#this happened to ana on a day she thought was going to be the best day ever

[evermoredeluxe]

God imagine how Ana Clara’s family must be feeling right now :(

it’s like 2am in brazil, i can’t imagine a situation where her family (and friends) aren’t scrambling. it’s just so extremely sad.

[meazalykov]

journal

sydney lohmann x reader

summary: when your best friend goes through your journal, your world changes

when sydney realized that she is in love with you, her world shifted. 

she couldn't pinpoint the exact moment it happened, but it had been building for a while—maybe weeks, maybe months. 

bayern munich offered you a contract from your former club, gotham fc, in 2022. when you arrived in germany, you clicked with a certain group of girls right away. 

sydney, georgia, klara, ana, pernille and madga to be exact. 

you were a fierce midfielder that complimented sydney’s actions on the pitch. she admired this, and eventually– she considered you a close friend. 

when you would hang out at georgia’s place with sydney– the german would watch you write in your journal as georgia played video games.

the way your face softened as you lost yourself in the pages, writing with your signature brown papermate colored pen, and she would wonder what thoughts were hidden there. 

that journal was your safe space, your sanctuary away from the chaos of football at bayern munich. it wasn’t just a collection of thoughts—it was a piece of your soul, and you made sure everyone knew it was off-limits.

one day as you were sitting down on your couch, you had your journal on your coffee table. 

klara, sydney, and ana were watching tv beside you. you were content. 

until, klara reaches forward to grab your journal. 

“ouuu what’s in here!?” klara joked. 

your eyes widened as your reflexes grab the brown book before klara’s fingers touched it. 

“ouuu just nothing for you to read about.” you smile, clenching the book by your waist so nobody can take it from you. 

ever since, Sydney was very curious as to what would be in there.

she thought that the journal itself was beautiful in its simplicity. the cover was made of soft, dark leather, worn just enough to show how often it was used but still perfectly intact. 

the pages were thick and cream-colored, with your neat handwriting filling every inch. 

you were meticulous with it. 

no bent corners, no smudged ink. it was clear how much it meant to you, and no one, not even your closest friends, dared to touch it since klara tried to.

after a long day of training, you decided to spend the night at sydney’s apartment. it was something you’d done before, but lately, there had been a shift between you two. 

you weren’t just teammates or friends anymore—there was something deeper, something neither of you had spoken about yet. 

that night was no different.

sydney lived closer to the bayern training grounds than you did. she lived five minutes away while you lived 10 minutes away. so, sydney convinced you to stay with her– seeing that you were too tired to drive home. 

even though you were tired– you stayed up late, taking a nice shower in her bathroom before meeting her in the living room to talk about the day, enjoying the easy comfort of each other’s company. 

by the time you finally went to bed, you were more content than you’d been in a long time.

you were convinced that your “one-sided love” for the german girl wasn’t one-sided afterall. 

but the next morning, as you were getting ready to leave, you didn’t notice that you’d left your journal on the corner of sydney’s couch. it wasn’t until you were halfway home that it hit you, a sudden jolt of panic coursing through you. 

you almost turned the car around right then, but you told yourself you’d just grab it later. it wasn’t like sydney would go through it—she, of all people, knew how much it meant to you.

meanwhile, sydney had noticed the journal almost as soon as you walked out the door. she picked it up, running her fingers over the cover. 

she knew she should call you, let you know you’d left it, but something stopped her. 

the curiosity was overwhelming, a tiny voice in her head whispering that maybe, just maybe, there was something in there about her. 

something that might give her the courage to finally confess what she’d been feeling for so long.

“no..” she muttered to herself, setting the journal down. but the temptation was too strong. 

before she knew it, she was flipping it open, her heart racing as she skimmed the pages. 

the taller german threw herself onto the soft couch, giving up on trying to avoid the book.

at first, the pages had mundane things—training notes, match schedules, little observations about your day. but then she found an entry that made her breath catch in her throat.

it was about her.

you’d written about her for the first time in september 2022, just shortly after you met her. 

you said how you were attracted to her and her smile, how it made your heart race. how you felt safe around her, how you’d started looking forward to every moment you spent together. 

you gave her nicknames in your journal, such as sonnenschein, liebe, and goldenes mädchen.

sydney’s face turned red as she read through your pages. and then, in one sentence that seemed to leap off the page, her heart started to beat rapidly– you’d admitted that you were falling for syd, but you were too scared to tell her. 

sydney’s heart soared with happiness, but it was quickly followed by a wave of guilt. 

she knew she had crossed a line, touching something you didn’t want the world to read. 

sydney wasn’t going to pretend like she didn’t read through it. that wasn’t right, and now she had to figure out how to make it right. 

she grabbed the journal and rushed out the door, her thoughts a chaotic mix of excitement and regret.

“syd? what are you doing here?” when you opened the door to your apartment, you were surprised to see her standing there, slightly out of breath. 

“you left this at my place” she said, holding out your journal. her voice was steady, but you could see the nervousness in her eyes.

