Christmas Fanfiction!
Written for tweedie for the manndecker Secret Santa!
Fandom: German Football
Characters/Pairings: Bastian, Lukas, Timo, Philipp, with girlfriends and few OCs thrown in for good measure. Schweinski, Snuglies.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Fluffy. Christmassy. Use of mistletoe as a plot device.
Author's Note: With so much love and adoration for drbillbongo for whipping this fic into shape. Bill, you're my hero! ^_^
A Christmas party had seemed like a good idea at the time, so Lukas had agreed to it. Of course, Monika had been delighted and had started the preparations immediately, giving him a list of people that he was to invite. He'd read the list. He'd frowned at it. And when he had raised a concern, it had all gone down hill.
"Monika, I don't know if Timo will be comfortable at a Christmas party with all these couples. Shouldn't we invite a few more people?"
"Don't be silly!" Monika had replied brightly. "Of course I'm inviting more people. Tobias and Julia are coming, of course. And Stefanie. You remember Stefanie?"
"I remember..." Lukas had begun warily. Something had not been quite right... "Monika! Are you trying to set Timo up with Stefanie?"
"Well, maybe. I just think they'd be really cute together. Stefanie's a great girl, I'm sure Timo will adore her."
"I really don't think that's a good idea."
Monika had bristled. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course it is. I'll tell you what," she had said, leaning over and plucking the list out of his hand. "I'll call and invite everyone. I'd hate for you to accidentally forget somebody."
Lukas had tried to look innocent, like the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, but Monika's glare had made it clear that she had seen right through him. He had sighed and pecked her on the cheek. "I really don't think Timo will be interested, but...it's your party."
Monika had beamed at him and reached for the phone. Lukas had waited until she had been deep in conversation with Stefanie before sneaking into the next room and hitting number one on his speed dial.
"Hey, Poldi. What's up?"
"Schweini, we may have a slight disaster."
"Oh? What's wrong?"
Lukas had quickly explained about Monika's party and her idea for setting Timo up.
"Woah. Bad idea. Can you talk her out of it?"
"I tried, but what am I supposed to say? 'Well, actually honey, Schweini and I are pretty sure that Timo is very gay, and probably in love with his best friend.' That'll go down brilliantly, I’m sure."
"Okay, I see your point. Any suggestions?"
"Well I was going to 'forget' to invite Timo, but Monika got suspicious and is handling the invitations now. By the way, expect a call sometime soon. I don't know what we can do, though. Except maybe try to keep Stefanie from getting Timo alone."
Bastian had sighed through the phone. "This is going to be an interesting party."
He'd had no idea.
* * * *
The plan was to decorate Monika and Lukas' Christmas tree with the guests and then have an elaborate Christmas dinner, but even before the first guest arrived, Lukas was beginning to wonder if an elaborate dinner had been the best decision. A simple dinner would have been much more...well, simple.
Monika was stressed out and running around the kitchen, checking on the goose that was slow-roasting in the oven and tidying up as best she could manage when the doorbell rang. She swore loudly, completely unprepared for her first guest. Lukas leaped up from the sofa where he had been keeping out of her way. He kissed her and told her to calm down, before trotting off to answer the door. Monika smoothed down her dress, plastered a smile on her face and followed in her boyfriend’s wake.
"Daniela! Bastian! I'm so glad you came!"
"Daniela insisted on being early so she could help you in the kitchen," Bastian said with a smile. Monika did not miss the look that passed between Lukas and Bastian and suspected that her boyfriend had had something to do with Daniela's decision.
"It's the least I could do when you're going to all this trouble. Now, tell me about this girl you've got in mind for Timo..."
Monika allowed Daniela to lead her back to the kitchen, but frowned at Lukas, who was wincing at the mention of Stefanie. Lukas cringed, wary of inciting his girlfriend's wrath while she was already stressed out and likely to snap.
Lukas and Bastian watched as the girls bustled off into the kitchen, then turned to each other.
"Poor Timo."
"Poor Timo? Poor me! Monika hasn't stopped talking about Stefanie in two whole weeks. I'm starting to think she want to set me up with her!"
"Poor Poldi," Bastian conceded, failing to hide his laughter.
