#shinpad

[kylewalker-peters]

dortmund let me in the room for the marco and jadon reunion

[workingforitallthetime]

oh no oh no poor little raven boy

[tartt9]

um. sweaty jamie. in case you cared.

[sekritjay]

Hades II's rendition of Apollo is hilariously familiar because to me he really does sound like that very specific kind of privately educated but middle-class twink from the south whose school could afford all the better kind of rugby equipment

[hardtchill]

New tc article https://www.si.com/.amp/soccer/2023/08/11/christen-press-tobin-heath-the-re-cap-show-uswnt-womens-world-cup

The postmortems have streamed in following the USWNT's disappointing World Cup campaign. Has the world caught up? Is there an issue in youth soccer? Is the USWNT's culture to blame?

It's a little bit of everything, per the two, but Press focuses her attention on the systemic failure of the pay-to-play system. "It is completely dependent on a financial situation of the youth player," says Press. "I want us to be able to create an environment where football is truly for everyone and it's inclusive and I think that it's really important for society and our culture and our whole country, and I also think it will lead to a better player pool and better teams."

Very good that she is speaking out on this. I said this as well recently, the cost of youth football is absolutely insane. For a u10 player a parent pays around 2k a season, why?

I have compared this to the Dutch before where 200 euro's a season is considered a lot (200 a season would for a very good club who are seen as a scouting pool for top academies). I don't know how the exact amount in other European countries but i really can't imagine it being this high anywhere else.

[hendolish]

how the bingo’s looking currently !!

[littlechillis]

i would do the same to the simons guy

[wileys-russo]

like a dumb rom com (2) II kyra cooney-cross x catley!reader

final piece of writing from me in 2023 besties! have a safe and happy new years eve x like a dumb rom com (2) II kyra cooney-cross x catley!reader

"well good morning little mrs cooney-cross." you bumped into teyah who was leaving as you arrived, passing one another in the hall as you gave her a playful shove.

"shut up!" you rolled your eyes, chatting with her for a few minutes before parting ways as she headed down to the carpark and you off toward the apartment she shared with kyra.

"waiting for me are we, bit eager?" you teased seeing your girlfriend already leaning in the open doorframe as a grin broke out on her face and she pushed her phone back in her pocket.

"nah i'm actually waiting for my thursday girlfriend. you're friday through monday, remember?" kyra smirked as you punched her shoulder and she pulled you inside, lips on yours as the door was kicked closed behind her.

"kyra lillee!" you shouted forty five minutes later, the brunette yelling back from the kitchen as she filled up your water bottles for training. "come here!" you shouted again with a huff as she appeared in the doorway of the bathroom behind you with a raised eyebrow.

"look what you did!" you moved your hair out of the way and pointed accusingly to your neck, frown deepening at the amused smile which curled onto your girlfriends lips as her eyes roamed over the hickies littering the right side of your neck.

"oops?" the younger girl smiled innocently as you mumbled under your breath. "do you have concealer?" you questioned as she shook her head and bit her bottom lip. "not in your shade babe."

"kyra!" you groaned, hands gripping the sink as your head fell forward to press against the mirror. "in my defence you didn't exactly stop me." the midfielder pressed herself into your back as you shrugged her off. "not helping!"

"we could swing past yours sometime between coffee, breakfast and training? you have concealer right?" kyra stepped past and pulled herself to sit up on the sink. "well yeah but steph will be there, and there's no chance she doesn't notice these. she notices when i've got my shinpads on the wrong feet." you sighed, letting out another groan.

"mm i could distract her? let you dart inside, just say you forgot your boots or something." your girlfriend suggested, poking you with her foot as you swatted it away.

"i'm not you ky i don't forget things." you had to let out a smile as she kicked you again. "i'm sorry baby, really. forgive me?" she jumped down and grabbed your hips, pulling your body into hers with a pout.

"only because i can't stay mad at that stupidly cute face of yours."

~

"so we go in, you distract her, i go to my room and cover them and we leave asap." you recounted as you pulled up outside the house, parking on the curb as to not alert her to your presence right away.

"kyra!" you smacked her when she didn't respond, pulling her head out of the clouds. "right! yes sorry, good plan babe." your girlfriend zoned back in, the two of you getting out of the car and heading up the driveway.

the first hurdle came when you were too slow grabbing your keys out, hearing someone start to unlock the door from the other side as kyra quickly yanked your hood over your head and you hurried to fix your hair.

"hi?" you gave a small sigh of relief seeing it was dean who opened the door, pushing past him and making a beeline for your room. "hey what-" you heard steph as you zoomed past her, ducking under her arm and into your room, kicking the door closed.

"i thought you left already?" you heard your sister call out, kyra making quick work to engage her in conversation as you hunted around for your concealer.

"of course when i need it i can't fucking find it." you grumbled to yourself as you fussed about in your makeup bag, finally pulling it out from the bottom. "fucking kyra." you mumbled to yourself again as you tugged your hood off.

"little leech." you huffed, hearing her laughter ring out from the living room followed by stephs annoyed groans about something she'd likely said to wind your sister up, a skill that never seemed to be out of stock for your girlfriend.

making quick time to cover them up as best as you could you nodded at the job, grabbing one of your textbooks off your desk and opening the door. "ky lets go!" you called out, the brunette detaching herself from steph.

"you're such a pest! no wonder the two of you are thick as thieves, both just as irritating as one another." steph groaned shoving the girls head to the side who grinned. "why the rush back?" your sister questioned, grabbed your arm as you tried to duck past her again.

"forgot this. need to study today!" you smiled holding up your textbook and grabbing kyra. "didn't you already have your sociology exam?" steph questioned with a frown, crossing her arms as you struggled to think of a response.

"some chapters are relevant in her next exam, crossover stuff yanno!" kyra chirped slinging an arm over your shoulder and turning the two of you toward the door.

"well well look whose rubbing off on her little best mate, you gonna hit the books too ky?" steph teased, leaning in the doorway with a smirk as the two of you headed down the driveway.

"i may just surprise you yet stephanie!" kyra yelled over her shoulder with a grin, though your sister wasn't yet to know just how surprising kyra really could be.

~

"come with me please." you whined as caitlin grabbed your bicep, steering you away from the change rooms as everyone else headed for the cafeteria. "cait i'm starving!" you groaned as she tugged you into one of the recovery rooms.

"so you've told steph about you and kyra then?" the older girl questioned with a raised eyebrow, crossing her arms as you gave her a strange look. "no. why do i look like i've been yelled at today?" you grinned but it quickly faded at her lack of joining in.

"well you might want to consider it because she is definitely going to notice those and have questions."

"shit!" you cursed as caitlin pointed to your neck and you grabbed out your phone camera which confirmed your worries. you'd admittedly forgotten all about the little marks from this morning and with a media session upcoming a lot of the girls had showered in between training and lunch, yourself included.

"its not funny!" you groaned as caitlin finally broke her stern facade and doubled over with a laugh. "foordy help!" you whined, wincing a little as you poked the angry marks and cursing your girlfriend under your breath.

"just put a hoodie on and sit far away from steph. then maybe say your prayers?" the older girl laughed, ruffling your hair and leaving the room as you trudged after her, darting into the change rooms again to grab a hoodie.

you let out a yell as someone grabbed you and shouted boo, the all too familiar laughter which followed having you roll your eyes and shove her away. "you're such a child." you shook your head grabbing your hoodie.

"weren't saying that this morning were we babe?" kyra grinned, glancing around before her hands settled on your cheeks and she pulled you in for a kiss, unable to stop the smile which formed as you did.

"oh well hello!" you jumped apart from each other with bright red faces, heads whipping around to meet the amused gazes of vic and alessia. "will you two be coming for lunch or just eating each others faces?" vic smirked as alessia chuckled beside her.

"don't tell steph." you warned the two older girls who waved it off, stating they'd 'known for ages' and pulling the two of you away with them, all four of you falling into conversation.

following caitlins advice you dragged your friends to sit with you as far away from your sister as you could who gratefully was too busy goofing off with jen and beth to notice you..

though that peace of course didn't last.

"stop!" you whispered, ghost of a smile on your face as kyras hand wandered up your leg, teasingly pinching and poking at your skin as instead the two of you resorted to playing footsies.

"oi!" katie scowled turning around as kyra kicked the back of her chair, pointing to you as katie smacked your leg and you glared at your girlfriend who quickly kissed your cheek and gave you a grin, your elbow nudging into her side as jonas continued to talk.

"do you wanna hang out this arvo?" kyra murmured, grabbing your hand in hers and hiding it in her lap as you smiled. "i have to study, one more exam remember?" you whispered back as she pouted and you shook your head, turning back to the screen with a smile, the two of you still tapping and kicking one another as time went by.

it was at the end of the media session where things started to go a little pear shaped, the lights turning on and kyra quickly dropping your hand, but you failed to see your sisters narrowed eyes a few rows back.

dismissed for the day everyone wasted no time collecting their stuff and heading off, most in small groups or pairs as carpooling was a popular option among the team.

"steph!" you yelped as your sister grabbed you, pulling you back into the room by your hood as everyone else headed out. "what the hell is that on your neck?" you paled at her firm glare, warning you out of anything that wasn't the truth.

"nothing! i burnt myself with the straightener." you rolled your eyes and tried to leave but she held a firm grip on you which you couldn't break. "yeah bullshit. i wasn't born yesterday those are hickies, who gave them to you?" steph asked with a glare as you struggled to pull away.

"none of your business, get off!" you huffed, wrenching yourself free and storming off. "have you got a secret girlfriend or something?" your sister scoffed, grabbing the back of your hoodie as you pushed her away.

"just leave it steph! its nothing." you rolled your eyes, her questions following you into the change rooms as you ignored her. "oi! mum and dad made me promise to look after you, you're too young to be seeing someone." steph cornered you by your cubby as you rolled your eyes and a few of the girls looked over curiously.

"i'm twenty one fucking years old steph i'm not a baby and if i want to get a hickey off someone? i'll get a hickey." you grabbed your bag and shoved past her, ignoring the ooh's from beth who fell silent at a firm look from steph.

thankfully she didn't follow after you and with kyra grabbing a lift home with teyah you wasted no time driving off and heading home, determined to get there and lock yourself away before your sister returned home to no doubt continue the argument.

sure enough you weren't even ten minutes into studying, hauled up in your room with snacks and water that you heard her footsteps thump down the hall. you didn't even have dean as a buffer given he was at his own training this afternoon.

with a roll of your eyes you slipped your headphones on, purposefully pretending you didn't notice when your door swung open and calvin bounded in as you gave him a scratch and gently pushed him off your bed.

"what?" you huffed as your sister yanked your headphones off, holding them out of your reach as you tried to take them back. "who gave them to you?" steph asked, copping a filthy glare as she stretched taller and continued to hold your headphones away.

