neglected — # jobe bellingham
synopsis — after months of always coming second to everyone else, y/n finally tells jobe the one thing she’s been too afraid to admit: she doesn’t feel chosen anymore.
# warnings: angst, fluff, hurt/comfort, suggestive at the end but no explicit scenes
# mia’s note: i say i post all of the things i already have written before finishing amongst it all so we don’t say bye to michael and y/n just yet. reqs are open and my inbox is always open to talks. with sooo much love, mia.
the first time it happened, she didn’t think much of it. football was football. it came first because it had to.
training twice a day, recovery sessions, media obligations, sponsor shoots, flights that blurred into hotels and stadiums until the weeks stopped feeling like weeks. she knew exactly what she’d signed up for when she’d fallen in love with jobe.
she never expected all of him. just some of him.
a text before bed or an hour together. maybe even a lazy breakfast if they were lucky.
that was enough. it really was.
boys want to grab dinner after training. rain check? love you.
she smiled to herself, sent back a little heart, and heated up the pasta she’d made for two. she packed the second portion into a container and slid it into the fridge. he’d probably eat it after training tomorrow.
the second time, it was a bit more disappointing because she’d already done her hair. not because they were doing anything special. but he had said; “you’ve got me all evening tomorrow.”
and that was especial on its own.
those words had stayed with her through the entire work day.
she bought strawberries, his favorite drink, the expensive cookies he always pretended weren’t worth buying before somehow finishing half the packet.
by six-thirty she’d lit one candle. by seven she checked the time, and by seven fifteen her phone buzzed.
adam convinced everyone to go bowling. haven’t seen them properly in weeks.
she stared at the screen and then looked around the apartment.
there were two mugs. two plates. his keys abandoned beside the fruit bowl where he always dropped them. his training boots by the front door because he’d forgotten to put them away. the strawberries sitting in cold water in the sink.
they couldn’t do tomorrow. they could, but she didn’t want tomorrow.
deleted it and then typed again.
tomorrow became next week. next week became after the away match. after the away match became maybe sunday.
sunday became “sorry, babe.”
always sorry. always busy. always another promise.
she knew he was sorry. she did at first, but now she wasn’t so sure. was he really sorry if it kept happening?
it wasn’t dramatic. that was the worst part. nothing exploded and nobody screamed. there wasn’t some awful betrayal.
but being chosen second again and again and again stopped feeling accidental and started becoming a tendency that she stopped being okay with.
“what are you smiling at?”
y/n looked up from the café table.
her friend emily nodded toward her phone.
“oh,” she hadn’t realized she’d been smiling.
y/n nodded. “he finally has saturday off.”
emily grinned. “oh my god. actual miracle.”
“when was your last proper date?”
y/n frowned and thought about it for a few seconds.
emily’s smile slowly disappeared. “you don’t know.”
she tried counting backwards.
the charity gala? no. he’d left halfway through because some of the boys wanted drinks.
his birthday? also no. that became a surprise dinner the team organized.
the beach? months. many months ago.
“…i actually don’t know.”
emily didn’t say anything and she also didn’t need to, because it was weird. it wasn’t okay. and it didn’t need to be said to know.
no training. no match. no travel.
nothing. just her and jobe and the time they’d both been craving.
y/n woke up before him like she usually did.
sunlight spilled through the curtains, painting soft golden lines across the bedroom. beside her, jobe was still asleep, one arm stretched across the mattress where she’d been moments earlier.
she slipped quietly out of bed so she wouldn’t wake him.
she cleaned the apartment. changed their bedsheets, humming quietly to herself as she tucked the corners in the way he never could.
bought flowers because he always joked she treated the flat like an elderly grandmother’s cottage.
she laughed to herself while arranging them anyway.
by noon she’d already planned everything.
jobe had left a little earlier to meet one of the physios for a quick recovery session, promising he’d be home by lunchtime.
“don’t make plans without me,” he’d laughed before leaving.
