Chapter Text
The second time Jobe became an internet buzz specifically in the German football club community, it's not through his own doing.
After the 'disaster' he experienced back at the Allianz stadium, he spent a solid week either confined in his bedroom or going to classes and sitting at the far back of the auditorium away from the rest. No eating out, no strolling around the neighbourhood, no gym and certainly no random cycling he loved so much. All this to avoid being recognized on the road as his face, although blurry, had managed to spread through the small internet corner dedicated to football fans. It's not at the level where he reached TikTok celebrity stardom yet, but one cannot be too careful in this age of technology. Paranoia is a scary thing indeed. It was a nightmarish few days for Jobe who valued his freedom more than anything but people nowadays have the attention span of a goldfish so they'll forget all about this in no time. Or so he tried placating himself. Thankfully he had other stuff to do like editing his footages and photos so he wouldn't die of boredom trapped in his apartment.
His professors on the other hand had been way too ecstatic after finding out about his involvement in the game. Praises and compliments showered the poor student who really wanted nothing to do with his sudden popularity but at the very least, a guaranteed A+ for this project and a passing score for final exam was secured. Blessings in disguise, Jobe supposes.
"I knew it was you behind that camera!" one of his lecturer said once the class had dispersed. "Reminded me why I started teaching in the first place."
There's really nothing much to be proud of since most of it was thanks to Jobe's skill acquired before he started pursuing this degree but whatever, as long as he passes the course and doesn't have to do it again.
Regrettably, that too is wishful thinking.
2 weeks after his nightmare came to reality and just as he was recovering from the shock of it all, Jobe was once again thrusted back to a similarly hellish scenario but now with his peers coming along. This excursion however was already part of the original syllabus as a field trip designed for selected final year students and certainly doesn't involve manning a broadcasting camera for half of the match. It's more like a reward for high-achieving students to experience on-site workings, like an unpaid internship as a sports photographer. Seeing his massive success however, the lecturers deemed Jobe's attendance would be a great motivation for his seniors and cohorts to do better so, again, off he goes.
Since the venue this time was 3 hours away by car and with 7 more people participating, the university had prepared a minibus for travel purposes so he didn't have to worry about transport at least.
The group reached MHPArena by late afternoon and a big crowd, mostly Stuttgart fans, had already gathered around the entrance completely decked in their team's paraphernalia and waiting for the gates to open for public. The students went around the main gate to enter the stadium through a designated tunnel, accompanied by a professor and a staff dedicated to show them around.
Jobe was somewhat touched when they offered the option to enter the control room if they wished to see the inner workings of the stadium instead of occupying the field sidelines like he did previously. Even greater news was that everybody else chose to be on the pitch so Jobe was the only one amongst the students to be in an enclosed space away from people. Great deal no matter how he sees it, zero downside. That is if no unexpected variable shows up.
So he sat at the back of the media control room quietly like a goody two-shoes, observing the staff busily work while making not a single sound. His DSLR was still stowed in its bag safely and Jobe was more than happy to not use it this time around. The trauma of having his other camera battered and bruised from the previous match was still fresh so he would rather not have this one jeopardized too.
The control room was pretty spacious with at least 16 monitor screens hanging above everybody's heads and several more computer screens displaying the arena from different vantage points. The many lights and buttons were daunting to even see from afar but as one gets accustomed to the mess, the setup became interesting to observe. Jobe stared with intense focus as the five personnel assigned to this room were preoccupied with their own screens and tasks. His eyes followed each turn of switch, every dial turned, and each button pressed while figuring out what each of them does on screen.
Without realizing, the game had already started when the footage from a suspended camera zoomed out to show two rows of players in contrasting jerseys exiting the tunnel and Jobe was confronted with the fact that this was one of Bayern Munich's away games for this season. How did he even miss the gigantic logo and players' faces printed on the massive banners hung literally at each corner of the arena?
Among the lineup, Jobe spotted a familiar guy with tied up locs donned in dark purple jersey entering the pitch hand-in-hand with a kid. Seems like he recovered well within the two weeks of no matches if his confident stride was any indication. Athletes sure have it tough, Jobe thought to himself, recalling the time he fell off the bicycle one time and decided to milk the heck out of the minor injury to have his friends do his bidding for as long as possible. A nasty sprain with swelling that bad would have freed Jobe from house chores for at least 2 months.
"Well, if it isn't the man of the match from the first game."
