The Maestro of Football

AN: Sorry about the delayed publishing of the chapter, I was letting your guys' choices marinate a bit. The results will be published below. Also, I've just been so busy, I went to my home country for 2 weeks, and I've been meeting all my relatives all the time, so it's been a lot lol. Expect more chapters soon, though.

Narrator pov

Mere minutes after the EFL game, people were going crazy.

"Wonder kid confirmed: Richard Grayson, the next 'Alien' of football"

"Who can stop the prodigy?"

"3 goal contributions in 1 game, 6 in 2. Richard Grayson, Brighton's wonderkid, shines immediately" 

And those were just the news segments; online, people were really going crazy. On Twitter, some were saying things like

@TheBoxer: I'm sorry, did I just see this dude rainbow flick over 2 defenders??? If this isn't the Puskas goal this year, then I'm calling bullshit.

@Patrick_Ugabi: Naaahh, that entire game I swore I was seeing some splash of "el fenomeno" during Richards dribbling, someone check if this guy got some Brazilian DNA in him lol

@Crescent_Ghost: Fucking hell, bro is handsome, amazing at football, just produced a clip that I will show to my grandkids all at 16…life's not fair bro

@Carra23: Just saw the game from the lad in Brighton, he's got something special. 

However, no matter what the online world was saying about him, Dick seemed at most amused; he smiled at the comments, liked some of them. Before posting a pic on his Insta, of him holding the MOTM thing in one hand, a wide smile on his face, his dark hair perfectly falling to the sides as he looked directly at the camera with scrunched eyes. It had been 1 day since his EFL game, and subsequently his explosive fame. I mean, he had reached close to 350,000 followers on close to every social media platform he was on, with Insta having 400,000. Jorge had explained to him the importance of a social media presence, so he had recently been more active because of that.

The notifications came pouring in after he published, and he was about to put his phone away when a particular notification caught his attention. It was from a YouTube channel that he knew quite well, the Sidemen. The notification read

"Yo, mate, props for your recent games, you've been lighting the pitch up! 6 goal contributions in only 2 games is unreal stuff. Anyway, we're putting together a football video soon, and we were wondering if you'd like to be a part of it. It should be pretty chill, it's this Thursday (the 11th of August). It would be awesome if you could come"

A grin made its way on his face. The Sidemen were a pretty big British-based YouTube group, and they were quite popular, especially after their charity match recently. Dick quickly typed out his reply.

"Yo, I'm a big fan of your guys' work. Yeah, I'd be down, just send the location and I'll be there. Should be a lot of fun"

He got a reply immediately that sounded very enthusiastic, and also included the location where he should show up. Dick then typed out a short reply before putting his phone in his pocket and heading to take the tube to get to the stadium so he could do the recovery training with the lads.

—-------------------------------------------

Narrator pov

While Dick went his merry way to the stadium, in a certain YouTuber's house, panic was quickly flooding in. Simon, aka Miniminter, sat at the table with 5 other guys and said

"Lads, he actually said yes. So now we need an actual plan for the football video; this cannot be just another crossbar challenge. We need something with a bit more depth than that, no?"

Josh, aka Zerkaa, nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I was thinking we would do something like a Sidemen Vs a Professional footballer. And then we can do like 4 challenges and make it a fun, competitive vibe"

The group nodded, everyone agreeing that it would be a great concept. They continued to discuss different challenges for almost the entire day, and then some. Making sure that they had the best possible options for the up-and-coming wonderkid.

—------------------------------------------------------------

Dick pov

As the days came and went, one thing remained consistent. I was busy. Whether it was training, recovery, running during my own time, or school. I always had something to do. But today, the 11th offered something refreshing, something new, the Sidemen video shoot.

I got my dad to drop me off, making me more and more mad that I wasn't 17 so I could drive myself. I cracked my neck, checked to see if my boots were laced and then walked onto the pitch. I noticed the couple of cameras they had set up as well as the Sidemen chatting on the side, most likely waiting for me.

"Yo"

I said, a little louder than needed to get their attention. Their heads all snapped towards me, and each one smiled, a bit creepy when it was almost in sync, but I ignored it for now. I dapped all of them up when they came and offered their greetings, and after all the pleasantries, I spoke up and said

"You know I'm a huge fan. I've been watching since 2014"

Simon smiled and said

"We appreciate that, I'm actually a fan of yours, mate. I watched that hat-trick on your debut. It was insane"

Toby then spoke up and said

"Yeah man, but that Rainbow flick over the 2 Colchester defenders was too cold man, but don't be doing that against us, yeah. Hahahah"

We all laughed, but I could tell some of them, Vikkstar, didn't exactly get what Toby just said. But it's fine, not everyone is a football fan. After a moment of laughter, I quickly asked.

