Chapter 111 – Watching from the Sidelines
A/N:
Sorry guys for the recent drop in frequency for Chapters (and quality), Ive just been swamped with uni assignments right now so i cant rly find the time to properly focus on writing. But hopefully tho ill be back to uploading more Chapters later next month after my exams.
yea i just wanted to give a quick update and I hope u guys still continue reading thanks.
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Thiago had always been allergic to stillness.
Even as a child, he’d squirmed through church services, his small feet tapping restless rhythms against the wooden pews until his mother’s sharp elbow silenced him. He’d pace the length of their tiny kitchen while waiting for his sister to finish brushing her teeth, fingers drumming against his thighs in time with some internal metronome. On car rides, he’d press his forehead against the cool glass of the window, counting passing streetlights just to give his racing mind something to latch onto.
That same restless energy coiled in his muscles now, making his right knee bounce uncontrollably as he sat slumped in the corner of his apartment’s couch.
Bundesliga matchday three. Dortmund versus Wolfsburg.
And his name wasn’t on the team sheet.
Not among the substitutes. Not even in the extended matchday squad. No pre-match rituals in the locker room, no adrenaline-fueled warmup under the blinding stadium lights, no chance to prove himself when it mattered most.
He’d given everything in training this week - arriving before dawn to put in extra work, staying late to perfect his pressing angles, running drills until his muscles screamed for mercy. No careless fouls, no half-hearted efforts, nothing that should have given Klopp reason to doubt him. Maybe it wasn’t enough. Maybe this was simply the reality of squad rotation, the cold calculus of managing players through a grueling season.
Still.