"none of your business and the more you ask me the more pissed off you're gonna get me stephanie." you warned seriously, snatching your headphones back as she lowered them slightly. "i need to study." you spoke bluntly, pulling them back on and sitting back down at your desk with your back turned.

steph watched on warily with words in the back of her throat before she decided it wasn't worth it, and when you glanced over your shoulder a few moments later the door was closed and she was nowhere to be seen.

with your sister not reappearing for a few hours you used the time to zone in on your studies, your phone sitting on do not disturb on your bed you missed the messages from both your girlfriend and your teammates checking in.

eventually you looked up from your textbook with tired eyes and realised it had gone dark outside. dropping your highlighter and closing your laptop you stretch your back over your chair and sigh in relief as it cracks a few times.

pulling your headphones down around your neck you roll your chair back toward your bed and grab your phone, sighing at the multitude of notifications, too tired to reply to anyone bar kyra.

you noticed two missed calls from your mum and frown checking the time in melbourne realising she'd likely have headed to bed now. sending her a few messages in apology explaining you were studying and would call her first thing tomorrow you slipped your phone into the pocket of your hoodie and stood.

again stretching out your cramped limbs your eyes scan over your planner, plucking off a few different sticky notes with a satisfied nod. your final exam isn't until monday and with the match on saturday you know you at least have tomorrow and sunday free to try and cram in the rest.

though this exam was your last it also happened to be the most content heavy, and though the reward of five weeks off loomed ever closer you knew you had one final push until you hit the finish line.

"done for tonight?" you jumped not having even heard your door open, glancing over to see your sister lingering in the entrance. "yeah. i've still got tomorrow and sunday, i think if i read another word its just going to go in one ear and out the other." you sighed running your finger down what you had left to revise.

"is that how it works when you read something?" you looked up to meet stephs amused smile, but seeing the look in her eyes you know it was as close to an olive branch as you were going to get.

"yeah wouldn't expect you to understand, its hard being the smart one." you quipped back with a smile seeing steph relax a little at your response. "come on, dinners done and calvin misses you." steph spoke with a nod down the hall.

"no dean?" you asked seeing as there was only two bowls of food dished up on the kitchen counter. "out with his team. which means we can watch big brother without his running commentary!" steph grinned handing you a fork as you grabbed the bowl of curry.

"this is so scripted, there is no way someones that dumb!" you mocked his voice. "nah why is she crying? shes doing it for the cameras!" steph joined in, the two of you taking a seat on the lounge with a laugh as steph flicked on big brother.

"hey." you looked over to her a couple of hours later, the two of you now watching a premier league match as calvin slept with his head in your lap, bowls of dinner long washed up and finished. "mm?" you hummed looking back to the tv and groaning as man city scored.

"i'm really proud of you."

"for what?" you frowned at her as she rolled her eyes at your defensive response. "juggling everything. uni, football, living in another country, media commitments, sponsors. it's a lot, but somehow you seem to be managing and thats very admirable!" your sister complimented with a soft smile as you pulled a face.

"you're so weird steph." you shook your head, scratching behind calvins ears as the older girl scoffed. "i'm being nice! that was a very nice thing to say!" she defended with a scowl. "well stop being nice its weird! makes me uncomfortable." you grumbled, never having been great at taking compliments.

"say thank you and tell me you love me." your sister demanded as now you scoffed, ignoring her request and focusing on the tv. "say it!" steph demanded, kicking you as you remained quiet.

"stephanie get off!" you yelled as suddenly her body crash tackled into yours, poor calvin diving off the lounge and moving toward his bed to avoid the squabble.

"you might be bigger now but i'm still older." steph grunted as you struggled to push her off, your arms eventually pinned under her knees as she sat on top of you.

"what are you twelve? get off!" you whined, squriming beneath her and trying to buck her taller frame off without any luck. "no. say thank you and tell me you love me!" your sister ordered, fingers digging into your ribs as you squealed.

"you've very comfortable and you're only making this harder for yourself." steph sighed pressing more of her weight down on top of you as you wheezed slightly. "fine! thank you, love you." you huffed with a roll of your eyes.

"like ya mean it!" steph scoffed in offence, crossing her arms and glaring down at you as you let out a heavy exhale. "thank you for your kind words stephanie, i love you."

"sorry couldn't hear you, bit louder?" "steph!"

"i love you too peanut." your sister cooed getting off of you though not before tightly squeezing your cheeks and shaking your head side to side. "i wish i was adopted." you mumbled with a huff, both of settling back into your previous positions.

"i already told you, we can arrange that if you like?"

~

"ky!" you grunted as she launched herself onto your back, arms locking around your neck and subtly kissing your cheek as you shifted her, continuing about with your lap. "people are going to take videos of this." you sighed knowingly.

"when do they not?" your girlfriend challenged though she slid off of you anyway, falling into step as katie and caitlin appeared on your other side. the four of you conversing about the game you watched with an amused smile as kyra yanked caitlins hair out of its bun and sprinted off, the older girl racing after her.

"so." katies arm slipped over your shoulder and you sighed giving her a look. "you gonna tell your sister about the two of ya then?" katie asked with a smile as you groaned. "not you too! your girlfriends already onto me about it and you saw how she reacted to the hickies." you huffed defensively, turning away so no one could possibly read your lips.

"which is exactly why ya gotta tell her! the longer ya leave it the worse it'll be because you didn't tell her." katie lectured and you sighed knowing there was some truth to her words. "its not that easy! she's insanely overbearing and overprotective, she won't take it well."

"you're twenty one years old catley, whats she gonna do? ground ya?" katie teased as you shoved her playfully. "i do still live with her." you reminded as katie shrugged. "so move out then!"

"let me guess, you can't?" the irishwoman smiled knowingly as you struggled to come up with a response and you looked up as kyra called you over. "seriously though, tell her!" katie squeezed you before heading off for the change rooms as you caught up with kyra and teyah.

"you coming over for dinner? teyahs cooking!" your girlfriend grinned as your friend rolled her eyes. "you're welcome to. we're ordering in!" teyah corrected smacking kyra as the two of them pushed and shoved one another making you chuckle.

"as much as i do enjoy free front row seats to your roomie wrestling matches, i have to study." you reminded as kyra groaned going limp in teyahs arms. "i'm losing to a stack of paper, some pens and sticky notes, unbelievable!" your girlfriend complained as teyah shoved her off and wandered into the change rooms.

"come on. just for dinner? then i'll drive you home. or i can help you study?" she offered eagerly with a smile, practically bouncing on the balls of her feet as you smiled and moved a strand of hair out of her face.

"no you can't." you shook your head as kyra groaned again, slumping into the wall with a pout. "that won't work. my final exam is on monday ky and i have so much content to cover before then." you sighed apologetically, tugging her bottom lip out from her teeth.

"tomorrow?" "studying." "you can take a break! i'll take you out for breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, just a drive, anything!" "as sweet as you are, i can't ky."

"can you hear that?" kyra questioned as you frowned, shaking your head. "thats my heart slowly cracking." your girlfriend sighed deeply tapping her chest as you punched her in the arm. "you're supposed to be supportive!" you shook your head with a laugh.

"i am! i'm supporting your health and well being by encouraging you don't burn yourself out and you take breaks in between your studies!" "mmm a likely story cooney-cross. come on!"

with that you linked arms with her and dragged her into the change rooms.

~

"here she is! the scholar herself!"

you laughed as you exited the building, feeling about a tonne lighter now you knew your exam was over and you had five weeks off from your studies.

you still had a whole host of commitments including international break so it was hardly 'time off' but it meant your list of things to juggle grew just that little bit shorter for the time being.

"you didn't need to do this you know?" you grinned as your sister handed you a bouquet of flowers, having requested she get the day off training to chauffeur you to your final exam which jonas was fine with.

"course we did. this is a victory for us too you know? no more sticky notes all over the house to pick up, no more stress head by the minute schedule to navigate, no more late nights helping you revise-" dean tugged you into a hug and ruffled your hair having come along in support.

"excuse me you didn't do any of that mate, that was all me!" steph scoffed punching him in the arm and pulling you into a hug as dean grabbed your flowers for you so they wouldn't be squished. "so so so proud of you peanut." you couldn't help but smile despite the nickname you detested.

"i appreciate all the support, really." you mumbled into her shoulder before you broke apart, starting the walk back to the car. "i don't know how you do it, just reading your planner gives me a headache." dean whistled as he fished out the keys.

"breathing and walking at the same time gives you a headache." you grinned, ducking behind your sister as he swung at you playfully and slipped into the drivers seat.

"oh yes!" you exhaled happily seeing the bagged up food waiting for you on the backseat as you closed your door. "all your favourites." steph chuckled as you eagerly pulled out the first box and a fork, the three of you chattering as dean drove out of camden and back toward st albans.

"does this mean we can have a celebratory bonfire and burn all your books?" dean grinned wolfishly as you parked in the driveway. "no you meat head i still have a year of study left to do after this." you laughed as steph rolled her eyes.

"and we don't burn books!" she shoved her fiance who held his hands up in defence. "and when exactly was the last time you even opened let alone read a book, stephanie?" dean challenged, sprinting off toward the front door as steph raced after him and you shook your head with a smile.

balancing your bag, flowers and leftover food in hand you made your way up after them, almost stacking it up the stairs as you caught your footing and exhaled, stepping inside.

rounding the corner you were met with an almighty cheer and this time you did fall to the floor, landing on your ass with a wince as your face burnt bright red and lia hurried to help you up.

"what the hell?" you grinned in surprise seeing nearly the entire team packed into the living room, half sitting on top of one another as streamers and balloons decorated the walls.

"we all wanted to celebrate you and your achievements." steph smiled, taking your food and flowers for you. "i haven't graduated yet!" you laughed as music switched on and you made your way around the room greeting all the girls.

"i'm just gonna chuck my stuff in my room." you notified steph who nodded and fell back into conversation with some of the others. no sooner had you shut your door did a foot kick it back open as a body slid in behind you and it closed with a soft click.

"hello lover!" the midfielder grinned wofishly and you laughed as she tackled you down onto your bed, attacking every inch of your face with soft kisses. "ky!" you managed to get out, your stomach starting to hurt from laughing as she hovered over you.

"did anyone see you come in here?" "nah i was super stealthy, im like a spy babe."

"i am also very very very proud of you, and now you're free!" your girlfriend cheered and you jolted as she pulled a party popper from her back pocket and let it off with a bang, streamers raining down on top of the pair of you.

"well for five weeks." "hey don't spoil this for me!" "oh for you? so sorry baby, how selfish of me." "exactly! horridly mean girl you are, very hot though so it balances out i guess."

"shut up and let someone else have the last word for once would you?" you smiled grabbing her shirt in your hand and tugging her mouth down to properly meet with yours.

"i missed you so much." kyra mumbled out as your hands tangled in her hair and she shifted, laying down beside you as her hands moved to the small of your back pulling your body flush into hers.

"its been three days!" you chuckled in between kisses. "i know! nearly killed me." she retorted, sending you a cheeky grin before pressing her lips back to your own, the two of you making up for lost time.

"we should really get ba-" but your words fell short as your girlfriend took your bottom lip between her teeth, dragging it down teasingly before pressing your mouths together again in a feverish kiss.

in reflection, kyra really really wished she let you finish your sentence.

"hey peanut we're ordering pizza what do you-" your door swung open as you pushed yourself away from kyra but it was much to late as stephs eyes widened and caitlin peeked over her shoulder with a grimace.