“oh, thank god,” you sighed in relief, taking it from her quickly. 

“i didn’t even realize until i was halfway home.” you smiled, in more relief. 

sydney hesitated for a moment, she couldn’t even speak a proper sentence due to how excited she was about her reciprocated feelings. 

“it's no problem.” she mumbled. at the same time, she leaned in and pressed a soft kiss to your cheek. it was a simple gesture, but it sent a shiver down your spine. your heart skipped a beat, and you could feel the heat rising to your cheeks.

“sydney…?” you asked, your voice tinged with confusion. this wasn’t like her—at least, not the way things had been between you before. the both of you had cuddled, hugged, and held hands before– but never kissed each other in any fashion.

“y/n,” she said, her eyes locking onto yours. 

“i love you. i love you so much and i needed to know if you felt the same way. and… i know it was wrong, but i read your journal. i shouldn’t have, but i couldn’t stop myself. again, i desperately needed to know if you felt the same way. i’m sorry”

you blinked, her words sinking in slowly. your first instinct was to be upset—your journal was so personal, so private. your heart would have sunk if it were anybody else who read it. but the vulnerability in her voice, the way syd was looking at you, it made it hard to hold onto that anger.

“why did you go through it?” you asked, your voice soft, more curious than accusatory.

“i was scared,” she admitted, her gaze dropping to the floor. “i was scared that if i told you how i felt, i’d ruin everything. and then when i saw your journal, i thought… maybe if i knew how you felt, it would be easier for me to tell you how much i love you. but i’m sorry. i know i shouldn’t have done it. i will never invade your personal space like that again.”

you stared at her for a moment, processing everything. 

you should be more upset, you knew that. but the truth was, hearing her say those words, hearing her admit that she felt the same way that you’d felt about her, made it impossible to be mad. instead, a small smile tugged at your lips.

“it’s okay, sydney,” you said, reaching out to take her hand. 

“i mean, its not– but i love you too. i can’t be mad knowing that you love me.” you grab her other hand, holding them gently as the taller girl places her forehead on yours.

“i love you so much.” sydney mumbled, placing a small kiss on your lips. 

“i love you too syd. i’m just glad you told me. and now i have something new to write about.”

sydney’s eyes lit up, a mixture of relief and joy washing over her features as she blushed over what you said. 

my master list is here if you want to read more fics<3

[catmiemy]

Another Chance to Live Part 4 (Ana Maria Crnogorčević x Reader)

Summary: Ana and you finally start dating.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

A/N: Look at me sticking to my upload schedule. Although I might be able to publish the final two parts earlier since I had more time to write because I had to cancel some plans thanks to conjunctivitis.

I hope you enjoy these two finally getting together. As always, happy to hear what you think :)

After your conversation with Jenni you continued to sit on the couch, staring at your phone as if the device would be any help in figuring out how to ask Ana out.

As it turned out, it actually did. While you were still contemplating, weighing the pros and cons of every option, your phone buzzed with an incoming message. Your heart skipped a bit when you saw it was from Ana, just like it always did. And your heart definitely skipped more than one beat once you read the message.

You read the words over and over again, finding it impossible to believe this was actually happening. For so long you had told yourself there would never be anything more than friendship between you and Ana, and now all of the sudden your whole world had been turned upside down in the best way possible.

A little birdie just told me about the conversation you had.

Hope you don’t mind she told me.

Jenni said you didn’t tell her not to tell me, so she thought it was fair game.

Anyway, what do you say about changing our hangout tomorrow to an official date?

You know as a date, as more than friends.

Ana’s reply was almost instant.

Of course I don’t mind, it makes my life a lot easier!

I really owe that birdie, but don’t tell her that.

And yes, I’d love to do that!

You quickly texted back that you were excited about it as well, before putting away your phone grinning like a fool.  You felt like you were floating on a cloud of happiness, something that you hadn’t experience in a long, long time, maybe never to this degree.  

Great, I’ll pick you up at 7 tomorrow.

Already looking forward to it.

---

The next day you got more and more nervous the closer the time for Ana to pick you up came. However, whenever the anxiety threatened to become overwhelming, you just thought about the Swiss woman; how happy you always were in her presence and how at ease she made you feel, as if you were perfect just the way you were. Every time you did that you immediately felt much calmer; less anxious nervous and much more joyful excited. 

 Still, it took you forever to pick out an outfit, mentally thanking Ana that she had texted you earlier in the day to at least let you know what style of clothes you should be wearing, elegant but not overly fancy. In the end you settled on a black dress because you could never go wrong with that, and it did show off your body in the best way possible.

Even with all the internal debating about your outfit you ended up being ready almost 30 minutes before the pickup time, because you had started so early. Therefore you settled down on the couch, trying and failing to distract yourself with your phone.

Only a few minutes passed before there was a knock on the door. With a frown you went to open it, hoping it wasn’t your parents with some sort of request to help them out. You definitely didn’t have time to do that right now.