Lukas grumbled and led the way to the living room.
"You'd best go in first."
Bastian raised his eyebrows. "Is a bucket of water going to fall on my head? Because Monika will probably kill you if you mess up the house at this late stage..."
"Oh no, it's far more sinister than a practical joke," Lukas said, pointing to the doorframe, where a sprig of mistletoe was hanging innocently.
"Ah. Have you warned Timo?"
"And have Monika murder the best football player in Germany? I don't think so."
"Why would she kill me?" Bastian asked innocently. Lukas narrowed his eyes and launched himself at his friend. They wrestled for a few minutes until they heard a throat clearing behind them. They turned around sheepishly to face Monika, who, surprisingly enough, was not frowning at their antics. In fact she was smiling quite wickedly. A sense of dread began to spread over Bastian and he glanced up, only to confirm his fears. They had managed to wrestle each other under the mistletoe. Lukas was still watching Monika warily, and started when she laughed.
"Bastian's worked it out. Come on, Lukas. Give him a kiss."
Lukas's eyes widened comically, and Monika laughed louder. "Oh, this is hilarious. Come on then."
Bastian rolled his eyes and planted a quick kiss on Lukas's mouth. "Happy?"
"Oh yes," Monika said with a wicked smile on her face. "Very happy."
* * * *
It turned out that Stefanie would be the last to arrive. By this time, Lukas had managed to whisper an apologetic warning to Timo, who was looking more and more like a frightened rabbit with every second that passed. Bastian had made sure Philipp knew what was going on and had enlisted his help in damage control. Julia and Tobias were in the kitchen, arguing, and everybody had decided that the wisest course of action would be to ignore them, so Monika, Daniela and Nicola were sitting at the living room table with cups of steaming Glühwein in front of them and quietly talking about Stefanie.
When the doorbell rang, Timo started and the boys sent him a sympathetic look, earning glares from the girls. Why was it that all the girls thought it would be such a brilliant idea to set Timo up with this girl?
"Stefanie! I'm so glad you could make it! Come in and meet everyone!"
"Thank you for inviting me," she gushed, lingering in the doorway and scanning the room. Her eyes settled on Timo and Lukas found himself clenching his teeth in annoyance. It was clear that Stefanie had known about this in advance, while Monika had forbidden him from warning Timo - which he had done, of course, once Timo had arrived and Monika had been distracted. But still, Monika could have told him that Stefanie knew she was being set up. That Stefanie had had advance warning and Timo had not was more than a little unfair.
Monika followed Stefanie into the living room, at a safe distance so as not to get caught by the mistletoe, and began the introductions. Lukas's smile was less than genuine and he could tell that Bastian's was too.
After the introductions were over, Monika smiled brightly and suggested that they start decorating the tree. The boys immediately began opening the boxes of decorations, though Bastian grumbled about decorating on an empty stomach. Soon after, plates of Spekulatius and Vanillekipferl materialised in front of him, borne by a smiling Monika. All his attempts to eat the delicious cookies, however, were interrupted by Lukas, who kept stealing them out of his hand and claiming that since his girlfriend had done all the work, it was his right to eat them all. Monika served Stefanie some Glühwein while the boys argued about what decorations would go where. Timo and Philipp were equally determined that they should be in charge of the star shaped decorations, leading to a brief scuffle that ended up with the two friends tangled underneath the tree and quite frustrated, though possibly for different reasons.
After watching the fight in amusement, Lukas's gaze fell once more on Stefanie, who was watching Timo intently. He felt his annoyance rise once again, and caught Monika's eye. Obviously reading something there, she made her way to his side.
"What’s wrong?"
"I can't believe you told her."
"What?"
"Not only did you give her advance warning and not Timo, you will have gotten her hopes up," he hissed, glancing around to make sure nobody else could hear. "If you'd just listened to me...Timo is not interested. Now Stefanie is going to feel terrible and so are you and it's all such a mess."
Monika stiffened. "You don't know that he won't be interested. Give Stefanie a chance."
Lukas shook his head in disgust. "It's like talking to a brick wall. Why can't you accept that I know my friends?"
