Work Text:
Noel Noa does not have favorites. That is a lie.
Noel Noa absolutely has favorites. It is Alexis Ness.
When Noel first came across the current Bastard Youth team, his first thought was that these kids were very impressionable, ambitious, and worst of all arrogant. Bastard München was a team that relied on logic and rationality, emotions had no place in a cutthroat team such as theirs, even something as motivating as spite.
And that was the strongest emotion that radiated off of the messy blonde-haired striker who glared at him when he first met the U-17 team. Spite stems from the need to prove oneself, to show others that they were wrong. If that boy doesn’t learn how to channel his anger, it will only hurt him in the long run. While it is possible to work yourself to greatness from the dead ground up, there are certain challenges that are nearly impossible to overcome alone. Noel would know, he speaks from experience.
But there was one child who left a small mark on him. There was nothing noteworthy at first glance, a slightly nervous yet polite young boy. Very normal by all means. However, it was what lay in his gaze that caused him to stop and really look at the boy. While the rest of his teammates were tripping over themselves to talk to Noel and ask for advice from the greatest striker himself, the boy stood by on the sidelines, carefully observing the scene unfold and taking note of the manner in which his teammates behaved themselves in the face of players more skilled than them. Noel watched as the boy was approached by the blonde-haired menace, who quickly tore his calculated gaze from the scene before him in favor of providing the newcomer his undivided attention.
The change from a quiet calculation to cheerful compliance was whiplash-inducing to say the least.
Noa quickly deduced that at first glance the boy seemed meek and eager to please others, a team player to the core, but no less willing to do what it takes to get closer to his goal. A dangerous combination. He looks forward to seeing what the rising midfielder will be capable of in the future.
Alexis huffed in frustration as he weaved his way through the crowded metro station, trying his best to avoid bumping into people as he made his way to the next scheduled train, only to find out that it had been delayed by half an hour.
As if his day couldn’t get any worse.
Just that morning Alexis had somehow managed to oversleep and failed to wake up Michael from his slumber, resulting in them arriving late to practice. This could be forgiven as it had been months since both of them had arrived late to practice, but the previous night Alexis had taken a phone call from his parents that lasted late into the night which consisted of a two-hour lecture on why football was a waste of his time. His mother stated that he should instead focus on school and obtain a respectable career. Safe to say Alexis couldn’t comfortably fall asleep after that call. And to make matters worse, Michael had yelled at him during practice! Alexis was only trying to be helpful and give him feedback on why his latest goal wasn’t meeting Michael’s expectations as it could’ve been. Michael had been hitting the ball at an angle that worked against the spin of the ball when Alexis made the pass to him.
That interaction had admittedly stung him in the heart more than he cared to admit but he bit his tongue and apologized to Kaiser for his error. The rest of the practice went by without any further incidents but Alexis was more reserved than usual. Still feeling the harsh words from Kaiser’s previous lash out, Alexis had decided that he needed some time away from the blonde before he said something that might set him off again.
Now that he thinks about it, it has been a while since he has had some designated alone time. Ever since he met Michael, he has spent all of his waking hours by his side and doing what it takes to help his emperor in his journey to the top. Hard to realize that it has only been a year and a half since that fateful day.
His pondering of his current life leads him to recall something that his mother had once said to him long ago, she had been talking about a recent journal she had read about counseling.
“Before you begin to take care of others and their problems, make sure to take care of yourself first.”
Alexis may not have had the most heartfelt relationship with his mother, but he couldn’t deny the wisdom that lay in those words.
After deciding that he deserved to treat himself a little, Alexis quickly searched online for any nearby museums that he could take a quick visit to for fun, after asking permission from their coach and manager of course.
So here Alexis stands, stuck in a crowded station when all he wants to do is look at whimsical paintings of the past and stare in awe at statues so detailed you’d think they were a breath away from coming to life.
