A/N: Remember, usually they speak Spanish with each other (or German).

On Sunday, the day after our match against Bilbao, I allowed myself to sleep longer than usually as I had arrived pretty late the night before. We had won the match 3-1, but rightfully so, Jonatan wasn't happy with the performance Mapi and I had delivered. Well, there goes my starting spot, I thought to myself while getting out of my cozy bed.

After a quick breakfast which consisted of an oatmeal with berries, I decided to go for a run. While we had gotten today off, it didn't mean I could just sit around at home and do nothing, so I quickly got changed, grabbed my running shoes, and left my apartment.

The temperature was still comparatively low with only 18 degrees, so the run wouldn't be too exhausting. I put my air pods in and slowly started my run as I noticed I had been added to a group chat by Keira.

[14/09/2024 10:01:02] Keira W.: Hi guys, Lucy and I are hosting a dinner party tomorrow. We have some exciting news to share with you :) Please let me know if you can make it! Hola chicas, Lucy y yo vamos a organizar una cena mañana. Tenemos algunas noticias emocionantes para compartir con vosotras:) ¡Por favor, díganme si pueden venir!

I instantly cringed when I saw that she had written her message in both English and Spanish. If there was something I disliked, it was speaking English for sure. It wasn't like I didn't know any English, but I definitely preferred German or Spanish as I grew up bilingual.

While increasing my speed, I looked at all the participants in the group. I recognized Alexia's number, but there were two unknown Spanish phone numbers, however I recognized Jenni on one of the profile pictures while the other number didn't have a visible photo. For a moment I felt bad because Laura hadn't been invited, but then I remembered that Keira told me she only invited her closest friends at Barca and Laura, when she wasn't with me, usually spent her time with Claudia and Patri. As well as the Spanish numbers, there were three foreign numbers, most likely English ones from the Arsenal players. I quickly checked their profile pictures and grinned when I saw a photo of Leah Williamson who I'd always admired deeply.

I texted Keira back that I was definitely coming and then tried to focus on my run, but it was hard as my thoughts always circled back to the upcoming international break. Laura and I would be leaving on Wednesday evening and be gone for a whole week to train with the German national team and eventually finish the week off with our last Euros qualifier. The thought of at least having Laura by my side made me a little less stressed, but nevertheless I really didn't want to face Sydney and Klara. I knew I had to succumb to my fear eventually as we'd be spending a lot of time together with the upcoming Euros in summer, but I was still hurt from what I witnessed just two days ago.

Suddenly, my music stopped abruptly as a call from an unknown number appeared on my phone.

Confused, I picked up. "Hello?"

"Good morning, princesa."

"How did María León get my number?" I asked her, slightly out of breath as I was just running up a hill.

"Keira's group chat" She replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "But I was just about to dm you on Insta anyway. How are you today? Do you feel better?"

I couldn't believe that she called just to check on me after my break down on Friday night.

"I feel a little better, thank you" I smiled.

"Can I pick you up in an hour? I can't take your pain away, I really wish I could, but at least it will hopefully make you think of something else." Mapi offered hesitantly.

As I didn't have anything planned for today, I agreed. "I'll send you my address unless you've already figured that one out as well." I teased her.

"Hey! You better be nice or I'll make you walk" Mapi scoffed. "See you in an hour, princesa."

*

An hour and a half later, I was still waiting in front of my apartment complex. After living in Spain for almost two months I still hadn't gotten used to their unpunctuality and as a German, I probably never would.

Finally, I saw Mapi's grey car pull into my street and she came to a stop right in front of me.

"Hola, mi princesita" She greeted me with a grin as I entered her car, but then her mimics changed. "If you call me María León now, I'll crash the car."

"I wouldn't dare to, María Pilar León Cebrián" I chuckled as I called her by her full name.

Mapi shook her head but couldn't hide the fact that her lips were forming a little smile. "I'm gonna kill you!"

"Before you do that, care to tell me where we're going?" I wondered.

"No" She threw me a cheeky smile before handing me the aux cable. "But you could put on some music."

I sighed, I hated having to share my music as I always feared others would judge me for my taste. It wasn't that I had some kind of weird taste, but honestly it was just really basic. However, I quickly figured that I would just be able to put on some German music as Mapi wouldn't know any German songs anyway.

As I turned the first song on, I closely studied her reaction to hearing the song. Quite frankly, it also allowed me to inspect her further. Today, she was dressed all in black with wide jeans, a simple black t-shirt and a leather jacket. The only colorful parts of her outfit were the front of her Levi's cap, which was red and blue plaid, and her shoes. While it was a rather simple outfit, she somehow still managed to look absolutely stunning, slowly moving her head to the rhythm of the song.

"What is it about?" She wondered.

"Basically, about being unsure whether you're just friends with someone or if there's more between you" I slightly blushed. "It's called Chaos by Mathea."

"Have you ever felt that way?"

"No, I think I've never even been in love" I shrugged. "What about you?"

"Oh, I've been in love before. And it that exact situation as well" Mapi let out a dark laugh. "Trust me, keep it that way and never fall in love. That shit hurts."

I thought back to Alexia telling me about how Mapi had changed after her breakup and I couldn't help but feel bad for her. The Mapi I was starting to get to know was such a genuine and caring person and I felt the need to protect her from anything bad happening to her.

