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"Game and match won by Román and Bambieri, 6-4, 7-6!"
The Barcelona Open Men's Doubles competition was going as predictably as the sportsbetting platforms were saying it would go. The now-seasoned Spanish pair consisting of Julio Román and Silva Serra Bambieri were always finalists no matter what tournament they were in. After 5 years on the pro circuit, the only people who could even put a stop to their claim of the title were their beloved Japanese rivals Mouri Jusaburou and Ochi Tsukimitsu. With how the rest of the tournament was progressing, it seemed like Julio and Bambieri were destined to meet those walking skyscrapers once again. Fortunately, they had home court advantage and it would be slightly tragic if they fell at the final hurdle.
"Ah—man, I'm tired!"
The two returned to their change room to shower off the sweat from their last game. There was something therapeutic about a cold shower when drenched in the stink of victory and Julio loved taking his sweet time just meditating while the water rained down on him. Bambieri wasn't like that and would scrub himself head-to-toe with various soaps, making sure he was squeaky clean in as short of a time as possible. By the time Julio was towelling himself dry, Bambieri was already fully dressed and ready to leave. But something was different this time around as Bambieri wasn't focused on his phone screen waiting for his partner to finish up.
"Hm? Whatcha got there, Bambi?" Julio asked as he looked into the palm of his partner's hand.
"You kept this, Julio?" Bambieri asked him in a slightly wistful tone. "Thought you said you didn't want that responsibility."
In the calloused hand of Bambieri was a friendship bracelet made with various yellow strings. It looked very similar to the red one on Bambieri's wrist and the blue one on Julio's. The bracelet had been separated by something sharp cut right beside the knot that likely fastened it to the wearer's own wrist. In its current state, there was no way for it to be re-fastened—and the length of it was way too short to wrap comfortably around either man's appendage.
"Of course—she insisted," Julio nodded. There was a lump forming in his throat that he couldn't swallow down. "It's our good luck charm. I never come to a tournament without it."
Bambieri nodded before handing it back to him. "It fell on the floor."
"Damn, that wouldn't have been good..."
"We should go see her after this tournament is over," Bambieri suggested. "It's been a while."
"Yeah," was the melancholic sigh, "it really has been."
Julio and Bambieri's rivalry-turned-friendship-turned-doubles partnership-turned-romantic partnership all started one day at a tennis club when they both found out that they were both on a 75-game win streak. This quickly devolved into a competition to see who would reach 100 wins first—only for a bad author to force them to face one another for that 100th win. Unfortunately, there never was a winner to that competition as both boys abstained from that fateful match (Julio's abstention being for a completely valid reason in that he was sick that day, but Bambieri's? Not so much). They soon bonded over their tennis styles being in perfect sync with one another and quickly formed a doubles partnership that would last the test of time.
But the thing is, there was always another person who was there with them; someone who was the aluminum chloride in this Friedel-Crafts alkylation of a partnership. Estella Serrano just happened to be a girl who was at this same tennis club, but her main focus was talking with her friends over actually playing the game. Though she was in the same class as Bambieri, they would only speak to each other at this club—and it would often be short words only.
"Hey, Silva, I think you should talk to that Julio kid with the headband," she would goad him. "I hear he's got a crazy 74-game win streak."
"...Maybe," was the curt reply.
Julio was a blabbermouth, so talking with him was always easy. Estella found that he had a simple way of thinking if the topic was anything other than tennis.
"Julio, have you talked with Silva before? I hear he's got the same win streak as you right now," she lightly toyed with him. "Wouldn't it be cool if you guys played each other to see who can continue with their win streak?"
"Pft—I'm gonna win for sure, Estella!" Julio would boast. "Watch and learn."
Estella was one of the many people who showed up to watch that fateful singles game between Julio and Bambieri, only to be disappointed that neither of them showed up. She eventually found the two boys playing tennis with each other and saw the potential they both had as a doubles pair with how they reacted to each other's playstyles. Though they were both fiercely singles players at that stage in their lives, it was her that goaded them into playing on the same side of the court together.
"You guys would be unstoppable in doubles," she mused. "I think you guys should enter the next tournament as a pair."
