Chapter Text
It's the start of the last week of the premier league season. Most other competitions have already finished up. The Arsenal first team players are gathered around the locker room. A little bit of chatter around the locker room as everyone gets changed for practice. Most of the players are sitting at their respective lockers talking to some teammates around them while others aren't talking at all.
Soon the door to the locker room swings open and in steps, muscular, handsome, Mikel Arteta. The locker room quickly grows quiet, and attentive upon the man's arrival. He's dressed in a bit of a tight shirt and some Arsenal branded sweatpants along with a pair of sneakers. The players all look up one by one as he saunters into the room proudly, his head held high and hands hanging gently at his sides. Mikel makes his way to where the whole squad can see him from their seats.
"Okay guys. Today starts the last official week of training. Now before we get to training I have something to announce that the club organized for us. You're not required to go but it is a team bonding experience so the club recommends it." Mikel starts as he looks around the room at all of his players. All their eyes are on him as they sit there, still like sculptures, focused only on him.
"So next Monday we are gathering you guys, the first team, and myself as well as a few other members of staff. The club is sending us on a month-long camping trip. I do not have many details about the campsite but we do have access to an entire camp the club has rented out for us during this period of time, it is in the north of England." Mikel starts explaining. He pauses and scans each of their faces.
He sees the faces of his players light up and he smiles himself. It was going to be fun for him. He loved taking his team away from civilization for a few weeks and enjoying the great outdoors. Mikel walks over to the back of the room and grabs onto the wheeled whiteboard.
He rolls it with him to the middle of the room and picks up the marker off the holder of it. He starts off by writing some rules. He scribes 'tents and food provided' on the top of the board after splitting the board in half with a line.
"Okay now I will explain some rules and guidelines on what this trip is about and what you need to bring. The club has provided us tents and food as well as some activities to take with us. We do have a limited supply of tents though so everyone needs to share a tent with one other person. Please talk to me if you have a specific preference on who your tentmate will be. I will try my best to make the arrangements comfortable for everyone. You can write who you'd like to be paired with on the back of the whiteboard here if you do plan on going with us." Mikel says and puts a title on the blank section of the whiteboard.
He then moves back to the other side of the board and writes 'no electricity' on it. He points to it with the end of the marker. "Now because we'll be out in the woods you won't have access to electricity so I recommend bringing items that rely on batteries or carry a portable power supply if you don't have anything that runs on batteries. That also means little or at times no internet connection so be aware of that if you do choose to bring your phones or other electronics." Mikel states then re-caps the marker and puts it back down on the holder.
"Okay now that I've explained everything. Any questions about the trip before we move on?" Mikel asks and looks around at all of his players.
Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli both raise their hands. They are sitting next to each other at their lockers and are looking at Mikel. Gabriel speaks first. "What sort of activities do you mean? Are they physical activities such as hiking or maybe shooting?" Gabriel asks. Mikel laughs a little. "I've been told not to spoil anything too much but yes we will be doing a lot of physical activity. Not too dangerous though, nothing with weapons. Myself and the club board has made sure you won't be injured too badly in the off chance something does go wrong." Mikel explains simply.
He wants the players to be excited and be a bit surprised by the activity schedule. He's sure everyone will like at least something... then again they do have Emile and Ben. Those two don't seem enthused by anything at all.
Aaron raises his hand. "I heard there's gonna be fishing involved. Is that true?" Aaron asks. Everyone chuckles at his question. "Yes, that is correct. There will be a lake near where we're staying. I can confirm it has fish, you can also swim inside it." Mikel informs him seriously. "Just be careful not to catch one of your teammates!" He adds jokingly with a bright smile. It makes most of the team smile at least, some of them even laugh.
Emile raises his hand. "Can I ask why we're being split into pairs?" Emile asks. "Honestly it's mainly for the cost, but it's also a good way to get to know your teammates better, waking up and going to sleep in the same space for multiple days. Im sure each of you and your respective tentmates will get to lots of talking." Mikel explains honestly. He's still smiling. He looks around the room and sees most of them have gone quiet and calm looking. They seem to be ready for training already.
"Any more questions?" Mikel asks again. No one raises their hand. "Okay then if you do have any questions later please contact me online or feel free to stop by my office and ask. Now let's get on with training for today." He concludes.
The rest of the week goes by smoothly. Training goes as usual and they win the final two matches played that week. On Saturday, which is their usual day off (for the players) Mikel comes into work. He always wakes up early for work so it's quiet and no players are around when he arrives at the first team training building.
He enters the building and greets the secretary, then continues through the hall into the facility. He goes to the locker room though, since that's where he last left the whiteboard. The one he told the players to use as a sign up sheet and he wrote basic notes about the trip on. He opens the door to the locker room and enters the dark space. He has this place essentially memorized though so he quickly flicks on the three light switches by the door.
They light up the room quickly as he slowly steps further into the room with a big open space and wall of lockers around it. In the middle of the room stands the pure white board with black marker scribed all across it. Eighteen names are on the side labeled 'trip sign up'.