Falling. - Manuel Neuer fanfiction

Chapter Five - First match day

“Okay, so here are the passes,” Cristiano said, giving Arabella two passes  to grant her and Junior access to the stadium.

Portugal was playing Germany today at 1 O’clock. It was their first match of the competition and Cristiano was visibly nervous. “Alright, thank you. Good luck,” Arabella said, stroking his hair and kissing his cheek. “Thank you,” Cristiano smiled before kissing her forehead.

He then turned to his son who was playing with some toy cars. Arabella smiled at the sight of the two Cristiano’s before turning to her bag and checking she had everything. “Alright, I’m taking Junior, we’ll be supporting you!” Arabella said, ushering Cristiano out of the room, knowing otherwise he’ll be late.

The trip to the stadium was stressful, especially because they were barely in time to be there in time for the national anthems. Andreia had let out a relieved sigh as she spotted the men still training on the fields. “We’re on time!” she had cheered, making the other people sigh out in relieve as well.

“Look, Arabella, it’s daddy!” Junior said, pulling the girls shirt and pointing towards his father. She smiled and nodded at the boy. “Yes, he must be very nervous,” she said, making Junior nod. “He is, he said he wanted to score for us,” Junior said, nodding his head viciously. Arabella smiled sadly, knowing that Cristiano expected way too much of himself.

****

The match turned out to be hell on the Portuguese side. After failing to score, you could see Cristiano starting to wind himself up. Then Pepe decided to head butt Thomas Müller, making him get send off the field with a red card. And if things couldn’t possibly get worse, Fábio was carried off the field after injuring himself. To ice the cake of disappointment, the Germans scored 4 goals.

Everyone was silent as they left the private box, making their way to the men.

“Dadda!” Junior shouted as soon as he spotted Cristiano sitting in the dressing room. The man smiled sadly at his son as he picked him up and hugged  him tightly. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled. He was visibly disappointed. “You did great, daddy!” Junior said excitedly, making a small smile form on Cristiano’s face.

Junior wiggled out of Cristiano’s grip and started looking for ‘uncle Fábio’. Arabella smiled quietly before placing herself on Cristiano’s lap. “I swear to God, if you are going to mop all night I’ll shave your head,” Arabella threatened the man, before pulling him in a hug.

Just like she had expected she started to feel a warm wet patch on her shoulder. Cristiano, however, kept quiet but hugged her tighter. She looked up to Andreia, who gave her a sad smile. She returned the gesture before turning back to Cristiano.

Being so caught up with Cristiano, she hadn’t noticed the Germans entering the room until one of them spoke.

“Great game, guys,” Mesut said, making Arabella jump slightly. Cristiano quickly pulled himself together and dried his cheeks before looking up with a grin. “You too, mate,” he said, shaking the hand of his old teammate. “Arabella, nice to see you again,” Mesut grinned, pulling her into a hug.

“Nice to see you too!” Arabella replied, excited to see her old friend again. Her and Mesut had been great friends while he played at Real Madrid. They spent days together just hanging around and pulling annoying and childish pranks on other people.

“How have you been? I heard about Dennis, my condolences,” Mesut said sadly. He knew about his friends problems, and it was safe to say he had spent many nights worrying about her. “Thank you, and I’ve been well, honestly,” she smiled. Mesut nodded with a small smile, happy that she hadn’t fallen back to old habbits.

While Arabella and Mesut were bringing back old memories, the girl felt two little arms wrap around her leg. She looked down to see Junior looking up at her with big puppy eyes. Arabella smiled and picked him up. “Where have you been, little man?” She asked the small boy. He grinned as he motioned towards the other children, who were all playing in a corner of the room. She smiled softly at him before looking back at Mesut, who gave the small boy a high five.

Then suddenly the door of the dressing room flew open and a blonde man walked in. He was extremely tall, and fairly broad, his body was quite intimidating but his face just said ‘gentle giant’.  In all honesty Arabella found him extremely attractive, he was the kind of man that made her weak at the knees. “Manueeeeel!” Mesut cheered with a weird voice. “Mesuuuut!” The man mirrored his actions before walking over to where Mesut was standing. “Oh, Manuel these are Arabella and Cristiano Jr., Arabella, Junior this is Manuel,” Mesut introduced them. Junior clapped his little hand together in excitement.

Arabella giggled at Junior’s excitement to meet the blonde man. He was such a happy child. He was always smiling and laughing, he barely cried and he always found a way to make Arabella feel happy.

“You’re the best goalkeeper!” Junior cheered making Eduardo, who was standing near them, gasp in fake hurt. Junior didn’t even notice but Arabella shot him a bright smile. He chuckled before turning back to his own conversation.

“Why, thank you,” Manuel grinned. Junior stuck his arms out towards Manuel, who looked with puppy eyes at Arabella. He was already smitten with the little boy. Arabella giggled and gave Junior to Manuel who held him in his arms. “You should’ve let my daddy score though, he wanted to score for us!” Junior said, pointing at Cristiano who was walking towards the Arabella. Manuel laughed and apologized to the small boy as Cristiano reached Arabella. He wrapped his left arm around her as he smiled at Junior.

“I don’t want to be rude or anything, but he doesn’t look like you at all,” Manuel said, looking at Arabella. Arabella laughed loudly before shaking her head. “I’m not his mother,” Arabella grinned, making the German raise his eyebrows. “You’re not? Oh, I’m sorry, I just thought..” Manuel said awkwardly. Arabella and Cristiano both chuckled. “Don’t worry it’s fine, I’m his nanny.. well sort of,” Arabella explained. Manuel nodded understandingly, clearly still a bit embarrassed.

“Daddy, are we going to see Germany play again?” Junior asked, looking at his father with big, pleading eyes. Cristiano looked at Arabella, begging for help. They both knew he couldn’t say no to the child, but that seeing Germany play again meant that they wouldn’t be there to see Portugal play.

“Sorry Juns, but then we can’t see daddy play,” Arabella said sadly. “Oh,” Junior said with a pout. “That’s okay! I like watching daddy play more than Germany anyways.”

The little boy’s words made Manuel gasp in mock hurt and Mesut burst out into laughter. “Well, at least he’s honest,” Arabella laughed, making Cristiano nod his head with a proud grin.

Manuel gave the little boy back to his nanny with a smile. She immediately gave him to Cristiano who kissed her on the cheek and walked off towards where the other kids were. She looked after them before directing her gaze back to Manuel and Mesut. Manuel who was staring at her and Mesut who was grinning at her. “What?” She asked Mesut. “Nothing,” he said, dragging out the ‘o’. “So are you and Ronaldo together yet or?” He asked. Arabella rolled her blue eyes. “For the millionth time, Mesut, not going to happen!” She sighed. “But why? You two would be great together!” Mesut whined. All the while Manuel stared at the two with amusement written all over his face.

“Because one, he’s like a brother and that would be nasty and two, he is not my type,” Arabella defended herself. “Jesus Christ, what is your type then?” Mesut groaned, stomping his feet. “Blondes,” Arabella grinned with a wink. “Ah! Like my friend Manuel,” Mesut said, placing his arm around Manuels shoulder. Arabella chuckled. “Exactly like your friend Manuel,” she mused. Mesut laughed while Manuels face turned slightly pink. Something Arabella had to admit was extremely adorable.