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Felix grows up listening to the stories that his dads retell of their time playing, usually, it’s over dinner when pleasantries are out of the way and they have all talked about how their days have been. Sometimes it’s Basti who brings up the subject but the majority of the time it’s Felix who is just so damn curious about their playing past.
It’s not until he’s ten years old and snooping around his parents’ bedroom for the PlayStation controller that his dad took off him and hid away that morning because ten minutes before he was supposed to leave for school - Felix admitted to having not finished his English homework. Felix quite simply trips over the box and just manages to keep his balance before he headbutts the bedside table.
Knowing he shouldn’t; Felix sits down and grabs the box from underneath the bed. It’s just a cardboard box, a black box with a golden lid with no label on it. Felix slowly lifts the lid and sighs when he realises it’s just a bunch of his parents’ old jerseys until he notices something black at the bottom of the box and pulls it out. It’s a photo album - Bene and Mats have plenty of them, filled to the brim with photographs of the twins but somehow , this one seems different.
Kicking the box away, Felix lays the book on his lap and opens it - flicking through the pages absentmindedly, smiling when he sees it’s photographs from his parents’ time playing, for Dortmund, for Schalke, for Bayern… for the National Team.
Felix frowns once he gets further into the album and notices that his dad seems to feature in the Germany photos a lot less, it’s mainly his papa - flanked by his Uncle Thomas and Uncle Manu. Felix turns the next page and frowns when it’s empty - it’s barely halfway through and something unnerving settles in his stomach.
“Felix?” Mats calls out. “What? You know you’re not supposed to be in here.”
Felix shoots up, eyes wide and slams the album shut. Mats raises his eyebrows and enters the bedroom. Realising he has no chance of hiding the stuff away before Mats sees, Felix sighs and resigns himself to being caught out. He braces himself for his papa to yell, scold him for going through personal belongings but all he gets is a gentle sigh.
“You found it, huh?” Mats asks, despite the smile twitching at the corners of his lips, Mats sounds upset .
“I’m sorry, Papa, I’ll put it back.” Felix scrambles to put the stuff back in the box when he feels Mats’ hand on his shoulder.
“Don’t, give it here.”
Felix hands him the album and stands up, watching as Mats opens the album once more and flicks through the pages, his face going through a number of emotions before he beckons Felix over.
“Why does it just… stop?” Felix asks, earning another sigh from Mats. “And why is dad not in all the pictures? Did you guys retire early?”
Mats laughs, wrapping his arm around Felix’s shoulders. “Ah, bärenjunge--”
Felix doesn’t roll his eyes at the nickname; instead he just stares up at Mats as the latter tries to compose himself.
“- Unfortunately, it wasn’t as simple as deciding when we wanted to retire from the National Team. The coaches made that decision for us.”
“... They kicked you out?” Felix asks and Mats wants to laugh at the innocence of the question. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s not.” Mats hums in agreement.
Felix falls silent and Mats doesn’t push him; he doesn’t actively see himself in the boys a lot of the time but Felix’s quiet moments when he’s deep in thought, carefully considering his next words - whilst that isn’t something that Mats was - he’s become a lot more thoughtful over the years.
Felix still doesn’t say a word but he does turn and throw his arms around Mats, sighing into Mats’ sweater and holding on with a tight grip for a ten year old.
“Did they do it to dad too?” Felix asks though his question is muffled. “Can they really just ditch you?”
“Yeah, they did it to dad too and, well, it’s the coach’s decision, Felix - if you don’t fit into their plans, there isn’t anything you can do.” Mats tries to explain as gently as he can, not wanting to upset his evidently hurting son anymore.
“Maybe if they kept you and dad around - they would have won more.” Felix huffs.
“I can’t fault you there, bärenjunge-.” Mats chuckles as he leans down to leave a kiss atop of Felix’s head.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mats, to put it lightly, is fucking terrified of becoming a dad.
The thought of having his own children, two small humans who are going to look up to him, come to him for advice, come to him when they’re upset and inconsolable – that frightens him. It’s not entirely down to whether he thinks he’s mature enough to be a dad, okay, that might have something to do with it but it’s not the entire story. Mats is (almost) jealous of his husband, Bene has been ready for this day for years, since before they were married, he’s always seemed to have an air of excitement around him at the thought of being a dad one day. Mats envies his calm and relaxed approach to their entire lives changing.
Mats is hiding it pretty well – except he isn’t and he flinches when Bene lays a gentle hand on his shoulder, side-eyeing him incredulously. Mats just drops his gaze to the floor, the hospital floor is a dull grey colour with an ill-coloured pattern and it is doing nothing to erase the nervous pounding of Mats’ heart.
“You can just tell me you’re scared… it’s not as though you’re hiding it that well.” Bene’s voice is loud in the empty corridor of the hospital and does he sound amused?
Mats is about to turn around and call Bene out on finding his panic funny when a door opens and out steps a nurse, she’s pretty, with brown hair tied up and green eyes that shine a lot brighter in the ridiculously intense hospital lights, she wears a warm smile before she says that they can come and meet their sons now.
Mats pales and starts to feel a little lightheaded. Bene doesn’t make any initial movements, the amused twitching of a smile completely erased as he looks on towards Mats with the upmost concern. Mats tries to smile but he just grimaces.
“What if they don’t like me?” Mats asks in a pathetically small voice.
Bene’s jaw clenches and he looks over at his husband with a look that can only say Mats-Julian-Hummels-are-you-kidding-me-right-now-they’re-your-sons-of-course-they’re-going-to-like-you. Mats often wonders when he started knowing just exactly what Bene is saying to him just by a facial expression. Bene doesn’t respond to Mats’ question and instead wraps his hand gently around Mats’ wrist and tugs him towards the room.
**
The room has low lighting but both of their eyes immediately dart to the two babies wriggling around in front of them. Mats comes to a complete halt, his eyes darting between his twin sons, his gaze falling over their faces, the blankets they’re wrapped in, how the sunrise is lighting up the room and the twins’ faces.
Bene coughs and it drags Mats’ attention away from the twins for a second. Bene nods towards the folder in the nurse’s hand and ever-so-softly, so quiet that Mats almost doesn’t catch the words that fall from his husband’s lips.
“It’s actually Höwedes-Hummels.”
Mats swallows thickly, feeling an overwhelming sense of love towards not only his husband but his children, his, he’s a dad. Bene pulls Mats over to the twins and lifts one of the boys out to hold him, it’s natural and Mats thinks he falls in love a little bit more. Mats is careful, a little too careful as he lifts their other son and holds him in his arms, swaying slightly.
Mats glances up and meets Bene’s eyes, his eyes are glassy as he flicks his gaze down to the sleeping baby in his arms. Mats lifts his hand ever so slightly and can only watch in amazement as the baby in his arms lifts his arm and wraps his tiny hand around Mats’ finger.
It’s only then does Mats realise that he’s crying too.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“I just don’t understand, you’re a Bayern supporter?” Klara mentions again, looking for clarification once more as they blend into the crowd during the walk up to the Allianz Arena, pulling the scarf around her neck tighter as Basti’s arm brushes against her. “You play for Dortmund though and you're always talking shit.”
Basti shakes his head, dropping his gaze to the ground for a moment. “I was born here, I was obviously
going to support Bayern, Klara but as soon as papa retired; we moved to Düsseldorf, it was weird.”
Klara nods as though she understands. “You have been to Bayern games before though.”
Basti hums in agreement. “Most home games when we lived here. Dad would bring Felix and I and I don’t really remember much. I’ve only been a few times as a spectator since then. The fixture list clashes a lot. I think this is the first time I’ve been able to come down for a year or longer, not sure.”
Klara bumps her shoulder against Basti’s with a smile. “I think it’s nice. I mean, supporting Felix.”
Basti shrugs. “He’s my best friend, I’d be a pretty sucky brother if I didn’t support him. Schalke or not.”
“Ah,” Klara laughs, throwing her head back with a bright, beaming smile. “And, the Dortmund boy finally shines through.”
