Work Text:
Room 301. Make sure no one sees you.
Declan stared at the text. He had received it an hour ago according to the time stamps, but he had been at training. He only saw the message once he was back in his room. Away from prying eyes. Declan wondered what Martin wanted from him now. Not that it was that much of a surprise. It had been more than a month since they last saw each other and he had been getting a bit antsy. He’ll have to check in with the team doctor. Maybe his rut is coming up.
The message though. Does Martin actually want him to go to his room? Declan likes being alive. Being alive means being able to play football, score goals, be close to Martin the times he allows him to be. After a good match, high on adrenaline. But he does have a feeling if any of Martin’s teammates catch him anywhere near their national team’s captain’s room they’ll have no problem tearing him apart. He’s of a decent height. A lot of people would say he’s tall but compared to those damn vikings he tends to feel a bit like a dwarf sometimes. Declan wonders how Martin manages them all. The omega looks almost like a child next to the 6’5” giants in his team.
There has never been an instance when Martin called and Declan didn’t run to him. So he goes. Fearing for his life, but he goes. He’s out of his room, into the elevator and pressing the button for Martin’s floor hoping no one catches him.
Martin wouldn’t be happy if he got caught. He likes keeping his captain happy. Though he isn’t his captain now is he? He’s Norway’s captain now. Their, his, rival captain. His rival captain who for some reason has asked him to come, and here he is going. Because the guy captaining the team they would be playing against in three days asked for him.
Declan wonders if it’s just him being called or are the other Arsenal lads gonna be there too. He wishes that it’s just him. Just him and Martin. It’s been too long. He can’t take it anymore. Maybe this is the exact reason why B calls him a dog. Declan is acting like a dog isn’t he. But he’s always like that around Martin anyway.
Declan’s blinking and oh, there it is. Room number 301. He looks around to make sure no one’s there and knocks. There’s a sound of feet shuffling around and the door’s opening and there he is. Martin looks good. A bit tired, but good. It’s like staring into the sun. You look for too long, you get blinded. Declan likes the sun. It is much better as compared to the horrible weather England has all the time.
He can feel himself breaking into a smile. Declan thinks that if he had a tail it would be going to and fro as fast as it could. Martin’s looking at him and smiling, he’s being pulled into the room as the door shuts behind him. There is no one else in the room. Just Martin’s scent free and unbidden filling the room. He has missed that the most. The scent of winter forests, pine and snow. There’s a half-made nest on the bed. Wait, there’s a nest?! Is Martin going into heat or something? Then he definitely shouldn’t be here. Though he has a feeling if he tries to leave now Martin would never talk to him again. He does not want Martin to never talk to him. He would like Martin to talk to him everyday. But there’s a nest and Martin could be going into heat. While it would be lovely to spend it together, Declan doubts that that is a possibility with the Norway team two doors down.
When Martin sent that text he wasn’t thinking. He knew he wasn’t! For god’s sake his heat was a week away. Sue him for letting his omega make decisions for him for a bit. But he didn’t think that it would create such a big mess. In hindsight though, really what did he even expect?
He knew that the England team had landed. He had already seen Bukayo, Eze and Noni but hadn’t seen Declan anywhere. So he had sent that text. Ok you cannot blame him for maybe missing the guy just a bit. It had been way too long. More than a month! So now he accepts it but he very foolishly sent the text. As established above he wasn’t thinking now was he?
He had been in his room curled up on the bed making a nest when the knock came. He opened the door to see Declan. Declan looked good, really good. Declan’s hair had grown out and was falling on his forehead making him look a bit like a really big excitable dog.
Martin’s smiling up at Declan and getting a sweet smile in return. Not the one Declan gives to the media or the one he gets when they’ve argued and Declan has decided to be a brat. No this is the one he gets after they,ve won a really high end exciting match. That’s the one. The smile that lights up his whole face and everyone knows he’s happy. Martin pulls him into the room a bit impatient at why Declan is just standing there and closes the door behind him. And ok maybe forgetting to lock it hadn’t been his best move. But again he was a bit impatient. Declan was wearing his scent patches. Why was he wearing scent patches? And he was just standing there! Why was he just standing there? Did he get scared off by the nest? But Declan has seen his nests before. It wasn’t made yet, yes but it didn’t look that bad. He could feel his scent souring and forced himself to calm down. Maybe his heat was closer than he thought. It was making him act all crazy.
