#If the Neville's can play for England...

[elise-51-blog]

[totaly-obsessed]

Goody-two-shoes

Katie McCabe x reader

-> Modeled after that insane Man City vs. Chelsea game. (I also have no clue how football works, please excuse mistakes)

-> Reader gets carded and doesn't quite know how to handle it - Katie is there for her

➳ Masterlist

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

Referees can make or break a good football game -something that everybody knows, especially when being a professional footballer. And while you did believe in said statement, it had never been more obvious than now.

Emily Heaslip, the biggest Chelsea fan on this godforsaken planet. And while you didn’t necessarily think that, your girlfriend Katie definitely did. No one thought that Heaslip would referee another WSL game, after having been escorted off the pitch by security because of how angry she had made fans, trainers, and players.

Katie, a reliable candidate for yellow cards immediately knew that she would not be playing in the game against Tottenham – or at least she wouldn’t be in the starting lineup.

It had never happened before, that not only your opponent's tactics had to be talked through, but also the tendencies of the referee. The atmosphere was tense, no one wanted to play a game where a heap of yellow cards was guaranteed.

To Katie you were the only good thing during the week, always making the brunette laugh when you noticed her getting into her head too much. And she noticed you cheering up your other teammates as well – goofing off with Kyry in the gym, telling Alessia the dumbest jokes, and making a fool out of yourself, much to Beth’s enjoyment. If the Irishwoman wasn’t absolutely in love with you already, she would have definitely fallen for you by this point.

A few players of the WSL had their reputations – Katie with her yellow cards, Millie Bright the defensive brick wall, and Rachel Daly who seemed to make every goal she wanted to. All of them were quite serious, and then there was you. With your fair playing style and a bright smile always on your face, you had earned yourself the title of ‘goody-two-shoes’.

And you relished in it.

There were not a lot of people who didn’t like you, no matter what club they supported – the ones who really did not like you tended to think, that you were faking your personality.

A lot of fans find it ironic that you had ended up with Katie, who tended to get more cards in a season than you had gotten in your entire career.

But something was off on that Sunday, everything felt wrong. While it was okay that your girlfriend wouldn’t be standing next to you in the starting lineup, it felt wrong – especially in a game against Tottenham who were currently above Arsenal in the chart.

The start of the game was hesitant, with every player on the pitch walking on eggshells. It was Ashleigh Neville who got the first yellow card in the 22nd minute of the game. Her being the first player would seem weird when looking at the statistics at the end of the game.

And while you did not, Katie noticed a shift in the game – in the referee who got redder at any little thing that she saw.

It was Caitlin who got the next card, followed by Jen, followed by Lotte. Every card that Heaslip gave seemed wrong. Carding Lotte, when Beth England had stumbled over her foot – even the Tottenham player was confused by the card. Carding Cait when she accidentally ran Kit Graham over when jogging backward.

But then came the biggest shock of the game – you got a yellow card.

Kim had been roughly pushed to the ground by a Tottenham player, and you have had enough. You protested the ref, trying to explain to her that it was indeed not an accident but a punishable action. Emily Heaslip however had none of it, swiftly pulling out that annoying, little yellow card and holding it straight to your face.

The players fell into complete silence, not believing what had just happened. It was Kim who was up on her feet again, who pulled you away, patting your back in thanks.

Katie could see how the situation was messing with your head – no one was angrier than her, and she desperately wanted Frida to run over the ref as she had done before. The brunette tried to get your attention on the sidelines, shouting words of encouragement at you. “Oi! Keep ya head up!”

A few minutes later the whistle was blown for halftime.

Nil all.

The changing room was tense – no one was having fun. Jonas tried his best to give an inspirational speech. It didn’t matter how many goals you scored, it was important not to concede. Leah was pleading with the team to get your heads sorted out so that you could enter the second half with clear minds.

Your stomach felt uneasy as if it was at war with itself. Face dripping wet over the bathroom sink, eyes swollen and red, breathing heavily, is how Katie had found you.

“You did so well my love.” A warm hand found its place on your neck – gently guiding your still-dripping face into Katie’s dry and warm shoulder, letting you calm down for a second.

“Makin’ me so proud baby.” The thick accent felt like honey in your ears, numbing your mind temporarily before having to go out again.

Being back on the pitch felt like a fever dream, your head was not really where it was supposed to be but the game had to go on.

And go on it did – not to your benefit though. In the 62nd minute, Neville pulled a not-so-nice challenge on Kyra who was lying on the ground, arms raised in protest.

Arsenal was given a free kick, and you were supposed to take it. Beth England had brought the ball back where the kick was to take place.

It took you fifteen seconds until you decided on your target, Kim, who had run herself free from her defender. Just as you were about to take it, she was covered again, so you stopped in your tracks, only to shoot a second later when you saw your captain's hand gesture.

The Scot had just gotten to the ball when the shrill sound of the whistle could be heard. Not a single player on the pitch knew why. Both teams got loud with protest when they saw another yellow card being given.

To you.

You who already had a yellow.

Everyone was shocked. Katie couldn’t believe her eyes – after the yellow card followed the red which was held directly into your poor, shocked face.

‘Time wasting’ was what Emily Heaslip shouted at you. It took Kim everything to stop the others from rioting and instead guided you to Katie. The Irishwoman was standing at the sidelines, waiting for you.

The referee resumed the game, Arsenal now being down to ten players. The whole stadium was in uproar.

Your freekick had taken twenty seconds – the average took thirty. How was this time-wasting?

Katie could feel your body shaking as she pushed you into the shower and turned it on. She waited for you just outside of the door, a fluffy towel in her arms, ready to cuddle you to death.

She understood that you didn’t want to talk, instead filling the silence with telling you everything that had happened on the bench. “- and then Manu said that-“ She couldn’t keep going, her heart broke more and more, seeing you sit in your cubby, dressed in her sweatpants and hoodie, face all red and puffy.

Tears were still making their way down your face. “Oh, baby.” With soft coos the defender tugged you up and into her chest, just to sit down with you on her lap again.

You were exhausted, still not understanding why you had gotten a red card.

One after the other the girls came into the room – the game was over.

Kim was the first person at your side, pressing a gentle kiss to your head. Mumbling a little “Proud of ya.”

The others tried to cheer you up, but it was Katie who made you laugh. Your girlfriend, ever the jokester impersonating the referee who had gotten nutmegged by Alessia during the game. “God her face is just so stupid!” You just couldn’t help but laugh, Katie’s dimples smiling at you.

The brunette knew that while it was still fresh it would hurt but you would get over it.

And so would the fans – they were enraged with both of the cards you had been given, but it seems that your title of ‘goody-two-shoes’ would remain intact, even after getting a red card.

[coldpintglass]

Ship bingo: southkane!!!

Oh Southkane my beloved 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿⚽️🦁👔

What was it you said recently about them Laura? 

“Theirs is a deeply ethical age gap power imbalance boss/employee workplace extramarital affair” 

What is it that makes two (let’s be honest) quite strait-laced and otherwise “reserved”men such an interesting ship? 

Gareth full on embracing and being as mentally/emotionally supportive as he can to the squad. We can certainly debate how successful he was bringing England to glory BUT he certainly was well liked and respected as a result of this angle (until the recently). This has got to be down to his calm, level headed and actually very paternal role (especially with younger players). With older players (think Hendo, Walker etc.) you’ve got a more “normal” gaffer role that Gareth plays. You can sorta draw a line in the sand between with WHO and WHAT role he leans his managerial style too. 

A good chunk (probs 50% at least) of his motivation for being a very hands on supportive manager comes from the ‘96 euro penalty. The other two reasons are he failed as a manager at a club level and he has personally watched/played for England when they were REALLY not doing well internationally. He is absolutely driven by a need to fix things and probably sees this as a “duty” as opposed to a dream job. He has to prove it can be done for himself AND the country. 

Despite having a level headed and calm approach to managing, it doesn’t mean he’s necessarily right OR fair in judgements. He absolutely has favourites, he tries to go with what his team thinks works but has no qualm overriding it if he doesn’t like it.

And who better represents that last point than Harold?

Harry Kane is one of the best strikers produced by England. Individually he has a glittering number of achievements (ie Golden Boot from the WC 2018). But he’s never won anything as part of a team. And boy, does that fact follow him. 

He is exceptionally hard working and  determined. In his chat with Gary Neville on the Overlap, he says he used his left foot to score exclusively for 6 months to train himself to be able to score with either. That’s NUTS. He also has no qualms saying he WANTS to go down as a legend, he wants to be able to reach a level like Messi or Ronaldo. 

As an individual, Harry is a nice(ish) lad. He loves being a husband and a dad. He feels representing England is a joy, it’s duty and it’s a privilege to do so. He takes being captain VERY seriously and tries to mirror support similar to Southgate (and I’d argue a bit more successfully)

Harold is a noted teachers pet. Hilariously so. Responds, respects and acknowledges authority like it’s breathing. Every manager loves working with him because they say jump and he’ll say how high. 