“wouldn’t dream of it,” she’d smiled back.
breakfast together. walk through the city. movie. dinner.
just them. and that was so much more than enough.
but at one o’clock her phone buzzed.
she smiled immediately and another message appeared.
her stomach sank before she’d even opened it and the smile faded as fast as it came.
the lads are doing a barbecue.
promise i’ll see you tomorrow.
she read it once. then twice. then a third time.
the flowers suddenly looked ridiculous. she forgot the joy she’d felt just a few hours ago. the joy that always seemed to come and to the same way every time.
she didn’t answer immediately.
five minutes passed. and then ten.
he liked the message. liked it. not replied. not “i’m sorry.” not “i know we planned today.”
did he not care that he had ruined the plans that they’d made for the millionth time?
she placed the phone face down. the apartment was silent. too silent.
she stood in the middle of the kitchen for a moment, surrounded by the groceries she’d bought for the two of them.
the flowers she’d arranged that morning brightened the windowsill. the movie she’d picked out waited paused on the television. his favorite cookies sat unopened on the counter.
everything in the apartment looked like him, yet he wasn’t there.
eventually, she wandered into the bedroom and sat on the edge of their bed and stared at the wall.
the barbecue filled his instagram stories.
well, not his but his friends’.
someone filming him flipping burgers and someone throwing a football toward him.
jobe laughing so hard he doubled over.
another video of everyone piled into the pool.
the caption: ‘finally got the whole gang together.’
as if the gang wasn’t together like three times a week.
y/n watched every single story. she didn’t even want to, but she could not stop.
there he was. smiling, relaxed. looking lighter than he’d looked in weeks. exactly the version of him she’d been waiting to spend time with.
only someone else got him first. again.
and after training, he actually came home while she was still awake.
late, but he came home and she could see him before he was gone again.
she heard his keys rattle against the front door before the lock clicked open.
“baby?” he called as he stepped inside.
she looked up from the sofa. “hey.”
he smiled the moment he saw her.
his hair was still damp from showering. he was wearing a grey hoodie and training shorts.
the familiar smile that always made her chest feel warm.
he leaned in to kiss her and she kissed him back automatically.
loving him had become instinct.
he stepped inside and wrapped an arm around her waist.
he smiled. “thanks for understanding.”
those words landed strangely. and she could feel when it started to bother her, because why had he said that?
not ‘i’m sorry i hurt you.’
not ‘i know i disappointed you.’
just ‘thanks for understanding’ as though she’d done him a favor.
she didn’t push at that. he was finally home and she didn’t feel like ruining it with a dumb fight over a wrong choice of words.
they sat in the sofa after she showered and watched a film.
well, he watched a film. but halfway through, his phone buzzed.
he looked at it, smiled, typed something that made him smile even more, and then locked it.
three minutes later, another buzz. and then another, and then another.
she tried not to notice. she really did. until he laughed quietly at whatever message had come through.
“oh,” he smiled sheepishly. “the boys.”
“they’re planning a golf day.”
y/n felt a slight pinch on her chest. “oh.”
he chuckled and she looked back toward the television. only thing was that she’d stopped following the movie almost twenty minutes earlier.
“do you want takeaway tonight?”
“oh,” he rubbed the back of his neck. “i actually promised i’d jump on playstation with the lads tonight.”
something inside her gave way. it wasn’t fair anymore. it never had been, but it had reached a limit.
the home she’d built with jobe didn’t feel like a home anymore. she had given up everything and moved to germany when they both realized video calls and frequent visits weren’t cutting it anymore.
but now she wondered if he even wanted her there now, because it didn’t feel like it.
she didn’t feel neglected, she felt unwanted.
“but i’ll stay another hour.”
as though that fixed it. as though love worked like overtime.
he smiled, completely unaware. “you don’t mind, do you?”
there it was. the question he’d stopped asking because he’d grown used to one answer.
no. i don’t mind. i’m okay. go. have fun.
she opened her mouth and the words were already there waiting and ready. the same ones she’d given him every single time.
but this time they refused to come out.
she could feel the anger simmering through her body, because jobe was no kid and his antics weren’t just painful, they were tiring.
