Where the wind whispers

Title: Four Couples That Didn’t Work Out and the One That Did
Characters: (In no order) Benedikt Howedes/Mats Hummels, Manuel Neuer/Bastian Schweinsteiger, Thomas Muller/Philipp Lahm, Miroslav Klose/Lukas Podolski, Mario Gotze/Marco Reus
Rating: PG
Words: 1097
AO3: Link
Warnings: Angst to the extreme
A/N: so um…apparently my angst muse wanted to rip everyone a new one, and not in the fun way either. :( I’m sorry everyone! ;-; Comments are love though and concrit is welcome. Enjoy…and *passes out tissues*

One.

With a rivalry as big as the one between Schalke and Dortmund, it’s hardly a surprise when they start fighting. At first Benny tries to keep it polite; he’s a captain for crying out loud, that means he’s supposed to be mature enough to handle disagreements between men.

Then the captaincy becomes a problem. Mats starts to use it in arguments against him, saying that he loves Schalke more than anything. More than him. Benny tries to tell him to stop being ridiculous, but that doesn’t work either.

It isn’t that Mats is immature or particularly argumentative. It’s just that they both are so young and don’t know any better. They haven’t ever been really in love with anyone or anything, except football, before apart from one another. They don’t know what they are doing, not really. It’s a shame.

Benny sees the end coming before he can stop it. Perhaps it’s for the best.

That’s what he tells himself as Mats walks out of his apartment with the last box of his stuff. There’s always international duty. Perhaps some time apart would be best for a break.

Still, Benny wishes he could’ve made it work. He really did love Mats.


Two.

He’s sipping tea but there’s tears in his eyes.

A lump exists in his throat that he doesn’t think even tea will manage to soothe. He isn’t going to cry, not here, not now, but still he wants to. He knows as soon as he gets a moment to himself in private that he’s going to break down and cry like a baby.

He doesn’t want to be pathetic like that. For God’s sake he’s supposed to be one of the hardest men in the world. He can handle a penalty like it’s not a problem at all but when you put the idea of breaking up with Basti in his mind, he’s apparently reduced to tears.

Manu grips the tea cup tightly in his hand as Bastian watches him from across the counter. He sees the apologies written all over Bastian’s face but still it does nothing to reduce the pain. It still exists. It still hurts and Manu knows it’s going to be a long, long time before it won’t anymore.

“I’ll be here, if you need anything.” He finishes whatever he was saying with that and that makes it worse. Manuel knows that he would and that’s what hurts more, because it won’t be the same.

“I know.” He replies, voice thick with emotion that goes unsaid. He manages, somehow, to say, “I need time.”

Bastian nods and the look of apology stays in place. “I understand. I’m so sorry, Manuel.”

He nods and gets up, leaving the tea on the counter. He knows nothing has happened between Bastian and Lukas, not yet, but that didn’t mean that Bastian didn’t want to try for him. Manuel always knew the sparks between both of them were hotter than a wildfire, but he had always hoped that those sparks could last between him and Bastian as well. It was a shame that they hadn’t.

As he gets into his car, Manuel feels tears start to slide down his cheeks.


Three.

The bed was a lot colder now that Mario was gone. He wondered, somewhat bitterly, if the beds in Munich were any warmer than those in Dortmund. But they weren’t in Germany now. Now, they were in the same hotel for the friendly, but Mario was rooming with someone else. Philipp, he thought absently as he listened to Per snoring across the room in his own bed.

He couldn’t sleep. Mario hadn’t really paid him much attention the entire call up and it was getting to him. Marco knew it would be awkward at first, but he had been hoping, praying really, that they could have gotten through it and somehow still been friends.

Munich wasn’t that big of a deal. Not when love had been on the line; or at least, that’s what Marco had thought. Evidently Mario had thought otherwise. They hadn’t spoken except once or twice since the transfer had gone through.

Marco closed his eyes and hoped sleep would come soon. He really needed to get past Mario somehow.


Four.

Try as he might, hope as he will, and pray as he could, it turns out there is such a thing as too much distance in a long term relationship. It snaps like a rubber band and sends both of them down a spiral of unhappiness and pain that all could have been avoided if football hadn’t been such a cruel mistress with her transfers and opportunities.

Miro with Lazio and Lukas with Arsenal, it was too much. Too far. If they both had been at Bayern still, it might have lasted longer. If only international duty lasted more than a month or two in the summer… If only, if only.

Lukas leaves the phone on the table where he put it after their final phone call a few hours earlier and doesn’t dare look at it for the rest of the day. He might end up booking a flight to Italy and hoping to convince Miro to change his mind. Lukas almost does, he wants to more than anything.

But he doesn’t. Instead he calls Bastian on Skype and decides to see his best friend and hope that somehow he can smile again. He’ll end up spilling everything to Basti, but he hopes, he knows that Bastian will make him smile again.

Sure enough, as soon as he sees him on the screen, a small tug pulls at the corner of Lukas’ mouth.

Five.

It shouldn’t work between them. But it does.

Philipp is too serious. But he knows how to smile if Thomas needs him too.

Thomas is too silly. But he knows how to comfort Fips if he gets too serious.

They are together as much as they can and Philipp makes sure to keep a protective hand near Thomas as much as possible. Whether it be on his thigh or holding his hand, Philipp keeps touching him as much as he can. He’s subtle, as much as he can be. Thomas makes the others laugh, stays close to Bastian, and acts like his usual goofy self. But Philipp doesn’t worry. He knows who holds Thomas in the middle of the night.

He smiles when he sees Thomas teasing Lukas at training for their qualifier. He can’t wait until tonight when they can just be together alone again.