"steffy-" you started as you and kyra sat up, caitlin motioning to your shirt from behind your sisters back as your eyes glanced down and you hurriedly pulled it back down where it had ridden up, kyra doing her best to smooth out her hair from where your hands had been tangled through it.

"kyra go to the living room please." her words were deathly calm and that almost made it worse, your girlfriend looking at you then back to your sister whose eyes burned a hole in your head.

"go, its fine." you whispered, squeezing her hand as she nodded, still looking unsure as she stood. kyra hesitated as she tried to move past steph who adjusted her stance to block the doorway, looking the younger girl up and down wordlessly before moving out of the way as kyra scurried off.

"steph look i can-" you started quietly, stopping in your tracks at the look sent your direction. "hey maybe leave it for now, the whole teams here steph." caitlin stepped in, grabbing your sisters wrist who glanced between the two of you.

"you knew already, didn't you." she directed the words toward caitlin though never broke her hard stare toward you as caitlin sighed, the lack of answer the only answer steph needed.

"we'll talk about this once everyones left, get out of your room." and with that she was gone, striding off back down the hallway.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

part 3?

[sketchedatrocities]

A Good RomHack? Wow!

You're gay, you're trans, you're looking for a new pokemon Romhack to play becuase that's what you do. (I am an ally)

You're uninterested in the swaths of bland designs of fexdex people make. All the design scope in the world and they make Eevee but with shinpads and call them a starter.

You shake your (gay/trans) head. (As an ally I also know cis women play pokemon, just thought I'd mention.)

Suddenly I grasp your head (respectfully) and point it at this Romhack! "IT'S GOT GREAT DESIGNS, UNIQUE AND PLAYFUL WITH DELIGHTFUL SPRITE WORK!" I scream into your face and ears.

You try and claw me off but I'm quick and limber. "THEY EVEN HAVE NEW TRAINER SPRITES AND PROGRAMMED PYHCIAL SPECIAL SPLIT INTO CRYSTAL!"

You hit me with the holy water and I skitter, spider like out the window, but you hear me from outside. "I'M VERY PICKY, BUT ENJOYED MYSLEF GREATLY. AS A CHARACTER DESIGN SNOB I RECCOMEND IT HEARTILY!" You ready the gun but I'm gone. Wearily you ready your emulator.

[hedghost]

alessia russo | white lies

five secrets alessia could keep (and one she just couldn’t)

first-time post from a long-time lurker. i absolutely did not intend it to be this long, so i apologise, but i wanted to do the idea justice! feel free to give me thoughts or requests :)

word count: 6.6k

one

famously, alessia could have her blonde moments. the occasional blank stare when she missed the tail end of a question, a furrowed brow as the punchline of a joke flew over her head.

honestly it didn’t bother her; so what if people thought she was slow? she knew her own intelligence. certainly, on the pitch, it was evident that she wasn’t stupid. she could be funny, she knew things, she spoke well, and she always made sure to think before she spoke. although that was less about seeming measured, and more because, if there was one thing alessia did know, it was the value of a secret.

after a few years in the spotlight, alessia had learned the hard way that there were certain things that were just better left under wraps. some things the media or the fans shouldn’t know, and some things best kept between friends. she kept a long mental list of secrets for different people, collecting them, and keeping them clutched to her chest. alessia took a small pride in knowing she was the one people went to, the one person they could trust with their darkest secrets.

alessia mused over her list as she drove to the stadium before the next match. mentally laying each secret out in front of her like a prized collection, dusting them off, and storing them back inside. the first she knew would be brought up again today, knew it would take her usual efforts to make sure it remained a secret.

walking into the changing room, alessia only narrowly dodged a flying shinpad that went clattering into the doorframe. alessia’s quick reactions only really served to cause her to lose her footing, just to be caught by your steady hands.

“oops, sorry less! i was aiming for tooney,” you smiled sheepishly, your hands still firm around her waist. alessia swallowed.

“idiots,” she laughed. you let go and stalked over to grab the wayward shinpad. this time, your throw found it’s mark, hitting ella squarely in the forehead and causing the changing room to erupt into laughter.

this was no real deviation from the team’s usual pregame ritual. typically, you and ella, ever the jokers, would engage in some play-fight of slapstick-esque proportions, entertaining the team while they all got ready. this of course meant you two then had to scramble to get changed as the rest of the girls walked out onto the pitch. alessia, who was never really found without at least one of her two best friends, would wait behind with you as you tied your boots.

you always had a lot of nervous energy before games, and ella’s constant faffing and time wasting as she collected her boots, tied her hair up for the billionth time, checked her mascara etc., would, without fail, mean you’d end up leaving the two of them behind, only for them to jog out and join you with seconds. this was the ritual, and alessia liked it.

“fucking hell, ella stop fannying about!” you whined.

ella, as always, was the last to put her boots on. she was combing back flyaways in the mirror, in just her socks. you and alessia watched on, fully kitted out by now. alessia leant back against the door and smiled as she watched you try to hurry ella on. she'd been through this many times before.

alessia knew the routine. she knew you would leave in a second, and she knew ella would stop dithering immediately after you did. and then, as always, she would tie ella’s bootlaces for her, and they would catch you up.

this was the big secret. alessia, to be honest, didn’t see the big deal, but ella was insistent that no one could ever find out, not even you. and as silly as alessia thought it was, and as much as she hated not telling you things, this was her duty as secret keeper and she did it diligently.

it had started years ago, long before you had arrived and turned the duo into a trio. ella had been in a state before an away match, refusing to tell anyone what had her fretting so much. alessia had taken her to the side, and it had slipped out; she didn’t know how to tie her own laces. her dad had always been at games, always tied them tight as a last good luck measure. in a flash, alessia had knelt at ella’s feet, tying the boots without saying a word. then she’d taken ella’s hand, and pretended not to see her swipe at tears as they walked onto the pitch together.

ella had found her before the next game, shyly asking her to repeat the action. alessia had done it without question, and just like that, it became their thing.

alessia had tried, of course, countless times to teach ella how to do it herself, but she suspected at some point it had become more superstition that anything. alessia had tied ella's boots once, and she’d played well, so now alessia would tie her boots forever. even now that many players preferred to play with laceless boots, ella never wavered. she said she just preferred the look, but alessia (and only alessia) knew the truth.

alessia watched on as you got increasingly impatient with ella. she smirked as you rolled your eyes once again.

"come on ella, if we leave now you might be in time for the second half,"

alessia had to bite her lip to keep from laughing. you were cute when you were frustrated. ella ignored you, still checking her reflection in the mirror, completely unfazed.

as annoying as ella was being, you felt bad that alessia was always the one to stay and deal with ella's antics. you were determined to remain, if only to give alessia moral support. little did you know that meant it was you who was holding up proceedings.

alessia, however, had been through this many times before and was practiced in the art of secret-keeping, and therefore distraction. she had a few tactics up her sleeve yet.

she looked over to where you leant against the doorframe, and flashed you her sweetest smile.

"y/n? i think i left my gatorade in the shower room, could you go grab it for me?"

as always, those eyes made you putty in her hands, and you pushed yourself off from the wall to go and look. as soon as you turned your back, alessia was knelt at ella's feet, her nimble fingers moving with practiced ease as they followed the path they'd traced countless times before. she was standing again by the time you returned.

"there's no gatorade in there less, are you sure its not in here?"

she flashed you a sheepish smile, putting on her best ditzy blonde impression, "oops, its right here! sorry y/n,"

you shrugged in response. before you could tell her not to worry, ella cut you off. she had moved to walk out the door, yelling over her shoulder as she did so,

"come on, what are you waiting for?"

you watched after her in exasperated incredulity as she exited the room. alessia laughed brightly at your expression, slinging her arm around your shoulder and dragging you out to the field with her. ella's secret was safe for another day.

two

you and alessia settled in next to each other as you took your seats on the plane for the lionesses' next away game. the two of you had been thick as thieves for years, and you couldn’t deny that the thought of having alessia nearby had been a deciding factor in your recent transfer move. still, you treasured each quiet moment you spent in each other's company, as you had for years.

you and alessia hadn’t always been close. you’d known each other through the youth age groups of course, but your relationship only really went from acquaintances to close friends around the age of sixteen. sure, you loved your teammates and got on well with all of them, but you were a fairly shy teenager, keeping them at all at arms length, and often finding yourself only hanging around the edge of conversations.

alessia was a nostalgic person, and liked to reminisce often about the circumstances that had led to your close relationship.

when you were younger, seeing as how you typically kept to yourself, it was usually easy for you to sink into the background. although sometimes this was a point of insecurity, you relished the chance for solitude whenever it came to flights. you’d always been a particularly anxious flyer, and you appreciated that you could usually nab a seat at the back to yourself, allowing you to hide your panic.

usually you got away with it. usually, you could find a pair of seats to yourself, deal with the panic quietly and alone, saving yourself from embarrassment.

of course, at some point, your luck ran out.

“hey! mind if i sit here?” came a familiar voice. you looked up in surprise, but you knew whose bright blue eyes would be looking down at you well before your gaze found them. alessia gave you little time to respond before settling herself into the seat next to you with a sweet smile. you had no time to concoct some lame excuse. you could only nod, and accept your fate.

of course it was her. of course, out of anyone, it was the person who would be the sweetest about it, the most understanding. how embarrassing.

alessia didn’t seem to notice your internal panic, instead sweeping you up immediately into conversation. and for a while, it worked to distract you. you barely noticed take off, didn’t even flinch as your stomach dropped and ears popped, too enraptured in alessia’s bright conversation.

that is, until the first bout of turbulence. the plane rocked, and you stopped mid-sentence. mentally gathering yourself, you tried to calm down, managing to carry on as though nothing had happened. alessia didn’t seem to notice your plight. you’d got away with it. then the plane dropped again.

this time, alessia was quick to notice the way your breath caught, the way your arms held tight to the arm rests, the white knuckle grip you had on them. you vaguely heard her say something, but you couldn’t focus on her voice enough to comprehend. all you could do was try to regulate your breathing, stave off the panic long enough to preserve your dignity.

a gentle touch on your arm brought you back to reality, “y/n? are you okay?”

you tried to speak, to respond, but you couldn’t muster the words. you shut your eyes tight, trying to turn away from alessia.

“hey, hey,” she soothed, her hand over yours, “it’s okay, we’re safe, everything’s okay,”

you wanted to pretend it was all fine, but you were too far gone. you buried your head in your hands, tried to focus on alessia whispering to you to ‘breathe, just breathe’.

you don’t know how long you sat like that, her guiding you through blind panic with soft touches and gentle words. at some point, your hand found hers, and you clutched it like a lifeline as the plane rode out its last bits of turbulence.

eventually, your breathing returned to relative normal. you hesitated to look up and meet alessia’s eyes, instead burning holes into your clasped hands. you noted her perfectly done manicure, how the light caught each painted nail, how the soft skin of her fingertips felt caressing your calloused palms.

