Je cours {JULIÁN ÁLVAREZ CENTRIC}

CHAPTER THREE: Thank you, for everything

Rúben knows the moment he sees Julián that he has found his soulmate.

During his life, if there was one thing he beat himself for was for not having found his destined mate yet. And even if his family and friends told him he was still young and had a lot to live yet to worry himself over such a thing, the matter never stopped bothering him.

Since he was a kid, hearing the story of how his parents met has flown his dreams with fantasies over the moment he would tell his children the same, about feeling your body being taken over by such a static sensation of belonging, of finally clicking your rightful place in life.

And even if he spent his adult years dating people waiting for that moment his father always told him about, he ran out of luck.

And at Manchester he wasn't waiting for anything else new, after all he has been here for years and never got lucky with anyone.

Or so he thought until he met Julián Álvarez.

Julián was a new signing alongside Erling Haaland, the two new strikers that Pep chose specifically to complete their team. When he met the Norwegian, he saw a collected young man with a particular fire behind his eyes that showed hunger for glory, but when he met Julián...He just needed to shake his hand to sense a chill go through his entire spine and feel as if his whole chest was filled with cotton.

"Ho- Hola, soy Rúben. Un gusto", he said in a funny accented spanish, and the Argentinian only needed to give him a shy smile to hammer the last nail to the coffin that proved that, indeed, the younger man in front of him was his destined mate.

But destiny seems to like to play with his heart, and try to shatter it completely.

As the days went by, he started to establish a relationship with the newbie, getting closer during training and even asking him to hang out outside of practice. And Julián actually accepted more than once his outings, but it was clear he did it because he saw Rúben as a friend.

The pull between the Argentinian and the Norwegian was undeniable; every time they crossed looks be on training or the pitch you could notice how tensing it was, and Rúben didn't need to be a psychic to realize they were probably their respective soulmates.

So Rúben sort of accepted his faith, not entirely giving up on Julián but knowing that his place will always be of a friend (and he wanted to take care of that, because he preferred to be a friend than not be anything at all and lose the little of closeness he has with him).

But then, months into knowing each other and during break, he received a phone call from the man one night. He picked up immediately.

"Hello?"

"Can I stay the night at your house?", and the voice of Julián sounded broken. He never heard him like this, and on the pitch of his stomach there's a feeling he doesn't like.

"Of course you can. Do you want me to pick you up?"

"Please. Can you do it in one hour?", replies the omega. He can notice the urgency in the question.

"Of course, Juli. I'll see you then", and the line at the other side goes dead.

He leaves everything he's doing then and just takes his car keys and drives there.

When he pulls to the front of the mansion Julián shares with the Erling, he sort of feels repulsed by it but then sees him get out through the front door with luggage on his hands and his curiosity sparks. He gets down from the car and helps him to get it all inside the trunk. And then, without saying a single word in between them, even if he dies to ask, to know what happened in those days that turned everything completely upside down, he drives away. He can smell the sadness on his scent, so he doesn't dare to speak until Julián doesn't feel ready to.