"So, what's the plan? Are we just doing a crossbar challenge or what?"

I said with a smile on my face, to which they chuckled, and Toby said

"No, we were actually planning on doing a Sidemen Vs Professional football challenge. Basically, we challenge you to 4 different football challenges"

"Sounds dope, so what are the challenges?"

Free kick challenge

"So, guys, the first challenge we have today against Richard is going to be… THE FREE KICK CHALLENGE!! So, how this works is we all have 5 attempts, and the team that scores the most free kicks will win!!"

I stood, with one foot on the ball and a smile on my face, as Simon introduced the first challenge. We were like 25 yards away from the goal, where Toby was the goalie, and we had 3 plastic guys as the wall. 

"Richard, what do you think?"

"I think, you guys are going to lose all 4 challenges hahaha"

The rest of the guys laughed as well, all of them offering some kind of rebuttal against my statement, except for Vikk, who said something self-deprecating that got a laugh out of everyone.

"So, who goes first?"

I asked

"Well, it would only be fair that the youngest goes first, right?"

I smiled and said

"That's alright with me, mate"

I then positioned my ball at the decided spot, took a few steps back and then quickly scanned the goal. I spotted Toby being just slightly too far to the right, overconfident in the plastic wall. I took a deep breath, then a couple of steps, before smacking the ball just perfectly. It looked like it was going straight to Toby on the right side before it curled like crazy and went to the top bins on the left side.

"OOOOOOOOHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

I let out a laugh and ran, as all the Sidemen followed me, before I stopped and hit a Michael Jordan shrug into the camera. As soon as I stopped, Harry, Simon, and KSI all jumped me. I laughed as they surrounded me, all of them saying something like

"Oh my god! What the hell was that curve!"

Or 

"Mate, take it easy on us, yeah? Hahahahaha!!"

We slowly went back to our spots before I just said

"Well, we had to start with a bang, right. Ahahahaha!"

They laughed along before Simon stepped up to take his free kick. He also managed to score a pretty decent one, with it dipping down really well to surprise Toby in goal.

—-----------------------------------

I won the free kick game, with me scoring 4/5 free kicks, all of them pretty good. There was one where Toby managed to tip it onto the post and get a lucky bounce out. The Sidemen got 3/5 shots made, with some of them whiffing the ball like crazy. After that, we had a first touch shot challenge where I scored 5/5, and they scored 4/5. It was then that I recommended starting to have some handicaps at the start of the challenges. They agreed with some laughs. 

After that, we had the 1v1 to score challenge, here I laughed and said

"Hey guys, let's make it a 1v3 when I do it, that should be a lot of fun, and it can count as my handicap"

They agreed, as it was good content. And soon I was standing facing Ethan, KSI and Harry. I quickly ran towards them and saw KSI running towards me. I then fainted left and right rapidly. I saw his legs open up, so I gently poked the ball through. I heard him drop to his knees (Obviously for comedy purposes) and let out a scream. But I ignored it as Harry was sprinting towards me now. I quickly did Ronaldo's (R9) pendulum dribble, where my entire body fainted left to right, my foot then gently pushed the ball left, which baited Harry to move, just as I hooped on one leg chopped the ball right and then sprinted past Ethan before slotting the ball into the net like it was just another day at work.

I let out a laugh at the gobsmacked faces of the Sidemen. Simon was especially shocked and just said

"Right then… How are we supposed to beat that?"

He said it while laughing. 

After that, more of the same followed, with me beating them 5/5 in this as well, and them getting 4/5 in this, as my defence isn't the best. Plus, they got to use 2 attackers against me. We then did the crossbar challenge, where they, surprisingly, managed to beat me, with them getting an awesome 5/5 and me only getting 4/5.

We then finished the video, and afterwards they thanked me for coming and such, and we took a photo. And I got some of their numbers, such as KSI, Simon, and Toby.

—-----------------------------------------------------------

12th of August – AMEX Stadium – Brighton vs Nottingham Forrest

Narrator POV

"It's a sunny day here in lovely Brighton, and we have an exciting game on our hands. It's Brighton going against Nottingham Forest, in their home stadium. What do you think we are going to see today, Martin?"