"Huh?! Are you crazy, Estella?!" Julio shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Why not?" she shrugged. "If you guys aren't going to settle your score officially, might as well pair up so people stop asking about it."
"You have a point..." Bambieri couldn't help but agree.
"Huh?! You agree, Bambi?!" Julio continued shouting despite being in a location where that was less than socially acceptable.
"Julio, Indoor voice," Estella flinched. "Just think about it, though!"
It was also Estella who taught them how to make their own friendship bracelets. Being growing boys, their hands were quickly becoming bigger and less dexterous, so holding onto thin threads to braid together into the bracelets was actually a lot harder than they were imagining. Luckily, Estella was still able to help them do the tricky parts since her fingers were relatively uncalloused compared to her friends.
"You guys are so lame," she snorted while she tied off the red bracelet for Julio. "There—now just give me your wrist and I'll tie it on—"
"Tie it on Bambi's wrist," Julio interrupted, "I made this one for him."
"Huh? Are you serious?" Estella stared at him, confused.
"The one I'm making is for Julio," Bambieri added without looking up from what he was doing. "It's fine, Estella."
"Wow, now I feel left out," she huffed. "Silva, stop working on that and give me your wrist for a second."
Bambieri held out his right hand for Estella to wrap Julio's bracelet around. She carefully tied a sliding knot to fasten it in place, leaving Bambieri slightly stunned in the process.
"You can adjust it like this if you ever need to loosen it for any reason," she said while demonstrating how it works. "Silva, I think that one is long enough to fit Julio's wrist by now."
"Hm? This one is for you, Estella—not Julio," Bambieri mentioned while pointing at another untied bracelet on the table. "Julio's is the blue one right there."
"Huh? Why are you making me one?" she asked. "And that is more than long enough, Silva..."
"You're our friend—that's why!" Julio claimed loudly while he stuck out his left wrist towards her. "Here—tie that blue one on me!"
"So needy," she rolled her eyes while obliging the request. "Here—now you guys match."
"Sweet!" Julio hummed gleefully. "C'mon, Bambi—it's long enough!"
"One second," Bambieri insisted as he finished off the last row he was working on. "Okay, here."
Julio took the very long yellow bracelet from his partner and wrapped it around Estella's left wrist. The bracelet was long enough that it looped around her thin arm twice. Unfortunately, Julio was an idiot and didn't actually know how to tie the same knot Estella had done.
"Julio, you tied a dead knot," she chided him. "I can't take this off now without cutting it."
"Well, guess you gotta keep that on forever, then," was the cheeky reply. "You're stuck with us as friends forever, Estella."
"A fate worse than death," she bemoaned.
At some point in their teenage years, Julio and Bambieri would get accepted into SOL Academy to further their tennis development while Estella opted to study towards going to university instead. They still hung out when they could and nothing really changed that much between them, but there was a noticeable chasm that was growing between the two boys and their friend. It didn't help when both Julio and Bambieri both started to notice some feelings developing that could possibly lead to the complete implosion of this close-knitted friendship.
"Oh, shit, I think I like him,' was the shared thought both boys had about one another that they dare not voice out loud.
Julio ran to Estella first to get advice because there wasn't anyone else he could really talk to. Surprisingly, the girl was rather supportive of this revelation and pushed for him to say something.
"Just tell him, Julio," she shrugged. "Silva prefers if you're direct, anyway."
"But what if he's not... you know," he tried to insinuate.
"I'm not speculating, but you know he doesn't like it when you hide stuff from him," she pointed out.
When Bambieri eventually came to interrogate her about Julio's sudden behavioural changes, Estella could only roll her eyes about it.
"Do you know what's wrong with Julio?" he asked. "He's getting all distracted as of late."
"Sounds like he likes you, Silva," she joked, but her tone managed to fly past Bambieri's head completely.
"Oh, he does? That makes sense," was the unusual reply. "Guess I'll say something, then."
"Huh?! Silva?!" Estella started to panic. "You know, that was a joke, right?"
"Was it? But, that reasoning makes sense," he tried to rationalize. "Regardless, we need to figure this out if we're going to continue playing doubles together."
