Chapter Text
The whistle blew. It was 2-1 to Argentina.
2-1.
Jude had every atom in his body stopping him from attacking the Argentinian team and breaking down into tears.
He took it all in. The stadium. The extremely loud fans chanting his name. His team, Harry Kane being right by his side, he too was taking it all in. This was the end of England's journey. This is how Norway must've felt, Jude thought to himself.
After getting back to the changing rooms, the team was giving each other talks and saying how they all did well…atleast some of them were.
“It was blatantly rigged! Didn’t you see the way Messi and the referee were looking at each other?! I’m telling you guys, Messi is paying them.” Declan Rice’s voice was the loudest in the changing room, drowning out everyone else’s. He’d seen Jude enter and immediately began to include Jude in the conversation.
“Come on Jude, don’t you agree?”
“Uhh, sure. I did see the looks Messi gave the referee. But you might wanna quiet your voice, there’s reporters all around.” He replied, cautiously aware of how being heard saying something as significant as the game being rigged would affect the way the world would see you as a player.
Harry kane could see the upset on Jude’s face and by his body language, so he quickly changed the subject of conversation.
“Alright lads, bring it in.” All 26 players came into a huddle.
“I know we’ve been defeated, that’s not going to change. But what we need to do now is focus on our moods. I’m sure we can all sense that our pheromones are duller. So how about some fun?” Harry always knew how to change the mood of the team. The 26 of them cheered, ready for a night of partying. However, Jude wasn’t cheering.
Partying with a bunch of drinking Alphas? As an omega? Who knows where that could lead to. It’s not that Jude didn’t trust himself, he just couldn’t be 100% sure about what would happen.
But, to not seem like he didn’t want to, he cheered knowing damn well he was not going partying
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Finally getting back to the hotel England were staying at after an exhausting amount of paparazzi and fans waiting outside the stadium screaming names and throwing questions at them, Jude laid on his bed.
He continued to think about the match, how he played, the fans, his team- BEEP!
A notification had come through on his phone. It was Erling Haaland.
Erling Haaland. The striker on the Norwegian team. Him and Jude had played at Dortmund for a few years, about three years back. The pair were close, but Jude would never forget the day his heat arrived early because of Erling, with Erling being there whilst it happened.
Stuff happens like this all the time, right? Jude tried to reassure himself. It never worked.
Erling, however, helped him right away. He’d given Jude his jacket and locked him in the spare bedroom of Erling’s house in Norway. He’d frequently check up on him, staying on the other side of the door, so Jude could have more of his scent to make his heat pass quicker.
Jude knew in his head that in Erling’s mind, he’d always be the weak omega that needed helping during his heat. In his mind, he ruined the friendship, making it constantly awkward between them. With how much he tried though, it was never enough to block out the fact that Erling’s scent had actually been the strongest, most calming scent he’d ever smelled. It had tinges of cold mountain air and cedarwood mixed with a scent of storm ozone. Jude knew he shouldn’t think of it, it would only make him crave it more than he already did.
Erling on the other hand, thought the complete opposite. He knew that Jude needed a scent so he gave Jude his. What a friend would do. To Erling, Jude wasn’t weak. In fact, he liked the fact that Jude could rely on his scent. He wished he could do it more often.
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Jude’s mind had finally gone back to his phone, where Erling’s unread message still was. He shook out of his memories and checked his messages:
Hey ;)
Was all Erling Haaland had put. To keep it casual, Jude wrote back.
Hey.
I’m sorry about the match results.
Yeah, it’s fine.
It was indeed not fine to Jude. He would never forgive himself for this. First he knocks Erling and Norway out and now he knocks the team out? He couldn’t even win for Erling. Well, not for Erling. Maybe for Erling? JUST WRITE BACK! Jude quickly snapped out his train of thoughts and saw that there was another message from Erling.
Do you want to come to my hotel? We can talk it out.
Jude’s plan had been to just spend the night alone in his hotel room but being with Erling sounded much better. He replied in an instant.
Yeah, I would thanks.
1067
Was the reply Jude got. 1067? What? Jude had no idea what he meant-
Oh.
1067 was Erling’s room number.
He’d already known the hotel Erling was staying at as they’d already told each other. But that didn’t matter, what mattered was getting to his hotel without being seen by anyone.
