Fever Dream ~ Neymar Jr

Chapter 19

2015

"No baby, not like that." Neymar said, getting a little frustrated. "Move your leg."

I sighed, wrapping my hands around his waist to stabilize myself. "There's no point. I am not good in this position. It's not gonna work."

"Noone got anywhere without practicing. We'll keep practicing till you nail it." He said and I gave him a look that made him blush. "Liv." He said seriously.

"Okay, fine coach." I said, moving my leg and disentangling myself from him. "Let's try again."

He smiled and run to bring the ball back. "You look so cute in my kit." He commented, looking at me. I had not brought any training clothes with me to Barcelona so I'd borrow his, which I loved. "Let's try again. You need to keep practicing this." He said, setting the ball down again, next to the half ball balance trainer.

My balance was one of my weakest traits and it was critical to improve it if I wanted to become a better dribbler. I needed to be able to change direction of the ball and my body almost instantly while playing, without losing my balance in the process. That was one of the traits I was convinced that Neymar was born with, but he insisted that while some natural ability is necessary, it was all down to practice.

"Don't forget, I went pro when I was 16. That's countless hours of practicing." He said, offering his hand to pick me up after I'd lost my balance and landed on my bum once again.

"I am gonna be covered in bruises." I told him, cleaning my shorts as best as I could from the grass that stuck to them.

He pulled me close to him and gave me a kiss on the temple. "Do you want to stop?" He asked me, a sympathetic look on his face.

"No." I said decisively. "I need to get better at this. These teams we're playing against back home, they laugh when they first see me on the field. My goal is to make sure they aren't laughing anymore by the end of the game."

Neymar smiled. "That's my girl." He said, pulling me in for another kiss.

After about half an hour, in which we practiced on the balance trainer a little more and Neymar also helped me perfect my rainbow technique, we headed to his inside gym for some conditioning.

"I still don't get why Europeans frown upon the rainbow. It's perfectly legal to do."

"They think you're taunting them with tricks." Neymar said.

"It is a trick, but I wouldn't call it taunting. Especially in a big game. If you did it against PSG tomorrow, you wouldn't be trying to humiliate them, you'd just be trying to advance the ball in any way you could."

"Should I try one tomorrow?" Neymar teased.

"No. Unless the situation absolutely calls for it. Which with you it just means, you'll do it instinctually." I said, as I got up on the treadmill. "No conditioning for you." I warned him when he went towards the stationary bike. "You've got to rest for tomorrow. I'm already feeling a little bit guilty for practicing with you today."

"Don't." Neymar said, hopping on the side of my treadmill and giving me a kiss on the forehead as I run while simultaneously upping both my speed and incline.

"I take it back." I told him, trying to adjust to the new speed. He laughed.

"I'm allowed to go into the hot tub, aren't I?" He asked, going to the next room to turn it on. I looked at the timer on my treadmill. Only twenty more minutes till I could go join him.

~*~

The day of the match arrived and I was beyond excited. While I didn't have time to see Thiago and David before the match, we'd meet up after, at the party in Neymar's house.