“you okay y/n?”

finally you tore your gaze away from her hands, only to be met with her eyes. you’d never noticed how strikingly blue they were. you nodded, swallowing harshly. you were sure she’d be able to feel your pulse rising in your joined hands, praying she’d chalk it up to your panicked episode, not something completely different.

“not a big fan of flying then?” she prompted.

“no, not exactly,” you laughed, mouth dry. as much as you hated to admit it, alessia’s presence had definitely calmed you. you were barely conscious of the fact you were still thousands of feet in the air.

“that’s okay, i’ll distract you,” you hoped you weren’t blushing . if only she knew, you thought, but alessia had already plowed on, chatting about god knows what to distract you.

she kept it up until you landed. as she stood up to exit the plane, she squeezed your hand and offered a small smile. she went to pull away, but you pulled her hand back,

“could you please not tell anyone about this?”

“course not,” she smiled “our secret.”

then she’d strolled off the plane as though she hadn’t just changed the course of your life.

from then on, alessia always managed to slip away from her other friends and wind up in the seat next to you. it had become a steady constant in your routines. you'd never had a bad flight since, and true to her word, alessia had never told a soul.

three

the perks of england camps were numerous. from the training, to the facilities, the matches, even the food, alessia enjoyed it all. arguably the best thing of all though, was the ample opportunities for downtime with the team.

alessia was nestled in between you and maya on a sofa, only half listening to leah and keira regale some embarrassing tale about georgia, involving a bad date and what sounded like a lot of alcohol. georgia was burying her head in her hands as the rest of the team dissolved into fits of giggles at the story. alessia laughed along, dropping her head to your shoulder as the conversation moved onto other player's poor tastes in partners and shitty date experiences.

"okay wait! lets all go around the circle and say our most embarrassing crushes!" alessia felt your shoulder stiffen underneath her at beth's suggestion, and she knew exactly why.

alessia herself had only found out by accident, stumbling in on you crying out the aftermath in the bathroom. she'd held you as you calmed down, before you made her swear not tell anyone.

the night had started out well enough. you both were at an 18th birthday party for one of your england teammates. you'd joked around with all the other girls, dancing and singing, and drinking probably a little too much. the alcohol would end up being a bad idea, especially for you.

the girl who's birthday it was had an older sister in her early twenties. aged 17 and a bit, you were absolutely infatuated with her. you'd met her a few times before at games and training, she was cool and collected, and you were obsessed. the fact she would be in attendance at the party had definitely been a factor in your outfit choices, and probably in the amount of alcohol you had downed with alessia and ella at pres.

the whole night long, you were hyper aware of her presence in the room. too shy to ever make a move, you stuck to longing glances and daydreamed fantasies.

your downfall was soon to come though, when one of the older girls suggested an innocent game of spin the bottle. most of you were well past tipsy at this point, and so you all agreed readily. you laughed as your teammates kissed each other one by one; the messy, inexperienced kind of kisses only drunk teenagers could perfect. soon enough it was your friend's sister's turn, and you couldn't help the prayers you mentally uttered.

you would decide later that whoever answered those prayers had a sick sense of humour. the bottle landed on you. you leant forward, trying to contain your excitement. it was only a peck, but to you it was fate and poetry rolled into one. the game continued on, but all you could think about was the feel of her lips against yours. soon, the game faded into non-existence, as people began to get distracted and get up to refill drinks or amuse themselves elsewhere. you saw your crush slip out into the garden, and instilled with misplaced confidence from the peck, you saw your opening.

stepping into the cool air, you were relieved to see she was alone. you approached, placing a shaking hand onto her arm.

"oh hey-" you cut her off, pressing your lips against hers. it barely lasted a moment, before she pushed you off, nothing short of disgust on her face.

"woah there! i'm not a fucking lesbian!" she turned on her heel and stalked back inside, only stopping to utter one last crushing remark, "and i don't kiss kids!"

to your teenage self, it was an earth-shattering rejection. you managed to make it to an empty bathroom before you broke down. your ears rang with her comments as your cursed your own stupidity. in your rush to be alone, you'd forgotten to lock the door, and you jumped when gentle hands wrapped you up into a hug.

alessia had been watching you all night. she'd seen the glances you cast over at your friend's sister, before she lost sight of you after the ill-fated game. that was until she saw you duck into a bathroom, cheeks red and head bowed. she'd followed in a heartbeat.

alessia's heart ached for you as you sobbed into her shoulder. the sting of rejection had worn off, leaving space only for pure embarrassment.

"i'm such a fucking idiot," you mumbled into her shoulder when the tears had stopped.

alessia pressed her lips to your hair, "no you aren't, don't be silly," she knew the pain of unrequited crushes all too well. she knew the way they consumed you, blinded you to sense. "shh, it'll be okay," she murmured, "don't cry, its okay,"

"oh god, i bet she's already told everyone how weird and gross i am. i can never show my face again,"

alessia laughed at your dramatics, "shall we go home?" she said, and you nodded wearily, "let's go,"

as it turned out, the girl hadn't told anyone, and you'd been in the clear. the secret stayed between you and alessia, the single witness to your most embarrassing night.

alessia knew you didn't want anyone to know about that, even now, six years later. she also knew you well enough to know that instead of coming up with an alternate answer to beth's question, you were likely frozen, reliving your embarrassment. she had to think fast to preserve your secret. everyone laughed as rach shamelessly announced her childhood crush on some celebrity she'd never heard of, and then everyone turned to you expectantly. alessia cleared her throat.

"pretty sure y/n used to fancy that woman off countdown," she lied, and the room erupted into laughter once again. thankful for lessi's quick save, you groaned and buried your head in your hands, going along with her white lie. crisis averted. alessia carried on, giving her own fake answer about a boy from school. a practiced lie. once the group's attention had passed on from the two of you, she felt you grab her hand. you squeezed her fingers in thanks, and she squeezed back. she was getting good at this lying business. anything for you, and your secrets.

four

alessia was widely regarded as an excellent friend; someone who could be depended on, completely and utterly trusted without question. alessia knew this, and held such compliments with high regard. she had long ago cemented her place as someone to be trusted within her circle, and therefore concentrated her efforts in keeping that reputation. she knew her friends just thought she was a good secret keeper because it was in her nature, that she was just a good person through and through.

alessia herself knew however, that the reason she placed such strong value on other people’s secrets was because she had been keeping one of her own for far, far longer than she had kept any of theirs.

it had first become apparent as a teenager. as she listened to her friends fawn over their latest male obsession, or regale their recent kisses with boys at parties, or debate who the hottest boy in class was. she tried her best to engage, to get involved, but with every boy who came close to kissing her, she was finding it harder and harder to force interest. eventually, she came to realise the way she felt about certain teammates, the way she'd avert her eyes in the changing room, the way her gaze followed pretty girls in the hallway, wasn't the norm. the realisation had hit her like a truck. alessia russo was gay, and she had no clue what to do about it.

she kept the feelings buried for a while. she faked attachments to boys, tried kissing a few just to throw her friends off the scent, before eventually she stopped bothering. she said she was too busy with football to date, and that remained her excuse. that didn't stop her falling head over heels for multiple girls over the years, didn't stop her heart fluttering whenever certain people looked her way. a certain someone.

eventually, especially playing women's football, a lot of her friends started to come out. alessia knew she could've done the same, knew she'd be met with no judgement, but it was as though there was a mental block stopping her. as outgoing as she was, she didn't enjoy opening herself up. and so, never one to wear her heart on her sleeve, she guarded the secret closely. months turned into years, and it became just something she did. she was too far gone to announce it now.

she knew she'd tell people at some point in her life, but why bother when there was no girl on her arm to show off?

and it wasn't like she hadn't come close. especially to you, who had been open about your sexuality for years. alessia couldn't count how many times she'd opened her mouth to tell you, only for the words to catch in her throat. it was almost as though she'd left it too late now, built it up in her head, and the moment just never seemed right.

she'd been with girls before of course. in dark corners at clubs where no one would see, fumbled kisses with strangers in bathrooms. but never anything deep, never the connection she ached for.

alessia listened as you complained to her about your recent date with the latest girl. 'a complete dead end', you described it, 'like talking to a brick wall,' you laid your head across her lap and shut your eyes.

"god, i wish the girls i dated were more like you less. then i'd actually have something to talk about with them," alessia swallowed, her fingers working their way through your hair. god, if only you knew.

five

being gay wasn't the only secret alessia held close to her chest. there was another, far worse, far more guarded. the secret that kept her awake at night, that spiked guilt deep in her stomach whenever you smiled at her. painful memories of that fateful night, which she wished more than anything you would remember.

it happened at the celebration party last summer. the lionesses had been victorious at the euros, and euphoria was running rampant amongst the whole team. everywhere you looked, people were drunk off elation. the drinks had started flowing in the changing rooms, and they had kept coming ever since.

the constant flow of people meant you and alessia had only spent passing moments together. every time you seemed to find each other in the crowd, someone new would turn up and pull one of you away, with ecstatic congratulations, or the promise of a drink.

in a brief break from dancing, alessia found herself sat at the bar with ella and a few others. she sipped her drink as the others chatted excitedly. recently, she'd been finding that her eyes sought you out unconsciously. more and more, she'd been realising that wherever you were in a room, she'd notice. tonight was no different. her gaze finally landed on you, carefree and dancing amongst a crowd of people.

usually, she had the sense to not stare for too long, but with her inhibitions hindered by the drinks, and her mood high off the back of the win, she allowed herself a moment of grace. the soft smile that crept onto her face as she looked longingly after you was unbidden, but she didn't care to look away. alessia was sure that if anyone followed her eyeline she'd be found out, but everyone was too wrapped up in their own elation to bother.

across the crowd, your eyes met hers. you grinned widely, before freeing yourself from the crowd just long enough to grab her hand and pull her onto the dance floor. emboldened by the alcohol, she let herself dance a little closer than she usually would, let the touches linger a little longer.

neither of you knew how long you danced, just riding the wave of the win for as long you could. alessia could tell you were equally as drunk as she was, if not more. eventually, you leaned closer to be heard over the music,

"come with me to get some air?" alessia could only nod, hyper aware of your breath on her cheek. she let herself be led away by you, into the cool summer air.

you all but collapsed onto a bench, laughing as you clumsily pulled alessia down with you. you leant into alessia, her arm finding its familiar place around your shoulders as you let the comfortable silence descend. it was the early hours of the morning by now. alessia could hear the thump of music and shouts of people from inside, but out here, you were completely alone. despite her lack of sobriety, she was hyper aware of the way your body felt against hers.

"what a night hey," you laughed, and she nodded. "we fucking did it less!"

"champions of europe baby!" you yelled into the night, making alessia laugh and slap your arm.

you smiled, leaning back into alessia, "proud of you lessi" you whispered. when she didn't respond, you shifted to look at her.