“He’s worse.” Basti chimes in. “You think I talk shit about Schalke? You should hear Felix once he starts ranting about Dortmund.”
“I’d love to join your dads one day for a Revierderby.” Klara muses, pursing her lips as she extends her hand for one of the tickets in Basti’s hand. “It’s not quite the same watching on TV.” Klara winks as she takes the ticket and heads to the turnstile.
Basti groans. Klara Andersson will be the death of him.
“So… Do you think you’ll play for Bayern one day?” Klara asks as they climb the steps, drinks in hand as they move through the rapidly filling stands as the announcer says something that neither of them are listening to.
Basti frowns. “I haven’t thought about it. I’m focused on Dortmund.”
“That’s a lie, Hummels.” Klara deadpans and Basti wonders when she became so good at reading him. “Sorry.” She smirks. “Höwedes-Hummels.”
Basti rolls his eyes as he continues to follow her until they get to their seats. “It’s not a lie.”
“Okay.” Klara accepts. “- But... if the offer came in from Bayern. Would you consider it? Would you go?”
“Why the sudden interest, huh?” Basti wonders, eyebrows raised. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“Of course not, stupid.” Klara huffs with an eye roll as she slaps Basti’s shoulder. “I just find it impossible to believe that you haven’t even considered something like this. You’re twenty and good. Not to mention your Papa.”
Basti sighs. He tries not to think about the unopened email from his agent at home.
The game ends in a 4-1 defeat for Schalke and Basti tries not to wince when he catches Felix in an argument with his own keeper. Klara nudges his shoulder,
“I think we should go, you want to see him before he leaves, don’t you?”
Basti nods wordlessly, extending his hand for Klara to pull her through the crowd and down the stairs to try and sneak down without anybody stopping them - he wonders if he and Felix still look enough alike to be confused for the other. Basti lets go of Klara’s hand the second they’re down the stairs and he tries not to think about how his future needs to be confirmed in a matter of days when he needs to find Felix.
In the end, they have to wait until the debriefing is over and Felix walks out with his earphones in his ears and a dejected frown on his face. Klara pouts as Basti reaches out to tap him on the shoulder. Felix startles until he realises it’s only his idiot twin brother.
“Hey bud, good game.” Basti smiles sympathetically, dragging Felix into a hug before Klara jumps and hugs him tightly too.
“We conceded four fucking goals. Hardly a good game.” Felix grumbles.
“Ignore the result, Lixie. You played great.” Klara presses, not even batting an eyelid at Felix pulling a face at the nickname. “They’re just too strong. That new kid they have, well, he’s not a new kid but he’s good.”
Felix and Basti share a knowing look but don’t mention it. “Thanks, thanks for coming to the shit-show guys.”
Basti brings Felix into a headlock. “Wouldn’t miss it, little brother.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
They had lost the twins a good ten minutes ago, two fourteen year olds with wavy hair flopping over their eyes each donning a Germany jersey, more specifically, their dads’ jerseys from the World Cup in Brazil under a leather jacket and denim jacket respectively.
Felix and Basti had been positively overjoyed when Mats told them that they could accompany him and Bene to the event that Saturday evening. Basti had immediately lit up at the prospect of being in the presence of the last group of players to lift a World Cup for Germany and Felix’s eyes had grown wide-
“
Is Mesut Özil going to be there
?!”
He’d asked with a rush of excitement as Mats nodded, answering that question which caused Felix to flop back on the couch heaving a dramatic sigh and mumbling something about
my hero
. Mats had huffed indignantly and left the room and his sons to carry on with their game before dinner.
Mats and Bene knew they were going to have a tough job to keep the twins from running into every former member of that squad and pestering them with twenty questions but they hadn’t expected to lose them as
quickly
as they did.
“Holy shit. There he is. Basti!” Felix squeaks, grabbing his brother’s arm and digging his nails through the leather of Basti’s jacket as he catches Mesut Özil himself in a conversation with Sami Khedira. “Oh my god. I’m going to die.”
“Then do it somewhere else, I’m looking for Uncle Thomas.” Basti shrugs off Felix’s hands absentmindedly, looking around for a familiar mop of greying curls amongst the crowds.
“Why? You see him
all
the time. We’re in the presence of royalty right now.” Felix reminds him, throwing his arm out and narrowing missing the waiter with a tray of drinks balanced atop of his palm.
“Wherever Uncle Thomas is, there’s going to be most of the guys who used to play for Bayern. I
have
to see them.” Basti explains, snapping his fingers when he spies Manu instead. “If in doubt, find Uncle Manu and you’ll find Uncle Thomas. See you later, bud.” Basti grins as he reaches over to ruffle Felix’s hair before he’s gone, weaving through the crowd unapologetically.
***
Thomas has his hands on Basti’s shoulders as Basti throws a hundred questions at Fips, awestruck in the presence of his all-time favourite player at a mile a minute, unable to stop himself when the room falls quieter and the music that had been nothing more than background noise suddenly becomes a lot louder,
clearer
. Thomas’ grip on Basti’s shoulders tighten as the fourteen year old turns around spies just who has entered.
Basti scowls.
“I gotta go! Can I come back later?” Basti asks, tilting his head back to look at Thomas who only manages a nod in response before Basti is running back through the crowd and dragging Felix away from Sami before he’s even finished talking.
“What the hell?” Felix grumbles. “I never pulled you away from the Bayern lot.”
Basti ignores him, turning Felix around so that his twin can see the reason for the sudden atmosphere change.
“Oh
.” Felix draws out, “great.”
“God, I hate him.” Basti comments with a slight snarl, unable to tear his eyes away from the former Germany coach as he shakes hands with everybody and engages in light-hearted chatter and pleasantries. “I don’t know why he gets lorded, he only won the World Cup because he actually chose
good
players. His tactics are worse than Schalke’s in a Revierderby.”
Felix huffs. “Did you
have
to say that?”
Basti grins, slinging his arm around Felix’s shoulders. “Sure, I did. Tell me I’m wrong.”
Felix just rolls his eyes.
“There you two are!” Bene calls out, coming up behind the twins. “Where have you been? We’ve been looking for you for half an hour.”
“Fips, he’s the best.”
“Sami and Mesut. Oh my fucking god, they’re
so
cool.” Felix bursts out, excitement in his voice and an awestruck glimmer in his eyes.
“Language.” Mats and Bene scold in unison.
“Oh
fuck
, here he comes.” Mats mutters under his breath as he watches Jogi leave the former Bayern contingent and head in their direction.
“
Language
.” Bene chides with a swift jab to Mats’ ribs.
Basti shoves his hands in his jacket pockets and leans against the nearest wall as Felix frowns, snapping his head around to look at Bene who is actively avoiding looking anywhere near his former coach.
“Dad? Can you take me to see Drax now?” Felix asks,
Bene, grateful for suggestion, nods wordlessly and leads Felix away in the general direction of where he can hear a slightly less sober Julian Draxler talking at full volume.
Jogi approaches Mats and Basti, the latter of whom looks as disinterested as one could be.
“Mats, always a pleasure.”
Mats forces a smile onto his face, trying to stifle his laughter at Basti’s less than subtle scoff at the words.
“And, this, your son?” Jogi nods towards Basti who has taken a strong interest in his sneakers instead. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, your dad was a
great
player.”
“Is that why you kicked him off the national team?” Basti asks, innocent as he can possibly be, tilting his head to the side and staring down at the hand outstretched towards him that he’s making no effort to shake.
Jogi coughs and out of the corner of his eye; Basti can see Mats smiling with that familiar glint of
that’s my boy
in his eye.
“Well, I should, there are a lot more players to see.” Jogi stammers awkwardly, backing away and trying to escape before he the chance to be interrogated by a teenager comes up again.
Bene slaps Mats’ shoulder. “Stop smirking. That was rude, Basti, we’ve brought you up better than this.”
