Chapter Text
“Another question”
“Yes, thank you. Patricio from Sports fanatics. Jannik, I don’t know if you’ve heard but there have been rumours surfacing today about Carlos Alcaraz and you, do you want to comment on that? Is it true?”
Jannik is tired from the journey here. The flight got delayed twice and then he and his team got stuck at security for a random check and when they finally arrived at the hotel in the late afternoon instead of the morning, a hoard of photographers had been waiting in front of the door and blocking their way in. To top it all off, there was a problem with the computer system at the reception leading to them having to wait half an hour to get to their rooms. Traffic on the way here was hell. So, again, Jannik is tired and he would honestly just like to leave now. These press conferences always seem to drag on forever and ever when he’s the most exhausted.
Still, he tries to rack his brain for anything involving Carlos and him that people could’ve heard about today, that would interest them. There’s really not much it could be- oh! Of course. Carlos and him made plans today to practice together in two days. They haven’t done that in a while and with all the eyes on their rivalry, this was probably something that was of interest for the press and the tennis fans.
How odd they already knew about it? Someone must have leaked it. Maybe staff overheard them talking? Whatever.
“Me and Carlos?” He starts, already consoling himself with the fact, that this will be over soon, “I didn’t know it would be out already but it’s true.”
A hush goes through the room. Rapidly spoken whispers spread. Not for the first time in his career does Jannik find himself in a room, with a bunch of journalists, that are way more dramatic than he would deem necessary. But again, he’s also a bit groggy from the long journey. Nonetheless, the outright shock on some of the people’s faces seems a tad too much, if you ask him.
“It’s normal, no?”, he asks them flatly. Two tennis players playing tennis together. Shocker. He barely resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Didn’t think it would be such a big deal.”
Most of the reporters frantically regain their composure and try to put on their usual professional faces again while they rapidly flick through the pages of their notebooks, no doubt looking for follow up questions. Jannik just hopes they’ll find them fast. He's already having daydreams about his bed.
“Okay last question in English.”
Finally.
“Is this your official confirmation? Does Carlos know about you saying this now?”
Jannik frowns, they really are obsessed with things concerning them both.
“You’ll probably get the usual official stuff tomorrow but sure, I confirm it now. I don’t think we planned on saying this today but we didn’t exactly plan on hiding for much longer.” He tries to joke away the dramatic antics of everybody else in that room but again his words must land differently than he planned them to, because with the end of his sentence, the whispers rise again. Jannik is just glad that at least the English questions are over.
“Now onto the Italian ones.” The Italian journalists in the room also seem to need to pull themselves together for a moment too long, in Jannik’s opinion, and he wonders whether his little joke landed very badly.
Or was it something else he’d said? Did he accidentally say something controversial?
He looks off to the side to his press consultant, Cassandra, and finds her looking into the crowd mortified. When she sees Jannik looking to her, she perks up and starts shaking her head wildly while making a cutting motion at her throat.
Huh.
That didn’t look optimal.
So he did say something wrong. Or Carlos had called their training off while he was in the presser. Either way, nothing he could do about it now, he couldn’t just jump up and leave. Surely that would just make things worse. And it would be incredibly rude towards his countries’ press. That wouldn’t go down well, they were still mad at him for not playing in the Davis Cup last year.
The Italian questions start of normal enough - asking him about his time off, his training, something about his previous vlog - then they ask him about Carlos too.
“Will you and Carlos be able to play tennis like usual going forward or do you think you both being…eh, close will make things harder?”
All this discussion over one confirmed practice, wow. He barely holds back a sigh while he answers, “We are still rivals when we meet on court for a match. Nothing has changed. Willl that be all?” He can’t help but add on the question. The amount of stares he’s getting is really starting to get to him and he would love to know what part of what he’s said is responsible for the odd atmosphere he has to sit in.
“That will be all, thank you. Press for Sinner, dismissed.”
He is more than grateful when he finally gets told he can leave but as soon as he does, there’s two men from security following closely behind him. Well, that is a little worrying. But maybe there’s been some kind of safety warning in the past twenty minutes?
Cassandra just gestures for him to follow her as the eyes of the reporters track his movements and the whispers have turned into loud conversations, since it’s too much of a jumble he can’t make out a single word. She leads him straight to the back door and to the car. Although he feels a little bad for any fans that might’ve been waiting for him around the front of the building, he’s not too mad that he gets to skip any other situations that would require him to turn up his social skills, his exhaustion is gnawing at his bones.
