the poster in your hands suddenly felt heavy as you leaned back into your seat. it was truly the end of the world cup for france.

you decided to wait a bit before leaving the stadium as everyone rushed out. you watched the french and spanish players exit the stadium though your eyes stayed on one in particular. kylian mbappé. he had been your favorite player ever since the 2018 world cup where france had won, and you were so excited to finally be able to attend one of their matches, only for them to lose and get eliminated. what a joke.

and maybe you were dreaming, but it felt as if your eyes kept meeting kylian’s. . . but surely you were hallucinating!

once most of the fans had left, you got up and walked down the stairs towards the exit. lost in your thoughts, you had not heard that someone was calling out to you until you felt a light tap on your shoulder. “excuse me.”

startled and surprised but the sudden contact, you turned around, coming face to face with kylian. your eyes widened in surprise and confusion as you stood there for a few seconds. “uh—yes?”

“hi, i saw you up there. that’s the 2018 jersey, right?” kylian huffed a laugh at your reaction, his hand coming up as he scratched his neck.

you glanced down at your shirt, which was indeed a jersey of the 2018 world cup with his name on the back. “oh, yes!” you replied, glancing back up at him “i guess you could say it’s vintage, but it’s one of my favorite.”

your answer made him smile at you, god he looked even more handsome up close.

"oh and i saw your poster up there, it was really nice. . . and cute, thanks." you felt yourself heat up at his words. “uhm—could you sign this water bottle? if you don’t mind.”

“yes absolutely!” he grabbed your things and sighed both of them, a cheeky grin on his face. “oh and here.” he took off his jersey and handed it to you. “thought you might want and more recent one.”

trying not to oogle him too much, you gladly accepted his jersey, an incredulous expression on your face. “oh thank you! i don't know what to say. . . thank you really! uhm, do you want to keep the poster in exchange? as a thank you?” you offered as you handed him the poster, feeling your neck flush.

“oh yes of course. thank you.” he grabbed your gift. after inspecting it, he opened his mouth before getting called by one of his assistants, telling him to come.

“oh, sorry i gotta go, it was nice meeting you!” and he was about to turn around before asking “hey, uhm could i get your number? and your name?”

the apartment had been unusually quiet for the past few days.

all because the two of you had a pretty big argument, one that désiré had qualified of ‘stupid’ and where he had hurt you with the carelessness of his words, especially when he only tried to shut you down when you spoke. so naturally, being pissed at him and his childish behavior, you had decided that you wouldn’t talk to him anymore—to which désiré had scoffed and rolled his eyes, muttering that it would pass in a day or two.

but it didn’t.

now, approximately one week after the whole argument, you had not uttered a single word to your boyfriend, completely ignoring his presence. for the past week, désiré had been waking up to a cold and empty bed—as you had decided to sleep on the couch, which was actually pretty comfy—, he would walk into the kitchen for breakfast, only to catch a glimpse of you leaving for your day and then come back way later than you usually would, and he would watch you cook only for yourself.

at first the brunet had tried to act as if it didn’t bother him, like he could live with not taking or being close to you. but by day two he had started to realize that he simply couldn’t do it. as if his whole being ached for you, to hear your voice, to hold you close to him and laugh with you, just like it had been before your fight.

so, slowly, désiré tried every trick in the book to get you to just talk to him. standing right beside you and following you around the room, staring at you from the other couch, lingering by the bedroom’s doorframe before going to sleep, everything. but that only rewarded him with an unimpressed stare from you.

that only made him try even harder.

it was pretty late when you came back to your shared apartment. the sun had already set for an hour and you were feeling really tired after a exhausting week at work. all you wanted to do was eat something comforting, take a long and relaxing bath and doze off to sleep. on top of your work it was getting tiring and harder to ignore your boyfriend. of course you missed him dearly, but he had really hurt you with his words and attitude.

with a sigh, you pushed open the front door to your apartment, closing it quickly behind you and kicking your shoes off.

immediately, the smell of delicious food filling the air made your nose tingle and a confused frown appear on your face. puzzled, you stepped into the apartment, leaving your handbag by the door.

there, in the kitchen, désiré stood at the stove, cooking up something that smelled like some kind of carbonara pasta. glancing to the side, you noticed that the table was set for two, with the pretty cutlery you usually reserved for date nights or special occasions, and a few candles in the middle.

suddenly, hearing the door close and your steps, désiré turned towards you, his eyes softening as he looked at you, an apologetic expression on his face. “hey. . .” he spoke up tentatively, his fingers fidgeting with the wooden spoon in his hand.

you stayed silent, your eyes moving from the table to your boyfriend and to the stove. an awkward silence filled the air before désiré spoke up.

