Swan Lake
Title: Swan Lake
Pairing: Novak Djokovic/Ernests Gulbis
Rating: PG-13 (Never know the appropriate rating, sorry)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and this is a fiction.
Summary: Two players fall in love in Munich. Six years later, they meet again.
June, 2001
It was raining. Novak rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
“No way!” He cried out, hating every drop of water falling from the sky.
It was raining, which meant that there would be no practice today. The indoor courts of Niki Pilic’s Tennis Academy were currently under construction. So the only hope of getting some practice would have been possible on outdoor courts but it was raining heavily.
‘I can’t believe this!’
The fourteen year old wasn’t so upset because he couldn’t play tennis. He was rather tortured because he couldn’t play tennis with a certain someone. The Serbian believed that he had the most awesome practice partner in the world. His partner had a very powerful serve, was calm and serene on court and smart but still witty off court. He was two years younger than Novak but they had soon become best friends.
Novak had no problem at all when he had decided that this would be his last year at the academy. The only thing that made him hesitate now was that cute baby-face that seemed to haunt him recently.
‘Ernests...’
A small smile hung on the boy’s lips. He had never thought that he might be into boys or that he might fall in love with his best friend until he had met his cute little swan. His practice partner’s surname Gulbis meant ‘swan’ in Latvian. Novak felt that it suited him perfectly and found pleasure in calling him a swan even when Ernests blushed.
‘If we can’t practice, we should do something else today. But I should ask him first if he has other plans.’
The players at the academy dedicated most of their time to tennis but Ernests was quite a popular figure. Everyone was aware of his talent so everyone wanted to hang around with him. Novak knew that he couldn’t have him all for himself. That would simply be too selfish. He didn’t think he deserved such a beautiful boyfriend.
‘One day, I’ll serve better, return better, and eventually play better. Then, I’ll be climbing up that ranking and settle myself inside the top 5. And if that day comes, I won’t hesitate to make him mine.’
Novak clenched his fists in determination and quickly changed his clothes. If the Latvian had other plans, he wanted to have breakfast with him at least.
Knock-knock.
It was the third time that Novak had knocked and he was just about to leave when the door finally opened.
“Novak?”
A very sleepy face greeted him and Novak let himself into the room.
“You sleepyhead, it’s already nine!” The Serb mussed up his hair and smacked him on the cheek.
“Good morning to you too.” Ernests blushed, too shy to return the kiss.
“I wanted to ask what your plans are for today.”
“Um... practice?”
“It’s raining outside, Swan.”
“That means we don’t have practice?” The Latvian blinked his eyes and pouted.
“There’s nothing we can do when it rains this much. So you have plans or not?”
Ernests yawned and tried to shake sleepiness away by stretching his long body. “I don’t have any plans, Nole.”
“I thought that Brian wanted to hang out with you.” The Serb didn’t feel comfortable mentioning one of his rivals’ name.
“Brian? Oh, I don’t care about him too much.”
Novak grinned, feeling proud that his boy had a good taste.
“Then what do you say we hang out together? Unless you don’t care about me too much either.”
“No!” Ernests jumped up from the bed.
“You mean you don’t want to hang out with me?” Novak was hurt.
“No! I was saying no to the part where you said I didn’t care about you!”
Now Novak’s grin couldn’t be wider and the Latvian looked at him, shaking his head.
“You know, you look better when you smile like a normal person.”
“Ouch, I am a normal person. It’s just that you make me smile like a fool.”
Ernests opened his mouth to say something but quickly decided against it since his stomach was growling.
“I need food ASAP.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Novak laughed and waited until Ernests changed his clothes before they left the room with their arms around each other’s shoulders.
After breakfast, they were standing near the lake that wasn’t too far away from the academy.
“Uh... this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when you said you wanted to do something fun.”
Ernests laughed and with the hand that wasn’t holding the umbrella, he busied himself looking at the ground to find a nice flat pebble.
Novak knew that Ernests loved water. He loved drinking water, taking a shower, swimming, walking in the rain and even skimming stones over the water.
“Why do like this so much? Yes, the ripples can be interesting but I don’t see what fun there is.”
“It’s fun for me because I’m so good at it.” Ernests grinned. “I can show off my skills.”
“Oh, yeah? I think I can do much better than last time by the way. It might not be so fun for you after all.” Novak gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. “Besides, you always show off your serve on court. Isn’t that enough?”
The younger boy shook his head. “You want my serve?”
‘I want you’ was the instinctive answer that popped into his head but Novak just nodded.
“Nole, you’re always more serious in practice than I am. I bet you’ll soon have a much scarier serve than mine.”
Novak smiled. “Thanks. I really hope my serve will get better.”
