Afterglow || julián x enzo

Afterglow

Julián was barely aware of the AFA employee guiding him to one of the cars with tinted windows. Some part of his brain felt grateful for whoever had arranged his transport after the celebrations were over, because once they were back in the association's facilities, he really wasn't sure where to go. But then Enzo had kissed his cheek briefly with a quick "see you home", and Juli figured he would manage to get there somehow.

The trip to Enzo's family home was longer than usual, what with half the city collapsed with celebrating fans and their need to disguise Julián's destination, but they finally turned around the well-known corner, and Julián thanked the driver before hopping off. He'd only brought a backpack and a small suitcase with him, the rest of his luggage was going to be sent to Calchín, his hometown, in the meantime.

The door to the two-story house opened before Julián could properly raise his hands to knock on it, and Enzo's mum dragged him inside with a huge smile. She closed the door behind them and hugged him tightly like she'd always done.

" Ay , Juli. I'm so happy for you and Enzo. You were little boys just yesterday and look at you now." The woman hugged him again and Julián didn't know what to say, so he hugged her back instead. "Now, come. I see you didn't wear a drop of sunscreen either. Those arms of yours are going to hurt a lot tomorrow."

Julián frowned, looking at his arms that had already turned a striking shade of pink. He pressed one finger to the skin and hissed at the sharp pain. He allowed Marta to drag him to the kitchen. There was already a pot of aftersun lotion mixed aloe vera, and Enzo's mother wasted no time directing Julián to take off his shirt so she could apply the mixture over the reddened skin. She chatted with him through the whole process, telling him all about the messages she's been receiving from friends and family. When she was done, she patted Julián's cheek and pointed at the stairs.

"Enzo is in his room. You both should come down and eat something, dinner won't be done in a while and you need to put something on your stomachs. Being hungover won't be an excuse to not have breakfast tomorrow."

Julián chuckled and nodded, accepting the piece of advice as well as the threat.

"If Enzo is not sleeping, I'll bring him down. Thanks for the lotion," he added with a big smile and exited the kitchen, dragging his backpack behind him.

As Julián had expected, Enzo was lying in his childhood bed looking asleep. He sat on the bed to untie his shoes and was surprised when his boyfriend opened his eyes and grinned at him. Julián smiled back and caressed his cheek.

"Hey there, thought you'd be completely out by now."

Enzo ignored his words and ran a careful finger along Julián's reddened arm: "I see my mum got you all covered in her lotion for sunburns."

"Yeah, you know how she's like"

"Overprotective as hell," he added quickly and then shook his head with a little bit of annoyance. Enzo moved to leave some room for Juli on the narrow bed. "Come here."

At some point it had been way easier to fit their bodies on the same single mattress, but they had done some growing since then. In any case, Julián took advantage of the tight space by curling himself around Enzo. He even left a kiss on his neck for good measure.

"How are you feeling?"

"Fucking tired," Enzo replied easily, and as a testament of it, he yawned. "I feel like I could sleep for a week straight, don't you?"

"Yeah. It feels like the final was a month ago."

Julián thought about that for a while. They'd played in the World Cup together. Not just play, they'd been key players for the team. They had won the fucking World Cup. The more he looked around at Enzo's old room where they'd spent so much time as teens, the more surreal it felt. How did that even happen to them?