Lukas moved away, leaving Monika gaping after him. She squared her shoulders and crossed the room to sit with Nicola, announcing, "I think this is turning into a project for the boys. We'll be lucky to get near the tree."
* * * *
Timo had been cornered by Stefanie for about ten minutes now and was looking close to panic, but when Bastian tried to make his way over to interrupt, Philipp put an arm out to stop him
"Maybe...maybe we should give her a chance?"
The midfielder stared at his team mate in disbelief. "Lahmi, surely you can see how uncomfortable he is?"
"Yeah, but...he’s been alone for as long as I've known him. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for him to talk to this girl, get to know her. Maybe he'll like her."
Bastian resisted the urge to smack his friend upside the head. "Lahmi, don't you get it? He doesn't want her. He...he wants somebody else, okay?"
Philipp looked stunned. "What? Who? Why didn't you get Monika to invite her instead?"
"Uh..." Bastian was stuck. "He's in love with somebody who's already in a committed relationship." Now please, stop asking questions!
Philipp snorted. "That’s ridiculous! Who'd want to be with anybody else when they could be with Timo?"
"You, apparently!" Oops.
Bastian and Philipp stared at each other for a few seconds, and despite the noise from the arguing couple in the kitchen and the excited chatting of the girls in the living room, it had suddenly become very quiet around the two Bayern players. It was Bastian who made his escape first by heading into the bathroom to hide. Philipp left soon after, grabbing his jacket on the way and finding solace out on the balcony. Their absence was not noticed by Lukas until he asked for an opinion on two similar decorations and received no answer. Turning back to face the room, he discovered two of his friends missing and the third in a dire situation. Quickly, he joined the goalkeeper and Stefanie, asking her to choose between the two tree decorations. While she deliberated, Timo muttered something about using the bathroom and made his escape.
Timo found Philipp on the balcony and gave him a light shove. "Damn, it's cold out here. What's the idea, leaving me alone with her? She's terrifying! I thought you were supposed to be my friend." He pouted playfully, before noticing that Philipp was staring at him, with a strange expression on his face.
"Hey," he said, nudging his friend. "Are you okay?"
Philipp blinked a few times in quick succession, then nodded.
"Do you want to go inside where it's warm?"
A slow shake of the head, then sudden, surprising warmth as Philipp pressed himself up against his friend and kissed him softly.
It was Timo's turn to blink, shocked. "Uh...wha..." but Philipp had disappeared.
* * * *
"Schweini? Are you in there? You've been gone for ages. Are you okay?"
The door opened a crack, revealing a sliver of Bastian's face. "I messed up, Poldi."
"What? How?"
"I told Lahmi. About Timo. Being totally in love with him."
"What?" Lukas exclaimed, entering the bathroom and shutting the door. "Schweini, how could you?"
"He was asking me things," Bastian whined, pouting at his friend.
"You just can't keep your stupid mouth shut, can you?" Lukas teased.
"I can too! Now you can shut your stupid mouth and stop making fun of me!"
"Make me!"
So Bastian kissed him, catching the striker completely by surprise.
"What was that?" Lukas demanded when he pulled away and failed to find any mistletoe. He would later deny that his voice squeaked when he spoke.
"Just a kiss. I feel much better now. Come on, let's go check on Lahmi."
* * * *
By the time Timo returned from the balcony, he was almost frozen through, and when he wondered aloud where Philipp was, he was informed that the defender and his girlfriend had already left, apparently with a transparent excuse about Philipp having a headache. He felt his fist clench, and forced it to relax. Whatever his friend was playing at, it would cause more harm than good if he were to react angrily, even if Philipp had run off without a word...
He quickly scanned the room, rubbing his cold arms through the thin sleeves of his shirt to get a bit warmer. Bastian was talking to Daniela in the corner while Lukas hovered around Monika awkwardly, and the fighting couple - Julia and Tobias - had finally returned from the kitchen, all bright smiles and friendly suggestions for the tree which Stefanie seemed to have taken over. Timo took a deep breath, picked up a tree decoration and moved to stand beside Stefanie. She looked a little surprised to see him.
"I thought you'd left or something."