Actually, there was a good reason for the Serb to concentrate so much during practice. He didn’t want Ernests to feel that his practice partner wasn’t good enough for him. He had always feared that he might ask for a new partner at any time. But no matter how hard Novak tried, the Latvian just destroyed him in practice matches. Novak couldn’t win a match.
“Ernie.”
“Yes, Nole.”
“Have you ever thought of changing practice partners?”
Ernests looked at him in horror. “You don’t want to practice with me anymore?”
“No, I was worried that you might not want to practice with me anymore.”
The younger boy shook his head until Novak got worried about his neck. “I love practicing with you. Don’t you ever say that again.”
“Ok. Sorry. Now are you going to show me how I can bounce the stone or what?”
Ernests immediately threw his umbrella in the air and ran towards the very edge of the lake. Novak left his umbrella on the ground as well and quickly joined him with his new weapon.
“I’ve found a very flat, light stone. Today, I’m going to win.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.” The defending champion of skimming stones warned.
Novak thought that it was better to prove his point. He faced the lake, skimmed the pebble and it bounced three times across the surface before sinking into the water.
“Three times? That’s all you got? You’re too easy!”
No matter how much the Serb liked him, at this moment, he wanted to pinch him.
“I’ll show you how it’s done. Watch and learn.”
So Novak watched.
“See? You have to slice it.”
“Ha-ha, now you sound like our coach!”
“I do?” Ernests raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice. “You have to slice it, Novak! Slice! I’m telling you! Slice the ball!” He tried to imitate Niki Pilic’s voice.
Novak was laughing, almost bent in half. Making fun of their coach was always so much fun. He tried to imitate him as well and Ernests nearly died in laughter.
“God, I’ve got tears in my eyes. You always nail impersonations!”
“Yeah, maybe that’s the faster way to success.”
“Hey, don’t say that. I’m sure you’ll be a great tennis player.”
Novak was touched. “Hey, don’t flatter me too much. I didn’t bring my wallet so there’s nothing I can buy you.”
“Aww, I totally had an eye on that hotdog we ate the other day! Too bad!” Ernests pouted but then he put on a slightly evil face.
“What?”
“Let’s make a bet.”
“You’re so into bets.”
“Bets are fun!”
“Bets can be dangerous. And you know what? You always bet on something I suck.”
“So true but that’s why it’s fun!”
Novak groaned. “What do you want?”
“The winner shall carry the loser on his back to the academy!” Ernests sounded so excited.
“That’s not fair! You excel at skimming stones!”
“So you’re saying that you’re not going to do it?” The Latvian put on his best you’re-so-cruel-and-I’m-so-hurt face which always made Novak’s heart sink.
“No, I didn’t say that. It’s just that... you know what? Fine, let’s do it.”
Ernests realized that since sometime ago, Novak was doing anything and everything he asked him to do. ‘You shouldn’t be too nice to me. I might want more and more.’
He smacked the Serb on the cheek and quickly dropped to the ground, pretending to look for another pebble.
Novak was surprised. It was the first time after all that time that Ernests had actually kissed him.
“Thank you. It was very nice.”
Ernests ducked his head but Novak could see that even the back of his neck had turned crimson.
Of course, Novak had lost the bet. No surprise for either of them. The Serb was carrying the younger boy on his back while Ernests had a huge grin on his face holding the umbrella with one hand and hanging on to Novak’s neck with the other.
“You just didn’t want to walk back home, right? That’s why you wanted a bet.” Novak trudged in the rain.
“Nooo, I thought you might win today. Too bad you lost!”
“My pebble bounced seven times!”
“Yeah, what a shame since mine bounced ten!! It’s my new record, you know?”
The Latvian couldn’t stop giggling and Novak had to admit that he enjoyed listening to it.
“So did you have fun?”
“Oh, it was so much fun! Thanks to your sucking skills!”
“You’re very nice to mention that, Ernie.”
“Everything’s fun with you, Nole.” Ernests was thinking that maybe he was having too much fun for his own good. Even practice wasn’t boring at all these days because he knew that he had feelings for the boy over the net.
“Same here.” Novak smiled, cherishing every moment of the slow walk back home.
June, 2002
It was raining again. Novak looked out of the window and smiled bitterly.
‘I guess the sky’s sobbing instead of me.’
It was the day when the Serb was officially leaving the academy. He had already extended his stay for half a year because he couldn’t leave the Latvian boy. His feelings for the boy had been returned and as much as Novak found unbelievable pleasure in it, it was taking its toll on their tennis. And since Novak was planning to play as a pro from next year on, he knew it was time to leave.
He caressed the wall of his dear room and picked up his bags when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
The door flew open and a puffy-eyed Ernests ran into his arms so Novak had to leave the bags on the floor and catch him.
“Ernie.”