“when was the last time you actually chose me?”
her voice cracked. “don’t make me explain the question.”
she laughed a short, humourless laugh that disappeared almost as quickly as it came.
“no, seriously,” she shook her head. “when was it?”
she stood before he could finish. “i’m asking you,” her hands flew up in frustration. “when was the last time you had an entire day off and your first thought was, ‘i want to spend today with my girlfriend’?”
he opened his mouth but nothing came out.
she watched him think. actually think.
how sad was that? that he actually had to think about the last time he chose his girlfriend?
his eyebrows knitted together as he searched his memory and she watched every second of it.
watched him struggle. watched him come up empty.
“that’s unbelievable,” she whispered.
he looked up immediately. “baby—”
“no,” she stepped backwards. “don’t call me that right now.”
her voice shook. “because i’m standing here asking my own boyfriend when he last chose me…” she laughed again. this time it sounded closer to a sob. “…and you can’t answer.”
“that’s the problem!” she cried. “you’re trying!”
tears spilled over before she could stop them. she wiped them away angrily with the heel of her hand. her chest was aching horribly and her head was pounding, she felt trapped inside of her own skin.
“you shouldn’t have to think this hard!”
he flinched. she saw it and she didn’t soften. because she’d been soft for months.
she laughed bitterly. “do you know how many people i’ve defended you to?” she didn’t wait for an answer. “literally everyone.”
“‘he doesn’t mean it.’ ‘he loves me.’ ‘he’ll make it up to me.’”
another tear slipped down her cheek and she wiped it away roughly. “and every single time you proved them right instead of me.”
she shook her head hard. “i’m angry.”
she pressed a hand against her chest as if it would make it hurt less. “i’m so angry,” her voice broke. “do you know why?”
“because i miss you,” she laughed through another sob. “isn’t that pathetic?”
she looked around their apartment. their apartment. the place they’d picked together.
the sofa they’d argued over in the furniture shop because he wanted grey and she insisted beige would make it feel warmer.
his boots by the front door, his hoodie over the dining chair, his coffee mug still in the sink.
everything in the apartment reminded her that he lived there and somehow she still missed him.
she looked back at him. eyes red and cheeks wet. “how can i miss someone i live with?”
the question shattered something inside him because he didn’t have an answer.
she shook her head. “you’re here,” she pointed toward the floor. “your clothes are here, your boots are here. your toothbrush is here. but you…” her voice became almost impossibly quiet. “…you never are.”
the room fell silent because what could he possibly say?
she took a shaky breath and then another before looking him straight in the eyes.
“i’m not asking you to choose me over football,” she said firmly. “i never have. i’m asking why…” another tear escaped. “…every single time football finally lets you breathe you still don’t choose me.”
he couldn’t even pretend he had an answer.
the silence after her words didn’t just fill the apartment, it settled into it.
into the walls. into the untouched mugs on the coffee table. into the film still playing quietly in the background, actors laughing at jokes neither of them heard.
jobe stared at her and she stared back. waiting not for an apology but for an answer. for anything.
“i don’t know.” his voice barely reached her. it was so quiet she almost thought she’d imagined it.
but she hadn’t. and she laughed the kind of laugh someone lets out when they’re trying very, very hard not to completely fall apart. “you don’t know.”
he swallowed. “i’m trying to think—”
“i know you are,” she cut him off immediately. “i can see you trying.”
her voice cracked for the third time. “that’s what’s making me so angry.”
she wiped beneath her eyes before another tear could fall.
she hated crying. she hated that he was seeing her cry.
she hated even more that she was crying because she had to convince the man she loved that she deserved to be chosen.
“i shouldn’t have to ask you that,” her breathing became uneven. “that shouldn’t be a difficult question.”
he took a hesitant step toward her. “y/n—”
“goodness, jobe, stop,” she immediately stepped back.
the movement was small. barely noticeable. but it felt like she’d shoved him halfway across the room because she has never stepped away from him.
his chest tightened. she saw it and she didn’t care. because she’d spent months swallowing every ounce of disappointment to protect his feelings.
she didn’t have anything left. everything around her looked like a home but she’d never felt lonelier inside it.