They get into the black van without much trouble. His press consultant still looks stressed but she’s typing away on her phone and looks from the driver to Jannik twice before she informs him, “We’ll talk at the hotel, but don’t worry we’ll figure this out. Nobody’s mad at you, just so you know. I’m happy for you!” and goes back to her phone.
Jannik nods and decides to concentrate on the ‘we’ll figure this out’ part of the sentence instead of worrying about it himself, Cassandra seems to be doing enough of it for the both of them. It’s probably nothing, it almost always is.
“Nothing from the Wada, is it?” He asks just to make sure.
She looks up again with an utterly confused expression and shakes his head swiftly, “What? No, I don’t think this is any of their business.”
Good. Nothing serious then. With that thought, he lets his eyes fall shut.
°°°
He gets woken up by a hand lightly squeezing his shoulder when they park in front of the hotel, its lights turned on since it’s gotten late and dark.
They get out of the vehicle and walk through the lobby together, the guards are still there, then to his room, both of it in silence. Since having woken up from his nap, Jannik feels a bit more present than before and by now, his fingers are itching with the need to know what’s caused this weird tension around him. He really doesn’t know which part of his press conference could, in any way, have warranted this kind of behaviour.
Cassandra lets him sit down on his bed while she hovers in the middle of the room, her phone still glued to her hand, “As I said this is nothing bad! It’s just a little stressful and a heads up would’ve been appreciated but… no changing that now.” She sighs, “Why didn’t you tell the team, if I may ask?”
Jannik blinks “Tell them what?”
She looks at him as if he’s being slow on purpose, “You and Carlos.”
Oh. So all this drama was really about their joint practice? He furrows his brows, “I didn’t think it was that much of a big deal.” he shrugs, they would’ve known by tomorrow, at the latest, anyway. Cassandra breathes in sharply, she looks like she has to try pretty hard to keep her composure, “Right. No big deal. Cool. Sure. I’ll…” she types something on her phone, “I’ll be right back, just- stay here and don’t announce anything else, okay?”
“Okay.”
He watches the door fall shut with an uneasy feeling in his stomach. He thinks back to all the shocked reactions in that room, the alarm on her face, the bodyguards…
Jannik feels like he’s missed something important. Something very important.
For a lack of other things to do and in the hopes to maybe stumble upon a clue, he pulls out his phone out of his pocket.
The amount of notifications is overwhelming to say the least. A minimum of seven other tennis players have texted him and a bunch of other people as well. It’s difficult to piece together what they’re saying when he has to squash down the uneasy feeling in his stomach so he can stay anything close to calm.
What in the world has he done?
There’s a lot of “I support you”s and “That was brave”s and a bunch of messages ending in question marks from Jack.
Curiously, the ones that stand out amongst them all are the ones from Carlos. There are many.
—
Carlos
Jannik I’m confused???
Did you mean to say that??
I thought I got the English wrong but everyone say it’s true
Can you pick up??
I miss something???
I think we have to talk
No we really do
Need to talk I mean
Please text me or call me when you read this
They want to ask me questions but I have questions too
I’m not mad just confused!
Please pick up!!
—
Accompanied are the messages by five missed calls from him. The last one 3 minutes ago
Fuck.
What had he done?
Since when was it such a crime to confirm a simple practice session?
One look to the door doesn’t tell him when Cassandra will be back but he doesn’t hear any steps coming closer either so he presses the call button to ring Carlos back immediately.
He barely has the time to run a hand through his hair, in an attempt to calm himself, before the Spaniard picks up.
“Hola? Jannik?” He sounds a little out of breath.
“Carlos. Hi. You called.” He states for a lack of knowing how else to start this talk. He still has no idea what to brace himself for.
Carlos snorts “I did. Yes. I don’t think you can blame me for that, no?”
“If I’m honest… I am a little bit confused about the situation. I didn’t know it was this big deal to confirm we will be training together again but I maybe have missed something? So I’m sorry, if I have caused you stress, Carlos. That was not my intention, I’m just tired,” Jannik tries to convey his sincerity with his words.
There’s silence on the other end of the phone. It lasts long enough that Jannik holds the phone in front of him to check whether the call is still connected. It is.
Carlos sounds lost when he finally speaks up again, “What?”
Was the connection bad? “I am sorry if I have caused you stress over this. I wasn’t aware they take practice sessions so seriously now. If I did know, I would not have confirmed it, of course.” He explains again patiently, hoping this will smooth things over somehow.
“Ehh, Jannik what do you think you have confirmed? What rumours did you confirm?” Carlos asks a little frantic now.
What an odd question. What other rumours were there to confirm? “I confirmed our practice session tomorrow. We agreed to it this morning so I thought it would be alright. Do you want to call it off?”
