Requested by anonymous :)
The transition from best friends to lovers was something you never thought would happen to you and Mason. The two of you grew up in Portsmouth, and you did everything together growing up. You went to the same kindergarten, went to the same school, had sleepovers, went to prom together, went on family holidays, and sometimes you'd even go all the way to London to watch him play for Chelsea Academy.
Never in a million years would you think that both your parents would be right about you and Mason falling for each other. It took 18 years for you to realize that he was your person; there wasn't any other guy that could make you as happy as he did. And the same was for him; you were his person, and you made him feel something not any other girl could make him feel.
Fast forward, to 24, present day. Not everything was a rainbow like it used to be. For the past few weeks, things had been rough between the two of you, but what was even tougher was the fact that you were the only noticing it.
Mason had been acting strange; he had become this person you didn't recognize at all. Aggressive on the pitch, annoyed and complaining most of the time, very distant some days, other days doing nothing more than giving you a quick kiss and a hug, which for you didn't feel like they meant anything to him. To you, it felt like he was slowly falling out of love with you, and you didn't know what to do about it.
The thing about your and Mason's relationship is that it's not the most romantic; the two of you have never been lovey-dovey. It sounds weird, but it's because you were also best friends. That's why things had been going so well, until now.
Your relationship had more of a comedic tone: you were always joking and pranking each other, having random discussions like best friends do, never once getting jealous because you trust each other, you only joke about it.
Of course there was a romantic side, but it wasn't something the two of you were comfortable sharing with others. Only among yourselves.
Not only were you feeling that the love of your life was drifting away, but your best friend was also, and that hurt you even more. You truly don't know how to live your life without him; you've never experienced life without him. He's always been there.
Despite all of those worries, you had agreed to go clubbing today with him, his teammates, and some of their girlfriends. They have a day off tomorrow, which meant they could spend tonight doing whatever.
You weren't the type to go clubbing, but when you did, you would sit in a corner or just be with Mason, but this time you weren't sure what to do. You weren't in the mood, but for the sake of your relationship and how it was currently going, you would do anything just to be with him.
You walked down the stairs, all dressed and ready to go. Mason was already downstairs, on his phone like he would be most of the time.
"You look nice," he said, without looking up at you. You rolled your eyes and walked past him. "Can we go now?" you asked, slightly annoyed at how his eyes were glued to that stupid phone.
You had called an Uber to take you because there was a chance both of you would drink, so you never know. It didn't take long—just 15 minutes—and you had arrived.
When the two of you got out of the car, you followed him to the entrance, where he quickly let you go in first, "I'm heading to the boys." He placed a kiss on top of your head quickly and left before you could say anything.
You let out a sigh, not sure what to do now. He didn't seem to want to be with you, so you looked around for the girls who were here. It took some time, but you eventually found Sophia, who seemed to be very drunk already.
"Y/N! You're here!" she shouted loud enough so you could hear over the music.
"I'm here!" You smiled as you approached her, pulling her into a hug.
"You need to drink," she dragged you to the bar, where she ordered you one. You weren't so keen on drinking, but you took one just for her.
"Here you go," she said, handing you the glass.
"Thanks, Soph," you smiled at her, before taking a sip.
"Cartia and Lauren are here too somewhere, but I think I lost them," she laughed before taking another shot of whatever she had ordered. You laughed at her drunken state and made sure to keep an eye on her, just in case.
For some time, you distracted yourself with the girls—not fully distracted, but enough to let loose for a while. You had danced for a bit and needed to take a break, so you took a seat at the bar stool, looking around while catching your breath.
Your eyes landed on the boys, especially Kai, Declan, and Ben, who were standing up, talking to each other. They were pretty close to where you were, but you couldn't see them properly because of the sharp lights and the dark background, and there were people dancing all over the place with their hands in the air.
You tried to find Mason, just to make sure he was still here, and it didn't take you too long. He was sitting with Trevoh, Ruben, Reece, and a few girls around a table. You weren't the jealous type, like mentioned, it never bothered you. But seeing him laugh at whatever the girl next to him had said...it hurt. You hadn't seen him laugh that much and look so happy the past few weeks, whenever he was with you.
For the first time, it was enough to make you feel jealous, for real this time. You couldn't joke about it like you usually do, and you couldn't pretend that it's nothing. With your relationship at stake, you felt like this was a sign that maybe you were slowly losing him and that someone else is going to take him away from you.
The built-up emotions inside of you were too much to hold back. You didn't want to see more. You got up from your seat and headed to the bathroom, where you locked yourself in. As soon as you locked it, you let your tears out because you had held them back for too long. For the first time in weeks, you felt like you had to cry. You had tried everything to make him happy and less frustrated with whatever had happened, but cleverly, he didn't see anything that was wrong between the two of you.
You cried for long, to the point your mascara had ran down your cheeks. When you felt like you had cried enough, you looked at yourself in the mirror, wiping your tears away with your hands. You didn't care how you looked with the messed-up mascara, you didn't want to fix it or wash your face.