Jobe turned to see that a man in immaculate suits had entered the control room with a cup of steaming coffee in hand. Seeing he had a personal assistant following closely behind, this guy must be some sort of a big shot. Jobe immediately stood up and shook the hand extended to him respectfully.
"Not gonna be down in the pitch today?" The middle-aged man teased while observing the screens.
"No, sir." Jobe replied almost instantly. "Trying to avoid being the man of the match for the second time."
The guy laughed freely at the answer he wasn't expecting. "You sure don't like attention, huh? How can two brothers be so alike yet so different…"
Jobe swallowed harshly at the last bit of the comment. Of course this man was not just any random guy if he could enter the media control room so easily, but to think he figured out who Jobe was and his family by extension just from a single incident could prove that he's highly involved with the professional football scene. A small, cautious part of his brain even assumed the reason this man had entered the room was to find him.
As his default response, Jobe smiled sheepishly and tried to laugh off the nerves crippling up his limbs.
The man looked back to his assistant and tilted his head towards Jobe and soon enough, a business card was extended to the student.
"I have a feeling that I'll be seeing you a lot in the future." He added with a smile while acknowledging the other staff in the room with a nod.
After saying such cryptic words, the man and his assistant left the area.
Jobe looked down at the card in his grasp and held the urge not to crumple the paper between his fingers in panic. There's a semi-transparent FC Bayern logo occupying half of the small card, accompanied by the man's name printed on the sleek material; Christoph Freund, Sporting Director.
Even when he's trapped between four walls with zero window, on the third floor of a stadium he had never stepped foot in before, surrounded by people he had never met or seen in his life, someone still managed to recognize and single him out. He wished he wasn't so easily affected by such trivial encounter.
Jobe shook his head and tried distracting himself with the hustle and bustle going around him, which proved to be successful because as the match tension was building, so was the pressure inside the media room. The home team ultras, the avid supporters of Vfb Stuttgart, were showing so much enthusiasm that they became quite the distraction for their opponents on the field. The arena decoration was also rather wild, big, and quite the spectacle. With each goal scored, Jobe paid his utmost attention on how the staff clipped specific slow-motion footages and replayed it for the broadcast and stadium screens. Busy hands were punching buttons on the switcher system and audio mixers as the staff receive input from their own headsets and Jobe was hungrily absorbing everything he could see.
The game ended in Bayern's win with a narrow 3-2 score but Jobe had already left the control room before the match ended to queue for his late dinner at one of the kiosks. Since most of the other options were sold out, he ended up getting the staple Die Rote and a cup of multivitamin juice since his mom had religiously shared healthy superfood and nutritional diet posts from instagram daily as a 'passive' reminder.
Once the food was ready for pick-up, half of the arena had already been emptied out. It was a Wednesday night so it was not really surprising to see people leaving before the game formally finished, especially since the last 10 minutes of the injury time was more or less stuck in a standstill.
Jobe dragged his languid body towards the ground floor and used the staff tunnel to enter the field as his professor instructed all students to assemble near the goal post. He stopped right before the barrier, avoiding staff and journalists packing up their gears, and squinted his eyes to see which post the old fart was talking about. In the sea of people with same-coloured bibs, how was he supposed to spot them so easily?
"I should get my eyes checked." Jobe muttered under his breath, nose scrunching up which made his glasses ride up his nose bridge as well.
Leaving it up to fate, Jobe turned right and hoped for the best. He could always walk the other way if it's wrong anyway, not like they had anywhere to be tonight.
Even after the match had ended, there's still so much action going on the pitch. So many cables from mics and shoulder camcorders were covering the green patch, makeshift backgrounds for interviews propped by the main tunnel, PR team shoving cameras up their players face for content, all so messy and almost unorganized. Jobe was grateful he wasn't involved in any of that and continued on his track.
From the corner of his eyes, he could feel a figure approaching him from the field's direction but assumed it was just one of the busy staffs running about.
"Hey, you."
It's a terrifyingly familiar voice, and he swore he's heard that low tone before but Jobe walked even faster anyway to avoid any sort of interaction. He could see his professor talking to his schoolmates in front of the goal post, meaning he's going to the right direction, so he increased his speed to reach them sooner.
"You know I'm talking to you, right?"
The sound was much closer this time, meaning the other person caught up to his pace in no time, so Jobe couldn't feign ignorance any longer. He finally slowed down and stopped in his steps. Turning his head to get a proper look, lo and behold, it was the guy he least expected to call him out in a crowd. Jobe's surprised the man even remembered how he looked like and could point him out in a crowded mess.
