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It was a lovely Sunday morning in Kirkby ground. The Liverpudlians were in a good mood after their dramatic win against Tottenham—and that included Robertson.
The Scotsman marched up to Alisson with a giant, postage-stamped box. Alisson was busy with something on his phone, and he didn’t even sense Robertson was there until the table thudded with the weight of the box suddenly dropped onto it.
“Good morning, mate!” Robertson yelled, too loudly and far too awake for the morning after a match. “Here's your birthday present!"
"My birthday isn't until October," Alisson pointed out. "And don't even try the half-birthday thing, because that was earlier this month."
Robertson just grinned, tossing a bunny-shaped shortbread into his mouth. It was only eight o'clock in the morning, but the Scotsman was already munching away on his favorite treats. "Open it up anyway! Come on, admit you're at least curious."
"Well...yeah, I am." Curiosity got the better of Alisson, and he gently shook the box. "Are these...onion bulbs?"
"Tulip bulbs." Robertson opened the box and took out a dusty, brown bulb. Bright green leaves sprouted from the bulb, making it look more like a leek than a tulip. "This should be enough to cheer up the lad."
"I don't get it yet."
"Think about it some more."
That was when it hit Alisson. He remembered what Van Dijk had been talking about the last couple of nights, and the basement meeting that had been held last week. "Cody's birthday is in a few days! He's turning twenty-four, isn't he?"
“Yeah, and it's his first time celebrating his birthday outside the Netherlands. The poor laddie's homesick.” Robertson pointed to Gakpo, who forlornly stared into space as Van Dijk tried to get his attention.
Alisson took one look at the younger Dutchman, and he instantly wanted to hug him so tight that he'd forget his homesickness. The goalkeeper was all too familiar with saudade , and his tendency to get attached to his teammates only made it even worse. "I know the feeling. So, we're going to plant these tulips to cheer him up?"
Robertson chuckled, placing the bulb back in the box. "What did you think we were going to do, bake them into his birthday cake? I don't know if tulip bulbs are edible, mate."
“Robbo, there's a reason Muriel calls me 'the red thumb'. I've tried to plant seeds twenty-three times in my life and not one of them even sprouted." Alisson didn't understand why he was so bad at gardening. He would follow every direction on the seed packages and yet the plants still wouldn't grow. "This is a wonderful idea Robbo, but maybe you're better off doing the planting. I wouldn't want to ruin Cody's birthday surprise—"
"Nonsense! I want to do this together. And these tulips are already growing, so there's no way you could mess up even if you wanted to." Robertson placed two pairs of gardening gloves on the top of the box, carrying the whole thing out of the cafeteria. "To the garden!"
*
Alisson and Robertson trooped outside, making quick work of the patch to be planted. They'd agreed on planting the tulips so Gakpo could see them from his bedroom window, and since tulips preferred full sun Robertson found a place that was free from Friedhelm the sycamore tree's shadow in the morning.
There had been a few chilly, blustery days with some light showers, but two straight days of gentle sunshine made that specific May day perfect for planting. Even Alisson, still unsure of his planting skills no matter what Robertson insisted, had to agree that things were going well.
"This is a surprise." Alisson brushed the dirt off his gloves, glancing at his assigned section of the flowerbed. He and Robertson had agreed to do half-and-half, with Robertson planting one dozen bulbs and Alisson planting the other dozen. So far, Alisson had planted three flowers. "I touched these tulips and they haven't self-imploded yet."
Robertson threw his hands into the air, carrying a few clumps of earth with them. "Have a little self-belief, mate! You keep the team in safe hands, so you can do the same for us."
Alisson tried and failed to hide his smile. He glanced at Robertson's side of the bed, and his smile disappeared. "Robbo, have you even planted anything in your life before?"
"I planted an apple seed in grade school," Robertson said nonchalantly. "Why'd you ask?"
Alisson rolls eyes in exasperation for the third time that morning, pointing to the patch of earth in front of Robertson. "Your tulip bulbs are up in the air and the petals are upside down."
Robertson glanced at his tulip bulbs, upside-down with their threadlike roots waving in the air, and shrugged. "When I planted the seed and the cookie it looked okay no matter which way I turned it. Thought it'd be the same for tulips, but I didn't realize they're as picky as Virgil when it comes to the order of things."