"With a goose still in the oven? Not likely," he said with a smile. He took a deep breath. "Stefanie, I'm sorry. I'm just...I know Monika has this grand idea of setting us up, but I'm not interested, I'm sorry. I...I'm kind of in love with somebody else. Monika doesn't know, and she meant well, but...I'm sorry."
Stefanie bit her lip and stared at the tree for a while. "That's alright," she said finally and turned to him with a tearful smile. "What do you say we finish of this tree so we can get to the goose faster?"
* * * *
The doorbell was ringing very insistently for early o'clock on Christmas Eve. Lukas groaned and tried to hide under the covers, but the doorbell ringer was very persistent. Lukas grumbled as he threw off his blankets and shuffled down the hall, shivering a bit in the chill morning. He threw open the door, glare already on his face, then blinked. Bastian was standing on his doorstep, looking very tired, hand still hovering over the bell.
"Schweini? What are you doing here?"
Lukas was more than a little surprised. Bastian and Daniela, like Philipp and Nicola, had made their excuses before dinner and had left early the night before. Lukas had expected an awkward silence for at least a week, so to see Bastian on his doorstep, at this hour...
"I brought you something." Bastian pulled his hand out of his pocket and held a spray of mistletoe above their heads. "I'm thinking of getting it mounted permanently. Could cause problems on match days, though."
Lukas had no idea whether to laugh, cry or kiss Bastian senseless. He decided to do all three.
* * * *
Philipp shifted nervously in front of Timo’s door. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid as to kiss Timo last night. What had he been thinking? What if Bastian had been playing a prank on him? What if Timo never wanted to speak to him again? What if...?
His thoughts were cut off as the door was wrenched open.
"Lahmi, I saw your car arrive fifteen minutes ago." Timo's tone was somewhat frostier than usual, and his eyes were wary. "What do you want?"
Philipp opened his mouth and found no words. He licked his lips and tried again. "You."
Timo stared at him for a long moment, before stepping aside to let his friend inside.
There would be consequences and repercussions later, for all four players. But for now, each had gotten what they had most wanted for Christmas, even if they hadn't realised it until just now.
Fandom: German Football
Characters/Pairings: Bastian, Lukas, Timo, Philipp, with girlfriends and few OCs thrown in for good measure. Schweinski, Snuglies.
Rating: PG
Warnings: Fluffy. Christmassy. Use of mistletoe as a plot device.
Author's Note: With so much love and adoration for drbillbongo for whipping this fic into shape. Bill, you're my hero! ^_^
A Christmas party had seemed like a good idea at the time, so Lukas had agreed to it. Of course, Monika had been delighted and had started the preparations immediately, giving him a list of people that he was to invite. He'd read the list. He'd frowned at it. And when he had raised a concern, it had all gone down hill.
"Monika, I don't know if Timo will be comfortable at a Christmas party with all these couples. Shouldn't we invite a few more people?"
"Don't be silly!" Monika had replied brightly. "Of course I'm inviting more people. Tobias and Julia are coming, of course. And Stefanie. You remember Stefanie?"
"I remember..." Lukas had begun warily. Something had not been quite right... "Monika! Are you trying to set Timo up with Stefanie?"
"Well, maybe. I just think they'd be really cute together. Stefanie's a great girl, I'm sure Timo will adore her."
"I really don't think that's a good idea."
Monika had bristled. "Don't be ridiculous. Of course it is. I'll tell you what," she had said, leaning over and plucking the list out of his hand. "I'll call and invite everyone. I'd hate for you to accidentally forget somebody."
Lukas had tried to look innocent, like the thought hadn't even crossed his mind, but Monika's glare had made it clear that she had seen right through him. He had sighed and pecked her on the cheek. "I really don't think Timo will be interested, but...it's your party."
Monika had beamed at him and reached for the phone. Lukas had waited until she had been deep in conversation with Stefanie before sneaking into the next room and hitting number one on his speed dial.
"Hey, Poldi. What's up?"
"Schweini, we may have a slight disaster."
"Oh? What's wrong?"
Lukas had quickly explained about Monika's party and her idea for setting Timo up.
"Woah. Bad idea. Can you talk her out of it?"