However, when you opened the door and laid eyes on Ana your frowned turned into a big smile. You were always happy to see her, but tonight even more so. Finally you got to be with her in the way you wanted, no more pretending to be just friends.

“Hi,” you greeted her, too distracted by the blonde’s mere presence to wonder why she was here so early.

“Hi,” Ana echoed, stepping forward to hug you. You melted into the embrace and turned your face inwards against her neck, relishing in the fact that you didn’t have to suppress gestures like this any longer.

“Ready to go?” The Swiss woman asked you after a bit.

You nodded, grabbing the bag you had conveniently placed next to the door. When you turned back towards Ana, she reached out offering you her hand. You instantly laced your fingers through hers, the small contact filling you with warmth and an overwhelming sense of belonging right there in this moment.

When you were getting into the car you heard the church bells ring and suddenly realized how early the Swiss woman had been. It wasn’t like she was known for being unpunctual, but also she wasn’t usually this early.

“How come you were here this early? Did I have the time wrong?”

That seemed like the most logical explanation, even though you had checked the time in Ana’s text about at dozen times.

“Well, I knew you’d be ready early and I didn’t want to make you wait unnecessarily and maybe get anxious.”

Your heart melted at this. It was so thoughtful of Ana and it showed how well she already knew you. This fact put you even more at ease. There was no need to pretend or try to show yourself in the most favorable light, this woman already knew you and somehow she still liked you.

“Plus I was excited to go out with my friend,” the blonde continued.

For a second your stomach dropped at the last word, but when you looked over and saw the humor in Ana’s eyes you recognized that she was just teasing you.

“I guess I deserve that,” you conceded, “And for the record I never wanted you to be just my friend.”

You were a little surprised by your own boldness. However, Ana made you feel like it was not only okay to say what you were thinking, but that it was in fact exactly what the Swiss woman wanted.

“That’s good to know,” Ana stated, sounding much more serious all of the sudden as if she still hadn’t been totally sure about your feelings.

Suddenly you felt a little silly for not taking into account that other people got insecure as well. You had been so focused on yourself, that you had never considered how it must have been for the Swiss woman to constantly hear you emphasize that you were merely friends.

“I’m sorry about that, I just didn’t think there was any possibility you’d ever like me too,” you apologized.

Ana looked over at you sadly. “I know, but we’ll work on that,” she promised.

“On what?”

“On the way you see yourself! Don’t think I missed how you didn’t believe me when I told you that everyone I know on the Spanish national team likes you and is always looking forward to seeing you,” the blonde elaborated.

You didn’t quite know how to react to such blatant flattery. Most likely this was just Ana being sweet, but you couldn’t lie, it was still nice to hear.

“See, you’re doing it again. You don’t believe me,“  the blonde accused you softly.  

You whipped your head around to look at Ana, shocked that she could read you so easily. Up until now you had always prided yourself on having a good poker face, but apparently the Swiss woman saw right through it.

She didn’t say anything else though, merely smiling at you gently. The silence gave you the time you needed to gather your thoughts. Once again you found yourself being surprisingly honest.

“It’s just because I’m nothing special, I’m just me. I’m too quiet and not very interesting. It’s not like I think everyone hates more or anything. But why would anyone particularly like me?”

In your opinion you had made a good point, but Ana’s eyes were filled with disapproval and sadness on your behalf.

“Because you’re a great person! You always have an open ear for everyone. If there’s anything you can do to help someone, you do it without hesitation. You have such a good heart and you’re so mindful of everyone around you, doing your best to make everyone feel seen and heard.”

“Sure you don’t talk everyone’s ears off as soon as you meet them, but once you’re more comfortable? You tell great stories that always make me feel as if I’m right there with you and I love hearing what you think about things because I can tell that you took your time to form opinions. And to see you speak passionately about the things you care, that’s just something else!”

“Also, I love how much you appreciate the beauty around you. Going somewhere with you is such a treat because you will always point out the pretty flowers, the interesting cloud constellation or the cute dog you see with so much joy and reverence.”

“And let’s not forget that you’re gorgeous. You have the most beautiful and kindest eyes I have ever seen and don’t even get me started about your smile!”

You were overwhelmed by how easily, without even thinking about it first, the Swiss woman managed to list all of these nice qualities. It made you more inclined to believe her. At the very least Ana had you convinced that she meant every word she had said, and that in itself was a good feeling, even if you weren’t convinced all of this was actually, objectively true.

“I could keep talking all night long about all the reasons why I like you so much, but I guess you wouldn’t really appreciate that. So instead I’ll keep bringing it up for as long as you’ll let me be a part of your life, which I’m hoping will be a very long time,” Ana concluded.

“That’s probably a good idea, otherwise you’ll spend the rest of the evening with a tomato head,” you joked.

You had always hated how easily you turned red, your frustration usually only making it worse.

“I wouldn’t complain about that for a second, I find your blushing adorable,” Ana commented, which of course only made you blush even more, but for once you didn’t mind as much.