Basti just shrugs, brushing his hair out of his eyes before he slips away and goes to hunt down Fips once more, ready to hear more stories about the dumb-fuckery that his Papa and Uncle Thomas got into back in their playing days.
Mats turns to his husband and smirks once more. “Oh, come off it, babe. You’re not telling me you
wouldn’t
have done the same thing.”
Bene doesn’t answer, he just purses his lips and scowls.
Mats grins as he leans in to kiss his cheek. “I thought so.”
(If Bene admits later that evening that he admires their son’s forwardness (to put it lightly) - Mats doesn’t say
I told you so
but he definitely thinks it).
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mats wakes up with a jolt, his shoulder knocking against his husband’s head causing Bene to harrumph and swat at Mats’ arm before he rolls over and falls back asleep.
Mats is about to fall back against the pillows when he hears it again, a shrill shrieking followed by a small crash before the sound of the TV travels up the stairs. Mats leans over and jostles Bene’s shoulder,
“Wha-?” Bene mumbles, burrowing his face deeper in the pillow.
“I think the boys are awake.”
Bene groans and rolls onto his back, snapping open his eyes and mustering up his best glare for six in the morning, “and?”
Mats makes an undistinguishable gesture with his hands. Bene blinks before rolling back onto his side and falling back asleep almost immediately. Mats’ lips twist into a frown,
“I’ll see if they’ve set the kitchen on fire then?”
Bene doesn’t respond, Mats flicks his ear, Bene kicks him in the shin. Mats kicks the covers off him and clambers out of bed, reaching for his glasses and stumbling out of the bedroom and down the stairs where he hears the mindless chatter that comes from two twelve year olds who wake up at the crack of dawn for no fucking reason.
Mats reaches the living room door, the TV showing cartoons. Felix is sitting on the floor, sprawled out with a bowl of at least three different kinds of cereal that he’s picking at and Basti is lying on the couch, in a jersey that’s far too big for him and drowning his entire frame as he too eats cereal, pulling it from the box.
If Mats was more awake, he’d roll his eyes, as it happens, he just shakes his head and walks into the kitchen - Mats pinches the bridge of his nose, his glasses digging into his face uncomfortably as he pulls the three boxes of cereal that are spilt over the counter upright and glares towards the living room.
Suddenly the TV lowers and Felix’s voice travels from the living room to the kitchen clearly,
“Can you hear, Papa?”
“It’s six o’clock, dipshit. He’ll be spooning dad.”
“Gross, Basti.” Felix grumbles,
Mats scowls from the kitchen.
“I just thought I could hear him. Stop giving me that look, turn it back up.” Felix huffs, sounding defeated as the volume steadily gets louder.
Mats leans against the counter, wondering how long he can stick out staying in the kitchen before the twins realise he’s awake - though - going back and curling against Bene for the next couple of hours sounds a lot more appealing.
Mats makes himself a cup of coffee and sits at the kitchen table, pulling his tablet from the corner and switching it on. Felix’s laughter travels from the living room to the kitchen, Mats smiles and scrolls through the morning news.
He’s just finished his coffee when Bene sleepily staggers into the kitchen, blinking rapidly when he sees Mats.
“Morning, sunshine.” He greets his husband,
Bene, barely awake, grumbles in response and makes a b-line for a mug to make himself coffee. Mats just chuckles to himself and switches the tablet off, standing up and hearing the familiar shout of
“
You’re so bad at this, Lix!
”
“FIFA?” Bene asks, raising his eyebrows at the sound of Basti’s voice,
“For an hour.” Mats deadpans, “they gave up watching cartoons and are now trying to predict the outcome of the derby.”
Bene, slowly waking up, pales at his husband’s words. “Why did we agree to take them?”
“The same reason we agree to most things, to shut them up.” Mats shrugs, pushing his glasses further up his nose when he hears footsteps padding in the hallway.
“Morning, dad! Morning, papa! Isn’t today a glorious day to see Schalke get murdered on the sacred pitch that is-”
Felix slams a hand over Basti’s mouth. “Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
“Language, Felix.” Bene calls out without looking up, leaning back against the counter with his coffee in his hand.
Felix turns, his hand still stuck over his brother’s mouth, he bats his eyelashes at his parents. “I’m sorry but he’s been doing this all morning.”
Mats smirks, “maybe he has a point, babe?”
Bene, holding his mug to his lips, glances over to Mats, staring at him. “Don’t start, Hummels.”
Mats’ smirk grows. “Last names already? If that’s the way you want to play things, Höwedes, you’re on.”
Bene flips him off receiving a chorus of gasps from Mats and the twins.
***
“Oh my god. Oh my
god.
Oh, god.” Basti continues to murmur, slapping Felix’s arm unforgivingly as the elder of the two just turns to stare at Basti.
“Stop it. That hurts.” Felix frowns, rubbing his shoulder and trying to scoot away from Basti,
“It won’t hurt as much as another derby defeat though!” Basti exclaims, twisting his hand in Felix’s scarf and pulling it.
Felix stumbles and in retaliation kicks Basti’s ankle. Basti yelps and Felix smirks until he feels a hand on his shoulder, wincing, he tilts his head back and Mats is glaring at him-
“Hi, Papa.” He greets, feigning his most innocent look as Basti hops around the top of the stairs, groaning. “Basti tripped,”
“I’m sure he did,” Mats draws out sarcastically, pushing Felix down towards their row of seats. “Can you two just stop fighting for five minutes?”
“Says you.” Basti huffs “you and dad have been arguing over the olden days for three hours.”
Mats pauses, Felix stifles his laughter and Basti hides his smirk behind his scarf. Mats raises his eyebrows, crossing his arms over his chest excruciatingly slowly,
“How
old
do you think we are?!” Mats shrieks indignantly,
Felix looks between the both of them, leaning back against his seat with his hands in his jacket pocket as Basti fumbles and tries to come up with a response. “I - well - Papa, it’s just -
you know.
”
Felix snorts. “That’s a nice hole you’ve dug yourself there.”
Basti wavers before he just drops his gaze completely. Felix looks positively overjoyed and Bene walks down the stairs, narrowing his eyes at the sudden silence that seems to overtaken his entire family.
“Do I want to know?” He asks,
“Nope!” Felix grins,
It takes four minutes and twelve seconds for Mats and Bene to have to split the twins up and sit them on either side of them but that doesn’t stop Basti from leaning behind Mats and grabbing Felix’s scarf, almost choking his brother in the process. Bene sinks lower in his seat, shaking his head and possibly reevaluating every life choice that has led up to this moment - more specifically ever saying hello to Mats in the first place.
“I’m going to play in one of these one day.” Basti promises, looking out to the pitch with wide eyes as the teams are out on the pitch, ready for kickoff, “and Felix is going to play for
them.
”
Felix shrugs, pushing his fingers against his scarf as Basti continues to ramble about Revierderbies of the next generation. Felix worries his lip between his teeth and keeps his line of sight trained towards the pitch, swallowing down his feelings, he turns to Basti. “Wishful thinking.”
Basti just raises his eyebrows, smirking.
That’s the last time Basti looks relatively happy for the entirety of the game, his jaw dropping when the first Schalke goal goes in just after the eleventh minute, he scowls when the penalty for Schalke is scored in the twenty-first and by the time the third flies into the back of the net from the corner - Basti looks like he wants to cry. Felix is in sheer fucking awe of his team, controlling the game and if they happen to be the reason that Basti hasn’t said a word in ten minutes -
well -
that’s just a bonus.
***
“I can’t believe it. I can’t believe that
just
happened. We’re the greatest fucking te-”
“Shut the fuck up!” Basti cries out, shoving Felix as the pair walk down the stairs at the end of the game, the 3-0 still nightmarishly clear in Basti’s mind as he grimaces and
thinks about the horrorshow he’s just witnessed. “You got lucky,”
“Uh huh,” Felix smirks, “lucky, lucky because you’re
so
bad.”
Mats and Bene walk silently behind them, not speaking, Mats huffing and muttering thinly veiled threats and swear words as Bene makes no effort to hide how smug he’s feeling.