"I tried, but what am I supposed to say? 'Well, actually honey, Schweini and I are pretty sure that Timo is very gay, and probably in love with his best friend.' That'll go down brilliantly, I’m sure."
"Okay, I see your point. Any suggestions?"
"Well I was going to 'forget' to invite Timo, but Monika got suspicious and is handling the invitations now. By the way, expect a call sometime soon. I don't know what we can do, though. Except maybe try to keep Stefanie from getting Timo alone."
Bastian had sighed through the phone. "This is going to be an interesting party."
He'd had no idea.
* * * *
The plan was to decorate Monika and Lukas' Christmas tree with the guests and then have an elaborate Christmas dinner, but even before the first guest arrived, Lukas was beginning to wonder if an elaborate dinner had been the best decision. A simple dinner would have been much more...well, simple.
Monika was stressed out and running around the kitchen, checking on the goose that was slow-roasting in the oven and tidying up as best she could manage when the doorbell rang. She swore loudly, completely unprepared for her first guest. Lukas leaped up from the sofa where he had been keeping out of her way. He kissed her and told her to calm down, before trotting off to answer the door. Monika smoothed down her dress, plastered a smile on her face and followed in her boyfriend’s wake.
"Daniela! Bastian! I'm so glad you came!"
"Daniela insisted on being early so she could help you in the kitchen," Bastian said with a smile. Monika did not miss the look that passed between Lukas and Bastian and suspected that her boyfriend had had something to do with Daniela's decision.
"It's the least I could do when you're going to all this trouble. Now, tell me about this girl you've got in mind for Timo..."
Monika allowed Daniela to lead her back to the kitchen, but frowned at Lukas, who was wincing at the mention of Stefanie. Lukas cringed, wary of inciting his girlfriend's wrath while she was already stressed out and likely to snap.
Lukas and Bastian watched as the girls bustled off into the kitchen, then turned to each other.
"Poor Timo."
"Poor Timo? Poor me! Monika hasn't stopped talking about Stefanie in two whole weeks. I'm starting to think she want to set me up with her!"
"Poor Poldi," Bastian conceded, failing to hide his laughter.
Lukas grumbled and led the way to the living room.
"You'd best go in first."
Bastian raised his eyebrows. "Is a bucket of water going to fall on my head? Because Monika will probably kill you if you mess up the house at this late stage..."
"Oh no, it's far more sinister than a practical joke," Lukas said, pointing to the doorframe, where a sprig of mistletoe was hanging innocently.
"Ah. Have you warned Timo?"
"And have Monika murder the best football player in Germany? I don't think so."
"Why would she kill me?" Bastian asked innocently. Lukas narrowed his eyes and launched himself at his friend. They wrestled for a few minutes until they heard a throat clearing behind them. They turned around sheepishly to face Monika, who, surprisingly enough, was not frowning at their antics. In fact she was smiling quite wickedly. A sense of dread began to spread over Bastian and he glanced up, only to confirm his fears. They had managed to wrestle each other under the mistletoe. Lukas was still watching Monika warily, and started when she laughed.
"Bastian's worked it out. Come on, Lukas. Give him a kiss."
Lukas's eyes widened comically, and Monika laughed louder. "Oh, this is hilarious. Come on then."
Bastian rolled his eyes and planted a quick kiss on Lukas's mouth. "Happy?"
"Oh yes," Monika said with a wicked smile on her face. "Very happy."
* * * *
It turned out that Stefanie would be the last to arrive. By this time, Lukas had managed to whisper an apologetic warning to Timo, who was looking more and more like a frightened rabbit with every second that passed. Bastian had made sure Philipp knew what was going on and had enlisted his help in damage control. Julia and Tobias were in the kitchen, arguing, and everybody had decided that the wisest course of action would be to ignore them, so Monika, Daniela and Nicola were sitting at the living room table with cups of steaming Glühwein in front of them and quietly talking about Stefanie.
When the doorbell rang, Timo started and the boys sent him a sympathetic look, earning glares from the girls. Why was it that all the girls thought it would be such a brilliant idea to set Timo up with this girl?
"Stefanie! I'm so glad you could make it! Come in and meet everyone!"