It was true. Van Dijk wasn't a fan of things happening out of order. He had a precisely timed morning routine, and if he was off by even a few minutes he would be off for the rest of the day. This side of Van Dijk was rarely visible to the others, except for the few occasions when the Dutchman was sick or run-down by their exhausting schedule.
Alisson shook his head in disbelief. He hadn't expected Robertson to be a master gardener like Shaba or Lavrenova, but this was simply ridiculous. “When you plant a flower, the flower part goes upwards. It's simple logic. Jesucristo , even I know that.”
“And even I know that you don't plant a bulb that way! It’s a plant, not a football, no need to punch it in so deep.” Robertson laughed, uncovering the tulip stem that Alisson had fully buried into the soil. "Dejan would kill us if he saw the way we're planting these."
Alisson winced at the mere thought of Lavrenova's reaction. "Yeah, Dejan would call the authorities while carrying Mo wrapped around his little finger, as always."
Both burst into a fit of laughter, continuing to bury the bulbs and poke fun at each other's planting methods. Neither were a fan of heavy roasting, unlike some of their teammates who loved having a go at the others. Light teasing was enough for them.
*
"Keep walking! You're almost there!" Robertson pulled Gakpo through the halls, nearly bumping into every table and chair in sight. "I'll guide you, mate, don't you worry!"
"I'd rather let Diego Shorta try and carry me. Where the heck are you taking me?" Gakpo tried to lift up the silken scarf that blindfolded him, but Robertson only held the knot tighter. "We've got to get on the plane to Barcelona in an hour."
"You'll see Cody, now just hang on tight. Ali and I pla--"
Alisson stuck a shortbread cookie into Robertson's mouth before the Scotsman could ruin the surprise. "Yeah, we played mahjong this morning. It was a really good game, Robbo beat me by a hair."
"I beat you by far more than that!" Robertson shouted even though Alisson was only one foot away from him. "I beat you by a landslide, admit it!"
Gakpo raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "I don't believe that. One, you need four people to play mahjong, and two, Robbo can't even play football without making noise. If you played mahjong and Robbo won, the whole world would've heard about it. It would've been as disastrous as Scotland winning the World Cup--or pretty much anything."
" OI !"
Soon, they were outside. At Robertson's indication, Alisson untied the blindfold. Together, Robertson and Alisson lifted the army-scrim covered piece of cardboard that had stood in front of the flowerbed for five days, revealing twenty-four red and orange tulips.
"We noticed you've been homesick for a while now," Robertson explained, munching on shortbread. "So Ali and I got together and planted these for you. At least, I planted mine--Ali nearly buried yours like pirate treasure."
Alisson gasped in mock-offense, elbowing Robertson on the shoulder. Gently, as he didn't want to hurt the shorter man. "Says the guy who thought that slicing a tulip bulb in ten pieces would make it grow better."
Gakpo finally managed to rip his gaze from the tulips, shimmering in the early morning dew. "You...you didn't have to do this."
"Oh, but we wanted to, balach !" Robertson took Gakpo's hand, gently making eye contact with the younger man. Robertson couldn't stare Gakpo down even if he wanted to, though--he was simply too small. "Listen, Ali and I both know how homesickness is. It's nothing pretty, and this is your first birthday away from home. You deserve a little spoiling today."
Alisson hugged Gakpo tightly before he could protest, running his hand over his hair. "Do you like it, leãozinho ?" he murmured, remembering how Van Dijk called him the same thing, but only in Dutch.
"Do I like it? Ik hou ervan. Super bedankt, jongens. " Gakpo paused, pulling away from Alisson. "Wait. You guys probably didn't understand a thing I said, did you?"
"Not a problem," Robertson chuckled. "We've been around angry Virgil, we know some of the ropes of Dutch."
"You guys are the best." Gakpo sighed in relief, surveying the tulip bed. "Mmm...I can't wait to prepare some of these for dessert."
Alisson and Robertson could hardly believe their ears. "Dessert?!"
Gakpo nodded, holding up a picture from his pocket. He and Van Dijk were posing at a table, and in front of them was a plate of what Alisson and Robertson could only say were stuffed flower buds. "The only thing better than tulips planted by your awesome teammates outside your bedroom window, is a plate of tulip buds filled with chocolate mousse."