Chapter Text
What Is Love?
Seriously, there is nothing better in this world than sleeping in. To be woken up by the warm rays of sunlight tickling your skin and be able to lie in the bed for just a little while longer.
That’s why Marco feels like strangling someone when all of a sudden his perfect morning is ruined by the ringing of his doorbell. He closes his eyes and hopes the person will eventually go away and he can return to his peaceful slumber.
But the doorbell rings once again, this time twice as long. He grabs the pillow under his head and turns over, so he’s lying underneath it now. But it does little to muffle the shrill sound when the person rings for a third time.
“Damn it!” Marco exclaims before getting up with a groan. It takes him a few seconds to stumble out of the room and in the meantime that stubborn motherfucker rings for a fourth time.
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming!” Marco snaps annoyed and then he reaches the front door, pulling it open with the intention of cruelly murdering the person at the other side.
He drops the thought when he sees the familiar man leaning against the doorway, a visible tan on his usually pale skin and his dark hair a bit longer than Marco remembers from last time.
“Good morning,” Robert greets him with a wide smile.
“What the hell are you doing here?” Marco responds entirely dumbfounded.
Robert chuckles amusedly. “I see you’re still as cranky at this time of the day as I remembered.”
Marco steps aside to let his friend in. “No, really, what are you doing here?!”
He follows Robert into the living room and watches him sitting down on the couch.
“Thomas and I decided to break off our vacation in Greece,” Robert says casually.
“Yes, I can see that. But why?”
“His brother called and told him that Dave is ill, so naturally we had to take the next flight back to Munich. Thomas is with him now and he told me he wanted to be alone for a few days.” Robert explains.
“Who is Dave?” Marco has to ask tentatively. For some reason he doubts that Robert is talking about David Alaba; he and Thomas wouldn’t break off their first vacation together just because the defender had got sick.
Robert gives him a look as though it should be obvious. “Dave is Thomas’ horse of course.”
Ah, that definitely explains all the fuss. Thomas and his horses is a love story of its own…
“Fine, but why are you here? It’s not like you drive from Munich to Dortmund in one go without something in mind.”
Robert stretches out on the couch lazily. “Well, Thomas told me to leave for a few days and since I couldn’t stop thinking about him, I tried to distract myself.”
Marco waits for him to elaborate, but receives no explanation. “By driving all the way to Dortmund?”
Robert shrugs nonchalantly. “Driving takes my mind off things. And after two hours on the highway, I realized I was heading your way, so I didn’t turn back.”
Marco stares at him, wondering whether he should feel worried or flattered. “Not that I don’t like having you here, but you had other team mates in Dortmund. You could have visited anyone.”
Robert sighs before sitting up and giving him one of these looks that mean he’s about to state something that Marco should know already. “Okay, let me spell it out for you. I consider you one of my best friends, that’s why I was thinking of you first. Happy now?”
Marco stops him with a wave of his hand. “No love confessions, please! Save that for your boyfriend in Munich.”
Robert’s only response is to roll his eyes.
Marco studies him carefully before eventually flopping down next to him. “I can see there’s more, so shoot.”
He is prepared for resistance, after all Robert isn’t someone who likes to talk about what’s going on inside of him. But to his surprise Robert answers him right away. “I wanted to ask Thomas about moving in together.”
Marco frowns. “That’s great. What’s the problem with that?”
“We’ve only been together for three months now and I don’t want to ruin this by going too fast,” Robert admits ruefully.
Marco tries hard not to grimace. It’s way too early in the morning for him to have a talk about relationship problems. Especially when there’s not an actual problem at hand.
“Robert, don’t you think you may be obsessing over vanities? I mean the two of you are so happy together; I’m sure asking Thomas won’t make him bolt just like that.”
“You think?” Robert asks doubtfully. “But how do you even know that Thomas and me are so happy together, you haven’t visited us once since we got together.”
Marco ignores the underlying accusation. “Mario keeps talking about you guys.”
“Speaking of which, how is he?” Robert asks and he for some reason he sounds worried now.
“I haven’t really talked to him since the EURO ended, so I don’t know. I guess he’s doing fine.” Why is Robert looking at him in bewilderment? “What’s wrong?”
“You haven’t talked to him in ten days? How could you do that? You’re his best friend; he needs you now more than ever.”
Marco holds up his hands to make the Pole stop and tries to squish the rising fear in his chest. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Robert gives him another long look. “He didn’t tell you?”
“Didn’t tell me what?!” Marco replies and he can’t keep his voice from rising.
“Forget it!” Robert answers hastily and he jumps up from the couch and is hurrying into the kitchen in a very un-Robert-like haste. “You need to eat breakfast. I just rang you out of bed, you need to eat.” He pulls open one of the drawers and takes out a box of cereals. When he goes to open the fridge, Marco finally manages to step into his way.
“Robert, what didn’t he tell me?”
“Please just forget about it, I shouldn’t be telling you this, I just assumed he never keeps anything from you, so-“
Marco grabs him by the arm. “Tell me!”
Robert hesitates for another moment before finally giving in. “Fine, but please act like you don’t know. He’s going to kill me if he finds out I blurted it out.”
“Alright, whatever you want,” Marco agrees impatiently. “Just tell me now!”
He has steeled himself for everything. A fight with someone. An injury Mario had sustained during the EURO. A car accident. Anything possible.
“He and Philipp broke up.”
Not the impossible. “Hold on, he and Philipp were together ?!”
How could Mario have kept this from him? And how did that happen anyway? Mario and Philipp don’t fit together at all, they are just too different.
“You’re kidding me, right?”
Robert eyes him sympathetically. “They only told those who had to know, the team.”
If that was meant to comfort him, it doesn’t help at all, Marco is already fuming. “He should have told me, I deserved to know! Did he think he could keep something as important as this from me forever?”
He stormed into the direction of his front door, ready to call Mario out for keeping this from him when he hears Robert shouting after him. “Wait, where are you going?”
“To your car. We’re driving to Munich.”
He flings open the door when Robert’s reply makes him stop dead. “Do you want to drive to Munich in your underwear only?”
Good point, he has to admit silently as he turns back to get his stuff and pack a bag with enough clothes to last a week or two. He has the growing suspicion that he will have to stay in Munich for quite some time…