We pulled into a huge car park which was almost completely full.

"Where are we?" I wondered.

"Wait and see" Mapi replied, concentrated on pulling into a small parking spot.

Sighing, I got out of the car and looked around, but there was nothing but the car park. "At least tell me if we have to walk far!"

"No, but we have to take a shuttle bus" Mapi pointed to a huge bus waiting in front of the car park.

I rummaged in my bag looking for my wallet. "Do you know how much it costs?"

"Nothing, it's included in the entrance fee." Mapi answered as we were walking to the bus.

"Entrance fee to what? And how much is it?"

"It's been taken care of" Mapi simply replied with a small wink and got on the bus.

After a short ride on the crowded bus, we arrived at a small bus station.

I got off and looked around me, seeing a huge church on my left and a Ferris wheel in front of me.

"Welcome to Tibidabo" Mapi grinned. "You're on top of Barcelona now, let me show you."

We walked up a few stairs until we were stood on a platform in front of the massive church.

"This is the temple expiatori del Sagrat Cor" ("Temple of the Sacred Heart of Jesus") Mapi explained.

"It's beautiful!" I exclaimed, taking a photo at the same time.

"It really is, but that's not the best part."

Mapi guided me to the railing of the platform, from where you could see over the whole city, leaving me completely speechless.

Eventually, I leaned my head against Mapi's shoulder, a procedure that had become so familiar to me during the past two weeks. "Thank you for showing me this place."

"I'm glad you like it" Mapi smiled, gently stroking my back with her left hand.

Just for an instant, I closed my mind and fully enjoyed the moment, letting go of all the negative emotions I had been feeling over the last days.

"Do you want to ride on the ferris wheel?" Mapi's question pulled me out of my thoughts and I nodded enthusiastically, but insisted on taking a few more photos before we eventually headed to the small amusement park next to the church.

After waiting in line for a few minutes, we were finally allowed to enter the ferris wheel and luckily had a car to ourselves. I watched the city below us get even smaller as we were slowly lifted into the air. This time, it was Mapi who gently leaned her head against my shoulder while my head was laying on top of hers. I grinned, thinking to myself that Mapi, who always presented herself as a though individual, was secretly a softie.

After going on a few different rides, we went back to the car and drove to the Tapas restaurant that Mapi had wanted to take me to the other day.

"I don't know what to get, I've never had Tapas before" I admitted as we were looking at the menu.

"What?!"

"In my defense, I lived in Germany for almost my whole life. I doubt they have good tapas there anyway" I defended myself.

"Almost your whole life?" Mapi wondered. "Where else have you lived?"

"I was born in Santiago de Chile and lived there until I was four." I explained shortly, not wanting to go into details.

"Wow, is that the reason your Spanish is so good?"

I nodded. "Yes. Now tell me, what do I order?"

"Let me handle this" Mapi demanded, giving the waitress a sign to come over.

Shortly after, five small plates were put on our table. I spotted white bread, olives, complete shrimps that still had their eyes, potatoes with a strange sauce and round, golden balls.

"So, we have olives, because who doesn't like them. Then, these" She pointed on the weird balls. "are croquetas de jamón, you're gonna love them! Next, those shrimps are called gambas al ajillo, and you're supposed to dip the bread into the garlic oil once you're finished with them. Last but definitely not least, patatas bravas. The sauce can be a little spicy, but you're gonna love them!"

My stomach started grumbling by just looking at the delicious food in front of me. "Let's start!"

Mapi laughed and filled up my plate for me. "Try the croquetas first, they're my favorites."

Frankly, those had been the only things I hadn't been looking forward to trying as they looked quite weird, but I quickly changed my mind after my first bite. "I love them, wow!"

Mapi, who had been closely watching me to see my reaction, smiled. "I knew you'd love them!"

"Thank you for showing me all those Spanish things. Without you, I'd probably still feel as if I was in Germany" I chuckled, taking a bite of the patatas bravas.

"You're real guiri" Mapi teased me. "Are you looking forward to going home during international break next week?"

A loud sigh escaped my mouth. "No, not really" I admitted, focusing extra hard on the food in front of me.

"How come?"

"There's just a lot of drama going on in our national team. Escaping that was actually one of the reasons I came to Barca for" I confessed, knowing I could trust her.

"Ugh, I can tell you a thing or two about that. We've been trying to get rid of Vilda for two fucking years now. "

I threw Mapi a compassionate look. "Yeah, I heard about that. For me, I really like our trainer. The players on the other hand... not so much."

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out after Friday night" The defender conceded. "But you have Laura, right?"

"It hasn't always been like that, but yes, I think I now do. Before coming to Barca we weren't all that close, but that's changed now. But it's just the Bayern player that I have a problem with anyway."

"How's that?" Mapi wondered. "I mean you played with them for years, didn't you?"

I looked at the Zaragoza native, who was staring at me with a worried face, and I knew, I could trust her.

"It's a long story, but basically, my old best friend turned against me and made my life at Bayern a living hell. Now, it seems my other best friend there turned against me too, that's why I was so upset on Friday" I gave her a short run of what had happened.

Mapi's hand reached over the table to grab mine and squeezed it lightly. "I'm so sorry you had to go through this, but you're at Barca now and I promise I'll make sure nothing bad happens to you here."

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