Work Text:
knock knock
“Psst. Leo.”
knock knock
“Leo, dude, open up.”
knock knock
“Leoooooooooooo.”
The dark-haired boy groaned at the insistent knocking and beckoning coming from outside of his window. Why is Neymar so damn insufferable he thought to himself. He blindly reached around for his phone on the nightstand and was momentarily stunned by the light admitting from the screen.
5:00 AM.
He didn’t have to be up for another 30 minutes, yet here we are. He finally opened the window to allow his pestiferous best friend in. “What took you so damn long? I was freezing my ass off out there, and it’s April! I can’t deal with this bipolar weather.” Leo laughs at this. “Same, but why are you here so early? you couldn’t have wait until the usual 5:30 to begin wrecking havoc on my day? and why were you banging at my window like a fucking lunatic?”
Neymar waves off the inquires. “So many questions, but don’t you worry your pretty little head about anything of that. I’ve got news.” Leo makes an attempt to be at least a bit interested in Neymar’s reveal through his groggy state. “Hmm? News?”
“So you remember my dad’s been out of work for months due to that machinery falling on his back at the factory right?” How could he forget? The countless errands he and Ney had to run, including picking up his Hustler and Playboy subscriptions, much to Leo’s dismay.
“I remember.”
“Well, he got his full worker’s comp this morning, 12 G’s dude. and he’s gave me a thousand!
He then proceeded to do an impromptu dance. Leo couldn’t bare the horrible sight for long. “Please stop, and.. what does this have to do with me exactly?”
A grin that could rival the cheshire cat’s spread across the taller boy’s face. “Well, I kinda sorta a bit wanted you to skip school with me today. Hit the mall, maybe catch a movie, go TP Bartra’s house, you know?”
“ I don’t know about defacing anyone’s property. but, the other two seem plausible.”
“not tormenting Bartra? that’s no fun” protested Neymar, feigning sorrow. Leo rolled his eyes. “Actually, I don’t know if I want to do this at all. I have perfect attendance for a single semester for the first time since freshman year, and I’d like the maintain that.”
“Dude does missing 1 day even matter? all this week’s been is a post-ACT comedown, you won’t be missing anything.” Leo takes a moment to consider this. School has been pretty dead this week. Ney continues “and besides, it’s Friday, you ain’t got no job, and you ain’t got shit to do”. Can always count on him for the movie references Leo thinks. “Ok, ok, I’ll skip with you.”
“Great, now hurry and get dressed”, he looks up from his phone “and do something about that morning wood”. he adds with a chuckle. Leo looks down in horror at his erection and let’s out a deep, audible sigh. Neymar cackles.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
They manage to leave the house with ease since Leo’s mom had to be at work early, explained on the post-it note she left on the fridge. Albeit dodging the school bus and Mr. Enrique’s watchful eye, the boys successfully make it to Ney’s house. He takes a quick moment to go in and retrieve his keys.
“ I still find it basic that you named the car Bumblebee” quips Leo, in reference to the 1970 Buick GSX. “How original.”
“Hey now, Transformers is a modern day classic, like on some Terminator or Die Hard shit.” the other boy looks at him incredulously. Neymar seems to pick up on his friend’s utter disbelief. “What? it’s the truth, i’m just paying homage. And don’t even get me started on Shia Lebouef, Let’s not act like he isn’t becoming a modern day Brando, weird antics and all. Where’s his Oscar?”
“I don’t know dude, but I do know i’m getting antsy just sitting here. To the mall before I change my mind, yeah?”
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Like always on Fridays, the mall is packed. Neymar wants to hit up every outlet from one end of the place to the next, but Leo insists they just window shop. He doesn’t know why he expected his friend to be frugal with his money in the first place, considering his increasing poker obsession. Alas, Leo sees gaudy jewelry, bankruptcy, and shame in Ney’s future. Eventually, the boys settle down on a bench and Neymar starts gushing over his new purchases; which include 6 snapbacks, black rosary, 2 pairs of designer sneakers, and an *NSYNC Greatest Hits CD.
“I’ve been looking for this everywhere bro! they were such gods during their time.”
“Timberlake still is.”
“Eh, he peaked with FutureSex/LoveSounds in my opinion.”
“You can’t be serious, the 20/20 Experince is the best release of the decade so far”
“Channel Orange begs to differ.”
Leo couldn’t argue with that. “Touche.” They were too wrapped up in conversation to notice the two lumbering figures looming over them.
“Hey Busi, look at our old pals having a date.” Neymar and Leo recognized that voice from anywhere. Ney was the first to speak.