When Bambieri confronted Julio about it and they both realized they were on the same page about one another, that caused the distance between them and Estella to grow more. It wasn't that they cut her out of their lives, but there was just something inherently isolating about being a third wheel in a relationship. It stung a little, but Estella was still very supportive of her two friends in spite of it. They still made time for their friendship, but being a horny teenager led to things where the two boys would spend more time alone with each other than anyone else. It wasn't like Estella minded much since she had to hunker down with the books if she wanted to pass the entrance exams to get into her top school of choice.
But all of that changed when Estella got sick just when Julio and Bambieri were selected to be a part of the U-17 Spanish National Team.
She collapsed at school one day after trying to nurse an awful headache that she had been dealing with for about half a week. Bambieri found out when his mother told him over dinner one night after she mentioned Estella's father having to rush out of the office. The two boys bolted towards the hospital as fast as they could to track down their friend, only to find her propped up in a bed, but otherwise the same as usual.
"What are you two doing here?" she questioned them.
"How could you not tell us you were in the hospital?!" Julio started shouting again. "I had to hear it from Bambi, who heard it from his mom!"
"Guys, I'm fine," she insisted. "They're just going to run some tests, but I should be free to go afterward."
"You don't look well, though, Estella," Bambieri couldn't help but notice.
"Well, she doesn't look like she's hiding anything from us, so she doesn't know either," Julio added.
"Okay, there, Mr. I-have-eyes-that-can-see-into-your-soul," Estella mocked. "I'm sure I'll be fine. You guys just got selected for the national team, right? You should focus on that."
"You're our friend, Estella—you're more important than the national team!" Julio continued to use his outdoor voice.
"What Julio means to say is you're asking us to pick between the impossible here," Bambieri tried to justify. "Being selected for the national team... It's not something that happens every day."
"There's only one of you, Estella," Julio added. "National team or not..."
"Oh, give me a break," she rolled her eyes. "I'll give you guys daily updates if you're soooooooooo concerned, but trust me when I say it's probably nothing and you're both idiots if you pass up this chance. You especially, Julio—you're the captain!"
"Estella—"
"I don't want to hear it," she dismissed them. "Come back and see me when you've won, okay? I promise I'll still be here for you both."
"Ugh—fine, have it your way!" Julio huffed and puffed.
Julio and Bambieri set off for Madrid to undergo an intense training camp before they flew out to Australia. During this time, Estella had been chatting with the two over text and the occasional video call, but neither boy suspected anything was amiss the whole time (it turned out that the so-called "Julio Vision" didn't really work over video). It was only after the Spanish National Team touched down in Melbourne when they found out the truth.
"They found a tumour in my brain," Estella choked as she tried to tell her friends through a tearful video call once the two had made it to their accommodations for the duration of the tournament. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell you two sooner."
"What the hell, Estella?!" Julio blew up. "How long have you known?!"
"Julio, there's no point in getting worked up about this now," Bambieri tried to calm him down despite simmering in his own rage. "But, Estella, if you told us—"
"No," she stopped both of them, "I can't be the reason you guys don't follow your dreams. That's why I waited."
"You can't make that decision for us!" Julio continued shouting.
"It's my choice how and when I choose to tell you about my health, Julio!" she fired back. "If I told you guys before you left for Australia, I'd never be able to live with myself..."
"Estella..."
"I'll update you guys as much as I can with the time difference between here and there," she promised. "Just... You guys made it that far. Go for your dreams. Win on the world stage."
"Just to be clear, I am still quite angry with you, but okay," Bambieri agreed. "Julio and I will win for you, Estella."
"Bambi!"
"We'll talk later when we've calmed down," Bambieri said before hanging up the call.
Julio punched down on the bed in the room before breaking down in tears. He clung onto his partner as they both tried to process the news as best as any teenager several thousands of miles away from home could do. The both of them could hear Mars on the other side of the door, pounding loudly and asking if they could come in.
When they had gotten over their initial rage and grief, the boys remembered their promise to their friend and started to lock in at the tournament. Spain did considerably well for the most part in the group stages since the other countries didn't think they were that good and they easily made it to the knockoff stage of the tournament. They had a few days to rest before the next part of the tournament happened so Julio took this opportunity to take another video call. This was the first time since the revelation they had spoken outside of text messages.
