Where the wind whispers

Title: Help Me Carry The Fire, Chapter 2 of ???
Characters: Bojan Krkic, Lionel Messi, Vicente Rodriguez, Gerard Pique; David Silva/David Villa, Raul Gonzalez/Pep Guardiola implied; mentions Cesc Fabregas, Cristiano Ronaldo
Rating: PG-13 this part, higher later
Words: this part: 2,329 ; total: 4,838
Warnings: faint mentions of past abuse
A/N: Thanks to those of you that read and commented on the first part, I do appreciate it :D I hope you enjoy this part as well ♥ Dedicated especially to ellamoonie and spartan_muse :-)
Previous Parts: One



The breeze was soft and cool, gently stirring and ruffling things it caught with its graceful fingers. The sun was warm and delightfully not overwhelmingly so. It was only a pity that most of such a gorgeous day had to be spent indoors, in a classroom, being instructed. It was such a shame that Bojan was sure Raul wouldn’t mind, if he ever found out of course, that he and Leo and Gerard had decided to skip their final class for the day and had gone over to Vincente’s house for the rest of the afternoon.

They sat in Vicente’s back lawn, still in the lush green of the grass before it turned to sand and then ended abruptly as the waves collected it and withdrew it back to the ocean. They were gathered around an iron table, painted white, with matching chairs. Bojan sat in the grass, playing with the blades of the lawn like he did whenever he sat in grass and was bored. Gerard sat in one of the chairs, looking out towards the ocean which was the same color as his eyes today. Leo sat in the chair nearest to Bojan with his feet in the third, unoccupied chair. He had a book that was open in his hand but he had long since stopped trying to read it. Vicente had gone inside a few minutes earlier to collect some more water for them. He had yet to return.

It had been Gerard’s idea, of course, to miss out on the final class. Come on, he had said, it’s only maths! Only maths, Bojan thought to himself. He shifted somewhat awkwardly in the grass where he sat. He had never purposefully skipped anything before. The only times he had were back before he had come to Barcelona, back when the marks on his skin were too new and fresh and painful for him to leave the house. Cesc would forge their mother’s handwriting on a note as they sat at the riverside for the school day, the cool water easing the discomfort from Cristiano’s last attack.

“All right, ‘yan?” Gerard asked, squinting in the sunlight down at him. Earlier he had made a big fuss of having forgotten his sunglasses at home which Vicente had replied with ‘tough shit’.

“I’m fine,” Bojan summoned a smile that wasn’t too far away to begin with onto his face. “Where’s Silva? Class finished a half-hour ago.”

“Probably trying to get some extra credit somehow,” Leo added in his soft, gentle tone. Bojan smiled a little, causing Leo to smile brighter.

“Just as long as he didn’t rat us out to Alexis’ mom, I don’t care.” Gerard huffed quietly and looked back to the house. “Wish Chente would hurry up, it’s getting pretty warm out here.”

Bojan rolled his eyes and shifted so that he was leaning against Leo’s chair. Leo smiled down at him and Bojan smiled back before he turned his glances to the ocean. It was a very stunning shade of blue and he wished that he could go swimming in it. He probably would have, if he had remembered his swimming trunks.

“I shouldn’t have skipped today.” Bojan confessed quietly after several moments. He missed the look from Leo of concern, and Gerard’s roll of his eyes.

“Yes you should. Skipping a few times a week is good for you, especially in your last year.” Gerard replied teasingly.

“No I shouldn’t have. I’m already going to have a hard enough time keeping my grades where they are and Julliard could always withdraw their acceptance.” Bojan chewed on his lip in thought. He hadn’t meant to voice his concerns out loud, but once they were out he could hardly take them back.

The truth of the matter was it was a very serious thought in his mind, especially lately with Cesc gone to somewhere as prestigious as Oxford. Julliard was a dream that Bojan hadn’t dared to grasp before, but now that it was possibly possible, he didn’t want to do anything to jeopardize that. His grades, though, they were preventing him complete peace of mind. He knew what little he did about the school that they didn’t specifically require a certain grade or class position to be accepted, but he also knew that less than ten percent of those that applied actually got in. Being middle of the class wouldn’t look good, at least not to his mind, for the board to accept him. His audition piece was a whole other matter.

