Gabi's POV
Just as I did every morning out of habit, I swung my hand across the bed towards Toni – except he wasn't there. I turned around – his side of the bed was indeed empty, and the smell of sausages was wafting in through the crack of the door.
I went outside and saw him in the kitchen cooking, but before I could creep up to him, he turned around and jumped in shock when he saw me.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, his eyes wide open. "It's too early for you to be up. Go back. Go back to bed, Gabi." He grabbed me by the shoulders, spun me around, and pushed me back into the room.
I sat on the bed in a daze, wondering exactly what he was up to this time. A while later, he opened the door and peeked in. He smiled when he saw me sitting there, dishevelled and confused. He walked inside with a tray in his hands, containing a plate fully laden with sausages, eggs, and bacon, and a glass of orange juice.
"Happy Valentine's Day, baby," he said as he placed the tray on the bed and gave me a long, long kiss on the lips.
Toni's POV
She stared at me, still confused, and then she suddenly hit me on the shoulder. "Why do you always do this to me?" she whined.
"What?" I laughed, walking to the other side and sitting down beside her.
"Make me feel like the happiest and luckiest girl alive."
I smiled. "That's my girl."
"Please tell me you made some for yourself."
"Yeah, hold on," I said. I went and grabbed my plate and came back to sit beside her. "Come on, let's eat."
She stared at my plate. "Why do you have so little?" she asked. "Are you trying to make me fat?" She started transferring food from her plate to mine.
"Are you trying to make me fat?"
"Yeah, so we can roll around together," she said, giggling. "Aww, your smoothness rubbed off on me."
She started digging into her plate hungrily, so I joined in. Suddenly, she got up and ran to the wardrobe, rummaging through the back until she found a small box.
She ran back to me happily and shoved the box into my lap. "I got you something this time," she smiled proudly. "I know it's really lame, and it probably doesn't match up to whatever you've given me, but I hope you like it anyway."
I laughed. Of course I'd like it. I'd like anything she gave me. I opened the box – it was a watch, one that resembled my older one, which I'd accidentally smashed when I dropped it.
Gabi was looking at me eagerly, so I gave her a kiss on the head and told her, "I love it. Thank you, baby."
She smiled and started digging into her plate again. "Are you seriously going to put it on now?" she asked as I tried it on. "Don't wear a watch around at home, it looks so lame."
"Hey!" I laughed. "I never want to take it off."
Her hands went immediately to her neck, where she always wore the necklace that I'd given her – except this time, it wasn't there. I watched as her eyes widened, her hands slapping her neck trying to find it. She stood up, a look of complete fear on her face, placed our plates and glasses on the table, and started ruffling the sheets around.
"Where is it?" she asked, looking at me in dismay. "Where's my necklace? Did you see it?"
Before I could respond, she ran out into the living room and started messing up the couch trying to find it, before she started crawling around on the floor examining every inch of it. She ran around the apartment, opening every drawer and every wardrobe, but she couldn't find it.
I stopped her when she grabbed the keys and tried to leave. "Hey, hey," I grabbed her waist from the back. "Where are you going?"
"Retracing my steps," she said, tears brimming in her eyes. "I need to find it, Toni. You gave it to me. I can't lose it. I can't –"
"Shhhh, baby," I reached into my pocket and took it out. "Here it is."
I dangled it in front of her face as she took it in. I'd stolen it from her and added another pendant, this time a T, so both of our names were on it.
"Don't cry, okay?" I continued. "I just added something on it."
"Oh, my God," she whispered, clutching at it and staring at it dreamily, the tears finally falling from her eyes. "I hate you."
"Too bad, I love you."
She turned around and wrapped her arms tightly around me silently. I lifted her face and wiped her tears with my thumbs. Then I took the necklace from her and helped her put it on again.
"We'll always be together, okay?" I patted the T and the G. "Always."
She poked me on the nose. "One day I will beat you at this whole being smooth thing."
I leaned my head against hers. "Never," I whispered.
"I love it," she said, touching the pendants, which clinked when she moved. "And I love you. I love you so much."