He was about to pull out his phone to start scrolling through social media when he noticed something from his peripheral vision that caused him to pause what he was doing. Now that he was paying more attention, Alexis spotted the person who caught his interest and took a better look at them.
Something about the person seemed oddly familiar, but he couldn’t quite pinpoint what it was. As Alexis stared at the person for a moment longer he managed to pick out a couple of things. The person is obviously male, very tall, sporting a cap that hides his hair along with a black face mask.
The man also seemed to be struggling with something on his phone, his body language conveying obvious signs of frustration if his constant foot tapping and quick tapping of the screen were any indication.
It wasn’t until the man finally had enough and looked up to glare at the nearby wall that he realized why the man seemed so familiar. Face now more visible, Alexis could make out golden eyes framed by signature black eyeliner that could only belong to one man, a man who also happened to be their football club's current ace striker, Noel Noa.
Seeing the older man continue his struggle with whatever problem he seemed to have with his phone, Alexis took pity on him and decided to offer his help to the poor man.
Walking up to Noa, Alexis stopped at a respectful distance away before clearing his throat to catch the older man’s attention before speaking.
“Excuse me, Mr. Noa?”
Noa looked away from his phone to look at the newcomer, eyes staring in cold passivity until he realized who had just spoken to him. It was the same boy whom he had seen a few weeks ago at the BM facility.
What was that boy's name again? Noor? Noss? Nez? Ness!
Giving Ness his full attention, Noel gives a slight dip of his head.
“Yes? Do you need something?” He inquires.
Looking more confident now that Noa's immediate reaction wasn’t to tell him to go away, Alexis gets straight to the point.
“No, but I couldn’t help but notice that you seemed to be struggling with something on your phone. Do you need any help by any chance?”
Noel blinks at Ness’ straightforwardness, but immediately accepts the younger's help. He quickly shoves the affronted phone towards his face.
“Fix it.”
“On it!” Ness chirps happily as he grabs the phone.
Only to immediately be met with the bane of Noel’s frustration upon powering on the phone; Face Identification failed. Please enter passcode.
“….”
“So, what’s the problem with it?” Noel asks somewhat impatiently
Ness looks up and squints at him, not quite sure whether he should laugh or cry.
“You uh, you need to enter your passcode since the phone can’t register your face to unlock it since, you well,” Ness gestures at Noel’s cap and mask. “Anyways, it’s an easy fix.”
After hearing this, Noel takes back the phone handed to him and stares at it once again.
He gives Ness a blank stare before saying, “I don’t know the passcode.”
“You don’t know the passcode?”
“No.”
“You don’t have any idea what it might be?”
“… there might be a few possible combinations.”
The two then quickly gather around the device as Noa proceeds to enter his first combination. 0402.
Incorrect Passcode
Alright, so his birthday is out of the question.
“You don’t have any other ideas?” Ness suddenly asks. “An important date, like an achievement or a loved one’s birthday?”
Noel tries to think of any other dates that might be important and easy enough for him to remember but ends up drawing a blank. A loved one’s birthday pay huh…
He quickly types the code, 0331.
Incorrect Passcode, try again in 1 minute, 59 seconds.
Noel sighs and ultimatum decides to count his losses, pocketing the phone.
He turns towards the magenta-haired boy next to him. “Thank you for your effort.”
“No problem, I’m happy to help.” Ness beams up at him.
They stand in a comfortable silence until curiosity gets the better of Ness. “So, is there anywhere specific you’re going to?”
Noel hums before responding, “I have an appointment for a sponsor advertisement.”
“Huh, sounds interesting?”
“It’s not.”
“Sounds energy-consuming.”
“It is.”
At this Ness lets out a small huff of laughter. Noel lets a small uptick of his lips happen underneath his mask. His attention is quickly turned away when he hears the familiar sound of an arriving train and recognizes it as his. “This is my train.”
“Oh! Don’t let me keep you waiting then, I hope you have a good day Mr. Noa!” Ness chirps.
