Chapter 31

[tempered-rose.livejournal.com]

Title: The Eternal Heartache, Chapter 31 of ???
Characters (this part only): Cesc Fabregas, Bojan Krkic, Pep Guardiola/Raul Gonzalez, OFC, Cristiano Ronaldo, Vicente Rodriguez, Lionel Messi
Rating: PG-13
Words: this chapter is 2,143 ; overall total is 77,901
A/N: Okay so I promised this chapter like three weeks ago but only now got around to finishing it. I apologize for the delay. I hope you like it and as always, your comments are the most wonderful things that ever were in existence. Thank you guys <333333 And without further ado, I present chapter thirty-one.



Last part here. All previous parts listed here.



The sun’s warmth had faded, leaving the air to remain cool as the sounds of night began to play. Crickets began to warm up their symphony, the rush of cars slowed to a stream. Conversations grew less serious and street performers began to entertain the crowds.

The headlights of cars moved like lines of illuminated insects through the streets of Barcelona. Red lights chased red and white filed past behind white lights. All had some place to go, uncaring of the others next to them. So lost were they in their own little world, all spinning around together under the vast expanse of inky black sky dotted with small silver pearls of worlds far away.

Down one passeig the lights of one car were darkened as the car was turned off. Quickly, the driver came round to the backseat to open the door and out stepped two expected guests.

Pep gave Raul a nod once the doorbell rang. Their silent communication reflected their joint concern over the boys.

“Relax amor, it will be alright.” Raul smiled warmly and Pep nodded. He smiled slightly when he heard Bojan laughing in the lounge.

“I know. We will make sure of that.” Pep leaned in to give Raul a kiss on the cheek before he turned to answer the door.

Raul turned quickly towards the lounge and left Pep to answer the door. They had a plan and Raul would die before either Maria or Cristiano hurt the boys ever again.

He knocked softly on the doorframe, causing the four heads to turn towards him. He smiled softly at them before he cleared his throat.

“I’m sorry to interrupt, but our guests have arrived.” He saw Cesc instinctively tense, something he had expected, and Bojan to stop smiling. “If at your earliest convenience,” Raul nodded towards the front hall and the message was clear.

He then turned and started back towards the hallway to give Pep his attention again.

Cesc let out a heavy breath as Vicente’s hand came to rest on his arm. Cesc looked over but Vicente was looking at Leo. They shared a nod before Vicente spoke up.

“We don’t know all of what’s gone on, but know that if anything goes wrong, both me and Leo will be here to back you guys up. You’re our friends and we don’t want either of you hurt. Right Leo?”

Leo nodded instantly. “I wouldn’t hurt either of you and I may be small but I could do something to help.”

Bojan gave Leo a small smile.

“Thanks guys. Honestly, you’re both being kind.” Cesc looked Vicente in the eyes as he spoke and received a caring look in return.

“We’re just doing what friends do. Now how about we go get this night over with, hmm?”

Cesc nodded and the four made their way to the front hallway. As they walked, Cesc squared his shoulders when he heard his mother’s voice for the first time in several months.

“I just don’t see why you need such a large house Josep. You only need so much wealth to survive. Anything past that is simply showing off.”

Cesc heard Vicente mutter something about her visiting his house sometime and he couldn’t help but smile a little bit. Vicente made things seem better, calm even. He was very appreciative towards Chente for that.

He made sure that he was the first one out of the hallway and always in front of Bojan. He wouldn’t risk his little brother’s safety for anything, not even his own.

When Maria saw him, she looked him over from head to toe. He did his own evaluation of her in return. She was thinner, more sallow in the face. Her hair had lost some of its shine and wasn’t done up as tightly as it usually was. Her features had a harder set to them and for a moment, Cesc wondered what had happened to make her look so worn and tired.

Then he saw Cristiano.

Somehow, Cris seemed taller than he had remembered. He, too, was also thinner and a bit more pale. The anger in his eyes caused Cesc to take a step backwards.

“You’ve changed Francesc.” Maria told him quietly once her studying had come to a conclusion.

Cesc shrugged a tense shoulder. Her dark eyes looked over his shoulder and she saw her youngest. “You too Bojan.”

She frowned when she did not recognize either Vicente or Leo, but she made no comment of them. Cesc turned his eyes towards Pep and noticed that his uncle was as tense as he probably felt.

“Well let’s not all stand here, come in come in.” Raul ushered them forward towards the dining room. “We can all get reacquainted over dinner.”

Cesc waited for Maria, and especially Cristiano, to leave towards the dining room before he even took a step forward. Vicente put his hands in his pockets and walked beside him after the others.

“Raul seems to think anything can be cured with food, doesn’t he?”

Cesc shrugged. “It certainly helps his cause.”

Vicente smiled, something Cesc couldn’t bring himself to do, and squeezed his shoulder. “Don’t worry Cesc. I’m right here.”

He nodded and walked into where the others were. Pep let Maria and Cristiano sit next to each other and specifically placed Leo and Vicente in front of them instead of Cesc or Bojan. Raul took his place at the end of the table and nodded towards the turkey in the center.

“Pep, carve before it gets cold.”

Pep stood and brought the turkey closer. He held the knife securely in one hand while he began to slice into the meat. As the plates passed around to see who got which piece, the tension only seemed to grow.

Pep sat once he was done and dinner began to progress.

Cesc felt Cristiano’s eyes on him but he refused to give him the satisfaction of looking up and being afraid. Instead he made small talk with Chente, the same way Bojan had with Leo and Pep and Raul had engaged Maria. Slowly, the tension eased into polite and cool conversation. The air of detachment and forced modesty was palpable, but no one commented on it.

