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Zach waits the few seconds it takes for Mali to come over to him. Her eyes roam his body, and it almost takes him out at the knees. She’s been a tease all night, and he wants to take her home, but they’re here to celebrate her success. The entire team came out, and she worked so hard for it. So, he’ll stay, and he’ll watch her dance in her tiny red dress and matching wig and ignore the way he picked out a shirt just to match her.

He can’t kiss her here because they haven’t discussed if they can. If they want the team to know they’re dating when he hasn’t asked her to be his girlfriend yet. She is—he knows in his heart she’s already his wife—but he had to look up romantic ways to ask her. Mali wants storybook romance, and he needed at least seven minutes with Google to figure that out. He’d kiss her right now, just to tell everyone on the team to fuck off. To show them she wants him. But he’ll keep his lips to himself.

“Hey,” she says, and Zach smiles.

“Hi.” Mali keeps her eyes on his lips, and he groans. “Stop it.”

She looks up at him. “I’m not doing anything.”

“You’re being a brat,” he says, his hand against her waist.

“I know,” she whispers, taking a step closer. Her body touches his from her shoulders to her toes. She hooks her finger over his collar. “Kiss me anyway.” Zach smiles, his hand behind her head as he pulls her towards him. She slips her tongue into his mouth the moment he makes contact, and the bar erupts seconds later.

“They’re so embarrassing,” Mali says, turning to bury her face against his neck. Zach rubs her back. He flips everyone off, but before he can kiss Mali again, Frankie speaks.

“Announcements time!” Frankie starts. “The most important one that I know everyone has been waiting for…” Mali turns, leaning against him. Zach hopes it’s something good for her. When she went through the player applications with him, she had her heart set on the junior league, but he thinks that’s because she knew it was his.

“…Mali and Zach finally kissed.”

“Oh my God,” Mali groans, and she spins again, tucking herself into Zach’s side. He laughs, pulling her closer.

“Whoever won the bet owes us a gift,” he shouts. “And talk about my girl in the locker room one more time and see what happens.”

“No one won. We all picked you’d have kissed about seven weeks ago.”

“Then we should get the winnings,” Mali says. She turns to face Frankie again, but tucks her arms around Zach’s waist. He wraps his arm around her, and she rests her face against his shoulder.

“At least our first kiss was just for us,” he whispers, and she looks up at him with a smile. “Suckers.” She laughs, kissing him again.

“Okay,” Frankie says. “Mali the greatest thing ever and got us the Goliath sponsorship, so we can fund three player projects and upgrade the building.” The players cheer, and Mali waves her arms in the air.

“First, we have the yet to be named but probably something to do with Okeye lifelong fan tickets fund.”

“What?!” Zach had thought this was a possibility, and he’s so happy for her. It’s all she talks about, and she forgot to even put a proposal in.

Frankie shrugs. “On Mal’s first day, she called us all twats for outpricing the regular, lifelong loyal fans.”

“I did not!” Mali replies, her hand tight against his waist. He looks down at her with a smile on his face. He thinks it’s how he always looks at her. No wonder everyone knew he loved her before he’d even admitted it to himself. He moves his arm to rest over her shoulder, his other linking with her fingers against his waist.

Frankie laughs. “Nah, she didn’t, but she would have been right. So, finer details aside, if you know anyone that’s struggling, get them to apply. Two—”

“That’s so cool,” Mali whispers. She reaches up, linking her free hand with his hanging over her shoulder. They’re wrapped together like a pretzel. Kai takes a photo, but Zach doesn’t mind. He thinks it might be the only photo of him with a woman where he wants to touch her. He might print it out and put it on the fridge.

“You’re so cool,” he mutters quietly, so he can still hear Frankie. Mali rests against him some more.

“The Tiny Titans Junior League! We have enough funding for at least a five-year program. More info and deets to come, of course, but right now, invite your kids!”

Zach smiles, even though he’ll miss most of the first seasons. It was his whole proposal. But it doesn’t matter he won’t be there; he only wants them to have a better chance than he had.

“I’m sorry,” Mali whispers, but he looks down at her with a smile.

“It was always meant to be bigger than me,” he replies.

“And lastly, by now, we all know about shitty contracts. This fund is to keep low-income kids away from predatory hardship futures contracts, and to fund legal assistance for minors who have already signed.”

Zach sighs, but he’s glad it will help some child not go through what him and Ezra did. It’s a stellar fund. It wasn’t even a proposal Mali read out. Zach reckons Ezra must have got it through last minute, but he won’t complain about the nepotism this time. Mali presses her lips to his neck, and he kisses her forehead and wonders how he ever thought he could not tell her he was in love with her.

“And…” Frankie says, with a hop to her step. “Because the grants were actually funded in March—something about a financial year I don’t care about—basically, we got the funds sorted, and we have our first recipient.”

She holds up a certificate.

All of the blood runs from his body. “Oh my God.”

Mali steps on her tiptoes like that’s going to make a difference to what she can see. She should have worn her glasses. “What’s it say?” she asks.

Zach can’t talk, but Frankie does the honours anyway.

“Welcome to the Free Agents Club, Zachariah Azan.”

The club cheers, and he feels his entire stomach drop to the floor. He blinks, feeling lightheaded. Like the only thing tethering him to the ground is the way Mali tightly holds his hand. She drops the one around her shoulder and walks them over to Frankie. He should hug her or thank her or say something, but he’s still too shocked to speak.

“Oh my God,” Mali says. “What the fuck?”

Zach blinks, frowning, as Ezra shrugs at him. “Sorry, bro. Frankie wouldn’t let me tell you.”

Zach pulls him into a hug, and he takes a deep breath. Good things happen to him. He knows that. He has his mum. He’s alive. He’s not homeless. He knows good things can happen to him, but having the Titans buy him out and Mali love him all in one night is to much for his nervous system.

“Frankie, what the fuck?” Mali says, hugging her. “I thought it wasn’t coming in time?” Zach can hear her crying.

He swallows, patting Ezra on the back. “I can’t believe this,” Zach mutters. “I don’t even know what to say.”

Ezra shrugs again. “Don’t make a scene, bro.” Zach laughs, but it comes out watery.

“I’m sorry!” Frankie says with a laugh as she pulls back from her hug with Mali. Zach hugs her next, and she seems surprised, but she hugs him all the same.

“I promise it only came through this afternoon, and I wanted to tell you earlier, but I wanted to tell Zach first, and then you were both so in love that I didn’t wanna interrupt you, and, well… surprise!”

Zach pulls back again, taking another deep breath. His hand finds Mali’s, but he can’t look at her right now.

“Are you serious?” Mali asks, wiping her face.

“Yeah,” Frankie says, with a smile. “Zach is cool and all, but you know you're my girl. Besides, this was all you. If you hadn’t pushed so hard for Goliath, for Zach, it never would have happened.”

“I love you so much,” Mali says, pulling her into a hug again. It’s one-armed this time, because Zach’s not sure he can let her go. Frankie smiles, and they dance around for a moment. Zach thinks he might be in shock.

The next time he registers someone is talking to him, he has to blink a couple times. “Sorry, what?”

“Dougals still want you,” Frankie says, with a shrug. “The buyout doesn’t come with any stipulations, but so you know, you haven’t signed anything yet, and the Titans want you too.”

Zach looks from Frankie to Mali, who’s looking right at him. He wonders if she knows everything he’s ever had is because of her. The way he wants to be better is because of her. The way this place is home is because of her. The way he wants to stay is because of her. He sees the hopeful look in her eye, the smile she tucks between her teeth, the love on her face.

“I’m staying,” he says looking right at her. “Of course, I’m staying.”