"I'm surprised you picked up," he greeted her.
"I'm surprised you called," was the retort. "Are you out already?"
"What? No!" he yelled. "The group stage just ended, so we have some time before the main event. How are you holding up?"
"I mean, the treatment has been making me weak, but I'm fine otherwise," she shrugged off. "Where's Silva?"
"Oh, he's off to go do something but he should be back soon," Julio answered rather strangely. "I was just hoping that we could talk one-on-one."
Estella did not like where this was going. "Julio?"
"Look—I'm sorry for my reaction the other day," he apologized, "but you can't fault me for being angry like that."
"I didn't want to hide it from either of you, but I had no choice," she admitted again. "If you two stayed here with me instead of going over there, I would hate myself for the rest of my life."
"I don't care if I throw away this chance for you," Julio declared. "You mean so much more to me than standing on the world stage."
"And rob Silva of that choice, too?"
"Bambi would make the same choice as me," he nodded. "He cares about you, too."
"Why would you two do that for me?" Estella pressed. "I'm just a friend. You can't hold yourself back for me."
"Estella, I like you a lot," Julio choked. "As more than a friend."
"What are you saying, Julio?" she questioned. "You and Silva are a thing."
"Doesn't mean I can't like more than one person," he claimed. "So what if I love Bambi? Is it a crime to love you, too?"
"Julio, no..." she tried to let him down gently, "I'm sorry, but I can't let you cheat on Silva like that with me. You're asking me to pick between the impossible now."
"...What?"
"I like you too," she confessed, "but, I also like Silva just as much. I can't pick between you two, so I'd rather not date either of you at all. That's why I was happy when you both got together because that saved me from making that choice myself."
"Julio? What are you talking about?" came Bambieri's voice from behind.
"Huh?!" Julio turned around, only to see his partner in multiple meanings standing before him.
"Estella... Is what you're saying true?" Bambieri pressed.
"Of course, it is," she nodded, "but I can't pick between you two. Either I love you both, or I don't date either of you at all. I didn't know that a third option existed, but it solved my dilemma."
"Be our girlfriend, then!" Julio blurted out. "Bambi, we're taking her out on a date when we get back!"
"I don't mind," his partner shrugged.
"Huh?! What the hell are you two saying?!" the girl gasped.
"Actually, scratch that—Bambi, we're going back!"
"Back where, exactly?" was the confused reply.
"We'll just use RomeFer's jet—"
"Okay, slow down a second," Estella cautioned, "leaving mid-tournament is a bad look for you, Captain. And, oh, my God, do NOT get on a private jet and come all the way back here, Julio. Be sensible."
"I can't take this—I wanna see you Estella!" Julio shouted. "Not just through a screen!"
"The sooner you get through the tournament, the faster you'll get to see me," she reminded him. "Ah, but I did say don't come back until you've won."
"Ugh—fine, have it your way!"
"Julio, focus," Bambieri finally said something. "Estella has a point. Let's do our best for her and focus on winning."
"You know I'll still be here waiting for you guys when you get back," she added. "I want you guys to do your best. Do it for me."
When the knockoff stage started, Spain was breezing through their opponents all the way up to the semifinals. It helped that they gained new strength through the addition of the coach's own son to the roster, replacing one of their missing middle schoolers for the time being. During all of this, the messages between Julio, Bambieri, and Estella dwindled. The girl still sent updates, but at some point, they were no longer daily. On the day of the finals, neither of them had heard a thing, making their stomachs churn.
"It's really early in the morning over there," Bambieri tried to brush off that ill feeling. "We need to focus, Julio."
"Yeah..." was the depressed reply. "Well, time to rally the troops!"
The finals were filled with drama and action, but Spain's miracle run was shattered at the very end by Japan's own Cinderella story. Julio and Bambieri found that they could surpass their own limits through the power of doubles, but it wasn't enough in the end to win against their soon-to-be eternal rivals. They even witnessed another tragedy of narrative storytelling, but this day would be permanently etched into their minds for the rest of their lives.