"i'm serious less. i'm so proud of you. proud of us."

alessia couldn't find the words to respond. she could only think about how close your face was to hers. you smiled softly, and she smiled back. her eyes never left yours. you seemed to be breathing in sync. it was now or never. the alcohol spurring her on, alessia began to speak,

"y/n, i-"

she was cut off by you leaning in to close the gap. her eyes fluttered shut as your lips grazed hers, and she melted into the kiss. you pulled back to assess her reaction, but alessia barely gave you a second to breathe before she kissed you again. alessia poured all the years of pining, every pent up emotion into that kiss, and you gave her everything and more back. her brain short-circuited as your hand went to caress her cheek, her own hands fumbling clumsily to wrap around your waist.

at some point, one of you broke away. you pressed your forehead to hers, "we should probably get back to the party," alessia nodded. she was caught in a haze of euphoria. she would've done anything you asked in that moment; would've chased you to the moon and back. you smiled, before pressing your lips to her forehead and pulling her to her feet.

alessia would've liked to stay attached to your hip all night, but as soon as you re-entered the party you were both swept away by your respective friends, and she was left staring after you. the rest of the night was a blur, but alessia had truly never been happier.

alessia woke the next morning to the memory of your lips against hers. her head pounded with the hangover as she dragged herself out of bed and over to your room next door. it was customary for the two of you to end up in each others rooms after a heavy night to discuss the events and ride out the hangover together, but today, her heart pounded as she knocked on your door. she wasn't sure what the events of last night meant for your friendship, but she was running through various speeches and declarations as she waited.

eventually you cracked the door open, peering out at alessia with bleary eyes. "morning," you whispered with a smile, opening the door fully for alessia before collapsing back into your bed.

alessia followed you in, mouth dry and heart pounding as she perched next to you on the bed. she decided to let you take the lead with the conversation, though she ached to bring up the kiss.

"god, what even happened last night," you moaned from the covers, "i don't remember a thing,"

alessia's heart dropped to her stomach. "you don't remember anything?" she asked. you looked up at her curiously.

"i mean, i remember dancing, and then, literally nothing," your eyes widened, "oh god, did i do something embarrassing? lessi, please say i didn't."

alessia forced a smile onto her face, forced herself to push down the emotions coursing through her veins, "no, you didn't do anything," she forced herself to settle further into your bed.

"nothing at all,"

plus one she couldn't

after the euros, and the ensuing heartache, alessia had tried to distance herself from you. she'd lasted all of a week of subdued contact before you'd pulled her back in again. she couldn't resist you or your company, utterly powerless to do anything but come running back to your side like a lost puppy. you didn't even have time to notice something was up.

and so alessia settled back into your orbit, and tried unsuccessfully to get over you. despite how you'd acted that night, you once again gave her no indication of seeing her as anything more than a best friend, and so she tried her best to see you the same. she longed to bring up the kiss, to do anything to remind you, but your clear lack of memory told her that it hadn't meant anything to you.

playing together for club and country, you spent nearly all your days together. alessia spent each of those days in silent turmoil. her heart would pound with each innocent touch, her brain would malfunction every time you flashed her a smile. only at night, in the quiet of her room, would she allow herself to feel. she'd stare at the ceiling into the early hours of the morning, replaying each encounter, eyes glistening with unshed tears. she envied you for not remembering the kiss. god how she wished she could forget it. it replayed behind her eyelids every time she blinked: she felt the brush of your lips against hers every time she glanced down at your mouth as you spoke.

since it became apparent that it couldn't have meant anything to you, she'd done her best to get over you. but now that she'd experienced it, she could never go back. her love for you had swelled to the point of utter consumption, and she couldn't even begin to remember what it felt like to see you only as a friend.

being as experienced in the art of secret keeping as she was, she'd managed to keep you in the dark, but it was getting harder and harder to act like everything was okay. whilst you remained clueless to her plight, other people were starting to notice.

alessia was finally caught out after a particularly bad day. training had been rough, the weather was awful, and the stress and emotion of it all was starting to become too much for her. her heart ached for you every time you laughed. every time you called her name it was like a stab to the chest. she winced as she felt the beginnings of a headache, desperate to leave the training ground and crawl into bed as soon as she could.

noticing something was wrong, you'd rubbed her back and pulled her in for a hug.

"you okay less? headache?" you'd murmured, trying to meet her eyes. normally she revelled in how well you could read her, but right now, she hated it. she could only nod in response. you reached a gentle hand up to touch her forehead, "are you coming down with something?"

alessia wanted so badly to relax into your familiar embrace and sink into the comfort she craved, but she pulled away, ignoring your question and mumbling a lame excuse about getting home, before speeding to her car.

hearing someone chase after her, she steeled herself to face you again. instead, when she turned, she was met with ella.

"lessi, what's wrong?"

"nothing, ella, it's just been a long day," she sighed. she turned to get into her car, but ella blocked her path.

"don't bullshit me lessi, i know you. you think i haven't noticed how weird you've been acting lately?"

the confrontation was too much. alessia could feel tears begin to prick at the corner of her eyes, and she knew there was no escaping it.

"not here," she mumbled, opening the car door and motioning ella to get into the other side. she barely gave ella time to sit down before she drove off, only making it to the end of the road before the tears started flowing. she pulled over and buried her head in her hands.

ella didn't seem to know what to do, clearly she hadn't expected alessia to do this. her shock was only momentary though, and her hand reached out to stroke alessia's back.

"hey, hey, its okay, less, its okay. talk to me,"

alessia could only shake her head against her hands.

"i can't do this anymore ella, i just can't,"

ella just rubbed her arm, clueless to what she was talking about. in ella's presence, she let her facade fall apart a little.

"it's so stupid, i'm so stupid."

"is this about y/n?"

alessia whipped her head up to look at ella, who smiled wryly.

"you aren't very good at hiding it less,"

"fuck, i just-" she pressed her head into her hands again. "it's so embarrassing. i just don't know what to do. i can't keep doing this, it just- it hurts,"

"i think you need to tell her,"

"that's the worst possible solution to this ella,"

ella smiled again and raised an eyebrow, "i wouldn't be so sure,"

"you're an idiot, and your advice is awful," alessia muttered. she breathed deeply, collecting herself, before starting the car again, "i'm dropping you home, and we're forgetting this conversation ever happened,"

"whatever you say, less," said ella, smirking as she leant back in her seat, "whatever you say,"

despite her best efforts, the conversation with ella stuck in alessia's mind all week. even you were starting to notice how distracted she was being, and you brought it up one night, as you lay sprawled in your usual position on her sofa.

"have you been avoiding me lessi?" you joked, but alessia caught the flash of doubt in your eyes. she mentally cursed herself, once for not hiding it well enough, and then again for making you feel guilty about it. she decided she could only attempt to laugh it off.

"what are you talking about? we've literally been together all day."

"no, yeah i know, but you just seem, i don't know, distracted? closed off," alessia felt your head turn to look up at her, but she kept her own gaze firmly planted on the tv screen.

"i'm fine. just tired. its been a long week," she knew as soon as she said it that you'd see right through the flimsy excuses.

"well okay, but, you know you can always talk to me, yeah? if there was something bothering you?" your voice trailed off. alessia swallowed harshly. when she spoke, her voice was barely a whisper.

"i can't,"

at this, your full attention was on her, the tv long forgotten. alessia felt sick at her own barely there confession.

"lessi, come on. you can tell me anything. i'm your best friend,"

that was the last straw. best friend, she reminded herself. any hope alessia still had of preserving her dignity flew out the window, and she had to press her lips together to keep from crumbling. you saw her falter, and you sat up in a heartbeat, your hands taking hers. alessia tried to pull away, but the grip you had on her was magnetic.

"y/n, i-" she bit her lip, shaking her head and looking away. if she spoke she'd say something she'd regret. the confession was on the tip of her tongue, just begging to be let out. alessia resolved herself, mentally replaced the confession with another white lie. but then she looked up, and her eyes met yours. god, those eyes. alessia was taken back to the night of the kiss, when she'd been enraptured in those same eyes; when she'd looked into them to find the brazen reflection of her own adoration.

it was all she could do to look away. she felt her mouth move, heard her own voice as though from a distance, speaking completely unbidden.

"i'm in love with you,"

they were the truest words she'd ever uttered, but god how she wished she could take them back. her brain raced with excuses, but she could only whisper disconnected thoughts and jumbled apologies. she regained just enough control over her words, but the damage was done.

"i know you don't feel the same - i'm sorry - i didn't want to make it weird - i'm sorry - please don't let this ruin us - i'm sorry."

alessia didn't dare look at you; your silence was indication enough. however, as always, alessia could never stay away from you for too long. as she braved one glance up, her words fell away from her.

you stared back at her, looking at her as though she'd hung the moon and all the stars.

"alessia," you whispered her name like a prayer on your tongue, "you have no idea how long i've wanted to hear you say that,"

years of pining, of heartache, of sleepless nights and longing glances, had not prepared alessia for this outcome. she stared at you, frozen in shock. all the fight, all the panic, had abandoned her, and she could only stare.

you leaned in, and she let herself fall into the kiss. she'd thought nothing could've been better than the first, but my god was she wrong. with one touch, you silenced all her doubts. you poured out the answer to every question she had. the two of you curled impossibly closer into each other, until alessia wasn't sure how you could've ever been separate.

you smiled against her lips, eyes blissfully remaining shut.

"why didn't you tell me sooner?"

alessia shrugged shyly, "it was a secret," you pulled away fully, eyes searching deep into hers.

"not anymore," you said, and alessia flashed a bright smile. your heart flipped at the sight.

"no," she murmured, "never again."

thanks for reading! hope you enjoyed :)

[ybcpatrick]

why isn't everyone on earth obsessed with kevin owens. why is society at large not falling at his silly little shinpadded feet. you should all be as fucking deranged as me and i'm tired of pretending that isn't the truth

[xlrugbysocks]

on the subs bench again, his attention wanders as he feels his sock and shinpad... originally posted by cumpletelyhappy

[l-e-e-woso]

30 with ona batlle pls❤

I Can't Help It - Ona Batlle

Italics = Spanish 

The reader has ADHD and the little things that Ona does to help the reader.

Prompt 30 - “How don’t you know the difference between left and right?”

______________________________

Sometimes you really wonder how Ona put up with you. You constantly left things all over your shared house whether it be hoodies, bottles of water or snacks, you would forget where you had put them and go get a new one.

You would space out a lot of the time while she could be talking to you about something quite serious which annoys Ona a bit but she understands that you can’t help it.

Sometimes you could drink an energy drink or a coffee which is supposed to make you wake up more but instead it makes you even more tired.

A lot of the time either just while talking to someone or just waiting in the line to go onto the field you would find yourself doing small random dances which a lot of the Man United team thought was actually quite cute.

Also there would be times where you are at home alone and you just get something in your head telling you to clean every room before Ona gets home with some of your teammates, you think to yourself like it’s a deadline to get it done before they get home but most of the time you can never get it done before they get back. Once the teammates and Ona do get back they usually help you finish off cleaning the house because they know how hard of a task it can be for you to do everything without forgetting at least three things.

Team bonding, whenever there were movie nights you would usually just play games on your phone because unless it’s a Marvel movie you could never get through the entire thing.

Another thing you hated was…paperwork. You always asked Ona to help you with any paperwork, you could never read the entire thing because after reading one sentence it would bore you and you would get distracted by something else like video games. 

Ona loved staying up to stupid o’clock in the morning with you because thats when you come out with the most random facts or jokes. Conversations at that time of night was one of the best things about your relationship.