“Suarez.”
“Da Silva.”
Leo suddenly became interested in tile flooring. Busquets took note of this.
“Ain’t you got manners Messi?” he apprehensively averted his vision to him.
“um, hey.” Busquets laughs.
“This little fag’s always been such a fucking weirdo man.” Suarez nodded in agreement and laughs in such a way only a cunt of supreme proportions could laugh in. Neymar doesn’t miss the pained expression in his friend’s features. He becomes livid.
“You guys are such typical assholes” he laughs bitterly “Always projecting your insecurities onto others.”
“You mind repeating that?” growled Suarez. Neymar looks him at him smugly.
“You heard me, Master Splinter,” Leo swears he sees red flash in the opposing man’s eyes and Busquets stifle a laugh “all your bragging about ‘fucking bitches’, drinking Miller Light, being on varsity, and overall deplorable douchebag behavior doesn’t negate the fact that you like to give and receive it up the ass.” Leo and Busquets’ jaws drop. Suarez looks like he’ll blow and gasket, and Neymar looks triumphant.
Not long after Leo backs away towards Neymar and mouths the word ‘run’ does Suarez speed off behind them with Busquets lagging in the background. The mall now seems like an obstacle course as they run with their all, trying to find the exit.
“It’s this way!”
“No, that’s the JCPenney entrance!”
“Ok wait, it’s right ther- no shit we just went in a complete fucking circle!”
“I’m gonna kill you Da Silva!!!”
“Shit!”
Thanks to a security cart and some conveniently placed net, they make it out of the mall to into the parking lot unscathed.
“Great escape wasn’t it? I’m like MacGyver.” grumbled Neymar, still trying to catch his breath.
Leo just looks quizzically at him and rests his head against the dash. Neymar speaks up after a few seconds.
“Sorry Idragged you into some bullshit, again.” because apparently, this isn’t the first occurrence of it’s kind.
“It’s cool, honestly,” he hesitates for a moment before saying “thanks for like, defending my honor back there or whatever.” Ney smiles.
“You’re my best bud, I wasn’t gonna let those assholes antagonize you, that’s my job.” Now it’s Leo’s turn to smile.
“And you aren’t a weirdo man.”
“thanks.. let’s get out of here.”
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After cruising for a bit in a comfortable silence, Leo checks his watch.
11:45, lunchtime.
Traffic is abnormally lax for this time of day. He leans back on the headrest and lets the soft indie rock exuding from the speakers steadily lull him to sleep. That is, until, the cars begins to slow and eventually comes to a stop.
“Bruh.”
“Ney, I hope what i think just happened didn’t just happen.”
“Bruh.”
“For fucks sake..”
“Bruhhh.”
“My sentiments exactly.”
They ran out of gas, right on the side of a freeway. Neymar swears up and down he was on a full talk just last night? had they been riding around for that long? Leo can’t quite recall, and neither can the other boy. Now they were stuck. Leo also can to the haunting realization that they were right in front of his mother’s office building.
This sucked majorly. It was time to panic.
“No, no, no, no,no this isn’t happening dude! I’m-hell, WE’RE supposed to be at school!”
“Calm down man, what’s the odds of her coming out right now and recognizing us from across the street?”
“Have you forgotten what your car looks like???”
“True, but-” Leo doesn’t give him time to reiterate “If she catches us my ass is on the chopping block. she’s gonna give me lecture of the year, take away all privileges, she won’t trust me anyone,” Leo’s face falls “god damn it I can’t have my mom not trust me.”
Neymar almost cringes at how undone his friend is becoming. He cares and values the opinion of his mother so much, it’s actually quite endearing to the taller boy. He considers his relationship with his mother good, but that’s really it. Good. They aren’t on that other plane like Leo and his mom, where, surprisingly, mutual communication and feedback is an important thing. That’s pretty opposite from the short, timid boy that everyone else knows. Neymar tries to think of something to do, something to get that look off of his face.
“I know, gas station!” he turns to Leo. “I have a canister in the trunk, we can go and be back in a snap.”
“But the closest one’s 6 miles away.”
“Well,” Neymar puts a reassuring hand on Leo’s shoulder “we better get going partner.”
Leo takes a moment to consider such an interminable trek. He wasn’t exactly the super active type, so he dreaded the suggestion. Neymar interrupts his thoughts.
“I don’t see any other options.”
True. He lets out an exasperated sigh.
