Where We Are

Kicking his boots off of his feet, Iker squeezed his eyes closed, his back resting against the cool metal of his locker. It had been a few days, after Maia’s parents had interrupted their conversation, his conversations with Maia had been few and far between, and whilst it frustrated him slightly, he wasn’t entirely surprised. It had been a big question, asking whether or not a conversation about their future would have been enough to keep her around had been sudden, and he couldn’t blame her for being slightly surprised by it, even if a small part of him had been hoping for an answer. He knew that it was a big thing to ask her.

Taking in a couple of breaths, he rested contently against the locker for a couple of seconds before he felt someone nudge his leg, causing him to blink his eyes open, settling them on his teammate, Ivan, who sat beside him. “Huh?” he spluttered.

“I didn’t meant to startle you” Ivan quipped “But I just thought that I’d let you know that there’s a woman waiting in reception for you. She said that her name was Maia. You know her?” he quipped, his expression curious.

Iker stared at him, slightly surprised to hear Maia’s name, before he nodded his head. “She’s my...we’re having a baby together” he corrected himself.

It still felt a little odd, not using the word ‘girlfriend’ to describe Maia, but he knew that it was something that he simply had to get used to, even if it was just for the time being. It was a work in progress, things between him and Maia were improving little by little, but still restarting a romantic relationship seemed a little way off, something which frustrated him slightly. He knew what he wanted, he wanted him and Maia to patch things up and settle things down before the baby arrived, but he knew that he couldn’t force it. They needed to take their time, be sure, and he knew that that meant being patient.

Ivan noted the slight hesitation, but didn’t comment, instead offering the keeper a small smile. “I told her that you’d be out in a second” he noted before he padded away, heading towards his own locker.

Iker watched after him for a second before he pushed himself up to his feet, slowly getting himself changed. Pulling his shirt around his shoulders, he quickly buttoned it up before he pulled his bag over her shoulder, making his way towards reception where Maia stood, nervously chewing on her lip as she scanned the screen of her phone. Pausing for a second, he allowed his eyes to scan over her, hesitating briefly at the sight of her bump, before he took a pace towards her, clearing his throat slightly. “Maia?” he posed.

Maia, who’d been sending a text to Alex, lifted her head at the sound of her name, a hesitant smile on her face. “Hola” she greeted timidly, her fingers lightly pushing her dark hair away from her eyes.

Iker quirked a faint smile, slightly amused by her familiar nervous habit, before he shook his head. “I am surprised to see you” he noted “I mean, since the other night, I think we’ve only spoken a couple of times, and they were on the phone. To what do I owe the pleasure?” he posed, his voice curious and soft.

Maia shifted her feet slightly before she shrugged her shoulders. “I was in the area and I thought that maybe...maybe you’d like to grab some lunch? I know we’ve not said much about it, but we were in the middle of something the other night when my mother and father showed up and I thought maybe you’d want to talk about it, but if you don’t...” Maia’s voice trailed off as Iker let out a small laugh, something which caused her to frown “Why are you laughing?” she poked.

Iker shrugged. “I forgot how cute your nervous babbling was” he quipped “I’ve missed it” he added, an impish grin on his face.

Maia offered him a slightly unimpressed look before she shook her head. “Are you free?” she posed “I thought we could grab some food and head back to my place” she added.

Iker mulled her offer over for a moment before he nodded his head, offering her another small smile. “I think that that sounds like a plan” he noted.

Maia glanced him, her expression slightly dubious, before she nodded her head, flashing him a timid smile before she padded out of the door, Iker following close behind her. He knew that it wasn’t likely to be straightforward, more often than not, conversations with Maia weren’t straightforward, but he hoped that it would be a positive step. He wanted them to start making progress sooner rather than later.

~#~
Sipping quietly on her glass of orange juice, Maia spared a small look towards Iker, allowing the slightly awkward silence which had settled around them to hang in the air. It wasn’t the first time, since she surprised him at the training ground, they’d lapsed into slightly tense silences more than once, but still she hadn’t quite come up with the right thing to say to him, even if she had spent a few days thinking, none of the words on her mind seemed right.

It was one of the things they needed to discuss, her job was almost certainly the thing which had caused them the biggest problem, and she knew that she couldn’t duck away from talking about it, even if she knew it wasn’t likely to be comfortable. She merely had to get through it.

Sparing Iker another cautious look, she quietly dropped her stare back towards her drink, something which made Iker chuckle. “Are you actually going to say something?” he posed, his voice light and teasing.

“Huh?” Maia spluttered.

“You keep looking up” Iker pointed out “Like you’ve got something to say, and then you just look away. Are you going to talk to me or not?” he posed gently.

Maia glanced at him for a couple of seconds, mulling his question over, before she let out a small sigh. “You asked me something the other day” she murmured “When we were talking about the future, and how we never got around to talking about it, you asked me if...”

“If me talking to you would have been enough to make you stay” Iker interrupted, finishing for her.

Maia blinked, surprised by his interruption, before she nodded, her fingers shyly twisting in her hair. “With my mama and papa showing up unannounced, I never got around to answering you” she noted “And I thought that I should. I mean, we’ve talked about a lot of things, but not the real elephant in the room” she babbled.

Iker shook his head. “Maia...”

“I love my job, Iker” Maia interrupted, her blue eyes meeting his darker ones “Since I was a little girl, all I’ve ever wanted to do was travel. I love seeing new places, learning new languages, enjoying different cultures, and for a long time, it was my priority, but it’s not quite the same anymore. I don’t know if you telling me that you wanted to settle down would have made a difference, I don’t know that I would have still gone away regardless, but I can tell you that it would have made me think twice. It might not seem like it, but I really did love you, and I really did want to make us work” she explained, a few tears appearing in the corner of her eyes.

Iker stared at her briefly, not missing the tears in her eyes before he carefully lifted his hand, his thumb tracing the line of her cheekbone. “I know that” he murmured tenderly.

Maia leant into his touch, relishing the soft feel of his thumb against her cheek, before she closed her eyes, something which caused Iker to lean forwards slightly, kissing the top of her head tenderly. “You know that things are going to have to change, right?” he mumbled into her hair “I mean, I know you love your job, but Maia, with baba in the picture, you can’t just walk away. She’s my baba too” he added as he leant back.

Maia opened her eyes, meeting his, before she nodded. “I know that” she murmured “And I have no intention of walking away. We’re in this together, aren’t we?” she posed, diverting her stare down towards her bump.

Iker followed the line of her stare, marveling at her bump briefly, before he nodded, gently shifting his hand beneath her shirt so that it sat comfortably against her bump. “We are” he noted “You can’t get rid of me now” he added, offering her a small boyish grin.

Maia spared a snuffly laugh, something which caused Iker to dip forwards, pressing another soft kiss against the top of her head. “I’m going nowhere, Maia” he mumbled “This...us...it’s still got some figuring out that needs to be done, but I want to do it, Maia. You know how I feel about you” he added, dropping a kiss onto her forehead.

Maia’s cheeks flushed a soft shade of pink before she nodded. “You know I feel the same way, right?” she posed “I mean, I don’t quite want to use the words, not when things are so...so up in the air, but you know that I...that I do, right?” she babbled.

Iker quirked an amused grin at her nervousness before he nodded. “I know that you do” he noted gently.