When Johnny awoke, he found himself feeling much better. His head was only a dull ache now, not nearly what it had been hours ago. Had it even been hours? How long did he sleep?
He opened his eyes to confirm the time and found the sky set into the darkness of the night. He sighed. "Gosh, what time is it?", he asked himself. To his utter surprise, he got an answer: "It's six in the morning. You've slept through half of the day. Well, nearly." Johnny jumped, whipped his head to the side and stared goggle-eyed at his teamcaptain. "Robert!"
"I know my name", was the dry response, softened only by the sligh smile that graced the germans lips.
"You are here?", Johnny asked after a loaded silence. He was aware of how the conversation - if Robert had ever been part in it - had ended. His friend had fled the room. How was he supposed to act right now? At least the smile was a hint into the right direction. Right? He pouted. "Since when are you here?" "Couple of hours." He pouted more when he realised that his friend had watched him in his sleep. "Enjoyed the view?", he asked rhetorical. The scot did not expect an answer that was honest, but he got one: "Yes." He rolled his eyes and tried to shrug off the feeling that crawled up upon him. "Because I look ridiculous, don't I?" There was another pause while the teamcaptain gathered his thoughts.
"Now, it's not that. It's...I like it." He shrugged like it did not bother him to admit that. The blush on his cheeks gave him away however. He looked to his right and did not face Johnny, who was sure in this very second, that his friend was as nervous, as he was himself. "Ah", he muttered. "Yeah." Another two minutes of dead silence.
"How is my mother?" "Oh, she's good. She invited us over to your house. All of the team." A loud groan escaped his lips by the idea of Enrico meeting his family. "Mom!" It was directed to no one in particular since his mother was sound asleep in another room. Robert chuckeled. "Give her some credit. I was the one who she wanted to have there the most beside you. Oliver happened to stand beside me and it would have been extremely unpolite to ignore him. So - she invited all of us.
And Enrico had some worries about your condition." This reminded the redhead of the short talk he had with the blond earlier. He remained silent and nodded simply.
"And you? Why are you here and not asleep, too?" Roberts head whirled towards his eyes. Blue met brown. "Because we have something to talk about." He drew in a deep breath and hold it. Then, with sure precision as always - but a slight nervous edge - he began: "You know, we can try to forget this. It is one option." A snort from Johnny made clear that it was not an option. None at all. "I figure you want to talk about that. Fine, it is in my interest anyway." Robert leaned back against the chair and looked ready to listen. Johnny on the other hand bit his lip.
"What do you expect me to say?", he finally mumbled, "I am not the one who ran away. Maybe you should start." The german looked like he exactly wanted to do that - not. He drew in another deep breath. "Okay. Fine. If you insist.
I..." His voice lost its volume in this two last words and faded out without finishing what needed to be said. He ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, I..."
Johnny decided to help him out of his misery, although he was well aware that Robert had to say it someday sometime. "You like me?", he did not say it as a question but it was meant as one. Robert nodded. His blush inforced its strenght on his face. "A lot?" Another nod. "Then why don't you say that?" "Because it is hard for me!" Roberts voice rose in its volume again, it nearly was too loud for the time and place. He tried to reign it in: "It is not me to say things like that. You should have noticed that I'm not one to give up on my control." With that, Johnny laughed. Hard.
"Yeah, I know! You are one of a kind, that's true!" He chorteled and doubled over in his chuckles. "Why can't you trust me? I won't lie to you." Robert shot up and Johnny was alarmed that he might leave the room. "Wait, I didn't mean it that way!" Robert turned round and faced the door. "Then tell me how?" Was he on the edge of tears? Johnny could not tell with only the back of his friend in his view. "I...think I like you, too", he said in a whisper. The german turned around again and they stared at each other.
"You think?" The question had an ironic undertone. He'd hurt him. "I have never though of the possibility. Of me, being with you like that. I...just give me some time, okay? I don't know what I'm feeling right now, but it's definetly not negativ!" He blew out air noisily and faced the wall. Anything was better than to see the hope in Roberts eyes which he was not sure if he could life up to. "I...think I need a few days. Can you life with that?" "I think I have to, right?" Robert sounded not happy, not really. But he was okay with it. That was the best they could get right now. At least it was what Johny thought. "You wanna sleep here?", he asked without a glance at his friend, "I mean, my head is to myself, even if you're in the same room."
Robert slid into the bed and whispered a small Thank you before he tried to get one or two hours of sleep now.