"Thank you for inviting me," she gushed, lingering in the doorway and scanning the room. Her eyes settled on Timo and Lukas found himself clenching his teeth in annoyance. It was clear that Stefanie had known about this in advance, while Monika had forbidden him from warning Timo - which he had done, of course, once Timo had arrived and Monika had been distracted. But still, Monika could have told him that Stefanie knew she was being set up. That Stefanie had had advance warning and Timo had not was more than a little unfair.
Monika followed Stefanie into the living room, at a safe distance so as not to get caught by the mistletoe, and began the introductions. Lukas's smile was less than genuine and he could tell that Bastian's was too.
After the introductions were over, Monika smiled brightly and suggested that they start decorating the tree. The boys immediately began opening the boxes of decorations, though Bastian grumbled about decorating on an empty stomach. Soon after, plates of Spekulatius and Vanillekipferl materialised in front of him, borne by a smiling Monika. All his attempts to eat the delicious cookies, however, were interrupted by Lukas, who kept stealing them out of his hand and claiming that since his girlfriend had done all the work, it was his right to eat them all. Monika served Stefanie some Glühwein while the boys argued about what decorations would go where. Timo and Philipp were equally determined that they should be in charge of the star shaped decorations, leading to a brief scuffle that ended up with the two friends tangled underneath the tree and quite frustrated, though possibly for different reasons.
After watching the fight in amusement, Lukas's gaze fell once more on Stefanie, who was watching Timo intently. He felt his annoyance rise once again, and caught Monika's eye. Obviously reading something there, she made her way to his side.
"What’s wrong?"
"I can't believe you told her."
"What?"
"Not only did you give her advance warning and not Timo, you will have gotten her hopes up," he hissed, glancing around to make sure nobody else could hear. "If you'd just listened to me...Timo is not interested. Now Stefanie is going to feel terrible and so are you and it's all such a mess."
Monika stiffened. "You don't know that he won't be interested. Give Stefanie a chance."
Lukas shook his head in disgust. "It's like talking to a brick wall. Why can't you accept that I know my friends?"
Lukas moved away, leaving Monika gaping after him. She squared her shoulders and crossed the room to sit with Nicola, announcing, "I think this is turning into a project for the boys. We'll be lucky to get near the tree."
* * * *
Timo had been cornered by Stefanie for about ten minutes now and was looking close to panic, but when Bastian tried to make his way over to interrupt, Philipp put an arm out to stop him
"Maybe...maybe we should give her a chance?"
The midfielder stared at his team mate in disbelief. "Lahmi, surely you can see how uncomfortable he is?"
"Yeah, but...he’s been alone for as long as I've known him. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad for him to talk to this girl, get to know her. Maybe he'll like her."
Bastian resisted the urge to smack his friend upside the head. "Lahmi, don't you get it? He doesn't want her. He...he wants somebody else, okay?"
Philipp looked stunned. "What? Who? Why didn't you get Monika to invite her instead?"
"Uh..." Bastian was stuck. "He's in love with somebody who's already in a committed relationship." Now please, stop asking questions!
Philipp snorted. "That’s ridiculous! Who'd want to be with anybody else when they could be with Timo?"
"You, apparently!" Oops.
Bastian and Philipp stared at each other for a few seconds, and despite the noise from the arguing couple in the kitchen and the excited chatting of the girls in the living room, it had suddenly become very quiet around the two Bayern players. It was Bastian who made his escape first by heading into the bathroom to hide. Philipp left soon after, grabbing his jacket on the way and finding solace out on the balcony. Their absence was not noticed by Lukas until he asked for an opinion on two similar decorations and received no answer. Turning back to face the room, he discovered two of his friends missing and the third in a dire situation. Quickly, he joined the goalkeeper and Stefanie, asking her to choose between the two tree decorations. While she deliberated, Timo muttered something about using the bathroom and made his escape.
Timo found Philipp on the balcony and gave him a light shove. "Damn, it's cold out here. What's the idea, leaving me alone with her? She's terrifying! I thought you were supposed to be my friend." He pouted playfully, before noticing that Philipp was staring at him, with a strange expression on his face.
"Hey," he said, nudging his friend. "Are you okay?"
