the best bargain of the season
I know I haven't written in ages, and I could probably blame that on a million things. (Half of those million would be myself.) Resurrecting the old Five Things meme seemed the safest way to go.
For Aria:
5 times Roque complimented Micho Demichelis
1.
Micho knows to expect retribution for stealing Schweinsteiger and Podolski's PlayStation cables (but if he'd had to put up with another night of whooping and shrieking, he would have gone mad, really he would) so he walks gingerly for the entire day. He doesn't enter rooms without looking behind the door, he double-knots the drawstring on the inside of his shorts, fuck, he even looks inside his boots before putting them on.
It is, therefore, surprising to him that he reaches the end of the day without any major incident. He half-expects to find his towel missing when he finishes his shower but it sits patiently on the rack, waiting for him.
Only when he gets out of the shower does he realise it was his clothes that the idiots had decided to take. The very things he couldn't walk out of the training grounds without. Micho doesn't find the situation amusing when he has to walk to the locker rooms with his hair dripping and spitting droplets of water - Hitzfeld has the grace to not question the unknown.
He flings the door to the locker room open. "SCHWEINSKI! What the fuck have you done to my clothes?"
"What did you call us?" Schweinsteiger looks rather stunned as he turns from fixing his hair in the mirror.
"It was easier to get out than 'Schweinsteiger and Podolski'," Micho shrugs. He then remembers that he is supposed to be madder than Kahn after a few drinks, and whips his head around to Podolski. "My clothes?"
"Don't ask us, ask the team. We don't know where your stuff is." Podolski grins at Schweinsteiger. In that moment, Micho feels the indescribable desire to shut their heads into a locker. (Different lockers, then they wouldn't be able to make out either.)
Van Buyten chortles. (Micho thought it was a giggle, but then realised it was coming from van Buyten.) He opens his locker and pulls Micho's jeans out. Pizarro tosses him a cap that he finds under some magazines when he opens his locker. Someone - he's too busy gawping around the room to see who - chucks his shirt at him.
"Who's got my underwear?" Everyone looks at each other, and finally at Schweinski (even mentally, they found it easier to say 'Schweinski' as opposed to 'Schweini and Poldi'), who grin beatifically.
"I don't remember whose locker we left it in, do you Poldi?"
"Maybe whoever has it thinks it'd be nice to keep some of Micho's underwear for themselves." Poldi winks before collapsing into a giggling heap.
The other Bayern players just look at him with a mixture of pity and disgust. It is Kahn that speaks after a few concerned seconds - Poldi is finding this situation too amusing for him to be mentally sound - and says "I don't think any of us has your underwear, Micho."
Everyone looks at the door as it opens. Roque walks in, hips swinging slightly. He stops in the middle of the room when he realises everyone is looking at him. He gives them a questioning shake of his head as he opens the door of his locker.
The questioning looks turn into scandalous ones when Micho's underwear is revealed to be dangling from a hook inside Roque's locker. Micho stalks over, glad the whole episode is over, as Roque hooks a finger around the elastic of the boxers and hoists them into the air.
"These yours'?" Micho stops just a step from Roque, and exhales softly. Roque's eyes slide over his body, going lower and lower and if Roque doesn't stop that soon he would be in serious trouble but Roque remembers where they are and looks him in the eye suddenly. "Nice underwear." Roque hands them to him, and Micho makes him wait while catching a drop of water sliding down his side with a finger.
Roque just can't seem to keep his eyes at a respectable level anymore.
Micho smiles, and reminds himself to steal Schweinsteiger and Podolski's stuff more often.
2.
Micho scores in a game when Roque doesn't. But Roque is one of the first to reach him, and hooks an arm around his neck and pulls him in. They manage to stand there, cheek to forehead, for just a few seconds before being interrupted.
3.
Roque is fussing with a pan in the kitchen, and the tip of his tongue is visible from between his thin lips. Micho smells the burnt eggs before he even enters the kitchen, and pulls his hair into a topknot before snatching the pan from Roque.
When Micho puts a plate of tapioca omelette down in front of him ten minutes later, Roque looks at him like he is the last man left on the planet - thank you for cooking for me, thank you for letting me try first, thank you for not caring that I always burn the eggs.
4.
Giselle invites him over for dinner, so Micho gets dressed and shows up appropriately early. He doesn't have to pretend to be happy when Roque's son attaches himself to his calf, and drags him out into the garden. Tobias makes him kick a ball around with him, and only lets Micho get three metres before tackling him clumsily.
"Did your papa never teach you to tackle a man properly?" Micho asks, as he and Tobias pick themselves up off the ground. His look of mock horror draws a giggle, and he spends the next ten minutes trying to teach Tobias how to rob a man of a ball. The kid can't aim as well as he can, but he tries hard enough to warrant being lifted by his ankles so that he can walk on his hands across the garden.
Roque is chopping leeks in the kitchen when Giselle nudges him. He looks out the window, and after a while says something to her softly about how good Micho is with their kids. She replies softer than Roque, telling him it is a pity he doesn't have any of his own.
5.
They are sitting on the border between grass and sand, and swig periodically from bottles with slippery necks. The wind is barely there, but it lifts the tips of their hair into their faces. It is prevented from becoming a farewell by their refusal to talk about a departure. There is dirt from the ground between their toes, and Roque tells himself that as long as he can feel the sand and clutch Micho's fingers there is no need to worry about the world beyond them and the riverbank.
It is an ordinary night, and they are two ordinary men.
