Anyone but you (Fermín López)

Chapter 22

Ever since Oscar discovered Fermín and Victoria together, she had been away from anything related to the team. She had watched every single match from home since it made her feel closer to Fermín. But that was it.

However, now that things were fine again, Victoria wanted to go back to see the boys. Well, not all of them...but she still missed hanging out with Gundo and Ferran, who she built up some nice friendships with. So she asked her dad if it was ok for her to attend a training session and he said yes. The situation for him and for her uncle was very tense at the moment, and she also wanted to be there for them. Victoria could tell how it was affecting her dad and felt so bad about it.

"I made you breakfast, dad".

"I already said you can come to the training, princess".

"Yeah, but I wanted to do something nice for you too", she said, placing a plate with pancakes and fruit in front of him. "Why does there have to be an ulterior motive for me to do it?"

"Ok, thank you, this looks great. I'll make some coffee...".

"I made that too", she told him, placing the cup of coffee next to the plate.

"Are you going to tell me something that will upset me?"

"No. Can't I just do something nice for my dad just because?"

"Sure...but just checking there's no engagement or pregnancy".

"Dad...do you seriously think being engaged is as bad as being pregnant before I turn 20?"

"You still didn't confirm or deny", he pointed out.

"Not pregnant. I actually didn't get my period back yet so I'm not sure I can be pregnant anyway. Doctor said it'll be back soon, though. And not engaged...sadly".

"Sadly...", he whispered, shaking his head.

Victoria sat down next to her dad after placing her own plate of pancakes and her cup of tea on the kitchen island. She leaned down to side hug him and Oscar looked down at her smiling before kissing the top of her head.

"Fermín thinks I should move in with him when I start uni because he lives closer to my uni than we do", she said quickly.

"Victoria!"

"Still not pregnant, though".

Oscar sighed, putting his face on his hands and trying not to freak out.

"Princess...I don't even know if I'll be here when you start uni. I just...I don't want to think about this now".

"I'm sorry".

The situation at Barça was worse every day. One day it seemed Xavi was staying and the next he was back to being sacked. Oscar was part of his staff so his future was linked to that of his brother. And he knew he might have to move somewhere else if Xavi was hired by another team. But he expected his family to move with him...and he was realising how wrong he was. Victoria was an adult now. She didn't have to follow her dad wherever he went anymore.

"It's ok. Everything going on is just too overwhelming and knowing you are leaving too...it's too much. But I'll get over it".

"I won't be far. And I can't be away from you and mum for too long anyway".

"I know. And Fermín will look after you. I made sure of it. I threatened him".

Victoria giggled, happy to see her dad willing to accept the idea so quickly. "Did you give him the if you hurt her, I'll kill you speech?"

"Of course".

"Shame I missed it".

When their breakfast was over, Oscar drove Victoria to the training centre. All the players seemed very excited to see her, which she didn't expect. And the younger kids who had given her a hard time apologised to her too.

"Why is everyone being so nice to me?", she asked Fermín. "Did you tell them to do it?"

"No. They appreciate you. A few didn't realise until you were gone but then mentioned missing having you around. But they didn't miss you as much as I did".

"Ok...".

"But there's someone else who wants to apologise. Let's go to the gym".

Victoria followed Fermín to the gym but was wondering who it was...until she saw him. Gavi, of course. Fermín's best friend.

"Why should Gavi apologise to me? He was never rude".

"He also didn't talk to you because he disliked you".

"Oh...".

Hearing that made Victoria feel a bit scared. Out of all the players, the one who dislikes her is her boyfriend's friend? Well, that wasn't ideal.

"He doesn't know you, Vicky. He just thought you were a spoiled girl and he's not a fan of that".

"Well, he's not fully wrong...".

"He is wrong and he knows that now".

Gavi saw them approaching and dropped the weights he was lifting. He actually felt a bit shy and nervous talking to Victoria. Because Gavi had been feeling guilty about misjudging her since Fermín told him about their dating and after he saw how much his friend loved her. But it didn't take them long to put that aside and to feel comfortable around each other. Fermín just stared at them with the biggest grin on his face. It was so important for him to see them getting on well.

While they kept chatting, there was a camera filming bits of the training for the daily training video Barça posted. Some fans loved to zoom in to find every single detail and comment about it...and when Gavi's fans were zooming in to see him better, they saw Fermín with his arm around a girl's waist. They couldn't see who the girl was, but it was enough to cause absolute chaos online.

"So people know about us", said Victoria while she was watching a movie with Fermín.

"They know I was next to a girl. You could be my sister for all they know".

"You don't have a sister and eww".

"You know what I mean".

"Do you not want people to know about us?"

Fermín looked at her and saw the hurt in Victoria's face. "I want everyone to know about us. But I also want to protect you. You're not just a girl I'm dating. You're my coach's niece and the assistant coach's daughter. The internet won't be kind. To me or to you".

"I don't care".

"Well...you're going to the match on Saturday".

"Hard launch at the match?", she laughed.

"But let's warn your dad first so he doesn't have a heart attack".

For Victoria, attending a match again was already so exciting. But getting to attend it wearing Fermín's shirt was...a dream. She had only ever worn someone else's shirt to matches and that was her uncle's. She felt the same amount of pride wearing both.

She asked her mum to take a photo of her where the back of the shirt was visible. And when the match ended, she ran to the dressing room to wait for Fermín and congratulate him for his great match. Before he could go take a shower, they took a photo together and she got to work while he got ready to leave the stadium.

Victoria had already selected all the photos she was going to put on her photo dump. And then threw in the middle the one her mum took and the one with Fermín. She just captioned it "Last few days <3" and knew her tagging Fermín in the photos would be enough for his fans to see the post. And they didn't take long to start sharing and reacting to the news. Fermín commented on the post adding a red heart and Victoria smiled at her phone seeing it. It was official then.

"People are saying I'm the new Ferran", told her Fermín when he got out of the dressing room.

Victoria shook her head. "Of course they are".

"Ferran told me I'm the new Ferran too".

"And of course he did".