Chapter Text
Kylian paced back and forth. It was December 7, three days from the match against England, and he was already worried about it. He knew he should be celebrating his team, France, and their victory against Poland just a few days ago , but all he could think about was the quarter-finals match against England. England was practically the home of football and Kylian knew they didn’t have a shortage of talented squad members.
Opening his laptop, he searched up the England squad. Scanning all the names, his eyes stopped at their list of defenders.
He knew every team member was an enemy to him on that pitch, but as a forward, defenders were his biggest challenge. His eyes flicked from name to name. Luke Shaw. Harry Maguire. John Stones. Kyle Walker. Trent Alexander-Arnold. Kieran Trippier.
Those were all the names Kylian recognized from his passing interest in Premier League football. He looked up each player, one-by-one. Checked what teams they played for in the Premier League, read a few things about each of them. He wanted to know what he was up against, but he didn’t know how to get a proper account.
Konaté!
The thought hit him like a truck. His good friend on the France team, Ibrahima Konaté, actually played in the Premier League, for Liverpool. Kylian automatically supported Liverpool because of that; but that wasn’t the point. Since Konaté actually played in the Premier League, he would know a thing or two about the defenders in it.
Kylian turned on his phone and dialed Konaté’s number. Although all the France national team members were staying in the same hotel, Konaté’s room was all the way downstairs, so it was easier to just call him. As the call went, Kylian chuckled at the contact’s picture, which was a selfie of the two of them in front of a boulder the pair had sworn resembled a giant penis.
Konaté picked up quickly.
“Yo, Kylian,” Konaté said, sounding like he was smiling over the phone, “What’s up, bro?”
“Just relaxin’, man.” Kylian said. “I wanted to ask you a few questions…since you play in the Premier League.”
“Ok…” Konaté said apprehensively. “What about?”
“About some of the defenders you’ve seen.” Kylian continued. “I know you’re not exactly on the same side of the pitch with them most of the time, but I thought…maybe you’d know a thing or two about how they played.”
“Kylian,” Konaté sighed. “Is this about our game against England?”
“No…”
“Kylian.”
“Yes!” Kylian admitted. “I’m just…so worried. That I’ll mess up. I mean, these England guys are nothing to sneeze at.”
“Of course, I’ve played against them.” Konaté said simply. “But…you know what, fine. I’ll indulge you. So…who do you want to learn about first?”
“Trent. Trent Alexander-Arnold.” Kylian said, reading his name off his laptop screen. “I know he plays with you in Liverpool, tell me about him.”
“Oh, Trent.” Konaté sighed. “Well, I won’t lie, he’s very very good. He’s great on the ball and can dribble like mad, you should definitely watch out for him. But…”
“But what?”
“It’s like…his game is much more than that. I don’t know how, but when you play against him, he can somehow…get under your skin? Off-field, just you know, chillin’, he’s super mischievous and very annoying. It’s almost like he translates that into his playstyle.
“You’ve got to keep a cool head around him, is what I’m saying. In training during drills and play matches, he even gets to me. And as we both know, I’m like, the coolest head in the world.”
Kylian rolled his eyes then realized Konaté couldn’t see that, and gave him a pity laugh.
“That sass won’t do you well against him, tortue. ” Konaté sneered, using the nickname he enjoyed using to tease Kylian.
“Ok, ok, I get it, now onto the next person, John Stones…”
Konaté gave an exaggerated yawn. “Oh, I’m tired, Kylian. Can’t we just do this later?”
“How are you tired???”
“Kylian,” Konaté said emptily. “It’s 3 am.”
“No it’s n-”
Yes it was.
“Wha- how did it get so late? I was thinking it was still like 1 am…”
“Have you been pacing back and forth?” Konaté asked. “You know how you lose track of time when you do that.”
“No I don’t!”
“Oh, I’m too tired to have this argument. Good night, tortue. ”
Kylian didn’t feel the least bit tired, but he didn’t want to keep Konaté awake. He hated dealing with a grumpy Konaté at training the next morning.
