Mr. E. J. Gulbis
Title: Mr. E. J. Gulbis
Pairing: Novak Djokovic/Ernests Gulbis
Rating: PG-13
Word count: 3,070
Warning: mention of voodoo dolls
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters and this is a fiction.
Summary: Ernests wrestles with the clock at eleven o’clock in the evening.
Author's note: This is a story inspired by jeu_set_match’s wonderful drawing “Jealousy”. And, let’s please pretend that the boys aren’t staying in Indian Wells and are rather in Monte Carlo right now :)
Tick-tick.
Ernests was sitting in the exact middle of the couch, arms crossed, eyes glaring as hard as he could at the clock on the wall.
Novak was supposed to be home by now. He had been worried ever since the Serb didn’t show up at the doorstep even half an hour later from the time that he had told him that he would be back. So he had called him on his cell phone three times and when nobody answered, he had left a text message, and then strangely enough, he had got an answer straight away.
Don’t worry, Ernie. I’m fine. Just caught in traffic. See you back home. Love you.
‘Right, so he can text while driving but can’t answer his phone. Isn’t texting supposed to be more dangerous? He could’ve just picked up the phone and say a few words to reassure me and hang up quickly.’
Ernests loosened his arms and picked up a fluffy cushion that was reluctant to stay in his hands. And, before he could stop himself, he was twisting each corner of the poor cushion.
‘Don’t cheat on me, baby.’
He trusted his boyfriend. Novak rarely lied; he wasn’t talented in lying anyway. He also knew that Novak didn’t do cheating. Yes, he was a normal guy but their bed activities were like a passionate wet dream and he just knew that Novak was the type that would act guilty around him if he had something to hide from him.
‘Then what? Why would there be any traffic at this time of the night?’
Ernests stared at the clock again. It had just struck eleven. And, as far as he could tell, Monte Carlo didn’t have that much traffic even during rush hours.
‘Maybe he is lying for once. It’s not like I can tell through texts. I need to listen to his voice and throw a couple of questions to make the right judgment.’
But the Latvian knew better than anyone that he was far from being a person with keen judgments.
‘He’s cheating. If it’s not a person, then maybe it’s a thing. Does he bet? In casinos?’
Ernests rubbed the tip of his chin. That didn’t sound like Novak. They had gone to a few casinos in the city but neither of them had really played.
‘Then what else? Does he have a wild fantasy about running naked in a dark forest or something? Some strange stuff that he’s ashamed to tell me about?’
Talking about strange stuff, Ernests remembered that it’s rather him that should be careful not to get caught. He didn’t even want to think how Novak will react when he gets to see his colorful collection of voodoo dolls.
He had never been interested in voodoo, or in fact, any type of charms or spells. But when he had realized that he had fallen in love with the Serb and that there were quite a few rivals out there, he had to choose something to help himself out. That was how he got to keep Gasquet, Murray, Nadal, Tipsarevic dolls under the bed.
‘Ha, who knew that it would work better than magic?’
It wasn’t like Ernests was super evil and had a black soul. He had gone through other options at first; he had tried to make Novak see that he would do anything to make him happy. He had even trained in Monte Carlo during the off-season, had changed his daily routine to join the world number three in his morning joggings, and had learned a few Serbian sentences.
He still wouldn’t have chosen such an untraditional method if his potential rivals hadn’t looked much more competitive than him. They all looked good in their own ways, all played high-level tennis and sadly, were all very decent people.
Even if he had been the only one who was going out with the Serb, he had never felt safe enough. He had spent torturous nights and days, trying to come up with the best idea to get rid of that monstrous insecurity, and when his dark circle had crawled down to his ankles, he had shouted Eureka!
‘Oh, that liar Gasquet…’
Ernests shuddered at the memory of the day when the French had advised him that he should shave his arms and legs if he wanted to look good in Novak’s eyes. All he got in return was a strange stare from fellow players and Novak confessing that he really liked his soft hair.
‘And, what about that hairy Murray…’
Ernests punched the cushion in the belly.
‘I don’t even want to think about all the sexual tension whenever he plays Nadal.’
Two punches for the cushion this time.
‘Gurgh… And that Tipsarevic even kissed him on the cheek. That awful picture!’
Ernests lost it and threw the cushion towards the clock. His aim was inch perfect and the clock tilted his head to the left.
‘I should calm down, really. I’m overreacting. He’ll be back at any moment.’
But as usual, his actions didn’t exactly match his thoughts. One moment, he was picking up the cushion, gave it a kiss of apology, but then the other moment, he was pulling out his locked box of voodoo dolls.
‘No. Gasquet and Tipsarevic’s rankings already dropped, Murray and Nadal were already sick. It’s not nice to do something more to them. I’m not even sure if they’re here, spending time with him. There’s always something called phone sex and web cams, but I’m not going to think about that. I can calm down.’
He took a few deep breaths and pushed the box back in its place with his long legs.
‘The problem is that I’m feeling unsafe, right? So I should think of doing something to make me feel safer.’