“I’m a bad boy if I say that I don’t want you to leave, right?” It was mostly sobs so the Serb had a hard time understanding but amazingly he could always understand what the boy had to say.
“Ernie, we talked about this, right?”
“No, I don’t care about what we talked about. I don’t want you to leave.”
Novak kissed the top of the boy’s head, trying to fight the tears away. “Hey, we’re going to see each other again. It’s not the end of the world.”
As a matter of fact, Novak was pretty sure that it was the end of his world at least.
“Remember what we talked about? We come from a very small country where no one cares about tennis. They give Davis Cup tickets for free but still no one bothers to come. So we are going to show them and the whole world that it is possible to have great players from countries with almost no tennis at all. Right?”
Ernests nodded but didn’t stop crying.
“Hey, if we want to make a living out of tennis, we have to give a hundred percent only to tennis. We can’t afford getting distracted. I’m going pro and probably you will too in a couple of years.”
The Latvian nodded again, still holding on to Novak’s waist for his dear life. “But I already miss you.”
The Serb smiled. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve such a lovely boy.
“Nole, promise me just one thing.”
“Anything you ask.”
“If we ever make it to a Grand Slam together and play each other, promise me you’ll take me back.”
Ernests looked into Novak’s eyes. “Come on. Promise me!”
“Okay, I promise.”
“We should set a bar. We could play each others at the qualies. That’s not too fantastic.”
“Ok. Take your pick. Semis?”
“That’s too high. What about quarters?”
“Yeah, like that’s not high.” Novak laughed. “Fine, quarterfinals.”
“You have to come back to me leaving whoever you’re with. I won’t care even if you have to break his heart.”
“Trust me. If I can be with you, I won’t care about anyone else.” Novak was sure about that. “But you know... that day might never come.”
“I have faith in our destiny.” Ernests sounded certain.
“How could you be so sure?”
“Because I feel what we have is so unique. It should be something that you experience once in a life time.”
Novak couldn’t believe that his boy was only thirteen years old.
“I wish I could be that sure. I’ll train harder, you know.”
Ernests nodded. “I’ll miss you so much.” His teardrops were falling faster than the rain.
“I will miss you too. You have no idea.” Novak placed a painfully gentle kiss on the younger boy’s cheek.
“Oh, I have to give you something before you leave.” Ernests hastily rubbed his face with the back of his hand to wipe his tears away and pulled out an origami from his pocket.
Novak didn’t know whether it was time to smile or cry. It was a swan.
“I know it doesn’t look too good. I’m terrible at making stuff.” Ernests scratched the back of his head. “But I don’t want you to forget me.”
“I’ll never forget you, Ernie. And thank you. This is beautiful.”
Ernests’ smile brightened the room and Novak pulled something out of his pocket as well.
“You always seemed to like water so...”
It was a key chain with a tiny water bottle attached to it.
“That’s the water from that lake we used to go, you know... well, it’s only a few drops but...”
Soon Ernests was back around Novak’s waist, crying his soul out and Novak swore to God that he would do everything in his power to succeed as a tennis player.
June, 2008
Novak finished his press conference and came back to his hotel room to sink down into the couch. Butterflies were roaring inside his stomach and he couldn’t stop laughing out loud as a lunatic. They had made it. It was official. He had won his match against Paul-Henri Mathieu and Ernests had won his against Michael Llodra. He and his boy were going to play each other in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam.
All of a sudden, Novak sat up.
‘What if he forgot? It’s been six years. What if he forgot?’
He was able to run into the Latvian a couple of days ago at the players’ restaurant but Ernests had said hi and quickly walked past him.
‘Maybe he’s with someone else? Maybe I’m stupid enough to believe in a promise we made when we were so young.’
All sorts of thoughts bothered Novak and he felt like he should throw up. He was about to go to the bathroom to splash water on his face when his cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Djokovic’s number?”
“Yes, this is he.”
“I’d very much like to speak to my dear old Nole, please. Is he available?”
Reality hit him hard. Novak recognized the voice. It was a little lower and a little sexier, but he knew that voice.
“Oh, dear Lord...”
“Well, I’d love to be dear Lord, but sorry, I’m not.”
The guy on the other side of the phone giggled and Novak couldn’t be any surer of who he was talking to.
“Ernests...”
“Oh, so you were available after all. Hi, Nole.”
They didn’t need anymore words. Their reunion was already so complete just by listening to the endearing breathes of each other.
“I’ve still got your water key chain.”
“And I’ve still got your swan origami.”
Ernests giggled once more. “Do you know where I am right now?”
“In Paris, I guess.”
“Smart answer but more specifically, I’m right at your door.”
Novak felt his heart drop. ‘What did he just say?’
“You’re not serious.”
“Oh, yes, I am. And you have no idea how hard I’ve tried to win all those matches. You have absolutely no idea.”
