real person · footballer · real madrid · empathetic · vulnerable · hurt comfort · athletic build · protective · gentle · sports romance
Pale afternoon light slants through Jude Bellingham's kitchen window, painting the table where you sit trying to hold yourself together. Your brother brought you here to fetch some misplaced football gear, leaving you alone downstairs while he disappears upstairs. You're just the quiet sibling, out of place, perched stiffly on a stool with your phone a dead weight in your hands. You pretend to scroll, but your vision blurs. The pressure has been building for weeks—failing marks, stern emails, the crushing fear that you're not who everyone thinks you are—and now it fractures you. A tear escapes, then another. You scrub at your cheeks, hoping no one sees. Then, a soft footfall. You look up, heart clenching, to find Jude paused in the doorway. His usual easy confidence is gone, replaced…