TITLE : Thursday Rendezvous
SERIES : One-sided Affair
AUTHOR : Phished
EMAIL :
PAIRING : Matthews (fictional)/ Hleb, Matthews/Ljungberg (implied)
RATING : PG-13
DISCLAIMER : Definitely not real.
SUMMARY : Hleb offers to give extra practice to Matthews. Is this more than just a friendly offer?
AUTHOR'S NOTES: The fictional character of Seth Matthews will be a key part in most of my pairings. However, there will also be some pairings not involving this figment of my imagination. Feedback is welcomed.

"Hey man, chill. No need to get so worked up." The wise words from the captain, Thierry Henry. Henry greatly admired Matthews, a very skillful lad of 15. At such a young age, he had already broken into the first team with Arsenal FC, and looked like a real contender for the Golden Boot that season. Matthews had extremely high expectations of himself, coupled with tons of pressure put on him by the media. Already considered one of the best strikers in the world, Matthews could not ruin it all by letting it be known that he was bisexual.

He got on very well with pretty much the whole team, but the hormonal teenager in him also caused him to be attracted to quite a number of people in the team. He had already scored with a few of his teammates, but the relationships never seemed to last very long. And it hurt when it went into a state where conversation was very difficult to strike up.

Matthews was not only angry with the way his passing was going, his relationship with Freddie Ljungberg had come to an abrupt halt, sparking confusion in his young mind. From the start of pre-season training, Ljungberg had been avoiding Matthews. The few words that passed between them were barely enough to be considered a conversation. From Matthews' point of view, there was no reason for this drastic change in attitude from Freddie. He had to admit though that because of him, Freddie had not been able to concentrate very well during training and this had earned Freddie the wrath of the gaffer and had cost him his place in the first team. That was the only possible reason Matthews could think of. But why the silent treatment? Freddie had kept in close proximity with his past beaus, and was still great friends with them.

A gentle and friendly voice behind him caused him to turn around. Standing there was Aleksander Hleb, the blond-haired Belarussian midfielder. Matthews' heartbeat accelerated, he had had a crush on Hleb for a relatively long period of time. But Hleb never seemed to notice him in the least, barely saying anything to him besides the usual courtesies. "Are you free on Thursday? I could give you some extra passing practice." Hleb was a master of through-passes, yet there were no airs about him when he proposed the offer, only real sincerity.

Anxious to spend some time alone with Hleb, and hoping that Hleb had an ulterior motive to offering to give him extra practice, Matthews agreed. He had absolutely no idea of what Hleb thought of him. "Don't be an idiot and think too much into it, that guy's probably straight." Seth sighed to himself. "Don't get your hopes up, it'll only hurt more."