“Thank you, you too.” Comes Noel’s monstrous reply as he heard off towards his train.
That Ness is a good kid, polite not to mention competent. Noel thinks to himself as he walks away.
Now to get on the train while avoiding getting recognized…
Social Media is a scam and there is no reason why people should be as nosy as they are.
Noel had just gotten out of a soul-consuming meeting with the team's head of PR. In this current day and age, maintaining an online presence has become a vital part of any celebrity's popularity. Fans loved to see what their favorite people posted, whether it be their hobbies, likes, dislikes, anything that let them catch if glimpse of their private lives.
Emil, their current head of PR, had told Noel that since he was such a high-profile football celebrity, it would be a good idea to begin cultivating a better online presence or image at the very least. He was popular with both the younger and older generations, and while the older generation who grew up watching Noel’s progress over the years would be satisfied with simple interviews and highlight reels the same could not be said for the younger ones. They were more tech savvy, constantly gorging through social media and keeping up to date with any content from their favorite celebrities.
Ergo, Emil’s suggestion of Noel upping his online presence was taken into consideration since Noel could benefit from it in the long run. However, there were two, teensy little problems with his suggestion.
One, Noel could not give a shit about upping his online presence and interacting with fans online. Sure, he was thankful for those who had supported him from the start and those who continued to do so, new fans equal more support. But dedicating more than an hour to social media when he could be making better use of the time practicing football was simply not worth it.
And two, Noel had no idea how to navigate social media, let alone how to make a post.
Well, he did actually know how to post something online, but the picture would either be blurry or unfocused as hell. Thankfully, his fans weren’t too upset about the low quality as they thought it added to his “cool and mysterious” appearance.
But when it came to editing, Photoshop, and keeping the audience engaged? His skills were nonexistent.
After the harping he got from the PR team about his outdated approach to social media Noel finally accepted that he needed to take more of an initiative on handling his own socials. Emil had even suggested that someone from the marketing department take over his social for him so Noel didn’t have to worry about it, but as those words left his mouth Noel shot down the idea just as fast.
Knowing them, they would have taken his agreement to the proposal as a green light to use his name to promote the team in other ways unrelated to football. They would probably rope him into modeling or something worse, doing collaborations with other renowned football players.
Absolutely not.
Noel was thinking about just how he would tackle the latest obstacle that was social media when he came across a familiar mop of magenta and brown hair in the hallway.
The magenta-haired boy also immediately spotted him. Ness’ face lit up with a natural good good-natured smile as he approached the striker.
“Good evening, how have you been Mr. Noa?”
“Fine. And drop the ‘Mr’ part, Noa is just fine.” He adds.
Ness hummed in confirmation, “Alright, well if you don’t mind I’ll be on my way then.” And proceeded to turn to leave.
Just as Ness was about to leave, Noel was struck with a sudden idea, one that might just be the key to solving his current problem.
He quickly calls out to Ness. “Ness, you’re young, and I assume you're well versed with social media correct?”
Ness stops walking to turn around to look at him, a look of confusion on his face.
“Yes? I mean I occasionally help Michael with editing and uploading pictures for his insta, and I’d like to say I’m not too shabby with photoshop either.”
Perfect.
“In that case I have a request for you,” Noel stated, getting straight to the point. “I just had a conversation with the head of PR. They requested that I update my social media presence, but seeing as I don’t have any idea how social media works and I refuse to have the marketing team touch my socials. I need someone who is well versed with social media to help with running my socials.”
After hearing Noel’s explanation, Ness nods his head in understanding. “So you’re basically asking if I can help you your accounts.”
“Yes.”
“Alrighty then, let’s see what I’m working with.” Ness promptly holds out his hand expectantly.
Immediately understanding that Ness must want to see the current state of his socials, Noel hands over his unlocked phone with little fuss.
Taking a quick glance over Noel’s insta, TikTok, twitter (sorry, X), and other accounts, Ness eyebrows continue to raise in disbelief.