The man who jogged over from the centre circle of the field just to stop Jobe in his tracks was none other than the forward player from Bayern Munich, still clad in his dark purple jersey, looking as impassive as he normally would and still soaked in sweat, Michael Olise.
To be fair, Jobe had zero idea why the athlete would approach him since they had nothing to do with each other so he looked to his left and right to make sure it was indeed him that's being followed. If his hands were free, Jobe would have even pointed to himself for the dramatics. Seeing that the other ground staff and press were quite the distance away, Jobe finally accepted reality.
"Why were you running?" Michael asked with that deadpan voice again.
"I-I wasn't running. How can I run carrying all these?" Jobe gestured to the food in his right hand and beverage on his left.
"You were clearly going faster when you heard me."
"I did not."
"You did."
"Did not."
There was a brief silence as they stood still, separated by the field banner, just staring at each other in the midst of bustling area.
"You were running away from me."
"Told you I wasn't."
The football star didn't seem fazed by the very childish banter, looking a bit confused and slightly amused even. Nevertheless, he sighed and decided to get back to his main objective.
Now it was Jobe's turn to get flustered since Michael Olise was suddenly stripping right in front of his eyes. Okay, maybe that was a bit too exaggerated since the athlete was wearing a long-sleeved compression shirt underneath his jersey so not an inch of skin was exposed during the undressing but it was still a bit shocking.
Michael, on the other hand, had smoothly removed the fabric off his body, balled up the shirt in his hand and extended it to Jobe.
They were stuck in a rather awkward standstill where Michael's hand was hanging in the air for quite the time and Jobe couldn't accept the jersey as both hands were very obviously not free. There's a question mark popping up from Jobe's head if anyone paid enough attention as he tried gauging the star player's intention with gifting him the jersey that fans would die to get their hands on.
As Jobe glanced between the jersey and his own hands furiously, Michael reached to a late realization to why the taller guy was hesitating to receive his shirt.
Snorting, Michael reached out for the massive hot dog wrap from Jobe's hand and replaced it with the purple kit.
Jobe was caught off-guard to see his dinner snatched away so quickly that he couldn't even react appropriately. Michael Olise was already walking away when Jobe was starting to understand the situation before the athlete walked back again. "Is this beer?" He pointed to the yellow cup. Jobe shook his head dumbly. Michael shrugged and took the juice as well. This time he didn't look back and jogged back to his mates in the pitch while not spilling any content from the cup.
Left with nothing but a sweaty jersey, Jobe looked down at his hand in disbelief. Confusion turned into a full-blown annoyance as his stomach rumbled noisily in protest.
How was this a fair trade, he wondered with a gaping mouth.
Shouts and screams from the second floor jerked him out of his reverie as the remaining fans on the upper floor had witnessed everything, most of them had their phones out to record the exchange. Unsure whether to dig himself a hole to hide right there and then or book the earliest flight to Paris, Jobe felt his world spinning intensely.
"JOBE!"
From somewhere near the goal post, a guy was waving his hand wildly in his direction. It was his professor, of freaking course. The other students followed suit by shouting his name repeatedly, amplified with the echoing effect of a stadium, with tired but satisfied faces. It garnered even more attention from other unsuspecting people, just when Jobe thought it couldn't get any worse than this.
Between having his dinner stolen in exchange of a sweaty shirt, his face captured more clearly by strangers and possibly immortalized on the internet, and getting his name exposed by people he's not even close with, Jobe couldn't decide which one was worse. He ended up joining the rest of his group while pulling his hoodie down as much as possible and pray that karma would reward him sooner than later.
"I didn't think you'd be back this quickly. So did you properly tha- … what do you have there, Mikey?"
Harry, having finished his post-match interview just now, spotted his teammate approaching the middle of the pitch surprisingly with food and drink in hand.
Michael was munching on the hot dog with no change in his expression, sipping the juice right after like it's no big deal.
Harry peered behind Michael's back and from the distance, saw Jobe still standing at the spot with a bewildered face, and questioned himself why he didn't go with Michael in the first place. When Jobe entered the field with his hot dog and drink, Harry was the one who spotted him first and urged Michael to approach the guy to exchange a few words of gratitude. If it weren't for the press suddenly roping him in for a 'quick' interview, he would have supervised Michael's little chat with the young man.
