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Jobe sighs in relief after the match ended. A successful 0-1 against FC Tokyo was not what he expected. Especially after that heavy rain.
The team starts heading to their locker room for a quick celebration before Jobe gets a call from Jude. Of course he watched the match.
He quickly excused himself from his teammates and answered the call.
"What's up?" Jobe asks after he closed the door.
"A One-nil. I wouldn't say that was a good match. I mean, that shot on target you did was awful." Jude started, Jobe rolled his eyes as if the other can see it.
"Right. If you have no more discouraging words to say, I'm hanging up the phone."
Jude snickered at the comment. "Nah, I also wanted to make sure you check up on your friend. That wasn't a very good injury."
Jobe nodded, he almost forgot about Carney. He was going to check up on him even if Jude didn't remind him anyway.
"Yeah, I'll check up on him. By the way, you coming to the Arsenal match next week?"
"Sure am. Don't disappoint me, especially on our mother's land."
"Yeah yeah, whatever. Goodnight, or Afternoon in England." He replied.
"Night, Jobey." Jude answered. Jobe almost rolled his eyes again at the nickname.
Now on to Carney. Jobe glanced down on his phone, looking at his chat messages with Carney. He should probably text him, right? Just to check up on him.
Jobe
.Hey
Carney
Hey. 👋🏻
?How are you doing
I'm fine.
.Okay
Okay. Carney says he's fine so his job's done right? He doesn't need to go to his hotel room to check if he's really fine, right? Right?
His bus ride home was him spent overthinking whether he should check up on Carney or not. He looked at their text messages one last time before finally deciding he should go to his hotel room to check if he's really fine. Just for the sake of it.
By some magic luck, he remembered that Carney's hotel room number was 1217 for no absolute reason. Their rooms weren't even in the same floor.
The second Jobe arrived at the hotel his first and only mission was to check on his "friend". Just for the sake of it. The sake of it.
He's standing infront of the door with black numbers that read: 1217.
Right. Carney's room. Readying himself up to simply knock on his door at nighttime just to make sure he's really fine. He puts his fists on the door,
Knock, knock, knock.
The door opened. Carney's figure just behind the door as he looks at the person standing in-front of him.
"Jobe?" Carney looked at Jobe suspiciously. What the hell was he doing here so suddenly?
"Carney. May I come in?" Jobe requested Carney as if he didn't just come here uninvited.
"Yeah, sure." He quickly invites Jobe to come in, making sure no one sees him just standing in-front of the door.
"How's your knee?" Jobe quickly asks, trying to keep the conversation moving after Carney just closed the door.
"It's fine." Carney answered. That didn't sound as true because Jobe can clearly see Carney slightly limping as he walks to the bed.
"Right." Jobe replied back.
"Right. What are you even doing here?"
"I don't know. Just wanted to see if you were fine."
"Well, I am."
"No you're not."
"Yes, I am?"
"No, you're not."
"Fine. I guess I'm not."
Their conversation starts getting much more lighter after that, with Carney saying that their match was quite good and Jobe agreeing with it. But there was still something else ticking Jobe. His impulsive thoughts told him not to act on it, but who was he to listen anyway?
"Could I see your knee? The injured one." Jobe asks, trying not to sound as weird as possible.
Jobe could see Carney hesitate on answering the question but he eventually said yes.
Jobe kneeled down on one knee to check on the knee that's injured. If he remembered correctly it was the left one that was injured, it was on the back of his mind during the match. For no absolute reason again.
He reached for Carney's left knee and the second Jobe touched him, A small flinch came from Carney's knee. Carney's eyes briefly flickered down to where Jobe's hand rested against his knee before looking away again.
Before Jobe could do anything further, he finally realizes what the actual hell he's doing before getting up.
Normal friends touch the others knee to make sure they're really fine, right? There's no homosexual explanation other than friends checking up on each other.
"Right, yeah. You definitely need more rest." Jobe states, rubbing the back of his head to not make it seem so awkward. Jobe's ears continue to get redder but Jobe thanked himself it was nighttime as he was sure Carney couldn't see the others red ears.
He also noticed Carney's face was a bit flushed than usual but he only brushed it off as a weather condition. Yeah.
"True. I do need some rest."
"Yeah, I think I should get off soon. It's almost late. Don't want to keep you awake any longer."
Something tells Carney that he should ask Jobe to stay for just a little bit longer but he felt there was no need to do so.
Carney only nods in agreement and gets up to bid him farewell. Jobe does the same thing but before he leaves he thought that a small shoulder hug was needed before he went off.
He felt Carney tense up slightly and thought that was the stupidest thing he did.
"Get well soon. Night." He awkwardly stated.
"Night." Carney responded back and proceeded to close the door behind him.
Jobe stood still outside the door for a few seconds before coming into terms that he has to go back to his room.
The journey back to his room was a sickening silence from him pressing the elevator button to him finally reaching his destination.
He closes the door behind him and only after the door closes he gets the biggest second hand embarrassment in the century.
"This is stupid. We're friends for fuck's sakes." Jobe muttered, bringing himself down to the floor and having an existential crisis on all the things he's done that night.
If only he knew that Carney was going through the same existential crisis the second he got Jobe outside of his room.