“Yeah no, the PR team was onto something when they said you have to update your socials. It’s drier than the Sahara, even Theo has more on his insta bio than you’d do, and he’s barely active on social media!” Ness exclaims.
Ness then proceeds to go on a small rant about how outdated his social media is and what can be done to improve it. He does it all while occasionally asking Noel for his input on what he is and isn’t okay with being shared with the public and is very firm about learning what boundaries he may have. Ness gets very into it to say the least.
Well, you know what they say, all's well ends well. Noel no longer has to worry about touching the internet, and Ness gets a Kaiser unrelated pastime. Very healthy, kill two birds with one stone type of situation.
Ness is truly a blessing in disguise.
“Alright, listen up everybody!” One of the several Bastard München team managers claps his hands to get the player’s attention. “Today, we decided to have both the youth team and official team go through a couple of bonding activities!”
Several groans ring across the open courtyard, groans that are promptly informed by the overly preppy manager. Five minutes had just passed and Noel already wanted to go home.
“So, we’ve decided to group you lot in groups of ten. Each group will be chaperoned by a member of the official team and will split up to enjoy whatever exhibits are open at the museum. I’m going to list out the preplanned groups and their assigned chaperones, first is Henrik, George, Engel…”
It took a while to announce all of the assigned groups before arriving to the last set. “…Ali, Mensah, Kaiser, Ness, Birkenstock, and Sachs. Your designated chaperone will be Noa.”
Oh Hell no.
“Now that everyone knows who they're grouped with, we'll lay down a few ground rules. The bus will be set to leave at four pm sharp, so be here roughly thirty minutes before. Any more rules after that will be up to the designated chaperones. Any questions?”
They were met with silence.
“No questions. Alrighty then, hop to it! Time’s a wasting!”
The previously inactive players quickly began to gather in their designated groups and ironed out plans for the day. Noel let out a quiet sigh before he too, grouped up with his assigned group.
He just hoped that they were obedient at the very least.
Turns out his hopes were in vain.
Finding his assigned players and going over the logistics of the day went somewhat smoothly. The teens had agreed that they wanted to at least view an animal exhibit that had recently opened and agreed to meet up at the food court in five hours so they could make it back to the bus on time.
“Stay close together, don’t wander off by yourself, be respectful of others around you, and keep in mind that you are representatives of one of the most influential football clubs in Germany, so act like it. We regroup in half an hour to have lunch. Dismissed.”
Said players scattered like the wind and left in different directions.
Ali and Theo decided to check out the mammal section, Benedict and Mensah wanted to grab a bite before leaving, Gesner and Ndiaye wandered over to the gift shop, and lastly Kaiser and Ness made their merry way to who knows where.
Ten minutes in and Kaiser already wandered off by himself.
He looked away for only a moment, where did he even go off too!
Thankfully, Ness has some sort of sixth sense dedicated to locating the blonde striker and quickly finds him and leads him back.
Crisis avoided.
Not
He turns his back and what do those gremlins do?
Ali and Theo go missing, someone arrives late, three of the idiots start roughhousing near an exhibit.
Those boys are hit or throw away from breaking something. Just as Noel was about to step in and try to take some control of the situation, he heard a loud clap ring across the room.
Head turning towards the source of the sound, he sees none other than Lexi’s Ness standing in the middle of the room, commanding his team’s attention.
Alexis is eerily calm as he presses his hands together, his signature V shaped smile on his lips.
“Now that I have everyone’s attention, here’s what we’re going to do.” He says pleasantly, tilting his head to the side. “Option A: We regroup now, start acting like we’re the mature teens we are and enjoy the rest of the trip. Or Option B: We continue embarrassing ourselves, and Noa personally escorts us back to the bus. I assume you all know which option ends your football career faster.”
As if his words were infused with some sort of obedience spell, the players slowly begin to regroup and calm down. But some still had their complaints.
Birkenstock mutters something under his breath at Alexis' words.