Jobe's eyebrows were deeply furrowed, mouth open in surprise, forehead all creased and remained frozen in that pose for what felt like minutes; as dramatic as his brother. Looking at how distressed he seemed, Harry couldn't help but feel a little sorry.
"Michael." Harry said with a sigh. "Did you properly thank him? With words?"
The guy hummed, still savouring his newly acquired snack. "Gave him my shirt."
"I can see that's… a nice gesture. But is it really thanking him for his help if you also receive something in return? Isn't it more like a barter?"
Michael finally removed the bun from his face to reply more clearly. "His hands were occupied when I tried passing him my jersey. So I took the liberty to free them."
"And you didn't think through how to return the food, got embarrassed midway, then ran away."
Michael looked away as Harry hit the bullseye, like he normally would.
"You know, Jobe had his camera damaged to, more or less, protect you. That thing isn't cheap for a student so you-."
Catching a new information, Michael turned his head back to meet Harry's eyes.
"You know him, this 'Jobe' guy?"
A flash of panic fleeted through Harry's eyes but with experience of a father who had to come up with a gazillion reasons and excuses to appease his children, he hoped the words flowing out of his mouth came out like a sure fact instead of half-assed lie he cooked up on the spot.
"The team did a background check on the kid after he made it in the headlines and I was feeling nosy."
Michael didn't say anything but his eyes were peering up from his lashes in the particular way that people closest to him could understand as a wordless request to elaborate.
Relenting, Harry leaned close enough to whisper out of anyone's earshot.
"He's English and goes to a film university in Munich. He went to our last game for a school project and will be going back to France next year or something. That's all I know."
"Explains the accent." Michael shrugged, not sure why he wanted to know in the first place. And it's not like he'd know what to do with the rest of the information anyway but it did make him feel slightly guilty for stealing from the young. Sorting out feelings was not an activity he'd like to do after playing a bad game like tonight though so it'll be future Michael's problem to deal with. "I'm gonna go join Jamal."
After that brief announcement, Michael made a beeline towards his best friend, ignoring Harry's attempt to steer the conversation back to their main topic.
Not far from where they were, Jamal had just wrapped up his own individual interview and happily spotted Michael.
"Ooh! Did you get some snacks from the fans?" Jamal said with big, sparkly eyes, clearly fascinated with his friend's unusual action since the older would rather starve for a week than eat anything handed by a stranger. "Or did mister cameraman try to earn cookie points by giving you food?"
Jamal was with them when Harry spotted Jobe in the crowd and belatedly realized it was the same guy from back then. He was also supposed to accompany Michael but was held up due to media and journalists holding him hostage.
The younger backed away when Michael gave him a threatening side-eye.
"Not another word."
gimmick FC
# general
mikewazowski <10.19 pm>
BAYERN WONNNNNNN
AAAAAAAAAAA THE PRAYER CIRCLE WORKED
tudorking <10.19 pm>
why do i have work today T.T
what's the final scoreee
omega3see <10.20 pm>
3-2
got me clutching my pearls
elevenelephant <10.20 pm>
did anyone aim for mike's ankle this time
we cant afford another injury with ucl coming up
wait who are we facing for the first ucl game?
┌─@elevenelephant did anyone aim for mike's ankle this time
mikewazowski <10.21 pm>
they changed target to jamal
pushed thrice, tackled thrice, almost blinded once, elbowed once
omega3see <10.21 pm>
OMG BAMBI GET BEHIND ME
┌─@elevenelephant wait who are we facing for the first ucl game?
tudorking <10.21 pm>
norwegian
chicken88 <10.21 pm>
MAN CITY???? lord pls HAALAND ON OUR FIRST MATCH DAY WTF
shuamich <10.22 pm>
nooooo 😭😭 its bodo/glimt
but its our home game so we should win it easy!
right guys??
…
the lack of reply is worrying
bayern had always been in top 10 why are we being pessimistic?????
work4lyfe <10.23 pm>
just finished reviewing the game with my grandpa n we both sat in silence for a solid 3 minutes
thats the most insidious bayern match i was forced to watch since 2024 ngl like why are they losing 1-2 at 84th minute?
werent u guys the league champions of 2010s
jamal came in clutch #goated
tudorking <10.23 pm>
i think its the home advantage for stuttgart
did you see those flares?? smoke?? and gigantic moving dinosaur with distracting red laser eyes???
chicken88 <10.24 pm>
i chuckle everytime the camera pans to that dino
bet mike got overstimulated in the middle of a game poor lad
mikewazowski <10.24 pm>
u can literally see him getting frustrated before halftime
omega3see <10.25 pm>
well at least its a win
tudorking <10.25 pm>
btw whos MOTM?
