Bellingham and Haaland

16)

Bellingham has left Haaland completely lost. Staring at his living room floor, he tried to come up with a reasonable explanation for what just happened.

Jude was the one who usually kept his distance, then all of a sudden he barges into his apartment and starts kissing him.

The silence was irritating. He had to talk to someone.

Haaland dialed up a fellow teammate, somebody older and wiser than him.

"Hello!?" Hummels yelled, distorting the audio quality.
"Fuck's sake, quiet down."
"Sorry, I'm at a party."
"Well get out of there, I need to talk to you."
"Fine. Give me a second.." Haaland could hear Hummels squeezing through the crowd. The noise got quieter and quieter.

"Alright, what is it?"
"It's Bellingham."
Hummels groaned. "You guys are so annoying. Why don't you go kiss or something."
Haaland chuckled awkwardly. "Haha... how'd you know?"

"What?"
"He kissed me."
"Where? Cheek? Forehead?"
Haaland didn't say anything. His silence spoke a thousand words.
Hummels started manically laughing.
"Ahaha, that's great."
"You don't seem surprised."
Hummels cleared his throat. "Don't tell him I told you this, but.. he's definitely into you."

"What?"
"Are you that surprised, though?"
"Yes.. I am."
"To be honest, I saw it coming. But I guess it's easier to notice as a third party spectator."
"Are you messing with me?"
"Nah, he told us. You can ask Reus if you'd like. He wouldn't lie."
"..I see."
Hummels chuckled. "Hope he was a good kisser, at least. I'm gonna go now, see ya." He hung up.

Hummels wasn't of great help, his intel only made Haaland more confused. He hoped that the call Bellingham promised him would clear things up.

***

Bellingham was bursting with energy. He felt ecstatic. He finally felt like he returned the blow. Technically, he still hasn't told Haaland why he's been ignoring him like he planned to, but he did something even better. And he didn't even have to put it into words.

He had to tell someone about this.

"Hello?"
"Jobe, I just did something insane." Belligham was too impatient to wait till he got home to tell his brother, so he did it whilst still on the road.
"Oh God. What did you do?"
Jude snickered to himself. "You'll never guess."
"Okay, I thought you killed somebody."
"Yeah, yeah. Promise you won't tell dad, though."

"Not promising anything till I hear what you did. Out with it."
"It's got something to do with.. a friend of mine."
"Steven?"
"What? Who's that?"
Jobe sighed and scolded Jude for letting the fame get to his head, forgetting all about his past acquaintances.
"No, it's not about... Steven. It's about a teammate."
"It's Haaland, isn't it?"

Jude burst out in laughter. "Bullseye."
"You're so predictable."
"I messed with him a little."
Jude went quiet for dramatic effect.
"What did you do?" Jobe was getting annoyed with how drawn out this grand reveal was getting.
"I kissed him."

"You what?"
Jude found it all too funny.
"Seriously?"
"Uhuh. Dead serious."
"As a joke?!? What's the joke in that?"
He shrugged, as if his brother could see him right now. "How do you know I'm joking?"
"I thought you just.. looked up to him. Not looked... uh."
"Listen man, I had to. It was a life or death situation, I could have been killed."
"What the fuck? Have you been drinking?"
"No. I'm driving a car right now."

There was a longer moment of silence. The thought of his brother hating him only then occurred to Bellingham. Maybe this wasn't as funny as he thought it was.

"Jobe?"
"Listen, I won't tell anyone, alright? I just want to know what drove you to do it."
Bellingham turned his head to let out a quick sigh of relief. "You know, the more time I spend with him, the more warped my perception of him is.. if that makes sense."

"...I see. Soo.. do you like him?"
Jude sighed. "I guess."
"Ah. So like, it's official?"
"Yeah. I don't think he knows."
There was another moment of silence. Jude started regretting doing this over the phone, seeing Jobe's face would have made this a lot easier.

"I hope you know that this doesn't change how I see you." Jobe spoke, in a very comforting tone of voice.

"That's a relief. Thanks, sorry if this was sudden. I've got to go, now."
"It's alright. Cya."
Jude hung up.

***

Jude sneaked into his apartment, trying his best not to alarm his unsuspecting mother.

He took off his shoes and immediately went to bed, he didn't want to think, he just wanted to sleep.

As soon as his head hit the pillow, his phone rang. Who could it be?
It's Haaland, of course. He might have forgotten about his promise to him earlier.

He thought about ignoring the call and lying that he fell asleep, but that would defeat the purpose of everything he's done today. Bellingham picked up.

"Hel-" Before Bellingham could finish his sentence, Haaland interrupted him.
"I think you owe me an explanation." He was uncharacteristically stern.
"Not even a hello?"
"Hello. I think you owe me an explanation."
Bellingham laughed awkwardly. "Explanation on what?"
"Did you hit your head on the way back? You kissed me."
"You kiss me all the time, what's the big deal?"
"Not on the lips?"

Bellingham could feel his previous confidence evaporate. The triumphant feeling was now the size of a pebble.

"Doesn't the action speak for itself?"
A long pause followed. Clearly this didn't clear things up for Haaland.

"Haaland, I like you, man."
"What?"

"I thought I was being obvious."
"Well, not to me, at least.."

At this point, Bellingham didn't care for the answer he would receive. It felt nice to finally free himself of this burden. Obviously, he would much rather that Haaland thought the same, but even if he didn't, he would eventually move on.

"You know, I wouldn't say I don't feel the same way, but..."

Jude's heart skipped a beat. Maybe he heard it wrong.

"..But?"
"I don't know. I need some time to think. It's getting late."
"Yeah, you're right.."
"I'll see you at practice. Goodnight."
"Goodnight."