Alexis' eyes snap towards him with terrifying intensity.
“Say it louder. I’d hate to not hear whatever you have to say.” He challenges.
Safe to say, Birkenstock chooses life. “Nothing, I have no complaints.”
“Good.” Ness beams. “Now let’s enjoy the rest of the trip shall we?”
He turns to face Noel. “We’re all here now. I’ll keep them in line.” He says with a serene smile on his face.
Noel pauses for a moment, then slowly nods.
The rest of the trip goes without a single problem.
There were a few times when a player or two would start to act up, but one glance from Ness was enough to get them behaving again.
Later that evening when they were all loaded on the bus and on the road back to the bastard München facility did Noel finally allow himself to breathe. Looking after the boys was more effort than it was worth.
One of the managers looked over at Noel, “you know, I haven’t heard a single complaint from you about your set of kids. They must’ve really behaved for you huh?” They commented.
Noel couldn’t stop the snort that escaped him.
If only they knew.
Noa could only look at the kids, because that’s literally what they registered as in his eyes, in poorly concealed disappointment.
“This was supposed to be a scavenger hunt, a very easy scavenger hunt,” he stated while closing his eyes and pinching his nose in frustration, “Do pray tell, just how the fuck you guys managed mess up this badly?”
And if that wasn’t the most valid question of the century.
Standing before him, in all their teenage glory, was the pride and joy that was the Bastard München Youth team, covered in mud, slime, and god knows what else. (Is that glitter? Best he not think about it to much) The team stood before him in various states of disarray; Erik was had somehow lost a shoe, Ali was missing his signature goatee, Benedict had twigs and a pigeon nesting his is hair, and Kaiser kept glaring at him in a poor attempt of establishing dominance.
That little shit.
Now, you may be wondering how Noel had gotten in this situation in the first place. It’s rather simple, really.
The higher ups had gotten several behavioral complaints from the players, person A not wanting to collaborate, person B being a bitch, player c deciding that swapping a teammates shampoo with neon green hair dye would be funny, yada yada. The list goes on and on.
You put a bunch of growing teenage hormonal boys in a contained facility for prolonged periods of time, what else did they honestly expect? For them to begin holding hands and singing kumbaya?
In. Their. Dreams.
Thus, the head honchos decided that another team bonding exercise was needed to strengthen the team’s bond. To encourage a “growing sense of camaraderie” they said.
And for some reason, they decided to assign Noel himself as the supervisor for the scavenger hunt they organized. Apparently, since the team had behaved so well under his guidance during the previous team bonding outing it means that the players at least respected Noel enough to listen to him right?
Ha!
Little did they know, the great Noel Noa had absolutely no sway over these chaos gremlin.
No, the only would that had influence over everyone in the youth team, is none other than Alexis Ness.
And said person happens to be currently absent since it was the time of year he goes home to spend four consecutive days with his family. Poor thing, he recalled briefly meeting them so they could sign a couple of Important Documents.
They were more miserable than a wet paper towel.
Back to the source of his growing migraine.
Noel summoned his best look of disappointment that he could muster, which is not the different from his usual “I don’t give a fuck” expression, just with a more dead look in his eyes. Making sure he made eye contact with each player, Noel opened his mouth to speak.
“There were only four items for you all to find . Each one was rather easy to find, not to mention that they were hidden within the facility. There is no rhyme or reason you should be covered in mud, twigs, and other debris found in nature.” He gave them a moment of silence to let what he said sink in before he continued. “It should have taken you all an hour at most to complete. You finished it in five.”
And if finished wasn’t the most generous word, Noel couldn’t even say they completed it because that would simply be a lie. One out of four items means they barely completed half of their objective.
A huff came from one of the players, Erik Gesner, as he threw one final glare at Kaiser before looking at Noel.