You arrived at your destination soon after, and you immediately recognized the place from pictures you had seen of Lola and her girlfriend. So the mystery of how the blonde had chosen where to take you was solved. You had never actually been to the restaurant yourself since it was very romantic and mostly frequented by couples, but you had heard good things about it.

By the end of the evening you could definitely confirm that all the praise you had been told about the restaurant was justified. Although in all honesty every place would have felt like heaven to you when it was the location of your first date with Ana.

The conversation stayed mostly light and happy for the first half and hour, both of you enjoying each other’s company and this new and exciting situation. In a lot of ways it wasn’t all that different, you talked as easily as before, the conversation flowing effortlessly. So once again you realized that you had gotten into your heard for nothing. Things weren’t awkward or weird at all, like you had been concerned about.

Sure, there were some differences, all of them positive though; the way you kept slipping from normal conversation into light flirting, how you just gazed deep into each other eyes a few of times, and the way Ana placed her hand onto yours and left it there as long as she possibly could, sighing when she had to retract it because you both needed your hands to eat.

“So do you want to talk about the national team?” You asked, once the last of your nervousness had settled.

Ana shrugged her shoulders unsurely, smile dropping from her face. You had to fight the urge to take it back and apologize for probing; reminding yourself about the conversation you had had after the game against Barcelona. It was okay to ask, and if the Swiss woman actually didn’t want to talk about it, she would tell you. Still, this went entirely against your instinct.

“It’s just such a frustrating situation. Inka is a horrible coach! At least for us, maybe it’s just not a good fit, I don’t know, but for us it doesn’t work. We’re playing badly and the atmosphere at camp isn’t how it used to be. Don’t get me wrong, it’s nothing like what I heard about Spain, but everyone was kind of in a state of constant annoyance and was so happy when we could leave.”

“And the worst thing is that the home Euros is coming closer everyday and I wanted that to be the crowning moment of my career. Maybe that’s selfish, I don’t know, but now? Now I think it’s going to be nightmare, if I even get to go at all,” Ana finished her rant that had began passionate and angry, but fizzled out into something more like helplessness. 

Exactly like after the game against Barcelona the Swiss woman looked drained, her shoulders slumped and her smile no longer reaching her eyes. It made you simultaneously want to give her the longest hug in the world and go and punch Inka in the face.

However, since you were still sitting in the restaurant you settled on reaching over and giving her hand a good squeeze, before doing your best to come up with a good response.

“I’m so sorry things are like that and I’m always here to listen if you need to rant about it or hold you if you need to cry. Trying to keep in your emotions isn’t healthy.”

That was probably one of the most hypocritical things you had ever said, you who always held your emotions in until you felt like imploding. However, theoretically you knew that wasn’t a helpful thing to do, so you weren’t going to advise someone else to do that.

“And I can help you figure out if there’s anything you and the girls can do. I did a lot of reading and looking things up when everything was going down with Spain. Of course it’s a totally different system, but I’m still happy to help out,” you offered.

A soft smile, a real smile, one that made Ana’s eyes shine, returned to the blonde’s face.

“I appreciate how much you care. That means more than I can ever express with words. To be honest we’ve already started looking into what our options are and have been talking with the Swiss federation. So maybe it’s not quite as hopeless as it feels right now. The next few weeks should give us an answer to that,” Ana told you.

You felt some relief at that. Surely there was no way the Swiss federation would be as difficult and idiotic as the Spanish one. Right? Therefore things would hopefully be sorted out before too long and Ana would get the home Euros she deserved.

“That’s good. I’m confident things will turn out okay,” you said with more confidence than you actually felt. But Ana didn’t need to know that. If you were wrong in the end you would deal with it then, right now the best thing you could do was strengthen her hope.

“Yeah?” The Swiss woman double-checked, confirming to you that this was actually the right thing to do.

“Definitely,” you assured her, praying to a god you didn’t believe in that you wouldn’t be proven wrong.

“I think so too,” Ana admitted quietly, as if she was scared to say it too loudly out of fear of jinxing it.

“Now let’s talk about other things. I don’t want Inka to ruin the mood on my date as well, she has done enough of that during camp. How about we focus on your national camp instead? I heard you almost made Jenni rip out her own hair with your cluelessness,” the Swiss woman teased with a big grin.

Your first instinct was to tell Ana that it was totally fine to keep talking about the situation with her national team, that it wouldn’t ruin anything. But then she mentioned Jenni and all the teasing you had endured, and all of the sudden you wanted to beg her to continue talking about the Swiss team. Anything to avoid speaking about how oblivious you had been.

“Come on, let’s be honest Jenni would never rip out her precious hair or do anything else to ruin her looks,” you deflected, basking in the sound of Ana’s laughter. You would never get tired of making the blonde laugh.

You kept up the banter for a bit, before you remembered a specific thing you had been fretting about for the last 24 hours. It probably wasn’t something you should bring up on the first date, or maybe it was exactly the kind of thing you had to mention on the first date. You still hadn’t made up your mind about that.

