Soccer/Football Imagines (Part 2)

Marco Reus [~] To Russia With Love

It was the annual post-season Borussia Dortmund celebration and Marco Reus couldn't have been more excited. He wasn't excited for any of the celebratory activities per say, he was more excited that one individual would be joining the festivities. Jade Pulisic, Christian Pulisic's older sister, would be joining her brother at the Dortmund party.

She often came to her brother's games to support him. Jade moved to Germany not long after her brother did, having accepted a promotion from the German company she worked for, and was familiar with many of the teams' members. Christian was oblivious to the obvious attraction Marco felt for his sister, despite the German forward's mouth nearly dropping to the floor when he first saw her.

Mario had noticed and had taunted Marco for his little crush on the sweet American girl. Marco had at first brushed off the attraction as merely physical. However, as their time together increased, Marco found that the crush hadn't disappeared. If anything, his crush had only grown. He was hoping to see her at the party before he left to train with the German national team for the World Cup.

The party had started, and Marco milled around the room, tired of third wheeling with Mario and his wife. Moving around several of his teammates and their families, Marco spotted Christian, but Jade was not with him. Sighing, Marco turned around only to bump into Jade herself. "I'm so sorry," Marco apologized profusely as he bumped into her.

"It's alright, Marco, I was just coming over to say hello," Jade chuckled, tucking a piece of hair that had fallen onto her face behind her ear.

"How are you?" Marco smiled, the background noise and chaos fading out of his mind as he focused on the woman in front of him.

"Tired, work's been piling a whole bunch of last minute projects on me, but I'll be on vacation soon enough," she explained, taking a sip of her drink.

"Where are you going on vacation?" Marco asked, hoping to hear Jade say Russia.

"Well, Christian is going to go wherever with his friends, but I was going to head home to the U.S. to see my parents," Jade stated, unknowingly crushing the German's hopes.

"You're not going to Russia?" Marco found himself stating before he could stop himself.

"Well, the U.S. didn't make the tournament," Jade shrugged, causing Marco to want to slap himself. When the U.S. had failed to qualify for the tournament, Marco was 95% sure that Jade was more upset than Christian, and that was saying something.

"You can still cheer for Germany," Marco half-joked half-silently pleaded, motioning to himself.

"I'm sure you guys will do great, especially since you'll be playing this time," Jade winked, nudging Marco playfully. Marco laughed and the two continued to talk for a little bit before Jade was pulled away by her brother to meet some of the recent transfers. Marco watched her go, his smile slowly leaving his face as he grasped that she wouldn't be in Russia cheering for him. Mario watched the exchange go down and sighed to himself. Marco deserved to be happy and dammit Mario was going to help his best friend be happy. And he knew just how to do it.

Days passed, and Marco had left for German national team training. Jade was sitting in her apartment, cleaning up and packing for her trip to the U.S. when a knock sounded from the door. Expecting Christian, who was set to leave for his vacation soon, Jade opened the door to Mario standing in the hallway.

"Mario? What are you doing here?" Jade asked, clearly confused.

"Can we talk? It's kind of important," Mario questioned, looking nervous but determined.