He squared his shoulders before stepping forward, “In our defense, Kaiser over here thought that as the best player, he should be the one in charge. And then Theo, ever the reasonable one, said that we should divide and conquer. We did that and it was going well, until Mensah had the brilliant idea that one of the items may be hidden outside.”
“To be fair, the clue said to look in a place where the blue is. Blue could be the sky right?” Muttered Benedict from the side.
“Ok,” Noel began, “but that doesn’t explain the fact that the entire team not only went outside to the pitch, but also ventured out into the woods. How did you get into the woods?!?”
“…”
Everyone looked at each other expectantly, hoping someone had the courage to answer the question.
No one had the heart to answer.
“… you lot could never find your way out a paper bag without Alexis' help. I do hope you know how sad that is.” Noel sighs.
“Fair.” Theo shrugged.
“Touché.” Ali agreed
“I think I can make my way to the nearest fast food place and back. Eventually.” Added Gesner.
Noel only let another soul sounding sigh as he looked up to the heavens for patience.
All of this could have been avoided if Ness was here. He would have subtly taken charge and guided the team in the right direction.
Somebody was about to get brutally murdered by Noel Noa himself within the next twenty four hours.
The reason?
Someone took his last cup of Japanese noodles. The very noodles he had been saving for days specifically so he could eat it today, his designated diet plan cheat day.
Just as Noel was planning out his next form of torture for whoever the bloody culprit turned out to be he heard creak of his office door opening.
Looking up to snap at the newcomer for caring to interrupt his murder plans. Noel stops once he realizes who had entered.
Ness stands in the threshold of the office as he curiously looks at Noel’s state. “I’m sorry, is this a bad time?” He nervously asked.
“No, not at all,” Noel reassures him. “Do you need something?”
Ness shakes his head, “No I’m alright, I just wanted to drop by to give you something.”
He picks up his hand that Noel now noticed was holding onto a plastic bag and walks over to give it to him.
Noel opens the bag peer inside and freezes once he realizes what’s inside.
Scratching his cheek, Ness rushes to explain himself. “I noticed that whenever you seem stressed you favor eating these cup noodles and figured that you might not have had time to stock up on now with your busy schedule and all.”
Noel could only give Alexis a silent nod of gratitude at the kind gesture.
Alexis smiled at his thanks, “Well then I’ll be on my way then. Bye Noa!” And he promptly did it with little fanfare.
spirits now lifted thanks to the arrival of his favorite cup noodles, Noel quickly goes to prepare them in the small kitchenette.
Let it be known, that from this day forward, if something were to happen to Alexis, he would kill everybody in the building and then himself.
Once again, Noel stood before the u-18 bastard München team with a look of disappointment on his face.
Someone had the brilliant idea to pull a prank that involved covering sever,a lice’s of equipment in the gym in slime. It wouldn’t have been that bad if someone decided to throw some flour, oatmeal (or was that corn?), and baby powder into the mix.
One of the passing janitors had noticed the chaos unfold and booked it to inform one of the higher ups. Sadly the damage was already done. By the time they came back with someone responsible (Noa, unfortunately) the room was unrecognizable.
It really gave him a sense of Deja vu, and not the good kind.
“So,” he began. “Who started it?”
Noel quickly realized his mistake as several voices spoke up at the same time.”
“Not me”
“I had nothing to do with it”
“It was Ali!”
“Ness brought the flour.”
“Kaiser instigated it.”
This was getting ridiculous. “Alright that’s enough, one at the time.”
Of course, no one listened. Except Alexis who immediately shut up and gave him his full attention. See, this is why he likes the kid.
Taking a deep breath, Noel acted on his last resort.
“ENOUGH!”
Silence fell across the gym.
“I no longer care who started this mess, but I want every single one of you, yes including you Theo, to grab a bucket, mop or a rag and clean this gym until it is cleaner than when you entered.”
Grumbles and protests erupted from the players mouths at his statement.
Noel gave them a glare colder than the arctic. They immediately shut up and got to work. Just as he was about to leave, Noel stops and turns around.
