dive ✦ rafael alcântara

nine

[ i know that rafa and his family spent christmas in brazil, but let's ignore that. this is purely fiction! also, rafa's parents are divorced, and bruno has a different dad to the rest of the alcántaras irl. again, fiction here!]

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two months later. twenty fourth of december.

THE HOLIDAYS THAT YEAR were to be anti-climactic, Gianna thought. Evidently, it was entirely the opposite.

Gianna's parents embarked on a cruise over Christmas, and her siblings and their partners wanted to spend Christmas anywhere hot. Truthfully, England was not home for them anymore, even if they spent a very, very long while there before moving to Barcelona. Martina was in Cabo and Lucas was in one of the Canary Islands- Gianna failed to remember which.

When Thiago heard from Júlia that Gianna was to be spending Christmas relatively alone, maybe with some KFC, he put her on the next flight. It was not to Munich, or Barcelona; it was to Vigo. Thiago and Júlia, who was pregnant, were not even spending Christmas in Vigo, but rather in Girona.

So, the afternoon of Christmas Eve, Gianna found herself in the airport, waiting for Rafinha to pick her up. There was one person who recognised her, and took many photos, but did not approach.

Who did approach minutes later was Rafael with a big grin, "Gianna!"

"Rafi!" she mimicked his tone, letting him crush her in a warm hug, "Merry Christmas Eve! How are you?"

"Merry Christmas Eve to you too. I'm fantastic; it's such a happy holiday period," he was ecstatic and bouncy, "Come on, everyone wants to see you. Especially Mama and Papa. They're excited to see you again after a year and a half."

As he lead her to his family's car, Rafael kept a hand on the small of her back, always keeping a grin on his face. They conversed about little things such as Halloween and everything that had happened between the last stretch of October and until Christmas Eve. Though, a lot of it was known through the bi-weekly phone calls they shared.

"By the way, it's a little hectic in the house since Mama and Papa are hosting a little Nochebuena get-together with four families close to them. They're cooking a lot," Rafael told her as he pulled into the driveway. Nochebuena was held the day of Christmas Eve. It was the time for gathering with family.

The door was open to the house, and music was playing loudly. There were already banners and decorations and balloons out, and as soon as the door shut, a scream ran out.

"Gigi!" Thaisa screamed, running to her with outstretched arms.

"Hey, Thaisa," she chuckled as she squeezed the girl.

Thaisa rocked herself back and settled, "I'm so happy that you're spending the holidays with us. When Thiago told us that you were going to be alone, we just had to have you here. Mama and Papa basically demanded your presence."

"That we did!" Valéria and Iomar appeared from behind their daughter. As well as a boy who came down the stairs.

The two former athletes engulfed her in a hug, and Thaisa pulled the boy beside her.

"Gi, this is Diego, my boyfriend," she introduced, "See, I told you I knew Gianna Mason."

Diego was almost shell-shocked and rooted to the ground as they shook hands. They all then relocated to the living room, well, aside from Valéria and Iomar, who realised that they may have burnt some food.