“The power has shifted! Schalke are returning to their glory-”
A loud screech cuts off Felix’s rambling and he falls to the ground, clutching his nose as blood seeps through his fingers, his eyes are wide in panic and there’s tears welling up. Basti pales, worrying his lip between his teeth as flashes of regret cross his face.
“What happened?” Mats asks, dropping his hands to Basti’s shoulders as Bene kneels in front of Felix.
“I didn’t - I was just trying - I pushed - he turned his head!” Basti rushes out incoherently, squeaking and hiding his face behind his scarf. “I didn’t mean to!”
“You did!” Felix accuses, “Jesus, it’s a football game, Basti!”
“Okay,
okay,
stop it you two.” Mats warns, “I’m sure it was just an accident.”
“Bullshit.” Felix huffs as he drags his scarf across his face and smears it with blood, wincing in the process,
“I didn’t, Papa, tell him.” Basti grumbles, glaring at Felix and feeling every ounce of regret falling from his shoulders. “He just got in my way.”
“I - I’m sure it was an accident, Felix.” Mats tries, wanting nothing more than to diffuse this situation before it escalates into something-
Bene brushes his hand through Felix’s hair, trying to soothe Felix who still has tears in the corners of his eyes and he’s trying desperately not to cry. Basti sighs and with one look from Mats slowly approaches his brother and unwraps his scarf from his neck,
“Here,” he holds it out to Felix who looks sceptical, “don’t give me that look - use that to stop your nose bleeding.”
Felix hesitates before taking the scarf and pressing it to his nose, still feeling the blood gush out from Basti’s fist. Basti slides down until he’s sitting on the floor beside his brother,
“I am sorry, ‘Lix.”
Felix nods, “yeah, I know but it’s fine, the scoreline softened the blow.”
Basti laughs but he’s rolling his eyes. “Idiot,”
“Takes one to know one.” Felix retorts,
Bene, satisfied with things not escalating, gets to his feet and goes to join Mats.
“Honey-”
“- Fucking Schalke.”
“
Uh oh.”
Felix and Basti sing in unison, grinning when Mats and Bene start arguing over the questionable penalty.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Basti is chasing Coco around the living room, the chewed up, unrecognisable tennis ball in his hand as he rolls it along the floor - Coco immediately bounding after it.
Felix sits on the floor, a blue crayon in one hand as he continues to draw quietly under the watchful eye of Ulla who is sitting on the couch with a magazine spread across her lap. Basti holds his hand out and giggles when the wet tennis ball is dropped from Coco’s mouth to his palm,
“Good doggy.” Basti praises reaching out to pat the top of Coco’s head, “fetch!” He shrieks, kicking the ball across the floor.
Ulla glances up for a second and smiles at her youngest grandson who is having the time of his life playing with the family dog - she can almost see their reactions now when her son and son-in-law return home with the new addition to their family.
Felix drops his crayon to the table, already beginning to rub his eyes as he stumbles to his feet and climbs onto the couch in one swift move, collapsing against Ulla’s side. Ulla smiles and moves her magazine away for the moment to lift Felix onto her lap and allow him to snuggle into her arms, fighting back sleep as Basti continues to run Coco ragged around the room.
Ulla watches as her grandson’s eyes flutter between open and closed as she rocks him in her arms, lifting her hand to brush Felix’s fringe out of his eyes and softly humming a lullaby as Felix’s eyes close and he turns so that he can press his face into Ulla’s sweater.
Basti stops dead in the middle of the room when he notices Felix sleeping.
“Do you want to sleep too, my darling?” Ulla asks, looking over at Basti who is less interested in the tennis ball and more interested in the couch. “Come on,” Ulla smiles as she holds her arm out.
Basti comes running to the couch and crashes into the cushions, clambering up and settling against his Grandma’s side. Coco whines upon realising that their game is over and bounds towards the couch. Basti yawns and sleepily reaches out to wrap his little hand around Coco’s ear, slowly starting to fall asleep.
***
It’s the sound of the front door opening that causes Basti to stir, Coco now lying on the couch beside Basti. Ulla feels her arm going dead as Felix still lays sleeping soundly in her arms but she manages to still flick through the pages in the magazine.
There’s commotion in the hallway and Basti finally wakes up at that noise, whining at the sudden loss of sleep as he looks around the living room - breaking out into a bright grin when he sees Mats entering the room.
“Papa!” He calls out, scrambling to climb off the couch and run into Mats’ arms as Mats lifts him up and spins him around before settling him on his hip. “Missed you,”
Bene shrugs his jacket off and curls his arm tighter around the little brown bundle of fur in his arms as he scratches at the puppy’s ears.
Felix frowns when he feels himself being shaken awake, blinking once, twice before his eyes land on Mats’ and he smiles, waving shyly at him.
“Babe?” Mats calls out as he helps Felix to jump off the couch,
Bene walks into the room and two sharp gasps are heard as the twins notice the wriggling puppy.
“Puppy!” Basti cries out, trying to scramble out of Mats’ grip, “let me see puppy!”
Basti tries again as Bene walks closer allowing Basti to clumsily pat the top of the puppy’s head.
Mats meets Bene’s eyes over the top of Basti’s head and he can only smile. Bene notices Felix is still standing looking up at the puppy in sheer awe, head tilted to the side as the puppy yaps excitedly at the fuss that Basti is making over him,
“You want to say hello, darling?” Bene asks, kneeling down in front of Felix with the puppy trying to pull away from Bene’s grip unsuccessfully.
Felix scrutinises the puppy, screwing his face up before he slowly reaches out his hand towards the puppy. The puppy in return licks Felix’s hand causing the elder of the twins to squeak and pull a face,
“Not nice.” He comments much to Bene and Mats’ amusement,
Bene pulls Felix into his side and holds him close as Felix lifts his hand and slowly strokes the top of the puppy’s head, a warm smile starting to appear on his face as he begins to enjoy himself. Coco, clearly unimpressed with the lack of attention, jumps off the couch and trots around to Mats, jumping up on his legs.
“Jealous,” Mats teases as he scratches behind Coco’s ears and allows Basti to do the same. “Bit like someone else I know,”
Bene glares at him.
Ulla, watching the sweet family moment unfold before her eyes tries to remain in the background but then, Felix is turning around and stretching out his hand to her and grinning.
“We got a puppy.” Felix states, somewhat in awe as the puppy barks a high-pitched bark behind him.
“Are you happy with your surprise, sweetheart?” Ulla asks him, leaning forward to brush Felix’s hair out of his eyes,
Felix thinks for a moment before nodding and smiling. “I like it,”
“I want to name him!” Basti suddenly exclaims, still wriggling around in Mats’ arms as he makes grabby hands towards the puppy.
Bene gets to his feet and holds the puppy out for Mats to take, mainly to stop Basti freaking out every three seconds and cuddle the puppy.
“Honey, can you just-”
Basti suddenly gasps, slamming a hand over his mouth. “Honey.”
Bene and Mats share a confused glance but Basti just repeats the word, twice. He’s gently pushing at the puppy’s ears.
“Honey. Your name is Honey.” Basti confirms, deep in thought as he wraps his arms around the puppy’s neck and pulls him impossibly closer. “Hi Honey.”
“Honey?” Felix asks, looking up at Bene with confusion on his face, “I want to stroke Honey.” Felix pleads gently, already stretching his arms out to Bene.
“I think he has a name.” Mats grins when Felix bumps against Basti and the pair have their arms wrapped around their new puppy.
***
“I think they love your surprise.” Ulla comments, standing in the kitchen with Bene.
The pair automatically turning around to look into the living room where Mats is sitting on the floor with Basti hanging onto his back and Felix sitting on his lap. Honey and Coco are circling the three of them, still weary but getting used to the other’s presence.
“Worth it,” Bene decides, smiling at Felix when he turns around and waves to him. “Even if we’re going to be the ones stuck training him.”
