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Diplomatic Relations	By : jai Category: Individual Celebrities > Athlete/Sports Misc Views: 3147 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. I do not know the people written about in this fanfiction. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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AN: Yeah, I know it's been a while. My grandma died, my mom had quintuple bypass surgery *and* knee surgery and during it all, my laptop went BOOM! I was finally able to find the backup of all my old files (labeling the disks would have been a great idea, no?) and I'm posting this just to get in the mood. This hasn't been beta-ed so all mistakes are mine.

March 31, 2009 Geldrop, the Netherlands

Pieter heard Grant moving around in the next room and after looking at the clock, wondered again what was wrong with his friend. This was the third or fourth night of sleeplessness and if Grant was true to form, he’d be getting up – ah there he went. A stop in the bathroom and then down the stairs he went.

He was starting to feel a bit put off by this behavior. Grant was supposed to be his friend and although Pieter appreciated the unfailing support Grant had given him the last few months, he hated feeling like a charity case. And it wasn’t like he hadn’t given Grant plenty of opportunities to talk either.

They’d gone on long walks, taken drives around the area and he’d spent most nights hanging out with Grant on the couch talking and watching movies or TV. Well, that wasn’t a hardship because he liked spending time with Grant. His friend was fun, smart and they had the most interesting and sometimes very odd conversations.

Pieter couldn’t help smiling at the memory of some of those discussions but then sobered as he remembered why he was awake at, yes now it was after twelve. Obviously, making himself available and trying to gently hint to Grant wasn’t working and it was time for direct action.

“Grant, where are you?”

“I’m in the lounge watching television.” Came the response although Pieter already knew that.

He padded down the stairs and spotted Grant sitting on the couch in his blue and white stripe pajamas.

“It’s after midnight, is everything okay?”

“Yes, I’m fine. Do you want me to turn the volume down?” Grant asked, not looking up.

“No, I couldn’t even hear it up there. What’s wrong? This is the fifth night in a row that you’ve come downstairs in the middle of the night.” Pieter asked.

“I’m just having a little problem sleeping.” Grant replied shortly.

“I knew it! Why don’t you take my bed again? That bed you’re on is much too small.”

“It’s not that. I’m just having a little insomnia; I’ll come up in an hour or so.”

“Or at three am like last night.” Pieter said stepping in front of Grant and sitting down on the coffee table so Grant had no choice but to look at him. “I thought we were friends.”

Grant seemed to hesitate but finally said, “We are friends.”

“So why won’t you talk to me? There’s obviously something bothering you and it’s been bothering you since you got here. I didn’t want to get pushy but Grant, please let me help you.”

Again, Grant hesitated before finally sitting up so he was able to look Pieter directly in the face. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes. What ever it is, I’ll be here for you.” Pieter said, trying not to plead.

What Grant did next was so surprising, so unexpected that at first Pieter didn’t know how to react. The soft but firm lips that pressed against his, the bare hint that Grant’s kiss was only the tip of the iceberg. Only the sheer shock of the moment kept him from reaching a hand up and feeling his mouth to make sure it was actually him that Grant had kissed.

He vaguely heard Grant say something about wrong, love, ruin, trust and sorry but Pieter was too busy to really understand it. He’d always heard the phrase ‘my life flashed before my eyes’ but had never experienced it until that moment. Like a film reel running backwards at super high speed, Pieter relived the kiss in reverse then saw the last few weeks of being with Grant, the months of conversation, the gentle way Grant had handled him after telling him about Minouche, the way Grant looked at the wedding reception, the sad expression he’d had when Pieter told him that about the retirement – all the way back through years of laughter and competition and partying until he arrived at the moment he and Grant first met and Pieter remembered how taken he’d been with the big Australian who never seemed to let life get him down.

Pieter’s mind started racing as he considered what all this meant. Grant loved him? Yes, Pieter had definitely heard love mentioned. But did he love Grant? Sure he was sexually attracted to the man, Pieter wasn’t in a coma and Grant was drop dead sexy. And he enjoyed just being with Grant. It didn’t matter if they were washing up after dinner or just driving somewhere, it was much more fun to have Grant nearby. He could talk to Grant like he’d never talked to anyone else. Not just the serious stuff but everything else and he liked listening to Grant too.

It wasn’t until he heard the clang of the iron gate outside that Pieter became aware of his surroundings again. Wait. What was that? Pieter ran upstairs and quickly determined that Grant’s things were gone and so was Grant. For one brief second, he considered just letting Grant go. His life was is such a disaster right now and Grant would probably be better off without him. That thought was swiftly cut off by something hard hitting him smack dab in the back of the head. Pieter whirled around to find his brother staring at him with a look of disbelief on his face.

