football oneshots [CLOSED!]

love-hate // alex oxlade-chamberlain

The sun shone over the field, the teams' red windbreakers scattered all over the grass. Arsenal was training for their game against Bournemouth, and they knew they had to be prepared.

It was one of those days-- the team would sneer and tease at Alex whenever they saw her sitting on the bleachers, her sunglasses reflecting the sunlight. Everyone knew the midfielder took a fancy to her, but didn't have the balls, his teammates would tease, to actually speak to her without becoming a stuttering mess.

VALENTINA was Arsene's personal assistant, and had known the entire team for quite some time. She was closest to Per, who treated her like a sister, and he always made sure she had company. Calum and Nacho came next, often blessing her with their banterful conversations. Coming to think of it, she was close to nearly everyone-- everyone except Alex, of course. Alex was the first one to personally meet her, rather, bump into her causing her to spill Arsene's breakfast smoothie all over the both of them. She loathed him ever since, and he avoided her at all costs.

Valentina gazed across the field, crinkling her nose. The boys were training hard, and Arsene had made sure they won most of their games. Her eyes scanned the grass, trying to find even one player lazing about when her eyes landed on his.

Alex bit back a smile. Despite the sunglasses, he could see her and the frown growing on her face. He found her adorable whenever she got mad, and tried his best to hold back his laughter when she started yelling at him the keep his ass going.

Making her way down the bleachers, she made her way once again to Arsene, who was busy yelling at one of the players. "It's 12, sir," Valentina stated, "They have their medical checkups at 2."

The head coach merely nodded and waved the players off, and they all headed to the changing rooms. Valentina made sure each of them were changing when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Hey, Val. Wanna go have lunch with us?" Calum grinned, teetering on his feet.

"Am I obligated to say yes?" she replied, removing her sunglasses and raising her eyebrow. 

"Yes, yes you are."

"Fine. Just get changed so none of you get sick." Valentina rolled her eyes, pushing him back into the changing rooms. She turned her heels towards the end of the halls and made her way down for the reports.

+

"I got you that date you so desperately needed," Calum man-giggled (if that even was a thing), slapping Alex on the shoulder, "You can thank me some other time."

"You-- What?!" Alex replied, raising his voice.

His teammate simply grinned and hopped away, throwing a towel at him, "I said you could thank me later! Now go get dressed-- she told me she didn't want you getting sick."

Alex bit on his lip, trying to keep himself from grinning as his ears turned red. He wasn't quite sure if he truly wanted this--What if she actually did hate him? She never smiled back or anything and almost all the time, she had this frown on whenever he was around. Valentina was always laughing and giggling around all his friends, but when it came to him, he was sure he hated her. How'd Calum even get her to say yes to going out with him? 

He quickly stepped into the shower, cleaned himself up, and got dressed. Alex then tapped his teammate on the shoulder, furrowing his eyebrows. "Where do I take her? How'd you even get her to say yes?" 

"You'll figure it out in due time. It's just lunch, bro." Calum laughed, standing up beside his friend, "Calm down, your shoulders are all tense."

Alex forced a smile and nodded, grabbing the latter's shoulder, "Thanks a ton. Wish me luck." He left the changing room and made his way to her office, where she usually hung around finishing up her reports before eating. Bringing his knuckles to the door, he knocked softly and waited for a reply.

+

Valentina paced around her office, her eyes never leaving the door. This was the first time the teammates had asked her to have lunch with them and she was secretly hoping for something she never thought would even cross her mind. Would Alex go or would he steer himself away from her as much as possible? 

A knock on the door brought her out of her daze and she composed herself, trying to stay as calm as possible. She reached for the door knob and turned it gently, and prayed it'd be him.

As though her prayers were answered, it was Alex, and yet she didn't notice her eyebrows from furrowing, "What are you doing here?" 

The smile quickly faded from the man's face, and he took a step back, as though surprised at her response. "I just.. wanted to grab some lunch, I guess. Was wondering if you'd like to come but if you had other plans then I understand." he mumbled, fiddling with his fingers.

Valentina's eyes widened and she shook her head quickly, rather a bit too defensively than she initially hoped, "No! I mean, no. No, it's alright. Let's go get lunch." She grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards the end of the hall, not once looking back to see the grin on his face.

+

"So, uh, you come here often?" Alex stuttered, scratching the back of his neck. Despite her enthusiasm to grab lunch with him, their conversations were short lived, and they often found themselves in an awkward silence. 

Valentina looked up and crinkled her nose. It was nice not pretending to bite off his head whenever they spoke, and she was actually growing to realise she had masked her feelings for the midfielder with hate. "Alex, you brought me here. This is literally my first time having lunch out of my office." she laughed, considering he had asked that more than once. 

The awkward air surrounded them once again, and the two continued to eat in silence. Alex held himself back from asking this all day, but realised he would be unhappy if everything went back to normal as it was before. He summoned all the courage he had left (since he lost most of them just by knocking on her office door), and whispered, "Val. I have a question to ask you."

She looked up from her pasta and tilted her head at the man, not sure what was going to happen next, but she knew deep down where this was going. "Of course. Anything."

Alex took a deep breath and nodded, shaking his leg in his nervousness. "Why do you hate me so much?"

Her eyes widening, Valentina burst into a fit of giggles, shaking her head at the same time, "Honestly, I have no idea! You make me wanna frown at you." She wasn't quite sure if she wanted to tell him how she really felt about him, so she tried her best to keep the conversation away from it as possible. 

Shaking his head, Alex puffed out a breath of air, "No, no. That's not it. You're always so happy around everyone else."

Valentina jut out her bottom lip and realised she had been caught. "I guess.. I guess I like you a 'lil bit and I'm not quite sure how to express it."

It was his turn to widen his eyes, his ears turning red once again. He took her hand in his and smiled softly, leaning in on his seat. Alex never really planned for the lunch to go this far-- let alone figuring out she felt the same way.

She looked down at her lap, her leg fidgeting the moment he held her hand. Valentina felt his finger lift her chin up, her eyes staring into his. Alex smiled before leaning in gently, letting her close the gap between them.

She pressed her lips onto his, a smile spreading across her face. When they finally broke away, she bit her lip, her eyebrows furrowed,

"Nobody can ever find out this happened!"

Cue giggles from Alex and a blush creeping over Valentina's cheeks.

//

(A/N): I'm so sorry this took so long! I'll be updating kinda slowly since I have a ton of writing stuff to do for school as well. :( I promise to do all of them, though.

Please comment, vote and the likes so I can improve my writing in any way.

Love,
G.