[Football] Bad Boy Batty

How can you go to someone else's house for your birthday and call it a surprise?

"I know you're having a hard time, so in order to not make you too sad, I have to come to accompany you." Neymar shrugged and said, "I'm here to receive a gift by the way."

Gift?

Batistuta raised his eyebrows. "I asked my godfather to get you a McQueen high-end skull ring. If you don't like it, just give it back to me." He said, "And my goal and celebration are also for you. What, are you not satisfied?"

"I received the ring, it's very beautiful, but I hope you can give me something that money can't buy." Neymar said unscrupulously, relying on the fact that today is his birthday. "The most things I receive on my birthday are luxury goods, nothing new."

"My goal can't be bought with money, and the dance celebration you want can't be bought with money either."

"Yes, but I know you can do it on the court." Neymar smiled at him, "I want that kind of satisfaction and surprise that comes from the bottom of my heart the moment it opens."

Tsk.

A sense of satisfaction and surprise?

Do you feel the same satisfaction and surprise when you come home from a competition and see the birthday boy sitting at your doorstep?
"That's a lot to ask for." Barty pouted irritably, "How about giving me to you? Do you think it's a surprise enough?"

Neymar froze.

It was as if the tip of his tongue suddenly touched boiling water and felt numb. For a few seconds his mind was blank, but he soon came to his senses and his tongue regained consciousness.

"If you don't mind, of course I have no problem." Neymar replied in a joking tone, "It's just that the packaging is a bit simple. Do you have a red ribbon? At least tie a bow for yourself and give it to me."

"It's your birthday, you have the final say, wait for me to take a shower and give it to you clean." Batty waved his hand perfunctorily, "Don't stand at the door, come in, I'll find something to eat."

After throwing the game ball into Neymar's arms, he went to open the door.

"Wait." Neymar ran a few steps to the side with the ball, then picked up an iron box from behind the pillar. "I know you haven't eaten, so I brought you a cake."

He pushed the tin box in front of Batty and opened it like he was presenting a treasure. Inside was the top part of the tower cake with a cane with the number 25 on it.

"If they stay there they will just use it to play cream wars," Neymar added.

Batistuta said nothing, but nodded, then held the cake in the box and led Neymar in. For some reason, the elevator took an unusually long time today, and there was a strange smell in the spacious elevator space.

After placing the cake on the table by the window, Barty found a spoon and put the chocolate part into his mouth first.

"Would you like some?" he asked.

Neymar shook his head.

"I prefer watching you eat," he said.

The air became quiet again.

after awhile.

"This is really not the right time."

Barty licked his lips and muttered.

"What's the wrong time?" Neymar immediately asked, "Are you saying I shouldn't come?"

"I'm talking about Aguero's leg injury. Today should have been a happy day, with me returning to the game and scoring a goal, a big win over our opponent, and your birthday." Batistuta scratched his hair irritably, then took out his phone to show Neymar the Manchester City team group message, "But Aguero can only stay in the hospital, facing Ling Bingbing's MRI machine again."

"And -" After a pause, he continued, "Aguero is not here, the lineup needs to be adjusted, and we are about to enter a stage of intensive competition. I don't know how far I can lead Manchester City."

This sounds a bit strange and is not Batistuta's style, but Neymar knows that this is the real Batistuta.

He is worried about Aguero and the future of the club.

For Batty, depression has always existed. In the past, he would just drink besides talking to Niu Qiu. Now he has an extra choice, perhaps he himself does not realize it.

So - Neymar is glad Batistuta was willing to tell him that.

If this happened a few months ago, he would never have told him a word.

It has only been half a year since Mikael handed Barty over to him during the Olympics, and the stubborn kid who only said "whatever" to him now takes the initiative to share his feelings with him. What a huge improvement.

Neymar thought about it, picked up Batistuta's mobile phone to check Manchester City's earliest news about Aguero's injury, then calculated the time, took out his mobile phone and called Messi.

"What are you doing?" Batty asked.

"Wait." Neymar put his finger to his lips and made a gesture of silence.

Soon Messi's face appeared on his screen. The King of Barcelona looked calm and collected. He was sitting in a corridor somewhere with his mobile phone in his hand.

"What's going on?" Messi asked.

"Hi, Leo, I guess you already know about Aguero's injury." Neymar said quickly, "He flew to Barcelona three hours ago and should have arrived at the hospital now. Will you go to see him?"

"I'm already here," Messi replied. He picked up his phone and turned it around. A white wall was transmitted to Manchester via the Internet. "Why do you suddenly care about this?"

"It's Batistuta." Neymar suddenly reached out and hooked Batistuta into his arms. He moved the camera so that both of them appeared in the picture. "I came to celebrate his birthday with him, but he was always thinking about Aguero's injury and couldn't be serious at all, so I came to ask you."

Messi showed a little surprise, but only for a moment, and he quickly retracted his expression.

"You actually went to Manchester. I just heard from Pique that you were at the party... Never mind, hi, Batistuta." The Barcelona king smiled warmly and waved to Batistuta. "Don't worry, Akun is fine."

Batistuta didn't expect this, he wasn't ready to expose his true self to Messi.

So he could only slightly curl his lips towards the camera, and then kicked Neymar's calf below.

"I'm glad you're okay," he said. "Don't listen to Neymar's nonsense. I'm not dwelling on it—"

"Do you want me to give the phone to Kun?"