“You could make Mats do it.” Ulla suggests, raising her eyebrows,
“I’ll make Mats do it.” Bene confirms as Honey comes bounding into the kitchen, skidding to a halt on the tiles. “Hey, buddy.” Bene greets, kneeling down and allowing Honey to jump up and place his two front legs on Bene’s knee. “Thank you for looking after them today,”
“I’m glad you asked. You know I’d be here as soon as I can be.” Ulla responds,
Bene tries not to address the elephant in the room. The move to Düsseldorf that seems to be racing closer than any of them would like to admit.
Ulla smiles softly and walks around the counter, letting Honey trot around the kitchen, discovering his new home as Ulla pulls Bene into a hug,
“And you know I’ll be there when you’re across the country too.” Ulla promises,
“I know,
I know,
and you know I can’t be more grateful.”
Ulla frames Bene’s face and smiles, “you’re going to be fine.”
Bene nods and hugs her once more. They’ve barely separated when they hear Honey scratching at the wall-
“Honey!” Bene shouts across the kitchen,
“Yes?” Mats calls out, looking confused as he drags a hand through his curls.
Bene shakes his head. “Not you,
that
Honey.” Bene explains, nodding towards their puppy
“Because that’s
not
going to get annoying.” Mats huffs, rolling his eyes as Coco weaves in and out of his legs. “Next time,
we’re
adopting a dog that already has a name.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mats loves his husband, really, he’s the love of his life but when he leaves for a meeting and leaves him in charge of their three year old twins who have discovered that they’re able to get into every drawer and cupboard when Mats isn’t looking is causing him to tear his hair out.
Bene left twenty minutes ago and the living room has already been turned upside down by Basti rifling through the cupboard underneath the TV whilst Coco lies at his side.
Mats scowls at the array of DVDs and papers that have fallen from folders that are now covering their lightwood floor. Basti’s blond hair is just about visible from where he’s lying on his stomach and reaching into the cupboard once more.
Something or rather someone crashes into his legs from behind and Felix’s head pokes out from the side as he wraps his arms around Mats’ leg,
“Hi, Papa!” He greets with a squeaky yet hoarse voice, sniffling. “Hurts,” he tells Mats, pointing at his throat.
Mats leans down and lifts Felix up, brushing his hair back and placing the back of his hand against his eldest son’s forehead. “I know but you just have to let the medicine do its job, baby.”
Felix huffs and scowls whilst making a motion to bite at Mats’ hand but unsuccessfully. Mats smiles and presses a kiss to Felix’s hair before sighing-
“Basti! How many times do I have to tell you to stop balancing things on top of Coco?” Mats asks, not even bothering to turn around to know that Basti is balancing folders atop of Coco’s back and giggling wildly.
“Coco like it.” Basti tells him,
“Coco doesn’t.”
“Coco does!” Basti exclaims, stamping his foot in the petulant way that only toddlers can.
“I miss your daddy.” Mats sighs, his frustration only growing when Felix pulls his glasses from his face and swings them around in his fist.
Felix drops the glasses to the floor and exhales deeply, a sharp cough tearing from the back of his throat causing him to tear up and cling to Mats as tightly as he can. Mats leans down and grabs his glasses - tossing them aside for the time being as he cradles the back of Felix’s head. Basti is staring up at them with wide eyes-
“Lix?”
“He’s not well, buddy. I’m just - stay here and don’t break anything. Coco watch him.”
Coco whines but other than that falls back asleep immediately. Basti pouts and reaches out for Felix-
“Me stay with Lix!” Basti shrieks and comes scampering across the living room, attaching himself to Mats’ leg. “Please, Papa.”
Felix is already beginning to doze off against Mats’ shoulder and Basti is unrelenting with his whining leaving Mats with the only option he has - putting both boys down for a nap and praying to fucking god they stay asleep for a couple of hours.
Basti demands to be in the same bed as Felix, thrashing and cuddling closer to his brother - Mats wonders whether Bene would kill him if he put out an advertisement in the newspaper offering them to a good home. In the end, Mats places them both in his bed and drops cushions around the side and front should they roll out.
“Sleep well, boys.”
Basti is curled around Felix who is wheezing in his already sleep-ridden state so Mats counts his blessings and leaves them to go downstairs.
Mats reaches the kitchen and looks around at the mess covering every single counter - the dishes from breakfast, some dishes from last night. Toys that for some unknown reason the twins have dragged to the corner of the room near the door leading out to the back garden.
Mats just manages to talk himself out of sending an SOS message to his husband before getting to work - keeping his ears open for any sound of movement coming from upstairs. Slipping his wedding ring off, Mats leaves it on the side as he starts to fill the dishwasher and clean the counters.
Coco settles by the dining table just underneath the heater and watches Mats grumble as he cleans the counter near the sink,
“Let’s have kids, it’ll be fun, god, I’m going to kill him.” Mats continues to mutter-
He’s grateful for the fact his husband is away for the day otherwise the slap that he’s half-expecting to receive to the back of the head would have already come.
It takes him a good hour to have the kitchen looking like somewhere where a family could live in peace and harmony - he almost scoffs at his choice of words -
“What do you say? Wake the boys up and go for a walk?”
Coco’s head springs up at the mention of going for a walk. Mats smiles and lets Coco pounce on him. Mats is scratching Coco’s ears when a high-pitched ‘Papa!’ comes from upstairs,
Mats leaves Coco to race up and down the hall as he walks to the bottom of the stairs and raises his eyebrows at Felix and Basti standing at the top of the stairs; their hands curled around the gate.
“We’re going to take Coco for a walk-”
“I wanna walk Coco!” Basti screeches,
Mats scoffs and walks up the stairs to unlock the gate and lift the boys up. “Yeah, and I want a day off. Not happening, Basti.”
Mats hooks Coco’s lead on before he spends the next five minutes trying to chase Basti around the living room to put his coat on - his youngest thoroughly against the padded winter coat that Mats is holding in his hand.
On the other hand, Felix wanders through the house already bundled up as he pushes at the scarf wrapped around him and enters the kitchen. Felix drags his hand across the bumpy counter, his fingers poking the various different jars and bottles that are on the shelves before he clambers onto the small stepladder and stands up with the tight grip he has on the edge of the counter. Basti’s shouting and Mats’ exasperation is still heard in the living room when Felix spies something shiny near the sink, his eyes light up and he reaches for it - his fingers not being able to grasp it properly and all he ends up doing is pushing it into the sink and watching helplessly as it slips down the drain with ease.
“Ready to go, baby?” Mats asks from the doorway,
He has one hand holding onto Basti’s hood but Basti is just scowling having finally been pushed into the bulky winter coat. Felix nods and climbs off the ladder to go and join his Papa and brother.
Felix decides pretty quickly that he’s too tired to walk so Mats somehow has to keep Felix sitting on his shoulders, Basti in his line of sight and Coco away from charging at a squirrel - he misses his husband. Felix starts pulling at Mats’ curls whilst Basti finally twists his hand out of Mats’ and starts running across the lightly snow covered grass to chase after Coco-
“Basti! Slow down you’re going to- yeah.” Mats sighs when Basti faceplants the ground getting a face full of snow and damp grass. “Basti!”
“I’m ‘kay!” Basti shouts back, clambering to his feet and continuing on his charge after Coco.
Mats lifts Felix off his shoulders - not outwardly admitting that he’s got a bad back down to getting older but Felix doesn’t mind, he just stares at the snow when his shoes crunch against it-
“Papa, why is snow white?”
Give me a break- “because it’s frozen?” Mats answers with a small shrug, he kneels down and lets Felix grasp at some of the snow in his hand and gasp at how it melts against his gloves just as quickly,
“Pretty.” Felix decides whilst going to grab another handful.
Coco comes racing back towards them, jumping up and resting her paws on Mats’ shoulders as Basti follows and wraps his tiny arms around Coco’s wet and muddy body.
“Ready to go home?” Mats asks when he notices Felix getting frustrated with the snow continuing to melt and the streak of mud on Basti’s face.