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Just as he was about to leave, there was a knock at his door. He thought it’d be something like room cleaning or something that he would be able to leave in the room. But no, it was Anthony Gordon and Declan Rice.
“Hey mate, was wondering if you got any of my texts!” Anthony greeted Jude. Anthony was the other omega on the team. Him and Jude got along quite well, it was always easy for Jude to go to Anthony about anything and vice versa. Jude knew that he was going to have to tell someone about going to see Erling, and Anthony was his best bet.
“Is that what you’re wearing to go out?” Declan asked, holding back a laugh as he spoke.
Jude was wearing a black Nike tech tracksuit. This is not what Jude had planned on wearing if he had gone out. As he wasn’t planning to, he’d figured this would be best if to hide himself from anyone at Haaland’s hotel.
“Well, it’s just casual right?” Jude argued, he’d rather not talk about what he was wearing with Declan, as Declan was not afraid to say what he was thinking.
“It doesn’t matter though, does it?” Anthony piped up, saving Jude.
“I’ll just be five minutes, Anthony can you help me find my…phone?” Jude asked, pausing a little longer than he wished.
“Sure.”
“Declan we’ll be down in five. Could you please tell the others?” Jude looked at Declan as Anthony made his way into his hotel room, shutting the door as Declan agreed.
“Right, so where was the last place you remember having your-”
“This isn’t about finding my phone.” Jude quickly cut him off. Anthony looked puzzled. Anthony was very cautious when it came to Jude’s health, as Jude was never the best at looking after himself the way an omega should, so Anthony’s mind went to his health immediately.
“Is everything okay? Is it about your heat?”
“No.”
“Oh, what about the supplements? Did you run out?”
“No.”
“What about your pheromones? Your scent sensitivity?”
“What?! No-”
“Did you-”
“Anthony stop!”
Jude had to cut him off before Anthony could talk any more. This whole situation had made the atmosphere in the room awkward.
“Listen. I need to tell you something, it’s nothing big, just I need you to help me.”
“Okay, I’m all ears.”
“I’m going to see Erling tonight instead of going out with the team and I just need you to drive me there and make an excuse for the lads. And make it believable.”
“You’re..you’re going to see Erling?” Anthony was the only other person who knew about what had happened between the pair a few years back. Of course he knew Jude was all in his head about the situation, but he would never say that to Jude.
“Yes, I am. But don’t make it out like that. He said that he wanted me to talk about the match to him, that’s all.”
“That’s fine.”
“Thanks, so you don’t mind driving to his hotel?”
“Nope, I just want to know how you think we’re gonna be able to get past the team without questionings from them.”
“Crap.” Jude hadn’t thought about that.
After a good brainstorm, the pair had successfully now made a plan that was now put into action. The plan was simple; meet the boys, stay for awhile, randomly sneak out, drive to Erling’s hotel, Anthony drives back and makes a good enough excuse for them not to question the whereabouts of Jude.
Well, simple enough.
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The plan was now in full swing. Jude had just given Anthony the agreed sign to leave, so off the pair went.
“You think anyone noticed?” Jude asked, questioning nearly every life choice he’d made ever.
“We’ll see when I get back.” Anthony played a small smirk across his lips.
“Don’t get too cocky, we’ve only just left.”
The journey was a small one, but it felt like forever in Jude’s mind. Finally, Anthony had pulled into a parking space in the underground car park of Erling’s hotel. Before Jude could go, Anthony pulled something out of his pocket.
“What’s this?” Jude looked down to what Anthony was holding. It was scent blocker.
“Now before you get all-” Anthony tried to explain why he had brought this, but Jude was already complaining to him.
“Why would you bring this? You know I specifically said that we were just going to talk!”
“I know, I know but I just wanted you to be careful. Your pheromones will be different around an alpha like him after our defeat, me and you both know this.” Anthony justified.
Alpha like him? Jude replayed in his head, no matter what Anthony meant, it wasn’t important.
“Anthony, you don’t need to be doing this. I’m not a kid!”
“Yeah, I sure wouldn’t want a kid version of you running around.” Anthony stated, a clear jab at Jude’s decisions.
“Whatever, I’ll text you if I’m spending the night.” Jude said as he shut the car door behind him, making his way to Erling’s hotel room, where the viking-like alpha himself was waiting for him.
End of Chapter 1