"I love you, too," I said, moving my face closer until our lips met.
We went back to bed and finished our breakfast, before Gabi got up and cleared the plates. She returned to the bed, lay her head back on the pillows and sighed loudly.
"What's wrong?" I asked her.
"I don't wanna leave," she whined. She'd only applied for a single semester at Cologne, and she had to return to Munich in time for the summer semester next month. "I wanna be with you."
"Awww," I lay back beside her. "I'll be back before you know it."
She smiled and closed her eyes. "I loved playing house with you, Toni."
"Yeah," I whispered, moving closer to her. "You'll make a good wife."
She giggled. "I don't mind being your wife if I get breakfast in bed every day."
"What do you mean you don't mind?" I teased. "Is that all? You don't mind being my wife? When I ask you, 'Gabi, will you marry me?' will you shrug and say, 'I don't mind, Toni'?"
"Yeah, maybe I will," she burst out laughing, and she couldn't stop. "Oh, my God, that's a good idea," she choked.
"Gabi!" I started tickling her ribs, making her laugh even more and thrash around on the bed.
"Okay, okay!" she screamed. "I'll say 'hell yes, Toni, make me your woman,' and then we'll go home and have rough sex against the wall again."
"That's more like it," I laughed as we both calmed down and lay there in each other's arms. "I had the best time here with you, Gabi."
"Me too," she turned and kissed me on the cheek. "It was the best time of my life."
It sounded so clichéd, but it was the truth. All those months in Mülheim, just the both of us, alone there with nobody to depend on but each other, living alone and taking care of each other like an old married couple – it made us so much stronger and so much closer.
"You know, it made me realise something," I told her. "It made me realise that I want to spend the rest of my life with you."
"Is that a proposal?"
"Maybe."
"Well..." she giggled. "I don't mind."
"Hey!" I poked her on the nose.
"You said when," she turned around so she was facing me. "When you ask me to marry you,not if. You know what that means, right?"
"What?" I teased, although I knew what she was trying to say.
She laughed, grabbed the back of my head and pulled me towards her so she could kiss me.
"It means that's a promise," she whispered. She gave a soft, satisfied sigh and smiled against my lips. "I'm the luckiest girl alive."
"And I'm the luckiest boy alive," I mumbled. "Because I got to kiss these lips."
——
"Are you going to score against Bayern?" Gabi asked. "On my birthday?"
"No..." I said. "But –"
"I'm kidding, Toni. I don't care if you score against them."
"You're heartless."
She smiled. "That's because I gave you my heart."
"Smooth."
"Yes!" she punched the air. "I'm learning fast."
She skipped ahead of me as we walked towards the BayArena. She'd specially flown over from Munich to watch me play, even though her semester back in Munich had already re-started. I'd told her she didn't need to, but she insisted, because she said she wanted to see me play. I knew she secretly just wanted to watch Bayern play.
She turned around and grinned at me. "Hurry up, slowpoke," she yelled. She waited for me to catch up, hooking her arm in mine and leaning her head on my shoulder. "I'm so glad I can watch you play again."
"Really? Or are you glad you can watch Bayern play?"
"Both."
I laughed and grabbed her by the cheeks, squishing them together. "I love you so much."
"I love you too," she tried her best to say with her cheeks still squished, which made me laugh even more. She puckered her lips. "I feel like a fish. Kiss me, Toni."
So I kissed her, right there outside the BayArena, outside the door to the locker rooms, before I went on the pitch to play against her favourite team. I kissed her until I almost completely forgot that I was going to do exactly that.
Suddenly, someone grabbed me by the arm and started dragging me away. "Where are you going?" Gabi mumbled, pulling me closer. "Don't leave me yet."
I opened my eyes and saw that it was Lars. I put my hand on his face and pushed him away. "Go away, Bender. I haven't seen her in three weeks."
"We haven't seen a single point in three weeks," he said.
"Okay, okay," I gave Gabi one last kiss as she pouted. "See you later, baby."
"Remember my birthday present."
I grinned at her as Lars started pulling me along. "You have no idea, Gabi."