All your energy was gone.
You locked up the door, ready to distract yourself again; you didn't want to feel weak, even though you were. Unfortunately, things didn't go according to plan when you all of a sudden stumbled into Declan.
You looked at him, and he looked at you with a concerned look on his face, "Are you ok?"
You nodded, ready to walk past him; "You're a terrible liar," he pulled you back by grabbing your arm.
Declan was your childhood friend too, thanks to Mason. You saw Declan as an older brother, and the two of you would always be there for each other, no matter what.
You looked at him. No words could come out, but you didn't need to say anything. It was obvious you had cried, and he wanted to make sure you were okay.
"Let's go get some fresh air, come on," he put his arm around your shoulder and led you outside. You didn't fight back or anything.
"Talk to me; who do I need to punch?" He asked, acting serious which caused you to slightly chuckle.
"No one," you sniffled.
"Is this about Mason?" He asked. He definitely knew it was about him; he just had to make sure. You let out a sigh and nodded, but looking away from him.
"Did you guys have a fight, or is there something else going on?"
"I don't think he loves me anymore," you truthfully said, and that's how you felt right now. Declan felt like his heart had stopped—why would you think that?
"What are you talking about, Y/N? He loves you," he said, shocked that you were thinking the opposite.
"No, he doesn't," you shook your head determinedly, "We barely talk anymore. We live in the same house, but he's always doing other things; it's like he doesn't want to be with me," you explained.
"Y/N, you know that's not true, he's just going through a lot of shit right now, and probably doesn't want to worry you," Declan placed his hands on your shoulders to get your attention.
"What if he's tired of me?" You ignored what he had said and looked at him with fear; tears were falling down your cheeks again as reality hit you. You and Mason had known each other your whole lives; of course there would come a day one of you would get tired of each other, even if you didn't want to believe that.
"I'm losing him, aren't I? Someone else is going to take him away from me," you broke down in tears. Declan had never seen you cry, especially not over Mason. In his eyes, you and Mason were the drama-free couple, always goofing around and joking with each other, you didn't even look like a couple sometimes, because no one ever saw the vulnerable and romantic side of the relationship even though it was there in secret. You had never been worried about anything, and yet here you are, worrying Declan with all your thoughts and crying.
"You are not going to lose him, Y/N; I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation for it all." He had pulled you into a hug where you could feel safe and cry all you wanted.
You and Declan stood there for a while, with him comforting you and convincing you that there was nothing to worry about.
"Want me to take you home?" He asked softly.
"I think I need a drink actually," you said with a slight chuckle, hoping to drink away the pain you were feeling at the moment.
The two of you went back inside; you told Declan you'd be fine alone and see where the girls were, while he went to go back to the boys. Mason had seen you and Declan come in, and he was concerned about what had happened. He quickly walked over to him.
"Why were you and Y/N outside?" He pulled Declan out of his conversation and dragged him away from Ben and Reece.
"I think you need to talk to her, mate," Declan looked at his best friend, not happy with how he had made you feel the past few weeks.
"What's going on?" Mason's heart raced; he couldn't figure out what the problem was.
"You need to figure it out on your own, mate," Declan walked away from him. He didn't want to tell Mason and give him the answer; if he really cared about you, he would've known or at least approach you and talk about it. He sighed as he decided to go look for you.
You had ordered a drink and were in your own little world at the moment, doing your best not thinking about what Declan said, nothing anyone said would make you feel better, unless it was Mason who talked to you himself.
"Need another drink?" You looked up, seeing a guy take a seat next to you at the bar. You rolled your eyes, knowing where this was going.
"No," you replied bluntly.
"Who made you cry? An ex? Or perhaps a boyfriend?" he asked amusingly, ignoring the fact that you weren't interested. You realized your mascara was probably all messy on your face, that why he had asked you the question.
You didn't reply; you turned around and ignored him, but that still didn't give him a clue to stop talking to you.
"I can easily make those tears go away." You felt his lips near your ear. These things didn't scare you most of the time; but at the moment, the vulnerable position you were in, it did make you feel slightly scared, with no one to help you out.
"I'm not interested," you quickly said, hoping he couldn't hear your nervousness. You decided to leave the bar and get away from him, as fast as possible.
Unexpectedly, he grabbed your wrist and dragged you back to him, pretty aggressively, "Stop acting like you're not interested."
You looked at the man in front of you with fear, you felt your whole body go numb, you didn't think he would be that desperate.
"Get your hands off of her!" Mason had approached and removed the man's hand from your wrist aggressively, and pushed him away from you.
You couldn't deny that you were relieved that he was here. This has never happened before, you weren't used to seeing Mason so protective over you; it had never been so bad he had to be.
"Who the fuck are you?" The guy replied with a cocky tone.
"It doesn't matter who the fuck I am; don't touch her," Mason said back as he pushed the guy again, you looked at Mason with fear, you had never seen him loose his shit this bad before, at least not outside the football pitch.