Declan’s turned around and saying something, “....... your heat?”
“Sorry? What did you say?”
“Are you on your heat?”
“No. But it’s in a week. Why, is something wrong?”
“Because there’s a nest on your bed. And you called me to your room. Three days before we’re supposed to play each other, and if you are that close to your heat I need to get out of here.”
Martin feels a bit hurt. They have spent some of their cycles together before so really Declan has got no right to be behaving like this!
“Why? It’s not like this would be the first time?”
He knows the hurt is bleeding into his words but it’s almost like he can’t help himself. Damn; his heat is either really close or it’s coming earlier than he expected. If it’s one thing Martin hates about being an omega is how fucking needy his heats make him.
“Yes, I know but if we do sleep together I’m pretty sure that your teammates are gonna kill me.”
“Who’s telling them?”
And then Martin’s on him kissing him like his life depends on it. Declan knows he should stop Martin. Stop before things escalate, but he’s a weak man. And the guy he’s in love with is kissing him. So of course he kisses back. Not much he can do there right? They’re kissing and he can feel Martin push him towards the bed. Martin makes the best nests. But he would really prefer not to go in one right now. If he does he doesn’t think he would be able to stop himself and then he would be in a whole lot of trouble.
Declan’s pulling back from the kiss and looking at Martin to say something. Martin already knows what he’s going to say. Something about how they could get caught and they are playing against each other in three days so they need to stop now. Martin if it was up to him would not be stopping. So he’s pulling Declan in again. Now if the stupid alpha would just shut up and get into the nest everything would be perfect.
“Wait. Martin please, wait.”
Martin’s groaning as they separate, “Why do you always have to make everything so hard for me?!”
Declan looks at him a bit lost. He knows that whatever he’s doing or saying isn’t justified but gods he just wants to kiss the guy. Something Declan has never refused him. So why does he have to start now? He is starting to feel really frustrated and he knows the frustration is seeping into his scent. Everything is sharper all around him and his eyes are starting to sting.
“I just want to kiss you for god’s sake! Is that so wrong now too? Once Declan, once I ask something of you! Now get into the damn nest, shut your mouth and lay there for a bit.”
The alpha looks chastised and honestly a bit scared as he dutifully gets into the nest. And instantly wrinkles his nose. Martin didn’t have anything of Declan’s so he just made the nest with whatever he got his hand on. Which happened to be a lot of clothes and scented blankets from his teammates, who were more than happy to help him out. Unlike the alpha he currently has in his nest it seems. Declan doesn’t say anything though. He knows very well exactly how much to push Martin so he doesn’t get killed.
Martin huffs and he’s gathering more pillows and blankets from the cupboard and piling them on the bed.
“Take off your patches and scent these. Also tell Saka to drop by later with a few things of his own.”
Declan opens his mouth, maybe to protest, but takes one look at Martin and dutifully shuts his mouth. He takes off his patches and finally, finally the scent of earl gray and fresh grass is filling the room mixing in well with his own scent. Martin gets into the bed and sits in the middle of it staring at Declan. He takes the hint, sighs and starts scenting the items one by one. Once they’re all done Martin throws him out of the bed so Martin can complete making the nest in peace. As he puts everything exactly where it belongs, Declan moves around the room picking up clothes that have fallen out of the suitcase and arranging them in neat stacks on the couch.
Once Martin is done making the nest he beckons the alpha closer, “Don’t mess anything up. And do not move anything out of its place. I get that you may not like all the other smells but it is my nest so I will have in here whatever makes me comfortable along with you.”
“I didn’t say anything you know.”
“But you thought about it and when you get jealous your scent turns into this weird smell which I would not like in my nest.”
Martin can see when Declan physically gives up and starts moving up to where he is careful not to displace anything. It makes him happy that Declan is not one of those alphas who do not care about anything omegas say and do just as they wish. Of course he isn’t. Martin wouldn’t have let him come near a ten foot radius of himself if he was.
