Bellingham and Haaland

12)

The guilt on his conscience haunted Bellingham. Whether it was his potential attraction to his teammate, or lashing out on his friends. He knew he needed some time alone, away from Haaland.

He was ashamed of his actions from the day prior.

He knew Reus and Hummels would be training today, he crossed his fingers Haaland wouldn't be there.

Bellingham prepared his apology, took a deep breath and entered the stadium.

He made sure to check the changing room first. They weren't there, surprisingly. There was a messy deck of cards on the bench. They were definitely here.

Bellingham slowly made his way to the field. Sure enough, they were there, shooting penalties.

"Oi, you two!" Bellingham waved to Reus and Hummels.

Hummels and Reus exchanged a look, an all-knowing look. They knew exactly why he was here.

A cheeky smile formed on Hummels' lips. "Good morning Bellingham."

"I wanted to say sorry. I was in a bad place yesterday, I'm sorry I left you at the café yesterday." Bellingham apologized, avoiding eye contact.

"It's fine, we understand." Reus assured Bellingham.

"I'm also sorry for making you pay for my coffee. I forgot to do that before I left."

"Don't worry, mistakes happen." Reus put his hand on Bellingham's shoulder.

Hummels brought up the topic. "So, did you sort out your situation?" Bellingham immediately brought his gaze up to meet Hummels.

"Yes. I just want to let you know you were completely wrong. Our relationship is NOT of that nature. Get your mind out of the gutter." Bellingham became defensive again, completely forgetting about the apology he just recited.

Hummels would have answered back if Reus wasn't there to prevent another argument.

***

Haaland was not as affected by the recent events as much as Bellingham. He might have even forgotten by now.

Erling had an excessive amount of fish from their trip. He wanted to put it to good use, so he invited Gio over to have lunch with him.

Gio was lounging, watching the NFL.

"Hey Haaland, what's your favorite NFL team?" Gio yelled from across the room.

"I don't know. I don't watch the NFL." Gio audibly groaned in annoyance.

"I will bring you to a game one day."

"I am good, thank you for the offer though." Haaland was not interested.

"You'll love it, trust me." Gio kept pushing his beliefs on Haaland.

Haaland didnt reply, keeping his focus on the meal he was preparing. This wasn't the first time Gio was in his apartment. He comes over almost every week. It's like a second home to him. Haaland wanted to invite a few more teammates, but turns out everyone has an unexplained hatred for fish. He wasn't sure if Gio even liked fish, but he sure as hell liked Haaland's apartment.

"Hey, Haaland, I have a question for you." Gio's voice emerged from the living room once more.

"Yeh?"

"Sooo... you still haven't told me about your lunch with Mr. Bellingham."

"That's not a question." Haaland felt proud for being able to tell the difference between a question and a statement form. He did graduate 4th grade, after all.

"Damn, sorry. I'll make sure my essay is fit to your taste." Gio laughed at his own joke, but quickly returned to the topic at hand. "Seriously though.."

"Why does this interest you so much? You have been nagging me non-stop." Haaland took a moment to turn to Reyna.

Gio snickered. "I'm just curious. Besides.. you say it's not a big deal, but you won't tell the story?" Gio made a valid point.

Why wasn't he telling him about this? Haaland went quiet for a while, coming to the same conclusion as his friend. There was no harm in telling him what went down, so he caved in.

"First of all... don't trust Bellingham with the aux cord. I will never repeat this mistake." Gio burst into laughter. "I can still hear the songs clearly, I catch myself humming the melody and I hate it."

Gio was amused. "Yeah? What followed?"

"We ate at a kebab place. He's got a surprisingly small appetite, I ended up eating both our meals."

"So you do eat like a horse?" Gio cackled.

Haaland laughed as well. He couldn't really deny it.

"I told him this too, but I think him and his brother look alike. Like twins." Haaland thought out loud.

Gio nodded. "They do, yeah. Is that it?"

Haaland shrugged. "That's the jist of it."

Gio looked like he expected more. He was unsatisfied with his answer, so he kept nagging Haaland.

"Didn't you guys fish together? How did that go?" Giovanni asked.

"I taught him how to fish. He sucks." Haaland smirked.

"About time he learned." Gio scoffed, as if he knew how to fish any better.

Haaland went quiet for a while. Gio figured he was focusing on the fish, so he didn't bother him any longer. However, that was not the case.

"You know.." Haaland started. "I haven't heard from him in a few days. He hasn't been replying to my messages."

"Well, he has been replying to mine." Gio glued his eyes off the TV. "Did you piss him off?"

Haaland shrugged. "I don't think so."

"Strange. Thought you guys were on good terms." This didn't make sense to Gio either." I can ask him about it later, if you'd like."

"I don't know. It's probably nothing serious."

"Do you like him?" Gio asked suddenly, locking his eyes on Haaland.

Haaland didn't expect such a direct question. "He's fun. I do consider him a friend."

"You hit it off pretty well, considering you only started talking like a month ago." Gio scratched his chin.

"We did, yeah. He's a cool guy, easy to talk to. Hopefully he isn't mad at me, or something." Haaland expressed concern for his friend.

"Who knows, he'll get over it, whatever it is."

Haaland changed the topic. "Your fish is done, by the way."

"Splendid."