laundry ┊ one shots [formula one, football]

3. varane [football]

requested: GOATifte
thank you for requesting 🥰

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[1386 words]

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'naveen!' she called out his name once she saw that he was about to leave her to get to the dressing rooms. it was half time, and she had decided it would be a good opportunity to get some time with her man before he was out running again.

'you need to stop calling me that name.' she saw her tall fiancé turn around with a look on his face that was very telling of how he felt about it.

his wife to be poured as she leant up to squish his cheeks. 'aw, but babe it's cute on you!'

the deadpanned uninterested look occupied on his face got her to roll her eyes in defeat. it was only a few weeks ago that she realised her fiancé had an uncanny resemblance to the disney prince. and ever since then, it had become a common topic of conversation between the two, where one would protest and the other would continue pointing out how similar their eyebrows looked.

'then i guess frog it is.' she smiled at him as he let out a defeated sigh, letting her have the win with this one before squinting his eyes at her.

'stop it.' she let out a laugh as she raised her hands in mock submission.

his eyes wandered back to where his fellow french teammate was beckoning him over to the changing rooms for what seemed like a pep talk and he apologetically looked at his fiancé as if feeling bad for leaving her like this mid conversation.

she squeezed his hand and dropped a kiss to his cheek before motioning to his ever eager teammate behind him.

he rolled his eyes but tapped her nose before leaving. he had a match to finish. and a final to win.

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safe to say the final was not won by france but rather their oppositions, the argentine team. the lost look on his face made her heart clench. it was hard enough losing, but losing a final that would have otherwise made your country proud for the second time in four years was harder.

the jubilant and euphoric team celebrating around them with screams and delight made it all the more worse, and the otherwise warm winter in qatar suddenly felt cold to the woman in the short sleeved jersey. she ran her hands up and down her exposed arms in disappointment.

she saw the other girls making their way downstairs and figured that she would do the same. she wasn't close with most of them, so took the stairs by herself thinking of what to say to her man to make him less upset.

she didn't know whether to give him space or to hug the life out of him, so she guessed she'll have to improvise when the moment came.

she saw his tall figure in the distance, entering the tunnel ducking his head slightly to get out of the way of an obstructing fans hand. he seemed pissed and upset at the same time.

she winced and quickly formulated a new plan.

he was looking down as he walked almost directly into his fiancé, who was quick to clutch onto his hand with both of hers, stopping him mid route. he looks frazzled to see her and she tried to not let it get to her. he has every right to be upset.

she reached for his face, not hiding how she had to be on her tip toes to actually reach his height that was significantly taller than hers. she let her hand rest on his cheek and patted it twice, angling it down so he was looking at her too.

he looked away, not able to make eye contact, when she sighed softly. 'i'm proud of you, always.' she didn't whisper it but her tone was the most gentle one she had ever used with him, tender and sincere. she bit her tongue slightly, hating how her words sounded like pity, but it was the only way to communicate what she was saying.

he held her eyes before turning his face slightly to kiss her hand that still stroked his face, and then squeezed her hand. she took that as confirmation that while he appreciated her efforts, he needed space.

she turned around to watch his stature go smaller as he walked towards the changing room with one of his teammates, the same one who was previously laughing and giggling. the smile really was wiped from their faces.

she decided she would text him the details of where she went, and then got to looking for a taxi or some sort of public transport to go back to the hotel room.

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she felt like she had pretty much dug a hole in the carpet of the hotel room with how much pacing she had done in it. walking around in circles with the occasional nail bite as she tried to calm herself down.

it's been almost 6 hours since she last saw her fiancé and it was nearing 3 am in the morning. she had reassured herself that nothing disastrous could happen, seeing as there was an alcohol ban in Qatar, and the fact that Raphaël was a grown man. yet she was still feeling uneasy.

soon enough, the door knocked before she heard cursing as someone, obviously Raphaël, looked for his key card instead. she half walked half jogged to the door, trying to keep her noise down as it was the middle of the night, and pulled the handle down to open the door for him instead.

her eyes were a little puffy from the lack of sleep, but she didn't expect him to look so shocked to see her awake still waiting for him. he opened his mouth to speak, but when no words came out, she just sidestepped and allowed him entry into their not so modest room.

she shut the door and took a deep breath, not knowing what was going to happen. she didn't know if she should just fall asleep now seeing as he was here or if she should try to gauge on what he was doing all this time.

he looked like he was waiting for her so she chose the semi half option, even if the first one was tempting.

'i'm sorry for disappearing-'

'where were you?'

the voices overlapped each other, even in their hushed tones.

raphaël moved his hand forward to take her now warm ones in between his as he interlinked their fingers through it.

she cleared her throat, urging him to continue.

'as i was saying, i'm sorry for disappearing on you. i just needed some time to digest that it slipped from our fingers.' he moved his head so he was looking at her directly, 'i thought you would've slept by now. why are you still awake ma cherie?' he stroked her cheek, painfully aware of her sleep deprived state where her eye bags were more prominent.

she leant her head into his hand, almost contemplating going to sleep in that minute. she just needed to make sure he was alright before she dozed off.

'was waiting for you.'

he had a guilty look on his face. he thought of furthering the conversation but then saw how her head was literally dropping into his hand and shook his head.

'how about we finish this conversation tomorrow? we still have a holiday to get to after all this.' he had booked a week off before the tournament, anywhere, just so he and his fiancé could have some time to themselves before the wedding planning kicked off. he wasn't going to ruin his time with her just because he lost a final.

she nodded, not giving it much thought, before backing onto the bed and knocking out as quickly as a light, not even bothering to pull up the sheets.

he chuckled at her eagerness to sleep, and pulled the duvet up to her chin, before ducking his head and kissing her forehead.

he was glad that despite everything, at least he had her.

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how was it? i had this requested ages ago by the lovely user mentioned at the beginning but just couldn't get the inspiration to write it without making it draggy and long.

please comment and vote!
mwah!