"Well, it's going to be a close battle, but we're hoping to see another masterclass from the young Brighton striker, Richard Grayson. I mean, he has been lighting up the scene, and some rumours suggest that there will be many scouts from some Prem and La Liga looking around today, to see him live in action"

"Right you are, the young man has been lighting up the league like never before, so it is only natural that the top teams are sniffing around. Anyway, the game is underway here at the AMEX Stadium!"

*TWEEEEET

Nottingham Forest started with the ball, they were passing it around their half, with the strikers and midfielders of Brighton pressing high. Dick, specifically, was chasing the ball like a man on fire after the coach told him he would only be playing for 60 minutes this game, as he didn't want Dick to burn out early in the season, also just the fact that he is a younger player.

The ball was shot down towards the Brighton side where Sidwell headered the ball right to the feet of Dick, who trapped the ball with a velvet touch, then poked it past a Nottingham player who tried to steal it from him. Dick ran down the side, spotted Murray making a run and then threaded the ball past two players right to the feet of the running Murray before taking off like a rocket. Murray passed the ball back, seeing the run, and Dick immediately ran with the ball right towards the goal.

He had a perfect view of the goal, and only 2 defenders in his vision. He sprinted forwards and skipped past 1 defender, and just as he was about to get past the other, he felt his sense of balance get destroyed and a sharp pain in his ankle.

"OH MY WORD!!! What a brutal tackle!!!! Dick goes down!"

Dick crashed into the ground shoulder first, clutching his ankle and screaming in pain. The Nottingham defender stood up and just said

"Ay, get up pussy, I barely touched you!!"

And that's when Murray came and threw that guy down to the ground with a shove. Screaming in his face as some other players from Nottingham grabbed him and tried to pull him away, as well as grabbing their defender, who was standing up now and screaming his head off.

The ref blew his whistle, showed the Nottingham player a yellow, and then showed Murray a yellow. And while all this happened, the medical team rushed onto the field and began spraying Dick's ankles with the freezing spray. Dick was sitting up now and talking.

"Listen, I'm fine. It just hurts a bit, but I can still play. And I WILL still play, I feel fine"

The doctor looked unimpressed and said

"Yeah mate, that's the adrenaline coursing through your body. Listen, maybe you're fine, you are young after all, but just to be safe, I want to recommend taking you off a bit earlier. Maybe at half-time? It's more of a preventative measure, just so we can make sure you don't get injured."

Dick grumbled, rubbed his face, but he nodded and said

"Fine, you're the one with a medical degree here"

The doctor clapped me on the shoulder, nodded to the ref to signal that Dick could still play before running back to the coach and whispering his advice. Dick stood up, jumped a few times, and stomped on his ankle before nodding.

He knew he wasn't injured; at most, it would just bruise a bit and be sore tomorrow, but he was fine. But, with only 45 minutes left to play, he would need to leave his mark. The players had calmed down now, and the free kick had been set up already, with Murray getting ready to take it. But he stepped up to Murray and said

"Let me take it, Mur, trust me. I'll score"

"You sure, it's like 29 yards out?"

"Trust me"

He looked Dick up and down once before nodding and running to join the players in the box. Dick then took a few steps back, took a few deep breaths and then, after hearing the whistle, did a slow run towards the ball. He kicked the ball while focusing on precision rather than power. The ball shot over the wall, swerving in the air like crazy, with the goalkeeper having no way to guess. He committed to going left, which turned out to be a mistake as the ball sharply curved to the right and smacked into the post before going into the net.

"OH MY WORD!!! WHAT A FREE KICK!! RICHARD GRAYSON HAS DONE IT AGAIN! SUCH A TALENT! FROM 28 YARDS HE PUTS IT IN AFTER JUST 18 MINUTES"

Dick sprinted towards the camera, screaming before grabbing it by the sides and planting a kiss on it. His teammates grabbed him and started smacking him on his back. They then quickly split up, and just before he turned around, Dick grabbed and kissed his fingers, before grabbing his ankle.

25'

The score was now 1-1. Nottingham scored in the last 4 minutes, but it was Brighton attacking now. Dick had the ball and was running down the wing. He then Cruyff chopped it and broke the ankles of one defender before crossing it into the box, where Sidwell tried to head it in but was blocked by the goalie.

27'

Dick had gotten the ball close to the midline and quickly passed it to Murray, who passed it back to Dick. Dick then sprinted through the gap that had been created. And let loose a banger of a shot, but it was just a tad wide. The crowd groaned, and Dick grabbed his head in frustration before giving a thumbs up to Sidewell for the pass. He then sighed and slid his hand through his hair before jogging towards the player he was meant to be marking.