Martin is surrounded by scents he feels safe around. Erling, Sander, Nyland, Ajer, obviously the pups Andreas and Antonio. Though they can’t be called pups anymore considering they’ve both presented. But it’s what he’s got and he’ll make do with it. Martin would have liked some of the Arsenal guy’s clothes here too, but he’ll make do with what he gets. He knows that being around so many other foreign smells is doing something to the alpha currently in his nest, but he is doing such a good job of controlling himself. Martin lets out a few purrs as Declan comes closer. Like the good boy he is. Always at Martin’s beck and call. Never refuses him anything. And it isn’t gonna change starting now.
As soon as Declan gets close enough to Martin he’s being pulled in for another kiss. He goes quite willingly having understood that he can’t reason with his captain now. Not like he would ever willingly refuse his captain anything. Martins in his lap now and he’s purring beautifully. He doesn’t purr very often so on the rare occasion he feels safe enough to do it Declan happily indulges him.
Though if this goes on any longer Declan doesn’t think he can control himself. He’s in Martin’s nest with his beautiful captain on his lap kissing him. His self control should honestly be given a prize considering how long he has held on. He starts rumbling back at Martin who giggles happily before starting to kiss down his neck.
Declan groans with his head falling back and grits out “Martin I really don’t think I will be able to stop if you keep on doing things like that.”
Martin is looking up at him, fixing him with a stare and saying as he always does, blunt and straightforward, “Who’s telling you to stop? I’m asking you to do things if you haven’t noticed.”
That really shouldn’t have been as arousing to Declan as it was but finally his control snaps and he’s surging forward to take Martin into another kiss before moving down, kissing his neck, nuzzling his glands and taking in mouthfuls of that intoxicating scent. Martin is making all these pretty little noises above him and he doesn’t ever want him to stop. He would spend a lifetime drowned in this scent.
Declan hears a click in the distance but is too preoccupied to pay much attention to it. Maybe he should have, because moments later he’s being pulled off of Martin by an unfamiliar hand. He growls and turns around only to be met with Erling Haaland looking down at him like he would be killing him. The only thought that goes through his head is, “I’m so goddamn dead.”
Martin feels Declan pulling off, hears a growl which cuts off abruptly and opens his eyes to see Declan practically being scruffed by Erling who looks murderous while Andreas and Antonio stare at him with wide eyes and flushed cheeks. Before he can say anything to diffuse the situation or at least get Erling to calm down a bit, Sander’s entering the room and taking the situation in. Sander’s eyes snap to him once, and then goes to Declan who’s starting to look a bit sick and Erling who looks two seconds away from getting Norway a ban.
Declan makes a choking sound and Erling drops him before turning back to Martin and that’s not good. In the meantime Declan doesn’t give a single thought before jumping out of bed and hightailing it straight out of the room. Erling and Sander share a look before going after him, not without a “We’ll be talking about this!” thrown out behind them. Yeah they will definitely be talking about this.
Andreas and Antonio have composed themselves and are now looking at him with twin expressions of worry on their faces. He sighs before patting beside him. They scramble onto the bed careful not to mess anything up and crowd him before the questions start dropping.
“Are you ok?”
“Were you being forced?”
“Is your heat so near that you’ll grab any alpha off the streets and have sex with them?”
That one got Antonio a smack on the head and a glare. Before Martin could open his mouth to say anything to the two clearly very anxious pups in his nest they had started again.
“Aren’t pups supposed to help with heats? I know we have presented but you do call us your pups. If we are your pups can’t we help? Why do you have to have some random creep in your bed?”
Martin does not know where these two got their ideas from but he has a fair idea that the rest of the team played a part in it, but he still asked. “What are you two talking about? Is there something wrong with your eyes? That was just Declan. We are teammates back at Arsenal you do realise right?”
“Is there something wrong with your eyes?” is the rebuttal he gets. Before he can get in a word they’re off again. Really these two have absolutely no manners.
“Exactly! It’s Declan Rice! That guy probably has a whole murder plan for you!”