Ernests rubbed his chin once more and opened the closet.
‘Let’s see. Which one looked great on him?’
He went through a bunch of his boyfriend’s clothes and after a few minutes, he produced a white polo shirt from Dolce & Gabbana.
‘Nice.’
He took off his own T-shirt and put Novak’s on.
‘Oh well…’
He knew that it was going to be tight on him and he was right. Looking at his own reflection in the mirror, Ernests realized that he already felt much better.
‘But this isn’t enough.’
So he jumped on the bed and lay down on the Serb’s side. Since Ernests wasn’t a calm sleeper, he slept on the outside so that his legs could use more space.
‘How can I miss him so much? We even had lunch together. It’s not been that long since I kissed him.’
Moving his head a little on Novak’s pillow to get more comfortable, he put a finger on his lips. It was obvious that they felt warm because of his body temperature but he liked to believe that it was thanks to Novak’s kiss.
‘He’s a great kisser, really. I wonder how many people he kissed before dating me.’
That was one of the, if not the most, questions that Ernests wanted to ask his boyfriend but had never been able to work up the courage to ask it. He was afraid that Novak would actually give him an existing number and that he would lose his mind and do something either totally stupid or either entirely horrible, or even both.
“Ah, this isn’t working!”
He jumped out of bed and ran to the kitchen window that faced the front yard. He felt a little better than waiting on the couch or the bed, but there was absolutely no sign of cars whatsoever.
Tick-tick.
It was as if the clock was getting revenge at him for the cushion-throwing incident. The sound was getting more and more on his nerves as he looked out the window with a deadly stare.
Tick-tick-tick.
‘Zip it, clock.’
Tick-tick-tick-tick.
“I said, zip it.”
Tick-tick…
“Shut the hell up!”
He couldn’t stand it anymore. He couldn’t stand the ticking, his absurd suspicion, and the fact that he always wanted more. Of everything, of anything, he never knew how to be fully satisfied.
‘Why can’t I be happy with what I have? I’m sure there’s someone who’d kill to be in my place.’
The boy was so focused on his thoughts that he didn’t hear a car parking in front of the house and someone coming inside.
“Ernie?”
“Aaaack!”
“Sorry. What are you doing with the clock?” Novak asked as he put down a huge basket behind him and walked over to his boyfriend.
“Nothing. I was just…”
“Throwing it on the floor?”
Novak finished the sentence for him and Ernests bit his lips in shame. He didn’t want to look like a paranoid boyfriend who couldn’t stop thinking of all the things Novak might be doing with other hot guys behind his back.
“Ahaha, my shirt is too small for you.”
Of course, Novak had to notice what the twenty year old was wearing and Ernests wondered what the Serb thought about it.
“It looks cute on you though.”
Since he got a nice kiss on the lips, Ernests finally relaxed and put his arms around the one who had been driving him crazy for all these hours.
“What is that? Is it for me?”
The younger guy shamelessly asked as he spotted the green basket still sitting near the door when he put his chin on Novak’s shoulder. He couldn’t resist taking his eyes off the pretty basket and his curiosity got the better of him.
“Yeah, it’s for you. Actually, that’s why I was late. Sorry for lying. I wanted to give you a surprise.”
The Serb carefully unwrapped Ernests’ arms from his shoulders and picked up the heavy basket.
“Here you go. Ever heard of White Day?”
“White Day? As in White Christmas?”
Ernests asked, realizing with horror that his fingers had already started to unwrap the gift without the consent of his brain.
“No, as in the opposite of Valentine’s Day.”
“What do you mean by opposite?”
“You know, on Valentine’s Day, girls give guys chocolate. So on White Day…”
“Don’t tell me guys give girls chocolate!”
“Uh… it’s actually candy. It’s a Japanese thing that Mario heard from Kei, but since we’re talking about candy, I thought you might be interested.”
“Oh, candy…?”
Novak tried his best not to laugh at an already much gentler Ernests. He knew better that the younger player had a very sweet tooth.
“You don’t want to know how many hours I spent, tracking down the brands you like.”
“Aww, you did? All for me? Om nom nom…”
Ernests had already pushed a big candy into his mouth and reluctantly offered one to his boyfriend.
“Nah, I’m good. I don’t want to go to that scary dentist again.” Novak refused, very aware that Ernests didn’t want to share his many candies.
“Too bad, then. I’ll have to eat all of them alone.” Hoping that he wasn’t smiling too obviously, Ernests gave the Serb a huge hug and a quick kiss.
“Thanks, Nole. You saved my day.”
“Well, I was hoping that I could save your night too. Of course, after you eat as many as you want and brush your teeth.”
“You got it! I’ll be open to any kind of creative ideas you have.”
Ernests moved his eyes in a suggestive manner and Novak couldn’t wait to see the Latvian finish his candies.
The next morning, Novak woke up with a smile on his face. It’s not like he used to wake up with a frown but he was exceptionally happy today. Ernests had showed a considerable amount of love and trust last night and it had been worth all the calling and running to different types of candy stores.