Once the awards ceremony had concluded, Julio and Bambieri were able to check their phones. There were a number of notifications, but one stuck out in particular. It was a group chat with Estella's mother and it had one unread message. Upon opening the chat, they both noticed the timestamp was just before Spain stepped foot onto the court for the Doubles 1 game.
'She went in her sleep just now,' it simply read.
Julio and Bambieri looked each other in the eyes after reading that message. Time had stopped and they were unable to even process what they had just read. Julio collapsed onto his knees, a scream so hoarse that it didn't make a sound. Bambieri slumped down, vision blurred by the continual build-up of his own tears as he clutched onto his head. Out of all their teammates, Mars seemed to be the only person who knew what was going on and actively steered everyone away from the scene to give them time to grieve.
The funeral was the day after they got back from Australia. Julio didn't care who saw him as an emotional wreck but Bambieri tried to maintain composure. Her family decided to bury her and the two boys were asked to be the front pallbearers due to their strength and height. When the casket was in the ground and the crowd had dispersed, the two boys were pulled aside by their friend's father to talk briefly.
"Estella asked us to give this to you two," her father choked as he held something in his hand.
Julio held his palms up to receive the item, realizing it was that yellow friendship bracelet that used to be bound to her left wrist—a pair of scissors likely used to sever near the knot where he had tied it incorrectly so many years ago. The bracelet itself had seen better days and it looked as if it was falling apart at various points. There seemed to be the tiniest stain of oxidized red in the middle. He wanted to let go of the object so badly but he was frozen in place. Bambieri felt the contents of his stomach trying to force its way up. What the hell were they supposed to do with this thing now? Splitting it in two seemed even more sacrilege and neither of them wanted to bear the full responsibility of carrying such an emotionally heavy object.
"Bambi..."
"I can't," he declined. "I don't lose things, but..."
"Well, I'm not any better either!" Julio yelled. "Dammit...!"
Julio mulled about what to do with it, but he ultimately decided it was easier if he just shoved it into the bottom of his tennis bag. It was out of sight and he could easily forget about it, but it was still with him since he never went anywhere without his bag.
Rather than deal with their sponsor or press obligations post-victory, Julio and Bambieri agreed to seek refuge at Julio's childhood home. Much to the frustration of their manager, the two agreed to shut off their phones and completely disconnect until they completed this visit that they had put off for far too long. Being mildly affluent, Julio's parents had a nice, big property that was quite a bit away from a city center, so it would take the paparazzi a bit of time to track them down. It was a quiet respite for them if they ever had the chance to stop by, but Julio didn't want the media to start harassing his poor mother, who might spill beans that shouldn't be spilt.
"Hey, Mom—I'm home!" Julio shouted as he slammed the front door wide open and waltzed right in as if he still lived there. "Bambi's here too!"
"Honestly, Julio—you're a grown man now!" his mother yelled from the kitchen before she started walking over to greet her son and son-in-law. "You can't be barging into the house like this anymore."
"Hello, Mama," Bambieri nodded. "Sorry about Julio."
"Oh, Silva, you sweet boy," Julio's mother fretted as she went to embrace him first over her actual son, "you are such a saint for putting up with this handful for so long. Why on earth did you marry him?"
"Hey!" Julio snapped.
"What? It's true," his mother huffed. "Regardless, why are you two home? Don't you both have things to do even though you just won Barcelona?"
"Oh, we thought we'd stop by on our way to go see Estella," Julio explained. "It feels kinda rude to not say 'hi' while we're here."
"What? Why didn't you just go straight there first?" she gasped in horror. "That poor girl has been waiting for you two for far too long!"
"We just wanted to stop by here first, Mama," Bambieri tried to say.
"Oh, we'll catch up later," his mother insisted as she pushed them both out the door. "Go see Estella—I'm sure she misses you two. And bring her some flowers! She loves my peonies and they're freshly bloomed right now. Cut a few for her, won't you, Julio?"
"Ugh—fine, Mom!" Julio begrudgingly moaned. "Just say you don't like me, why don't you?!"
"Julio, you know I love you very much, but get some common sense, won't you?" his mother chided him. "I'll make sure your favourite foods are ready by the time you both get back. Now, go!"