The Serbian dropped his phone and ran off to open the door.
There he was. His beautiful boy was standing right in front of his eyes, right there at the doorstep. He didn’t care if he looked ugly, sobbing. He couldn’t believe that the day finally came. God knows how tortured he was, how tempting it was to forget about that stupid promise or tennis and just run back into his Latvian’s arms.
“Hello, Novak.”
“Hello, my dear little Swan.”
Ernests loved the sound of it even though he was 190cm now and jumped on the Serbian who was more than ready to lift him up by the waist.
They couldn’t remember who initiated the kiss. It was their first kiss but it felt as if they had kissed a hundred times before.
“Oh, God... I thought you had forgotten.” Novak spoke between short kisses.
“How stupid of you to say that. Oh, tell me you’ll dump that Serbian girl.” Ernests couldn’t stand anyone getting close to Novak like that.
“I will. Consider it done.”
“Then tell me now how much you missed me because my version’s going to take months.”
“Ha-ha, what makes you so sure that mine will be any shorter?” Novak couldn’t keep his hands off the soft locks of golden curls.
“Because a person can’t miss another one more than I did. You were in the papers and everywhere I went, people talked about you. I knew I had to step up fast or otherwise, you might just forget about me and our stupid little promise.”
“Don’t call it stupid. That was the one thing that kept me going even when I felt I couldn’t even move my feet. Remember last year’s Vienna?”
Ernests nodded. “You won the tournament.”
“Only because I thought that you’ll get to hear about me more. I was already burnt out to death after the first round. But I battled through, you know. All because I knew that you always keep promises.”
“Tell me you won’t dump me even if I win against you the day after tomorrow.”
“Tell me you won’t do the same thing even if I win.”
“I won’t. But you might have to kiss me a lot to make me feel better.”
“I can certainly do that. I’m even willing to do something more than just kissing.” Novak caressed the gentle shoulders that seemed to fit perfectly in his arms.
“Is that true?” Ernests felt as if his body had caught fire.
“Uh-huh.” Novak nodded and pulled his boy into another possessive kiss.
It still felt surreal that they were holding each other on a hotel bed. Both of them wondered if all this was just a dream. They had dreamt of this moment so many times that they needed more proof to believe that this was real.
“Let’s make a bet.” The Latvian suggested between kisses.
“You still love bets, don’t you? What sort of bet?”
“Whoever wins the day after tomorrow gets to be on top.”
Novak had almost asked ‘On top of what?’ but then he realized what his little Swan was talking about.
“In that case, I’m so going to win it.” He emphasized.
“Don’t be so sure about that. As you kindly mentioned in your interview, I could be crazier than you, even on court as well.”
“You honestly think you can beat me? My results have been more consistent than yours.” Novak smiled.
“If I can push you into a fifth set, I think I’ll have my chances. Remember, I completely destroyed you in practice back then.”
“That was just practice. Matches and practices are two very different things, my dear.”
“Well, let’s wait and see. Anyway I think I’ll make a better top than you. I’m taller and lighter and my serve is faster than yours which means I’m more powerful.”
“Good to know that. I’ll be less disappointed than usual even if I lose then.”
Ernests patted the Serbian’s cheek. “Plus, I think your butt’s much cuter than mine. I’ve saved some pictures of you on my laptop that will totally prove my point.”
Novak wasn’t sure if he could get used to this sort of conversation. The last time they had spoken, they were kids. They didn’t speak about each other’s butt or who was going to be on top.
“Um... thanks for the compliment.” Novak didn’t know what else to say.
“Is it shocking that I speak like this? Perhaps you wanted me to stay as your little swan.” Ernests seemed to read his mind.
“You’re still my little swan. Don’t forget that.”
“Don’t worry, Nole. You’ll soon get used to the grown-up me. Because now that I have you right where I wanted, I’m planning to share even crazier experiences with you off court.”
Ernests’ last words were almost whispered in his ears and Novak moaned.
“Hey, I have to leave now or we’ll end up making a hundred unforced errors each.”
“Tonight and tomorrow will be so long for me.”
“Same for me. But I promise you the day after tomorrow is going to be so different.” The Latvian winked and Novak devoured him once more before completely letting go of him.
“Leave, Ernie. See you on court.”
Ernests nodded. “Just so you know, I’m more than honored to play with you. And I can’t still believe the day has finally come.”
“Me neither. My prayers have finally been answered.”
Novak didn’t even blink when he saw Ernests walk out of his room. There was no time to blink when every single moment had to be dedicated to watch the beautiful back.
“See you on court, Ernie.”
A happy teardrop finally hit the floor.
Pairing: Novak Djokovic/Ernests Gulbis
Rating: PG-13 (Never know the appropriate rating, sorry)
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and this is a fiction.