Gareth has been part of Harry’s international career since he was part of the U21s!!!! These guys go way back, and how electrifying must it be to be able to mold/support/shape someone like Harry into the England captain you want to lead the country? Gareth is just besotted with Harry through and through, the line between loving him as a son vs as your favourite student gets blurred big time. 

Harry Kane is Gareth Southgate’s favourite and it’s not even close (every time someone points this out, Jordan Henderson gets a headache) 

So together you have:

Two men who see playing/managing England as a duty more than a job, complementing each other wonderfully. Harry has said winning with England is great than a trophy with a club, he damn well means it. 

Managing England completely redefined Gareth’s history and public imagine (until recently lol). Harry Kane is THE best goal scorer for England of all time and love his country evidently. Their England careers have made them folklore hero’s 

A man who’s gone through the agony of being the face of England’s failure and is determined not to let that happen to any of the next generation (although well I have more nuanced thoughts on this but I digress), who saw Harry Kanes penalty miss in the WC and his life flashed before him, desperate not for history to repeat itself.

A man who only wants to do his country proud and tries so very hard but well, as we saw recently, that’s not always enough. 

Harry’s also generally good at holding himself together and his emotions but I think that’s been slipping lately as the weight of two big Euro failures and the real vocal negative response from the public is starting to eat away at him. Who better to turn to then the man who’s put you in that position? 

Also we started to see some cracks in their otherwise very picture perfect relationship as captain and gaffer. Some of the comments during the euros about each other got a bit….. pointed. And what is it about footblr girlies LOVING some angst huh? 

They’re both doomed by the narrative and impossibly similar and all in all it makes for such wonderful (and hot lmao) fiction. They probably het their unique experiences more than anyone else should. 

Finally:

Age gap, HELLO!!!!! I’m a shallow woman and not above admitting that little taboo element between these two makes it’s sooooooooo delicious. Opens it up to some utterly fucking hot kinks as well AND it gives adds a bit of interest to both men. 

Infidelity from either man is unlikely due to their characters and therefore fun to explore with each other 👀 Obviously it’s nicer to go with the No WAGs element but lmao be real. Come on now. You’re  shipping real people…. 

Neither of them (Southgate especially,  sorry Gareth) are classically handsome. Which tbh means I kinda like it a bit more, feels a bit more…. Likely? Does that make sense? 

I can see a case for either of them being a bit more in love than the other - blind devotion vs proud teacher, both are great tbh!

Sorry just want to say it here but both of them are cringe and a bit too earnest to a degree that I think Harry styles off as endearing but Gareth it comes across as off putting whoops ahahah 

Anyway. Wow okay. Southkane manifesto over I guess! I bet there is something I’ve missed which is hilarious considering how fucking long this is but please feel free to add in anything or go ham!!!! 

[player1064]

Love your drabbles! I cannot stop reading and sharing them. I have another prompt if you are still taking them! It would be interesting to see Gaz defend his Jamie when he is invited as a special guest to that CBS show Jamie is on. Would love to see protective Gary against Kate Abdo with Big Meeks laughing in the background and Titi being torn between helping Kate or (rightfully) knowing when a battle is lost. Maybe a dib at Kate how being a host is easy money compared to being actual pundits & analysts

kinda obsessed w this prompt being sent like a day before Jamie ran his big mouth on live tv and got in trouble for it (though tbh he's ALWAYS running his big mouth and what he said abt kate not being loyal wasn't even up there with worst mistakes imo it's just the one that happened to go viral). but also YES I am obseeeeessed with the UCL Today gang's dynamic the banter.... the thinly veiled dislike between Jamie and Kate.... chefs kiss

Also, this ficlet can be considered part of the wife-gary saga and having said that I'm wondering if I should have that as a tag so the other prompt fills in that universe are easier to find......

---

“Joining us in the studio today is one of the most decorated British footballers of all time, with over a hundred appearances in the Champions’ league and two titles to show for it, it’s Gary Neville. Gary, welcome to the show.”

Gary, who’d been grimacing awkwardly through Kate’s introduction, shakes his head around a bit and then gives her a smile. “Glad to be here, I –”

“—hold on, hold on,” Jamie interrupts, “can we go back to the ‘two titles’ thing for a second?”

“Yes, James, I have two Champions’ league medals,” Gary says, turning to look at Jamie with one unimpressed eyebrow raised. “As many as everyone else in this studio combined, I believe. What’s not clickin’, can you not count that high?”

To Jamie’s left, Micah doubles over with laughter, but Jamie just shakes his head, reaching a hand out to Gary’s chest, pushing him back in his seat. “No, no, Gary, why don’t you tell our audience how many games you played to earn that second medal, eh?”

Before Gary has a chance to defend himself, Kate primly says “about thirty more across his career than you did, Jamie,” which sets the whole table off laughing again while Jamie sits glaring in the middle of it all.

*

Jamie, as the lone Scouser in the cast and the only one not to have won a Premier league (besides Kate, obviously, but she doesn’t count), often feels ganged up on at CBS. And to have Gary on as a guest, even though he’d agreed to the idea (and quite enthusiastically, though don’t tell Gary that), feels like an extra kick in the shin.

Because not only is Gary, Mister Manchester United, getting obvious favouritism from lifelong United supporter Kate, he has the more crucial advantage that nobody in America knows who he is.

This means that Gary on CBS is not ‘below-average defender who only achieved what he did through obsessive hard work and sucking up to Fergie’, no, Gary on CBS is ‘best full-back of his generation, Manchester United and England legend, one of the top 10 most decorated British footballers of all time, and David fucking Beckham’s best mate.’

When you look at it like that, it’s a lot harder to find something to tease him about.

Jamie still manages, of course, he’s spent the past decade making a career out of insulting Gary Neville and he’s damn good at it. Over the course of the show he’s able to get in a few digs about his nose, his hair, his weight, his dress sense. But that’s all appearance stuff, which is easy – one look at Gary and the jokes basically write themselves.

What that says about Jamie, the idiot who went and married him, he’s not sure.

Everyone around the table is joking about Istanbul, which is easy enough to do if you weren’t there, which none of them were, and it’s enough to get Jamie’s blood boiling. He’s getting ready to launch into a rant about how it was one of the greatest games in footballing history when Kate cracks a line about how Jamie’s successes were all dumb luck, and Gary’s face scrunches up in displeasure.

“Oh, I’m – I’m not sure that’s fair, really,” he says quietly, glancing back at Jamie as he does. “Don’t get me wrong, that Liverpool team were nowhere near Champions’ league winner quality, I’m sure James would agree w’me on that –” Jamie, very reluctantly, nods. “—I mean, they finished fifth in the league that season, got knocked out of the FA cup their first game. There’s always a bit of luck to be fair, gettin’ to a Champions’ league final, but credit where it’s due – they were a scrappy little team, and that win was well deserved.”

On Gary’s right, Thierry nods in agreement, which is quite possibly the highest praise Jamie’s ever received from the man, and even Kate gives Jamie an awkward little smile once Gary’s done talking.

Under the desk, Jamie drops a hand to Gary’s knee and gives it an appreciative little squeeze.

*

As soon as the cameras are all off Jamie wastes no time in grabbing Gary by the wrist to pull him onto his lap, where he sort of half-perches half-hovers because he’s nervous about putting all his weight on Jamie’s knees (even though Jamie keeps telling him it’s fine).

Gary makes no complaints at being manhandled, just smiles fondly down at Jamie and pinches his cheek. “Look at you, you vain fuck. What I said were barely complimentary and it’s still got you all over me.”

Jamie ignores this (because they both know it’s true) and surges forward to kiss Gary instead, paying no mind to the others still in the vicinity of the desk while they get their earpieces and microphones unhooked. He hears a groan from Micah, and an exasperated sigh from Titi, but they can both go fuck themselves because Jamie’s horrible bastard of a husband willingly said something nice about Liverpool on live television, and if that’s not cause for celebration then he doesn’t know what is.

When Gary breaks the kiss with a pleased little hmph and gets up to wander over to the snack table, Jamie is left to face his colleagues, all three of them looking at him with faces twisted in an attempt to suppress their laughter.

“Man like Jamie,” Micah says gleefully, clapping his hands together. “I knew you was bringin’ the missus on for a reason, this is like foreplay for the two a’yous, innit?” As soon as he finishes the sentence, he shudders at his own words, then adds “oh, ew, that’s like thinking about your parents, don’t want to know any more.”

“I think you’re onto something there, Meeks,” Kate laughs, “and here I was thinking he’d brought him on to show off his trophy wife.”

