Prompt: First, Character: Sebastian Larsson

Sep 27, 2008 11:25

Title: A day to remember
Fandom: Football
Pairing: Sebastian Larsson / Justin Hoyte
Rating: PG-13
Prompt: First
Warnings: None what so ever.
Disclaimer: Not mine, not real, all horribly fake.
Word count: 1 360
Summary: Seb’s first day at Arsenal, and his first friend?



“Just sign there,” Arsene says, looking at him with a small smile over the rim of his glasses. “Unless you’ve got any more questions?”

Sebastian looks up, smiles, before dropping his gaze and shaking his head.

“No. No questions.”

He looks down at the dotted line with his name in print underneath it. He takes a breath, putting the pen against the paper before signing his name. Not very neat, not at all the way he had practiced it countless of times in his room back in Sweden. Messy, uneven, and for a moment he wonders if he should ask if he can do it again. Luckily, he thinks when he looks back at this moment, he doesn’t. And he looks up at Arsene with a nervous smile, gaze flickering to the Arsenal badge on the wall behind his new manager.

“Well,” Arsene says, standing up and he extends his hand towards the young Swede. “Welcome to the club, son.”

Sebastian takes his hand, shakes it, wondering if Wenger can tell that he’s trembling. The Frenchman doesn’t comment on it though, instead he just smiles.

“If you just wait right here, I’ll get someone to show you around.”

As soon as he’s left alone, Seb sinks back down on the chair. He looks around the office, gaze lingering on each of the team photos that are hanging on the wall behind Wenger’s chair. He thinks about the fact that next year, he’ll be in that picture.

He’s overwhelmed, suddenly, by the absurdity of it all. When Arsenal first approached him, almost a year ago now, he never thought it would end like this. His parents were never against it, even though his mum still isn’t pleased with him moving out at the age of 16 already, but when Arsene himself contacted them, and assured her that the club would look after her son, she caved.

He knows they would have wanted to be here with him today, but this was something he had to do himself. He had landed in London the day before, and was picked up at the airport by his new landlady. He had a feeling she was the main reason why his parents let him go, the fact that he would be living with someone that would take care of him, driving him to training and cook for him, and wouldn’t be left completely to his own devices in a big city like London. It’s as far from Eskilstuna as anything can be, he thinks.

So far he hadn’t seen much of the city that is his new home. Nothing more than Heathrow, and it was already dark when he landed so the drive back to his new home didn’t help much. It was a bit better this morning, the drive to Hertfordshire and the training ground this morning had been at least lighter, but he was still excited to get the grand tour.

It seems like he doesn’t have to wait for very long though, because there’s a sound as the door is opened again and Wenger returns with a lanky, black boy whose grin is all teeth.

“This is Justin,” Wenger says, introducing the two and Sebastian smiles nervously as he stands. “He’s been with us here since he was 9, and he knows this place as well as his own house so I thought he’d be the right one to show you around.”

He doesn’t wait for them to say anything before he shoos them towards the door.

“Off you go; I’ve got work to do in here.”

Sebastian looks at the other boy as they end up in the corridor, still smiling stupidly and he tries to think of anything to say. He doesn’t have time to think for very long before the guy flings an arm over his shoulder, shaking him slightly.

“Great to have you on board, mate. Awesome. We’ve had quite a few Swedes here, y’know? And well, we’ve got Freddie here right now, they’re training, those in the first team, I’ll show you where later. ‘s gonna be us one day, yeah? Anyway, you know him?”

Sebastian stares, trying to decipher the words spilling off the other boy’s lips in a language that’s supposed to be English.

“I…what?” He asks, frowning while trying to look like he’s not embarrassed.

“Ljungberg,” the guy repeats, still grinning widely. “You know him?”

Sebastian shakes his head.

”Nah. I. No. I don’t know him.”

Justin pats his back with such force that Seb thinks he’s going to fall over.

“All in time, yeah? I don’t really know him either, they keep to themselves, but you’ll see, they’re nice as few. Freddie’s always seemed to be a nice guy. What’s your name, by the way?”

Seb clears his throat, croaks.

“Sebastian.”

The guy laughs again, nudging him but this time the Swede is a bit more prepared.

“Seb. Awesome. You’ll feel right at home, mate. Just let me know if there’s anything you wanna know, okay? Anything, yeah? The boss is right, mate. I know this place. He’s great, isn’t he? You won’t see much of him while in the Reserves but don’t think that means he doesn’t care. He knows everything about everyone in this club, so if you just do your best you’ll be out there one day.”

Seb just stares.

“Out where?”

Justin chuckles, guiding Seb through the doors thanks to the arm over his shoulders.

“Out there,” he points, and Seb looks up.

The ten pitches stretch out in front of them, and Seb can’t quite stop he gasp of surprise when he realises just how big it is. Justin chuckles, nudging him.

“It’s great, isn’t it.”

All Seb can do is nod, his gaze lingering on one of the pitches where a group of people are jogging.

“That’s them,” Justin explains. “The first team. We’re usually over there.”

Sebastian doesn’t even look where he’s waving, just nods, trying to make out the different figures, but he still can’t quite understand that he’s right there, so close to players that he’s only seen on television before. He laughs, suddenly.

“This is mad.”

Justin nods, agreeing.

“It’s weird, isn’t it? And one day, mate. One day we’ll be there too.”

Seb smiles, nodding even though he can’t help thinking that for now, this is all he could possibly ask for.

“Okay, let’s go,” Justin urges him on. “Can’t be standing here all day, can we? The rest of the lads are in the gym, come on.”

Seb just nods, trailing after Justin and he’s just realised that only because the other boy seems to end all sentences with a question it doesn’t necessarily means he expects a reply. He looks around with wide eyes as they make their way through the building towards the gym.

Justin stops outside a door suddenly, flashing him a grin.

“Ready to meet your team mates?”

Seb nods, doesn’t know what else to do, trying to look like he means it as well but Justin just laughs at him.

“Relax mate, you’ll be fine.”

He pats his back, swinging the door open and ushers Seb inside. Sebastian looks around the room, all throughout there are groups of boys his own ages scattered, all wearing the same dark blue shirt with the Arsenal badge on it.

There’s laughter and bickering all around, but despite that a certain level of focus from the boys currently occupied with the machines. Seb looks around, eyes wide, and he jumps high when Justin suddenly lets out a loud whistle.

“Hey lads! Look what I’ve found. This is Seb, everyone. Seb, this is everyone.”

There’s a rustle of movements when everyone looks at him. Sebastian smiles nervously, doing some sort of half-wave and feeling utterly stupid for it. He feels Justin’s hand on his back, pushing him into the room and towards the people that are coming up to greet him.

He throws half a glance over his shoulder at Justin, who flashes that same grin that’s all teeth again and gives him the thumbs up. Seb returns the smile, crookedly, and thinks that at least he’s made his first friend.

claim: sebastian larsson, author: lost_loon, prompt: first

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