“That’s what you confirmed? Nothing else?” Carlos presses with disbelief in his voice that’s bordering on hysteria. A bout of panic tugs at Jannik’s stomach.
“Yes. Of course. What else is there to confirm?” He questions back and is greeted by another bout of silence.
Then Carlos bursts out laughing. Loudly.
Jannik feels lost.
The Spaniard is still fighting his amusement when he talks again, “Jannik, have you not been on the social media today? Twitter? Instagram? Anything?”
“No, I didn’t have time and I was tired too,” he denies and thinks that he also had more important things to do.
“There was a rumour about us two, yes,” Carlos continues, “but it was not about practice…” his grin is audible in his voice.
Jannik’s blood runs cold. There’s been a rumour he hadn’t known about, hadn’t asked about and it dawns on him then, that that’s the one he’s just unknowingly confirmed to the public. Unfortunately it perfectly explains why the reactions he’d seen hadn’t matched the ones he’d expected.
Whatever it was, it must’ve been a much bigger deal.
A deal big enough for some of his colleagues - not even just friends - to text him.
And for Cassandra to have vanished in a panic for several minutes already.
He almost doesn’t want to ask but of course he has to. He clears his throat before he cautiously starts to ask, “Do you know what that rumour is Carlos? The one that I just confirmed?” His voice probably trembles which stands in great dichotomy to Carlos’ chuckles that are still ringing over through the speaker.
“Jannik,” Carlos’ voice is careful now, “the rumour was that we are a couple. You and me.”
Although he’s sitting down, it feels as if the world tilts around its axis, he lets out a choked, “What?” because what?
“You accidentally confirmed we are a couple Jannik.” Carlos says it like he’s telling Jannik about the weather while the latter can feel his lungs constrict in his ribcage at the panic raising steadily in him. “No,” he tries again.
Carlos giggles. He fucking giggles. “You did. I have seen already five articles about it. At least.”
Jannik makes a wounded noise before he hurries to explain himself, “Carlos. I am so sorry. I didn’t- I was just so tired and I- I thought I knew what they were talking about- I-“
“Jannik, Jannik, be calm! It’s fine!” His friend tries to calm him down but the only thing overpowering his tired limbs is the dread that settles into him at the realisation of what he just told the whole fucking world.
“No, I’m so sorry. I dragged you into this. I’m sorry-I. I don’t know what to do.” He admits quietly.
“Don’t worry too much, Jannik. We can just fix it.” He says it so matter for factly, as if it’s the simplest thing in the world. But Jannik knows it’s not. And also he’s still tired and he was meant to only focus on his tennis and now he’s gone and done this. “I fucked up.”
“It’s not bad, Jannik. I think it’s very funny. Many worse things you could’ve said.”
“I told people we’re a couple, Carlos.” With every second of that fact sinking in, his mortification grows. He think back to Cassandra motioning to her throat during the conference. He gets it now. The security. The messages. He gets all of it now.
“Sí, and there are many more worse people to be in a rumour relationship with, no?” Carlos tries to reason.
“I… yes?” Jannik agrees because at least it’s not Zverev or someone like that. The guy would probably sue him.
“Look! It will all be fine. I help you make it good again!” With the way he talks, it sounds as if the Spaniard has never encountered a problem he didn’t know how to solve. Judging by the outrageous shots he makes on the court on a regular basis, that just might be true.
On the other hand, Jannik has seen the man panic for half a minute because he spontaneously forgot how to tie his shoelaces. Juan Carlos had just rolled his eyes so maybe he had been a bit hungover.
“You’re not… mad? At me? I would understand,” Jannik tries to gauge whether there truly is no bad blood between them. His colleague waves it off.
“No, no no no! Why would I? It’s funny to me.”
A little bit of the weight on him gets lifted. At least his friendship with Carlos doesn’t seem to be under threat by this. He would’ve regretted it, should a mistake like this get between them.
With all the chaos inside of him, something unusual has happened - Carlos, the one he knows to be the life of the party, right now, is the steady and, comparatively, calm presence he clings onto.
“Carlos?” He starts tentatively.
“Hm?”
“Do you know what I should do now? I don’t… I don’t really know.” He figures asking can’t hurt if the man is truly this optimistic.
“Hmmm,” the younger one hums, “You’ve got your media team, no?”
“Yes. She’s gone trying to look for a plan now I think. But she still thinks it’s true…”
“Ah, yes. You should explain to her then. I think she knows more what to do.”
Of course, that’s reasonable, he thinks and is grateful to have someone, who’s not freaking out, to talk to, “Yes. Okay. I will do that.”
“Do you want me to come over?”
What?
“What?”
