Chapter Text
Martin walked up the steps to Dietrich Jungenschule, a private boys academy in Berlin. He had classmates from all over Europe, most from wealthy families but some were on scholarships. His ironed uniform was one of the most uncomfortable things he ever had to wear. Creased black dress pants, white collared dress shirt, dark argyle wool vest for warmth and a royal blue and gold striped tie. Oh how he hated ties. They choked him and he had to be careful it didn’t get into his food. He wished he could just wear his soccer uniform to school; the athletic shirt and shorts were superior in every way.
The tall blond Dane took his seat in his first class of the day: English. Even though almost every class in this school was taught in English they still had a class dedicated to it. It was stupid. He sat near the back which was normally fine but in this class it meant he had to sit next to Finn. The brown haired Swede got on his nerves with his Adonis looks. Finn didn’t have an athletic bone in his body but he still was the center of attention at their soccer games. Well the center of attention of almost every girl who attended the games. He wished Finn would just stay home. But instead Finn was always in the bleachers and surrounded by his fan club. It drove him nuts. He worked so hard to keep in shape and be the best player he could. Did he get any recognition for all that hard work? No. At least not from anyone besides his parents, coach and teammates. He just wanted one girl to take notice of him on the field, was that too much to ask?
He was brought out of his thoughts by a voice calling his name. “Hey Hansen!” his team captain called. Martin Larsson, though he hated to admit it, was the best player on their team. He also was in his last year of school so Martin had hopes that he would be team captain next year.
“Hey Larsson.” His dry voice voiced his lack of enthusiasm for life this morning. “Hey Gabriel.” The two of them were nigh inseparable for some odd reason. Gabriel was too loud in his opinion and thought of himself as a better player than he was. Unfortunately he was also his biggest competition for the spot of team captain next year. He just had to put in more work than the Belgian. Which he was. He didn’t have a girlfriend to distract him. Unfortunately.
He tried to focus on the conversation between Gabriel and Larsson but they were talking about schoolwork. Boring. He looked at the clock above the whiteboard and focused on the second hand ticking down until class started. That was until Finn came in. With his slightly wavy chocolate brown hair swept over one side of his face per usual and his uniform rumpled just a bit, not enough to get into trouble, Finn looked as he always did. His right hand tightened into a fist. Be calm , he thought to himself. He had a match tomorrow and if he got into a fight today he would be benched.
The two Swedes greeted each other and Martin’s blood boiled at the adoring look Larsson gave Finn. Everyone seemed to love him. He didn’t know if it was Finn’s smile that brought everyone under his thrall. Or maybe it was his strong jawline and his high cheekbones. Either way people didn’t see the conniving, scummy person underneath. Finn took his seat directly in front of him and Martin glared at his back.
English class started then dragged on. They were studying Heart of Darkness and though it was a short book Martin felt like every page counted for three. The prose was too flowery and the plot had one foot in the grave. Their teacher was an old man whose voice was putting him to sleep which didn’t help. He thanked anyone that was listening when the bell finally rang.
Choir was next and Martin liked this class more than you would think. He had a few friends there and was happy that Mihael was already in the room when he arrived. The shorter Slovenian was a nice and friendly guy and always had a smile for him. Not to mention he was great at listening to his endless rants. “Hello Martin.”
“Hey Miky.” He liked the way Mihael brightened at the use of his nickname. “How are you?”
“I’m doing good. You?”
“Barely survived English. This will be a long day.”
“That’s rough.” He adjusted his glasses a bit before looking at the music they were working on. “You ready to sing in Latin this entire period?” It was true their director was putting them through old songs with complex harmonies but Martin didn’t mind. It was a challenge to focus his mind which was welcome.
“Honestly I need it today.” Mihael gave him a concerned look but didn’t press. He was careful when Martin was in a mood not wanting to draw his ire. This is why he cherished the Slovenian. No one else at this school could read him and know exactly what he needed.