You could see the anger in the guy's face too, and it was not pretty. The last thing you wanted was for them to turn this into a physical fight. You quickly stepped towards Mason and carefully pushed him away from there, but also fast enough for nothing else to happen.
Mason stopped you; he needed to make sure you were ok. You looked at him; his stomach twisted seeing your cheeks, stained with mascara.
"Did he do something to you? Are you hurt?" He panicked as he searched for any scars or bruises on your body, he thought the guy had done something to you that had caused the mess, but you quickly removed his hands off of you, "I'm fine, Mason," you stepped back from him.
He looked at you confused—why did you look so uncomfortable near him, and why did you have mascara all over your face if everything was "fine"?
"Can we go home?" You asked him; not able to look at him right now.
"Yeah," he nodded, carefully leading you out of the club. You grabbed a cab and left. Neither of you said another word; you didn't want to have your conversation in the car, and he was feeling like you didn't want to talk to him, so he kept quiet.
As soon as the Uber stopped outside, the two of you went inside the house. You looked at Mason, and he was looking distressed, not knowing what was going on or what to do.
"Mason," you caught his attention. The two of you were standing in front of each other near the door. He looked at you with a stressed look on his face, not knowing what to expect from you.
You let out a deep breath; this was it. "I'm not gonna drag this out," you looked at him, "the past few weeks I've noticed that you haven't been yourself around me, and I get it ok, you don't have to pretend anymore or act like you even want me here," you said as tears were slowly forming in your eyes.
"If you don't love me anymore, just say it. Tell me I'm not good enough and that you want to be with someone else because I can't deal with being a ghost around you anymore. Just give me a reason," you looked at him, letting your tears run down your cheeks.
He looked at you completely confused. He did not expect you to say anything like that, and he was confused that you had said all of those things because of him and what he had done.
You sniffled as you tried to compose yourself from breaking down fully, "I get it; we've been together for so long; if you're tired of me, you can just say it; I won't be mad; all I've ever wanted was for you to be happy, and if that's not with me then it's ok," you said. As much as it hurt to say it, it was the truth. You love this man so much that you're willing to let go if that's what would make him happy.
His heart was physically hurting seeing you this upset. He had never seen you cry this much in his whole life, and the fact that he was the reason behind those tears made him angry at himself.
"Say something, please," you sniffled as you tried wiping away the tears that kept falling. You looked at him, noticing the hurt in him. His eyes looked shiny; probably tears were forming too, as you thought. You were confused—why did he look so upset? He wanted this didn't he?
"Why on earth are you saying those things?" He looked at you, finally speaking up. He was shocked.
"You've been so distant, Mason," you sniffled, "you never talk to me anymore," you told him. "I don't remember the last time you told me you love me" your voice broke down, your heart was physically hurting too at this point.
He looked back at the past few weeks. He knows they haven't had the best of days, but he didn't think it was this bad. He had been so busy worrying about his future with Chelsea and everything else happening with himself and his career that he had not noticed how he was treating you. He had been so caught up in the mess, making himself occupied to not think of anything, allowing himself to be unaware of how he had treated you. He had been completely oblivious, without meaning to.
You watched him walk over to you; you didn't expect him to hug you, but he did. It was a hug you hadn't felt in a long time. You found yourself leaning into his hug, not ever wanting to let go.
"This is all my fault; I am so sorry, Y/N," you heard him say as he rested his chin on top of your head, not planning on letting go of you, at least not yet.
"I love you so much," he said loud and clear for you to hear. That's all you needed to hear from him to feel okay again.
"You do?" You looked up at him, needing the reassurance.
"I love you so much; you have no idea," he said, looking deep into your eyes as he cupped your face in his palms.
"I'm so sorry, Y/N," he apologized again. "I've been so caught up in my problems that I was completely unaware of how I had treated you; I never meant for this to happen," he said as he gently wiped the tears from your eyes, wiping the messy mascara off too.
"What about those girls at the club?" You asked, wanting to get rid of those thoughts too.
"They were just friends of the boys; I was trying to be friendly; I'm sorry to have upset you about it." He looked at you, genuinely sorry.
"It made me jealous," you admitted, letting out a soft chuckle. It was hard for you to admit because you were always ok with him hanging out with other girls, but it was the icing on the cake today. But his heart melted at your confession; he found it warming that you did have a side where you were worried to lose him, even if you didn't want to admit it. He's the same as you.
He placed a kiss on your lips, brushing your hair away from your face as he looked at you again. "I get jealous too sometimes," he admitted, letting you know that he had that side too. It made you smile, giving you the confirmation you didn't think you needed.
"I'm sorry you've had a rough couple of months with everything going on at Chelsea; I just want you to know that whatever is going through your mind, you can talk to me. I don't want you to deal with this alone," you said.
He smiled at how much you cared, even though you had been through hell because of him: "You're right, I won't shut you out again. I will make it up to you, I promise," he said, placing a kiss on your forehead.
"I'm really sorry, baby," he said, resting his head on your forehead.
"It's ok," you whispered, "I just missed you." You let out a deep breath, feeling like everything was finally ok again.