“I can come over?”
“But… the rumours. They would get worse… and I don’t want to burden you.”
“That is stupid,” Carlos decides easily, “No burden. And with the rumours, it just means no one will be surprised to see me with you, no?”
Jannik can’t help but let out a soft amused laugh, “I guess.”
“Good. I’ll be there in a couple minutes then. Stay there.”
Well, where else would he go? He does not feel like running into random people in the hallways that want to have an exclusive ‘Sincaraz’ insider interview.
“Thank you, Carlos.”
“Of course, mi amor.”
“Ah,” Jannik sighs heartily, “Don’t make fun of me like this please.”
“You have served it to me, how do you say, on a silver plate? I have to use this opportunity, sorry,” he chuckles, he is audibly not very sorry, “On my way!”
°°°
@user1
What did I just watch
@user2
So the rumours from the homophobic journalists caused them to come out????
@user3
Guys I was busy for only an hour wtf do you mean sincaraz is real for real confirmed by Jannik of all people????
@user4
“It’s normal, no?” HELLOJEKFJSKJDJ???!!!
@user5
Can I blame their h2h on my goat being too gay?
@user6
Jannik we still love and support you 🫶🫶🫶 (now please win the next 20 grand slams with the power of yaoi)
@user7
Carlos of all the people that want you you chose the ginger man???
|
@user8
We all knew he finds him hot
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@user7
i know he’s never been fucking subtle but couldn’t he have at least LOOKED at the options
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@user9
no jannik’s ass was in the way
@user10
“chilling malevolence” more like “chilling gayness”
@user11
guys it’s okay he’s only together with him so he can learn his dropshot from up close!
@user12
“I see you more often than my family” so he just decided to make him family i see you carlos
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@user13
my favourite player loves his family down but at what cost
@user14
Brother is his coach and his biggest rival is his boyfriend
@user15
this sport has become too woke
@user16
“it’s normal no?”
jannik sinner for president of the world!
@user17
Jannik please this isn’t you he’s trying to bewitch you!!!
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@user18
How do you know he didn’t initiate this?
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@user17
love my goat but I know that man does not know how to flirt
@user19
couldn’t he have dated literally anyone else
@user20
sinner is gay? fuck now i’ll have to defend him ig
@user21
sincaraz finals commentary is gonna be unbearable
@user22
will nike make them kiss in the next ad?
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@user23
idk but can i vote yes?
@user24
challengers was right tennis does make you gay
@user25
just seen a tennis player come out super casually in a press conference?? i don’t watch tennis but this jannik sinner dude seems cool
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@user25
he’s dating his biggest rival????? where can i watch tennis?
°°°
Shortly after, there’s a knock on the door and Jannik jumps up to open it. He feels like he’ll feel better when he sees in person that Carlos isn’t mad at him.
But instead of the Spanish man’s face greeting him, it’s Cassandra’s stressed one. Right. She’s here too.
The woman doesn’t wait for Jannik to let her in politely, she simple marches past him into the room, her eyes still stuck on the phone in her hand. Jannik spares a quick glance to the guards outside of his door before he closes it again carefully.
“Okay so, I’ve talked to a couple people and we’ve got options for how we’ll proceed with this. You can sit down again, I’ll tell you.” She motions to the bed and Jannik is about to follow her request when he remembers that he really has to tell her what’s going on here so they can make plans that actually fit their situation. He lifts his hand to interrupt her but Cassandra is too focused on her notes.
“The great thing is that most people are taking it really well. They see you as an idol for other queer athletes. Especially your ‘It’s normal, no?’ That’s a big hit online. You’re a role model. We can work with that!”
The words and their meaning hit him as gently as a truck. Right. ‘An idol for other queer athletes’. That’s totally how he expected his day to go.
Also, Cassandra sounds cheery now and Jannik feels bad that he’s about to send her into another crisis. “Actually, Cassandra… I need to tell you something.”
The vocal cue succeeds in catching her attention and Cassandra stops in her tracks to raise an eyebrow expectantly, “Go on.”
Before he can start to stumble through an explanation, there’s another knock on the door and Jannik opts to go for the easy distraction instead of the undoubtedly difficult conversation.
When the door swings open this time, it’s the one he’s been hoping for: Carlos greets him with a grin as easy as any other one he’s ever given him. “Hi. Here I am!” If Jannik didn’t know better, he’d think Carlos was delighted by this whole situation.
Actually, he doesn’t know better. Carlos looks as carefree as always.