Gabi's POV
Obviously, the ticket Toni had gotten me was for the Bayer section, so I could only sit there awkwardly and try not to celebrate out loud as Bayern scored the first goal – as usual.
Suddenly, I felt really guilty that I'd guilt-tripped him earlier. It didn't matter if he scored against Bayern, even on my birthday. In fact, I wished a little that he would score. And that was when I realised: I'd chosen him over Bayern, the team I'd been supporting since I was 7.
I smiled. Oh, Toni. What have you done to me? I hope you score today, just a little, but I'm not going to tell you that. Score against them, okay baby? Make them want to take you back.
As if he'd heard me, he glanced slightly in my direction as he stood ready for a free kick. And then he took his usual short run-up and flicked the ball over the wall and towards goal – except it didn't really make it there. It bounced off the post and back into play, but Arturo Vidal was there to ram it into the back of the net, and suddenly, less than ten minutes after they'd gone behind, Bayer were level.
I buried my face in my shirt as the supporters around me jumped up in excitement. He'd heard me. Or at least he'd read my mind. I never believed that was possible, but how could I explain whatever that had just happened?
I sat on the steps outside the BayArena waiting for him after the match, even after the crowd had thinned and I was the only person left there. After a brief period of quiet, a rowdy crowd appeared behind me. I turned around and saw that it was Toni and his teammates, who were slapping him on the back and telling him how good a job he did.
I could tell Toni was embarrassed, because he was blushing slightly and looking downwards, but his eyes lit up when he saw me sitting there. He ran up to me excitedly, escaping the smothering grasps of his teammates, and sat down beside me. "Hey, lucky star."
I smiled. "You were great."
"Can you say something else? They already said that about 42 million times," he gestured to the group behind him, who were watching us and nudging each other.
"Okay, um...that was the best birthday present ever."
"Aww, really?"
"Yeah," I grinned.
As if he'd forgotten that there were a huge group of guys right there behind us, he stuck his hand in my hair and started kissing me eagerly.
I pulled away quickly as they started whooping loudly. "Toni..."
"Sorry," he laughed, standing up and pulling me along. "Bye, guys. See you in training."
"Bye, Toni. And happy birthday, future Mrs. Kroos."
"Oh, my God," I whispered in embarrassment, and Toni elbowed me in the ribs with a mischievous look on his face.
We walked a distance away before Toni leaned in and asked, "Are they gone?"
I looked behind us and saw that they were walking in another direction, so I nodded. A wide, cheeky grin spread across his face, but before I could respond, he grabbed my face tightly and pulled me roughly against him, pressing his lips against mine and sending pleasant shivers up and down my spine.
"I've missed you so much," he said in between kisses. "Gabi, baby."
"You saw me three hours ago," I told him.
"Three weeks," he corrected, his fingers running through my hair. "Three weeks ago, you left, and we never picked up a single point since."
"You did today. You got one point."
"Because you're back," he pulled away and smiled at me. "You're my lucky star."
"Shut up," I felt the heat rush up my cheeks, so I looked down.
He touched my chin and made me look at him. "Thanks for coming over," he said. "Thanks for spending your birthday here, even though it's already night now and I couldn't spend time with you earlier."
"It's okay," I said. "I got to watch you. And Bayern."
He laughed. "I tried, Gabi. I tried to score."
"Yeah, naughty boy," I poked him on the nose. "But it's okay. That was nice. You know, I was thinking, 'wouldn't it be nice if Toni scored and showed them why they should bring him back next season?' And then three seconds later, your shot hit the post."
"Awwww," he smiled. "Told you you're my lucky star."
I wrapped my arms around his waist. "Then I'm never going to leave you. I'm going to stick on to you for the rest of my life, and annoy the shit out of you."
"Good, free constipation medication."
I rolled my eyes. "How are you a footballer? You're so lame."
"Come on," he laughed and wrapped an arm around me as we continued walking. "Let's give the birthday girl a nice treat."
I leaned my head on his shoulder. "Oh, Toni, you're the best treat I've ever gotten in my life."