“i wake up beside you,” she said quietly. “and before i’ve even finished making coffee you’re gone.”
it was more painful than she thought. she didn’t know she had felt this was about the whole situation until it became too much.
she would fall asleep by herself, and then be comes home, kissed her on the forehead, tells her he missed her, and she’s supposed to forget that he had eight free hours that and every single one of them belonged to somebody else.
jobe’s throat tightened painfully. “i never…” he struggled to speak. “i never thought of it like that.”
“i would’ve changed,” he whispered. “if i’d known.”
she stared at him and her voice became quieter. “you should’ve known. i shouldn’t have to explain to the man i live with that i’d like to spend time with him. i shouldn’t have to compete with your friends.”
he winced. she was right. she was right and she truly wished she wasn’t.
“‘he said we’d spend today together,’” she smiled bitterly. “then your message came,” she swallowed. “and i remember just staring at it. because i knew exactly what i was going to reply. i’m terrified that if i ever tell you not to you’ll resent me for it.”
jobe felt physically sick. he had made y/n, his girlfriend, the person he was sure loved the most in the world, feel like an option.
was that how she’d felt all this time?
he ran both hands over his face. his breathing had become uneven.
“god…” he whispered. “i’ve made you feel like that?”
he looked at her as though he was seeing her for the first time.
the woman who knew how he took his coffee, who washed his training kits because she knew he’d forget, who always stocked the fridge with his favorite drinks before a match.
who stayed awake until two in the morning whenever they played away because she couldn’t sleep until she knew he’d made it back safely.
she’d spent months loving him in a hundred tiny ways and he’d been too busy looking everywhere else to notice.
he took another careful step and she immediately stepped back again.
the movement was instinctive. small and almost invisible like the first time she did it minutes ago.
but it stopped him in his tracks. she moved away from him instead of toward him. again.
and he realized, with a fear so sharp it stole the air from his lungs, he didn’t know how to get her back.
the apartment stayed quiet long after the conversation ended. she had disappeared into the hallway without another word.
jobe stood rooted to the living room floor, listening to the sound of cupboards opening then closing.
the soft rustle of fabric. he knew exactly what she was taking.
his chest tightened and he followed her a few moments later.
she was already spreading it across the sofa.
slowly. carefully. like it wasn’t the first time she’d done it. like she’d already decided this before he’d even asked her to stay.
“please don’t,” his voice sounded hoarse.
she didn’t answer. she only bent down to straighten the pillow.
“y/n,” he took another step. “please.”
finally, she looked at him.
her eyes were swollen and her cheeks were flushed from crying.
“i can’t,” she looked toward the bedroom. “every time i walk in there i remember lying awake. waiting for you,” the words were barely audible. “i’d hear every car outside and wonder if it was yours. a few nights i even got up because i thought i heard your keys.”
she looked down. “it wasn’t.”
“i don’t want to sleep in there tonight.”
he looked toward the bedroom. toward the bed they’d picked together.
the one she’d spent an hour arguing over because she wanted something soft enough that sunday mornings could last until noon.
he’d laughed when she’d insisted on testing every mattress in the shop. “we’re going to look ridiculous.”
“i don’t care,” she’d grinned. “if we’re buying a bed together, i’m making sure it’s perfect.”
he remembered that day so clearly. he remembered carrying boxes up three flights of stairs.
her laughing because he’d refused to read the instructions and pizza on the floor because they hadn’t unpacked the table yet.
their first night there. her curled against his chest whispering that “this finally feels like home.”
his throat burned. when had it stopped feeling like that for her?
after what felt like forever, he walked into the bedroom alone.
he stopped in the doorway and the room looked exactly the same.
he sat down on the edge of the mattress, the empty side of the bed looked impossibly large.
he reached out instinctively and his hand landed on cold sheets.
he hadn’t realized until that moment how every single night, no matter how late he came home, he’d reached for her without thinking.
most of the time she’d already be asleep and sometimes she’d grumble because his hands were freezing.
