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summary ➳ malo decides to play matchmaker
pairing{s} ➳ william saliba x black female reader | black female reader x malo gusto {family}
almost a month late but yk what they say better late than never 🙈
hoping for a speedy recovery for our wilo 🥺😭 my heart dropped when he stopped {alsoooo to all the arsenal fans screaming at the french team pls hush, he was already injured before winning the premier league}
i have an idea for a part 2 & potentially 3 for this so keep an eye out {hopefully life doesn’t get too crazy again 😅}
translations found at the bottom!!
tw ➳ mentions of alcohol & being tipsy {please drink responsibly!!}
please enjoy, like, comment, repost etc!!!!🫶🏽
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you had a weird gut feeling that you should have said no to malo’s request.
when your younger cousin had called you a few days ago, asking if you were free to meet up for dinner and to catch up, you’d said yes within thinking twice. even though malo had been living in london for a few years since joining chelsea, the two of you were so busy adulting that you didn't get the chance to spend as much time together as you’d want to. so whenever your schedules aligned, you’d make plans.
the first sign that something didn’t add up was when malo texted you the day after to let you know that he’d reserved a table at a fancy restaurant for to go to.
the second was when he told you to make sure to dress up.
the third was that you’d now been sat at the restaurant for 30 minutes, and malo was nowhere to be seen.
the fourth was that ever since the maître d’ had brought you over to your table, you had been calling and texting him to no avail.
malo was occasionally late, but when it came to you he was always reachable. the rare times in the past where he hadn't picked up your call, he’d called you back in a heartbeat. so far nothing.
you sighed when you ended up on his voice mail for the fifth time. “mais malo ou est tu? t'es chiant tu sais ca? rappelle-moi avant que je pense que tu te fait kidnapper imbécile.”
a hand unexpectedly tapped your shoulder lightly. “excuse me mademoiselle?”
“yes?”, you turned in your chair, expecting the maître d’ or a waiter before feeling your heart thump in your chest when you realised who it was.
“i’m sorry, i didn't mean to listen to your conversation but the maître d'hotel sent me here for my table and i heard you talking to…malo? sorry again for interrupting, i'm a friend of his.”
“I-“, your voice wavered and you quickly cleared your throat. “yes i was just leaving him a message. malo is my cousin and we were meant to be meeting for dinner but,” you waved your hand towards his seat for emphasis, “as you can see, he has decided not to show up and he’s not picking his phone either.”
“you were meeting him for dinner?”
“well that was the plan, but clearly he seems to have forgotten.” you responded, kissing your teeth at the thought of your cousin’s actions.
a little chuckle escaped the man as he rubbed the back of his neck seemingly nervous. “i think that your cousin may be playing a game with us.”
you raised a brow at him inquisitively. “and what game is this?”
“first of all, let me introduce myself.” he held out his hand to you. “my name is william, but you can call me wilo.”
you felt your cheeks heat up as you placed your hand into his. “my name is y/n, i kinda already know who you are…” you trailed off as the thumping beat of your heart spread everywhere due to him lifting your hand to his lips.
“enchanté, y/n. is it okay if i sit down?”
“oh!” you snapped out of your reverie. “yes, please sit. sorry, i was slightly away with the fairies.”
“no need to apologise.” he laughed softly, the warm timbers of his deep voice making shivers run down your spine. “would you like to order something? have you looked at the menu?”
“i am hungry but what about malo?”
“so that is part of the game i think your cousin has played - he had no intention of coming along this evening.”
“wait what - that doesn't make sense though?”
a flicker of something you couldn't identify crossed william’s face before his confident persona came back. “i think i can explain it to you, but I’ve had a long day at practice, so please let me buy you dinner at the same time?”
you felt the heat come rushing back to your cheeks. “are you sure?”
“of course i am. my mother raised me to always pay for a lady, en plus pour une qui est aussi belle que toi.”
your cheeks heated even more at the unexpected compliment. “d’accord, merci beaucoup william.” you replied, grabbing the menu you had already studied in order to hide your face.
unbeknownst to you, his grin was even wider at seeing your reaction. “de rien, yn. let me know what you want.”
you both settled on pasta dishes with a bottle of wine to share. you quickly fell into comfortable small talk while waiting on your food. not too long after, your dishes came out and a comfortable silence fell as you started to eat.
“sooo,” you broke the silence before taking a sip of your wine. “wanna tell me about that game you think malo is playing?”
“d’accord…um, it is a bit of a long story. it is also a little bit embarrassing for me.”
you motioned to your pasta. “nothing i love more than an entertaining story while eating good food. i'm a slow eater, you can take your time.”
“okay d’onc…a few months ago we had to go to clairefontaine for team meetings. at one point malo needed something from his cassier and since i was already going to get something from mine, i said that i would get his as well. inside his cassier, it’s like those american films, he has pictures of many people, but there was one that caught my eye. a picture of a girl on a beach with a flower in her hair wearing a massive hoodie.”
“a girl?” you interrupted the story. “but malo doesn't have a girl. i would know if he did.”
“wait - i haven’t finished the story yet. like i was saying, i saw this picture and this girl just looked so beautiful and happy. all i could think is that malo was one lucky man to have a girl like that.”
“did you figure out who this girl is? because i'm getting ready to go and shout at him for not telling me about her.”
“i’m getting there. so the next few days, i keep trying to get him to talk about relationships, girls mais rien. he is not taking the bait. then one night a group of us go out, and a girl at the restaurant starts flirting with him, and he flirts back. when I saw that i was not very happy and decided i was going to talk to him, man to man.” william trailed off.
“well he laughed in my face.”