Bojan remembered the day several months ago, at the start of summer, when Julliard had sent him a letter in the mail. He had been beyond delighted when he had read that they were sending him a ‘tentative letter of approval’ that, should he so desire, in the future, when it came time for college or university, that they would be willing to consider him. Bojan had never been more honored in all his life.

But to get such a position, they had written, he would need to maintain his musical abilities to the highest degree and to keep practicing. Bojan had swallowed his nervousness and had vowed to practice every day; fortunately for him, Pep and Raul had given him a piano in the lounge as a present for his birthday. He had thanked them profusely, of course, and had used it every day since he had gotten it.

“Julliard wouldn’t be so stupid to do that, besides, there’s other schools in the world for someone as good as you.” Gerard replied in an offhand tone, taking another of Leo’s books and reading the back of it.

“Oh really, name three of them.” Bojan asked, turning his head to look at his friend. “Never mind that, name one.”

Gerard looked over the top of the book and frowned at Bojan in thought. “Fine, so I can’t. But there must be other schools out there than your precious Julliard,” Gerard rolled his eyes and went back to looking at the book.

“But it is one of the best, and even I have heard of it.” Vicente spoke as he returned carrying a tray that not only had water on it, but sandwiches as well. “Maria made us some treats, that’s what took so long.”

Gerard eyed a sandwich greedily and took one even before Vicente had set the tray on the table. He was already taking a bite and reaching for a glass of water by the time Bojan had shifted into the third chair, gently pushing Lionel’s legs out of the way as he did so.

“It’s the best,” Bojan said and taking a sandwich. He broke it into halves and gave one half to Leo and kept the other for himself. Gerard watched them with a raised eyebrow but said nothing; instead, he grabbed a glass of water.

“Excuse me, it’s the best school,” Vicente rolled his eyes but still smiled. “You didn’t tell me how school was. Is it the same in my absence?” He grinned, fully aware that now he was in a whole new game with a whole new crowd. Once again he was the fresh meat, this time at the University of Barcelona, though he would never admit that to the likes of Gerard.

“Boring as ever. How’s Villa?” Gerard replied, bored tone shifting to one that was more of a sigh.

“Fine, enough. He misses Silva though.”

“Not dating someone else who is older and less…Silva-y?”

Vicente did not return Gerard’s smile, teasing as it was. “That’s not funny, and no he’s not. He’s still quite taken with Silva, thank you very much. It’s just a shame they don’t see each other as much anymore.”

“Tell us about it, Silva’s been absolutely awful.”

“What do you mean?” Vicente asked, sitting down in the unoccupied fourth chair.

Gerard shared a look with Leo, and then with Bojan, before he cleared his throat and spoke. “Oh, you’ll see I’m sure whenever Silva gets himself over here.”

“What’s he going to do, press me for Villa’s everyday routines?” Chente laughed but Gerard did not.

“Probably at the least. He’d probably even ask you to pass notes to Villa for him. Honestly, it’s like he’s never heard of cell-phones or Internet or anything technological at all!”

Chente’s laughs carried across the lawn and Bojan turned his attention to the back patio at the flash of movement.

“Silva’s here.” Bojan said and watched as the butler, Luis, showed Silva out to the back garden. Silva carried his bag, heavy because it was weighed down with many textbooks, towards them at a slow walk. Bojan decided in that moment that he’d get Silva a rolling backpack for Christmas.

“Quick everyone, pretend we weren’t gossiping like old ladies,” Gerard muttered quickly and Leo and Bojan rolled their eyes at the same time.

“Hi guys!” Silva greeted with a smile and the quartet formed a less-enthusiastic reply. “Great news! Senora Delgado was kind enough to give me your homework! Now you can all catch up on the lesson you missed!”

The brightness of Silva’s smile was not enough to break through the darkness of Gerard’s glare.

