Falling. - Manuel Neuer fanfiction

Chapter Twenty Two - GOL!

A/N: I found a rare shirtless Manuel. You're welcome.

Arabella and Manuel had started walking through the streets once they had finished their coffee. The sun was beaming down on them, making droplets of sweat form on both of their foreheads.
"Oh, look!" Arabella giggled, wandering off. Manuel, who had stopped, looked to see what she was doing. He chuckled when he saw she had put on a weird sunhat.
Manuel took out his phone and grinned. "Strike a pose!"
Arabella threw her arms up, laughing loudly. Manuel quickly snapped a photo and looked at it admiringly. He was definitely going to keep that.
"You gotta send me that," Arabella said, comming up to him. She stood closely beside him, trying to see the photo.
Manuel felt nervous as soon as he felt her body touch his. His breathing hitched before her looked down at her. This was the closest they had been since they met and Manuel felt like his knees were going to cave in.
Arabella tried to ignore the butterflies in her stomach when she touched Manuel. The urge to close her arms around him and rest her head against his body was almost too big to resist.

After sending the photo to Arabella the both of them continued walking. Still incredibly close, but neither of them felt the need to break apart.
"Oh, look!" Arabella shouted, grabing Manuel's arm with her right hand and pointing with her left. She had spotted a small group of children playing football in a park across the street.
"We have to go play with them!" she exclaimed, pulling Manuel along with her.

As soon as the children saw Manuel walking towards them they stopped playing, they were all too busy staring to notice the game anymore. They started looking at each other and pointing towards where the blonde man was walking.
"Manuel Neuer!" One shouted when they were at the edge of the field. Arabella smiled at them and waived. "Can we play?" she asked, pointing at the football. The children looked confused so Arabella pointed at Manuel and herself before pointing at the ball. They all started nodding with wide eyes.

Manuel looked at the children, he had wanted a quiet day with Arabella, but this was different. They had engaged them, not the other way around, and seeing the children and Arabella happy made Manuel happy.

"Okay, you take that side, I'll play with the other side," Arabella said, taking her position in the goal. Manuel who was too busy staring at Arabella, who was tying her hair back into a ponytail, to notice the game was about to start. He felt his arm being grabbed by two little hands and looked down to see a small boy, not older than 7 trying to pull him along towards their side of the field. Manuel grinned and jogged to his spot in the goal opposite of Arabella. "Let's go! Loser buys dinner!" he smirked. "Deal, I have faith in my children!" Arabella shouted back.

The boys counted down. "Três, dos, um!", and the game started. The little boys were all extremely into it, pulling at each other and playing together. That's when Arabella's side started to come closer and closer to Manuel's makeshift goal. "Vamos!" Arabella yelled, cheering the boys on. Upon hearing Arabella shout one of the boys took the shot, but Manuel was quick, stopping the ball. Of course he wasn't going to stop them all, but he wasn't going to let every single one pass either. "Bem feito, meninos!" Arabella said, clapping her hands.

Manuel was impressed by Arabella. Of course, he knew she spoke portugese, she lived with Cristiano Ronaldo after all. But he had never heard her actually speak portugese. He had only heard her mumble some words to Cristiano, but never out loud. He had to admit that it made her even more attractive.

The loss of focus made that Manuel didn't notice the boys approaching him again. He never noticed the ball flying towards the goal, not until it was too late. "Gooooool!" Arabella cheered, she was clapping her hands before high fiving some of the boys closest to her. "Nós estamos indo para ganhar, meninos!" she shouted.

Her victorious smile was short-lived. Not even a minute after their goal Manuel's team was approaching. She kept her eyes on the ball, just like Cristiano told her whenever they were playing football with Junior. The young boy shot as hard as he possibly could, however he shot right into Arabella's hands. "Melhor sorte da próxima vez!" she grinned cockily. The child stook out his tongue and ran off to his previous place in the field.