“Mr. Alcaraz.” Cassandra greets him with her usual professional air, “How… nice of you to join us!” her voice is higher pitched and Jannik is sure she would love to tell him to stop surprising her today. “I assume Jannik has informed you of what has transpired in the press conference? Was this something you guys had planned or…?” She looks from one man to another waiting for any of them to answer her.
Instead Carlos turns to Jannik, “I guess you did not tell her?”
The Italian shakes his head silently and Carlos puts his hand on his shoulder in consolation. Jannik appreciates it.
“Explain what?” She lowers her phone, now undeniably intrigued. Maybe also fearing another big scandal for her to handle. She’s got a great instinct. Jannik thinks idly that he hired the right person for this job.
Hopefully she won’t quit after today.
“Should we sit down?” Carlos lays a gentle hand on Jannik’ back and the latter easily lets himself be lead to the couch in the adjourning room.
“I can just tell her?” His friend offers when they lower themselves onto the beige cushions. Jannik nods immediately. If there’s any way he can avoid having to recount his embarrassing mistake at leats once, he’ll take it. And Carlos doesn’t look as if it would be a bother for him at all. They must make a contrasting image sitting there next to each other, one in despair and the other one grinning as usual.
His press consultant has followed them into the room and takes a seat on the armchair next to couch on Jannik’s side. Her eyes dart between the both of them, obviously holding back a million questions.
Carlos starts with a chuckle, “It is actually, you see, a funny story.” Jannik would beg to differ. But he would, in fact, not beg to speak right now so he keeps his mouth shut.
“You see, we all know Jannik doesn’t tend to be on the Social Media too much sometimes so, you know, those rumours, he had not seen them.”
Cassandra frowns, “But he confirmed them. So how did he know about them? You told him?”
She gets a bright laugh as a response, “That would have been good probably,” he says like this is indeed a funny story to him. “But I was busy and we get along well but we don’t talk that much, you know?”
“You don’t…” she trails off, visibly trying to hang onto the thread of the story with all might. “But you’re…?”
Another laugh, “So this is the funny part.” At least now his grin looks a little strained. “Jannik and I had planned a practice session for in two days and he thought that had gotten out.” He lets the sentence hang in the air waiting for understanding to dawn but he’s just met with questioning eyes.
He clears his throat, finally sheepish, “That is the rumour Jannik thought he confirmed in the press conference. Not the… other thing.”
There’s not been many instances in which Jannik has seen Cassandra with shock so open on her face like right now. “So you are not… a couple?”
“Nope.” Carlos shakes his head easily. Jannik wants the couch to swallow him up. Or both of them. Let Cassandra have a nice rest of the night.
“So- you-“ she points between them haltingly, “this is all a big misunderstanding?”
The two boys nod in tandem.
“Jannik, what the hell!”
“I’m sorry, Cassandra! Really. I did not know what the people were saying but at least it means now I didn’t keep a big secret from you?” he carefullly tries to defend himself but the horrified look on Cassandra’s face does not tell of success.
The woman sighs sufferigly, her hand in her hand that is not holding her phone “We have to issue a statement.”
“Or,” Carlos chimes up and the look Cassandra gives him should not encourage him to continue talking but it still does, “We could also do that fake dating thing!” Carlos suggests kindly and Cassandra doesn’t have to say a word because Jannik is already shaking his head.
“No, that’s nice of you Carlos to offer that but I’ve dragged you into enough mess today. And I don’t like lying to people. We’ll be honest and get this over with as fast as possible.”
°°°
—
Hello everyone,
I need to clear something up that I said in the press conference earlier: I am not in a romantic relationship with Carlos Alcaraz. I misunderstood the question and wasn’t aware of the rumour going around. I assumed it was about something else.
I apologise for the chaos I caused and to @carlitosalcarazz especially.
To my fans and the LGBTQ+ Community a big thanks for standing up for me, I hope we can see this much support for actually queer athletes in the future. I will try to have a positive influence going forward.
I will watch my words more carefully in the future. Thank you for all your support. I will keep working on tennis.
- Your Jannik
—
°°
The next morning Carlos reposts the text to his story with a small addition of his own:
—
Looks like I’m single again 💔🤪
(much love to everyone!!! ❤️🧡💛💚💙💜)
—
°°°
@user1
no way they’re not in love i’ve seen those looks they give each other…
@user2
Sincaraz wedding and divorce all within 3h 💔💔💔
@user3
nah they’re still fucking idc
@user4
insane promo all for some random masters event
@user5
i think the insta story is fake it’s not jannik’s handwriting
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@user6
it’s typed words????
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@user5
exactly it’s not jannik’s hand writing
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@user6
???
@user7
i’ll give them like a week and they’ll be actually together
@user8
who broke up? can we add this to the h2h?