Chapter Text
The rain in North Rhine-Westphalia had a way of clinging to the grass long after the floodlights
died.
In the quiet after a match, when the Signal Iduna Park was emptied of its yellow wall and reduced to a quiet cavern, Erling and Jude always stayed behind.
It started as extra target practice,
but eventually, it became their sanctuary.
"You're late," Erling drawled, leaning back against the bench in the locker room, tossing an empty water bottle into his hands.
"Blame the press," Jude sighed, slumping into the space next to him.
He was exhausted, hair damp, the scent of rain and sweat hanging soft between them. He rested his head back against the locker, eyes half-shut.
"They ask the same three questions every time."
"Tell them you're busy being the best midfielder in Germany," Erling nudged Jude's shoulder with his own.
Jude turned his head. They were close-so close Erling could count the eyelashes dusting Jude's cheekbones, could see the tiny pulse in his neck.
For a split second, the banter vanished. The air between them pulled taut, thick with everything neither of them had the courage to name.
Erling's gaze dropped to Jude's lips. Just lean in, a voice whispered in the back of his mind.
"Ruin the friendship. Who cares? "
Jude didn't pull away. His chest rose and fell in a slow, expectant rhythm. His hand hovered on the bench between them, fingertips inches from Erling's.
Then Jude cracked a soft, nervous smile, breaking the spell, and patted Erling's knee.
"Come on, big guy. Gio's waiting outside. If we're late, he'll never let us hear the end of it."
Erling swallowed down the lump in his throat and stood up.
"Yeah. Let's go."
The night air outside the Signal Iduna Park hit them like cold glass.
Jude pulled his hood up over his damp hair, his hands shoved deep into the pockets of his black tracksuit.
Beside him, Erling walked with long, heavy strides, his shoulder brushing against Jude's with every few steps.
Neither of them said a word about what had almost happened in the
locker room, but the silence between them was louder than the roar of eighty thousand fans.
Ahead of them, idling near the stadium gates, was Gio's car, its headlights cutting twin beams through the light drizzle.
Gio was leaning against the passenger side, tapping away on his phone,
oblivious to the storm brewing in slow motion behind him.
"Look at him," Jude murmured, breaking the quiet with a faint, breathy laugh.
"He's probably ordering late-night food already."
Erling didn't laugh. He stopped short, a few feet before the reach of the headlights.
Jude took two more steps before realizing Erling had paused. He turned back, eyebrows raised
in question.
"Erling?"
In the dim yellow glow of the stadium lights, Erling looked towering, almost mythic-yet his face carried a raw, hesitant softness that only Jude ever saw.
He reached out, his hand hovering in
the cold air between them before his fingers caught the edge of Jude's sleeve, tugging gently.
"Jude," Erling said, his voice quiet, almost swallowed by the wind.
"Yeah?" Jude took half a step back toward him. The rain glistened on his cheekbones, catching the light.
Erling wanted to say it then. He wanted to say,
" Don't go to Gio's. Come back to my place. Let me hold you without the rest of the world watching."
He wanted to reach out, cup Jude's jaw with both hands, and erase every millimeter of doubt left between them.
Instead, Erling's fingers tightened on the fabric of Jude's jacket for a fleeting second before slipping away.
He reached up and gently adjusted Jude's hood, pulling it slightly lower over his forehead to keep the rain out of his eyes.
"Don't catch a cold," Erling whispered. "We've got a match on Saturday."
Jude stared at him, his dark eyes wide and unreadable.
For a heartbeat, Jude's lips parted as if
he were about to bridge the gap himself.
But then he swallowed, nodding slowly.
"Right," Jude said, his voice soft, almost a secret. "Saturday."
When Gio finally popped his head over the car roof and yelled at them to hurry up, Jude turned and jogged ahead.
Erling stayed behind in the shadows for a moment longer, watching the
rain wash away their footprints on the pavement.
"I should have kissed you anyway" Erling thought that night, watching Jude laugh with Gio in the backseat of the car under the orange glow of streetlamps.
"I should have ruined it." Earling said it in a melancholic tone