“Oh, and Alexis?” He calls out.
“Yes coach?”
“Feel free to leave anytime. The punishment does not apply to you.”
And thus, Noel left the room like a dramatic Batman on his way to protect Gotham city. He did so all while ignoring the cries of outrage that came from the rest of the players in the face of blatant favoritism.
Who knew playing favorites could be so entertaining.
Omake:
“So I think Noa might be onto something.”
“No way! Really?” Came Kaiser's sarcastic reply.
Theo threw him a nasty glare in retaliation. “Shut up Kaiser, you’re the main reason we’re in this mess to begin with!”
They were supposed to have gone on what was supposed to be a simple grocery run. A couple of the guys had run low on personal items like shampoo, laundry detergent, etc.
Mensah, Theo and Erik had opted to go and buy what the others needed. To their surprise Kaiser had also decided to tag along since he was also running low on his favorite hair products. Ness couldn’t go since he was busy with his latest project, making some sort of scrapbook.
While on their way to the grocery store Kaiser suggests that they take a shortcut through the back alleys. Apparently he had taken them hundreds of times so there was no way they could get lost.
They got lost.
Turns out the Kaiser, did in fact not know his way around the back alleys and they had been wandering around for god knows how long.
Having had enough, it was Erik who finally spoke up, which leads them to where they are now.
“So what do we do now?” Asked Theo.
The four boys looked at each other for a moment. There were all in mental agreement that there were two options that they could choose from. One, they could wander around a little longer and try to find their way back. Or two, call for someone for help.
The answer was quite obvious really.
“Call Alexis.”
Kaiser immediately pulled out his phone and dialed Ness number, who fortunately picked up on the first ring.
“Michael?”
“Alexis,” Kaiser greeted, “come pick us up, we’re lost.”
“You're lost..? I thought you and the others were going to the grocery store, how did you get lost on your way there?”
“Doesn’t matter. Just come find us alright? My phone is about to die and Theo looks like he’s one breath away from going insane.”
“Ok, ok, just give me fifteen minutes and I’ll be there.”
“Se ya then, and bring me a snack too.”
“Okie, see you in a bit. Bye Michael.”
“I didn't just hear you tell Alexis to bring a snack.” Mensah said, looking at Kaiser like he wanted to slap him. “You could’ve at least told him to bring us some too! I'm so hungry I could eat Theo!”
“Excuse me?” Theo yelled as he scuffled away from Mensah.
Erik rolled his eyes at their antics, “calm down Theo, Mensah was just joking. Probably.”
“What if he wasn’t?” Kaiser mused, ever the instigator, “I guess your hope now Theo is that Alexis gets here quickly. Or else you might just become dinner.”
At his words, theo turned pale and began to pray to whatever god was listening that Alexis arrived quickly.
Thankfully they didn’t have to wait long before they heard footsteps approaching them and the familiar figure of the heart of bastard München walking towards them.
As soon as Alexis appeared Theo threw himself forward to tackle the midfielder in a hug. “Finally, our lord and savior Nessie has arrived!” He cried.
Alexis let out a huff of laughter at the boy's antics. “Nice to see you to Theo. Now let’s get out of here shall we?”
He tinted on his heel and began to walk back from the way he came. As they walked, the group began to banter with each other.
“Nessie you won’t believe the abuse I’ve endured! Mensah over here was planning to eat me!”
“Nah, you don’t have enough meat on you Theo. Erik on the other hand…”
“Did you just call me fat?”
“He’s saying you need to lose a few pounds.”
“Shut up Kaiser, no one asked for your opinion.”
“You guys are so silly.” Alexis hummed as he led the group through the maze of buildings.
Less than two minutes passed and the group emerged right beside the grocery store they had spent the last forty five minutes trying to find.
Theo's left eye twitched.
Kaiser looked nonplussed.
Erik wanted to cry.
Mensah screamed.
And Alexis? He just giggled at his friend's misery.