Cause and Effect

Twelve

A/N: no shirt is better than a UTD shirt ;)

"You are in big trouble, Sanchez," I stated, watching as he tugged his jersey over his head, and smirked at me.

I walked over to him, and pretended to punch him several times in his bare abs. He gently caught my hands, chuckling.

"Trouble, yeah?"

"I didn't even get to enjoy it," I pouted.

I was aware of all our teammates' eyes on us, but at this point I didn't even care.

"Oh?" He asked, still holding my hands. "Well you can now."

And then he kissed me again, slowly, and allowed me time to kiss him back. The rest of the guys erupted into cheers, and I could hear Hector yelling.

"Finally!" He laughed. "It's only taken you three seasons!"

I smiled into the kiss, and we pulled away, breathing heavily. At this point, the door opened again, and Thierry walked in and saw us.

"Oh good," he stated, causing the others to laugh. "I was hoping it would work. You're welcome for forcing you to play, Alexis."

This only brought on more laughter, this time Alexis and I joining in. As if Thierry had that in mind the whole time! He must have been genuinely worried about our chemistry as a team.

"Fat lot of good it did," I sighed, being the first to return to earth from cloud nine with a thud. "How are we gonna loose on penalties then?"

"Well, you know what we're doing next practice then, don't you," Thierry chuckled. "Don't beat yourselves up about it too much, it was only a friendly, remember. But we do have a lot of work to do, we can't afford a repeat of that first half in any game during the season. Think seriously about how you played today, and aim to improve yourself during our next practices."

Thierry pulled me aside as we headed out to board the bus once again, and I reluctantly left Alexis' side, and headed over to speak with him.

"Thank you for your efforts today, Nia," he said, first of all. "I know you were feeling out of it, and it was a tough game."

I smiled at him.

"Thanks boss," I responded.

"Everything's okay now, right?" He asked.

"I think so," I said, unsure of how much I was ready to trust him with.

I finally resolved against telling him I was worried about possible awkward situations that could arise upon Neymar's return from Brazil. It was unlikely he'd realised the Brazilian was the cause of Alexis and I ignoring each other, and it would probably be better to keep it that way. I didn't want Neymar to get in trouble so soon.

"I'm surprised you're not forbidding relationships between team members," I chuckled.

Thierry laughed with me.

"You'd date behind my back, which would create more stress for you two, and even more problems for the team," he said. "I'm not worried about appearances so much as the success of Arsenal."

"That's good," I nodded, smiling a little. "It makes more sense that way."

"I'll just say what I said before - please be careful, and don't let your emotions dominate how you behave on the pitch."

"I'll be careful," I nodded.

"Also, do you know why Mesut is acting like he is?" He asked me.

I shrugged.