Bambieri couldn't hide his amusement as he watched his partner huff and puff all the way over to the flowerbeds of the property to pick some of the colourful peonies that were blooming vibrantly. The garden had all kinds of colours to pick from, but Julio only managed to pick a white, yellow, and purple one before he sliced a finger open on the smooth stem somehow.
"Ow!" he cursed before shoving his finger into his mouth to try and stop the bleeding, "stupid flowers..."
"Idiot," Bambieri snorted as he crouched down to pick a pink and red one to round out the bouquet. "This should be enough. Let's go."
The walk to the graveyard was at least an hour long, but that was light work for two pro tennis players. If anything, the long time it took allowed both of them to ruminate and think about what it was they needed to get off their chests. But the second they managed to find the specific headstone they were looking for among the twisted rows of graves, their minds suddenly went blank.
"H-hey, Estella," Julio stammered slightly as he broke the silence, "sorry we haven't visited in a while. We got kinda busy."
"Knowing you, you probably don't care that much," Bambieri couldn't help but smirk slightly as he knelt down and placed the cut peonies at the base of the headstone. "Julio's mother asked us to bring you these—your favourite."
"You better like them—I cut one of my fingers while getting these for you," Julio whined.
Silence fell again as the two men just stared at what remained of their dead friend. Bambieri didn't make any attempts to hold back his tears and just let them fall silently. Julio was actively trying to choke them back as he bit his bottom lip.
"I guess we've been avoiding coming to see you 'cause we kinda promised that we'd bring the championship back to you," Julio scratched the back of his head. "But, we lost that World Cup event to Japan and all..."
"We've won many more since then, though," Bambieri mentioned, "including the recent one in Barcelona."
"I mean, I guess we didn't really break that promise if we think of it that way, but..."
Both of them couldn't find it within them to say the next part out loud: 'I wish you were here instead.'
"If we stayed, do you think she'd still be with us, Bambi?" Julio wondered.
"No—I don't think that's how it works," he shook his head.
"Hah, figures," he scoffed.
Both men crouched down on their knees and leaned towards the headstone, their lips softly brushing up against the top surface of the polished granite briefly before they got back up on their feet. They both exchanged a nod with each other.
"I wish we got the chance to do that while you were still here," Julio said out loud. "I'll always hold a special place in my heart for you, Estella."
"I'll always love you as well, Estella," Bambieri acknowledged. "I promise, if we find each other again, we'll do things differently."
The two stood there for a few moments longer before they quietly left. While on their long walk back, Julio couldn't help but start blabbing again.
"Say, Bambi, would you have been mad if I chose to stay instead of going to Australia back then?"
"Yes, but I would understand why you would," was the reply. "It wouldn't change the outcome, but..."
"Really?" Julio seemed surprised by that.
"If you stayed, I would've as well," Bambieri nodded. "I don't want to play doubles with anyone but you, Julio."
"Bambi..."
"I would've prayed harder for her to get better, too," he added, "but we all made the choices we did and we have to live with that."
"Yeah," Julio finally agreed. "Estella wanted us to succeed. We gotta keep going for her."
"Yeah."
Silence. A few people were jogging on the same path they were walking, prompting them to step aside and let them pass. Julio almost tripped over his own two feet if it weren't for Bambieri being there to catch him.
"I wouldn't have changed my decision, but I just wish we spent more time with her beforehand," Bambieri confessed. "It was because of her that I met you, Julio."
"Yeah—I kinda hate myself for letting our relationship take the front seat back then," Julio agreed. "We were bad friends."
Bambieri nodded slowly.
"Still... The fact that we're still together even after all of that..." Julio couldn't help but mention this.
"I do love you, Julio," Bambieri stated, "but, I also wish we could've shared this life with her."
"I love you, too, Silva," he reciprocated while also letting his husband know that he hadn't forgotten his actual name. "Maybe in our next life, we'll be able to."
Julio's fingers brushed up against Bambieri's, who then grabbed a hold of his hand and interlaced their fingers together. The worn-out red and blue bracelets that still sat on their wrists gently touched as they continued making their way home.