“I’m going to kill him.” Gerard muttered and shifted upwards.

Chente caught him and rolled his eyes before pulling him back down to his seat. “This will be a fun afternoon.”


Bojan walked from the corner where Chente had dropped him and Leo off at. He walked at a slower pace than usual, side-by-side with Leo. They didn’t talk much, but then they never really did. The silence between them was comfortable, though, so Bojan didn’t mind it.

“Do you feel bad for them? Silva and Villa I mean.” Leo asked randomly and Bojan considered the question for a moment.

“I suppose a little bit. It’s sad that they don’t see each other much anymore, but that’s life. It’ll all settle down soon anyway.” Bojan smiled and Leo returned the gesture, though with less enthusiasm than his friend.

“I guess so.” Leo said and then returned to being quiet. Bojan shrugged and continued down the street.

It wasn’t until they were a few meters away from Bojan’s front door that a thought occurred to him.

“Oh Leo, I’m sorry, I just remembered something.” Bojan said, apology already on his face before the words came from his mouth. “I can’t go with you to the movies on Saturday. I forgot to tell you.”

Leo stopped, frown on his face. “Why not? I thought we had it all arranged?”

“We do, but I forgot that my Uncle was coming home Saturday. Raul’s having a special night of it, we’re going to Amor Eterno. I can ask if you want to come though, if that’s okay?”

“No, it’s a family thing. It’s okay. Go, have fun.” Leo said with a forced smile on his face. Bojan knew automatically from the look on his face and the matching of his tone that it was far from okay.

“Leo, what’s wrong? I don’t—”

“It’s all okay. Go and have fun. Tell your uncle hi for me.” Then, without waiting for Bojan, Leo started down the sidewalk again.

Bojan took one or two steps forward after him, before he stopped, thinking that maybe it was best for Leo to just go home and cool down. The frown was deeply set on his face as he tried to process what just happened. Realizing that he didn’t have any idea what was going on inside of Leo’s head, Bojan shrugged and started down the sidewalk towards home once again.

As soon as he stepped foot inside the door, he was greeted with the smell of freshly baked cookies. That smell alone caused Leo’s abrupt anger to fade from the forefront of his mind. Bojan made his way towards the kitchen where he found Raul sat at the kitchen table, reading the newspaper while a pan of chocolate chip cookies rested on top of the oven, cooling.

“Can I have one?” Bojan asked, dropping his schoolbag slowly from his shoulder and onto the floor.

Raul creased the newspaper in half and smiled brightly. “Well, if you don’t, then I would have to eat them all myself. That wouldn’t do for my figure you see.”

Bojan laughed a little and moved to get a glass of milk from the fridge. As soon as he opened the door, though, he already noticed a glass of poured milk waiting on him.

“I had a funny feeling you might want a glass of milk, so I poured you one.” Raul said when Bojan raised his eyebrow.

Bojan smiled shyly and took the glass out and sat at the opposite end of the table, reaching backwards toward the oven to grab a few cookies.

“Thank you, Raul.”

Raul simply smiled and folded the paper in half the rest of the way. “How was school?”

“Fine,” Bojan said through a mouthful of cookie. “Not very entertaining though, I can say.”

Raul picked up the paper and glanced at an article on the front page. “It must not have been because you skipped.”

Bojan choked on part of the cookie he had been eating. His eyes widened as he stared at Raul. Raul glanced up and chuckled a little.

“Don’t worry, Bojan. Everyone skips in their school days at least once. Just as long as it doesn’t become a habit and your grades stay up, skipping once isn’t an issue. Though, I guarantee Pep will tell you otherwise.”

“You aren’t going to tell him are you?” Bojan asked, eyes still wide.

“Not this time, just don’t make it a habit.” Raul looked him in the eyes, smile still on his face but Bojan recognized the seriousness hiding behind his eyes. He nodded his understanding and Raul looked back to the paper.

Bojan swallowed hard and as he took another mouthful of cookie, he wondered how in the world Raul could possibly have known.