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“Virgil?”
"Don't worry Cody…go back to sleep."
"It's not Cody."
"Ryan, I keep telling you...there's no monster outside. You can stop taping the knives on the roombas."
"Not Ryan, either."
"Fine, Jarell, you can come in. But no hogging the covers this time, okay?"
" Caramelinho , it's me!"
Finally, Van Dijk's eyes fluttered open. His gaze slowly focused on the figure in front of him, smirking as he recognized who it was. “I should've known you'd come in as soon as the lightning started up. Can't sleep?”
A flash of lighting revealed the blush on Alisson’s face as he nodded. The resulting thunder boomed, and it was enough to send him diving under the covers.
Van Dijk chuckled softly at Alisson's reaction to the thunder. He'd first discovered how scared the keeper was of thunderstorms just a couple of days after he'd joined the team, but it wasn't until two years later that Alisson had openly admitted it to him.
"You know, you could have just come in and cuddled with me instead of scaring me half to death," he teased, reaching out to pull Alisson closer to him.
Alisson snuggled into Van Dijk's embrace without a second's hesitation. "I didn't want to bother you," he murmured, pulling the blankets tight around himself. "I mean, it's not like we've done this for a long time."
"You could never bother me, mijn jade ." Van Dijk wrapped his arms around Alisson, holding him close as he ran his hands through his hair. It was regrowing from the months Alisson had spent cutting it short. His hair formed delicate, undulating swirls at the front, while the rest was cut shorter, though still leaving more of an impression from the buzzcut he'd had it in for three months now.
They lay there in silence for a while, listening to the rain and thunder outside. Eventually, Alisson's breathing slowed and he fell asleep, still wrapped up in Van Dijk's arms.
Van Dijk stayed awake for a while longer, watching Alisson sleep as if nothing had ever happened. Alisson wasn't the only one in the team who was afraid of lightning; among others, Fabinho also had trouble sleeping during thunderstorms. On those nights, Fabinho and Alisson would either sleep with each other or, more commonly, they would crawl in with Firmino, who wasn't scared by lightning or thunder. But now that Fabinho and Firmino were gone, Alisson had spent nine loud thunderstorms in the room he shared with Pitaluga, distracting the younger man from his own fears, before giving up at the tenth attempt and running to Van Dijk. This was storm number eleven.
"You still don't know how to ask for help sometimes," Van Dijk sighed as Alisson stirred in his sleep, mumbling something incomprehensible. "But we're working on that.”
*
“Wake up, Virgil!" Gakpo whispered, shaking Van Dijk's blankets.
“RISE AND SHINE, OLD MAN!” Gravenberch shouted, jumping onto the bed and landing between Van Dijk and Alisson. Alisson almost fell off the bed, while Van Dijk sat up with a start, his heart racing from the sudden wake-up call. He glared at Gakpo and Gravenberch, who were both grinning mischievously at him.
"What the hell, guys? Do you have any idea what time it is?" he grumbled, rubbing his eyes.
"It's time for breakfast, sleepyhead!" Gravenberch exclaimed, jumping off the bed. "Get ready in ten minutes or the empanadas and pan con tomate will be all gone."
Van Dijk groaned, realising that he had overslept. He looked down at Alisson, who was still sleeping soundly despite the commotion.
"Sorry," he whispered as Gakpo and Gravenberch scampered out of the room, leaning down to ruffle Alisson's hair. "I have to go.”
Alisson mumbled something in his sleep, before his eyes slid open to see Van Dijk standing over him. "Goodness, it's time to play Cannons already?"
"No, it's breakfast. Come on." Van Dijk got out of bed and quickly got dressed, still feeling groggy from the interrupted sleep. Alisson followed suit—but not before locking himself in the closet to change—and the two left the room.
As they entered the hotel's dining hall, Van Dijk spotted their teammates sitting at a table together, as was their custom. Klopp, the most awake of the whole group despite undoubtedly waking up before the sun rose, looked up and smiled when he saw them enter.
"Loud storm last night, huh?"
"Morning, boss." Alisson nodded, his face blanching a bit at the mention of the thunderstorm. "Yeah, there was lots of lightning."
"I know! There was so much, I didn't even need a flashlight when I went to check on you all," Klopp joked, holding up the flashlight he always used in the night. "Though you scared the hell out of me when I didn't find you in your bed. But you and Virg seemed perfectly cosy when I saw you cuddled up together."
The fullbacks, Gakpo, and Gravenberch gasped loudly and annoyingly, while Nunez's eyes lit up with a familiar mischievous glint. "You two slept together!"
“ Jezus , guys! We fell asleep, next to each other, during a storm. Big deal.” At the mention of the night before's impromptu sleepover, Van Dijk felt a warm feeling in his chest and on his cheeks. "And plus, it's not like anybody has pictures."
At that word, Gravenberch whipped out his phone and quickly scrolled to the photos app. "Or did I?"
Everybody gathered around Gravenberch as Van Dijk and Alisson groaned. Gravenberch had indeed taken a photo of Van Dijk and Alisson cuddled up together, with Alisson's eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face. Van Dijk shook his head and rolled his eyes, but couldn't help the small smile that tugged at his lips.
"Delete it, Ryan," he said firmly, holding out his hand, "or you're banned from pouring syrup on your food today."
"Not my syrup!" Gravenberch pouted but handed over the phone, and Van Dijk quickly deleted the photo before handing it back.
"Thank you," Alisson muttered, looking relieved.
"You're welcome," Van Dijk replied with a small smile, before turning to Gravenberch. "And no more taking photos of us while sleeping, okay?"
"Fine." Gravenberch pocketed his phone and grabbed the pitcher of maple syrup along with a few empanadas. "Now, let's see how syrup tastes on empanadas!"