Summary: Two players fall in love in Munich. Six years later, they meet again.
June, 2001
It was raining. Novak rubbed his eyes in disbelief.
“No way!” He cried out, hating every drop of water falling from the sky.
It was raining, which meant that there would be no practice today. The indoor courts of Niki Pilic’s Tennis Academy were currently under construction. So the only hope of getting some practice would have been possible on outdoor courts but it was raining heavily.
‘I can’t believe this!’
The fourteen year old wasn’t so upset because he couldn’t play tennis. He was rather tortured because he couldn’t play tennis with a certain someone. The Serbian believed that he had the most awesome practice partner in the world. His partner had a very powerful serve, was calm and serene on court and smart but still witty off court. He was two years younger than Novak but they had soon become best friends.
Novak had no problem at all when he had decided that this would be his last year at the academy. The only thing that made him hesitate now was that cute baby-face that seemed to haunt him recently.
‘Ernests...’
A small smile hung on the boy’s lips. He had never thought that he might be into boys or that he might fall in love with his best friend until he had met his cute little swan. His practice partner’s surname Gulbis meant ‘swan’ in Latvian. Novak felt that it suited him perfectly and found pleasure in calling him a swan even when Ernests blushed.
‘If we can’t practice, we should do something else today. But I should ask him first if he has other plans.’
The players at the academy dedicated most of their time to tennis but Ernests was quite a popular figure. Everyone was aware of his talent so everyone wanted to hang around with him. Novak knew that he couldn’t have him all for himself. That would simply be too selfish. He didn’t think he deserved such a beautiful boyfriend.
‘One day, I’ll serve better, return better, and eventually play better. Then, I’ll be climbing up that ranking and settle myself inside the top 5. And if that day comes, I won’t hesitate to make him mine.’
Novak clenched his fists in determination and quickly changed his clothes. If the Latvian had other plans, he wanted to have breakfast with him at least.
Knock-knock.
It was the third time that Novak had knocked and he was just about to leave when the door finally opened.
“Novak?”
A very sleepy face greeted him and Novak let himself into the room.
“You sleepyhead, it’s already nine!” The Serb mussed up his hair and smacked him on the cheek.
“Good morning to you too.” Ernests blushed, too shy to return the kiss.
“I wanted to ask what your plans are for today.”
“Um... practice?”
“It’s raining outside, Swan.”
“That means we don’t have practice?” The Latvian blinked his eyes and pouted.
“There’s nothing we can do when it rains this much. So you have plans or not?”
Ernests yawned and tried to shake sleepiness away by stretching his long body. “I don’t have any plans, Nole.”
“I thought that Brian wanted to hang out with you.” The Serb didn’t feel comfortable mentioning one of his rivals’ name.
“Brian? Oh, I don’t care about him too much.”
Novak grinned, feeling proud that his boy had a good taste.
“Then what do you say we hang out together? Unless you don’t care about me too much either.”
“No!” Ernests jumped up from the bed.
“You mean you don’t want to hang out with me?” Novak was hurt.
“No! I was saying no to the part where you said I didn’t care about you!”
Now Novak’s grin couldn’t be wider and the Latvian looked at him, shaking his head.
“You know, you look better when you smile like a normal person.”
“Ouch, I am a normal person. It’s just that you make me smile like a fool.”
Ernests opened his mouth to say something but quickly decided against it since his stomach was growling.
“I need food ASAP.”
“Yeah, I can tell.” Novak laughed and waited until Ernests changed his clothes before they left the room with their arms around each other’s shoulders.
After breakfast, they were standing near the lake that wasn’t too far away from the academy.
“Uh... this wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when you said you wanted to do something fun.”
Ernests laughed and with the hand that wasn’t holding the umbrella, he busied himself looking at the ground to find a nice flat pebble.
Novak knew that Ernests loved water. He loved drinking water, taking a shower, swimming, walking in the rain and even skimming stones over the water.
“Why do like this so much? Yes, the ripples can be interesting but I don’t see what fun there is.”
“It’s fun for me because I’m so good at it.” Ernests grinned. “I can show off my skills.”
“Oh, yeah? I think I can do much better than last time by the way. It might not be so fun for you after all.” Novak gave him a playful punch on the shoulder. “Besides, you always show off your serve on court. Isn’t that enough?”
The younger boy shook his head. “You want my serve?”
‘I want you’ was the instinctive answer that popped into his head but Novak just nodded.
“Nole, you’re always more serious in practice than I am. I bet you’ll soon have a much scarier serve than mine.”
Novak smiled. “Thanks. I really hope my serve will get better.”