sometimes she’d mumble, “you’re late,” without opening her eyes.
and he’d kiss her forehead. “missed you.”
she’d always smiled half asleep. always.
tonight there was no one there.
he tried. but he stare at the ceiling, close his eyes, and then open them again.
every time he drifted off, he’d remember something she’d said.
your phone started making me sad.
i miss someone i live with.
i shouldn’t have to compete with your friends.
i’d started expecting you not to choose me.
each sentence replayed until it felt carved into his chest. and around three in the morning, he got out of bed. he couldn’t take it anymore.
the apartment was dark as he padded quietly toward the living room.
she was asleep. or at least she looked like she was. curled tightly beneath the blanket with one arm tucked beneath her cheek.
she looked uncomfortable. too small for the sofa.
he stood there for a long time just admiring her. she was so beautiful.
he realized that all this time he hadn’t figured that he was being that way towards her because even if he didn’t act like it, he always thought of her.
he wished to go home to their bed when training had been too long and he looked at her with the same honeymoon eyes he had whenever her beauty was too much to bear.
he wanted to wake her. to tell her he was sorry. to beg her to come upstairs.
but he walked back into the bedroom instead.
came back carrying another blanket and then another pillow.
he tucked the blanket gently over her and placed the pillow beside her. but then he froze when he felt her stir slightly.
“jobe?” her voice was thick with sleep.
she blinked slowly. then looked at the extra blanket. “thanks.”
just that. then she rolled over again, facing away from him.
he stood there for another minute before quietly walking back upstairs.
the next morning felt strange.
normally, she woke him first with music playing softly in the kitchen. coffee already brewing. her humming while making breakfast. the apartment was always alive before he even opened his eyes.
this morning he was only met with silence.
he got dressed, walked downstairs, and she was already sitting at the dining table.
a mug between both hands. eyes fixed on nothing.
she looked up briefly. “morning.”
he opened the fridge and there was breakfast. for one.
she noticed. her fingers tightened slightly around her mug. “i wasn’t sure if you’d be here.”
he looked at her. the words weren’t cruel because y/n herself wasn’t. they were honest.
he sat down across from her. “i called training.”
“i told them i wasn’t coming.”
her eyebrows knitted together immediately. “jobe.”
“i don’t care,” his voice wavered. “not today.”
“months,” he whispered. “months of you asking for one day and now i’d give up every session this week just to get yesterday back.”
she closed her eyes and he continued before she could stop him.
“i’ve been thinking all night.”
“please,” he shook his head. “please let me finish.”
he looked down at his hands. he was a bit more desperate now. after a night without her in the same bed, he realized he did not want to lose her. and that everything they were facing looked like she was about to slip completely from him.
“i’ve spent months letting the person i love the most feel like she had to fit around my life…” he laughed bitterly. “…instead of building one with her.”
“i’m not asking you to forgive me today,” he shook his head. “i don’t deserve that.”
“i’m asking you…” his voice wavered again. “…to let me earn you back.”
she didn’t answer immediately.
instead, she looked at him. his eyes were bloodshot, his hair was a mess. he looked like he hadn’t slept.
he looked scared. but not scared she’d stay angry, scared she’d stop loving him.
the words left her quietly.
he stood so quickly the chair scraped against the floor and he stopped beside her. hesitating.
like he wasn’t sure he was allowed to touch her anymore.
she stood too and they looked at each other for a moment.
then she wrapped her arms around him.
he broke. completely. his arms circled her so tightly it was almost desperate.
as he buried his face against her shoulder she felt him shaking.
“i’m so sorry,” it came out muffled. broken. “i’m so, so sorry.”
he said it again. and again. like saying it enough times might somehow undo everything.
she cried too. holding him just as tightly.
after a long time, she pulled back just enough to look at him. “this doesn’t disappear today.”
“but you know what i also am?”
he raised his eyebrows as a signal for her to continue speaking.
jobe’s eyes darkened instantly as a smile spread across his face.
it was going to be a looooong day.
“i’ll make sure to fix that,” he kissed her lips softly. “and you won’t ever have to wonder again.”