Jamie wants to protest that he did not bring Gary onto the show, he’s not the one who made the suggestion and it’s definitely not showing off or foreplay or whatever else his colleagues can come up with, but then Kate’s nudging him in the side with a smirk and saying “Trophy wife, Jamie, get it? Because he has a lot more trophies than –”

Jamie stomps off to go find his stupid annoying and very very successful trophy wife before Kate is able to finish the thought and prompt him to say something he might regret.

[effervescentdragon]

carraville + sacred

Mia from Marketing holds him up with some new promos and he can't say no to her, can't be rude even though today feels like the sky is pressing on him, trying to crush his head since he hasn't slept properly, hasn't in a while, and so he's alone in the changing room when he finally gets there, alone with his fucking thoughts and with his anger and with whatever his feelings are about how absolutely shit he was in the training.

If the Neville's can play for England is tumbling round in his head and he can't get it out, and his socks are on backwards and everything fucking sucks and he should fucking give up, fuck it, fuck it all, he thinks as he sits down and leans his head back on the hard wood of the England locker room, bumping it for good measure because fuck it, maybe he'll play better with a fucking concussion since he plays like he's concussed anyway, or so the gaffer said, and he breathes and breathes and feels like he's choking on air.

"Neville? Whatcha doin' here?" says a voice, and Gary would recognize the Scouse anytime, and he frowns and refuses to open his eyes because Gary Neville is a Red and he hates Scousers, and he hates a lot of things right now and he cannot get into a fight, not now, not when he's playing like shit, not when he doesn't want to get benched, so he grunts, shrugs his houlders, hoping Carra would back the fuck off and leave him alone.

There's shuffling from across him, where Carragher's place is, and Gary doesn't open his eyes when Carragher says, "I fucked it today," and he doesn't open his eyes when Carra says, "We're all playing like shit," and Gary only smiles a little when he says "Might be because we all fucking hate each other, I don't know who thought it a good idea to get us all together, fucks sake," but he's pretty sure that Carra will pretend he didn't see it, "some things are sacred, and it sure as fuck isn't this shitty country," and Gary would like to nod and would like to say Red, red is sacred, but Carragher is a Scouser and a Liverpool player and fuck him if he'll ever agree with the fucking enemy.

"Why does it always rain on me," Carragher starts singing, horribly off key, and Gary would laugh but he doesn't want to, "is it because I lied when I was seventeen," and Gary would cry but he's cried all the tears he had, and he opens his eyes and thanks all the gods that Carra is turned away, the muscles in his back contracting as he takes his kit off, and Gary thinks of being seventeen and of never looking too close or too long at the boys in the locker rooms and of pretending to have a crush on some random girl, and Carra stretches and his shoulders are broad and Gary thinks, for a moment, that he could - he might - would it really be so awful if he just -

"You sing horribly," he says, voice too choked to sound natural, but Carragher just turns and grins and he has an incredible jaw and he is a Scouse bastard, and he says, "I know, Gaz, I'm just trying to annoy ye out of that funk, dick," and Gary doesn't know when he starts laughing, but the air stops choking him when Jamie joins in.

Gary throws the towel at his stupid Scouse face and says, "Hit the showers, Carragher, ya stink," and Jamie says, "Aye aye, captain," and winks, and Gary doesn't blush and he doesn't care and he doesn't frown and he doesn't close his eyes when Carragher drops his shorts and walks to the showers naked, and he stays right where he is as he hears the sound of the water.

[lupuslikethewolf]

marauders!au where the war never happened and they all got to go on and live happy lives :) its set years later, when Harry, Ron, Neville, Luna and Hermione are going into their first year.

I haven’t come up with an actual plot yet :/ but this is the setting, and they are all around their early-to-mid-thirties at this point. it's likely just domestic fluff and slice-of-life type shit, with Harry still getting into impossible amounts of fuckery whilst stressing at least 10 different adults (as he should tbh)

i can't decide whether this is set in the 90s or in the modern!era so i left it ambiguous

Barty Crouch Jr, now Professor Barty (just Barty, Crouch is my father), teaches DADA and his fiancé, Evan Rosier, is a Magizoologist who travels during the school year, comes back home for the holidays and weekends to spend with Barty, either on Hogwarts grounds or at their own home. Barty has a close friendship with McGonagall, who is Headmistress, and Poppy (who are married, but no one figured it out).

Dorcas and Marlene play International-Level Quidditch: Dorcas for England, and Marlene for Wales or Ireland (undecided). Everyone thinks they hate each other from the way they treat each other during games. They played for the Holyhead Harpies until they got recruited, and their wedding was basically the biggest, most dramatic and over-the-top graduation party Hogwarts had ever seen, hosted in the Potter Manor. everyone was hungover for days afterwards

Lily and Snape are best-friends-turned-rivals, who achieved a Mastery in Potions at the same time, and are both the youngest people to ever do so. Sev specialises in theoretical potions, and Lily specialises in experimental work, altering old potions and creating new ones. She commandeered the entire basement for her own potions lab, and Remus helps her research in his spare time.

Pandora started publishing with Xenophillius (the definition of gender-fuckery; no-one knows how they identify, not even Xeno), and they publish the most outlandish work they can, alongside Pandora’s books!! They also run Xeno's Quibbler and a couple other independent newspapers. They live out in the countryside w/ Luna. Barty & Evan are their only walking-distance neighbours, but they floo to their friends houses semi-regularly

MaryLily and StarChaser are co-parenting Harry, and being godparents/family friends of Draco, Blaise Zabini, Ron, Neville and Luna. When Harry is at pre-school, he makes friends with Hermione, and the four of them introduce Dr and Dr Granger to the magical world over the years, instead of the two month crash-course Hogwarts gives

Mary is an artist, and since she was raised half-blood, absolutely adores the technique and process of muggle painting, later enchanting it to move and learn and talk. She doesn't own anything that isn't stained with paint, bleach or hair dye. She is famous for her work, in Magical and Muggle circles, but is almost completely anonymous, and they only know what she looks like because of a group portrait she painted

Regulus is an independent researcher of old Pagan traditions and 'Muggle' magic, how different solstices and days (like All Hallows Eve) affect the Magical community, etc. He visits Barty at Hogwarts with Harry every few weeks, and later with Hermione as well, so they grew up learning about the secrets at Hogwarts, in the library, and with the teachers. Also friendly house rivalry, and the adults completely split on which houses they will go into at Hogwarts. Evan started a betting pool.

James and Sirius are the wizarding private investigators. They work everywhere, for everyone (no matter what. they don't need to charge more than what people can afford), and love it. James absolutely adores the 'Sherlock Holmes' vibes, but they are both Sherlock Holmes b/c they are simply too baddass not to be!

Remus opened a bookstore-cafe, and him and Sirius live in the flat above it. It’s really popular and became the place for students and young queer people. The bookstore stocks everything from really popular and really unknown books and authors of every genre. The regulars also notice all these really famous but really mysterious friends of Remus who come-and-go (artist!mary, author!pandora, athletes!dorlene, etc). And then, of course, is the “private” investigator boyfriend, who couldn’t be less subtle at anything if he tried.

Alice is still an Auror, and the Best of the Best, but she is so fucking fed up of the politics, DMLE, and Ministry in general. She is starting a revolution/reformation from the inside- and if that doesn’t work, quit her job and do the same thing from the outside! Frank ended up in law and becoming a Lawyer, and is glad he did, because it might be the only thing that will keep his partner out of jail if she decides to commit treason. They love Neville to bits, and would do anything for him!! They built a whole-ass greenhouse when he discovered his talent.

Peter Pettigrew works part-time with Remus at his place, but is currently training with Gringotts/other cursebreakers to become a professional cursebreaker! it is taking a long ass time with a lot of testing and work to put in, but Peter finds it interesting and it meant that he always has more stories to tell the kids when he sees them, which is a bonus because children are hard to entertain.

[zingaplanet]

Can you explain the carraville ship to me please (like context and the steps of the relation and so on? If it isn't too much)?

I see your posts and I grow curious.

R U KIDDING?? IT'D BE MY PLEASURE!! I feel a huge responsibility to represent the carraville fandom lol, so my dear carraville mutuals pls do help fill the blanks n lol hope you don't regret this ask cause as you know, I have a slight tendency to go on a maniacal j-stor length rant hahaha

So basic's basic first, who are they? They're football pundits! They work for sky sports (the major broadcaster of premier league football in the UK), and their work encompass commentating on matches, giving their analysis on tactics, players etc, we'll go into details later. But there's an incredible background story to how they came to work together and here's where the fun begins!

Righto so, if you know my blog, I'm always most fascinated with enemies or rivals who came together in the end despite their differences (or actually BECAUSE of their differences like fedal!). I just thought that this is one of the most uniquely special and incredibly powerful bonds that represents how amazing human relationships can be, it is often our opposites who understand us the most!