In your time at Man United all your teammates realised that when training or in a match you would talk to yourself or sing to yourself which they found quite funny and adorable.

One thing that Ona also noticed that you didn’t until she pointed it out to you is that you couldn’t tell your left from your right. It got to a point where Ona had to tell the coaches because in certain parts of training the coaches would tell you to go left or right so they had to come up with something. 

Ultimately you just ended up writing L on your left hand and R on your right hand in sharpie so you would eventually be alright with you left and right. You did notice that you had to do it with most of your belongings that required to be on either your left or your right. You did it too, your football boots, shinpads, socks and gloves ect.

There were also times where you would get so hyper that you wouldn’t know what to do with yourself so you would find someone on the team to chase or get them to chase you to wear you out. Which would end up with you falling asleep in Ona’s lap which she loved because she thought that you looked the most peaceful and beautiful when you were sleeping.

But unfortunately there were downsides to ADHD which is the part that only Ona see when the both of you are at your shared house.

There’s things that could happen at random times of the day, which could include crying, lashing out like breaking a vase or punching a hole in the wall and taking things way too personally.

The medication that you took for your ADHD also had a few side effects like; dry mouth, headaches, loss of appetite, weight loss, trouble sleeping, stomach aches, nausea, vomiting, aggression, drowsiness and mood swings.

______________________________

Today was just a normal day at training with Man United and already you had forgotten to bring your training hoodie with you so you kept complaining about how cold it was until a hoodie was thrown in your face. 

You quickly put on as you were freezing and looked up to see Ona looking at you in amusement, you send her a cheeky smile before running off after Millie Turner. 

When you and Millie were around each other everyone in the team just expected something to happen. 

What you didn’t expect to happen was when Millie suddenly stopped running and bent down to tie her laces that had come undone somehow. You hadn’t seen that she had stopped which made you basically somersault over her landing on your back as you looked up at the sky in shock.

All you could hear was gasps from the rest of the team and suddenly Ona’s face appeared above you. “Are you okay?” Ona says as she looks at your body to check if you have been injured in any way shape or form. 

“That was fucking awesome! Can we do it again?!” You shout excitedly as you sit up from your position on the ground. This caused Ona to chuckle and playfully slap the back of your head. “No you are not doing that again! My god are you trying to get yourself hurt?! You are insane. Are you trying to get injured before the game in two days?! You are…are…impossible! ” Ona starts speaking to you in Spanish which you cannot speak at all.

“Ona, babe, you're rambling in Spanish again.” You say as you quickly give her a kiss before everyone goes back to practice.

______________________________

After a long day at training where you basically had no breaks in because you were so excited for dinner after practice with some of the Man Utd girls and some of the Man City girls as well.

You and Ona were heading back to your shared house to get ready for dinner. It was only about a 20 minute drive back to the house so you decided to get a quick nap in.

Eventually you get woken up by Ona so the both of you can go and get ready for dinner with Lucy Staniforth, Millie Turner, Leah Galton, Leila Ouahabi, Lauren Hemp and Chloe Kelly.

Both you and Ona quickly go into your shared house to get showered, dressed and then go.

Ona was in the bathroom showering as you quickly stripped off your clothes and joined her in the shower. As you get into the shower you wrap your arms around Ona’s waist and kiss her neck which causes her to let out a small moan as she leans her head backwards onto your shoulder. 

“Mi vida…” Ona lets out a breathy moan as you caress her body as her hand travels behind your head gripping onto your hair. 

“As much as I'd love to continue this, we have a dinner to get ready for.” You say which makes Ona whine in frustration, she pulls you down toward her and goes to kiss you before pulling away to walk out of the shower. “Don’t tease me again.” Ona says as she glares at you through the mirror and dries herself off with a towel which makes you gulp nervously, you hated being on Ona’s badside.

After turning off the shower you get out and wrap a towel around yourself as you dry your hair with another. Ona walks past you, completely naked, you can’t help but watch her walk out of the bathroom while you basically drool over your girlfriend. 

“I really gotta put a ring on her finger…don’t I?” You mutter to yourself as you dry yourself off before following after Ona so you can get dressed. 

When you enter the bedroom she is already fully dressed and is now drying her hair then you go over to the wardrobe, get the clothes you want to wear out and slip them on. 

You walk up to Ona and give her a huge hug where you bury your head in her neck which is something you only do when your thoughts start to overcrowd your mind. She hugs you back while running her hand through your hair to try to calm you down which helps massively. 

“You okay, mi vida?” Ona asks you once you’ve calmed down but she continues to hug you. “Yeah, my thoughts were just…uh…like loud and all over the place. It’s like when you overthink about a match but my mind is thinking about all the matches we have ever played all at the same time like a shouting volume.” You ramble on trying to explain to Ona what your mind was going through in a way that she could possibly understand. 

“Oh…wow. I’m sorry baby, that must be really overwhelming.” Ona says sympathetically as she rubs my back and leans up to give me a kiss. “Would you like to braid my hair? I know it helps you.” Ona asks you as she knew that playing with her hair made your mind settle down slightly.

 “Yes! I do!” You say excitedly as you pull her over to the bed to sit down so you can braid her hair, which you start straight away. 

“Babe did you know that the international space station is the biggest space station ever built but it can only fit up to six people at a time.” You say randomly blurting out a fact about space travel which was only one of many random facts that you knew as you got half way through brading Ona’s hair.

Before Ona could even reply to your first fact you blurt out another random fact. “Bulls aren’t actually affected by the colour red because they are colourblind.” You say as you finish off Ona’s braid and crawl around her then sit in her lap.

Ona looks at you like you are the most adorable thing in the world as she rests her hands on your lower back while tracing random patterns while you wrap your arms around her neck pulling her closer towards you which makes her look up at you with her beautiful brown eyes and you push a few stray hairs that you had missed out of her face. 

While holding her chin you lean down then place a slow sensual kiss on her lips which makes Ona smile into the kiss and she holds you as close as humanly possible. Then a phone rings which makes you both groan in displeasure and Ona reaches into your back pocket where your phone was ringing before answering it and putting it on speaker.

“Hello?” Ona says as she waits for whomever it is to reply to her. “You guys are late, hurry or we will start eating without you. Byeeeee!” Millie Turner shouts through the phone which snaps the both of you out of your lovey dovey situation.

This makes the both of you quickly get up and run around getting all of the stuff that you need. Once Ona has all the stuff she need she goes and waits in the car for you. 

“House keys? Gottem. Jacket? Got it. Walet? In the car. Phone? In my pocket. Done!” You shout thankful that you remembered everything and run out the house locking the door on the way out. 

“Amor, did you remember your chewing gum and water?” Ona says which makes you groan because you had forgotten something and you quickly turn around, run into the house to get the chewing gum and water. 

Once you had finally gotten everything you sat in the passenger's seat and popped a chewing gum in your mouth then gave one to Ona before she started driving to the restaurant. 

 ______________________________

After about 15 minutes you arrive at the restaurant, Ona parks the car and once she has you quickly runs over to her side of the car and opens the door for her which makes her blush. “Thank you, mi vida.” Ona says as she stands on her tippy toes and kisses your cheek before the both of you head into the restaurant where all the girls were waiting for the both of you. 

You and Ona reach the table where the rest of the girls were sat, they cheered because they could finally order food. “I was about to waste away!” Lucy says as she waves over the waiter so they could order food. 

“You were fucking weren’t you? Huh, Ona?” Leila speaks to Ona in Spanish and unfortunately none of the rest of us could understand what they were saying. “No we weren’t. Y/n was having a panic attack of sorts I suppose.” Ona says which makes Leila feel bad about teasing the both of you so she just goes back to telling Lauren what she wants from the menu because Leila wasn’t confident enough with her English to order for herself. 

When the waiter came over all of you ordered your drinks and food. As you were talking to Millie who was sitting across from you, you started drumming your fingers on the table which was quite annoying to the Man City girls who were used to your everyday antics but it’s not like you could help it, it was one of the things you did to stim. Ona took your hands in hers and let you play with the rings on her fingers as it wasn't as annoying to other people. 

“Does Y/n do that a lot?” Chloe asks Ona out of curiosity who turns to you so you can explain for yourself. “Yeah, I have ADHD so it helps.” You smile at her because she didn’t know that you couldn’t help it as you continued to play with Ona’s rings.

Just then the drinks arrived but they placed them all at the end of the table which is where you were sitting, Millie passed the majority of the drinks to people. “Could you pass me my drink? It’s the one furthest to your left.” Lauren says as she waits for her drink. 

“This one?” You say pointing to the one on your right and you look at Lauren who shakes her head. “On the other side.” Lauren says as she points to her drinks and you pass it to her.  “How don’t you know the difference between left and right?” Chloe says as she laughs which makes you frown so she immediately stops laughing. “Sorry…” She apologises to you quickly so you just nod thanks to her. 

 _______________Timeskip to when you get home_______________

Both you and Ona were dressed in your pyjamas cuddled up to one another. You had your head resting on her chest as she ran her hands through your hair and you had an arm wrapped around her waist.

“Thank you for putting up with me.” You mutter sleepily to Ona who just barely hears and she sighs. “Amor, I don’t put up with you. I love you which is why I like to look after you, make sure that you remember to get your water because you don’t like the water from restaurants or how you have to be chewing gum in the car or else you feel sick and one day we will do the same thing for the mini me and you that will be running around. You will be my wife one day so obviously I don’t just put up with yo-” Ona gets cut off by your loud snoring which makes her chuckle as she just said that all for no reason.

 ______________________________

Hope you liked this fic! Let me know if you want to be added to the taglist!

Taglist:  @sofakingwoso @dutch-gay86 @gt713 @mmmmokdok @xxforeverinadayxx  

[futbol16]

Red Sweat ・ Alexia Putellas

Word count: 1,8k

As you took your position in the tunnel, your heart was pounding against your chest and your nerves were overwhelming everything else you were feeling. You cracked your knuckles as you got ready, slightly jumping when a hand was placed on your shoulder. 

Turning around to see Lucy looking at you weirdly.

“Woah what’s up? You look nervous and you’re usually never nervous before a game” her hand has moved to massage your shoulders as a way to help you relax and you shook your head.

“I don’t know, I have a bad feeling about this game” you admitted as you looked over to the opposing team lining up next to you. Your eyes ran over the Real Madrid players before focusing back on Lucy who smiled at you reassuringly.

“It’s probably nothing, don’t worry, if anything they should be afraid of you” the two of you laughed before turning to the front, ready to walk out.

You took a deep breath allowing your game face to make itself present on your face, expression focused.

Walking out you glanced to the sidelines where Alexia stood and she sent you a nod. Though Alexia was currently out due to her injury, she loved her club too much to not be showing her support from the bench.

With the sound of the whistle all your nervousness from before seemed to evaporate and you were ready for the game ahead of you.

Real Madrid seemed to have it out for your team today as they sent Barca players to the ground one after the other, the legendary rivalry of the two teams only adding to the excitement of the crowd watching. Frustration was evident on your teammates faces as they’ve yet to have made any chances on goal. 