“Why are you just standing here?” Robert asked.

“What?”

“The man loves you, you idiot! You have to go after him.” Robert yelled.

“You heard that?” Pieter asked, astonished.

“What was to hear? Grant loves you, I’d have to be blind to not see it although he does try to hide it.

“But-.”

“There are no buts. Go and get him or you’ll regret it for the rest of your life.” Robert said as he bent down, picked up the keys he’d hit Pieter with and held them out.

“Robert – I’m not sure if-“ Pieter said, suddenly afraid.

“Pieter, don’t let what happened with Minouche ruin this for you. Grant is everything you need and he would never betray you the way she did.” Robert said gently, touching Pieter’s hand as he gave him the keys. “Life is about taking chances. It’s about getting up again when you’ve been beaten down. You have the chance at the relationship you always said you wanted, Pieter. Don’t throw it away.”

Pieter didn’t need to think about it anymore although he was going to have a long talk with his little brother soon; he just gripped the keys and ran for the door; hoping that Grant hadn’t decided to hole up in a hotel or get a taxi. He had a little trouble getting into the car until he realized he was using the flat key and not the car key but quickly straighten it out. He wasn’t even aware that he was chanting ‘Be there, be there’ under his breath until he spotted Grant’s lonely figure only a block away from the damn station and immediately pulled in front of him and got out of the car.

&&

The drive back to the apartment was made in silence. When Pieter pulled back into his parking spot, he immediately got out, retrieved all three bags from the back seat and headed for the gate.

“Pieter, let me have the bags.”

“No.”

“Are you holding my luggage hostage?”

Pieter stopped as he unlocked the front door. “Well, maybe I am.”

“Pieter, you don’t have to do that. I agreed to stay so you could talk.”

Stepping aside for Grant, Pieter corrected him as he followed inside. “No, we are going to talk. And it’s really cold out here.”

“That’s because you aren’t wearing any shoes.” Grant pointed out at the door to the flat. “You should probably go put on socks or something.”

“I’ll do that later.” Pieter reached over and unlocked the door and again let Grant enter first.

“I see what you’re doing here. You don’t have to herd me.”

“Yes I do. Go on and sit down and I’ll put some tea on. I know you can’t talk without tea – wait. Do you promise not to leave while I’m in the kitchen?”

“I won’t leave but you might have a hard time making tea since the tea set is already here on the coffee table.”

Pieter looked down at the steaming pot, two cups and accoutrements and made a mental note to thank his little brother for being an interfering pain in the ass.

“Well then I can just sit down and we can have tea and talk.”

Five agonizing minutes later Pieter sat in the chair sipping his tea and staring at Grant who was sitting in the other chair sipping his tea and staring back at him.

“Well.” Pieter said eventually.

“Yes?” Grant said with an almost Zen like calm.

“Uh. So.” Pieter said, not knowing where to start; there was so much to say.

Grant finally took pity on him and set his cup down. “Pieter, is this really so difficult?”

“Yes! I have all these things inside me and I’ve just had this paranormal shift and why are you smiling?”

“Paradigm shift?”

“Whatever. You know what I meant.” Pieter said almost frantically as he jumped up and started pacing. “Grant, I- I have these feelings for you but I’m afraid.”

“Okay. What kinds of feelings?”

Pieter made a circle around the room before replying. “I feel like I-, like you – that there’s a-.”

“Oh for heaven’s sake!” Robert exclaimed from the stairs drawing both of their attention before he thumped down to the lounge, took Pieter by the arm and dragged him over and more or less dumped him into Grant’s lap. “Grant, he’s my brother but he’s an idiot. Pieter, you love Grant. Could you just say it all ready? I’ve got to get up in five hours for practice!”

Robert retreated up the stairs muttering under his breath about idiot brothers and how he needed his sleep and how his idiot brother keeping him awake was going to make his coach yell at him tomorrow, no today because his idiot brother couldn’t resolve his love life during the day like normal people. There was a resounding thud from upstairs as Robert shut his bedroom door with force.

“Pieter, was your brother wearing footie pajamas?”

“Yes, I’m afraid he was. He also got louder as he went upstairs, did you notice that?” Pieter asked as he shifted around in Grant’s lap and made himself comfortable .

“I did. So.”

“So. I do love you, you know.”

“And that was hard for you to say?”

“Yes. I have this whole divorce thing and it’s been so nasty and I don’t want to suck you into it all.”

“And?” Grant asked as he reached down, lifted Pieter’s legs and resituated things so he could look at Pieter’s face.

“I’m afraid. I think we could have a very good thing together but I don’t want to ruin it.”