Once back home, Coco goes and makes herself home on her bed, knackered from her walk whilst Mats bathes the twins - noticing the time, he hasn’t heard from Bene all day and it’s getting near the twins’ dinner time at least. Mats scowls at the boys’ choice of pyjamas, that’s the last time he allows Thomas Müller to take them shopping during an afternoon of babysitting. The Bayern pyjamas stare at him whilst the twins sit on their beds wrapped in fluffy towels.
“Uncle Thomas got them! He’s the best.” Basti grins,
“Yeah, he’s swell.” Mats mutters before helping to get them dressed and sending them downstairs to watch cartoons for a while.
It’s only when Mats reaches the kitchen to start dinner does he notice that’s something is missing and by something - his wedding ring. Coco trots in and nuzzles her face against Mats’ legs,
“Give me a minute.” Mats tells her, leaning down to scratch Coco’s ears before walking over to the counter to grab his wedding ring but not finding it. Mats turns around and starts looking at all the other counters. “Weird, I saw it before-”
Mats starts pulling things out from cupboards and turning the kitchen upside down as the panic starts to set in - he’s not so much concerned with losing his wedding ring but telling his husband he’s lost it - yeah, not so much.
Felix is hovering by the kitchen door when Mats glances up from where he’s searching under the island.
“Lix, baby, have you seen Papa’s wedding ring?”
Felix giggles, “yes Papa.”
Mats exhales a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god, where is it? Do you have it? You know you’re not supposed to play with Papa’s things.”
Felix keeps grinning and steps into the kitchen; Mats following until Felix climbs onto the ladder again and points at the sink-
“What?”
“Your ring. In there. It fell, Papa.” Felix giggles,
Mats visibly pales, his eyes growing wide. Bene is going to kill him.
“Lix, go and watch TV with your brother and stay there until I say you two can come up. I just need to - yeah.” Mats stumbles over his words and glares at the drain
Felix shrugs and climbs off the ladder before toddling back into the living room, Coco follows upon realising that Mats isn’t going to feed her anytime soon. Mats grips the edge of the counter and stares down at the sink, laughing nervously.
He kneels down and pulls open the cupboard doors to reveal the drainage and stare at it cluelessly, he really should know more than he does but upon his parenting 101 lessons - polishing your plumbing skills for when your toddler drops your wedding ring down the sink wasn’t a lesson, surprisingly.
Mats flicks the pipe, groaning before bracing himself and reaching behind to twist the nozzles at the back, they’re stiff and it takes him a good few minutes to turn them before a shrill screeching sound is heard and water shoots out from the pipe, soaking Mats and the kitchen in the process.
Mats splutters and tries to get out of the way of the spray but all he does is slip on the already wet floor and hit the deck with a loud thump. The water continues to spray out and soak everything in plain sight, growing heavier and heavier by the second and Mats can only sit and watch as the water starts to create giant puddles across the floor.
“I’m going to guess that was the wrong thing to do.” Mats mutters to himself, dragging a hand through his damp hair and sticking it up at odd angles.
It takes twenty minutes for Mats to be able to stop the water, never admitting this out loud but he used Google and felt like a dumbass for doing so. There’s a small gasp behind him and Mats’ head spins around to find Basti, wide eyed and grinning.
“Water!”
“Don’t come in here!” Mats calls out to him,
Basti pouts but nods, bouncing from foot to foot as Felix joins him - looking just as intrigued. Mats gets to his feet and pulls a face when his sneakers squelch in the water,
Mats grabs his phone from the counter and wipes his screen on his jeans before realising that his jeans are soaked through therefore not helping things.
The sound of the key turning in the lock captures the twins attention and both of them go barrelling towards the door where Bene is shutting it and hanging up his coat.
“Daddy!” The twins shout in unison as they jump into Bene’s arms,
A twin in each arm - that’s Bene’s favourite way to come home. Pressing a kiss to both of their heads, Basti looks overjoyed about something-
“Daddy, we got a pool.” Basti tells him,
Bene raises his eyebrows whilst wondering what in fresh hell Mats has been buying now, “what?”
“Come see!” Felix joins in,
Bene is skeptical to say the least but he walks through the hallway to the kitchen where he almost drops his sons to the floor-
“Mats! What the fuck have you done?!”
“Gotcha!” Mats suddenly shrieks, standing up and holding his slightly dirty wedding ring above his head before his eyes snap to his husband who looks visibly furious at the mess. “Babe, you’re home…”
“Hummels, I’m going to kill you.”
Mats winces, “yeah, not exactly surprised. I can explain though.”
Bene sighs, “I bet you can.”
“See, daddy? Swimming pool.” Basti grins, gesturing to their flooded kitchen.
Felix giggles and curls his arm around Bene's neck as Basti wriggles to get down to stomp in the puddles that are covering the kitchen tiles, Mats slowly backs away until he's leaning against the door leading out into the garden whilst Bene wonders if their sons will resent them if he divorces Mats.
"I'll clean it up." Mats promises, nearly slipping and sliding in each and every direction as he reaches the utility cupboard to grab a mop, "babe, you're not
actually mad, are you?"
"No." Bene sighs, "on a scale of one to ten... not the
worst
thing you've done in fourteen years." He quips, the corners of his lips curling upwards as he turns back around to take the boys upstairs despite Basti's grumbling.
Mats smiles as he starts to mop up the water,
peace and harmony is overrated anyway.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Papa?” A tiny voice calls out as the door to Mats and Bene’s bedroom creaks open, “Papa, awake?”
Mats looks up from his book and over to the door where Basti is pushing open the door and rubbing his eyes,
“I thought you were in bed.”
“I miss daddy. Where is he?” Basti asks, his bottom lip quivering as he stands in the doorway.
Mats sighs and closes his book, setting it aside as he beckons Basti over. Basti rushes over to the bed and with Mats’ help he climbs up and curls up in his arms.
“Daddy’s on his way back, okay? He had an away game today.” Mats explains as gently as he can, Basti still tears up though.
“Want him back now.” Basti cries, cuddling closer.
The door opens again and Felix, looking disoriented looks into the room and relaxes at the sight of his brother but still sleepy as he clutches onto his stuffed bear in one hand and waves at Mats with his other.
“Hi, Papa.” Felix greets as he walks into the bedroom and rounds the bed until Mats can lift him up too, “comfy.” He decides as he settles himself against Mats’ side,
Felix frowns when he notices his brother’s distress and reaches out to clumsily pat the top of Basti’s head before holding onto his hand.
“Basti sad?” Felix asks Mats,
Pressing a kiss to both of his sons’ foreheads, Mats nods, “he misses daddy.”
“Me too.” Felix sighs and drops his head to Mats’ chest with a thump, “when he’s back?”
“Soon… I hope.” Mats promises,
Soon happens to be another forty minutes by which time both boys are fast asleep curled against Mats rendering Mats’ ability to reach for his book again or even move non-existent so he settles for staring at the blank screen of the TV and imagines what terrible show he could be watching when he hears the door opening downstairs, and truthfully, his first thought is that the twins will finally move and he can get the feeling back in his arms. The twins don’t stir though, still sleeping soundly, still sleeping when Bene appears in the doorway looking more asleep than awake,
“... I’m too tired to care why they’re in our bed.” Bene dismisses but it’s the sound of his voice that has Basti stirring,
“Daddy!” He screeches and scrambles up and off the bed to launch himself into Bene’s arms, “missed you.”
The noise wakes Felix up and he looks a hell of a lot more displeased at being woken up than his brother does. Basti is clinging on tightly to Bene and Felix only musters up a wave before rolling onto his side and falling back asleep, lips parted and half of his face smushed into the throw pillow in the middle of the bed.
Basti, meanwhile, refuses to let go when Bene tries to put him down and only clings on tighter, whimpering whenever Bene tries to set him on the floor.
“He missed you?” Mats offers up as a suggestion for his sudden clinginess.