“Good night, Konaté.”
Konaté cut the call. Kylian thought over what Konaté had said, about the mind games Trent seemed to play. Mind games? Kylian knew there was a truth in that, thinking of your opposition, but Kylian just saw that as fake shots and feinting to the left. He’d never seen it as far as annoying who you were trying to defend against. Trent was acting like this was chess or something.
He is also an avid chess player, said Trent’s Wikipedia article.
Hm.
Kylian opened Instagram and searched up Trent’s profile. He decided he was going to talk to the dude, try and get into his head. Because he refused to go on that pitch unprepared and let Trent play with his mind instead.
No one messed with Kylian Mbappé’s mind.
Kylian hit Follow. He was surprised that only a few moments later, Trent had followed him back. That’s good, Kylian thought. It meant he was online.
So Kylian decided to, er, slide into Trent’s DMs.
Hello. Kylian sent. Within a few minutes, Trent had read the message and was responding.
Yo
Lol dude y r u still awake
Kylian grunted.
I could ask you the same thing, you know
Trent answered instantly.
I guess
Y r u texting me anywya
I mean we aren’t exactly friends
No offense of course
Kylian hit a bit of a brick wall. He had never really considered this part…what reason would he give for texting Trent? He decided to just give a vague response
Well, I was thinking we could change that
Trent answered fast.
okokok
I was just thinkign
enemy teams and all
I mean we literally play htis saturday?
Kylian tried not to notice any of Trent’s spelling mistakes.
So? We can still be friends
Me and Neymar are friends even though he plays for a different national team
Trent typed for a while, then sent a response.
yh but u play for the same club…
but wtv
I kind of need to sleep, mbappe
or can I call you kylian?
Kylian snorted. What kind of question is that?
Of course you can call me Kylian
In fact, please call me Kylian.
Trent responded.
Well ok then
I need to sleep kylian
talk to you in the morning?
Kylian remembered that since they were both in Qatar, they’d be under the same time zone. He’d for some reason been thinking Trent was all the way back in England.
Okay. Good night, Trent
Trent responded, then went offline.
gn
Kylian decided he might as well get to bed too. His plan to get into Trent’s head was well underway, and Trent knew nothing of it. Why not sleep? He needed his brain well-rested if he was going to play mind games.
He smiled to himself as he shut off his phone and set it on the bedside. It was just like Sun Tzu said, wasn’t it? Every battle is won before it's ever fought.
The battle was the match and Kylian was determined to win.
Trent had lied.
He wasn’t going to bed just yet. He needed to talk to his best friend, Robbo. Or, if you wanted to use his full name, Andrew Robertson.
Trent went straight to Robert’s DMs.
robbo
robbo
ROBBO!!!!
R
O
B
B
Robert replied before Trent could finish spelling his name.
What?
Trent had already hit send on the last letter when Robert’s message came in.
O
oh ok
You’ll never guess what happend
Kylian mbappe just texted me
Robert shot a message back almost immediately.
Fr???
ur not shitting me are u
Trent sent a message back quickly.
For once, no
He really did text me
And he said he wants to be friends
Robert typed for a bit, then sent his message.
Well he clearly has ulterior motives
Trent looked perplexed. He quickly googled, ‘ulterior’.
yh no shit lol
Im gonna mess with him
Robert seemed to sigh over text.
Of course u are
need advice
We all know I’m much better than you at messing with people
Trent smiled.
oh suck my dick
I don’t need ur help
Robert groaned.
See? I even got to u
ok trent, we’ll see. gn, I need to sleep.
Trent yawned.
yh
G
O
O
D
N
Robert groaned again.
I’ll just put my phone on dnd
Trent didn’t care and continued.
I
G
H
T
<3
Trent laughed to himself and shut off his phone. Kylian Mbappé wanted to mess with him? This was going to be fun.