┌─@tudorking btw whos MOTM?
omega3see <10.26 pm>
saibari but honestly i think upa and jamal deserved it too
phonzyfancy <10.26 pm>
disappointed since theres no buzzzz
like tl was in disarray last game and its nothingburger right now
tudorking <10.27 pm>
why do u want to see people getting injured???
work4lyfe <10.27 pm>
not the injury babygurl
its the guy with the camera we're looking for
phonzyfancy <10.27 pm>
see i know youd get me
purplerain <10.28 pm>
i wonder if we'll ever see #him again
┌─ @purplerain i wonder if we'll ever see #him again
chicken88 <10.28 pm>
r u still hung up on that cameraman?
purplerain <10.28 pm>
yes
what is it to u
work4lyfe <10.29 pm>
honestly same
its a need AND a want
funny thing is my roommate's sister's boyfriend's brother said he goes to the same school as #him
i think its HFF iirc
in munich tho
chicken88 <10.29 pm>
wat do u mean i couldve attended the same school as mister photographer????
mikewazowski <10.30 pm>
guys
not to sound alarming but check post from @bayernarchive on twitter
work4lyfe <10.30 pm>
im so glad we still call it twitter
oliseyum <10.40 pm>
😭😭😭😭😭😭 my boy was hungry af after the game
badbrom4nce FC <10.40 pm>
sorry just finished a surgery
what did i miss this time????
┌─@badbrom4nce FC what did i miss this time????
mikewazowski <10.40 pm>
Mikey traded his jersey for a hotdog and drink after the game against Stuttgart😭😭😭
thats cuteeeeee
he mustve needed that extra sugar
work4lyfe <10.41 pm>
are we ignoring the very big, very hot, very TASTY issue??
THATS LITERALLY MR. BUZZ RIGHT THERE
MY MAN WAS AT THE ARENAAAAAA
MIKE AND CAMERAMAN REUNITED!!
AND FUCK HES HOTTTTTTTT
ARE THEY FRIENDSSSSSSSSSSSSSS AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
phonzyfancy <10.41 pm>
HES SO FINEEEEE IM MADDDDDDD
THOSE BLURRY PHOTOS DIDNT DO HIS BEAUTY JUSTICE
AND HE DOES LOOK LIKE JUDE BELLINGHAM I CANT-
elevenelephant <10.41 pm>
ARE WE SURE ITS THE SAME GUY?!
i dont see the resemblance but i do get that theyre both hot
shuamich <10.41 pm>
witnesses on site claimed its him
what i meant: the bayernarchive admin was at the scene and saw it with his own eyes so i believe it
and hes wearing the same glasses, brand and type
┌─@shuamich and hes wearing the same glasses, brand and type
badbrom4nce FC <10.40 pm>
how do u even know this information
oliseyum <10.42 pm>
someone check on @purplerain and @chicken88 rn
on another note this guy is hilarious
like , he really didnt wanna part with that damn hotdog
phonzyfancy <10.42 pm>
did u see his face when mike turned back to grab the drink??
mf dramatic as hell
was not happy with the olise jersey too why is he so scandalized
is this a start of a romcom???
tudorking <10.43 pm>
I BELIEVE WE HAVE A NAME FOR MISTER BODYGUARD SLASH PHOTOGRAPHER
mikewazowski <10.43 pm>
is it joub?
joeb? jobe? jobb?
couldnt hear it properly from the video
omega3see <10.43 pm>
i think its jobe
chicken88 <10.44 pm>
jobe please marry me
elevenelephant <10.44 pm>
the height difference is making me feel things
up close jobe looks HUGE compared to olise
like damn i didnt know photographers need to be built like that
┌─ @elevenelephant up close jobe looks HUGE compared to olise
badbrom4nce FC <10.44 pm>
i like how you think lets make out
purplerain <10.45 pm>
im making a rumor
mikewazowski <10.45 pm>
pls close ur doc and dont open ao3 @purplerain
its 4am at ur end go to sleep u have class soon
do it after u wakeup
purplerain <10.45 pm>
how can i go to sleep after all these crack????