Jamie Carragher and Gary Neville encapsulates this relationship perfectly but also perhaps most comically. They are an example of how ironically funny life can be as they are technically THE SAME PERSON but from opposite sides (hey WE LOVE MIRROR OPPOSITES!)

How, you ask? So football pundits don't just get plucked out of journalism school, they are mostly former players, and very specific ones: Those that have strong characters (that ppl actually found interesting to watch on telly), and those that have brilliant tactical minds. So both of them are incredibly witty and funny, and they're great readers of the game!

And this actually comes from their playing days. So both Neville and Carragher were defenders. Carragher especially played centre back (Neville played right back) and were leaders of their team for a long time, which meant they had to organise everyone while reading the game at the same time. But here's the catch:

They played for 2 different clubs who have the oldest, fiercest longstanding rivalry in the premier league (UK football) and perhaps even in the world: Carragher played for Liverpool FC and Neville played for Manchester United. In here they call this the Northwest Derby, as they are both clubs from cities of Northern England who are historically most successful both achiement-wise and size-wise.

So... they used to LOATHE each other, and this isn't just the passive-agressive détente Messi and Ronaldo used to have during el clasico matches, oh no, English football in the early 2000s was quite violent, and both Neville and Carragher were amongst the staunchest characters in their teams. There are reasons for this, which comically prove that they are actually the same person!

Aside from playing in the same position as each other (though on opposite sides of the field), they also have similar backgrounds/relations to their clubs. They are ONE-CLUB MEN. Now this is very rare in football and have gone quite extinct nowadays, but basically, they are LOCAL boys who were born in their cities (i.e., Liverpool and Manchester), grew up supporting their clubs, and their club identity became their identity so much so that they only ever played in that club for their whole professional career (i.e., they were never transferred nor loaned). They also came from working-class backgrounds in Northern England (Liverpool and Manchester are basically only separated by the M62 highway).

Being local lads means they were the most LOYAL of the bunch, and are also rare breed leaders since they've been with Manchester United and Liverpool FC from their youth academies. They've never left the city and usually have quite an important leadership roles within the team.

But Carragher and Neville were never star players (nothing of the Virgil Van Dijk defenders type you found nowadays). They didn't have amazing skills etc yet they have the most caps (number of appearances) in their club games, and they were still playing matches even close to their 40s. Make no mistake they were actually really good players, both with significant england caps (even during the golden generation of Rooney, Ferdinand, Becks, Lampard, etc!) This is because even tho managers can buy star players, they could never buy loyalty nor replaced the way these two know their club and led their peers. They were sort of the emotional backbone of the clubs so to say.

This also means that their roles have always been as supporting characters and with them it's quite literally. So Carragher (or Carra as we call him) is best mates with non other than Liverpool former captain and forever supertstar, Steven Gerrard. Meanwhile Neville grew up and is still best mate with the global superstar, spice-girl married David Beckham. Carraville were often vice-caps for a long time, taking a sidelined but important role.

Even more mirror symbolisms (it's all a bit poetic really): both LFC and Manchester United have red as their club colours! (Everton and Man City are the blue side of their cities). Neville was part of the Man United team that won EVERYTHING in english football (including the unrepeated treble), but they never really dominated Europe (as Carragher likes to point out). Carragher was part of an underestimated LFC team who didn't win much of local cups but did one insane miracle and beat Paolo Maldini's superstar AC Milan team after being 3-0 down IN THE SECOND HALF in the 2005 Champions League final in Turkey. That night was called one of the greatest comebacks in football, dubbed "the miracle of Istanbul!"

NOW on to the crazy bits:

After they retired, both of them were invited to do this programme on SkySports called Monday Night Football. It's actually one of the most prestigious and highly difficult punditry programmes to do in football, since it's hours of LIVE analysis, dissecting the game one by one using statistics, and reacting live to the teams' tactics as they watched the match.

Safe to say the sky producers must have had the biggest balls on the planet when they decided to put those two together in one studio. The first few shows were quite patchy, but LO BEHOLD the strangest things happened: Gradually the animosity of rivalry turned into something more of a friendly banter (AKA what the english calls a very passive aggressive curmudgeon way of saying they're becoming awfully fond of each other but are too 😤 stupidly 😤 manly 😤 to admit it 😤). Once they realised they're not on opposite teams anymore, their walls came down and people called them two peas in a pod as they started noticing how similar they are to each other!

But this old rivalry makes for a hilariously fun relationship! They hold no barrels and take every. single. opportunity. to slander and make fun of each other. This includes turning each other into memes and petty saving all of each other's past football analysis lest the opportunity arrives when the moment proves them absolutely wrong to make fun of each other on social media.

Fact is: Even though they'd rather be shot dead than get caught saying it in public, they've actually become best mates lol. They still argue endlessly over football, and as the English call it, the season's never officially begun before a Neville-Carragher high-pitched argument on live TV. They even left their former teammates speechless, as they were known to be one of the most aggressive loyalists to their clubs. Neville used to not even be able to walk through Liverpool without getting mangled lol once he had to have a police escort just to get to the stadium, yet nowadays they get greeted by everyone in their respective cities 🥲

So in a nutshell: They are basically the definition of school scoundrels who used to beat the shit out of each other every week being put together in detention (by skysports) and ended up becoming besties lol. I have to say they are probably the most hilarious relationship development you could ever witness lol:

Ok so if you've made it this far (I AM IMPRESSED) and by some crazy reason decided that you still want some more, here are some starter packs for you:

This ad they did for fifa perfectly encapsulates the disgruntled fond and hilarious nature of their relationship!

Here is a compilation of them turning into 5 year olds in front of each other, and debating until only dogs can hear them!

Here is Carragher hilariously tackling Neville on a charity football match after they retired cause they ARE that petty lol

P.s. carraville mutuals lmk if i missed anything!

[louistomlinsoncouk]

Louis Tomlinson and his sister Lottie delighted England fans at the Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, ensuring they wouldn't miss out on the Three Lions' last-16 tie against Slovakia.

Fans attending the festival in Worthy Farm were devastated when organisers announced they wouldn't be screening any Euro 2024 matches, over fears they would clash with planned performances.

However, Louis ensured fans wouldn't miss out, by setting up the TV in the middle of his campsite, drawing in hundreds of fans to watch the tense game unfold.

Speaking to the BBC, Louis admitted that fans had branded him 'the god of the festival' adding it was 'a little bit touch and go at times' due to the TV's glitchy signal.

'Luckily we got the win, we pulled it off,' he said. '[I'm] made up.'

As the game headed into extra time, Louis also told The Guardian: 'It's the second screen I've bought. The first got cracked. 

'I wasn't going to take credit for it because it looked like we were going to lose in normal time, but now that we've equalised I'm happy to.'

The match wasn't short of drama, with England coming dangerously close to crashing out of the tournament, before a moment of magic from Jude Bellingham brought the team level.

Manager Gareth Southgate's men looked on the brink of an embarrassing Euros exit in Gelsenkirchen, only for Bellingham's spectacular overhead kick to salvage an equaliser deep into stoppage-time. 

And skipper Harry Kane delighted the England fans who made up the majority inside Gelsenkirchen's 60,000-capacity Arena AufSchalke with the decisive goal - as the Three Lions turned their Round of 16 showdown on its head in 196 seconds.

England had been jeered off at half-time as they went in a goal down to Ivan Schranz's 25th-strike for the unfancied Slovakians, who are ranked 45th in the world - 40 places below England.

And there was evident disbelief as Southgate sent the same eleven back on to the field for the second period, with boos ringing out within two minutes of the restart.

But the mood dramatically changed with Bellingham's stoppage-time equaliser, which sent the game into extra-time - followed swiftly by Kane's bullet header to put England in front. 

England's victory means they will face Switzerland in the quarter-finals next Saturday in Dusseldorf, again at 5pm.

Switzerland progressed by triumphing 2-0 over reigning champions Italy, who previously beat England on penalties in the Euro 2020 final at Wembley.

The Three Lions' Gelsenkirchen clash came one day short of 18 years since England were knocked out of the 2006 World Cup in the same Arena AufSchalke venue, defeated on penalties in a quarter-final against Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal.

Sunday's game was broadcast live on ITV1, whose punditry team included former England players Gary Neville and Ian Wright.

Footage of Neville and Wright's reaction to Bellingham's goal was shared by ITV on X, and it is fair to say that they enjoyed it as much as any other England fan.

Both men initially celebrated by running around with their arms raised before Neville jumped into Wright's arms.

Neville then let out multiple high-pitch screams before shouting: 'We're not going home!'

Despite his boisterous reaction to Bellingham's moment of magic, Neville was later critical of England's performance in his post-game analysis.

He said: 'Getting over the line and winning in tournaments is all important.

