#edf

the deal had been made during one of those unbearable heatwave in the middle of may.

the air conditioning was struggling and to be honest, you were struggling too.

unfortunately for you, michael’s desire to cuddle was not struggling at all, if anything, it seemed stronger.

“michael, it’s thirty-one degrees.”

“mhm,” he hummed currently attached to your side like a backpack.

“why are you still touching me?”

“'cause i love you,” he mumbles completely unhelpful.

you had eventually escaped his grasp after ten minutes of negotiations which led to the agreement.

each goal he scored during the world cup would earn him one night of unlimited cuddles when he returned.

it was simple, reasonable... or so you thought because when you’d made the deal, michael had laughed. sure, you know he’d score a few goals but nothing crazy.

and then france played ireland in their final friendly before the world cup...

you were sitting comfortably on your couch watching the match, completely relaxed until michael scored.

you smiled immediately.

he’d been in ridiculous form recently and one goal wasn’t a problem, you could survive one night... easy, no?

then after half-time, twenty minutes later he scored again.

the commentators were losing their minds, teammates were celebrating with him, hugging him meanwhile you were staring at the television, betrayed.

but it was just two night, still probably manageable. you were thinking about how he was going to kill you, maybe by asphyxiation and he suddenly was through on goal again.

you immediately sat up.

“are you serious?!”

he couldn’t hear you obviously.

3-1.

a hat-trick, and it was just his second game with france.

his teammates jumped all over him and you dropped your head into your hands.

“you’ve got to be kidding me.”

your phone buzzed approximately one hour later and you didn’t even need to look, you already knew who it was.

michael:

so?🙂🙂

you immediately called him and he answered suspiciously fast, meant he’d been waiting.

“hello.”

“three?” you ask directly.

“yeah, three.”

“three goals?”

“yeah?” he sounded delighted, as if this was good news.

“it was only a friendly! one was good.”

“still counts.”

“who decided that?”

“the contract.”

“there is no contract.”

“we had a verbal agreement,” he laughed. “so that’s three nights.”

you groaned immediately. “i should never have made this deal.”

“i miss you.”

the teasing disappeared from his voice just like that, replaced by something softer.

beneath all the jokes, the cuddles and the ridiculous negotiations he genuinely did miss you a lot.

the world cup hadn’t even started yet and he was already counting the days until he could come home.

“it's only been one week but yeah, miss you too.”

“still three nights though.”

you immediately burst out laughing.

“yeah don't worry, you'll have your cuddles.”