Halfway through the class his director handed out new music. Martin looked at the four part harmony finding his baritone part. Allegri’s Miserere mei Deus was a very famous piece their director explained. The lyrics were the pleading of a man to God for him to be cleansed from sin. To be made whole and anew. He implored them to think about the message as they sang until the bell rang.
The haunting melody followed Martin into math class. It wasn’t his best subject but luckily he sat next to two members of their school’s robotics club. Those nerds were more than willing to help out. Though Luka could be condescending. Very condescending when he didn’t understand a concept after he explained it. Tim was already sitting at his desk with his AirPods in sketching away at a new robotic design. Martin knew better than to disturb the Slovenian who he knew thought Martin was beneath him. Tim only tolerated his presence because Luka had taken a liking to him. Honestly the annoying nerd was lucky he deigned to interact with him at all. He was a handsome soccer star and that was worth a million times more than any robotics trophy Tim managed to get.
“Martin!” came the deep voice of Luka as he slid into his seat. “You ready for the pop quiz?”
Martin’s heart stopped. “There’s a pop quiz today?”
“Yeah man.” The usual smug grin on his face told Martin that Luka wasn’t worried. He was sure he’d ace it. “It’s just on solving equations with three variables. Not hard.”
Martin let out a string of curses. He hated how long those problems took him for he had to be so careful he didn’t mess anything up. Luka’s loud laugh was not the thing he needed to hear right now.
“You’ll be fine Martin. Just remember what I taught you.” If only it was that easy.
Sure enough he was sweating bullets when their teacher passed out the pop quiz. They had ten minutes to finish three problems. Martin tried to calm himself down as he read over the problems. Being stressed would only make things worse. He worked hard and tried to remember Luka’s advice as the minutes ticked by. The timer went off just seconds after he put down his pencil. He had done it, finished the three problems. As the papers were collected Luka looked back at him and grinned. He whispered, “see, I know you could do it.” Martin gave him a strained smile in response. Sure he finished the quiz but he would rather have his homework tripled than face another pop quiz.
Math class was, well, brutal. Try as he might Martin could not follow their teacher. By the time class ended and their homework was assigned Martin’s head was swimming. He tapped Luka on the arm and asked if he could come by after soccer practice to get some help.
“Sure man. See you later,” the Croatian said before slinging an arm around Tim. Those two were off to eat lunch in the small machinery shop like always. He didn’t understand why Luka hung out with those people, he could be pretty popular if he tried. It was his choice to make though.
Martin was hoping that his lunch break would be a good time to let off some steam with his teammates. He walked into the cafeteria and his heart sunk. There was Finn sitting close to Larsson and Gabriel. It made sense that the two Swedes would be friends he told himself. It just grated on his nerves. He would have to find somewhere else to sit. Scanning the cafeteria while waiting in line for his food gave him an idea of what was going on. His schoolmates broke themselves up into different factions depending on their interests and even though they all wore the same uniform each group had identifying characteristics. He decided it would be best to sit next to Mihael today. Everyone got along with the Slovenian and they did share a class so it wouldn’t be weird.
“Hey,” he said as he set down his tray and sat on a chair across from Mihael.
“Hey Martin.” Mihael gave him a smile. “It’s nice of you to join us today.” Martin looked over at the only other person at the table. He was vaguely familiar.
“I’m Steven,” he said with a shy smile. His English was tinged with a French accent and his bleached hair contrasted sharply with his dark glasses.
“Martin.” Steven had gone back to focusing on his sketchbook pencil in one hand and sandwich in the other. He was a talented artist, Martin would give him that.
“So is your day going any better?” Mihael asked.
“No. Math had a pop quiz. Can you believe it?”
“That blows.” Mihael thought for a moment then turned to Steven. “Do you still have that drawing?” Steven wasn’t paying them any attention so Mihael tapped him on the arm. “Do you have that drawing of the team?”
Blinking in confusion Steven just sat there, pencil hovering in the air. Mihael reached over to grab his sketchbook and Steven freaked out.
