Love Me Until My Heart Stops

“Gerard” Esmé murmured as she turned over in her bed, her dark eyes peeking at his sleeping face. It was still a little early, too early to turf him out of bed entirely, but she wanted to make sure that he was awake, not wanting him to show up late at work. It felt nice, waking up beside Gerard was something she was gradually growing used to, and she hoped that she got the opportunity to do it for a while to come. She liked the way his arm sat around her and her head fit onto his chest. “Amor, you need to start thinking about waking up. Enrique will have my ass if you show up late” she murmured gently, her fingers tracing small patterns onto the arm which sat around her. It still felt strange, the idea that she and Gerard had admitted that they were in love, but she couldn’t get it out of her head. The way he had said it had been perfect, it had been sweet and thoughtful, and she had to admit that it had gotten to her. She had forgotten that he could be so sweet.

Gerard snuffled a little in his sleep before he blinked his blue eyes open, smiling a little at the brunette who sat close to him, the sheets pulled up around her in order to hide the skin he had worked hard to expose the night before. “You know” he mumbled, his voice still heavy with sleep “I could really get used to waking up to you, Esmé, even if I would like to see a little less blanket” he mused, his hand gently moving some of the sheets.

Esmé blushed. “You do not have time for that” she murmured, gently pushing his hand away “You’ve still got to go home and get changed before you can even consider showing up at the training ground and I am not going to be the reason that you’re late. Enrique’s wary about us as it is and I don’t want to give him grounds to be” she explained softly. It was a tempting offer, she couldn’t pretend that it wasn’t, but she didn’t want to get either of them in trouble. Her job was safe on the grounds that she didn’t prove to be a distraction and she didn’t want to become one. Barcelona was important to them both and their form was at least in part down to their most experienced centre-half and his ability to remain focused on the task in hand.

“We’ve got plenty of time, Esmé” Gerard mused, his blue eyes merely watching her “It’s barely seven and I don’t have to be anywhere before 10” he added.

“I know what the schedule is, Piqué, I wrote most of it” Esmé retorted gently “But you still need to get your ass up. You have to eat, shower, and then go home to get changed and I know how long that could take you. I have watched you spend 15 minutes deciding on what you want to eat, let alone cooking it” she teased gently.

Gerard scoffed. “I am not that bad” he retorted “Besides, you’re one to talk. You spend 20 minutes picking out an outfit only to decide that it doesn’t look right on you” he grinned.

Esmé rolled her eyes. “That was one time” she mumbled “And you know I only did it because I was nervous” she added.

Gerard nodded his head gently. “You were nervous. You yelled at me more than once” he recalled gently.

“Gerard” Esmé warned softly “We shouldn’t talk about that” she added.

“You said it yourself, querida, he’s a big part of your past and neither one of us can pretend that a lot of our memories aren’t related to him” Gerard replied, resting his head gently against the pillow. He didn’t want to talk about it again, seeing Cesc the previous night had been more than enough for them, but he couldn’t stop himself. A part of him hoped that if he kept talking about it, the threat he perceived from the midfielder would lessen slightly and he would be able to focus on the brunette who sat with him.

Esmé shook her head. “We can’t deny that, but that doesn’t mean we have to sit here and talk about him. Look at where you are right now, Geri” she encouraged “We can sit around and talk about Cesc if that is really what you want to do, or we can get out of bed, I can put on your shirt, and we could make breakfast. Which would you like more?” she posed, her dark eyes peeking up at him in a way that made him melt. She knew that it was going to come up, the issue of Cesc was not one that they could pretend didn’t exist, but she didn’t want to focus on it on the morning after they’d said those 3 words to one another. She wanted it to be romantic, she wanted it to be calm, but mostly, she wanted it to be about them and not about the other man.

“You’d wear my shirt?” Gerard mumbled, quickly moving to retrieve the checked shirt which sat on the floor amongst his other clothes.

“I think I could wear it better than you could” Esmé smirked, taking it out of his hand and swiftly pulling it over her head, allowing the material to fall against her skin.

Gerard shook his head. “I have no doubt that you could wear it better than me, hermosa” he chuckled gently “You look amazing in just about everything you own, even those ugly panties you use to warn a guy off of sex” he smirked.

Esmé shook her head gently and stood up from the bed, allowing the material of his shirt to fall down her thighs, a sight Gerard couldn’t help but marvel at. She looked beautiful, more than beautiful even, and if it wasn’t for the fact that he didn’t want to get her into trouble, he would have ensured that she didn’t leave that room that morning.

Brushing her dark hair through, Esmé peeked back over her shoulder, smiling softly at the look on his face. “You could take a picture” she teased “At least then, you could drool in private” she added.

Gerard smiled. “You have no idea just how beautiful you look right now, Esmé” he mused as he moved to stand beside her, his hands quickly spinning her to face him.

Esmé shook her head. “I am still me, Geri, the same me I’ve always been” she teased, her arms wrapping around his neck gently.

“Yes, you are, but right now it just seems a little different. Perhaps it is because I told you I love you, but I wish I didn’t have to go anywhere” he murmured, resting his forehead on hers. Esmé closed her eyes gently and held onto him, relaxing a little into the moment. She didn’t envisage it would be the last moment they got, if she had her way, there would be years of quiet moments ahead of them, but she still wanted to enjoy it. Things were going to take some time to settle down and she wanted to enjoy the quiet moments.