Golden days☀️

Chapter twelve

The next day, Chris wakes up and gets ready for the morning training.
He reads quickly some artilcles about Inter's latest match, enjoying all the praises his new team is getting; there's not a lot about him, just some words about the great welcome San Siro gave him.
Most of the articles talk about how he just needs some time, then he will certainly make a difference at Inter.
He feels excited, imagining all the happiness of a win; he then stops to think about how much people are expecting from him, how much he will have to demonstrate.
It doesn't help that he always expected a lot from himself, putting a weight on his own shoulders.

But then he thinks about his friends, the ones that understand him and told him that they knew he needed some time. He knows that they would help him, while still caring about him.
Clearing his head, Chris uses his car (that's finally arrived) to reach the centre.

If someone asked Stefan De Vrij what he first noticed about the danish midfielder, he wouldn't talk about the skills or the shyness. He would talk about his hands. They were never still, always moving, always looking for something to do.
While he spoke his fingers would twist, touch and turn each other or whatever thing he had in his hands.
In fact it felt like everything that happened with his hands,reflected what was happening in his mind; always turning and twisting thoughts.

So after the meeting Stefan walks up to Chris ,quickly grabbing something from one of the desks, with an idea in his mind
"Hey Chris can i talk to you for a second?"
And true to himself, Chris' hands start twitching, choosing the hem of his t-shirt and toying it
"Yeah sure. Something's up?"
"Not really..." the defender looks at Eriksen's hands, slowly reaching out and stopping them
"I wanted to talk to you about this. I know it seemes judgy...but i just want to help. When i was young, i had a great professor; he was so smart that sometimes his mind was too fast and too busy for his own good... he had to keep something to toy and focus with."
Chris is surprised by how open and honest the defender is being with him, and he realizes that maybe he has a point. Sometimes he just feels so caught up in his mind, he doesn't even really notice how much he is torturing his fingers.

He takes a deep breath and untangles his fingers, De Vrij's hands leaving his.
The defender smiles gently, understanding Chris message
"He always had one of these in his pocket"
The blonde is really confused when he sees a paper clip in Stefan's hands
"He used to twist it and turn it into something"
He then takes his phone out, showing Chris an old photo of a heart-shaped paper clip.

The midfielder looks De Vrij in the eyes, for the first time since they started talking
"Thank you...for noticing and not making me feel bad about it. I'll really try to follow your advice"
The defender grins, putting his arm on Chris's shoulder and walking with him to the field.

They decide to train together, Chris helping Stefan with passes and controls and Stefan helping Chris with jumps and how to defend the ball.
Chris thinks that it's been some time since he laughed so much and felt so relaxed during a training.

Chris was right,this session was tiring but amazing;
He got to work and joke with his teammates, without worrying about anything.

Now they have to think about the next game against Udinese, where Eriksen could be in the starting eleven.