"——No, no need." Batty pressed his lips into a straight line, "That's it, I'm leaving."

"This is your home, where are you going?" Neymar said, "Leo, please let Batistuta take a look at Aguero, so that he can feel at ease."

"What—no! Can you stop speaking for me all the time? Is your mouth on you or me?" Batistuta was furious. He pushed Neymar aside and jumped to pass the ball, then crossed his arms and glared at him. "I tell you what I think not for you to tell the whole world, understand?"

"Bati, I didn't tell the whole world, I just wanted to help you." Neymar held up his phone and said helplessly, "I know you are very frustrated now, you should be happy, the first hat trick in the Premier League or something, but--" "Don't think you know me well! You know nothing!" Batistuta raised his voice to cover up his panic, "Even if you know about me, don't think I would--"

Looking at the shaking screen over there, Messi realized something and called out to Neymar who was about to explain.

"Ney, turn the camera around and I'll talk to him."

Neymar took a deep breath and pointed his phone screen at Batistuta.

"Listen to me, Batistuta." Messi made a stop gesture for children to see, "Listen to me, it's not a bad thing to let others know that you are worried about Kun and the situation of the team. You don't need to bury yourself. In fact, Kun told me about you not long ago and said that he was very proud of your goal on the court today."

Batty stopped talking.

When Messi speaks in this gentle tone, he feels very similar to Aguero.

"He's had this injury before, we're all familiar with it, don't worry, Batistuta, he'll be back on the pitch in 4-6 weeks," he said. "We all know you'll take care of your team during this time, Pep will help you, he's experienced in this, don't worry, everything will be fine."

Batty still didn't say anything, and after a long while he finally uttered a soft "hmm".

Neymar next to him even breathed lighter. Looking at Batistuta who was comforted by his club friends, he suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.

"...I know." Batty spoke slowly, his eyelids lowered as he looked up at the sky and down at the ground, but not at the screen. "Tell him to send me a message tomorrow. I want to know everything."

"No problem." Messi agreed with a smile, "That's it, good night, Batistuta, good night, Ney."

The video call ended, and now only Batistuta and Neymar were left in the room.

Batty stayed still for a moment, then turned and walked towards the cake.

"Thank you," he whispered as he passed Neymar.

Neymar was a little confused: "What did you say?"

"I'm saying - this is the last bite of chocolate. If you still don't want it, I'll eat it." Barty raised the spoon, and the curve of his mouth returned to normal. He became the flamboyant him again. "I'll count to three. If you don't agree, I'll take it as your consent."

Neymar winked.

"3..."

"But I heard you just say—"

"2..."

"No, wait, I want it, I want it!"

"1, you have no chance." Batistuta stuffed the chocolate cake into his mouth, and then licked the cream off the corner of his mouth in front of Neymar. "I gave you a chance, but you were useless."

Neymar inhaled, then he stared at Batistuta's smiling face and forgot to exhale.

It was only when his heartbeat quickened, almost as if it was going to jump out of his chest, that he remembered that breathing was not just about inhaling.

And the breath he exhaled finally turned into a relaxed laugh.

"Okay, okay, I won't fight with you." Neymar said as he walked around to Batistuta's side and used his thumb to remove the cream on his chin. "Give me this 25 (crutch pond), and the rest is yours."

Batty muttered something under his breath.

Neymar didn't hear clearly, "What did you say again?" he asked.

"Why do you always have questions? I didn't say anything just now!" Batty looked up and gave him a non-threatening look.

Seeing the other person's eyes turning red, Neymar had no choice but to shut his mouth.

He might never guess what was going on in Barty's little head, he thought.

Many years later, when Neymar recalled the experience of that day again, he regretted very much that he did not insist that Batistuta make that sentence clear. If he had done so, it might have saved him a lot of effort.

……

At the same time, on a certain pink video website in China, a clip of only 3 minutes became popular.

[Thank you for making me fall in love with football again] [If you missed the 17-year-old Messi and Ronaldo, don’t miss the 17-year-old Batistuta]

The video introduction also @ed the official account of Manchester City Club, a new account with only a few thousand followers.

No one knows why the up-host, who usually only edits European and American action movies, suddenly released such a video, but it appeared like this, and the number of views increased at an alarming rate.

Maybe it has something to do with the cover.

Whenever they see it, everyone will try to click on it to see how stunning the boy is who is blowing a kiss to them.

Yes, the up master cut the samba dance that Batistuta gave to Neymar into the video, and the cover was the moment when he blew a kiss to the camera.

That frame of the picture is incredibly beautiful with the help of the filter.

In the early hours of that day, the head of international publicity and promotion of Manchester City was revising the manuscript all night. Beside him were coffee cups, some empty and some full. Even if he racked his brains, he had to finalize the plan for the Asian market before going to work the next day.

When the process got difficult, the person in charge picked up a cup of coffee and took a sip, then looked up and glanced at the screen not far away.

"puff--"

He sprayed out all the cold coffee.

"What happened?"

He slid to the front of the screen, which showed that the official Chinese account, which was just about to start operations, had 20 fans.

The person in charge dared to swear to God that when he checked half an hour ago, there were less than 1 views and the page was clean, but now it has been flooded with private message reminders.

How is this going?

(End of this chapter)