a/n: this story takes place before the events of flashes, and i know esme + instagram have been introduced to the flashes timeline, but just to be confusing, i'm going to link flashes and this story too. obviously, it's not such a big deal right now because julian's still a few months off from even meeting stella. also, super long filler :/
training grounds
LEON WAS SICK AND TIRED of doing sit-ups, calf stretches, theraband exercises and using the spinning machine. It was all very repetitive and he hadn't touched a football with his feet since that time at Grace's house. His physiotherapist Thomas was very insistent on him not returning to regular football training until he was at least 80% and apparently he was still at only 60%. It was all stupid and he hated it and all he wanted to do was get back on the training pitch with his teammates because he hated the surge of jealousy he always felt when he stared out of the glass walls that overlooked the training grounds.
"Can I go down there? Kick a ball around?" Leon requested to Thomas, "I swear, it won't do damage."
"Goretzka, i'm the physiotherapist here," Thomas chuckled, signalling for him to continue on the bike machine, "And yes, it will do damage if you're not careful."
"I will be careful!" he moaned, desperately trying to convince him.
"Two to three weeks, Goretzka," Thomas assured, "You can take your functional return to sport test in two weeks and from then on, we'll start with your running and then your one-on-one training. In two or three weeks, you'll be on phase 4. I promise you, time will fly before you're back on the pitch."
"Sounds fake, but okay," he murmured under his breath.
He trained for an excruciatingly long hour more until lunch came around and he was allowed to mingle with his teammates.
"Dude," Max nudged him as he sat down with a tray of food, "Jule's here."
"Here in Geschäftsstelle?" Leon frowned, looking around.
"No, blödmann, why would he be allowed here?" Max rolled his light eyes, "He's spending time in Bochum today and when we finish training, he'll come and hang out with us. Free tonight or are you spending it with your girlfriend?" his tone was mocking.
"She's not my girlfriend," Leon slapped the midfielder's arm, "But no, I don't think we have plans. Why's he here though? Does he not have training?"
"He practically blackmailed Wolfsburg," Max snorted, "He doesn't want to be at that club at all, anymore."
"Where'd he go though?"
"Are you kidding me? Everybody wants him. Won't be surprised if he ends up in Barcelona or Paris," Max shrugged, "Hey, you can invite your girl to hang out if you like. She's cool; I like her and Julian does too."
"No, it's boys night," he offered a smile.
As much as he loved spending time with Grace, he never wanted to neglect his friends, especially not when one of his best friends was in town, which was not a common occurrence. They had agreed, the four of them, that no transfer, no fight, no girl could come between of them to the extent of breaking their relationship.
"Glad you're still our Leon, bro," Max and Leon embarked on their ridiculous, overzealous handshake.
-
"I've missed you man," Julian was beaming as he hugged Leon, "How are you? How's Grace? Did you contact her from when you were an idiot?"
"Oh yeah," Max was listening eagerly.
"Yep, yesterday," a pleasant smile came to his face, "We're on good terms."
He didn't exactly want to tell them every single detail, not even the kiss because he knew he'd get teased endlessly and he kind-of just wanted his progressed relationship with Grace their very own little secret until it was fully figured out.
"I wish you invited her," Julian turned back to the couch where he had been playing FIFA for about half an hour. He too had a key to Max's apartment, and got there before they did, "She got really hot."
"You have a girlfriend," Max nudged. Julian crinkled his face. The boys knew he and his girlfriend had been fighting for a while.
"Whatever. Invite her next time i'm here, yeah Le?" Julian raised his eyebrows.
"Yeah. I wanna see her reaction; she'll get super embarrassed," Leon sat down beside Julian, "What time are you going back?"
"Well, it's a three-hour train journey so maybe 7?" it was around 3 o'clock.
"Sick," Max nodded, "We'll get dinner at 6? What time is it in England?"
"It's just an hour back, dummkopf," Leon replied, "Will he be free?"
"Don't know. Let's see," Max shrugged, opening up the laptop that was on the coffee table in front of Julian. He then went on to the FaceTime app and began clicking around until rings began alongside the FIFA commentating.
"Hey guys!" his voice was enthusiastic as always, especially after not seeing his friends for a while.
"What's up, traitor?" Leon joked.
"Don't talk to me about being a traitor, you're sat next to someone who moved within the same league," Leroy scoffed, flashing his eyes to Julian, who was still focused on his FIFA.
"Fick dich, Sané! The wounds from you are fresher," Julian retorted.
"What the fuck are you even doing there?"
"Day off," Julian shrugged, "Don't really want to get back to Wolfsburg to be honest."
"How are you settling into Manchester?" Max butted in, "Are you playing soon?"