“So then we take things slowly.”

“How slowly?”

“Very slowly. So slowly that we won’t have sex until after you’re divorced.”

“You’re really be all right with that?”

“Yes. I know it’s important to you. Not that I wouldn’t love to drag you upstairs and spend the next week or two in bed but we’ll have time for that later.” Grant said earnestly, his fingers absently stroking Pieter’s waist.

“For the record, I don’t think there would be much dragging involved but thank you for understanding. I know it’s a silly thing and I really shouldn’t care.”

“But you do care and therefore I care. I’m not looking at this as a hardship you know. This is really a great opportunity for us have the longest second date in the history of the world.”

Pieter laughed gently and ran his fingers over Grant’s hand. “You always manage to turn things into a positive direction. I suppose our first date was spending months on the phone?”

“No, that was just getting us to this point. This is our first date.” Grant said with a grin.

“Oh I see. Our first date includes both us out on the street in our sleep clothes?”

“There was also some kissing involved so all and all, it was pretty successful don’t you think?”

Pieter leaned over and kissed Grant, just because he could. “Yes, I think it was.”

Several more kisses later, Pieter finally pulled away because they’d both started yawning. “You must be exhausted since you haven’t been sleeping well.”

“No I haven’t so I guess we should go up to bed.”

“I guess that means I should let you up.”

“That would be good.”

Pieter untangled their legs and stood up, reaching down to pull Grant up after him. They cleaned up the tea things and turned off the lights before heading upstairs hand in hand. At the guest room door, Grant came to a stop and bent his head down to touch his lips to Pieter’s.

“Good night Pieter.”

“Good night Grant.”

&&

April 1, 2009

The next morning, Pieter woke up with a languid stretch, looked at the clock and realized that he needed to get up and get going or he’d be late for his doctor’s appointment in Maastricht. He was halfway through his shower before he remembered the amazing events that had occurred just hours earlier.

Grant loved him! He loved Grant! Pieter was tempted to do a happy dance right then and there but he’d seen some unpleasant shower related accidents and resisted until he was standing in front of the mirror and brushing his teeth.

Once he was finished in the bath, he slipped into his room and got dressed and then tapped on Grant’s door.

“Yepsh?”

“Grant? I’ve got my early appointment with Dr. de Zeeuw today. Did you want to go with me or sleep in?”

“What? What time is it?”

“Seven twenty.”

“Can you give me seven minutes?”

“I’ll go down and make some coffee for the trip.”

“Thanks!”

&&

They walked quickly down to the station and made the next train with three minutes to spare. Thankfully their car wasn’t too crowded so they found seats near each other but not close enough to talk. Pieter pulled out his paper and handed over the NYT that had started showing up a few days after Grant did.

The ride gave him plenty of opportunities to peek over his paper and covertly observe Grant. He quickly became aware that he wasn’t the only one watching the tall Australian and was quite amused at the whispered conversation between two women sitting directly behind him. They were quite admiring of how Grant’s long legs and broad showers were perfectly complimented by the casual yet stylish jeans, blue sweater, light jacket and walking shoes he was wearing. If Pieter didn’t know that it had taken Grant six and a half minutes to shower and dress, he would have assumed the man had spent over an hour getting ready. He knew Grant was awake when the paper was folded and the pen came out – ah, Grant’s day didn’t truly begin until he’d started on the crossword puzzle.

Hm. For a man who claimed to only be Grant’s friend before last night, he certainly had paid close attention to other man’s habits. He knew how Grant liked his coffee and tea, the fact that he read the business and technology sections before doing the crossword, he always rinsed his toothbrush and never left the seat up, that he absolutely could not cook but was more than willing to help prepare before and clean up afterwards, that once he started looking at numbers he could be immersed for hours, and that he had this adorable habit of playing with his pen – well, apparently certain parts of Pieter weren’t completely oblivious.

The train pulled into the station in Maastricht right on time and Pieter got momentarily separated from Grant as people were exiting but caught up with him once they were both off the train and out of the main flow of traffic. They made it out to the street and waited for the right bus.

“Grant, what do you plan on doing while I’m in with Dr. de Zeeuw?”

“I thought I’d wander around the market and see if the rhubarb has arrived.” Grant said with a hopeful look.

“So I can make Rhubarb Fool? Fine but only if you also agree to get some potatoes. We can stop at the cheese place in Eindhoven on the way home. Shall we meet for lunch at Giovanni’s?” Pieter asked as the bus pulled up and they boarded.

Grant waited until they both found a hand hold to reply. “Would you mind meeting there and finding another restaurant? I’m not really in the mood for Italian.”

