settle down [reus]

einundzwanzig: back in dortmund

I leaned against the trolley with all Marco's and my stuff on it as I watched Marco saying goodbye to a few of his teammates. He was sort of leaning on Bastian as everyone walked towards him to give him a brief hug.

He was discharged from the hospital a few hours after the game finished yesterday and his leg was wrapped up in a cast and he was given crutches to support him as he walked.

The media was cooking up a storm with his injury and they were adding Marco to the pile of 'failed' footballers who were missing the World Cup due to injury this year.

I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see Mario. We spent quite a lot of time in the hospital together yesterday. When Marco was getting his leg checked and wrapped up in the medical room, Mario and I went down to the hospital cafeteria and we...basically ate everything.

(The cashier was totally judging us.)

"Hey, Mia," he said, pulling me into a tight hug. "Take care of my boo, okay?" he smirked. 

I pulled away from him and nodded, "How sweet, of course I will."

He stared at me with a stupid grin on his face for a while before bursting out into laughter. "Mia, you know I know about the deal right?" he chuckled.

I looked at him dumbfounded - he spent the entire day yesterday treating me like I was Marco's real girlfriend and now he was telling me that he knew.

"Then why the hell did you just tell me now? Do you know how exhausting it is to lie all day?" I groaned. 

He shrugged and threw his arm around me, "I just wanted to see the process behind the scenes, and you're a terrible liar. Stop stuttering and waving your arms around."

I gasped and jabbed his side, making him squeal and move away from me. "I have endorsements for this body! Endorsements! Don't hurt it." He whined jokingly, running his hand up and down his chest.

I rolled my eyes at him and jabbed him one more time. "Mia, you ready to go?" I heard Marco's strained voice call for me. I looked over at him who was now leaning on Sami instead of Bastian.

"Yeah, hold on." I said, starting to push the trolley of stuff towards Marco who was saying a few more things to Sami and Philipp.

"I'll see you around, okay? You have my number, keep me updated on everything!" Mario squealed in a girly tone, kicking his legs up. 

"Of course, Mario. Good luck in the World Cup!" I said before giving him one last hug.

I waved goodbye to all the other players who waved back cheerily at me. Marco and I were about to enter the gate when I heard Mario shouting at me, "I mean it, Mia! You do make my boo happy!"

-

"I really don't want to leave you alone by yourself, Marco. I can just stay downstairs while you nap and everything." I told Marco as he sat on his couch.

He looked up at me and raised his eyebrow, "Aren't you going to go home and illegally stream movies on your laptop instead?" he joked.

You can count on Marco to joke around when he has one and a half legs.

"Illegally streaming movies can wait, I can stay here if you want. What if you fall off the couch and can't get back on it? What if you want water and can't get it?"

He rolled his eyes, "I'll be fine, Mia. You've done enough for me already, just go home and rest."

I was hesitant to leave him alone but I knew that he needed time to himself to get adjusted to his injury.