Actually, there was a good reason for the Serb to concentrate so much during practice. He didn’t want Ernests to feel that his practice partner wasn’t good enough for him. He had always feared that he might ask for a new partner at any time. But no matter how hard Novak tried, the Latvian just destroyed him in practice matches. Novak couldn’t win a match.
“Ernie.”
“Yes, Nole.”
“Have you ever thought of changing practice partners?”
Ernests looked at him in horror. “You don’t want to practice with me anymore?”
“No, I was worried that you might not want to practice with me anymore.”
The younger boy shook his head until Novak got worried about his neck. “I love practicing with you. Don’t you ever say that again.”
“Ok. Sorry. Now are you going to show me how I can bounce the stone or what?”
Ernests immediately threw his umbrella in the air and ran towards the very edge of the lake. Novak left his umbrella on the ground as well and quickly joined him with his new weapon.
“I’ve found a very flat, light stone. Today, I’m going to win.”
“Don’t be so sure of that.” The defending champion of skimming stones warned.
Novak thought that it was better to prove his point. He faced the lake, skimmed the pebble and it bounced three times across the surface before sinking into the water.
“Three times? That’s all you got? You’re too easy!”
No matter how much the Serb liked him, at this moment, he wanted to pinch him.
“I’ll show you how it’s done. Watch and learn.”
So Novak watched.
“See? You have to slice it.”
“Ha-ha, now you sound like our coach!”
“I do?” Ernests raised his eyebrows and lowered his voice. “You have to slice it, Novak! Slice! I’m telling you! Slice the ball!” He tried to imitate Niki Pilic’s voice.
Novak was laughing, almost bent in half. Making fun of their coach was always so much fun. He tried to imitate him as well and Ernests nearly died in laughter.
“God, I’ve got tears in my eyes. You always nail impersonations!”
“Yeah, maybe that’s the faster way to success.”
“Hey, don’t say that. I’m sure you’ll be a great tennis player.”
Novak was touched. “Hey, don’t flatter me too much. I didn’t bring my wallet so there’s nothing I can buy you.”
“Aww, I totally had an eye on that hotdog we ate the other day! Too bad!” Ernests pouted but then he put on a slightly evil face.
“What?”
“Let’s make a bet.”
“You’re so into bets.”
“Bets are fun!”
“Bets can be dangerous. And you know what? You always bet on something I suck.”
“So true but that’s why it’s fun!”
Novak groaned. “What do you want?”
“The winner shall carry the loser on his back to the academy!” Ernests sounded so excited.
“That’s not fair! You excel at skimming stones!”
“So you’re saying that you’re not going to do it?” The Latvian put on his best you’re-so-cruel-and-I’m-so-hurt face which always made Novak’s heart sink.
“No, I didn’t say that. It’s just that... you know what? Fine, let’s do it.”
Ernests realized that since sometime ago, Novak was doing anything and everything he asked him to do. ‘You shouldn’t be too nice to me. I might want more and more.’
He smacked the Serb on the cheek and quickly dropped to the ground, pretending to look for another pebble.
Novak was surprised. It was the first time after all that time that Ernests had actually kissed him.
“Thank you. It was very nice.”
Ernests ducked his head but Novak could see that even the back of his neck had turned crimson.
Of course, Novak had lost the bet. No surprise for either of them. The Serb was carrying the younger boy on his back while Ernests had a huge grin on his face holding the umbrella with one hand and hanging on to Novak’s neck with the other.
“You just didn’t want to walk back home, right? That’s why you wanted a bet.” Novak trudged in the rain.
“Nooo, I thought you might win today. Too bad you lost!”
“My pebble bounced seven times!”
“Yeah, what a shame since mine bounced ten!! It’s my new record, you know?”
The Latvian couldn’t stop giggling and Novak had to admit that he enjoyed listening to it.
“So did you have fun?”
“Oh, it was so much fun! Thanks to your sucking skills!”
“You’re very nice to mention that, Ernie.”
“Everything’s fun with you, Nole.” Ernests was thinking that maybe he was having too much fun for his own good. Even practice wasn’t boring at all these days because he knew that he had feelings for the boy over the net.
“Same here.” Novak smiled, cherishing every moment of the slow walk back home.
June, 2002
It was raining again. Novak looked out of the window and smiled bitterly.
‘I guess the sky’s sobbing instead of me.’
It was the day when the Serb was officially leaving the academy. He had already extended his stay for half a year because he couldn’t leave the Latvian boy. His feelings for the boy had been returned and as much as Novak found unbelievable pleasure in it, it was taking its toll on their tennis. And since Novak was planning to play as a pro from next year on, he knew it was time to leave.
He caressed the wall of his dear room and picked up his bags when someone knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
The door flew open and a puffy-eyed Ernests ran into his arms so Novak had to leave the bags on the floor and catch him.
“Ernie.”