Philipp blinked a few times in quick succession, then nodded.
"Do you want to go inside where it's warm?"
A slow shake of the head, then sudden, surprising warmth as Philipp pressed himself up against his friend and kissed him softly.
It was Timo's turn to blink, shocked. "Uh...wha..." but Philipp had disappeared.
* * * *
"Schweini? Are you in there? You've been gone for ages. Are you okay?"
The door opened a crack, revealing a sliver of Bastian's face. "I messed up, Poldi."
"What? How?"
"I told Lahmi. About Timo. Being totally in love with him."
"What?" Lukas exclaimed, entering the bathroom and shutting the door. "Schweini, how could you?"
"He was asking me things," Bastian whined, pouting at his friend.
"You just can't keep your stupid mouth shut, can you?" Lukas teased.
"I can too! Now you can shut your stupid mouth and stop making fun of me!"
"Make me!"
So Bastian kissed him, catching the striker completely by surprise.
"What was that?" Lukas demanded when he pulled away and failed to find any mistletoe. He would later deny that his voice squeaked when he spoke.
"Just a kiss. I feel much better now. Come on, let's go check on Lahmi."
* * * *
By the time Timo returned from the balcony, he was almost frozen through, and when he wondered aloud where Philipp was, he was informed that the defender and his girlfriend had already left, apparently with a transparent excuse about Philipp having a headache. He felt his fist clench, and forced it to relax. Whatever his friend was playing at, it would cause more harm than good if he were to react angrily, even if Philipp had run off without a word...
He quickly scanned the room, rubbing his cold arms through the thin sleeves of his shirt to get a bit warmer. Bastian was talking to Daniela in the corner while Lukas hovered around Monika awkwardly, and the fighting couple - Julia and Tobias - had finally returned from the kitchen, all bright smiles and friendly suggestions for the tree which Stefanie seemed to have taken over. Timo took a deep breath, picked up a tree decoration and moved to stand beside Stefanie. She looked a little surprised to see him.
"I thought you'd left or something."
"With a goose still in the oven? Not likely," he said with a smile. He took a deep breath. "Stefanie, I'm sorry. I'm just...I know Monika has this grand idea of setting us up, but I'm not interested, I'm sorry. I...I'm kind of in love with somebody else. Monika doesn't know, and she meant well, but...I'm sorry."
Stefanie bit her lip and stared at the tree for a while. "That's alright," she said finally and turned to him with a tearful smile. "What do you say we finish of this tree so we can get to the goose faster?"
* * * *
The doorbell was ringing very insistently for early o'clock on Christmas Eve. Lukas groaned and tried to hide under the covers, but the doorbell ringer was very persistent. Lukas grumbled as he threw off his blankets and shuffled down the hall, shivering a bit in the chill morning. He threw open the door, glare already on his face, then blinked. Bastian was standing on his doorstep, looking very tired, hand still hovering over the bell.
"Schweini? What are you doing here?"
Lukas was more than a little surprised. Bastian and Daniela, like Philipp and Nicola, had made their excuses before dinner and had left early the night before. Lukas had expected an awkward silence for at least a week, so to see Bastian on his doorstep, at this hour...
"I brought you something." Bastian pulled his hand out of his pocket and held a spray of mistletoe above their heads. "I'm thinking of getting it mounted permanently. Could cause problems on match days, though."
Lukas had no idea whether to laugh, cry or kiss Bastian senseless. He decided to do all three.
* * * *
Philipp shifted nervously in front of Timo’s door. He couldn’t believe he’d been so stupid as to kiss Timo last night. What had he been thinking? What if Bastian had been playing a prank on him? What if Timo never wanted to speak to him again? What if...?
His thoughts were cut off as the door was wrenched open.
"Lahmi, I saw your car arrive fifteen minutes ago." Timo's tone was somewhat frostier than usual, and his eyes were wary. "What do you want?"
Philipp opened his mouth and found no words. He licked his lips and tried again. "You."
Timo stared at him for a long moment, before stepping aside to let his friend inside.
There would be consequences and repercussions later, for all four players. But for now, each had gotten what they had most wanted for Christmas, even if they hadn't realised it until just now.