outbound | haaland

09.

Erling cleaned his face and smiled to himself. He suppressed a giggle.

He returned to the room; Nova had already turned off the lights and burrowed into the covers. Erling tiptoed to his bag, placing his toiletries back where the belonged. He sat on the bed and examined the outline of Nova. They had been very close today.

"Goodnight, Nova," he tossed over his shoulder softly after crawling under the sheets. Even with a small wall of pillows between them, Erling felt Nova's warmth against his back. She practically radiated warmth from every pore; she was so kind and sweet and seemed to make Erling's heart more content than anything had before.

"G'night," Nova murmured, sweet and soft.

Erling smiled, ducking his face into the crook of his elbow, "Sweet dreams."

"Sleep well."

His smile stretched even further. It had been a while since Erling had such a lovely day with so many genuine smiles and laughs. It felt freeing and wonderful to have private and spontaneous moments to himself, shared only with those present instead with the viewers at home. His fingers drifted over his lips, the lips that pressed a soft kiss on Nova's cheek unapologetically.

Was this what love felt like? Was he falling in love? Should he be falling in love? Being here with Nova and her lovely family... it wasn't real. It wasn't fake, but Nova and Erling weren't dating. Erling should be thinking of this as a role in a movie without a structured script. He had plot beats to follow. This story already had an end from the moment it started. It was improvisation, but the improvisation made his heart flutter and brought him joy. Here, he was building relationships like he would if he was Nova's actual hard-working boyfriend.

But...

Nova had blushed. She struggled to restrain a smile because of Erling.

Erling decided to not think about it.Being Nova's boyfriend was nice. Great. Sweet. Being a son-in-law smoothed over the cracks in his heart from being his parent's son. He felt wanted and loved unconditionally. It was almost like he belonged.

He belonged here. The thought of that alone was enough to send him into his dreams with a smile on his face.

———

Nova tapped out an anxious rhythm with his fingers on Erling's shoulder.

Erling wondered if he was this nervous every Christmas and every time he gave gifts or if this day was particularly worrying for him. Erling decided to placed his hand over Nova's fingers and firmly grip them in comfort.

Nova smiled at him.

Jakob screamed with delight when he opened a box that had a book in it.

Nova whispered an explanation softly in Erling's ear, "He's obsessed with the author and that's a signed copy."

Erling nodded.

One by one, the gifts under the tree made it to the right place. Jakob received a candle set and a new kitchen knife. Nova's mother opened a box with tickets to the orchestra and a lovely hairpin. Nova's father got an expanded set of wood carving tools, and Nova was given a new lens attachment and a tracker keychain. (She turned bright red and mumbled that he didn't lose his keys that often.)

Jakob picked up the last box under the tree and shoved into Erling's hands, "For you."

Surprise took hold of Erling for a moment. He didn't think he'd be getting a gift; they barely knew him and weren't confident that Nova was actually seeing anyone a week ago - why buy something for someone who doesn't exist?

"Thank you," he whispered, aware that all eyes were on him. He heard the shutter of Nova's camera catching his reaction.

He gently took off the wrapping paper and opened the box. He saw a small wooden keychain; his name was burned onto an abstract shape that has been sanded smooth. Beneath it was a deep green cable knit sweater with pale blue accents. A small card had a candid photo of him putting up one of his popcorn garlands, and there was a certificate for one free snowball pass with restrictions applying.

Erling picked up the keychain. Nova's father cleared his throat and curtly said, "Had to meet you before I carved it." He punctuated it with a pat on Erling's back and a definitive nod. "It's meant to bring you luck."

Erling could've cried then. He managed to hold it on the inside as Nova's mother pointed at the sweater. "I knitted it just for you," she said as Erling ran his fingers over the soft yarn. "I would have customized it more," she lamented, "But Nova just wouldn't share details about what you liked."

Jakob pointed at the certificate, "Use it wisely."

"Merry Christmas," Nova said, hugging Erling tightly, "Now, you'll have plenty of warm memories about the holidays."

"This is a perfect gift." Erling sniffled, "Thank you."

Nova kissed the top of his head. If only Nova knew how immediately that gesture and these gifts had carved out space in Erling's heart. He loved them, the moments, the gifts, the people.

Three bottles of mulled wine, a game of Pictionary, and a long-winded explanation of the horrors of filming Erling's most recent match to everyone led to listening to slow songs being played over the speakers in the living room. Ennik pulled Ingrid into her arms and began dancing slowly in front of everyone. Jakob and Nova's parents had wandered upstairs. Nova's parents were dead tired, and Jakob said he wanted to Skype with someone important. (Nova muttered something about a new paramour.)

The girl Christian brought introduced himself as Maya. She invited Christian to his feet with a cheesy declaration, "Let's have our first dance as lovers."

Christian's face ripened, but he took the outstretched hand anyway.

It made Erling giggle. He was glad his advice worked out for Christian. It sounded to him like Maya had been waiting for Christian to make the first move for a long time.

"Should we too?" Nova asked, slurring her words slightly.

Erling snorted and cuddled up next to Nova, "No. We can watch the romance."

"Hey, I have something to tell you."

"Hm?" Erling was a little too far gone to be cautious about his expectations. It'd be nice if Nova said that she liked him. Erling wanted that. He wanted them to transform into actual boyfriend and girlfriend, extend his bliss further into reality. Nova might want that too, he thought.

"I knew you were - you know... Erling Haaland when we met. I just... yeah." She said it like she was embarrassed.

"Okay."

Nova looked at him sideways. "You're not mad?"

"Why would I be mad?" Erling replied, hugging her a little tighter to drive the point.

"I don't know," Nova shrugged, "Thought it might make you feel weird. That I pretended I didn't know who were."

"Nah."

Nova returned the hug, "Cool."

Suddenly, Erling was very sober. It was Christmas. His return flight was scheduled to land tomorrow afternoon. He was booked up for New Year's Eve. Training started the day after tomorrow. He had been so caught up in having friends and family to celebrate with that he'd forgotten about the limited time he had to spend with them.

Nova noticed how stiff Erling was. "Are you okay?"

"I have to leave tomorrow."

His dream-like fairytale was coming to close.