“he laughed in my face. he couldn't stop laughing at me, actually. it was very insulting.”
“i’m sure it was but now i'm even more confused.”
william took a deep breath and continued. “when he stopped making fun of me, malo told me that the girl in the picture was someone that he loved, but not romantically. he also said that he was impressed at the fact that i was going to reproach him for a girl i didn't even know."
"well-" a red tinge coloured his cheeks. "the girl was you."
"it-" your voice caught in your throat. "it was a picture of me?"
"malo said it was from the family holiday you'd been on last year with your other cousins. he said he never sees you happier than when you're by the ocean and that he's pretty sure you have sirene blood in you. he even joked that your picture probably had a siren pull on me. je pense qu'il n'a pas tort."
you sat there, unsure of what to say, not used to hearing comments like this about yourself.
“after that malo ended up teasing me about it while we were there, no big deal. He even ended up telling a few of the others in the team about it and by the end of the week everyone was calling you ma meuf. after that nothing happened, but two weeks ago he brought it up again. said he had something that would make me very happy to hear.”
the penny dropped in your head. “what did malo tell you?”
“he called me - very late as well, it was already midnight at that point and i was surprised because we'd been hanging out that day with others. he told me that he’d been with you afterwards, and he must have shown you a picture of me from earlier or something but you told him you thought i was good looking. you also told him that you’d seen me play on tv and thought i was a good player. then he asked if i wanted him to set us up so that we can meet. i initially thought that he was pulling my leg but he promised me he was serious. et maintenant nous voici."
“so i have a bit of a confession to make.” you blurted.
“the floor is yours. my turn to enjoy a nice story while eating.”
“about two weeks ago, one of my girls got a promotion so a few of us went out to celebrate. i had a few glasses of wine, which was a bit silly because it makes me tipsy quite quickly. malo has my location and offered to pick me up since he'd just been out with friends. i was on his phone on the drive home looking for a childhood picture and saw the group ones you had taken earlier...," your voice trailed off as you mentally kicked yourself for your actions that night.
william cocked his eyebrow. "continue?"
your words rushed out in an attempt to finish the story as quickly as possible. "i ended up zooming in on your face all giggly and malo saw, he asked me what i was doing, i ended up on a rant about how handsome i think you are et que tu est le pain and how powerful and sure of yourself you come across on the field and how i find that really attractive, and that he was a terrible cousin because he had never even thought to introduce me to you. i didn't think much of it afterwards apart from making him swear he wouldn't tell anyone else about it. and well...nous voici."
"nous voici." william responding affirmatively before a charming smirk spread on his face. "j'ai l'impression que malo a eu le nez fin dans cette situation."
"really?" you turned your attention back to your almost finished pasta. "how is that?"
"because now i'm feeling the sirene's pull even more and want to take you on a date without malo's meddling. that is, if you would like to, of course."
"you don't find the story i just told you embarrassing?"
"all that story did was make me even more intrigued in getting to know you."
"oh." you found yourself lost for words for the upteenth time that evening.
william put his hands in the air. "i'm sorry if i'm coming on too strong, and of course you can say no if you don't want to-"
"give me your phone." you cut him off, hand extended towards him. unlocking it and handing it to you, he watched as you put in your phone number, saving your contact as 'yn 🧜🏾♀️'. "there you go. now you can text me for our next date."
william's smirk reemerged. "bien sur, ma sirene. en fait, who says that tonight's date has to end soon? i know an amazing dessert place a few minutes walk from here if you're interested?"
you smiled back at him wholeheartedly, dimples on full display. "dessert sounds amazing, thank you."
"okay. let me go take care of the bill and i'll be right back."
as he walked away, your phone flashed with a new notification.
maloooo 🩶⚡️: j'assume que tout s'est bien passé puisque tu m'a pas rappelle pour me crier dessus 🤣 wilo est un bon gars, je lui fais confiance pour bien te traiter. quand tu tombe amoureuse n'oublie pas que c'est parce que je me suis mêle dans la situation et que je m'attend a un enfant nommé après moi. bisouuuus 🫶🏽
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❀ mais malo ou est tu? t'es chiant tu sais ca? rappelle-moi avant que je pense que tu te fait kidnapper imbécile ➳ malo where are you? you know you’re annoying right? call me back before i think that you’ve gotten kidnapped you idiot
❀ enchanté ➳ delighted {basically ‘nice to meet you}
❀ en plus pour une qui est aussi belle que toi ➳ especially for one as beautiful as you
❀ d’accord, merci beaucoup ➳ okay, thank you very much
❀ de rien ➳ you’re welcome
❀ mais rien ➳ but nothing
❀ attend quoi ➳ wait what
❀ je pense qu'il n'a pas tort ➳ I think he's not wrong
❀ ma meuf ➳ my woman/girlfriend
❀ et maintenant nous voici ➳ and now here we are
❀ et que tu est le pain ➳ and that you are the bread {slang for a good looking guy}
❀ j'ai l'impression que malo a eu le nez fin dans cette situation ➳ I have the impression that malo had a good nose for this situation {had a good instinct}
❀ j'assume que tout s'est bien passé puisque tu m'a pas rappelle pour me crier dessus. wilo est un bon gars, je lui fais confiance pour bien te traiter. quand tu tombe amoureuse n'oublie pas que c'est parce que je me suis mêle dans la situation et que je m'attend a un enfant nommé après moi. bisouuuus ➳ i’m assuming that everything went well because you haven’t called me to scream at me. wilo is a good guy, i trust him to treat you well. when you fall in love don’t forget that it’s because i meddled in the situation and that i expect a child named after me. kisses
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