“I’m a bad boy if I say that I don’t want you to leave, right?” It was mostly sobs so the Serb had a hard time understanding but amazingly he could always understand what the boy had to say.
“Ernie, we talked about this, right?”
“No, I don’t care about what we talked about. I don’t want you to leave.”
Novak kissed the top of the boy’s head, trying to fight the tears away. “Hey, we’re going to see each other again. It’s not the end of the world.”
As a matter of fact, Novak was pretty sure that it was the end of his world at least.
“Remember what we talked about? We come from a very small country where no one cares about tennis. They give Davis Cup tickets for free but still no one bothers to come. So we are going to show them and the whole world that it is possible to have great players from countries with almost no tennis at all. Right?”
Ernests nodded but didn’t stop crying.
“Hey, if we want to make a living out of tennis, we have to give a hundred percent only to tennis. We can’t afford getting distracted. I’m going pro and probably you will too in a couple of years.”
The Latvian nodded again, still holding on to Novak’s waist for his dear life. “But I already miss you.”
The Serb smiled. He didn’t know what he had done to deserve such a lovely boy.
“Nole, promise me just one thing.”
“Anything you ask.”
“If we ever make it to a Grand Slam together and play each other, promise me you’ll take me back.”
Ernests looked into Novak’s eyes. “Come on. Promise me!”
“Okay, I promise.”
“We should set a bar. We could play each others at the qualies. That’s not too fantastic.”
“Ok. Take your pick. Semis?”
“That’s too high. What about quarters?”
“Yeah, like that’s not high.” Novak laughed. “Fine, quarterfinals.”
“You have to come back to me leaving whoever you’re with. I won’t care even if you have to break his heart.”
“Trust me. If I can be with you, I won’t care about anyone else.” Novak was sure about that. “But you know... that day might never come.”
“I have faith in our destiny.” Ernests sounded certain.
“How could you be so sure?”
“Because I feel what we have is so unique. It should be something that you experience once in a life time.”
Novak couldn’t believe that his boy was only thirteen years old.
“I wish I could be that sure. I’ll train harder, you know.”
Ernests nodded. “I’ll miss you so much.” His teardrops were falling faster than the rain.
“I will miss you too. You have no idea.” Novak placed a painfully gentle kiss on the younger boy’s cheek.
“Oh, I have to give you something before you leave.” Ernests hastily rubbed his face with the back of his hand to wipe his tears away and pulled out an origami from his pocket.
Novak didn’t know whether it was time to smile or cry. It was a swan.
“I know it doesn’t look too good. I’m terrible at making stuff.” Ernests scratched the back of his head. “But I don’t want you to forget me.”
“I’ll never forget you, Ernie. And thank you. This is beautiful.”
Ernests’ smile brightened the room and Novak pulled something out of his pocket as well.
“You always seemed to like water so...”
It was a key chain with a tiny water bottle attached to it.
“That’s the water from that lake we used to go, you know... well, it’s only a few drops but...”
Soon Ernests was back around Novak’s waist, crying his soul out and Novak swore to God that he would do everything in his power to succeed as a tennis player.
June, 2008
Novak finished his press conference and came back to his hotel room to sink down into the couch. Butterflies were roaring inside his stomach and he couldn’t stop laughing out loud as a lunatic. They had made it. It was official. He had won his match against Paul-Henri Mathieu and Ernests had won his against Michael Llodra. He and his boy were going to play each other in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam.
All of a sudden, Novak sat up.
‘What if he forgot? It’s been six years. What if he forgot?’
He was able to run into the Latvian a couple of days ago at the players’ restaurant but Ernests had said hi and quickly walked past him.
‘Maybe he’s with someone else? Maybe I’m stupid enough to believe in a promise we made when we were so young.’
All sorts of thoughts bothered Novak and he felt like he should throw up. He was about to go to the bathroom to splash water on his face when his cell phone rang.
“Hello.”
“Hello, may I ask if this is Mr. Djokovic’s number?”
“Yes, this is he.”
“I’d very much like to speak to my dear old Nole, please. Is he available?”
Reality hit him hard. Novak recognized the voice. It was a little lower and a little sexier, but he knew that voice.
“Oh, dear Lord...”
“Well, I’d love to be dear Lord, but sorry, I’m not.”
The guy on the other side of the phone giggled and Novak couldn’t be any surer of who he was talking to.
“Ernests...”
“Oh, so you were available after all. Hi, Nole.”
They didn’t need anymore words. Their reunion was already so complete just by listening to the endearing breathes of each other.
“I’ve still got your water key chain.”
“And I’ve still got your swan origami.”
Ernests giggled once more. “Do you know where I am right now?”
“In Paris, I guess.”
“Smart answer but more specifically, I’m right at your door.”
Novak felt his heart drop. ‘What did he just say?’
