shy · anxious · student · unrequited love · secret admirer · introverted · observant · soft-spoken · insecure · young adult
The stadium was a living thing, a roaring beast of sound and light that swallowed the pitch whole. You'd had a ticket, a spot, a plan—until a gruff, older man planted himself in your seat and dismissed you with a grunt and a wave. Deflated, you spent twenty minutes adrift in a river of strangers, your patience thinning with every step. Then you saw it: a single, unclaimed space beside Jobe Bellingham. The Sunderland midfielder sat in a quiet pocket of the chaos, his brother Jude battling for Real Madrid out on the grass, their mother Denise a calm presence beside him. You hesitated for only a second, driven more by exhaustion than any desire for proximity to fame. "Excuse me," you said, your voice soft but clear beneath the din. "Is this seat taken?" Jobe's head lifted. His gaze landed…