– Warnings : English isn’t my first language, uses of y/n, mentions of addictions & cigarettes, slight making out??, short, not proofread.
"Thought I'd find you here."
The fog of smoke, which resembled a cloud in the far back of your childish mind, was ignored as you turned your head to the side in order to see Pedri, leaning against the door frame with a smile. Bitter sweet, yet sincere; he had always been like this.
You didn't know when exactly it had begun, or maybe you did, but were too forgetful or ignorant to remember.
"Also need a break?" Hiding the package of cigarettes inside your pocket, as if it would somewhat save your dignity, you watched as Pedri approached to now lean against the top railing of the deck. He looked a tad bit different, drunk, maybe. His hair was messier than usual, too, but you didn't comment on it. Instead-
You never truly grew out of your awkward teenage self, did you?
It had happened before, when you two were barely adults and you had started smoking, claiming that it would help release stress from college and family expecations. Pedri had told you not to buy too many of them, in order to not get addicted, yet you saw how he had stared for a moment too long, how he had hesitated to look away.
And Pedri (oh, Pedro González López) was staring at you like you had grown a second head, which made you want to bang your head against a wall. Of course, he wouldn't want to smoke – he's a professional footballer, for God's sake!
"Uh..." He sounded too confused for you to bear, feeling how your face began to feel extremely warm. This wasn't supposed to happen, especially not when the line between drunk and sober was just slightly blurred. You wanted to throw the cigarette away, stomp on it and make the lighter in your other pocket disappear for forever. "I mean-"
"Actually, forget about that." Your hands were sweaty, shaking, as you stood with a straight back now and opened your mouth to say any excuse, yet no words left from your mouth. Licking your lips, you felt like the earth swallowing you whole would be better than whatever this situation was about.
However, it wasn’t exactly this what had made your brain freeze. It was the sight of his gaze dropping down to your lips, the silence louder than the still ongoing music from inside the living room, and the corner of his lips curving up. He was playing a dangerous, and he didn’t mind being the prey.
"Nah, it’s fine." Pedri shook his head and slowly rose to stretch his arms, his limbs feeling too heavy when you were staring at him like a stranger. "You were probably just joking, weren’t you?"
Playing around seemed to do the trick and as you looked at him, and at the cigarette in your hand, and then back at him, you nodded without truly thinking. It seemed appropriate, just as it felt to smile and say: "Yeah, yeah, I was. But, uh, sorry about that. I sounded weird."
"Ah." If you had looked a tiny bit closer, you would have seen how Pedri raised an eyebrow in mock confusion and shook his head, waving a hand up and down as to dismiss your concerns. "Jeez, always one to apologize. You worry too much."
There was a moment of silence when you smiled sheepishly in response to his comment and knew that they were true, mindlessly nodding while trying so hard not to take another puff and cry out of embarrassment for being so awkward to a best friend, to your best friend.
All previous attempts of thoughts left your mind as you instinctively leaned forward, as if it would somewhat make you hear better. "Sorry?"
"I'm not, you know, joking. I do want to try it out."
"When did you say that?" The expression of pure shock made Pedri shake his head and chuckle to himself, taking a glance over at the door to see if anyone was going to come out soon, but everybody else remained inside and he couldn’t consider himself any more luckier.
"When you had asked me, literally two minutes ago."
Once again, when did he say that?
"Oh." The lingering hint of disappointment in your tone of voice was hard to miss, especially when he could quite literally see how you stood frozen in place, but you masked it as mere disbelief and playfully raised an eyebrow, trying to force a grin while dangling the cigarette in between your fingers. "Oh, really?"
"Well, not really. Just wanna test it out." Pedri admitted honestly while his eyes wandered closer to your hand, which you had slightly raised and then dropped back to your side. He didn’t ask, didn’t need to – after all, he knew the feeling of a best friend (his best friend) wanting to blow a smoke.
Nonetheless, he had thought that you'd understand and not throw a tantrum about it. Not like you were throwing a fit or anything, yet the atmosphere was tense and Pedri didn’t know if he was at fault and his eyes belonged on your lips instead of on your hand and–
"Go on, pretty boy." The nickname snapped him out of it and Pedri raised his head too quickly for it to be considered accidental, almost breaking his neck in the process. You haven’t called him a pretty boy since, he guessed, nine years ago, but it was refreshing to hear. "Come and try."
You were teasing him, just like he had done the very same thing a few moments ago, and it didn’t matter. Not, when Pedri leaned forward instead of taking it from your hand and looked up for permission, wondering if what he was doing, was correct.
And then, he took a deep breath with the cigarette on his lower lip, and you could’ve sworn that the world stopped spinning for a second. For a second, it was just you two. For a second, you wished that his lips were on yours.
As expected, the moment he pulled away, Pedri started coughing and you firstly chuckled at how ridiculous the whole situation was, before trying to help him in some way. You couldn’t do much, yet your mere presence brought a sense of comfort to him while he tried to regain his dignity back.
"Oh my god– how the hell do you do that?" While still coughing some more, Pedri huffed out a question that you didn’t really want to answer, so you didn’t. Instead, you patted him on his shoulder and asked if he wanted any water, but going inside would risk ruining the moment and Pedri definitely didn’t want that.
With him now leaning against the top railing once again, you took the time to stare as he ruffled his hair and attempted to calm down on his own. You wanted to help, needed to help, so you asked once more. "Does it hurt anywhere?"
"Why? So you can kiss it better?" A hint of blush covered your cheeks as you remembered the day when you had once kissed his knee after had fallen down. At that time, it had been sweet and utterly kind of you, but he relentlessly teased you about it even years later. More over, it was a surprise that Pedri even remembered that.
"Ah, that was years ago! Stop acting so childish." That earned a laugh from Pedri as he threw his head back, claiming that he wasn’t childish in any way. Once the silence fell back, he opened his eyes (when did he close them again?) and looked straight at you, into your eyes.
"Hah?" Your immediate reaction made Pedri panic, as much as it didn’t look like he was even panicking. He was never this reckless – at least not on the field, and he took his job very seriously. If paparazzi were to see him smoke on the balcony of an old friend and be with an even older best friend, he might as well just jump down from his place on the balcony.
Nevertheless, you pointed at him and then at yourself and then covered your face in your hands, cursing his entire bloodline out. Why was it now, in the middle of a party, in Barcelona, in semi-public, that he wanted to kiss you?
"Oh my- you’re gonna be the death of me." As you slowly gained some confidence and stepped closer, Pedri stood still and looked so shocked that you thought you were dreaming, until he also approached you and so gently cupped your chin in his hands, you were seriously going to die.
Dying in his hands didn’t seem so bad, yet kissing him was even better.
His lips were soft against yours, and he didn’t rush into it, and he just slightly tilted his head to have some more space and not bump against yours nose. Time passed by and you pulled away – why did you?! – and breathed against his cheek, wanting to giggle at how you finally kissed your best friend.
"Already out of breath?" You didn’t see it, but you could hear the smirk in his voice, could feel it against your hair. His arms were warm, wrapped around you, embracing you, and you wanted nothing more than stand there like a loser and get another kiss.
"Do your lips still hurt?" Pedri knew what you meant by that and he didn’t hesitate and cup your chin again, directing your face so that you would see him. He could see himself in your eyes and you could see yourself in his eyes, both of you wearing a silly, mischievous grin.
– A/N : woahhh why is this lowkey my longest fanfic and why did I finish it so quickly.