All you knew was that in that moment, feeling happy and secure in Ana’s presence, you wanted to talk about it. And maybe it was time to do what you wanted more often and worry less about whether it was the ‘normal’ thing to do. What was normal anyway?

“There’s something I need to tell you”, you blurted out, kicking yourself for making it sound so ominous. No one ever said ‘I need to tell you something’ about unimportant stuff.

“Of course, I’m all ears,” Ana replied, smiling at you encouragingly.

“Okay, so…” You swallowed, trying to gather yourself. „I’ve never been in a serious relationship before. I mean I’ve dated and had flings and such, but never a serious long term relationship. And I don’t know it that’s a problem for you. I would totally understand if it was. And maybe I shouldn’t even have brought it up tonight, so I’m sorry if I’m making this awkward. Although if it is a problem then it was probably good I told you today. I…”

“Schatz,” Ana interrupted you. You didn’t really know any German, let alone Swiss German, but you were fairly certain you remembered this one. The use of a sweet pet name relaxed you significantly; she wouldn’t do that if this was in fact a deal breaker.

“I don’t care about that in the slightest. I’ve never been in a relationship with you either, so that will be brand new for me too. We’ll figure it out together,” the Swiss woman promised.

“Together,” you echoed. You loved the sound of that.

---

As time passed and more dates followed it became clear that Ana had been right. Things between the two of you just progressed naturally and not once did you feel out of your depth because of your lack of experience with relationships.

You shared a magical first kiss on a walk through the city after your second date. Ana’s lips felt pleasantly warm on yours in the chilly night air. After that all dams were broken and you spent a lot of time kissing like two hormonal teenagers, slowly or more precisely pretty rapidly moving on to other activities.

After the first time you slept together, the two of you lay in Ana’s bed facing each other. The Swiss woman gently traced her thumb over your forehead and your cheek, looking at you lovingly. Although you did your best to avoid using this word for anything to do with Ana just yet. It was too early to even think about love.

“Are you okay? Was this okay?” The blonde whispered, her eyes serious and for some reason slightly worried.

You stared at her in surprise. Could she not see how happy and satisfied you were, how cherished and lo- adored you felt?

“This was perfect and I feel amazing. You know I had sex before, right?”

Suddenly you weren’t sure if you had been clear about that. Maybe you had given Ana the impression that you weren’t just a relationship virgin, but an all around virgin.

“Yeah, yeah, I know, but still this is a big step and I just wanted to check in. It’s different when feelings are involved,” Ana elaborated.

For a moment you just grinned at her like an idiot. If you thought you had been feeling lo-, adored before, it was nothing to how you felt now.

“You’re just the absolute sweetest, tesoro. And you’re totally right, it is different. So much better! I can’t wait to go again, but right now I need some sleep. Someone wore me out.“

You looked at her pointedly, but that quickly changed into a smile when you saw how proud of herself Ana looked.

“In that case, sleep, mi Schatz. Because I definitely need you to be ready for another round soon,” Ana said, pulling you against her and kissing your forehead.

It took you all of five seconds before you fell into a peaceful slumber, your face buried in Ana’s neck.

---

However, you were right too, about everything sorting itself out with the Swiss national team. You were eating lunch at Real’s training ground when you heard, willing the time to move faster because tonight you would finally see Ana again. The two of you hadn’t been able to meet up the last few days because of insanely busy and conflicting schedules.

So when your phone buzzed with a message from Ana your heart fluttered happily. Hearing from her was always the highlight of your day. Things at Real were still less than ideal. You didn’t feel connected to the team, most of them still seeing you as ‘that Altético player’.

You were well aware that you were to blame for that as much as anyone, maybe even more so. Your efforts to integrate into the team had been minimal to say the least. And you felt a fair bit of anger at yourself for being so unprofessional, but somehow that still wasn’t enough to change anything. You just didn’t want to be there. It was as simple as that. And you could pretend, but you couldn’t change your actual feeling.

Day after day you forced yourself to be perfectly punctual, train hard, listen to the game plans and analyses, but there was no joy to any of it. Not even when you played games, something that you had always loved before. You were simply going through the motions.

At least you were having a pretty good season; otherwise your disappointment with yourself would have been through the roof.

When you checked your phone you saw that it was a screenshot announcing Inka’s departure from the Swiss national team. A happy squeal escaped you, everyone turning to look at you. It wasn’t like you to be loud, especially not in a cheerful way.

“What is it?” Misa asked curiously.

You simply showed her your phone, a smile appearing on the goalkeeper’s face.

“This is great news,” she agreed.

“Amazing news,” you corrected.

Now you were even more excited to see Ana later that night and celebrate this special occasion.

You were happy that you had decided to meet up at your place; this gave you the opportunity to prepare something special. However, you didn’t have much time, so you found yourself standing in the store after training looking around frantically and blanking on what to do.