“look, i’m truly sorry about the other day.” he spoke up once again, his eyes never leaving you. “i was angry—not at you, never at you—but i know that not an excuse.” he scratched the back of his neck and tilted his head to the side. “i said some horrible stuff that i shouldn’t have said and i shut you down when you were just worried for me. i was so childish even after and i’m really sorry.”

désiré’s heart skipped a beat when you glanced to the side, turning away from him. suddenly, he was at your side, holding your wrist in his hand. “please babe, listen to me!” he called out, both hesitant and worried yet he kept going. “i’ll even get on my knees, just please look at me.” and at that, he actually got on his knees, still holding your hand and looking up at you.

“please talk to me, hit me or yell at me, just please!” he exclaimed. “i can’t deal with silence, especially not from you. these last fews days made me feel like i was loosing my mind—and loosing you too! i hate when you ignore me and i hate even more that i’ve hurt you! i’m such an idiot when it comes to you but i can’t handle being away from you.” he kept going over and over. “i’d do anything, just please talk to me.”

slowly, you turned your head towards him, his heart beating fast when your eyes met his. for an instant you stayed silent before muttering ‘dez, get up’. quickly, he stood up, now looking downward at you.

a soft sigh escaped your lips before you spoke up. “you’ve hurt me. i hated feeling small when you shut me down and wouldn't let me speak. i felt like you didn’t care about me or what i had to say, even more when all i did was worry about you.”

désiré’s lips formed a thin line at your words as he tilted his head down. “quite frankly i’m still upset and hurt. . .” that immediately made him look back at you, his eyes soft yet glossy. “i get that you’re upset, but you need to rest.” you continued. “if both your coach and your physiologist told you to rest or you might hurt yourself you need to listen to them.”

“i know, and i shouldn’t have lashed out at you for this, you did nothing but support me and i acted like an idiot.” his grip on your hand tightened slightly, not enough to hurt you but enough to ground himself to you. “but please forgive me, i can’t take silence from you and i've missed you.”

softly, a small, soft smile appeared on your lips as you placed a hand on his cheek, tilting him closer to you. “i’ve missed you too dez.”

with a sigh of relief, désiré bent down to hug you. his arms wrapped around your chest as he held you close to him, burying his face in your neck.

“here you go sweetie, all done.” you smiled as you watched your daughter inspect her own reflection in the large mirror. you had just finished dressing her up for the day, braiding her hair—which was starting to get pretty long—into a cute little hairstyle. “what do you think?”

“it’s pretty!” she exclaimed as she kept looking at herself, her small hand brushing over her hair. “thank you mama!”

quickly, she got down from the counter and rushed out of the bathroom and into the living room. there, your husband was sitting on the sofa, aimlessly scrolling through his phone. when he heard a bunch of quick footsteps he looked up, a big smile on his face as his daughter threw herself into his arms.

“hey there sweetheart!” guéla laughed as he hugged his daughter back, causing her to giggle even louder. “wait let me see how beautiful you look.”

a soft smile on your lips, you leaned against the doorway, watching with fondness the scene happening in front of you. your daughter really was such a daddy’s girl.

“wow you look so pretty my baby!” guéla finally said before kissing his daughter’s cheek, his beard tickling her skin and making her giggle. “mama did such a good job, didn’t she?” he glanced as you approached the sofa before sitting down next to the two of them. your husband placed a sweet kiss on your temples, one of his arms sliding behind your back to place you against his chest.

after a few minutes, guéla stood up and scooped your daughter into his arms. “and you know what? today you’re gonna spend the whole day with papa! just you and i.” he glanced at you with a smile and you smiled back. you two had been planning this for a few weeks, your daughter would be so happy to spend a whole day with her dad, and you could finally relax or even go out with your friends in the meantime.

“really?! yay!!” your daughter exclaimed as she threw her arms around her dad’s neck, hugging him tight.

guéla laughed as he held her closer, walking towards you at the same time. “we’ll be back before dinner, like you asked.” he kissed your lips softly. you kissed him back before replying a small ‘have fun’ and watching the two of them walk out the door.

**

you were cooking up some dinner at the stove—the sky had been starting to darken for a few hours—when you heard the gggle of keys at the front door. you heard the door squeak as it opened and loud footsteps walking towards the kitchen. still cooking, you watched from the corner of your eye as guéla—holding your sleeping daughter—stepped into the kitchen.

“hi, how was your day?” you asked softly as you turned to your husband, placing a soft kiss on your daughter’s forehead. “did you two have fun?”

“yeah it was good, a little tiring but still good.” guéla replied, tiredness visible in his eyes despite the smile on his lips as he laid your daughter on the sofa before approaching you.

softly, he wrapped his arms around your waist from behind you, your back resting against his torso as he placed his head against your shoulder, watching you cook. “we went to the parc, ate some sandwiches, had ice cream. . . like we usually do. and you?”

“i went to brunch with my friends, did some shopping and came back in the afternoon.” your soft voice made guéla’s eyes close for a bit, answering your words with a hum while you placed one of your hands on top of his.