A slow transition ends in them with their heads and shoulders leaning on each other. Roque thinks of telling Micho something important, but it can wait.
For Aria:
5 times Roque complimented Micho Demichelis
1.
Micho knows to expect retribution for stealing Schweinsteiger and Podolski's PlayStation cables (but if he'd had to put up with another night of whooping and shrieking, he would have gone mad, really he would) so he walks gingerly for the entire day. He doesn't enter rooms without looking behind the door, he double-knots the drawstring on the inside of his shorts, fuck, he even looks inside his boots before putting them on.
It is, therefore, surprising to him that he reaches the end of the day without any major incident. He half-expects to find his towel missing when he finishes his shower but it sits patiently on the rack, waiting for him.
Only when he gets out of the shower does he realise it was his clothes that the idiots had decided to take. The very things he couldn't walk out of the training grounds without. Micho doesn't find the situation amusing when he has to walk to the locker rooms with his hair dripping and spitting droplets of water - Hitzfeld has the grace to not question the unknown.
He flings the door to the locker room open. "SCHWEINSKI! What the fuck have you done to my clothes?"
"What did you call us?" Schweinsteiger looks rather stunned as he turns from fixing his hair in the mirror.
"It was easier to get out than 'Schweinsteiger and Podolski'," Micho shrugs. He then remembers that he is supposed to be madder than Kahn after a few drinks, and whips his head around to Podolski. "My clothes?"
"Don't ask us, ask the team. We don't know where your stuff is." Podolski grins at Schweinsteiger. In that moment, Micho feels the indescribable desire to shut their heads into a locker. (Different lockers, then they wouldn't be able to make out either.)
Van Buyten chortles. (Micho thought it was a giggle, but then realised it was coming from van Buyten.) He opens his locker and pulls Micho's jeans out. Pizarro tosses him a cap that he finds under some magazines when he opens his locker. Someone - he's too busy gawping around the room to see who - chucks his shirt at him.
"Who's got my underwear?" Everyone looks at each other, and finally at Schweinski (even mentally, they found it easier to say 'Schweinski' as opposed to 'Schweini and Poldi'), who grin beatifically.
"I don't remember whose locker we left it in, do you Poldi?"
"Maybe whoever has it thinks it'd be nice to keep some of Micho's underwear for themselves." Poldi winks before collapsing into a giggling heap.
The other Bayern players just look at him with a mixture of pity and disgust. It is Kahn that speaks after a few concerned seconds - Poldi is finding this situation too amusing for him to be mentally sound - and says "I don't think any of us has your underwear, Micho."
Everyone looks at the door as it opens. Roque walks in, hips swinging slightly. He stops in the middle of the room when he realises everyone is looking at him. He gives them a questioning shake of his head as he opens the door of his locker.
The questioning looks turn into scandalous ones when Micho's underwear is revealed to be dangling from a hook inside Roque's locker. Micho stalks over, glad the whole episode is over, as Roque hooks a finger around the elastic of the boxers and hoists them into the air.
"These yours'?" Micho stops just a step from Roque, and exhales softly. Roque's eyes slide over his body, going lower and lower and if Roque doesn't stop that soon he would be in serious trouble but Roque remembers where they are and looks him in the eye suddenly. "Nice underwear." Roque hands them to him, and Micho makes him wait while catching a drop of water sliding down his side with a finger.
Roque just can't seem to keep his eyes at a respectable level anymore.
Micho smiles, and reminds himself to steal Schweinsteiger and Podolski's stuff more often.
2.
Micho scores in a game when Roque doesn't. But Roque is one of the first to reach him, and hooks an arm around his neck and pulls him in. They manage to stand there, cheek to forehead, for just a few seconds before being interrupted.
3.
Roque is fussing with a pan in the kitchen, and the tip of his tongue is visible from between his thin lips. Micho smells the burnt eggs before he even enters the kitchen, and pulls his hair into a topknot before snatching the pan from Roque.
When Micho puts a plate of tapioca omelette down in front of him ten minutes later, Roque looks at him like he is the last man left on the planet - thank you for cooking for me, thank you for letting me try first, thank you for not caring that I always burn the eggs.
4.
Giselle invites him over for dinner, so Micho gets dressed and shows up appropriately early. He doesn't have to pretend to be happy when Roque's son attaches himself to his calf, and drags him out into the garden. Tobias makes him kick a ball around with him, and only lets Micho get three metres before tackling him clumsily.
"Did your papa never teach you to tackle a man properly?" Micho asks, as he and Tobias pick themselves up off the ground. His look of mock horror draws a giggle, and he spends the next ten minutes trying to teach Tobias how to rob a man of a ball. The kid can't aim as well as he can, but he tries hard enough to warrant being lifted by his ankles so that he can walk on his hands across the garden.
Roque is chopping leeks in the kitchen when Giselle nudges him. He looks out the window, and after a while says something to her softly about how good Micho is with their kids. She replies softer than Roque, telling him it is a pity he doesn't have any of his own.
5.
They are sitting on the border between grass and sand, and swig periodically from bottles with slippery necks. The wind is barely there, but it lifts the tips of their hair into their faces. It is prevented from becoming a farewell by their refusal to talk about a departure. There is dirt from the ground between their toes, and Roque tells himself that as long as he can feel the sand and clutch Micho's fingers there is no need to worry about the world beyond them and the riverbank.
It is an ordinary night, and they are two ordinary men.
A slow transition ends in them with their heads and shoulders leaning on each other. Roque thinks of telling Micho something important, but it can wait.