'But to think you can go through a month-long tournament playing like we are doing and get through to the end... I think is unrealistic.'

[antspaul]

HOME for Neville is a converted barn north of Manchester. He has another place in Dubai. Not much else is known about his off-field life — there is not much interest — and that’s fine by him. Beckham tells a story in one of his books that says a lot about the chalk-and-cheese nature of the England captain and his best mate. United at one point had a deal with Honda to supply their young players with new cars. Once they had played 21 first-team games, the youngsters received a Prelude. When Beckham got his, he fitted it with a leather interior, new CD player, personalised number plate and alloy wheels. “Gary,” he writes, “an old man even then, changed his for a four-door Accord.”

Now the two friends are almost 1,000 miles apart, a distance no amount of picture messages can bridge. Does Gary miss David? “Yeah, I miss him at times. Obviously, there’s a gap in my life socially. But I think you mature, and we both have friends who have left for other clubs — it’s part of football. You accept that things change, and David going to Madrid was right for everybody.

“Fans come up to me sometimes and say, ‘We wish he was still here’, or ‘How’s David?’ and I just say, ‘He’s doing fine, but it’s time to move on’. It’s finished with. David’s enjoying his life and his career elsewhere and we’re still enjoying playing for United. I’m just delighted he’s been such a success. When he went over, I told people that it won’t be the great free kicks or the unbelievable passes or the shots on goal that will impress everyone. It’ll be his willingness to run for 90 minutes non-stop. That’s what’s happened.”

converted barn in manchester and a house in dubai. most gary neville combination of things ever

"there is not much interest" IM interested.

"an old man even then".... life imitates art

hes sooooo "i dont miss him we grew apart. ill miss him for football reasons only" jilted ex. okay girl

[ladyjaneasherr]

Jane Asher and Gawn Grainger as Juliet Capulet and Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet” presentation while being on tour in the USA, 1967. Part 2. 🩶

Previously posted pictures with my old username, updating it with the new one.

Old Vic Brings First Spoken Drama to The Music Center. By Cecil Smith. Los Angeles times— March 5th, 1967.

It seems a curious bit of scheduling to have the Bristol Old Vic in the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of The Music Center, opening a three-week season of Shakespeare Tuesday night.The company is doing the first spoken drama ever performed in the new complex and it arrives on the threshold, the very eve, of the twin openings of the new theaters designed primarily for drama next month. Not that the spoken word is a stranger to the Pavilion. Some of the more interesting musical plays produced there, notably "Fiddler on the Roof," have been as dependent on their dramatic as on their musical structure. And if the Pavilion is fundamentally a music hall, still the verbal music of Shakespeare can be as stirring and compelling as any instrumental or vocal music ever devised. No one plays this music better than a British ensemble and among the great companies of England the Bristol Old Vic is considered one of the best. No less an authority than Sir Tyrone Guthrie says it is among the world's finest acting companies and that its managing director, Val May, is an immensely vital force in the English-speaking theater.

Suited the Action

Sir Tyrone suited the action to the word by staging the production of "Measure for Measure" that opens the BOV season here. May directed the production of "Hamlet" that enters the repertory Thursday and the "Romeo and Juliet" that will open next week. The three plays will rotate through March 25. The Bristol Old Vic was initially formed in 1946 as an offshoot, a sort of farm club for London's justly celebrated Old Vic. When the latter was melded into the British National Theater three years ago, the BOV became an independent entity.

It is supported by an annual grant of 40,000 pounds from the Federal Arts Council, plus a grant from the city of Bristol and its thriving box offices in two theaters-the legendary Theater Royal and its new Little Theater. But even in its days as m the outpost of the London company, the Bristol Old Vic had an individuality and a spirit all its own. I remember when the parent organization was in the Philharmonic on one of its tours some years ago, I asked John Neville, who was playing Hamlet, what his plans were after the tour, and he said he was leaving the London company to return to Bristol. I asked him why. "It's more adventurous, more experimental, more daring and," he smiled, "more fun."

Although the BOV is only doing Shakespeare on this first American tour under the sponsorship of S. Hurok, the Bard is not its primary product in England. The company is known as an innovator, launching new plays and new playwrights, trying new areas of stagecraft, new methods and new approaches. It was in the vanguard of the new wave of British drama that spawned Pinter, Shaffer, Osborne, Arden, Wesker, and others. It was the first company to produce an English version of Erwin Piscator's "War and Peace" (later staged with immense success in this country by the APA) and it first provided a stage for such plays as "A Severed Head" and "The Killing of Sister George." ⠀⠀⠀

The company has a vigorous acting school and training program that has a spawned a legendary crop of stars, among them Rosemary Harris, Peter O'Toole, Dorothy Tutin and Paul Rogers. m Although the concentration is on youth, many an established star has played at Bristol, including Wendy Hiller, Moira Shearer, Pamela Brown and Neville.

The Hamlet of the current company is one of England's brightest young stars, Richard Pasco. He's little known in this country, though he was in the movie "Room at the Top" and played Broadway with Laurence Olivier in

"The Entertainer." Pasco, who also plays the key role of Angelo in "Measure for Measure," told a Times correspondent in Bristol recently that he sees Hamlet as "a fish out of water." "He's plunked right in the middle of all this political intrigue and violence and that's what he hates most— violence," Pasco said.

He approves director May's decision to set the play in the Napoleonic era-"lots of conspiracy and blood around in those days." Pasco said his first West End job as an actor was in "Hamlet"-playing Fortinbras to the prince of Paul Scofield. He feels Scofield saw the character as "an angry young man." "Yet," said Pasco, "he's really pretty cool. He likes to think about things-in a world that likes to act. Not that he's unable to take care of himself—he learned that as a soldier. But he's a scholar who knows that violence only leads to more violence. It's not in his nature to do the things that have to be done.

That's the terrible part." Pasco was the original angry young man—he played Jimmy Porter in the English Stage Company's famous production of "Look Back in Anger" in 1956, which launched the new wave of British drama. Most of his career has been in classical repertory though he's also starred in British television and movies. He joined the Bristol Old Vic in 1964 for its first tour of Europe, which extended as far as Israel.

Famous member⠀⠀⠀

Actually, the most famous member of the current troupe is its Juliet, 20-year old Jane Asher-particularly with the miniskirt set. The fame that preceded her had nothing to do with her acting but her fan magazine reputation as the girl friend of Beatle Paul McCartney, which has brought out swarms of teenagers on the cross-country tour. In proper repertory fashion, she balances Juliet with the tiny role of Julietta in "Measure for Measure." There are other players quite celebrated in Britain among them, John Franklyn Robbins, Frank Barrie, Madge Ryan, Frank Middlemass, Gwan Granger, Barbara Leigh-Hunt. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

But as in the National Theater, the Comedie Francaise, the Moscow Art Theater, one goes to see an ensemble, not an individual. This is a new wrinkle in this country but with the success of such ensembles as the APA, ACT and others, it's gaining momentum. There's an immense sense of pride in the Bristol company and in its homebase theater, the 200-year-old Theater Royal in cred Eritain on a heater where Sarah Siddons played and Edmund Kean, William Charles Macready, Jenny Lind, Henry Irving and Ellen, Terry-the ghost of Mrs. Siddons is said to stalk its stage.

Some feel it prophetic that the Blitz, which levered much of Bristol, spared the theater. Val May accompanied his players to this country and stayed with them through their highly acclaimed New York openings, then returned to Bristol to prepare his spring season, which includes such varied offerings as "The Hostage," "The Taming of the Shrew," Galsworthy's "Strife" and Pinter's "The Homecoming."

Among three new plays to be produced is one by American author Robert Rich, "Message from the Grassroots," a play about Malcolm X with an all-white cast.

Dr. Guthrie met the troupe in Philadelphia to brush up his initial staging of "Measure for Measure," that blackest of black comedies, which was much condemned in Victorian England for its outspoken attitudes on sex and morals and its cynicism. Dr. Guthrie told me later he was quite pleased with the production and it was greeted in Philadelphia, Boston and New York with warmth and a goodly share of critical hosannas.

The play is out of Shakespeare's middle period when he was at the height of his powers, written at about the time he wrote "Othello," after "Hamlet" and prior to "Lear." Although labeled a comedy, it is quite a serious work and tragedy is narrowly averted and then only through good fortune. It's easy to see how it shocked the Victorians, dealing with the stern enforcer of a Viennese law holding fornication illegal and punishable by death.

When a young man gets his girl with child, he is sentenced to die, and his sister, a novice in a nunnery, offers her own chastity in exchange for her brother's life. What particularly upset the Victorians was Shakespeare's straightforward appraisal of humanity, as when he has the wry Pompey ask the young governor if, to enforce the law, he plans "to geld and spay all the youth of the city?" Eras change. The candor that delights one age shocks another and can delight a third. But what endures is the essential truth in the poet in his evaluation of man for all his vice and folly.

