ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜᴇꜱᴇ ɴɪɢʜᴛꜱ

𝚃𝚆𝙾

Mason had finished his afternoon gym session and thought before he headed back to his room to do nothing for the rest of the day he would go see Sophia now.

He really liked Sophia; she wasn't like the other coaches he had ever had. She just seemed different, she was easy to talk to, she was knowledgeable, she made him feel at ease, rather than like he was being scrutinised by a teacher. And not to mention she was beautiful. All his other coaches that he had had before had been men so there hadn't been an attraction, but he couldn't deny that Sophia was attractive.

She had the same dark hair that Daisy had but she had these almost emerald, green eyes that he noticed on the first day he met her. He thought to himself if he was single he would have maybe felt more awkward around her. He knew a lot of the other lads fancied her. He had heard Grealish call her 'Peng', Mings and Chilly had both said she was hot, and he'd even noticed some of the older players putting a bit of extra effort in when she was out on the pitch.

Even when he said he was heading to see her afterwards he had comments thrown at him.

"Remember to give as well as receive Mount"

"Make sure you put in a good performance so she can't call you up on it later"

"She might make you put on one of the vest's while you bang her"

He had tried to hide the blush on his cheeks and hoped it had gone down by the time he reached her office as he didn't need her knowing what everyone was talking about. He took a deep breath before he knocked her door and then waited.

"Come in" she called through the shut door as he clicked the door handle down and entered her office.

Mason walked into the room and before he even had a chance to glance around at the familiar four walls he had seen many times, just to see if she had changed anything, his eyes focused on her. Her eyes looking at him as she smiled, gesturing towards the seat in front of her.

"Come take a seat Mason" she said as he walked over and sat down. He crossed his legs first and then thought to himself, when has he ever sat like that before? He then uncrossed them and could see his knee shaking, so he put his hands on his knees. But all he could think was that he looked like he was taking a team photo so took his hand off his knees and put them under his thighs. His mum had always told him to sit on his hands to stop himself from fidgeting as he was always prone to doing this.

"Don't be nervous" said Sophia as she noticed him moving about in the seat in front of her. She had gotten used to his tells, through this camp and the last. She knew the way he would run his hand over his jaw when he was anxious or annoyed, the way he would bite his nails or the skin around his nails when he was feeling apprehensive, and she knew how jittery he would be when his heart was racing.

"Sorry" he laughs as he stills a bit, he always felt at ease around Sophia.

"Right I won't keep you long" she smiles "It's just to say when we are back at camp in September I want you to wear the performance vest for a few more sessions than normal as I have noticed a drop off as we come to the end of this camp" she explains "and I just want to make sure that your fitness is still at the peak at the beginning and at the end" she smiles "and I think it will be but I have a feeling you're switching off for holiday mode like most are" she laughs as he chuckles too "so I am not concerned about it, I just want to make sure that your health is our priority and we will hopefully have no worries going forward" she finishes as she leans back in her chair still smiling at him.

"Yeah I think I have started to check out" he laughs as she smirks back at him "But I promise when I'm back in September you will have no worries about me!"

"Good" she smiles "Go and get some rest before the match tomorrow and try not to stay up too late tonight on FIFA with the lads" she smirks at him again as he stands up and laughs.

"I will try my hardest" he said with a beaming grin "Thanks Sophia, have a good night" he replies as he opens the door.

"You too Mason" she smiles as she watches him leave.

*

The England team managed to win their last match. It was a pretty easy win to the public eyes however Sophia was aware of how much work the lads had truly put in. The extra hours in the gym, working on their fitness levels had definitely paid off tonight as they practically bossed the pitch with a comfortable 4-0 win.

She had made her way back to SGP on the bus, sat with her usual backroom staff friends, Alex on her left and Josh and Liam in front of her. They had chatted about the success of this camp, clinking their bottles of beer that had been handed out to them for the 2-hour drive back from Wembley.

She felt herself once again pinching herself to be in this role, surrounded by these amazing people and achieving things she didn't think was possible.

Mason was on the other coach, singing along with Dec to the playlist that Jack had chosen which they had bribed the coach driver with a signed shirt to play. He was buzzing, he had managed to even bag his first assist for England today, it really felt like the start of something for him.

He would normally feel shattered on the way home from a match, barely able to keep his eyes open, even if he did get FOMO from it. But tonight, he felt like he could stay awake from the whole night, he was 20 years old and had just played for his country, he was sure his younger self would be so proud.

When they all finally arrived at SGP the celebrations continued. Jack plugged his phone into the speaker of one of their large halls and the staff that had stayed behind had put together a little spread. They would normally get healthy food after a match but tonight, as it was the end of camp, the tables were full of all the treats they had been denied since arriving here.

Mason was tucking into a sausage roll when he saw Sophia walking towards him, she had her eyes set on a chocolate cupcake and with the two beers she had she felt like she needed some form of sugar.

"Coach" he quipped with a nod of his head as she smiled at him reaching for the cupcake with the most frosting on it and drawing her finger into the gooey topping before plunging it into her mouth.

"Mount" she replied after she had swallowed the chocolatey goodness.

"So how was my fitness tonight?" he smirked, thinking back to their conversation in her office, feeling the alcohol give him more confidence.

"Impressive" Sophia replies with a smile "just need to keep it up if you can" she shrugged her shoulders.

"Oh I can keep it up, don't you worry about that" he remarked back and then realised what he had said and burst out laughing. Sophia couldn't hold her laughter back either as they both just stood together, giggling.

Sophia went to reply back but Mason's phone started ringing. He looked down at the phone in his hand and smiled. A photo of his cheesiest grin, his chin resting on Daisy's shoulder as she mimicked the smile towards the camera. His arm wrapped around her shoulders and neck as her hand cupped his jaw. He couldn't help but feel warm at the sight of her.

"Sorry, gotta take this" he replied as he looked up at Sophia, she smiled at him "see you tomorrow yeah?"

"See you tomorrow Mason" she replied back as she watched him walk quickly out the room, bringing the phone to his ear.

Mason practically rushed his way through the groups of people, Daisy talking in his ear telling him how proud she was and that she had just gotten home, having gone to Wembley to support him, like she always did. He knew that Dec would be downstairs for a while longer, joking about with the boys so he had the room to himself.

His mind could only think of one thing now. He wanted to celebrate and if she couldn't be here with him then they would make do with the technology he had. And before long he was in his room, laying on his bed, joggers, and boxers down, on FaceTime to Daisy moaning out her name.