32'

Dick had dropped deep to get the ball and was now sprinting down the right wing. He had exploded past one Nottingham defender who was caught flat-footed when Dick got the pass. Another Nottingham player sprinted towards him, which made Dick go just a touch faster. He then did some faints before hitting a rapid scissors move, that practically scrambled the defender's mind, as Dick then fainted right before quickly nutmegging the defender, whose leg had gone out to try and stop the ball. Dick then continued his run before spotting Murray running into the box. he then did a fake shot, which made the defender in front of him jump up to try and block the shot before rolling the ball right and chipping the ball right to where Murray's run would end. The ball flew beautifully, floating like it was filled with helium before smacking right into Murray's forehead and smashing into the bottom left side of the goal.

"What a pass!! I mean, it couldn't be placed better than that!!! And the header too, it was perfectly met!! Brighton are showing that they are a contender for promotion, and they will if they continue like this!"

Dick ran towards Murray, who was already celebrating at the corner flag. The crowd was screaming and waving their flags and scarves, throwing beer around while jumping and holding the person next to them, whether it was a random person or someone they knew. Dick jumped on Murray's back and screamed. 

"Great fucking header mate!"

"It was easy to score when the ball was sent that perfectly"

The rest of the team had gathered around, and they all celebrated before everyone rushed back to their positions and got ready to continue the game. Dick jumped on the spot twice before taking off like a jet as soon as the whistle went off, trying his best to cause some havoc in the back line passing of Nottingham.

36'

Murray had gotten the ball from Sidwell, and he quickly dribbled past one midfielder before booting the ball to the empty space on the right-hand side, sure that Dick would appear like a moth to a flame to get the ball. And sure enough, just as a Nottingham player was about to get the ball, a blue and white blur appeared and jumped up high as hell to chest the ball down. Dick then landed and immediately burst right down the middle, catching the Nottingham player off guard and leaving him to play catch-up to Dicks superior speed.

Dick was burning down the middle, and as he was getting closer to the goal, one of the centre backs came running at him; however, Dick didn't even give him the time of day as he quickly shifted the ball left, before rapidly shifting it right with a little bounce, right over the defender's leg. The defender fell on his ass, and Dick took a power shot right outside the D, through the now-opened lane.

The ball kept close to the ground, floating just above it, before it suddenly started rising. Which was bad news for the goalie, as he had already dived expecting the ball to stay on its trajectory. 

"OH MY WORD!!! WHAT A STUNNING GOAL FROM THE YOUNGESTER!! WITH AN AMAZING STRIKE HE MAKES IT 3-1 FOR BRIGHTON! 2 GOALS 1 ASSIST, TAKE A BOW LAD. TAKE. A. BOW!!!!!"

Dick took off running to the corner flag, jumping high in the air and pumping his fist before landing. He then stopped in front of the fans, his arms stretched out, his head tilted back, doing his (Bellingham's lmao) trademark celebration. The fans are screaming their heads off, all chanting his name,

"RICHARD!!!! RICHARD!!! RICHARD!!!!"

The guys from the team had all jumped him now, everyone laughing or rubbing his head. Murray yelled in his ear,

"FUCKING GET IN LAD. WHAT A SHOT!"

The rest of the guys just screamed out some comments of approval, making jokes about not being able to keep him for much longer and so on. Dick just laughed, gave the guy some high-fives before jogging back to his place.

For the rest of the first half, nothing happened. Every time Dick got the ball, he would be marked by 3 guys, and no matter what, they stuck to him like glue. There were a couple of chances, but he either missed or the other players couldn't finish. So the first half ended 3-1, and the match ended the same. After Dick went off, Brighton turned on the defensive mode and kind of just parked the bus, making sure no one could score and even sacrificing their own scoring ability just to make sure that they would win.

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AN: Hey guys, again, sorry about the delayed chapter, but I am home soon, so the chapters should start flowing in. I tried writing the football from a third-person POV, so tell me how that went. Also, in the next chapter, I am going to use ChatGPT to tell me the actual names of the players playing for the opposite teams, just so I can add a level of specificity. Also, the winners of the votes are

Billie Eilish for the Love interest, but don't get it twisted, he will have a girlfriend before her, but I was thinking they get together around 2018-19. and stay together from then on.

and 

Italy is the national country.

Btw, what did you guys think about the Sidemen part? I wasn't sold on it, but my thought was that they would at least try to get a video with the rising talent before he was too big for them, ya know. Plus, Dick is 17, he does rn want to be a little famous, not knowing how that will bite him in the ass later.