“You’re not serious.”
“Oh, yes, I am. And you have no idea how hard I’ve tried to win all those matches. You have absolutely no idea.”
The Serbian dropped his phone and ran off to open the door.
There he was. His beautiful boy was standing right in front of his eyes, right there at the doorstep. He didn’t care if he looked ugly, sobbing. He couldn’t believe that the day finally came. God knows how tortured he was, how tempting it was to forget about that stupid promise or tennis and just run back into his Latvian’s arms.
“Hello, Novak.”
“Hello, my dear little Swan.”
Ernests loved the sound of it even though he was 190cm now and jumped on the Serbian who was more than ready to lift him up by the waist.
They couldn’t remember who initiated the kiss. It was their first kiss but it felt as if they had kissed a hundred times before.
“Oh, God... I thought you had forgotten.” Novak spoke between short kisses.
“How stupid of you to say that. Oh, tell me you’ll dump that Serbian girl.” Ernests couldn’t stand anyone getting close to Novak like that.
“I will. Consider it done.”
“Then tell me now how much you missed me because my version’s going to take months.”
“Ha-ha, what makes you so sure that mine will be any shorter?” Novak couldn’t keep his hands off the soft locks of golden curls.
“Because a person can’t miss another one more than I did. You were in the papers and everywhere I went, people talked about you. I knew I had to step up fast or otherwise, you might just forget about me and our stupid little promise.”
“Don’t call it stupid. That was the one thing that kept me going even when I felt I couldn’t even move my feet. Remember last year’s Vienna?”
Ernests nodded. “You won the tournament.”
“Only because I thought that you’ll get to hear about me more. I was already burnt out to death after the first round. But I battled through, you know. All because I knew that you always keep promises.”
“Tell me you won’t dump me even if I win against you the day after tomorrow.”
“Tell me you won’t do the same thing even if I win.”
“I won’t. But you might have to kiss me a lot to make me feel better.”
“I can certainly do that. I’m even willing to do something more than just kissing.” Novak caressed the gentle shoulders that seemed to fit perfectly in his arms.
“Is that true?” Ernests felt as if his body had caught fire.
“Uh-huh.” Novak nodded and pulled his boy into another possessive kiss.
It still felt surreal that they were holding each other on a hotel bed. Both of them wondered if all this was just a dream. They had dreamt of this moment so many times that they needed more proof to believe that this was real.
“Let’s make a bet.” The Latvian suggested between kisses.
“You still love bets, don’t you? What sort of bet?”
“Whoever wins the day after tomorrow gets to be on top.”
Novak had almost asked ‘On top of what?’ but then he realized what his little Swan was talking about.
“In that case, I’m so going to win it.” He emphasized.
“Don’t be so sure about that. As you kindly mentioned in your interview, I could be crazier than you, even on court as well.”
“You honestly think you can beat me? My results have been more consistent than yours.” Novak smiled.
“If I can push you into a fifth set, I think I’ll have my chances. Remember, I completely destroyed you in practice back then.”
“That was just practice. Matches and practices are two very different things, my dear.”
“Well, let’s wait and see. Anyway I think I’ll make a better top than you. I’m taller and lighter and my serve is faster than yours which means I’m more powerful.”
“Good to know that. I’ll be less disappointed than usual even if I lose then.”
Ernests patted the Serbian’s cheek. “Plus, I think your butt’s much cuter than mine. I’ve saved some pictures of you on my laptop that will totally prove my point.”
Novak wasn’t sure if he could get used to this sort of conversation. The last time they had spoken, they were kids. They didn’t speak about each other’s butt or who was going to be on top.
“Um... thanks for the compliment.” Novak didn’t know what else to say.
“Is it shocking that I speak like this? Perhaps you wanted me to stay as your little swan.” Ernests seemed to read his mind.
“You’re still my little swan. Don’t forget that.”
“Don’t worry, Nole. You’ll soon get used to the grown-up me. Because now that I have you right where I wanted, I’m planning to share even crazier experiences with you off court.”
Ernests’ last words were almost whispered in his ears and Novak moaned.
“Hey, I have to leave now or we’ll end up making a hundred unforced errors each.”
“Tonight and tomorrow will be so long for me.”
“Same for me. But I promise you the day after tomorrow is going to be so different.” The Latvian winked and Novak devoured him once more before completely letting go of him.
“Leave, Ernie. See you on court.”
Ernests nodded. “Just so you know, I’m more than honored to play with you. And I can’t still believe the day has finally come.”
“Me neither. My prayers have finally been answered.”
Novak didn’t even blink when he saw Ernests walk out of his room. There was no time to blink when every single moment had to be dedicated to watch the beautiful back.
“See you on court, Ernie.”
A happy teardrop finally hit the floor.