When he has Angelo say: "They say best men are moulded out of faults, and, for the most part, become much the better for being a little bad," it's downright comforting.

[wolfpants]

my year in fic

I just made this up because I thought it would be fun to take a look back, and because I'm a nosy parker. No-pressure tagging @oknowkiss, @lqtraintracks, @academicdisasterfic, @wrapped-up, @skeptiquewrites, @phoebe-delia, @nv-md, @m0srael, @kbrick, @lettersbyelise @saintgarbanzo @basicallyahedgehog @nv-md and anyone who wants to play along!

Rules: Share 1 line from each fic you wrote this year. In 2022 I wrote: 340k words over 22 fics (wut):

January

⭐️ Led by Light of A Star Sweetly Gleaming | Wolfstar, 53.4k, E

And Sirius fits himself so easily behind Remus, and the lazy drag of his chin along his shoulder gives way to another soft press of lips against the shell of his ear into which he whispers, “You can keep anything of mine you’d like.”

-

💫 In You, I Count Stars | Wolfstar, 1.5k, M

It’s darkening already, the red melting into purple and into navy, and soon enough the entire landscape will be bled black, stars poking through the clouds like the freckles that map the entire fabric of Remus’s scarred skin.

February

⛈ Of Earth and Electric Storms | Wolfstarbucks, 5.6k, E

When James looks back at this later and thinks about all of the ways that it could have gone, Sirius’s heated murmur of “do you want to watch us?” would still come out on top, as the best possible outcome.

-

😈 It Took The Night to Believe | Wolfstar, 7k, M

James’s cider had come bursting out through his nose, and Sirius’s gaze had swung quickly, imploringly to Remus as Remus answered on their behalf without missing a beat, his cheeks an alarming shade of pink, Just because we’re both gay doesn’t mean we fancy each other, for fuck’s sake, and Sirius’s heart had broken, just a tiny bit, trampled as it was by a pair of knackered blue Converse.

-

🌲 Wilderness | Drarry, 2.3k, E

“More… estates and great rolling moorlands of Brontë’s romantic England and less… Shrieking Shack in the middle of the Forbidden Forest,” Draco adds in a thoughtful murmur, to some ears dryly placid, to those more knowing quietly alarmed.

March

💔 The Hollow | Draco/Remus, 12.5k, E

Draco, who is staring at him across the short hallway, the silver of his wide eyes alight under the dull glow of the dusty chandelier above their heads; Draco, who looks terrified; defensive; determined.

-

☀️ A Taste | Drarry+Neville, 1k, M

When they go back to London together, Neville finds out that they do, indeed, burn together more brightly than he could have ever imagined, but like Devon in August, it’s drawn out and slowly scorching.

April

🌻 Wildflower | Charlie/Draco, 1.3k, E

Their first kiss had happened only a few nights into Draco’s arrival on the colony, a wine-tinged thing pressed against the exterior wall of the common hall while the dragons slept miles and miles away but Charlie’s clothes still smelled of fire.

-

📚 Pages of You | Drarry, 102.6k, E

Unfortunately, it means walking back to halls with Malfoy, in all of the weird, cloudy sexy tension they’ve just cooked up together.

-

🌌 Aurora | Drarry, 5.2k, M

"You’re not alone,” Harry repeats a little weakly, already cringing at his own lame words, but pushing them out anyway as he thinks of Malfoy sitting on the edge of his bed, of his half-eaten meals, of his vacant stares into space.

May

📺 Summer Place | Drarry, 14.2k, E

Wonder how long it’ll take us to kill each other, Harry - Potter, back then - had joked, and they’d cheersed to that, clicking their glasses together, their fingers brushing, sending a frisson of heat straight to Draco’s core.

-

🏠 Tiny Home | Dronarry, 30k, E

Ron’s fingers wrap themselves fully around Draco’s, and Draco stares at him in frozen astonishment as he lifts Draco’s hand to his mouth and kisses the back of his knuckles, the metal of his rings; like a knight courting a prince. 

-

🇮🇹 A Bigger Splash | Dralbus, 6.9k, E

Now, at the pool - lying on a lounger sandwiched between Teddy (shirtless, headphones on) and Draco (shirtless, ancient looking paperback in hand), Albus is trying to simultaneously come up with an intelligent response to Draco’s words while formulating a plan for stripping down to his skivvies in a way that will be most aesthetically pleasing to all of those in his general vicinity.

June

🪵 The Left and Leaving | Charlie/Bill, 3.1k, E

They lie there for what could be minutes, for what could be hours, as the reality of what they’ve just done settles down around them not like a cold sluice of lake water, but like a warm settled blanket, a comfort, something to turn to.

-

🔪 The Farther I Fall, I'm Beside You | Drarry, 2.3k, E

He’s kind of a dick, you’ve got to admit, Harry said a few months after that first shag, over morning coffee.

-

🎂 A Little Effort | Dronarry, 1.9k, T

Harry calls Draco sweetheart all the time, although most people might argue Draco isn’t sweet at all, that he’s actually a bit of a crabbit little arsehole, but both Ron and Harry know there’s a side to Draco that’s soft, that’s pliant, that purrs when he’s pet just the right way.

July

🏙 Edges | Drarry, 1.5k, E

But not long after we fell into bed with each other—that wonderful, terrible, frightening last year of school—and not long before we fell in love, we learned our edges don’t match.

August

💘 Romp and Circumstance | Drarry, 35.5k, E

“Good,” Harry murmurs, and he bends forward and kisses Malfoy’s middle knuckle, wrapping dry lips over the bony ridge, his focus on the pale tracery of green and violet veins on the back of Malfoy’s hand before he looks up again to meet Malfoy’s eyes.

September

🌊 Look For Me In The Sun | Drarry, 8.7k, M

Draco had shivered lightly in the circle of Harry’s arms, shifting around until they were facing each other and tangled up so closely that Harry hadn’t been sure where his legs began and where Draco’s ended.

October

⛺️ Like A Brother Would | Ronarry, 5.2k, E

And wouldn’t that be awful, if Harry tapped into that, if Malfoy had been the one to help Harry accept that part of himself before Ron ever could.

November

🗻 Under Giant Mountains | Drarry, 33.7k, E

It was easy to compartmentalise a crush, especially when said crush was on someone he didn’t particularly like.

December

🍃 August | Drarry, 3.8k, M

It’s taken Draco less than a week to come to the conclusion that Potter is summer in boy form. 

[player1064]

Ok after the amazing angst one about their first time might I request a hurt/comfort… I love the complications of them being secretly together as players. Maybe Gary (srry bby) gets injured in a match and it’s scholes that has to tell Jamie and that’s how they come out to their friends or to the world, maybe Jamie’s there, idkkkkkk but something in the following of the SAF finding out one? 😁❤️

tbh like. at this point this is fully just a full length fic. perhaps I'm insane about them...

LOVE the idea of them being together in their playing days. wish I could find footage of Gary breaking his ankle but there's none!!!!!

Set as a sort of prequel to this one from a few days ago

---

17th March 2007

Jamie is on the team bus headed for Birmingham when it happens. Up front, the radio is playing match coverage, but he’s sat further back, he and Stevie too busy holding court with the players sat around them to pay it much attention. It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on what United are doing, but as it stands they’re twenty points clear of Liverpool and are certainly going to get another three today – it’s only Bolton, and they’re at home too.

So, he’s on the bus when it happens, but he doesn’t find out until the team is sat around watching Match of the Day later that evening. Even then, he doesn’t get to see the footage, the only mention that anything happened at all being a short “Gary Neville came off after 11 minutes with an ankle injury.”

His teammates cheer and Jamie tries to laugh along, but all he can think is why hasn’t he texted.

“Reckon that’s him off England squad this summer, then” Stevie says, grinning, “finally, some peace and quiet. An’ they’ll be needing someone to step in for ‘im, Carra, you might get more minutes.”

“I fuckin’ hate playin’ right back,” he groans, rolling his eyes (why hasn’t he texted why hasn’t he texted why hasn’t he texted).

He makes a show of looking at the clock, says something about needing to call his parents to let them know he’s got to the hotel alright, and high-tails it out of there to go back to his and Stevie’s empty room.

Still no texts, so he brings Gary’s number up and calls, pacing the floor while it rings.

It takes longer than usual, but eventually he’s greeted with a quiet “’lo?” and breathes a sigh of relief.

“Are y’alright, love?” he asks quickly, his words rushing together. “Only just heard, else I’d’ve called sooner – what ‘appened? That twat Lineker was so vague.”

There’s a long pause, long enough that Jamie starts to wonder if his signal’s dropped out, and then:

A voice which he now hears is definitely not Gary, saying “this is Scholes.”

“Fuck,” he hisses, and snaps his phone shut.

