football oneshots [CLOSED!]

dry-cleaning // erik durm

The young man ran his fingers through his hair, relieving any knots at the ends. Erik was running late for training once again, but as the old saying went— Better late than never. And as another old saying went— If you are going to be late, at least take your time. He glanced down at his leather wristwatch, signalling he was already twenty minutes late, so he decided to make it an hour and get himself some coffee to wake himself up.

He quickened his pace as he rounded the corner, hoping with all his might that there wasn't a line in his favourite café. As if anything couldn't get any worse, he suddenly found himself covered in someone's hot coffee, staining both his and the unfortunate person's sweater. "Verdammt." he heard a small voice cuss, and he quickly raised his eyes to face the young woman he had collided with.

"Es tut mir leid," Erik mumbled, reaching out to help her pick up the array of papers she had dropped. "My mistake, I should've watched where I was going."

The young woman squinted at him and rolled her eyes, "Obviously." She quickly took her stack of papers from him before speeding past, pushing him to the side slightly. "I'm already running late, I don't need you taking away my precious time."

Erik's eyes widened—Did she not realise who he was? Normally, women her age would be drooling all over him. "I'm sorry!" he yelled after her as she disappeared into the staircase leading down to the subways. He shrugged and quickly looked down at his grey shirt that was now stained with her coffee. Great.

He entered the café which was luckily empty except for the doe-eyed barista who obviously knew who he was; That, or he witnessed what had happened just outside his café doors. "Um, one white chocolate mocha, bitte." he mumbled rather awkwardly, "Also, do you know who that was out there? I sort of owe her a cup of coffee."

The barista nodded, pressing his fingers onto the cashier screen. "I don't know her name," he replied, and Erik heard the familiar ding and handed the man the money. "But she's a regular, she'll be back tomorrow. Earlier." he continued with a smile, raising his eyebrow.

"I see," Erik chuckled, shaking his head— The sole idea of meeting her the next day was absurd. Absurd enough for me to actually do it. He quickly shook off the idea and handed the barista extra money, "Her next drink—It's on me."

The old barista gave a knowing smile and went off to finish up his order. Erik tapped his fingers against the marble countertop, lost in thought. Perhaps, he had to follow his gut on this one.

•••

ALINA threw her poor cashmere turtleneck in the laundry and frowned. Coffee was a hard stain to get rid of, especially on this kind of fabric. She groaned the minute her phone started buzzing; Not because someone was calling, but because it was time for her to leave the house again. She was the kind to never be late—Alina had alarms for everything, ranging from her breakfast to the time she had to get to bed, her alarm just failed to wake her up the day before.

Quickly slipping on her dark brown Charlie boots, she grabbed the keys and headed out the door, stack of papers in hand. She hadn't eaten breakfast yet, luckily, her favourite café was just around the corner from her apartment complex. Her heels thumped against the pavement, and her thoughts wandered off to the man she had bumped into the morning before. He looked oddly familiar, but she couldn't quite place her finger on it. Furthermore, she had to find him in order to force him to pay for dry-cleaning if the stain didn't come off in the wash. She groaned—Alina was no extortionist.

Alina gently pushed open the door of the café, greeting the barista with a smile. "Guten morgen, Michael. The regular, thank you." The man nodded and pressed onto the cashier screen, but quickly shook his head the minute she handed him the money. "What, why?"

Michael smiled and pointed towards the end of the café, where the familiar young man sat. "He felt like he owed you something."

Her eyes rolled to the back of her head, and she sighed. Now she felt like an asshole for even thinking of making him pay for her dry-cleaning. "I should go say thank you, now should I?" she mumbled, biting on her bottom lip.

"Yeah, you probably should." he chuckled quietly as she stared at the man. The man took a sip of his coffee and his gaze was locked to something outside. "I'll bring your drinks to you. Go on."

Alina looked back at him with pleading eyes before groaning once more and slowly walking over to his table. "Excuse me."

The young man quickly snapped his head up, but he softened the minute he laid eyes on her. He motioned towards the seat beside him, and Alina obliged, taking a seat across him. "I'm really sorry about yesterday. I'll pay for your dry-cleaning if the stain doesn't go away."

"Oh mein gott, I'm the one supposed to be sorry!" Alina exclaimed, shaking her head quickly, "I was really rude. Thank you so much for the coffee."

The man chuckled and patted her hand gently, which she had lain on the table, "It's the least I could do. I hope I didn't ruin your entire day yesterday. The thought itself ruined mine."

Alina laughed lightly, shaking her head, "A lot went wrong yesterday, don't worry. You were just another casualty."

"Well, how about I figure out your name and number? Maybe I could be more than just another casualty." he teased, mimicking her voice.

She hesitated as Michael placed her cup of coffee on the table. "Alina."

The young man smiled, nodding, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Alina. I'm Erik."

•••

"And then what happened?" a small voice chirped.

Alina giggled, placing her hand on her husband's shoulder, "Well, the rest is history. It's eight, schatz. You have to get to sleep."

The little girl pouted and pulled the blanket up to her chest. Erik placed a loving kiss on their six year old daughter's forehead, "Papa, will you tell me the rest of the story tomorrow?"

"Of course, liebling, and the night after that. Now, go to sleep." he whispered, shutting off the lights.

Alina held Erik's hand in hers as she pulled him into their bedroom, "You don't plan on telling her everything, now do you?" she raised her brow, shutting the door gently.

"No, but I plan a re-enactment of parts of it right now." Erik chuckled, lifting her up and throwing Alina on the bed.

"As long as you pay for the dry-cleaning afterwards."

//

(A/N): I never got to finish Into The Dark, so I based Alina & Erik's meeting roughly on the beginning of the fic. I hope you like it! It was so amusing to write because it reminded me so much of when I first started writing (last December).

Also, I currently don't have wifi–I had to battle just to get this posted. So, I'll take awhile to update, but hopefully by next week (I'm praying), I can open up requests and finish off the rest! 

Please vote, and comment on how I may improve my writing. Thanks, loves!

Love,

Ana.

p.s. I also decided to start signing stuff with my name since I posted it on Slikar anyway. Oh, that reminds me—Check out Slikar! Please!!!! Cries.