Running up the field you watched and waited for Ana Crnogorcevic to cross the ball to you or Patri, but instead she fell to the ground after one of the Real Madrid players shoved her. The whistle was blown and you were immediately near the referee after making sure that one of your other teammates was checking up on the girl. 

A few of the Real players were arguing with the referee about the situation and you were there to back up Ana, the Real player only receiving a warning.

Shaking your head as you were instructed to get back into position, you sent Ana a questioning thumbs up, nodding after receiving one back.

Barca seemed to have a plan ready as the first goal of the team was sent to the back of the goal by Aitana after a long ball from you. The two of you ran towards each other as you celebrated, a few of your other teammates following suit.

Walking back to your side of the field you were roughly shoulder checked by someone, glancing over your shoulder your eyes landed on the number 7 at the back of her jersey. You raised an eyebrow at the action, deciding to leave it at that.

As the halftime whistle was heard, you walked back to the locker room with the girls and listened to the coach about what he was expecting from the second half. Fixing your shinpads for what seemed to be the fifth time in the past minute, you looked up as a pair of cleats stopped right in front of you. Mapi offered her hand as she pulled you up and out of your seat, the both of you instinctively patting the other’s back as an encouragement.

Barca’s next chance at a goal was in the 62’ minute and you were about to fire the ball before feeling a pair of studs connect with your foot, sending you flying and into the turf. You barely took a second to get up as you walked up to the player and stared her down. She was smirking at you, but before you could hear anything she was saying Lucy had pulled you away from the scene. You were beyond furious at the violent and aggressive playing style the Real Madrid players were presenting and even the rest of your girls were close to their breaking points.

Looking over at your teammates, some of them wincing at certain movements, bruises already forming, you wiped at your face. Your eyes wandered further from the pitch and you made eye contact with your captain who held a determined face and you knew you had to give your all in this match.

The next time you got the ball you made it your mission to make a fool of the opposing team as you showed off your skills, faking left and right, nutmegging them and kicking the ball over their heads before sending a sharp pass Patri this time. Patri took her sweet time once she realized that most of the players were still surrounding you. She analyzed the goalkeeper’s movements before sending the ball into the top right corner of the goal and the fans screamed as Barca set their 2-0 score. 

It wasn’t long before all hell broke loose in the 78’ minute of the game, the Real Madrid players sending sloppy tackles and not so subtle shoves at you and your teammates. Clapping a few of the younger players on their backs to hype them up you were happy with the nods and smiles you received in return.

This time it was Mapi who managed to rid the ball off  Real player and she made a run for it, ready to send it into any space that was open before her. At the shout of her name she sends the ball towards you, you who had been making out your way between the players.

The ball was sent over your heads and you jumped to head it into the goal before falling limp on the ground. 

The fans cheered loudly but all the barca team could focus on was the way you slowly turned on your front, fists gripping the grass below you. The crowd watched as the goal was replayed on the big screen, a collective gasp leaving their lips as a Real player’s studs connected with the side of your head. 

Laying on the ground you could barely make out the voice of Mapi asking you to turn onto your backside. She gently turned you over and you tried to focus on her but the sweat dripping into your eyes was making it incredibly hard. Wiping at it you could now see the horrified look on Mapi’s face as she marched towards the Real Madrid player, Lucy taking her place next to you.

You heard your best friend shouting at the girl and you tried your best to make out the number on her shirt. 7, of course. 

Lucy sat you up slowly, seemingly rather calm in the situation though the worried look on her face was still hard to miss. The confused expression remained on your face until you looked down at your palm still covered in sweat. Red sweat, no, blood.

Your eyes widened at the sight, a member of the medical staff appearing out of nowhere and holding something against your head to stop the bleeding. You tried to get off the ground, momentarily meeting Alexia’s eyes, the older woman almost on the pitch as she waited for you to reach the sidelines.

Passing by Mapi who was still going at Olga, was being held back by some of your teammates and they turned her towards you. 

She immediately moved towards you and away from the crowd of players as she put an arm around your waist to help steady your other side as you were led off the pitch. She muttered something about you playing good and her getting her revenge on the other player, before she pressed a kiss to your cheek and handed you off to the medical staff.

“We need to take you to the medical room.” one of them informed you and you shook your head, though that didn’t seem to be the smartest idea as you felt your head spinning and stumbled into someone.

“No, I’m staying out here to watch my team play.” you argued with them and seeing you having a hard time keeping yourself up, they sat you down near the bench players, Alexia sitting next to you.

“Ale could you please hold her still, she won’t stop moving.” the medic rolled her eyes.

“Hey, I told you I wanted to see them play.”

“You see them play everyday at training.” Before you could open your mouth Alexia had taken hold of your face, hands firm on the side of your neck, thumbs resting on your cheekbones. 

You opened your legs wider, allowing her to stand between them and your hands instinctively gripped the back of her thighs, needing something to hold onto as the medic got the disinfectant ready.

You whined at the stinging of the alcohol and Alexia tried her hardest not to focus on your heavy breathing, the way your chest was rising up and down and instead willed herself to focus on the single trail of blood making its way down your face.

Your hands tightened on her legs at another swipe of whatever the medic was doing and your eyes darted all over Alexia’s face, trying to distract yourself from the pain and the dizziness. 

Alexia, who was hovering above you, tried and failed miserably to not blush under your heavy gaze and you raised an eyebrow at the action.

The medic next to you cleared their throat as they finished up their work and woke up the two of you from your trance.

For the last couple of minutes of the game you sat next to Alexia, both observing the game play and making comments here and there. As the whistle sounded in the stadium you all celebrated your win with your teammates. Some of them check up on you before screaming in your face about the victory over your rivals.

Later, in your hotel room you wait as your roommate makes her way out of the bathroom, flopping down next to you once she reaches your bed. Too tired to care about the fact that she had her own bed, you turned off the lamp next to your bed and turned back towards her.

Alexia reaches out as she gently places a piece of her behind your ear before moving her hand down and gently running her fingers over your jawline, your eyelids fluttering at the action.

“You scared me today” she whispers and you focus back on her eyes that you can make out with the lights of the busy street shining into your Hotel room.

“I'm sorry” you didn’t know what else to say, so instead you take one of her hands into your own and squeeze it gently.

Her heart flutters at the action and she moves closer to you, your noses almost touching. The soft look in her eyes has you melting and you see her glance down at your lips. Taking this as a hint, you slowly lift your head off the pillow, maintaining eye contact as you hear her breath hitch.

You lean in slowly, giving her time to back out of this, but she doesn’t, her hands reaching out to bring your face down to hers before capturing your lips in a tender kiss full of love.

You now understood the blush that adorned her cheeks earlier and you held her close to you that night, relishing in the feeling of Alexia being yours.

[reminiscingtonight]

Begin Again

Millie Turner x Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

[WOSO Masterlist]

You don’t know what you were expecting. When Millie approached you after practice the other day, face a little pink as she asked you out to coffee, you weren’t sure what to expect.

Manchester has been nice. After your last relationship crashed and burned catastrophically, it was only a miracle that your friends got you to agree to playing for a new team in the league. Originally set on the decision to leave the country and never come back, everyone took it as a win when you agreed to trade your Arsenal red for Manchester red, still managing to keep your allegiance to the reds alive despite the turmoil present in your personal life.

It took a lot of convincing for you to actually take Millie up on her coffee date. When you first arrived in Manchester, the blonde was one of the first people to welcome you. Obviously the two of you ran in the same circles. Both having been in and out of national camps all your lives, the two of you were definitely aware of the other, or at the very least faint acquaintances. But it isn’t until now, when the two of you are finally playing for the same club team for the first time that you become something akin to friends. Carpooling to practices turn into coffee shop excursions after the fact, days showing you around the city turn into late nights dinners at her place. Soon it’s rare to find one of you without the other somewhere close by. 

In all honesty, you should’ve seen the signs. Your last relationship started the same. You started as teammates, became the closests of friends, and then eventually lovers. After the brutal end to what was a beautiful friendship turned relationship, you didn’t know if you could handle ruining your friendship with Millie in the efforts of pursuing a relationship.

The first time she asked you out, you told her exactly that. It was after one of your joint dinners, Millie casually reaching for your hand as you strolled the streets, gently swinging your hands between the two of you. The whole night had been magical, fun really, but the thought had been nagging at the back of your mind all night. When you quietly asked her if this was a date, Millie simply turned pink and nervously admitted that she’s been trying to ask you out for the past couple of days. With a heavy heart you told her the truth.

“I think I could really like you. But I don’t know if I’m really ready to start dating yet. Or if I want to risk dating a friend again.”

The disappointment was obvious, but Millie simply gave you a polite nod and shrugged. “It was worth a shot.”

You thought that would be the end of it. That Millie wouldn’t want anything to do with you or your friendship after your rejection.

That couldn’t have been further from the truth.

Millie still showed up the next morning, laughing at your jokes as she drove you to practice. She still took you out after practices, hanging around all the haunts of the city, still kept a steady presence in your life. The soft looks still lingered, but Millie respected your decision. 

It didn’t take you long to start thinking you jumped the gun in protecting your heart.

It was after a game, when the two of you were cooking something in Millie’s kitchen that you brought it up. 

Millie simply blinked when you asked if she was still interested in going on a date. 

You had expected her to ask you out again right there. Instead, she gave you a sly grin and let you stew in it until the next day. She let you stew for the rest of the night, for the drive over to practice the next day, and during said practice. It isn’t until you’re tiredly pulling off your shinpads and changing back into your street clothes that Millie skips over, bashfully asking you out to coffee.

It’s the abrupt silence ringing in your ears that startles you back into the present. Lost in your thoughts, you didn’t even realize you had arrived at the cafe. Reaching up, you quickly pluck your airpods out, making sure to carefully tuck them away.

A quick peek at yourself through the window suddenly makes this all the more real for you. You’re going on a date. With the one and only Millie Turner. With a startling fact, you remember that you haven’t been on a first date in a couple years now. You haven’t had a reason to, at least not until eight months ago. Do you even remember how to go on a first date?

Shaking your head, you try to dispel all of the negative thoughts. You could do this. At worst, if this date goes poorly, you and Millie will have something to look back at and laugh about.

With a deep breath, you push open the door. 

The first thing you notice is how homey the cafe seems. 

This is one of the places that Millie had put on a list for you to visit, but you haven’t quite had the time to yet. With its quiet yet still bustling atmosphere, you can understand why she likes it so much. 

 You’re scanning the room when your heart skips a beat, realizing Millie’s already sitting down at a table. 

Millie instinctively looks up at the sound of the bell above the door, instantly breaking out into a smile and giving you a small wave. By the time you make your way to her, she’s already standing and pulling out your chair. 

“You’re here early,” you muse.

“So are you,” she points out with a grin.

You chuckle at her response. “Touché.”

“I love your heels by the way.”

You blink. “Really? You don’t think it’s overkill or anything?”

A strange look passes Millie’s face as she takes in your words. She cautiously drops a hand on top of yours, internally celebrating when you don’t pull your hand away. “I think it looks lovely on you. Truly.”

You can’t help but duck your head, a faint blush coating your cheeks at her compliment.

