Home is Where the Heart is - Pablo Gavi

Epilogue: New Beginnings

The sun streams through the windows, the light from the sunrise pressing against my eyelids until they flutter open. I'm in my favorite place, Gavi's arms. I lean over and give him a kiss on the cheek. He smiles but doesn't open his eyes. I smile too, knowing more than anything this is where I want to be.

Yesterday after he showed up at the airport spontaneously and I decided to stay in Barcelona we came home and I called my parents to share the news. They weren't thrilled, but they accepted it. Some space has been good for us and will continue to be as I live in Barcelona.

On our walk out of the airport I had also sheepishly asked Xavi if I could come back to Barca. He embraced the suggestion and told me he plans to offer me a real contract now, he only has to speak with a few people about the details before we make up a real deal.

Along with my official return to Barca the news of me staying in Barcelona spread quickly to my team members and their families. I got multiple messages exclaiming how excited they were to have me stay, including one very serious message about having a party to celebrate.

The peaceful awakening I've been bathing in is disrupted by a loud alarm from Gavi's side of the bed. I groan. Our five day break is over and I'm happy to go back to training and our new normal, but I am not tired of getting to sleep in.

The pressure from Gavi's arms encaging me releases as he reaches over to his phone. The blarring noise stops. He rolls back over and resumes his positioning around me.

"Pablo," I whisper, fully awake now.

He hums a response, his eyes closed.

I run my fingers through his hair. "It's time to get up, we have training."

He groans, causing me to laugh lightly. He's so cute when he's tired. When he hears my laugh his eyes peak open. "Are you laughing at me," he mumbles, gently moving his hand up and down my waist. The touch sends shivers through my body.

"Only because you're so adorbale," I breathe.

He smiles, closing his eyes again.

"We need to get up," I remind him. I move my hand from his hair to his jaw, running my fingers across his skin slowly, feeling his stubble. "You need to shave," I add softly.

He opens his eyes again. "I'm trying to grow a beard."

We look at each other for an extra long second before I shake my head. "No you're not."

He juts out his bottom lip. "Why not?"

"Have you ever kissed somebody with a beard?" I ask.

"No, have you?"

"Nope and I'd like to keep it that way." I roll away from him and out of bed. I get up and head towards the bathroom. "And while we're at it," I call back into our room, "never bleach your hair either."

When I re-entre the room he's sitting up, shirtless and on his phone. When he hears me he looks up. "I've thought about it and I promise not to try to grow a beard or bleach my hair if you promise to do the same."

I walk over to him and crawl into his lap, straddling him. I put my hands on either side of his face, his rest on my ass. "Sounds like a good deal to me," I say before connecting our lips.

Somebody must have heard us moving around because our kiss is interrupted by the sound of little paws rushing towards us. Atlas has a bed in our room, but he seems to favor sleeping on the couch downstairs. He's already a pro at our stairs and has free reign of the puppy proofed house.

I slide off of Gavi's lap as Atlas comes rocketing into our room and into Gavi's lap. Our puppy is panting as we start to pet him good morning. Along with my return to the team today, Xavi agreed that we could bring Atlas to training this one time. The team is going to love him and he's going to love the team.