"Hopefully yeah. The Manchester derby's the next game," Leroy replied excitedly, "What have I missed in the month i've been gone? How's the injury, G?"
"I'm not going to be back until mid to late October," sighed Leon in disappointment, "I guess that's the game for us."
"But!" Max interrupted loudly, "He's got himself a girl, finally. One that he actually likes."
Leon hid behind his hands, his cheeks turning pink as Julian and Max both spat out facts and events at Leon.
"She went to Berger Feld," Julian informed him, "She was a big part in the musical in my final year? Wasn't really into football and carried a guitar literally everywhere? Do you remember Grace Bauer?"
"Yeah, Grace Bauer!" he clapped his hands, excited that he was able to recall, "She's always been pretty, Leon. I'm happy for you; I remember that she was nice."
"Wait- you went to Gesamtschule?" frowned Leon. Seems like half of his best friends knew who she was from before. It made him a little jealous; it was unfortunate that they only met now.
"Don't you know? I was two years below Jule," Leroy explained, eyebrows furrowed, confused that he may have never mentioned it before, "One of my friends had a huge crush on her."
"Did you ever speak to her?"
"No, which is probably why she didn't tell you about me," Leon replied, "Let's move on from Grace; it's boys' night, fuckers!"
-
"I can't believe you're here!" Grace wrapped her arms around the figure excitedly, squeezing her tight.
Eleanor was just as ecstatic, "I'm so sorry for the short notice! It's just lucky you're in Cologne, right?"
"Or else you would have had to take a taxi," Grace rolled her eyes, "How horrible!"
"I have the whole night with you, G," Eleanor continued as they walked through the airport, "Then tomorrow i'm off to Dortmund for my brother's birthday. Do you want to come?"
"Maybe," Grace bit her lip, "Depends if anything changes with Gale."
"Oh, yeah. I'm sorry, G," Eleanor gave her a side hug, "Do you stay at the hospital? We can hang out there tonight if you like. You know I love Gale."
"I know. It's alright, we can be at the house. Dad's there at night when he doesn't work," she shrugged.
Whilst in Cologne for the afternoon, she received a text from her best friend that she hadn't seen for a month and a half, that she was about to board a plane from Berlin. Luckily, her landing time worked well with when Grace finished her job. Eleanor wasn't going to initially come to NRW for her brother's birthday, but was given the day off for tomorrow.
"Off to Gelsenkirchen we go then," they had finally reached her car, "It's been so long since i've been back. Like what? 5 months?"
"To be fair, Berlin is a lot more interesting than Gelsenkirchen," Grace reasoned, "That's why I visited you almost 2 months ago instead of you coming here."
"That's very true," Eleanor nodded, "And the boys there are so much more handsome than the boys here! There's a lot of them too. God, if you were single Grace..."
"Which I am!"
"If you weren't tied down-"
"Which i'm not!"
"If you weren't talking to Goretzka," Eleanor huffed finally, "You'd be crying at the men at your feet. You're gorgeous, you're talented and you're humble. How's he, by the way? Made up?"
"Made up, yes," Grace prevented the psycho grin from erupting. Apparently, she and Leon were on the same terms of wanting it on the down-low.
"When do I get to meet him?" Eleanor folded her arms and looked at her best friend, who was focused on the road, "And does he have any cute, single friends?"
"I'm not setting you up with his friends, El," Grace snorted.
"You are a terrible best friend, did you know that? You're meant to be encouraging this shit!" Eleanor groaned, "It's fine; i'll stalk him on Instagram and go from there."
"Psychopath," Grace mumbled jokingly.
-
"Life works in mysterious fucking ways," Eleanor muttered under her breath, "And it apparently really ships you."
"What are you talking about?" Grace craned her head around the restaurant looking for a waiter who would show them to some free seats. It wasn't one you just walked into and sat down, despite it not being exactly five-star. Her eyes fell on the group, "Oh."
"I'm going to guess that's Leon and Max sat with the not very well disguised Draxler," Eleanor chuckled, "Do you want to go sit with them?"
"No, Leon said it was boys' night," Grace tugged at her friend to stop her staring at them and catching attention.
"A table for two, madams?" a waiter sauntered up to them, and they nodded.
Grace was a little relieved when she and Eleanor were led away from the boys. She wanted to go unnoticed, not that she didn't want to see Leon. Leon definitely deserve a break away from her and her dramatics. Plus frankly, she didn't really want to see Julian. She was still embarrassed about the whole debacle and about how he called her gorgeous.
"Does Julian Draxler have a girlfriend?" Eleanor asked eagerly, "Because girl, that is a man."