‘Get some more sleep.’
Novak pulled the covers up to Ernests’ chin, placed a kiss on the neat forehead, and slowly got out of bed. They had slept in, judging by all the sunlight that was ready to burst into the room behind the closed curtains.
‘Ok, no need to hurry. I’m letting you in right now.’
He opened the curtains in the living room and in all the other rooms except the bedroom, and finally went to the kitchen and did the same.
‘We could always use some fresh air in the kitchen. It’ll make our breakfast tastier. Not that Ernie needs anything to boost his appetite, haha.’
Thinking about his boyfriend always put him in the best mood and Novak put his hands on the window to open it.
‘Did someone run into the window? Why is it not clean? Hmm… when was the last time we cleaned the windows? Perhaps it’s a good time to do our spring cleaning. Wait, what are these?’
He took a careful look at the prints on the window. They looked like prints from a person’s fingertips, a part of a palm, and he could even make out a nose.
Novak placed his hand right above the imprinted fingers and palm even though he didn’t need any material proof. Ernests had a bigger hand and shorter fingers than him.
‘So he waited for me.’
Novak checked the lower part of the same window and saw more of his boyfriend’s traces.
‘This must be his right arm and this should be his left hipbone.’
He caressed the hipbone impression with his thumb, remembering how good the real ones had felt under his touch last night.
‘Hmm… I don’t feel like erasing these. They’re cute.’
Luckily, Novak got an idea and he turned around to listen if Ernests was awake. As he heard the shower just starting to run from the bathroom attached to their bedroom, he knew that he had fifteen minutes at least.
‘Good!’
He almost ran into the bedroom and opened the top drawer of the chest that was standing in front of the mirror.
“Ahaha…”
‘Who knew that I’d get a chance to use this?’
He was holding a half-used lipstick which belonged to his friend Ana. She must have dropped it when she had come and see them live together and had never got the opportunity to get it back. Actually, he was supposed to give it back when they played in a joint tournament but he had totally forgotten to bring it at Australian Open, and in the end, Ana had just bought a new one.
Novak clearly remembered the day when she had come to see him. She had been so happy for the two of them, and for once, Ernests had liked his friend.
‘Good. Lovely color even. Ok. Let’s go draw.’
Novak quickly approached the window again and grabbed the lipstick as if it was a pen.
‘I’ve always wondered how girls felt to write stuff on the mirror, hehe.’
He thought for a moment about how he could send the right message to his special boyfriend and noticed that the huge print of Ernest’s left arm looked like a capital L.
‘How convenient.’
He drew the borders of the L and made sure the ‘o’ had Ernests’ nose print inside it.
If there was one thing that made Novak feel special, it was that he knew Ernests very well. He knew what might have been going on inside that brain of his while he was running for candies. The fact that the tall boy was even wearing his T-shirt and bothering the clock had only given him more hard evidence.
Love u only, Ernie
And, since it was such an important piece of writing, he didn’t forget to sign at the end.
Taking a few steps back, he admired his handiwork. It looked funny and messy but he could already see Ernests’ soft smile and hear his fresh giggles.
‘Ah, I forgot those fingerprints.’
Novak drew hearts around the four fingers and was proud to see that his hearts didn’t look too crooked as he had feared.
‘Awesome!’
Splash.
“Oh…”
The sound coming from the bathroom told him that Ernests was about to come out. Novak quickly closed the curtains again and sprinted to the bedroom to put the lipstick back in place.
“Nole?”
Ernests came out of the bathroom, towel on head, wearing a shower gown.
“I’m here.”
Novak answered from the bedroom, pretending that he was arranging the closet.
“Oh, I’ll wash this for you.”
Ernests picked up the Dolce & Gabbana shirt from near the bed and headed to the utility room that was right next to the kitchen.
“You opened the curtains! Sunshine’s absolutely lovely these days, don’t you think? Why didn’t you open them here too? We could use some spring su…”
Ernests couldn’t keep talking as he opened the curtains himself.
“I’m sorry you had to wait last night. I didn’t mean to make you worry.”
The voice from behind was sincere and the body that was bundling him up made him feel as if he was daydreaming on a rainbow.
“I only looked out for a minute or so.” Ernests’ voice was small, embarrassed of what he had been thinking of in front of the clock yesterday.
“So how do you like my handwriting? Should I write more often with a lipstick?”
“Hahaha… I love it.”
“Good! Then where’s my morning kiss already?”
“Haha, right here in front of you.”
Ernests turned around and faced the Serb while Novak couldn’t help but feel that his boyfriend had just earned another layer of prettiness. He slowly took off the towel from the Latvian’s head and let the beautiful hair bathe in the sunlight.
“I won’t blush anymore even if you look at me like that.” Ernests giggled, blushing as always.
“Try not to say cute stuff like that. You might need another shower.”
“How do you know if that’s not what I want?”
“Oh, you didn’t just say that.”
“Oh, yes, I just did.”
Ernests wrapped his arms around his personal all-year round candy basket and licked.
"Yum!"