Basti smiles when Bene stands up straight again, his missing front tooth on full display before he frowns just as quickly. “Don’t leave again. You always leave, like Papa did.”
Bene exchanges a look with Mats and the guilt is written all over Mats’ face but explaining that’s how being a professional footballer works is not going to go down well with an exhausted child who just wants cuddles from his dad at nearly one in the morning.
Bene brushes Basti’s hair out of his eyes and smiles at his son,
“Stay with you?” Basti asks, pouting as his fingers twist into the collar of Bene’s jacket, “please,” he adds, voice barely able to avoid cracking,
Bene half-glares at Mats before nodding, unable to say no to his little boy and leaving the room and Mats to wrangle a still sleeping Felix back to their bedroom to put him to bed, though Bene feels he’s going to have a more difficult task in being able to put Basti down for the rest of the night and after a rough 5-1 loss, he’s in no mood for it.
Basti starts rubbing his eyes by the time that Bene has reached the door to the kitchen and Bene’s arm is falling dead under the weight but still, his five year old just clings on tighter and whimpers at the slightest movement that seems like Bene is pushing him away. Basti isn’t clingy, if anything, Felix is the clingier of the both of them overall but this, this is strange.
“Daddy.” Basti murmurs, voice laced with exhaustion as he tightens his arms around Bene’s neck and smacks his lips together, face pressed against Bene’s neck.
Bene struggles to grab himself a drink with how Basti has attached himself to him, he struggles to move around the kitchen but manages to get back upstairs just as Mats is walking out of the twins’ bedroom having successfully put Felix to bed without disturbing him too much.
“Basti, bed.”
Basti shakes his head at Mats, whining and cuddling closer to Bene who just raises his eyebrows at his husband.
“Just leave it, I’ll put him to bed.” Bene sighs, barely able to stop himself from yawning as he walks towards the bedroom.
Mats follows and grabs his book from the nightstand, sitting on the edge of the bed as Bene walks into the dresser because Basti’s head is obstructing his view and swears under his breath eliciting just a small smile from Mats.
Basti doesn’t leave Bene alone as he brushes his teeth but Bene manages to force him out of the bathroom long enough to have a shower even if Basti sits cross-legged on the floor and waits for him to be done, pulling at a loose thread in his pyjamas as he listens to the shower from outside the door.
Freshly showered, Bene isn’t even surprised when he pulls the door to the bathroom open and is immediately met with Basti jumping up and wanting to be lifted up. It has to be past two in the morning at this point and all Bene wants is to go to bed and sleep but he glances down at Basti and sees tears pooling in brown eyes that mirror his own and he knows that is a faraway possibility.
Opening the door to their bedroom, Felix is lying on his stomach twisted in the blankets with his arm dangling off the edge and clutching his stuffed bear by the leg, sometimes, the boys really do remind him of Mats. Sitting down on Basti’s bed, Basti curled up on Bene’s knee and holding onto him as though his life depends on it,
“What’s up, baby? You’re never this clingy, you know.” Bene asks, the darkness of the room getting darker as the wind howls outside, the branches of the tree outside narrowly missing hitting the bedroom window.
Basti huffs. “You always leave, Papa always left too. Why?”
“It’s our job.” Bene tells him, brushing Basti’s fringe out of his eyes. “I don’t like being away from you but I have to.”
Basti grumbles and leans closer, mumbling something intelligible. “I miss you.”
“I know, I know.” Bene sighs and kisses his son’s forehead,
Basti’s barely fighting back sleep anymore but still Bene doesn’t move, he just keeps him in his arms and when Mats walks in after ten or so minutes to check on them, Basti is fast asleep and Mats sends his husband an are you coming look. Bene shrugs and mouths in a minute leading to Mats kissing his forehead and ruffling Basti’s hair before leaving the room.
A minute turns into five which turns into fifteen and Bene doesn’t know when he fell asleep but when Mats wakes up a matter of hours later thanks to Felix running out of his room and jumping on him demanding breakfast and finds his husband and youngest son still sound asleep together on the tiny bed, he doesn’t wake them.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Yeah, yes, I know, I’m going to tell them- yes I’m going to tell them!” Basti cries out, his phone pressed against his ear as he paces the driveway of his parents' house, his white sneakers taking a beating against the gravel as he stops, sighs and feels the sun hitting the back of his neck as the time ticks towards midday. “I’m outside their house right now! Why don’t you believe me, honestly, yes, I know what I’m doing. Can I go and break the news now?”
Basti waits for the signal of confirmation from his agent before hanging up and pocketing his phone, his throat drying up as he looks at the front door. The same front door that he’s walked through hundreds of times but his heels dig into the gravel and for the life of him he can’t move himself towards the door.
Spinning around, Basti sits against the wall and rests his arms on his knees as he looks around the street he grew up on - he remembers playing football with Felix and Alex in this very road and nearly getting himself knocked down in the process, he remembers taking Coco and Honey for walks with his parents and Felix to the field leading to the woods at the end of the road. The thought of not living here anymore quite simply, terrifies him.
[the cooler brother]
come outside. need
to tell you something.
Basti knows it’s a cop-out, but he sends the text to Felix anyway and waits until he hears the front door clicking open and Felix poking his head out,
“You good?!” He shouts over,
Basti shakes his head, “need to tell you something.”
Felix raises his eyebrows but walks out of the door, leaving it on the latch as he practically skips down the driveway to join Basti sitting on the wall.
“Don’t take this the wrong way but you look fucking dreadful.” Felix quips, a sense nonchalance about his tone of voice that has Basti missing him already.
Basti snorts, burying his face in his hands before he tilts his head up to get a better look at his brother, Felix grins unashamedly down at him. Looking away, Basti sighs,
“... I signed for Bayern.”
Three precise, even beats of silence pass before Basti feels brave enough to meet Felix’s gaze and fuck, he wishes he hadn’t. Felix’s eyes are glassy and he looks seconds away from either yelling at him or slapping him but he does neither, he just twists his lips into a frown,
“Bayern. Of all teams, Basti. There’s something ironic about that.” Felix snorts, slinging his arm around Basti’s shoulders and barely hiding the fact that his fingers are shaking through his heavy breathing.
Felix’s fingers grip the back of Basti’s shirt until they tremble and turn white, Basti groans and turns around, lifting his hand and ruffling Felix’s hair,
“Lix, listen to me, I’m sorry but it’s... it’s Bayern.” Basti offers up as a pitiful explanation, it’s barely even the beginning of an explanation, how is Basti supposed to explain his reasoning for going to Bayern when he’s not even sure of it himself.
“I swear you’re just trying to emulate Fips. Either that, or you’re taking this Papa’s boy thing to the extreme.” Felix smiles, rolling his eyes too, “you don’t need to explain it, it’s going to suck... especially after losing Alex to Frankfurt but-” Felix shrugs, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, “it could be worse. Remember when you wanted to play in England?”
Basti shakes his head, lips curling upwards towards a smile, small but it’s there, “hey, I could’ve made it in England.”
“Made the bench, sure.” Felix teases and doesn’t flinch when Basti slaps him in retaliation. “Papa’s not going to take it well, you know that, right?”
Basti shrugs, “I figured as much. Best get it over with, yeah?”
Felix has to drag Basti back to the house and they’re both immediately met with Honey dragging his old self out of the living room to come and greet them,
“Hey, bud, missed you.” Basti smiles as he scratches behind Honey’s ears and hears his dad and his papa moving around the kitchen, bickering about something or other. “It’s good to be home, huh.”
Honey snuffles against Basti’s arm before following Felix into the kitchen, Basti gets back to his feet and slowly shuffles after the both of them, finding his dad first and hugging Bene- taking him by surprise.
“I wondered when you were going to show up.” Bene huffs, wrapping his youngest son in a hug and frowning when he only receives a grunt in response. “You okay, darling?”
“Fine.” Basti lies,
Bene glances over to Mats, his husband looking as unconvinced as Bene is but neither of them push Basti- if he wants to talk, he’ll talk and the both of them miss Felix wincing as he slides into one of the chairs at the dining table.