"I'm pretty sure he does, and i'm pretty sure you said you hated long-distance relationships?" Grace tilted her head at her best friend in amusement.
"Yeah, but it doesn't matter as much when boyfriend in question can afford a plane to fly to you like literally every day," Eleanor argued, "I don't mind an LDR with someone rich, cause they can afford quick travel, you know?"
"But footballers also have some of the most hectic schedules ever," Grace nodded, "You sound like a fucking gold-digger."
"Are you trying to convince yourself to not date Leon?" Eleanor uttered, "Because you know that wouldn't bother me that much. If you are, then stop because I swear he's perfect for you from everything you say. He matches your wit, but he's also compassionate and caring. Sounds pretty perfect to me."
From the start of Leon and Grace's banter-filled relationship, Grace had been spilling almost all to her best friend with little specific detail and more about how she felt about him.
"And he fits your type," Eleanor continued, her eyes scanning the menu.
"My type?"
"Schalke footballers, duh! Don't even pretend that your crush on Draxler was just small."
"I wasn't obsessed with him, unlike you," Grace accused.
"And i'm shameless about it because I liked football, so I basically liked him for his football skills, and then his good looks, but you, Gracie, liked him for his good looks first," Eleanor rebounded, "So superficial."
"Shut up and order my food," Grace grumbled.
Eleanor went up to the cashier soon after to order their food and about 15 minutes later, their food came in all its delicious glory. The restaurant they were in was one of the cosiest in all of North-Rhine Westphalia and was frequented by Grace and her friends.
"I hope you do make it to Dortmund with me tomorrow. My brothers really like you and of course, my parents love you. Have they visited?" Eleanor wondered, taking in a slice of her cannelloni.
"Yes, yes. They've come twice, I think. I love your parents, El. They're so lovely!" Grace gushed, "Your brothers came on separate occasions too, you know? Killian visited in the first few days with your parents and Franz came like the week after with Sofie. How old is Franz turning?"
"26!" her best friend responded, "Gosh he's old."
"It still feels like he's the 22 year old who bought us vodka when we were 17 and-"
"Grace! Incoming," Eleanor interrupted quickly, diverting her eyes sideways to see two 6 foot giants and an adorably smaller compatriot bounding over, hidden behind hats and glasses.
"Hi," it was Julian who spoke first, and his eye was kept on Grace, as if he knew it would torment her.
"Um, hi," she smiled up reluctantly at the boys, "We saw you when we came in, we didn't want to interrupt."
"Nonsense," Julian dismissed, "It's good to see you, Grace! And I believe you were Grace's geeky friend? Geeky in a good way, of course," he directed his attention to Eleanor.
"Yep, that's me," Eleanor smiled, reminiscing to the days when she was a little different to her present day self.
"Oh Leon, Max, this is Eleanor, my best friend," Grace introduced, pointing between them.
"You didn't tell me she was coming," Leon raised his eyebrows.
"I don't have to tell you all the details of my life, Goretzka," Grace rolled her eyes, "And I didn't know she was coming until just before she boarded her plane in Berlin."
"Oo, shut down, Goretzka," Max nudged his friend, "Jule just wanted to say hi before he left for Wolfsburg. His train's in like 20 minutes. We wanted to say hi too, of course."
"So yeah, hi!" Julian beamed, "It's been a few years, hasn't it?"
"You talk like we were good friends in Berger Feld," Grace mumbled, looking down at her pasta and twirling her fork to gather some.
"I told you that you're an arrogant prick, Jule," Leon laughed at the older boy, placing his hands on the two corners of Grace's chair.
"Ouch Grace," Julian joked, "Maybe we could be friends now. Not in that way, obviously. I would never take you away from deine Liebling," he pointed at Leon, who gritted his teeth, not wanting to make the public situation awkward.
"He's not meine Liebling."
"On a quest to offend everyone today?" Leon pouted mockingly, "But I thing we should go though, because Julian will miss his train and get his Wolfsburg contract terminated."
"I wish," he murmured under his breath, scoffing a little.
"Hug for deine Liebling?" Leon offered a cheeky smile.
Grace nudged him in the leg, glaring at him, "Definitely not if you ask like that, Goretzka."
The Bochumer only cackled, bending at his hips to lean over and dangle his arms around her neck. It could be seen as more of a friendly, playful gesture than anything else, "I'll see you later. It was nice meeting you, Eleanor."
"You too," Eleanor waved at the boys.
Once they were gone, Eleanor was staring incredulously at her, "What?" Grace had chuckled, taking more bites of her pasta.
"They are so cool, G!" Eleanor squealed, "Like they have this aura."
"It's the footballer charm," Grace uttered, "It's irresistible."