See You Later➛Declan Rice

O N E 'O' E I G H T

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june 6th, 2021
england v romania
[friendly]

Natalia grinned proudly as she watched Marcus slip on the Captain's armband for the first time, the brunette waving at her best friend at the front of the line before the team were led onto the pitch to begin their final friendly before the Euros.

Delilah was standing beside Natalia in the line, both trying their hardest not to start laughing at one another during the national anthems and failing terribly. Cameras picked up the both of them giggling as they sang, arms around one another's shoulders as they belted out God Save The Queen like never before.

Declan was secretly recording them both, sending it to Mason with the message 'looks like our girls are good friends' underneath with a few laughing face emojis. The blonde and the brunette had both been put as the starting two so there were bound to be some good link-ups during the match.

They got into position and knelt down before the whistle to show their appreciation to the Black Lives Matter movement before the whistle went again, the team standing on their feet ready to go. The ref blew the whistle a third time and the team got to playing, immediately showing Romania dominant possession and good skill.

Natalia and Delilah were both close to scoring a few times in the first half, either having the ball saved by the goalie or having it hit the crossbar with frustration. Both were more than prepared to get back onto the pitch and get scoring, and that's the only thing they spoke about during half-time.

Declan gave Nat a quick half-time good-luck kiss before she went back out to play, admiring her every move on the pitch as both teams struggled to score any sort of goal. The first came from a penalty in the 68th minute of the match, Rashford taking the penalty and scoring before Natalia jumps on his back cheering with delight.

Declan had been taken of bench for the remaining 30 minutes of the match, so he made sure to make every move count and every pass critical for the team. He had heard the whistle blow harshly from the other side of the pitch and turned on his feet to see an England player down and a fight about to ensue on the pitch.

"The fucking hell did you do that for?!" Jesse shouted at one of the Romanian players harshly. Natalia lay on the floor on her back, one arm slung over her face and the other holding her ankle in nothing but pure agony.

Declan jogged over and immediately went into panic mode as he saw Natalia down on the floor, kneeling down beside her to see if she was okay and if she was actually breathing or not.

"I'm alright, everything up here is fine but I don't think I can walk." Nat says as she sits up, wiping the stray tears off of her face.

"Can you at least try for me?" One of the medics asks as he and Declan help her to her feet. She took one step on her good foot and tried with the other and ended up nearly toppling over, Declan catching her arm and saving her before she could do so.

His heart broke for her, knowing it was her first proper tournament as an England player and now it had been ruined by some idiot who couldn't play safe. He helped the medic walk her off the pitch and into the changing rooms, the brunette giving her boyfriend a good-luck kiss before he disappeared out of the room and onto the pitch again.

"Looks like you'll be out for a few months." One of the medics hums."

"Dammit." She hums softly, walking with the medic back onto the pitch and into the subs box at her request. She watched the rest of the match with a scowl on her face, her dad messaging her a screenshot of her face from the TV with a bunch of laughing faces in hopes of cheering her up.

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"Nooooo." Declan whines as he see's Natalia hobbling to the reception of St George's Park with her things. She nods at him sadly, waving goodbye to everyone in the common room as Declan walks over to her and engulfs her in a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"I'm absolutely gutted." Declan admits.

"You're not the only one." Natalia sighs, moving some hair out of her face as she looked at her boyfriend. He smiled at her a little, the twinkle in her eye more evident in the light she was standing in and her smile in response as bright as ever.

"But, I love you so much and I know you guys are going to do fucking fantastic. Me and Raff are going to go stay in Manchester for a bit and come down for the matches, sound good?" Natalia asks, letting Declan tuck some hair behind her ears.

"Of course it is my love." He whispers, kissing her lips ever so lovingly before the boys started to whoop and holler behind them.

"Do me proud okay?" Natalia holds her pinky out, letting him intertwine his pinky with her own.

"I promise."

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