Leaving Fabio with a plan to follow for the next week, he goes back to London to get his things together before they start travelling. The weather is cold and damp and miserable, and his flat takes ages to heat up despite the fancy floor heating he had spent a fortune on.

He puts the kettle on and rubs his knee absentmindedly in a futile attempt to ease the dull ache. Something unpleasant feels stuck in his throat. He settles on the sofa with his tea, scrolling through Deliveroo listlessly when his phone buzzes with a notification, then another, then another — Fabio has the annoying gen-Z habit of sending a single sentence as three separate texts.

just finished practice, he writes. it was boring. i hit every forehand perfectly by the way

You’re a liar, Julian replies.

i never lie, Fabio writes back without missing a beat.

Point proven, Julian replies, not realising he’s smiling into his cup.

They text every day, after practice. Fabio complains and makes jokes, and getting any relevant information out of him is like pulling teeth, but Julian sort of gleans that things are going well.

I hope Luca is making notes though, he writes one night, you’re impossible to talk to

i’m an open book, Fabio writes, and tops it off with a winking emoji. Julian rolls his eyes and drops his phone to the sofa, resolving not to encourage his impertinence.

Not long before he’s due to fly back to Sicily, he receives a text late at night,

what are you doing?

Just reading, he replies. Why are you awake?

you’re always reading, Fabio writes, and then,

just thinking. two more days until you’re here to yell at me

You should leave the thinking to the experts, Julian teases, to which Fabio reacts with an emoji that’s crying laughing. His next question is unexpected.

who do you live with in london? do you have a gf?

Good lord, Julian thinks, where did this come from? He hesitates before replying,

I live alone.

Fabio takes a moment to reply,

is it boring?

It’s quiet, Julian types.

i’ll make sure it’s not quiet when you come back here

Julian can’t stifle his laugh. I have no doubt about that.

On the practice court in Sicily, Fabio greets him with an enthusiastic hug, throwing his entire bodyweight into Julian’s. Julian laughs and puts his arms around him, pats him on the back. This is not normal for him by any standards, but part of him has accepted his fate. Fabio smells like sweat and citrus, bitter and fresh, not unpleasant. His cheek is warm against Julian’s.

“Julian,” he says seriously after he pulls away, “I want you to have dinner with my family before we leave.” It sounds like he rehearsed this, which he probably did, likely on the instructions of his father. Julian finds it endearing.

“Sure.”

“What are we doing today?” Fabio sounds eager, swinging his racquet around to make lightsaber noises with it. “I finished all the homework you gave me.”

Julian smiles. “Very good. Let’s just hit for now.”

They play for points but go easy on each other. Julian wants to see if Fabio can surprise him, if he can manipulate where Julian is on the court. Instead, Fabio sends out a forehand winner that Julian could not have reached in his glory days.

“Bravo,” he says, clapping his palm against the rim of his racquet. “That was lovely, Fabio. Well done.”

Fabio grins and gets ready to serve again, but Julian stops him.

“How did it feel?”

“What?”

“Can you close your eyes for a moment and remember how hitting that forehand felt? When your racquet hit the ball?”

“What’s this—“

Woo woo bullshit? Julian agrees with the provocation that Fabio doesn’t quite have the vocabulary to articulate.

“Just try it for me,” he insists. Fabio stops by the net and closes his eyes. Julian sees his chest rise with a deep breath, his eyebrows drawn tight in concentration.

“Now can you make that feeling bigger? So you can remember it?”

Fabio gives a nod that’s barely there.

“I want you to do this every time you make a good shot. Just quickly, in your head. Make the feeling bigger, tell yourself well done. Then move on to the next point. Can you do that for me?”

Fabio opens his eyes and stares at Julian without saying a word.