Football imagines

James Rodriguez - You're my light

Hi guys. I realise it's been a while, but life gets in the way sometimes, you know. So anyway, here's a one shot I wrote a few years back. I hope you enjoy. Let me know who you want to read and I'll see if I've got anything I can post xx

"Baby, relax." She whispered silently, afraid of talking too loudly and interrupting the ceremony that was going on currently, but also wanting to comfort her husband who she could see was clearly freaking out from where he sat next to her. Placing her hand on his thigh soothingly, she squeezed softly in reassurance and smiled when James took her hand off his thigh and instead held it in his own, interlocking their fingers tightly. He was squeezing her hand rather tightly out of nervousness and it hurt a bit, but she didn't say anything, preferring this to the nervous leg shaking he had been doing previously.

"If I win and I have to go up there, I'm going to start st-stuttering and embarrass myself and everybody will laugh." He whispered to her with a frightened look in his eyes and she frowned, firmly shaking her head before leaning in so he could hear her better. She softly placed her hand on his cheek and made him look at her so that her point would come across more clearly.

"You listen to me, James. Nobody is going to laugh at you for stuttering. You can't help it so you shouldn't worry about it. And if anybody laughs, they'll have me to deal with. If you get too nervous, just look at me. Don't look at anybody else, okay? Just look at me." James nodded shakily, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath to calm himself, and she wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him close to her to assure both him and herself that everything would be okay.

And James and she only had to wait for a few more minutes before the next award was announced. They played a video of the nominees and she grinned when she saw the images of her husband playing around with a football and scoring for Bayern. He had really grown into his own at the German club and he was happier there than he was back at Madrid. And although he did miss his teammates back in Madrid and it had been hard to adjust to life in Germany, she didn't think that he wanted to move back to Madrid if he had the option of staying.

When James' name was called, the smile on her face couldn't be wider. She was so proud of her husband and all that he had achieved. She started clapping, standing up in excitement and laughing out loud when James pulled her in a tight hug and lifted her up for a brief moment. To everyone else it seemed like he had all the confidence in the world but she knew that his heart was still beating very fast because of the nerves he had, not looking forward to having to address an entire hall of footballers, a lot of whom he had looked up to as a kid.

"Remember, if you get nervous, just look at me." She whispered in his ear and after he put her back down on the ground, she rewarded him with a soft kiss on the lips before gently pushing him away and towards the stage. He walked over there slowly, receiving some claps on the back from teammates -both current and former ones.

"Oh, wow. This- this is amazing." James started when he finally arrived at the stage, taking the award from the presenter and looking at it in amazement and disbelief. He glanced upwards shyly and quickly averted his gaze again when he saw all the familiar faces looking up at him. He didn't know everyone personally, of course, but he had played against most of them already and the ones he hadn't played against, he had either met at events like these or some campaign they had to do for a sports brand.

"I uh- I want to thank my amazing wife for this. If- if it - if it wasn't for her dragging me out of my- of my bed every morning and her endless patience, I wouldn't be here. D- darling, I- I- I love you and I appreciate you, al-always." James said, looking right at where she was standing in the crowd like she had told him to do. She smiled back gently and encouragingly, and he nodded, taking a big breath before continuing. "I'm- I'm- I'm also dedicating this aw-award to our children, who- who couldn't be here tonight but who are always my- my biggest critics. They- they are the reason I do this, and I could never have achieved something like this without my- my family." Her heart swelled with happiness and pride at his speech, but she had to hold back a frown when James glanced somewhere else and saw something that completely turned his mood around. Suddenly he looked even more unsure than before and she stood up a little bit from her chair, taking care to do it subtly so that it wasn't noticeable, trying to catch whatever it had been that had taken his fragile self-confidence away from him.

What she saw made her fume with rage. How dare he? Did he think it was fun to laugh at her husband for something he couldn't help? He knew all too well that this happened to James whenever he got nervous and felt uncomfortable and he had absolutely no right to make fun of James like this. Ooooh, just wait until she got her hands on him, she'd strangle the living-

"So- so- so, th-thanks ag-again for this aw- aw- award." James stuttered before quickly walking back off stage and towards where his wife sat boiling with rage.

"Sorry, baby. I couldn't do it." James quietly said, sitting down and casting his eyes downwards after having picked up on her mood. He was fiddling with his trophy and her eyes softened at seeing him so down.

"What on earth are you talking about, James. You did amazing." She assured him, placing her hand on top of his in reassurance. Gently taking the trophy out of his grasp, she placed it to the side before moving closer to him and softly leaning her head on his shoulder, taking his hand in hers to play with his fingers. They took care to whisper, not wanting to bother any of the people around them and not wanting any of them to eavesdrop on their conversation.

"Th-then why are you upset?"

She nodded in the general direction of Cristiano Ronaldo and James' eyes widened in realisation. He began to shake his head, trying to convince her that it didn't matter to him. She was quite protective of him when it came down to his stutter and he knew that if he let her think that it still bothered him that Cris was laughing when he began stuttering, she'd go up to his former teammate and pick a fight with him.

"Listen, honey, that's just- just Cris. He didn't mean anything by it."

"James, Ronaldo or no Ronaldo, I don't give a shit. I'm going to stand up for my husband."

"Baby, p-please calm down. It's not a big deal, alright?" James murmured, twisting his hand around in her grasp to interlock their fingers so that, after the award show was finished, she wouldn't be able to escape him quickly like she surely was planning on doing. His wife could be very quick and agile when she wanted to be, even on the high heels she was wearing now. James never could understand why she wore those death traps. If he was a woman, he'd pick comfort over looks any time.

"Fuck no, I'm not going to calm down. This was your moment and he thinks that it's okay to just do this to you? No. I'm not having it. I'm going over there to give him a piece of my mind. Just because he's won the freaking ballon d'or a couple of times doesn't mean that he can do whatever the fuck he wants."

James was hesitant to reply, noticing that people were starting to turn around to look but he shifted his body more towards her and said, "baby, look at me".

She picked up her head, still frowning in annoyance at what Cristiano had done but also giving James her full attention. He untangled his fingers from hers and put his thumb on her brow, smoothing out the wrinkles that were there whenever she frowned.

"Smile, please. For me. I love it when you sm-smile." He whispered, sighing a bit when she shook her head stubbornly. James had to suppress a smile and instead bent his head forwards, putting his lips to her ear and whispering, "Just forget about it, b-baby. It's not worth it. That's just Cris, he teases me sometimes about it. No harm d-done. Please don't do anything about it."

James looked her in the eyes imploringly, the corner of his lips twitching upwards when he saw her pout angrily.

"Please," James said again, his lips brushing softly over hers in a feather-light kiss, "for me?"

She huffed, rolling her eyes but nodding her head, leaning forward to press her lips more firmly against lips. The kiss lasted only a second before she pulled away.

"Fine. But just this once, and only because you asked so nicely. Next time he does it, I'm going to go and give him a piece of my mind." His wife warned him, and James grinned, nodding his head in agreement.

He pecked her lips once more before taking her hand in his again, intertwining their fingers and shifting in his chair so he was facing the stage again. He lifted their hands upwards, pressing another kiss to her hand and whispering, "Thank you, baby", before he tried to pay attention to the ceremony again. And as they walked out of the room later that night, he pretended not to notice when she bumped into Cristiano on purpose and didn't apologise and instead walked ahead, pulling her along by her hand to hide the fact that he was smiling