The first idea that came to mind was to get a cake with a message like ‘She’s gone!’ on it. But you seriously doubted that you would get one on such short notice. Also a whole cake for just the two of you didn’t sound like a good plan.

So maybe just a card? What kind of card though? You had some strong suspicions that there wasn’t anything like an ‘I’m so happy you got rid of your stupid national coach’-card. 

You could practically feel the seconds ticking by, getting more and more anxious by the minute. Time was running out and you still didn’t have the slightest idea what to do.

Noticing how tense you had become you forced yourself to exhale slowly and relax your body, starting with your jaw and slowly progressing downwards. There was no reason to get so stressed about this. Ana wouldn’t expect any grand gestures; you wouldn’t disappoint here no matter what you did or didn’t do.

As you calmed down the fog in your brain lifted and you regained the ability to make decisions. After having a swift look around you settled on buying the ingredients for Ana’s favorite meal, as well as two caramel cupcakes. As a last minute decision you added two candles to put on the cupcakes, one an I and one a G. This way you could literally get the satisfaction of seeing Inka Gring’s legacy go up in smoke.

Later that evening Ana arrived at your apartment with a bright smile on her face and some extra pep in her steps. She immediately pulled you into a tight hug, rocking the both of you excitedly from side to side.

“I’m so happy for you,” you told her, leaning back slightly to beam at her, before getting closer again and peppering her face with light kisses. 

This made Ana giggle. “And you know what makes me happy?” She gasped.

You stopped your kisses and tilted your head, unsure of where the Swiss woman was going this. It didn’t seem like the kind of question she would ask if the answer was the obvious one; Inka leaving.  

“That you are so happy for me. It means the world  to me that you care so deeply, about both the good and the bad things happening in my life,” Ana clarified.

A blush cropped up on your face and you moved to hide your face in Ana’s neck, but the Swiss woman gently stopped you

“Don’t. You know I love your blush,” she murmured, placing her hands on your slightly pink cheeks and taking in every inch of your face. “So beautiful.”

Of course that only made you blush more. Ana winked at you, but didn’t stop you when you once again stepped forward to bury your face in her shoulder.

The two of you spent a nice evening together; spirits were high all around thanks to the good news. Ana showered you in compliments for your cooking and when you brought out the cupcakes she burst into laughter.

“I love this! Like a cleansing from Inka,” she said in between laughing.

“Shhh, this is a serious matter,” you chastised her playfully.

“Oh sorry,” the blonde replied, forcing a solemn expression onto her face.

However, it only lasted for all of five seconds before the huge smile that had been on her face all night long returned. You wouldn’t be complaining about that though. A happy Ana made you happy.

“To the end of the unfortunate Inka-area and to a better future for your national team,” you announced, lighting the two candles on fire. “Make a wish!”

Ana leaned forward and blew out the candles with closed eyes. Then she turned to you. “Do you want to know what I wished for?”

You shook your head firmly. “No! Otherwise it won’t come true.”

Ana smirked. “Too bad because it involves you.”

“Wait really? Then I change my mind and want to know,” you backtracked, mentally running through everything she could have wished for.

“Nope, too late,” the Swiss woman informed you.

“Meeeeeaaaaan,” you complained.

Ana just grinned at you, shrugged her shoulders and took a big bite of her cupcake.

When you continued to pout at her, she offered you a compromise, “Fine, I’ll tell you when it comes true, okay? And now enough with the puppy dog eyes. Otherwise I might crack and tell you right now and then we’ll both be at fault when it doesn’t come true.”

“Sounds good to me,” you agreed, biting into your own cupcake with gusto.

And honestly just knowing that Ana had made a wish that included you warmed you heart. It was nice to be such a big part of someone else’s life, someone other than your parents that was. But you wouldn’t think about them right now, nothing was allowed to taint this moment.

Instead of dwelling on your thoughts you looked up at Ana happily chewing the last bite of her cupcake.

“I love you,” you blurted out without thinking about it.

Once the words had left your mouth you instantly regretted them. Not that they weren’t true, they absolutely were, but you hadn’t said them to each other yet. So what if Ana didn’t feel the same and you just ruined this perfect moment? Or even worse, everything!

At least Ana was still smiling at you, that was probably a good sign. If she was going to leave right then and there she wouldn’t smile. Right?

“I love you too,” the Swiss woman simply said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.  

“Really?” You couldn’t help but ask.

Ana got up and came over to your side of the table. She grabbed your hands, softly pulling you up so you were on eye level.

“Of course I love you. How could I not? I guess we still have some work to do until you see yourself the way I see you, as such an amazing, good-hearted, beautiful person,” she told you earnestly.

“I really love you.” It was the only thing that came to mind, Ana’s compliments once again overwhelming you.

“That’s good because I really love you too,” the blonde replied with a chuckle, gathering you into her arms. “And I won’t rest until you love yourself too , exactly the way that you deserve.”

You just snuggled even closer into Ana, a deep calmness filling you up from head to toe. It wasn’t something you were used to, usually there was always some anxiety running in the background. However, the blonde brought you so much peace.