It wasn’t until Raul had gone to get the chocolate pie did the pane of glass surrounding them began to crack.

“So Francesc, who is your little friend? Is he genuinely rich or did he sneak in to his uncle’s pocket just like you?” Cristiano asked coldly.

Pep turned an icy glare onto him, but Cristiano wasn’t looking towards his uncle. Cesc swallowed.

“I didn’t sneak anywhere. I—”

“Oh when will you stop lying, Cesc? You’ve certainly done enough of that to Pep. He believes any word you say. You would slander your own mother’s name and virtue just so you could have new clothes and a shiny new lifestyle. You are pathetic.”

Underneath the table, Vicente’s fingers tightened into a fist. Cesc gave him a warning look that half pleaded and half told him to stay out of it.

“Cristiano, you are the one that is lying.” Pep started with a dark glare at his oldest nephew. “I will not have a liar in my house. Adjust your attitude now or you will leave.”

“Pep, the boy is only asking who Cesc’s friend was. He didn’t mean any harm by it.” Maria looked fondly at her eldest before returning the warm gaze to Pep.

Vicente looked at Cesc incredulously but Cesc simply shook his head. He had seen far too many times this behavior from his mother. She would rationalize anything Cris ever did. He was perfect in her eyes and nothing would ever change that view.

“Maria, you are too kind towards your son. He doesn’t deserve it.” Pep replied coolly. “How about we come to the business end of things? Since your true purpose has nothing to do with checking on the welfare of your other sons.”

Maria’s warm gaze froze instantly. “It is a family issue. I won’t discuss it to people who aren’t my relatives.”

Pep sighed in annoyance before turning towards Vicente and Leo. “If you would please wait in the lounge? We won’t be long, I assure you.”

Leo gave Bojan a small smile and a thumb’s up under the table before he stood and pushed in his chair. Vicente stood stiffly and glared at Cristiano before he softened his expression towards Cesc.

“I’m right down the hall if you need me.” He nodded towards Cesc and then left the room with Leo.

Pep turned back towards Maria. “Well? Let’s have it then.”

“I said towards family only,” Maria looked sideways towards Raul. With her nose turned upwards in disgust, she tapped her fingers on the table.

“He is family.” Pep replied through gritted teeth.

“Not my family.”

“Nor mine.” Cristiano was quick to reply with a smirk, something that earned another dark glare from Pep.

“He is mine. So he will stay—”

“No, no.” Raul interrupted. “Have your conversation. I’ll go keep our other guests company.”

Cesc saw Raul force a smile, but he could tell that it was an effort to put it there. Raul squeezed his shoulder lightly on the way out the door and any trace of the smile had disappeared. Anger began to seep through Cesc’s bloodstream. It was one thing to frustrate him to no end, it was quite another to hurt Raul.

“What do you want then? Since you have been so rude to my family.” Pep demanded.

Maria sat back in her seat and sighed heavily—a gesture Cesc remembered to mean that she was about to begin to whine over something that was wrong.

“I’ve been ill Pep. I don’t have the money to continue to see the doctor, nor get the medicines I need and continue to take care of us at home. It’s just been a very hard winter for us and our meager little cottage doesn’t have the…amenities that your lovely house does here. We’re barely scraping by as it is. I need several thousand Euros just to keep the house, never mind pay the other bills.”

“You want my money.” At Maria’s nod, Pep laughed humorlessly. “You come to my house, insult my family, don’t bother to give a damn about your own children in my care, and you want my money. You have some nerve sister,” he practically spat the last word. “Why should I give it to you?”

Maria looked up calmly. “Because I will take all of my sons back with me if you don’t.”

Cesc and Bojan looked at her, stunned.

“Get out. Get out of my house now. If you think I would sell these boys into staying with me you are far more deranged than I thought. Get out before I have you thrown in jail.” Pep’s voice was dangerously calm, but his eyes were anything but.

“If you do call the police, I would tell them you had kidnapped my children. They are my sons, not yours.” Maria’s tone was patient, unyielding.

Pep’s knuckles grew white as he held tightly to the edge of the table. “Something I should like to change.”

Maria’s eyes hardened. “I would never give them up and no court would take away a mother’s sons and give them to their homosexual uncle and his…roommate.”

Cristiano began to snicker but not before Pep had slammed his fist on the dining room table.

“I will not tolerate that in my house. If you will not leave electively under your own will, I will have the police remove you.” He raised his voice and shouted for Raul.

Pep glared at his sister until Raul’s calm footsteps were heard outside the door. Without looking over, Pep spoke.

“Call them. Tell them we have a deceitful woman and her snakelike son that refuses to leave.”

“Of course Pep.” Raul’s tone was calm and he turned and walked into the kitchen.

Pep’s glare did not shift away from the pair of unwelcome guests.

“Bojan, Cesc go join your friends in the lounge. I’ll take care of this.” Pep looked over briefly at both of them. “I will come speak to you later. I promise you.”

Bojan stood up shakily and tugged lightly on Cesc’s arm. Cesc was torn between staying to know what was going on and leaving so that he could try and breathe past the lump in his throat. Bojan’s tugging won, and he stood slowly. He gave a look to Pep and then turned to leave.

“See you soon Francesc!” Cristiano called in a sing-song voice.

Cesc stiffened his shoulders but kept walking. He positioned Bojan in front of his body and followed him out the door.

The last thing he heard was Raul giving their address over the phone to the police.