Basti hugs Mats and mouths ‘no’ in response to Felix mouthing to him ‘you okay?’
Dinner is a relatively quiet affair, well, when you take in the fact that dinners in the Höwedes-Hummels household usually involve a lot of talking over each other and fighting to get a word in edgeways, Basti barely speaks and Felix keeps sending his brother worried glances when he’s sure his parents aren’t looking. Bene notices though, he doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to his boys and it only sets the parental panic to a new level when it becomes clear that Felix knows something they don’t and Basti’s lack of being obnoxiously sarcastic is evident for all to see.
Basti continues spinning his fork around his plate and leaning down to stroke Honey with his other hand, a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. It’s not a secret to anybody and especially not his parents that Basti’s supported Bayern since he first picked up a football, hell, he’s annoyed Mats to no end because of it for the last two decades but he already knows what his Papa is going to say to him and he’s not about to be lectured for it.
Mats and Bene are talking quietly as they stack dishes and Basti’s just about to disappear into the living room with Felix and Honey when Bene calls out and asks him to stay. Felix flanks to his brother’s side and truthfully, that does little to ease their concerns.
“You’re not leaving until you tell us what’s wrong.” Mats tells him and he’s not playing around,
Basti shrinks, shoving his hands in his pockets and balancing on the edges of his sneakers.
“Whatever it is, we’re not going to be mad.” Bene tries, he’s always been better at getting Basti to talk about things that are bothering him.
Basti scoffs before lifting his gaze,
“I signed for Bayern.”
If Basti was to describe the first few seconds after his revelation, he’d describe it as wanting to run for the hills and never come back home.
“What the hell, Basti?!”
“Here we go...” Bene mutters, standing back from the counter,
“Bayern?! You’ve signed for them?! You did all this without even talking to us about it-?!”
“He’s twenty, honey.” Bene tries, he knows it’s not going to make a difference but Basti is shrinking in on himself and looking pretty fucking traumatised, “he’s an adult, if he wants to sign for Bayern, he can do it, I’m sure Daniel-“ the twins’ agent “-knows what he’s doing, hell, he’s the last person to have either of them screwed over.”
Basti, with uncertainty in his eyes sends a grateful look over to his dad.
Mats though, he’s still seething.
“Fucking Bayern, Basti.”
“ You signed for Bayern too. Why the fuck is it so different when I do it?!” Basti yells and Felix immediately backs away, eyes wide, it’s not the first time the family kitchen has been used for one of his Papa and Basti’s showdowns over the years.
“Because I thought you’d learn from my mistakes! Jesus Christ, didn’t you learn anything when I wouldn’t let you go to England.”
Basti scoffs, “I was fifteen, I didn’t know what I was doing back then, I’m an adult now.”
Bene frowns at his husband’s words, something from a couple of decades ago rings in his ears but he doesn’t recall it, not just yet.
“You can’t stay controlling where I play or what I do with my life! I’m not you and I never have been!” Basti yells, the words flying from his lips before he’s even had a chance to register them but once he does- the kitchen is painstakingly silent, so silent you could hear a pin drop.
The resonating meaning of Basti’s words hits everybody where it hurts. Felix can’t bear to look at his parents, kneeling down on the tiles and wrapping his arms around Honey’s neck, scratching his ears as he tries to unsuccessfully escape his grip. Mats stares open-jawed at Basti and Basti looks on the verge of tears, his bottom lip quivering despite how desperately he’s biting down on it. Bene scrambles to come up with something to say before it all escalates but he’s numb to it all.
Basti opens his mouth to try and retract his words but nothing comes out and instead he just storms out of the kitchen, hurrying towards the door and not even flinching when slams it shut behind him, the hinges vibrating as he stumbles down the driveway.
“Fuck. Fucking hell. Oh my god.” Basti mutters, his hands on the back of his head, barely able to believe what’s just happened, crossing the street, he walks down the road and takes a sharp right turn towards the path leading down by the river to the woods.
He jumps over a couple of branches and nearly slips on the mud as he makes his way through the trees down by the river, the sun shines against the ripples in the water and reflects off the surface as Basti stops, the rickety wooden fence is unstable as he leans against it. He remembers being a kid and having his Papa lifting him up to sit on the fence, legs swinging back and forth as his Papa taught him how to skip stones- he was never very good at it. It was sturdier than it is now as Honey or Coco would jump or rather fall into the river and start playing in it which meant the four of them got soaked when they’d eventually get out.
He should’ve brought Honey with him now, it’s not as fun being down here alone.
The branches of the twigs behind him have Basti jumping until he turns around and sees the figure approaching- he barely conceals his eye roll as Mats approaches him.
“Did Dad send you after me?” Basti bites, refusing to look Mats in the eye,
“No.”
“Surprising.” Basti mutters as he leans down to pick up a pebble and launches it into the river,
“There’s only one place you could’ve come to, you spent half your childhood here, Basti.” Mats sighs, feet crunching against the leaves as he steps up beside his son, “you know what I’m going to say, don’t you?”
“That I’m making a huge mistake?” Basti offers up as a bitter suggestion,
Mats shrugs and starts twisting his wedding ring around, his glasses slipping from the bridge of his nose. “Do you regret it?”
“At the moment, yeah. Yeah, I really fucking do.” Basti grumbles, kicking the fence and causing it to shake violently.
“You don’t.” Mats tells him and Basti doesn’t tell his papa that he’s right.
Their conversation falls dead and instead it’s just the sound of the distant walker in the background and the occasional dog barking.
“... I didn’t mean it, not the way it sounded at least.” Basti finally speaks up, his voice laced with worry as he tugs his bottom lip between his teeth.
Basti fucks up, he fights against Mats and he tries to get a rise out of him and has been since he was a teenager but he’s never once let it escalate to this, to saying something that deep down he knows is a sore issue for the family, they don’t mention it but deep down they know.
“I know,” Mats reassures him,
“I just... it’s Bayern, Papa, and I know you made mistakes there and leaving Dortmund but- I don’t think I’m making a mistake. They’re the best team in the country, you’re just bitter.” Basti shrugs, fingers digging into the fence, feeling the indents against the pads.
Mats chuckles, “true, but you should’ve talked to us about it.”
Basti sighs, “you would’ve tried to talk me out of it.”
Mats hums in agreement, “perhaps but would that have been better than what just happened back there?”
“I guess so.” Basti admits and he finally meets his Papa’s gaze, “I’m not a little kid anymore, you know? This is what I want even if you hate the idea.”
“You know, your dad always did say we’re more alike than we think.”
“Dad’s right about a lot of things.” Basti agrees, “it’s annoying as fuck but. I’m sorry, Papa.”
Basti curls into Mats’ arms and hugs him, exhaling deeply, his shoulders starting to shake when he feels Mats’ arms wrapping around him feeling comforted when Mats ruffles his hair, messing it up completely but for once Basti doesn’t care.
“Another Hummels at Bayern, god, I wonder if they’ve managed to fix the wall from the time your Uncle Thomas and I broke it.” Mats wonders, his arm around Basti’s shoulders as they start to walk back along the path-
“Hang on, you and Uncle Thomas broke a wall?”
Mats nods, “at Säbener, ask anybody about it when you get there, they have a lot of stories.”
Bene is waiting in the hallway when the front door opens and he immediately pulls Basti into a hug, “everything okay?”
Mats nods as he closes the door. Bene brushes his hand through Basti’s hair before kissing his forehead and whispering ‘proud of you’ against his hairline and sending him into the living room to Felix.
“He sounded like you did, back when you signed for Bayern.” Bene tells Mats, reaching out and sliding his arm around his husband’s waist, “you said you didn’t know what you were doing.”
Mats shakes his head, “nah, he’s a smart boy, he knows what he’s doing. He’ll be fine.”
“Just like his Papa was.” Bene tells him, and his voice is laced with an adoring fondness as he leans up and captures his husband’s lips in a kiss.