Harbinger Of Glory

"Still looks good," Leo muttered as he rubbed his hand across the white polo shirt he had on.

The federation crest sat neatly across his chest, and again, with his initials embroidered just beneath it.

Beside him, Carlo wore the same shirt, though it was the blue version of it as they made their way into the dining hall.

By the time they got there, the room was already busy.

In the room, familiar laughter drifted between tables as players welcomed each other back to the camp.

It was the first evening of it, and so the squad were keen on the formalities.

"England treating you well?" someone called as Carlo laughed.

"So far."

Another player walked over before they reached the buffet.

"I’ve been watching your games," he said, looking between the two of them.

"You’re making quite a mess over there."

"That’s one way of putting it," Carlo replied, but it wasn’t only him getting the attention.

"And you, my friend," one of the staff said in a very good accent, "you are making the league feel very easy, no?"

Leo shrugged, a little embarrassed by the attention.

"I’ve just been playing."

"Well then, do the same for us if you’re just playing!"

Following that, the conversation drifted elsewhere almost as quickly as it had started.

Leo grabbed a plate and worked his way down the buffet before finding an empty table near the windows.

Only once he sat down did he realise how hungry he actually was.

He hadn’t eaten properly since that morning, and so the first few minutes passed in comfortable silence as he focused almost entirely on his food.

"You started without me."

Leo looked up and found Carlo beside the table, balancing his tray with one hand and behind him was another familiar face.

"Look who I found," Carlo said as Moise Kean dropped into the chair beside Leo without waiting for an invitation.

"There’s my boy."

Leo laughed before reaching a hand out to meet Kean’s handshake.

"Good to see you too."

After that, the two talked for a bit before Kean looked to suddenly remember something.

"So..." he said and looked around dramatically.

"Where’s the other one?"

At that question, Leo looked genuinely puzzled, not understanding what Moise meant.

"Which other one?"

"The Spurs one."

"Destiny?" Carlo interjected while Kean nodded.

"Oh, he didn’t get called up this time," Leo said as Kean’s smile faded.

"Ah."

He nodded once.

"That’s a shame," he muttered and then also dove into his food.

The conversation moved on as more players drifted over, pulling chairs around the table until it was nearly full.

Talk bounced from club football with someone inevitably bringing up Wigan’s start to the season and how good it was every few minutes.

Leo mostly listened.

Now and then he’d answer a question or laugh at one of Kean’s stories before returning to his meal.

By the time he pushed his plate away, the dining hall had begun to thin out.

"Has anyone seen Mister?" he said after glancing around.

At once, Kean looked up from his dessert.

"I heard he and Marco got called into a meeting with the federation this afternoon."

"What about?"

Kean shrugged.

"No idea. Probably has to do with some administrative talk or preparations. Could be anything really!"

That explained it, Leo thought as he nodded.

An hour later, the corridors outside had grown quiet.

Leo stepped onto the balcony outside his room and pulled out his phone.

There, the most recent call he’d made was to Vittoria, and he’d done so 5 times after seeing the missed call from his girlfriend.

She too hadn’t picked up, and so without a thought, Leo called again.

It rang and rang, and then stopped.

He tried again, but the result didn’t change as the call rang until it clicked off.

He tried for the third, with that one too ringing until the end, but just as he turned to go back inside, she answered.

Immediately after she did, what reached him first was a long, tired groan.

Leo immediately frowned, wondering what that was.

"Tori?"

For a second there was only her breathing, until her voice came through a few minutes later.

"...Yeah."

It was quiet, far quieter than usual.

"What’s wrong?"

She didn’t answer straight away, causing Leo to repeat, thinking she hadn’t heard his question.

"Just feeling some pain in my abdomen."

After saying that, she let out another slow breath.

"The cramps are awful today. I’ve felt miserable since this morning."

Leo, feeling the wind hitting his face, leaned away from the edge of the balcony before settling on one of the chairs around.

"And you’ve been working."

"Mm."

"All day?"

"I thought I’d manage, but I couldn’t. My aunt noticed eventually," she said the last bit reminiscingly as a weak laugh escaped her.

"She practically threw me out and cancelled the rest of my appointments."

"I’m exhausted," she sighed again.

"I feel gross... everything hurts... and honestly, I think I could sleep until next week."

"Have you been drinking water?"

At Leo’s question, a stretch of silence settled over the phone as Vittoria didn’t speak while Leo waited for her answer until she eventually spoke.

"Just know that I’m choosing not to answer that. Don’t test me again!"

Hearing that, Leo smiled, coughing slightly as he changed the question.

"What about food?"

And after she didn’t answer this either, Leo pinched the bridge of his nose.

"You haven’t eaten either."

"I wasn’t hungry."

"You still need to eat."

"I will, I will, so stop nagging!"

After she spoke, Leo could hear another groan stretch over the call.

Keeping the call on, he found his search engine and soon enough, his hands brushed over the touch keyboard.

Rome to Milan.

After the results came, he checked the time and then looked back at the screen before clicking on the floating island where the call timer was still runnning!

"Hang on a second," he said quietly a moment later and then that was it!