His phone starts ringing a few seconds later.

Jamie, because maybe he’s a bit stupid, answers it.

“Yeah?”

“Er,” he hears Scholes say, “Who’m I speakin’ to, exactly? Gaz’s only got this number saved as ‘J’.”

“Um,” Jamie says, panicking. “I’m just a friend of ‘is, heard he got injured so wanted to check he were alright.”

“’e’s still waitin’ on some scans, but they reckon it’s broken,” Scholes says. “Gaz doesn’t really have friends, does he, outside of team. An’ you sound –”

“—Okay, good t’hear he’s alright, bye then.”

Jamie snaps his phone shut again and tosses it onto his bed, wipes both hands down his face.

Broken. Fuck. That’s him out for the remainder of the season, then, he’ll be devastated. At least he’s already racked up enough appearances to get a medal when United inevitably win the league, not that the prick needs another one of those.

This thing of theirs, whatever it actually is, it’s not been going on that long. Not even a full year, if you’re ignoring the few mistaken fumbles at England camps over the years and only counting from when they’d made it – not official, exactly, because again Jamie’s not entirely sure what it is they’d be making official – but as close to official as it’s likely to get.

Gary, the prick, would probably give him a smack if he said all that to him. It all comes a lot easier to him, the – the words, and the feelings. Jamie can almost hear him now, why’s everythin’ always so complicated w’you, Jamie, stop bein’ a baby and just admit I’m your boyfriend.

His ankle is probably broken. Jamie should be there.

He has a match tomorrow.

He sits on the end of his bed, hunched over with his head in his hands while he tries to sort through the mess in his head to work out what he’s meant to do. There’s a buzzing in his head that feels so loud he doesn’t notice the soft click of the door opening until there’s a dip in the mattress beside him and Stevie’s hand patting him on the shoulder.

“Y’alright, lad?” he asks gently, shifting his hand to rub firm circles on Jamie’s back. “We’re headin’ down for dinner soon, boss sent me to find you.”

“I’m fine,” he says automatically, but when he looks up he can see the disbelief in Stevie’s face. “I am, I just – if somethin’ happened to Alex, like, if she’d been hurt. Would you go home? Even if you’re meant to be startin’ tomorrow?”

“Of course,” Stevie replies, like he doesn’t even have to think about it. “’Course I would, you know that. She’s – y’know, she’s the mother of my children, in’t she? I’d drop anythin’.”

Jamie groans, puts his face back in his hands. “’s not helpful, Stevie.”

“Well, no, ‘cause you don’t ‘ave kids.” Stevie pauses for a second, frowns. “Unless you –”

“—No!” Jamie says quickly, shaking his head. “Christ, y’think I could ‘ave a secret family? Give us a break. No, it’s just – I dunno, I been seein’ someone, for a little bit now, and somethin’s happened, and – and I feel like I’m meant to go home, aren’t I? Help out? But I –”

“But you can’t miss the game tomorrow,” Stevie finishes for him, because of course he knows that, he knows him, knows how his head works. “So there’s yer answer. Carra, she won’t hold it against you. If she – I mean, does she love you? Are the two of yous, like – why’ve you not said anythin’?”

Jamie feels a twinge of guilt. “’s complicated,” he says with a sigh. “But we – I s’pose so, yeah. I s’pose you might say that we’re – that.”

Stevie, god bless the man, seems to lose any trace of annoyance or upset over being left out of the loop, and throws an arm around Jamie’s shoulder with a grin. “My boy’s in love!” he says, squeezing Jamie tight. “Too much of a prick to tell ‘is best mate, but what else is fuckin’ new? Look, Jay, I know you, don’t I? And if she knows you, then she’ll know you ‘ave to play this game. Long as she’s not dyin’, I’m sure she’ll understand waitin’ ‘til tomorrow evenin’ for you to get home.”

“Ha,” Jamie says humourlessly, still feeling guilt clawing away at his insides, “prob’ly won’t notice if I’m there or not, anyway.”

Stevie pats him on the shoulder one last time and then stands back up, nodding his head towards the door in question.

Jamie gets up too, but they’ve only taken a couple of steps towards the door when another wave of guilt crashes into him and he blurts out “Stevie –”

“I’m bloody starving, Carra, c’mon now.”

“Stevie,” he says again, clenching his fists at his sides. He can’t look at Stevie, is staring up at the ceiling instead as he says “’s not a girl. That I’ve been seein’. That’s why I couldn’t tell you.”

There’s a long pause, where it feels like the air between them is humming, and then Stevie just nods and says “okay.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

They make it all the way out of the room and into the lift down to the dining room when Stevie’s brow furrows for a second and then he turns to Jamie, eyes wide.

“Carra,” he says grimly, “please tell me the guy you’ve been seeing that’s got hurt today’s not another footballer.”

Jamie feels himself blush. “Um,” he replies.

“Jesus fuckin’ Christ, Jamie, what is wrong w’you?”

*

When Gary is wheeled back into his private hospital room, it’s to the sight of Scholesy sat in an armchair looking thoughtfully at the phone in his hands.

He blinks when he hears Gary come in, looks up with a grimace. “X-ray gone alright?”

Gary shrugs, looks away. “Broken,” he says, trying to sound nonchalant. “Like they thought. Guess it’s gonna be more’n just three weeks out, then.”

Scholesy sighs, deflating slightly. “’m sorry, Gaz.”

“Is what it is. They said I can go home now, at least, so that’s somethin’. You got all my things?”

“Yeah, give us a second,” Scholesy says, turning around to rummage through the pockets of the coat that’s hanging on the back of his chair. He pulls another phone out, opens it up. “I’ll call us a cab, yeah? Want me to stay at yours tonight?”

It takes a second to compute that if the new phone is Scholesy’s, then the one he’d been staring at when Gary came in was –

“Erm. Were there any calls for me, while I was out?”

“Yeah,” Scholesy says, back to sounding sort of distant.

Please be from my mum, Gary thinks desperately, almost wanting to squeeze his eyes shut while he waits for Scholesy to elaborate.

“Um, texts from the family, of course. But just the one call.”

He hands the phone back to Gary, who opens up the call log to see exactly what he was hoping he wouldn’t.

Still, there’s a little glowy feeling in his chest at the fact he’d called.

“Ah,” he says. “Did you, er, d’you speak to him?”

“For a minute,” Scholesy says carefully. “Said he were a friend of yours.”

“Yeah,” Gary says with a relieved chuckle. His idiot boyfriend is good for something, after all. “Yeah, he’s a good friend. Good of him to check up on us.”

Except, then Scholesy adds: “Sounded Scouse.”

“Ah, yeah,” he replies, rubs a hand over his jaw. “Well, can’t hold it against him, I s’pose.”

Except, then Scholesy looks him dead in the eye and says: “Called you ‘love’.”

Fuck,

Fuck.

“Scholesy,” he says, feeling panic rise up inside him, “Scholesy, I can explain –”

“First boyfriend in how many years and it’s a bloody Scouser,” Scholesy mutters, which –

Which isn’t what Gary had thought he’d say, not even close.

“You don’t – you don’t mind that he’s – that he’s a man?”

Scholesy frowns at him like he’s lost his marbles. “Well, what else would he be?”

“I – a woman, Scholesy!” Gary screeches.

“But you’re gay?”

“You’re not meant to know that!”

Scholesy’s eyes flit up towards the ceiling. “Oh my god,” he mutters. He looks back at Gary, voice even. “You are so annoying, d’you know that? Nobody cares about the gay thing.”

“Oh,” Gary says, even though his head is screaming other people know too???

“He sounded worried, your lad on the phone.”

Gary feels himself relax a bit as it finally clicks how nice it is to be able to talk about this. “Yeah,” he says fondly, “’cause he’s bloody stupid.”

Scholesy hums thoughtfully. “What’s ‘is name?”

Ah, right. There is still that one, teeny tiny little problem.

“Um,” he says. “’s name’s Jamie.”

There’s a brief second while Scholesy’s brain works through the complicated equation of ‘Jamie + Scouser’, and Gary can tell the exact moment it computes because his eyes go wide and he says “Carragher?”

[poorshadowspaintedqueens]

Is Richard iii a hypocrite for decrying his brother’s “lack of virtue” and hailing his own virtues when he at the time of his brothers death had at least two illegitimate children? Or did it not count because of the patriarchal norms for men that richard had more of a virtue for the time than Edward and his court had?

Well, first of all, it isn't an either/or binary. Neither of these men was a saint, and neither was Satan. So let's start there.

Based on what we can glean from the available records, Richard of Gloucester had two illegitimate children, both of whom were in their mid-to-late teens when he died in August 1485. That means both of them were likely born no later than 1470, since that was the year Edward IV was kicked out of England, and Richard accompanied him to Burgundy. It's possible that the younger of those children could have been born as late as 1471, but even that is pushing it a little.

