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Jan knew he was more mature than his teammates. His parents had always called him an old soul and that coupled with the cultural barrier meant that he often wasn’t on the same wavelength as the other players. There was no time this was more clear than on the trip back home from matches. No matter the result Captain Isaac was determined that they needed a party atmosphere. There were card games going on, thumping drum and bass music and shouting over the thumping drum and bass music. This wasn’t Jan’s cup of tea. So he put on his noise cancelling headphones got out his book and tried to read. It was a well known fact that was what Jan Maas did on the bus and everyone should leave him to it.
Which is why he startled one trip when Jamie slumped down into the seat next to him with a smile. “This seat taken?” Jamie asked, even though it was very clear that no one was sat there and Jamie was making himself at home.
“It never is,” Jan stated, frowning at Jamie. Jamie nodded, smile seeming to get even wider.
“Mint, yeah,” Jamie nodded, pulling out his headphones and slipping them over one ear before glancing back to Jan Maas. “You don’t mind?”
“It doesn’t look like I have much of a choice, will you be quiet?” Jan waved his book slightly in Jamie’s direction.
“Hell yeah, obvs. That’s why …” Jamie shrugged as he paused, “I’ve like got really into audiobooks lately and the lads are a bit loud.”
Jan’s tense posture eased slightly as Jamie made that confession. A quiet seat buddy wouldn’t be too bad. He could always kick Jamie back to the rear of the bus if he was a pain.
It became the new routine. Jan and Jamie would sit next to each other. Jan would read his book, Jamie would listen to his book only occasionally whispering something if there was a word or phrase he didn’t understand but Jan didn’t mind it. It was a calm equilibrium that took a another slight shift after the Brighton game. It was a late finish but not late enough that they needed to stay over. Roy helped a hopping Jamie back onto the bus and dropped him off in the seat next to Jan. Jamie had worked ten times as hard as the rest of them trying to escape the two defenders that clung to him and getting knocked to the floor whenever he had the ball. There were no major injuries but his knee was more bruise than normal coloured skin and he would be sore in the morning. Before Jan could offer to move to give Jamie a double seat to stretch over, Jamie’s head lolled sideways and plopped onto Jan’s shoulder. His eyes flickered closed and he showed no signs of moving. “Jamie?” Jan questioned.
“Sorry, I’ll move,” Jamie muttered, slowly opening his eyes.
“It’s fine.” That wasn’t what Jan was planning on saying when he opened his mouth but he could work with it. It was fine that Jamie was using his shoulder as a pillow, he had smaller siblings meaning he was used to being slept on. He just didn’t think that Jamie would be fine with that. “Do you need your headphones?”
Jamie slowly shook his head, somehow moving closer to Jan in the process, “too tired.”
Jan just nodded as the engine rumbled to life. As they moved, Jamie’s breath started to settled. Jan looked out of the corner of his eye and Jamie surely couldn’t be comfortable with his body tilted painfully over the middle armrest and his leg stretched out. With a sigh more for anyone watching’s benefit than anything else, Jan raised the armrest and caught Jamie as he slumped even further. He pushed the empty seat next to Roy as far forward as it would go, ignoring a knowing look from the coach, and wrangled Jamie closer. The other man slept through it all but was now tucked, leaning against Jan’s chest with one of Jan’s arms wrapped over his chest. The book was in Jan’s other hand as he leant backwards and read. Jamie’s warmth against his chest was soothing and the little purr of Jamie’s steady breathing was a fine enough backdrop to his reading.
Yeah, he didn’t mind this at all.