Bellingham and Haaland

3)

Jude Bellingham hadn't been in the spotlight very long, but he's already a household name.

It's impressive what he's achieved at such a young age.

Bellingham has been observing Haaland for a long time, even owning a jersey with his name.

You could say he was one of his idols.

He was trying for many clubs at once, and coincidentally got accepted into Dortmund, where Haaland plays.

He couldn't decline the offer, seeing as it was a good club and his idol played there.

That was then, now is now.

He's never even spoken to Haaland, but today he decided he'd try to break the ice.

Bellingham had planned it all out. His excuse would be that he left his training shoes at the field, meaning he'd have a good excuse to be there that day.

It was almost 9 o' clock. Quite late, but nothing stood in his way. He expected the locker room to be empty, but to his surprise two of his card-playing teammates were still there.

"Funny, I didn't think anyone would still be here at this hour." Bellingham said, slightly surprised.

Reus turned his head and looked just as surprised to see Bellingham, but still making sure that Hummels couldn't see his card deck.

"I didn't think you planned on coming today. Not at this time, at least."

"I left my shoes at the field." Bellingham clicked his tongue.

"How did you do that?"

Hummels butted in, not even participating in the conversation until now.

"Ah, I don't know. Must have been tired." Bellingham knew this wasn't believable, but it's not like they knew why he was really here.

"Make sure you look real good, the field is real big and your shoes are real small." Jude laughed and sensed the sarcasm from Hummels' voice.

He scurried over to the field and saw Haaland sitting at the bench.

Bellingham felt a cold sweat cover him head to toe, he never faced him one to one.

Gathering up all his courage, he went up to Erling, and lightly tapped his shoulder.

"Hey, know we don't talk much, but I think you're brilliant.."

He tripped over his words and it all came out as an incoherent slur.

Seeing how much he confused his superior, he tried to lighten the mood by giving him a thumbs up.

Either getting the memo or going with the flow, Haaland nodded and sheepishly smiled, and immediately whipped out his phone.

Shit.

No coming back from that, time to head home.

Bellingham was severely let down, keeping his head low.

"Found those shoes yet, Bellingham?" He heard, entering the locker room.

"Hahaha, I didn't."
It took so much to force out that answer, he couldn't even bring himself to look at his teammates.

"You look pretty upset, if you want, I can buy you a new pair."

One of them said that. He would usually laugh at this stupid comment, but his whole day was ruined, maybe even week.

"Uh-huh. Thanks." He snatched his keys, pulled up his hood and left.

***

"Don't look at my cards you bastard!" Reus snapped at Hummels.

***

The drive home was horrible for Bellingham, no radio station could distract him from his self loathing right now.

"Dammit."

He arrived at his apartment, locked the door, and went to bed, hoping God was watching and He'd be merciful.