "Hey, I don't see you with a girlfriend yet either. Might as well, yeah?" He rolled his hips, rubbing against Gareth's ass, and Gareth couldn't stop himself from arching up into him. "Yeah, like that," Theo said, pulling him up onto his knees. Gareth braced his hands against the mattress and rocked back against him. Theo started to moan, then stifled the sound by biting Gareth's shoulder, shirt and all.
If that was what he really wanted, Gareth probably would have held still and let Theo hump him all night, but Theo's erection pressed against his ass through two layers of pajamas wasn't going to make him come. He'd been hard almost since Theo put his hands on his back; he wasn't feeling particularly patient. "Little help here?"
"Huh? Oh, sorry," Theo said, and belatedly reached around to palm Gareth's cock. "Is this okay?"
Gareth didn't bother to answer, just sighed and let his hips push forward into Theo's hand. Theo was always just this side of too fast and too rough, but it got Gareth off anyway so he wasn't going to complain. If he asked for it slower, Theo might give it to him. Then Gareth would want to ask if they could take their clothes off first, and then if they could maybe do it face-to-face for once, and that wasn't what this was. He didn't want to push his luck.
Theo's breathing in his ear sped up, then started to stutter; his thrusts against Gareth followed suit, and he collapsed on top of Gareth with a soft oof. He pushed himself back up almost immediately, and jerked Gareth off with dutiful attention. Gareth closed his eyes and thought about doing this for real, with someone who liked him like that, someone who wanted to kiss him and not just to get him off as fast as he could. Someone with brown eyes and a brilliant smile and - "Theo," he said breathlessly. "Theo."
"Yeah?"
"Theo," he repeated, and made an absolutely humiliating noise as he came.
"You need a tissue?" Theo asked, only a little awkwardly. "Hang on, I've got some." He climbed off of Gareth's bed and dug around in the practice bag he'd dumped on his own. "Here."
"Thanks," Gareth said. He pulled off his pajama bottoms and underwear and threw them in the direction of his laundry pile, caught the packet Theo tossed at him and cleaned himself up as best as he could. Theo was already changed and under the covers when he finished, so Gareth aimed for his head when he threw the tissues back.
"You should've come into town with us tonight," Theo said, yawning.
"Didn't know you were going." Gareth switched off the light, pulled back the covers on his bed and crawled in. He didn't feel like going all the way down the hall to brush his teeth. He'd probably be sorry in the morning.
"Well, if you ever answered your phone," Theo retorted. Gareth could hear him roll over onto his side. "There was the prettiest girl working in Claire's."
Gareth forced himself to laugh. "You went to Claire's?"
"Shut up, all right, I saw her outside the shop. I'm gonna get Zach to talk to her. Maybe he can get her number for me."
"You could just talk to her yourself," Gareth said. He felt weirdly divorced from his own mouth, like someone else was speaking while he sat and listened to the words coming out of it.
"Zach said he'd do it." Theo yawned again, and his voice started to trail off. "She had really pretty eyes. Blue. They looked like yours."
"Oh." Theo didn't say anything else; he was probably asleep already. It took Gareth a long while to follow him. His back was starting to ache again.
Notes:
1. Gareth Bale and Theo Walcott were teammates in Southampton's youth system for a number of years, and for the one year they both lived at the academy (Gareth had spent several years prior at Southampton's satellite facility in Bath, and Theo transferred to Arsenal not long after he moved to Southampton proper) they shared a room. That year was the 2005-06 season, during which Theo also met his long-time girlfriend, Melanie Slade. The story about sending Zach (Kalthoff, another academy resident) into Claire's to speak with her for Theo is true. And while this is no doubt purely coincidental, Mel Slade and Gareth do both have blue eyes. (source)
2. When Gareth was about 14, the year before he moved to Southampton, he suffered from back pain (literal growing pains, from getting taller too quickly) so much that it was feared he wouldn't be able to continue with football. He was only given a scholarship to come to live at Southampton's academy when it was clear it had been a temporary problem which he had outgrown. (source)
3. Gareth never answers his phone or his texts. Theo complains about this in interviews a lot. (source, source)
4. Infinite thanks to mardia, who got dragged kicking and screaming into shipping this and yet has somehow written these two more than I have, and always and forever to aramley, who Britpicked for me even though it's not her fandom. ♥ you, darling!