Conversation falls easily between the two of you. Other than Millie getting up to buy both of you coffee (though you vehemently try to persuade her to let you pay), the two of you stay locked in conversation. There’s not much one of you doesn’t know about the other, but somehow you still find ways to fill the air.

“You can’t be serious.” Millie’s looking at you with an incredulous look just as you start on your second cup of coffee.

You put your hands up in the air, laughing at the defender’s half offended look. “I’m sorry, I’ve never seen it.”

“How have you never seen Elf? That’s-- you’re-- No. Like no, that can’t be possible! Elf is probably the first movie playing at my mum’s house during Christmas every year!”

With the holidays coming up soon, it almost seems logical for the conversation to head that way. It started pretty tame, with you telling Millie about your plans to go home during the break from football. And it remained pretty calm, at least until Millie found out about your lack of Christmas movie knowledge.

Your nose scrunches up. “Doesn’t that get repetitive? Or like boring? To watch it every year--”

“You did not just say that,” she gasps. “Elf is a cultural staple of-- why am I explaining this to you? Why do I need to explain this to you?” Millie breaks off with a despondent sigh. “I can’t believe I like a girl who’s never seen Elf,” she grumbles, quickly taking a sip of her drink to stop herself from saying anything else. 

You try to hide your smile, in part due to the way Millie’s kind of adorable when annoyed, but also due to her admitted fondness for you. 

Too soon for your liking, the skies start to get dark. Millie’s trying to be subtle about it, but you see her checking her phone, calculating how long she can draw out this date before she absolutely has to go home and let Nala out. As much as you wish this date could never end, you’re more than aware of the obligations the two of you have outside of this quaint cafe.

“Nala probably needs her mum, huh?”

Millie drops her phone, an alarmed look on her face. “I’m sorry, I swear I’d love to stay longer--”

“It’s okay, Mil. Really. I get it. You really shouldn’t leave your baby waiting.”

The two of you are out the door when she reaches for your arm, stopping you in your steps. 

“Did you park close by?”

Light blue eyes are peering at you inquisitively, and you nod. “I-- yeah. Less let me take her car.”

Millie snorts. “One day you’re going to have to get a car for yourself.”

“Why should I when I have you guys to drive me everywhere?” you grin, nudging her back. 

She huffs out a laugh, but it quickly fades away as she scratches at the back of her neck. “Can I walk you to your car?” It’s only the slight fidgeting of Millie’s hands that give away her nerves.

Nodding, the two of you fall into step. 

The two of you walk in comfortable silence. Occasionally your hands brush, causing both of your faces to slightly pinken. You’re trying to come up with the nerves to hold her hand when Alessia’s car comes into view. You push down your disappointment by pulling out your keys.

“So.”

“So,” you echo back, turning around and leaning against the side of the door so you can look at MIllie. 

The blonde’s eyes are locked on the ground, trying her best to act nonchalant. “If I were to ask you out on a second date… would my chances look good?”

Your heart flutters a bit at the prospect of going out on another date with Millie. “I don’t know, you’ll have to ask to find out.”

“Are you serious?”

“Millie,” you giggle. “Just ask me.”

She rolls her eyes, but you can see the amusement written across her face. “Will you go out with me again?”

“Now that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

Millie slaps your arm. “(Y/N)!” she whines.

“Yes,” you laugh, trying to dodge her hands. “I’ll go out with you again.”

“Why are you so difficult,” she groans, trying to hide her amusement. But you can see right through her. 

She leans in and for a second you think she’s going to kiss you. You’re not sure if you’re relieved or disappointed that she pulls you in for a hug instead. You sink into her arms, only pulling away after she gives you a light squeeze. 

“I’ll pick you up for practice tomorrow?” she questions.

You nod. “Don’t miss me too much in the meantime,” you tease.

Millie sends up a middle finger as she walks away, chuckling under her breath. 

You look after her for a moment, watching as she walks away. Today has been amazing. It’s been wonderful. Millie’s shown you that there is in fact life after heartbreak. There’s such a thing as finding love after the end of something you thought would last until the end of time. Millie’s not something you were expecting, but she’s someone you’ve grown to care deeply about.

But even then, here, in this moment, you can’t help but feel like something’s off. Something’s wrong and you can’t quite put your finger on it. 

You’re calling out before you can stop yourself. “Mil, wait.”

The blonde turns, half expecting you to tease her again. Instead, she’s met with soft hands on her face and even softer lips on her own as you dart forward. Her hand drops to your waist on instinct, steadying the two of you as you bask in the feel of her lips against yours. 

When you finally pull back, your face is hot, heart beating out of your chest. You drop your hands, but before they can get far, Millie is lightly grasping them in her own. It’s only the light squeeze of your hands that has you lifting her eyes to meet hers again.

Millie simply raises an eyebrow at you, but you don’t say a word. 

You can tell she’s waiting for an explanation. You don’t give her one.

Instead, you give her another light peck. Millie’s grinning so hard that you have to break the kiss prematurely.

“Drive home safe,” you whisper. 

She huffs out a breath of laughter against your lips. “You too.”

The third time’s the easiest. When you lean forward to kiss her again, Millie meets you in the middle. And with just a simple kiss on this regular Wednesday evening in Manchester, you feel your heart start to heal again.

[wolftozier]

extremely niche field hockey losers club au taken entirely from my experience playing field hockey as a teen <3

Bill

Centre midfield

Right in the middle of the field, halfway

This is mostly due to the fact that as a kid when i played hockey, centre half was always the position of the team leader

Thats because they have to organize both defense and offense due to being in the centre. and the midfield

Surprisingly good at talking around his mouthguard

Sometimes forgets to even take his mouthguard OUT when coming in for half time so everyone just listens to him slur about the game for a couple minutes before he realises

Has a couple spare sticks in his bag always so if anyone forgets theirs he lets them borrow them

Probably the best overall player. You could stick him anywhere and he’d thrive

Except maybe eddie and bevs position, lol

Richie

When he was younger richie was definitely a really annoying winger (sometimes called forwards or strikers)

This is because he mastered the art of seagulling. essentially swooping in last second to flick a ball into the goal when not needed

However once he got older and taller he was way too gangly and awkward to shove up field

So he ended up as a fullback. a completely defensive position. which is in fact very different to playing an offensive position like winger

He's actually really good at defence surprisingly

Hes ALSO annoying here but for a different reason

He has such a good hit on him that its ridiculous. Even with a little bit of a windup and he can crack the ball from way deep in defense up to the offensive quarter

Takes his mouthguard out of his mouth to talk. And tucks it under his sock when not using it (REAL THING WE USED TO DO). to do so you have to buy slightly-too-large socks so they fold over at the top so if he doesnt fold them over his socks do go over his knees

Always wearing colourful inners (a type of sock we wear underneath our shinpads bc shinpads are extremely awkward and uncomfortable to wear)

Has to wear a facemask during shootouts and it fits so weirdly around his big head and big glasses

Wears a protective glove on his left hand only (the hand that touches the ground if you tackle)

Takes the original tape off his stick so he can replace it with more colourful tape

Eddie

Eddie plays inner. and will always play inner. (position is also called sweeper, freeman)

This position is just essentially running up and down the field, relatively in line with the ball so you can always be an available pass

Which means eddie is constantly running. running up and down the field (about 90 meters or 300 feet long) for the entirety of the sixty minute game

Eddie also buys his socks large enough to have them fold over at the top but he will not tuck his mouthguard into them. he thinks thats fucking disgusting and yells at richie for it every game

He sucks ass at talking around his mouthguard though so if hes relatively free from other players hell quickly take his mouthguard OUT OF HIS MOUTH to yell for the ball

Wears protective gloves on both hands bc one time richie nailed him in the knuckles with a pass and it bruised so badly mrs k barely let him out of the house for three weeks

Wears defensive shinpads (you can get both defensive and offensive style shinpads) bc he thinks the offensive ones are way too small

Mike

I think he’s also a fullback with richie

Probably stays closer to the goal than richie does

Because i think he’s probably the best tackler

An actual brick wall when he’s tackling. low to the ground, knees bent, everything. and then he’ll flick the ball OVER your stick and pass to richie to get it out of the defensive quarter

Hes only played defensive positions so he has an eye for where players will run to to shoot

He’s the one that brings the snacks to the games. it isnt halftime without a bag of jelly beans. 

Whenever theyre having an offensive-heavy game and the ball isnt coming back to defence he’ll lean against his stick like it’s a cane and just watch the game (youre supposed to always stay prepared but its nice just watching the rest of the team deal with bullshit)

He’ll play kicking back if theres no goalie but he HATES it (kicking back is essentially a goalie without the uniform. you get a face mask and thats it. you do get to kick the ball without the ref calling it though)

Gets bits of artificial turf all over him and he isn’t even running like eddie is. somehow it just all splashes up onto him

Bev

Girls are allowed to play with the boys teams here occasionally (as long as you have less than eleven players- which is the maximum amount of players on the field)

When she plays with the boys i think she’d be an inner with eddie

Shes not the best at inner, she’s just fast

Worlds most annoying dribbler oh my god

Constantly flicking ahead of herself and just begging for people to try and steal from her

She’s really good at getting the ball past people’s sticks and through their feet (which is a dick move bc if it touches someone’s foot the ref calls for a penalty hit. the game stops and all opposing players have to move at least five metres away)

Plays super offensively even as an inner and bill is always calling for her to run back and help defence

Also de-tapes her stick to retape it fun colours

When she plays with the boys she also wears two protective gloves 

Also tucks her mouthguard in her sock during half time

However she will forget to put it back in and sometimes plays a couple minutes of a game before she realises shes not wearing it

Makes her own inners from fun fabrics

Ben

Ben as a kid i think always got put at fullback

They do this to fat kids its why i got put at fullback too

But as he grows into being a teenager i think he ends up a half back

Essentially like bill’s job except without the offensive. Calls out to people on his side to move up or down or left or right. Helps defensively, that sorta thing

Stays super low in defence even when he doesnt need to bc its what he’s used to

And if its a slow game he talks to mike and richie (he and richie like gossiping)

Also has a super good hit but rarely uses it because he’s worried he’ll hit someone with it

Probably the second best at talking around his mouthguard

He and eddie are the only ones that enjoy full-field warmups where you run around the outside of the field. everyone else likes the shorter sprints up and down the middle

He gets a part-time job at the stick-shop near the field and everyone badgers him for discounts

Stan 

Pure offensive wing

Rarely comes back past the half-way line

Has the highest goal-count out of all of them because of this

This was not true as kids because richie used to seagull all his goals like the little asshole he was

stan still high fived him (begrudingly) at each of richies seagull goals though

De-tapes his stick because he uses a special kind of tape that’s a little more lightweight and cushiony

Definitely has a full stick bag with sections for every kind of gear. Has a separate section for his gloves. A separate section for where he puts his uniform. A separate section where his shinpads go.

Always the one bringing the ball bag onto the field bc everyone else forgets it

Also talks around his mouthguard

Not good at it but he’d rather die than put it in his sock

He’s the only one that will replace his mouthguard every two months like youre technically supposed to