WARNINGS: mentions of pcos, mentions of miscarriage. PLEASE READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.
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There had been something off at home for a while. Something that neither Mason or Delilah could pick up on but both could feel the effect of it wearing them down. They'd been arguing at home non-stop, fighting over stupid little things like the dishes being undone or there being a mess in the hallway when it could easily be solved by just asking the other person to do it.
The lads at Cobham hadn't let it go unnoticed, the way they ignored each other through 3/4's of the Chelsea Awards night or how she chose to stay in a hotel room with Kepa when they went away for Games rather than stay with him. They were worried to say the least, wondering whether or not them getting married at such an early age was finally affecting them like they thought it would.
Today was no different. The team had a match away at Turf Moor against Burnley, so as usual, they piled onto the coach early that morning to get there. Mason was the first out of the couple to get onto the coach, sitting down beside Chilly but leaving the seat on the other side of the aisle vacant for his wife.
Delilah walked onto the coach with her airpods in, the girl looking at the available seats in front of her before she walked straight down to the back of the bus and sat down with Kepa, again. Mason sighed, leaning his head back against the seat as Ben looked at him with concern, what exactly was going on behind the doors of their home?
"Can I ask you something?" Ben speaks up.
"Go ahead." Mason replies, scratching at the beard he had on his chin.
"What's going on between you and Sharky?" Ben asks, watching Mason look at him before he sighs deeply and shrugs. Ben took his silence as an indication that Mason didn't want to talk about it, so he let it slide for now, hoping to get a proper answer from him soon as he didn't want his friends to be acting this way.
Their 4 hour drive to Burnley was spent well, most of the team conversing with one another from across the bus, laughing, joking and even singing, but Delilah and Kepa were deadsilent. Both had their earphones in, Kepa had fallen asleep against the window whilst Delilah was just humming along to her music whilst she read her book that she brought along.
Arriving at the stadium, the blonde shoved her book into her DIOR backpack and slipped it on, ruffling Kepa's curls softly to wake him up whilst everyone else left the coach. She kept her airpods in when she stepped off the coach, walking inside the stadium with Kepa alongside her and a few other teammates behind them.
It was times like this Delilah was thankful that she wasn't placed beside Mason in the cubbies in the changing rooms, whether it be home or away, she was on one side of the room and he was on the other.
"Y'alright Skipper?" Kai asks as she puts her stuff down.
"Fantastic." She beams back, moving her hair out of her face as everyone started to get into their kits. She slipped her pre-match training top on before she sat down on the bench and put on her away boots, tying them up tightly before she realised she was in the changing rooms with just Mason.
"Did everyone else just get dressed freakishly fast or are we really slow?" Mason asks.
"I don't really care. Get your boots on, we've got a match to play." Delilah responds.
"Alright what the fuck is going on with you? You're acting like a brat." Mason huffs, looking at her as she shakes her head. He knows he shouldn't be doing this in the changing rooms before a match, but he couldn't help it, she wasn't even sleeping beside him anymore.
"Delilah please, I don't know what I've done wrong." Mason huffs, looking at her as she shrugs and shakes her head again.
"Get your boots on." She responds.
"Delilah-" He goes to speak but she cuts him off.
"I'm your Captain, now get your boots on and get on the pitch." Delilah responds sternly, tying her hair up as they look at one another.
Mason looked at her with shock, she always promised never to use her position at work as a way to get out of things or tell him to do things, but she just broke that promise. She felt awful, the words weren't meant to come out of her mouth but they had and now there was an even bigger rift between them both.
Mason finished getting his boots on and stood up, making his way over to the door where she was standing and opening it, walking out and slamming it behind him, leaving her standing there to wallow in her thoughts.
She needed to tell him.
She had to tell him what was going on.
But not now, not before a match, he couldn't handle that much information before a game.
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They were home. After a 3-0 win against Burnley which saw Mason assist a goal for Zouma and Delilah score a goal with an assist from Ziyech, they were finally home to spend the rest of their evening in peace.
Mason had gotten in and gone straight upstairs to bed, claiming he was exhausted and needed some sleep, whereas Delilah snuggled up on the sofa with Blue watching 10 Things I Hate About You to keep her mind off of everything that had been going wrong lately.
"C'mon Blue, let's go find Daddy hm?" The blonde hums once the film had finished, turning off the TV in the living room to go upstairs to bed.
Blue was the first in the room, the Australian Shepherd checking that Mason was in there before she went and curled up in a ball in her bed beside the bed. Delilah turned the lamp on on her side of the bed and sat on the edge of it for a moment, staring at the wall of mirrors they had when she felt him turn over and put an hand on her thigh.
"Mase." She speaks, moving to sit with her back against the headboard as he slowly opens his eyes.
"What's up?" He asks, sitting up and rubbing the sleep out of his eyes so they could talk.
"It happened again." Delilah admits, looking at him as he tilts his head a little like a lost puppy.
"What happened ag- oh..." Mason realises, his heart crushing in his chest.
"I know I should've told you like the second I found out but... I thought maybe this time if I didn't tell anyone then I wouldn't lose it, but I jinxed myself." She huffs.
"Angel that's not how it works." Mason responds, taking her hand in his softly.
"It's my fault as well. I thought I could keep playing and both ing would happen but my dumbass got tackled a few weeks ago and I lost it 3 days later. It's my fault it happened because I'm selfish." Delilah admits, moving her hands over her face as she begins to cry.
Mason furrowed his eyebrows for a second, listening to his wife sob over the unborn child that she had lost and then try to justify it by saying it was her fault, it broke his heart. His eyes clouded over for a moment as he pulled her hands away from her face and wrapped them around his torso, forcing her into his arms.
"Gorgeous that's not your fault. It's never your fault. Don't blame yourself for it okay?" Mason reassures her.
"But-" She speaks but he cuts her off.
"But nothing. We've got plenty of time to have a littlen okay? You've got nothing to be sorry for, it happens. One day we'll have a baby, and then we can forget about all the hard times we've had to deal with because we finally have we want." Mason speaks softly, rubbing her back to calm her down.
"Is this why you've been ignoring me?" Mason asks.
"I thought you'd hate me." She admits.
"Babe I could never hate you, even if you do wear all my best hoodies to bed." Mason grins, listening to her scoff and shake her head. Blue looks at the pair of them on the bed before she gets out of her own, jumping onto their and lying down right beside them with her head buried in the duvet.
"Awh, you feelin' left out bub?" Lilah giggles, watching as the pup sits up and shuffles closer to them to join the hug.
"Besides, we've got a baby right here." Mason grins.
"My favourite girl." Lilah replies, wrapping one of her arms around their dog.
It had gone. The strange off feeling that both of them felt anytime they had step foot into the house had disappeared. They felt like themselves again, like the couple they were when they'd gotten married or even when they had first gotten together.
Delilah didn't feel the need to hide her PCOS problems and her experiences from him anymore, she knew that already, sometimes she just needed a little reassurance to let her know that he was always going to be there for her.
"After like... 4 years, you're still gonna wear my Vitesse shirt?" Mason asks when she walks into their room with his black and yellow Vitesse kit on.
"Duh." She replies, smiling at him as she let's her hair down.
"It's fine, I love seeing my name on the back anyway, makes me feel like I own you." Mason grins cheekily, listening to her laugh before she gets into bed beside him.
"Nice assist today by the way, and I apologise for using my position on you today." She looks over at him, watching him shrug.
"That's alright, at least I know I'm the one fucking the skipper and no one else is." Mason smirks.
"Cheeky."
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