In any event, Richard was, at the time, an unmarried man. We don't know the exact date of his marriage to Lady Anne Neville, the extremely wealthy co-heiress of the late Richard Neville, earl of Warwick, but scholars have generally agreed that they married at some point between spring 1471 and late 1472 based on the date of their son's birth. As far as we can see, there are no indications that Richard fathered any illegitimate children while he was married.

That is definitely not the case with Edward IV. Alongside his ten legitimate children with Elizabeth Woodville, we find records of at least three illegitimate children. Elizabeth, who became Lady Lumley; Arthur, who became Viscount Lisle; and Grace, whose only appearance in the historical record is as one of the few attendees of Elizabeth Woodville's funeral i 1492. This is in addition to the many, many rumors, speculations, and reports of his frequent womanizing. It was not a secret that Edward IV liked the horizontal tango. A lot.

Which is all to say that when Richard brought up Edward's philandering ways, it wasn't a charge that was going to surprise anyone, and I don't really think it had much, if any, bearing on the success of his usurpation. He had greater success playing on the fears of an unknown teenaged monarch after half a century of civil war, and on the story of Edward IV's alleged pre-contract with Lady Eleanor Butler that invalidated his marriage to Elizabeth and de-legitimized all their children. The rumors regarding Edward's dissolute lifestyle were incidental to the larger point.

[effervescentdragon]

is it too much for me to ask for a one word prompt...? bleed + carraville no pressure....you can ignore me :,)

my inbox is always open for you and you can always ask for anything ❤️ im sticking with the england nt theme today i guess?

It's only a second; a second in time, a single moment where he isn't paying attention, when he doesn't know exactly where the attacker is because he's trying to pinpoint Stevie in the midfield, but all it takes is a second, and a tackle, and an elbow in his nose in the tangle and then pain and hurt and blood, and then there's faces all around him and Carragher is apologizing and Eriksson is shouting "Carragher, help Neville!" because he's trying to get them to play well together and not kill each other, and Scholesy is shouting something and Becks and Frankie are both trying to calm him down and then he's being pulled up, a strong body half-carrying him towards the locker rooms.

He shoves Carragher away after the world stops spinning and he goes, keeping close enough but not touching him, and Gary is grateful for that because the fucker almost broke his nose, and he has to breathe through his mouth because his nose is full of blood and he can taste it in the back of his throat as he slumps down onto the bench and leans forward, the drops of blood dripping on the floor.

"You should probably lean back," Carragher says and Gary is furious and he can't even speak properly so he just flips Carragher off and waves his hand, and then there's paper towels being pushed in his hand and as he's trying to get the bleeding to stop, there's hands on his bare knees as Carragher kneels in front of him, face worried, and asks, "Did I break your nose?"

"How about you apologize," Gary tries to say, but it all comes out jumbled, and Carragher slaps his hand away and mutters "I'm sorry, I promise it wasn't on purpose," and Gary's head hurts too much to start a fucking fight when Carragher drags a towel over his face and neck, gentle and hesitant, wiping off the blood carefully.

Gary knots his hands into fists so Carragher wouldn't see them shaking; his hands are perfectly still as he wipes off the blood slowly, and when Gary looks away from Carragher's face because he doesn't want to see the look on it, doesn't fucking care what it is, there is a red smear on Carragher's white shirt, right above the crest, and when Carragher says, "I guess this is what they mean when they say you bleed for your country," Gary laughs too hard which starts the bleeding all over again, and then kicks the laughing dickhead in the shin hard enough to make him topple over.

[richmond-rex]

thinking about the war of the roses and how all the women involved would have probably gotten along really well in another time :(

Doubly sad because Cecily Neville and Margaret of Anjou were very courteous and considerate of each other before the conflict began, and Margaret and Jacquetta of Luxemburg really were very good friends. Elizabeth Woodville's of a different generation, but she did seem to be sympathetic to Margaret after her defeat considering she joined a fraternity that Elizabeth was part of and was allowed to be depicted as a former queen. I think, in a different time, they would have gotten along very well.

I think the only two women who were on "differing" sides but were enabled due to circumstances to get along and ultimately ended up in a mutually beneficial position due to a common goal were Elizabeth Woodville and Margaret Beaufort. We don't know how personally close they were, well-intention seems likely, considering the role Margaret played in the birth of Elizabeth's last child, how they worked together very well for the marriage alliance between their kids, and how there was no recorded conflict between them after Henry VII ascended the throne. I believe they also went to mass together with their children once?

just thinking random thoughts lol

Hi! Yes, practically all the important women involved in the wars of the roses had a good or at least cordial relationship with each other, which is why it's always so baffling to see histfic authors write them hating each other with such fervour just because they ended up on opposite sides of the war. Most of them were on the same side at some point: @heartofstanding can talk more about Cecily and Margaret of Anjou's relationship, but Margaret and Jacquetta were definitely good friends for a long time. Jacquetta was among the three or four most important women held in high regard by Margaret going by the gift records of this queen, to say nothing about the fact that Jacquetta's husband was created a baron and a knight of the Garter(!!) during Margaret's time, and only after her arrival in England.

Elizabeth Woodville would have probably appreciated Margaret's regard for her family too, which is why Weir writing Elizabeth & Jacquetta calling Margaret of Anjou 'the pretended Queen Margaret, our great enemy' doesn't make any sense! Even later when they were on opposite sides, I don't think the level of animosity would have risen that high, and you can see a mark of friendliness also in the fact that Elizabeth Woodville allowed Margaret to join the same fraternity of which she was a patron. Perhaps it was her regard for Margaret that made Elizabeth take up the patronage of Queen's College (founded by Margaret) too—a respect for her predecessor's vision.

I'm still of the opinion that Elizabeth Woodville, her daughter and Margaret Beaufort were probably good friends (as I explained here and here). Besides, Margaret Beaufort seems to have held great admiration for Cecily Neville (considering she based her household and routine on Cecily's) and even Cecily may have come to like Margaret Beaufort, going by the way she left Margaret some religious books in her last will when not even all her surviving relatives were contemplated. Probably the only women that were on opposite sides that didn't get along well were Margaret Beaufort and Margaret of York. In a letter thanking the earl of Ormond for a pair of gloves he sent her from Flanders, Margaret wrote:

‘I thank you heartily that ye list so soon remember me with my gloves, the which were right good, save they were too much for my hand. I think the ladies in that parts be great ladies all, and according to their great estate they have great personages’.

She was, of course, taking a dig at Margaret of York, who was dowager duchess of Burgundy ('great lady') and famously tall ('great personage'). Considering Margaret of York was at that time creating great problems for Margaret Beaufort's son by lying about Perkin Warbeck and funding an army against him—probably in Margaret Beaufort's opinion, for no reason—it's understandable that she would not have had the greatest sympathy for the dowager duchess. They had no previous history of friendship.

[blankdblank]

Ask game, send in an ask or a comment to see which teams are playing where. Or to just say where you’d be heading off to for the Quidditch World Cup.

Bit of a slow morning and if anyone is up for it just name the host country and which game number you would like to know. Figured it might be a fun sort of game for some to enjoy as I warm up and relax my back after work before getting into writing Freddie Mercury opening up the cup game round 1 in my oc’s chosen country. Bonus level points if you can guess which country the Black Family/Neville and the Malfoy brood are off to. :)

…. Host countries start here …

France hosts - game 1/2/3

Italy hosts - game 1/2

Greece hosts - game 1

Canada hosts - game 1

United States hosts - game 1/2/3

Bosnia and Herzegovina - hosts game 1

Poland hosts - game 1

Germany hosts - game 1/2

Romania hosts - game 1

Liechtenstein hosts - game 1

Luxembourg hosts - game 1

Bulgaria hosts - game 1/2

Flanders hosts - game 1/2

Norway hosts - game 1

Scandinavia hosts - game 1/2

Iceland hosts - game 1

Morocco hosts - game 1

Haiti hosts - game 1

Fiji hosts - game 1

Bahamas hosts - game 1

Cuba hosts - game 1

Portugal hosts - game 1

Spain hosts - game 1

Mexico hosts - game 1

Argentina hosts - game 1/2

Madagascar hosts - game 1

Burkina Faso hosts - game 1

Ivory Coast hosts - game 1

Egypt hosts - game 1/2

Nigeria hosts - game 1

Uganda hosts - game 1

Chad hosts - game 1

Senegal hosts - game 1

Jamaica hosts - game 1

Syria hosts - game 1/2

Transylvania hosts - game 1

India hosts - game 1/2

China hosts - game 1

Japan hosts - game 1

Samoa hosts - game 1

Australia hosts - game 1

New Zealand hosts - game 1

England hosts - game 1/2

Ireland hosts - game 1

Scotland hosts - game 1/2