It was something you had never expected before you experienced it yourself. You had always thought love would be all excited butterflies and exuberance. There was some of that of course, but also this all-encompassing calmness, that was in many ways even better than all of the excitement.

[reminiscingtonight]

Sisters Know Best

Ana-Maria Crnogorčević x Wälti!Reader

Word Count: 2.2k

A/N: I may or may not have forgotten the Olympics was a thing. Oops

[WOSO Masterlist]

Consciousness comes to you slowly. Eyes gently fluttering open, your smile is automatic at both the feel and sight of your favorite person wrapped around you.

Ana’s face is peaceful and relaxed as she still remains fast asleep, arms securely locking you against her body.

You’ve missed this. Being able to fall asleep and wake up to Ana is something you took for granted until suddenly you weren’t able to do so anymore.

Her departure from Barcelona was unexpected, for both you and her. None of your teammates knew it was coming as well. A relationship that blossomed during the last half of your one year overlap at Barcelona was suddenly subjected to the distance between your club teams. 

But the two of you made things work. Facetime dates were a regular occurrence, so were the trips to visit one another during short breaks of play. One and a half years after you began dating, your relationship is still going strong.

As much as you would have loved to stay trapped against Ana until she woke, eventually your bladder wins, urging you to find an escape to the bathroom. It takes a couple minutes, but eventually you wiggle your way to freedom without waking Ana. 

After relieving yourself, you’re halfway between the bathroom and your bedroom when you notice the jacket hanging from the hook by the front door. The jacket that very much was not present when you and Ana got to the house earlier in the day.

Eyes wide, you have to remind yourself to stay calm.

A year and a half into dating, you’re already certain Ana’s the love of your life. But that doesn’t negate the fact that you’ve known her nearly almost all of your life. And of course you had no one but Lia to thank for that fact.

Ana’s been your sister’s best friend for as long as you could remember.

And that would be cool, everything would be 100% fine. Except… maybe Lia’s still unaware of your relationship.

Initially, the two of you kept it under wraps, not wanting Lia’s unwanted opinions to potentially interfere with whatever was happening between the two of you. But then as time moved on, as you and Ana settled down into a smooth relationship, separated from your sister by both a country and the English Channel, you didn’t feel the rush to disclose your relationship to her.

The stress of the world cup last year allowed your relationship to remain undetected during the off-season. Lia didn’t have the time or brainpower to focus on anything other than keeping your national team together and functioning under the direction of your head coach who could barely string a coherent play together. 

But that was last year. And now, more than a year after you and Ana made things official, you still have not told Lia about your relationship. And with the beginning of this off-season, you’re about to spend the majority of two months together with no major tournaments to act as a distraction.

A part of you is really hoping you just missed the jacket when you arrived earlier, but the more logical side of your brain tells you you’re as fucked as you think you are.

Tip-toeing down the stairs, you pop your head around the corner into the kitchen.

Lia looks up from where she’s sat by the counter when you push the door open. You were already expecting to see her there, but you still can’t mask the surprise in your voice. “Lia? What are you-- You’re home!”

Your sister raises an amused eyebrow at the tone in your voice. “It’s great to see you too.”

Shaking yourself out of your shock, you lunge forward, letting Lia pull you into the comforts of her arms. “Missed you,” you grin, momentarily forgetting your girlfriend is fast asleep upstairs. 

Though the thought quickly returns when Lia gestures towards the front door, hidden behind the wall. “I noticed you got new shoes?”

Paling, you remember the way you had to bribe Ana with kisses to neatly place her shoes next to yours by the rack. 

“Yeah! I did a little bit of shopping in Barcelona before coming home,” is the first lie that passes through your mind, something you’re quick to voice.

“I can see that,” Lia chuckles, tugging at your unfamiliar but also so obviously worn down sweatshirt. It’s just your luck that you’re also wearing one of Ana’s sweatshirts right as this moment. You find yourself wanting to curse your girlfriend out. Dubbed Ana’s ‘favorite,’ this piece of clothing is your go-to for stealing. It just always smells like her and makes you feel safe, but safe is the last thing you feel as you are quick to nod again, lying that you did indeed get a new piece of clothing too.

The two of you chat about everything and nothing, making up for lost time. While you’re so obviously just trying to buy time as you try to come up with a way to either sneak Ana out of the house or come clean to Lia without facing her wrath, you come bask in the presence of your sister. You really have missed Lia.

After spending the majority of your career chasing Lia from club to club, you finally made your break away from her two seasons ago to Barcelona. Leaving Arsenal was hard, but you were ready for something new. And Lia was more than happy to support you.

Some time in between Lia praising how well the new Arsenal players have cemented their place on the team over the season and discussing which possible movie the two of you should go put on, Lia ducks under the cabinet to pull out the kettle, intent on making some tea. You use the brief moment of distraction to make your getaway.

“Oh shoot, I forgot my phone upstairs in my room. Do you mind waiting here for me while I quickly go get it?”