“Okay so what are you in the mood for?”

“The Enfants place near the university. I checked their website the other day and they have salmon. And oysters. My treat?”

“You don’t have to treat.”

“I know but I want to.”

“All right but it’s my turn the next time.”

“Okay.” Grant said with a shrug and a grin.

&&

July 7, 2009 Geldrop, the Netherlands

Grant walked down to Pieter and Robert’s apartment from the train station and pulled out his own set of keys to open the garden gate and front door. He already knew Pieter and Robert wouldn’t be home so he didn’t bother checking; he just dropped his bag in his room and started pulling off his clothes with relief.

His trip to San Francisco had been productive but as with every previous trip he’d made to California, he spent the whole time worrying about earthquakes. It was a valid fear; he just ended up feeling a little silly. Grant gritted his teeth as he peeled off his t-shirt. Just as he thought, the baby vomit not only stank it had soaked through to his skin and now his t-shirt was adhered to his chest.

He rolled the shirt up in a plastic bag once it was off and tossed it in the waste basket along with a healthy portion of his chest hair. Yeah, that had hurt. He liked children of all sorts and sizes however, the infant that had been sitting next to him on the flight from Paris was surely a spawn of Satan. The little girl was cute and her parents had been apologetic but projectile vomit was no one’s friend.

He tossed the rest of his clothes in the hamper and grabbed his robe before padding down to the bathroom. The hot water rinsed away the ache from sitting in coach (big mistake even for an hour flight), the travel smells and the last of his tension. Stepping out of the shower, he felt much better and considered getting a quick snack. Pieter would be home by five and maybe they would go out to dinner.

Dressed only in his robe, Grant went down the stairs to the kitchen and inspected the fridge. Hm. It looked like someone had been eating out a lot the last few days but hey, there was some milk and yes! A box of his favorite granola cereal; that was all he needed.

After eating, he tidily washed his bowl and threw away the milk bottle and the cereal box. So he’d been a little hungrier than he’d thought. Upstairs, he dressed in fresh non-baby defiled clothing and grabbed his keys. It looked like he needed to do a little shopping before Pieter and Robert got home.

As he walked to the market, he absently played with his keys. He’d dropped in at Michael and Ian’s on his way out to San Francisco. He’d only stayed two days – Ian’s obsessive wedding planning frenzy was just too good to miss but it had been hard not tell Ian about Pieter.

Ian was his best friend after all and he normally told Ian everything but if he told, he’d have to explain what happened with Minouche and Pieter and he couldn’t really discuss it yet. So it was weird, being around Ian and having a secret – it left him feeling a bit unsettled.

Grant pushed the matter out of his mind and trouped down the aisles of the market, paying attention and making sure he bought the brands that Pieter seemed to prefer. He was back at the flat within the hour and shortly after that, the groceries were put away and he was left at loose ends.

There were still three more hours before Pieter returned and as the day was sunny and warm, he pulled out his lap top and several books, settling down out on the table in the courtyard. After an hour, he realized just how warm it was when a drop of sweat fell off his nose and onto his papers.

He sighed and gathered up his materials, bring the whole lot back in the house. He hadn’t been very productive anyway so it put it all away and considered the television. No, he was too antsy for sitting so he found his swim stuff, picked up his keys and headed back to the train station. He arrived at De Tongelreep in Eindhoven well before Pieter’s lessons ended.

Pieter looked surprised to see him but waved discreetly and Grant continued on to the changing room. The pool was just the right temperature and Grant settled in for a light workout – fifty laps. He felt refreshed and limber when his watch beeped during the forty-seventh lap, indicating that Pieter was done for the day so Grant finished up his swim and headed for the ladder. He spotted Pieter in the spa pool and hurried over to join him.

“Pieter, how have you been?” Grant asked politely, aware that they weren’t alone. The pool also contained several teen-aged kids, who were appeared to be really interested in him and Pieter.

“Good. How was your flight back?”

“Crowded and noisy, but I’m here now. Have you been keeping busy? That didn’t look like your senior swim class.”

“It wasn’t. Rolf is on vacation so I took over the junior swimmers this week. It’s been rather fun.” Pieter remarked with a grin aimed at the kids.

Grant was happy that Pieter looked happy and well-rested, so he wasn’t about to complain about the girls (and boys) who’d been crowded around his – well, boyfriend. “Fun? Then you weren’t doing it right. Junior swim is supposed to be about torture and pain and flogging; there should always be flogging.”

Pieter laughed and sent a small splash in Grant’s direction, “Shh! Don’t mention the flogging until they’ve gotten to the tenth week of lessons!”
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Diplomatic Relations