“Yeah! Why would you hook up with someone so ugly anyways?”
Martin looks at them in disbelief at that one. “I don’t know what the guys in the team have been telling you but Declan does not want to murder me for god’s sake! Also he isn’t ugly.”
“Have you seen him with a shaved head? He looks like the one ghost out of a horror movie!”
“And he literally said that he would love to be captain if something ever happened to you! And you still think that he doesn’t want to murder you.”
“That was years ago! Seriously WHAT have the guys been telling you two?”
“Ok then. Maybe not murder, maybe he just plans to get you pregnant and leave you after that all alone!”
They stop after that one looking guiltily at each other. Martin feels his eyes flash and anger bubble up beneath his skin before forcing himself to calm down. No use getting angry at the kids anyways. The ones he should be mad at are currently probably still chasing his ticket to happy sex in the hallway.
He takes a deep breath, straightens his clothes and steps out of the room to see a 6 '1 blur shoot pass him followed closely by two half giants. Martin shoots out a hand and grabs Declan the next time they come around and puts him behind his back. His two teammates have come to a stop too in front of him breathing heavily. The expression he has on his face must say something because both of them flinch back.
“Say Martin, would you mind-”
“I would actually. I would mind doing whatever comes out of your stupid mouths right now. What is wrong with you people?! Has no one ever taught you to knock on closed doors before entering?!!”
Erling quips back just as fast with, “Has no one ever taught you to lock doors when you want to have sex? That too with a midfielder we will be playing against in three days.”
“Oh? Now we’re worried about fucking the opposition are we? Now we’re worried. Because last night when you begged not to be rooming with anyone. Remind me what was the reason then?”
Erling looks a bit shame-faced and intelligently shuts his mouth. Doesn’t stop Sander from continuing his spiel though. “Really Martin. You’re the team captain. Shouldn’t you be a bit more careful? Also Erling and Jude are a couple out and out. Everyone knows that. Are you saying that you’re dating Declan Rice?”
Martin opens his mouth to reply, say yes but closes it again and scowls up at Sander. Him and Declan have never actually had the ‘What are we’ conversation. Even though they spend nearly all their heats and ruts together, Martin hasn’t been with anyone other than Declan for months. Who knows though what Declan gets up to in his own time. He can’t just open his mouth and speak for both of them.
There’s a sound of running from down the hallway and someone crashes into Erling. “Erling! Hey mate, I missed you! How are you?” Jude is turning around, all cooped up energy being let out and smiling at Martin. “Hey Martin! How are you? What’s Declan doing there behind you?”
There was a period of time where Jude and him did not get along well. They’re past that and if they do get together during these international tours Jude and the English omegas all drag him away for nesting together. He’s very sadly in a team full of alphas and betas and while he loves them all they can get too much if he has to bear with them for too long.
“Hello Jude. Yeah I’m doing quite good actually. If your boyfriend would just get off of my back you know.”
Jude’s laughing at that and grabbing him “Come on. Leave these guys alone and come with me. Everyone is downstairs in the garden. It’ll be fun!”
Martin would go, quite willingly but he has a feeling if he leaves Declan alone here it will be the last time he ever sees the guy alive again. “How about we all go? I’ll lock up here and come downstairs. Jude help me out and take these four down, yeah? Make sure they don’t break anything.”
Jude looks all too happy to agree and he’s dragging Erling away with Andreas, Antonio and Sander following. “You’ll bring Deccers there down with you ok Martin? He’s been cooped up in his room other than going for training these last few days.”
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring him down in a moment.”
Martin turns back with a sigh to see Declan still standing there. He feels really bad for the guy. After all it was Martin who insisted. He opens his mouth to apologise but Declan cuts in, “It’s all good skip. Don’t worry, yeah? I’m fine. Now I think we need to go down before they come back again and try to murder me again.”
Martin feels another stab of guilt shoot through him and he knows it shows on his face because Declan’s smiling at him and leaning down to kiss him before going back to the room and getting the keys from there. They lock the door behind themselves and go down.