“No, no, no, no,” he said while clutching his book close to his chest. “Don’t you get your greasy fingers all over my sketchbook.” Mihael looked at his fingers which were a bit greasy from his pizza. He made a show of wiping them off with a napkin then held his hand out for Steven’s book. Reluctantly Steven gave it over and Mihael carefully flipped through the pages until he found what he was looking for. He slid the book over to Martin and he looked down to see a drawing of his team. It was done in an anime style with Larsson front and center looking for all the world like an anime protagonist. Martin found himself and smiled. He was next to Emil, the gangly red-head, and Larsson.
“This is really good,” he told Steven with a smile. The shy Parisian blushed a bit.
“Just a quick sketch really,” his voice was quiet as he fidgeted with his pencil. “A girl I was interested in asked me to draw the team but things didn’t work out. Luckily I got to keep it.”
“I’m sorry. Thanks for sharing it with me.” It was true that seeing the drawing had improved his mood a bit. Martin took one last long look at it before handing the book back to Steven. Mihael had a wide smile as he watched them interact.
“Isn’t Steven great?” He asked rhetorically. “If only he watched anime instead of reading manga he’d be my favorite person in the world.”
Steven rolled his eyes. “Manga is superior. You get through more in the same amount of time.”
“But you’re reading! Nerd.” The two of them continued to debate and Martin tuned them out. His lunch consisted of a sandwich much like Steven’s with an apple, turnover for dessert and a bottle of water.
“What’s this about manga being better than anime?” came a loud, heavily accented voice. Martin looked up to see Marcin, a guy in his German class, staring at them.
“It just is.” Steven said with more force than Marcin thought he had in him.
“No, no, no. You’re wrong. You’re so wrong I can’t even begin to describe how wrong you are.” The three of them continued the debate for the rest of lunch while Martin sat there.
The best thing about science class was that it was uneventful. He didn’t mind the subject and the time went by quickly. The last class of his day before practice was German. Being from Denmark helped a ton in this subject and he didn’t really pay attention most of the time. Instead he was busy thinking about what he would work on during practice and how he would impress his coach. His thoughts were interrupted by an overly loud voice. Marcin had his hand as high in the air as he could reach. “I know, I know!” he yelled and Martin winced. The older Pole was notoriously bad at German, that was why he was in Martin’s class instead of the one for his year after all. The teacher listened to Marcin’s answer with a slight smile on his face. Marcin was wrong, unsurprisingly, but their teacher praised the Pole’s efforts. He was quiet after that thankfully.
Finally he was free and went into the locker room. It felt like taking off shackles to remove his awful school uniform and to put on his joggers and a long-sleeved athletic shirt. He quickly stuffed his discarded uniform and book bag into the locker then moved out to the field. It was a cold wintry day with spring just around the corner. Though he was a bit cold now he knew that would change as soon as they started practice.
Their coach put them through a series of warm-ups consisting both of footwork and endurance. As he watched Larsson dribble the ball through the cones Martin couldn’t help but admire him. His footwork was impeccable and he made it look so easy. If only Martin could be as graceful he’d for sure get to be team captain next year.
For practice they played a light scrim match vs the junior team. It allowed them to work on their communication and passes without too much stress. Like always Larsson was the star of the show and Martin swore he was showing off. They beat the junior team 3-1 and headed back to the locker room spirits high. Larsson had an arm around Gabriel teasing him about eating too much. If he wasn’t careful he’d become so fat he couldn’t move and what good was a goalie that couldn’t move? Gabriel replied something along the lines of being so big there was no way any ball could get past him.
He stuffed his uniform into his book bag then sighed. He still had to visit Luka for help on math while he really just wanted to go back to his dorm room and take a nap. He decided a short shower and nap wouldn’t hurt.
The dorms were just across the street from the school and Martin was home in less than three minutes. His roommate, Rasmus, was surprisingly home. “You stink!” he said waving his hand in front of his face. “Go take a shower.” Martin did exactly that and came back to find him gone. He set a timer on his phone for it to go off in twenty minutes and flopped onto his bed. The last thing he remembered was the feeling of all the muscles in his body relaxing.