“Let’s go.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
They make it to the gas station and back, a combined 12 miles. Oh yeah, about that bipolar weather, it was now a sweltering 87 degrees. Leo feels like he’s about to die. His hair is stuck to his forehead, shirt and pants clinging to his skin like velcro. From the look on Neymar’s face, he’s feeling the same, but tries (and fails) to downplay it.
When they get in the car, hands clash as both boys desperately try to find air conditioned relief. All harsh breaths and damp skin, they sit for a while to recuperate
“Sooo I’m guessing that movie is out of the question then?”
“Not at all,” breathes Leo. “I’m still up for it if you are.”
Since becoming friends, Leo has lowkey become just as much of a movie buff as Neymar. He’ll watch anything nowadays, even if it’s just for critique.
They end up seeing a vampire flick called A Girl Walks Home Alone At Night. Ney had told him about it before, but the premise struck him as...interesting to say the least.
“An Iranian, vampire skateboarder who preys on asshole entitlist men?”
“Doesn’t that sound fucking awesome? what kind of next level shit?”
“Honestly, you’ve showed me mondo films that seem less weird.”
“So you liked them then? See Leo, you have me to thank for being so cultured.”
“I digress.”
But, since his life seems to revolve around the spiky haired one, he ended up seeing it anyway. There was a little issue involving age and ratings, but Neymar, being the social butterfly that he is, ran into Gerard from the community college. He happened to work there and he snuck them in through the backway.
It was about 30 minutes before their school’s dismissal time, so they opted to end things at the lakefront before returning home. The sky was cloudy and azure, the previous heat had now turned to a light wind. Leo felt at ease. As much as Neymar’s antics bemused and slightly amused Leo, he loved when they could just kick back and talk. The conversations could go from serious to random and trivial, kind of like now.
“..so i’m not saying Miley Cyrus is an illuminati clone, but her eyes are now blue when they were green on Hannah Montana.” proclaimed Neymar. “Just throwing it out there.”
“If she was actually replaced, why?”
“Because TPTB didn’t want her to share industry sec-” his theorizing was interjected by an incoming call.
“It’s your cell dude.” Leo looks up pointedly then realizes it is.
It’s his mother.
He looks at the screen, so does Neymar. They exchange a knowing look. The finally answers.
“Yes mom?”
“Leo, sweetie, how’s your day been so far?” Her words are sweet but she sounds like she’s out for blood.
“Uh, good? the bell rings in about 6 minutes so i’ll be home soon.”
“Hm, is that so?”
“Ma’am?”
“Did your physics teacher ever help you with those motion graphs?”
“M-Mr. Bravo? yeah, he was extra supportive today, must’ve had some good coffee this morning or something.” It looks as though Neymar mouths laying it on too thick , before resting his face in his palms.
“That’s funny darling, because Mr. Bravo wasn’t in today.” Leo’s stomach drops.
“Mom..”
“Save it Lionel, just save it. I don’t see why you felt ample enough to not only skip school but also lie about your activities as if i wasn’t going to find out.”
“I was hoping you wouldn’t to be honest.”
“Mother’s intuition my love. I want you to come home immediately, we’ll talk about this later.”
He replies “Yes ma’am,” but before he could hang up she demands to be put on speaker. Neymar’s eyes go wide.
“And your mother has a few words for you too, Neymar. so follow suit.” And with that, she hangs up.
“How did she know we were together?”
“intuition.”
“So, you ready to go and face the music?” Leo looks over to his friend.
“Nah, not just yet. give it another 5 minutes or so, I need to prepare for the inevitable.”
“Same.”
“You know, i didn’t think I would enjoy myself today, but i did,.” And with absolutely no hint of malice Neymar replies with a smile..
“Why wouldn’t you? I make life interesting.”
And with that, they gaze out at the beautiful river skyline ahead of them. After 5 years, Leo wasn’t sure when they’re friendship had moved passed the awkward “I don’t want to annoy you but i really like talking to you” stage, the “your mom” jokes, the sharing of funny memes and youtube videos at 2 AM, etc. to more serious territory. Maybe it was when Leo’s grandpa died and he couldn’t form a whole sentence without bursting into tears, or when Neymar came over late one night after he and Bruna’s breakup and promptly began to cry because “you’re not gonna give up on me either, are you?”
He would never. Leo would never because he drives him up the wall in the best way. He does make life interesting. He forces him out of his comfort zone, makes him wonder, makes him breathe more freely than he ever has before. So he can sit with him in complete silence and feel totally content, because Neymar doesn’t judge. He adapts, admires, and understands. A beacon of humility. So, he truly loves his friend. And in the back of his mind, something tells him this is only the beginning.
Yeah, Leo could get used to this.