There’s quite a crowd in the garden and everyone is practically shouting at the top of their voices. It’s almost like both the teams have assembled there and are having a competition to see who can make the most noise. Sander, Erling and Nyland making a formidable team are having a shouting match with Henderson, Eze and Noni. Kane seems to be trying to calm them down though it isn’t working much it seems. Jude, Bukayo and Gordon are off to one side and watching the six of them scream at each other. The rest of the teams are shouting encouragement or busy gorging themselves on the food in front of them. There is a terrified hotel staff who seems unsure if they should step in on the chaos or not.
As soon as Martin and Declan enter everything falls silent. They’re being stared at like two animals in a zoo. Someone whistles and says, “Damn Dec, the opponent captain huh? We’re winning this game easily with you and Jude having two of Norway’s star players wrapped around yourselves.”
Martin feels himself flush, sees Jude get up face twisted, sees Declan stiffen beside him and Erling growls, turning at whoever said that. Everything falls into chaos again after that. He goes to help Harry and after a while they somehow manage to separate the two teams, everyone fuming. He can feel himself getting closer to his breaking point but forces himself to calm down and turns to his teammates. They’re all looking up at him with sheepish smiles and he pinches his nose before asking, “Ok, what the fuck was going on here? Why are you guys so determined to cause an international incident today?”
Martin gets a reply from Sander and wants to punch the guy in the face and wish that he himself were dead, “We were planning your wedding.” The guy says the words with a bright smile as if that is the best idea they have ever had.
“And who were you planning my wedding with exactly? Without me present by the way.”
“Declan of course. Who else?”
Nevermind; this is him reaching his breaking point. He’s going to murder these guys one by one and then kill himself. He wants to laugh at how this day has turned out, but if he starts he thinks nothing sane sounding is going to come out of his mouth.
He takes a deep breath before speaking up again and this time he doesn’t even bother keeping the anger and irritation out of his voice, “I don’t think anyone has given you idiots the right to plan anyone’s wedding let alone mine. Also why the fuck would you think that it’s a good idea to have me married?”
“Well your little boyfriend is an alpha. And all alphas are pigs. What if he just leaves you one day and you’re pregnant? It’s a whole lot easier to just get married and bond yourselves together no? Make sure he doesn’t try anything of that sort.” This comes from Erling. Who is also an alpha himself so all Martin can do is stare at him in disbelief.
“Are you calling yourself a pig?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. Yes?! Before you talk about other people’s relationships, why don’t YOU get married to Jude before that?”
Erling turns to Jude and shamelessly offers, “Hey Judey, let’s get married.”
Jude looks a bit taken aback at this sudden turn in conversation before glaring at his boyfriend. “We talked about this Erling. I am not getting married before I’ve turned 25. So you either wait two more years or go find yourself someone else to marry if you’re that desperate.”
Martin looks on in amazement and decides that Erling has found someone that is just as crazy as him. No wonder they’re such a good couple. It’s Kane who finally says something that makes sense, “Have any of you asked them if either of them want to get married? Right now?”
Everyone is looking at each other before there’s a realisation dawning on their faces and Martin’s team is turning towards him looking proper like a pack of guilty dogs. He looks back at them unimpressed and says nothing.
Someone is tugging at his hand and dragging him away from the whole mess. He startles a bit and looks to see that it’s Bukayo. Gordon and Jude are following them.
“Come on skip, let’s get outta here as fast as possible. Leave these psychos alone. They’ll calm down after a while. Come nest with us.”
Martin’s looking at him a bit dazed and there’s a huge sense of relief in his chest. Nesting with them does sound really good. He lets out a small smile and says, “Yeah, let’s go. I have a nest ready in my room if you wanna come?”
“Sure Martin. That’s no problem at all. Let’s go now, yeah? Before they start again.”
He leads them up to his room and opens it as they all tumble in. They look delighted with the nest on the bed and scramble in it as soon as they can. Saka calls after him with a shit-eating grin on his face, “Don’t forget to lock the door this time skip. Wouldn’t want a part two of whatever happened happening.”
Martin’s scoffing and throwing a cushion at him as all of them burst into laughter. He smiles and goes to join them in the nest he made. It's pretty looking and comfortable after all, and it’s what his body needs after this day.