Lia chuckles, gesturing to stove. “Go for it. I won’t be joining you until our tea’s done.”

Your trainers at Barcelona would be proud of the speed to which you race out of the kitchen and then back up the stairs to your room.

To your delight, and horror, Ana’s already awake, sleepy smile sent your way when you shut the door behind you. 

“Hi baby--”

“Lia’s home,” you whisper, cutting Ana off.

The blonde’s eyes grow in size as she bolts upright in your bed.

“What do you mean? I thought you said she wouldn’t be back until…” Ana’s words trail off when she flips over her phone and sees the time.

The two of you definitely napped for longer than you originally intended to.

“You’ve got to go. Lia’s about to hunker me down with a movie marathon. God knows how long you’ll be stuck here if you don’t try sneaking out now.”

Ana blinks. “How exactly are you going to sneak me out then?” 

You point towards the window in your room. “I’ve snuck out of the house multiple times growing up. There’s a tree that you can climb out and get into the front yard from.”

Ana balks, looking at you as if you just grew three heads. “You want me to sneak out the window and climb down a tree?!”

You roll your eyes, pressing a sweet kiss against Ana’s panic-stricken face. “Don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe.”

Turning around, you head for your closest. After a bit of digging you finally pull out an old pair of tennis shoes.

“Here, wear these,” you whisper, shoving the shoes into Ana’s hands

Ana frowns, though she does as you say and slips on the offered shoes. “Why can’t I just wear mine?”

“Lia was asking me whose shoes they were and I said I got some new shoes in Barcelona.”

Ana shoots you a look that tells you she’s less than impressed with your white lie. “I better get those shoes back. They were expensive.”

You have to muffle your snort, both of you knowing very well the chances of you returning them would be close to 0. “I know, I was there when you bought them.”

Ana pinches your cheek for the sass, and you respond by giving her ass a little slap as she slips pass you towards the window.

Though she rolls her eyes, you can see the smile on her lips.

“If I break my neck before the international break I’m blaming you,” she mumbles, swinging her legs through the opening. 

“Such a sweet-talker,” you shoot back, ignoring her huff of faux-annoyance. Instead, you lean in to press a light kiss against Ana’s lips.

“Call me?”

You nod. “As soon as Lia lets me go.”

With one last grin over her shoulder Ana shuffles fully out the window onto the roof. You only wait until you see Ana begin her descent before hurrying back down the stairs towards Lia.

The brunette’s already sitting in the living room, movie pulled up when you come skidding to a stop next to her. To your relief it seems as if Lia’s been engrossed in her phone the whole time you’ve been gone. 

She looks up with a grin, lifting up a corner of her blanket for you. 

“I’m thinking we can start with The Sorcerer’s Stone and make our way down from there.”

It isn’t until the sun’s long set and the two of you have switched to watching cooking shows for the past two hours that Lia rises with a yawn. 

She pats your leg, stretching as she stands. “I think I’m going to head to bed.”

Sleepily nodding, you sink deeper into the blankets. “I’ll probably watch another episode or something before heading up,” you mumble, fully content with letting your sleepiness take over right here right now. Though your body would most likely hate you tomorrow when you wake, your bed on the second floor just seems so far away.

Lia doesn’t say anything else, giving you a gentle hum as she makes her way towards the light switch. Dimming the lights a bit, she watches with amusement as your eyes slowly flutter, trying, but failing, to keep yourself awake.

You’re two seconds from drifting off into a peaceful sleep when Lia speaks up, not having fully left the living room yet. Spoken over her shoulder almost as an afterthought, her parting words have you suddenly snapping wide awake. 

“Next time Ana comes over let her know she can use the front door to enter and leave like a normal person.”

---

Closing the door as quietly behind her as she can, Lia pops her head over the wall separating the front door from the living room.

Her face falls into a frown when she doesn’t see you anywhere on the first floor. 

You had texted your sister that you made it back to Switzerland only hours ago. Surely you haven’t already left the house without waiting to see her first?

Sighing, she toes off her shoes, not without noticing a new pair of shoes sitting by the shoe rack. You must have gone shopping or something, Lia muses before heading for the stairs.

There’s really only one other place you could possibly be if you were still in the house. Dropping her bag off in her room, Lia lightly skips towards your bedroom. It’s only been two months since you last saw each other in person, but you and Lia have always been extremely close, and paired with how her season ended, Lia just really wanted to see you.

Quietly cracking open your door, Lia pokes her head into your room.

The first thing she notices is how dark it is. The blinds in your room have been drawn, the only light filtering into the room being through the door she has opened.

It takes a couple seconds for Lia’s eyes to adjust, and when it finally does, she can’t stop her mouth from dropping open.

Well there you were, definitely not roaming the streets of your childhood town. But what she’s not expecting is the extremely familiar head of blonde hair tucked around you like a protective shield. 

The shock quickly turns to affection as Lia smiles to herself at the adorable sight of you and Ana cuddled together in your sleep. Pulling her phone out to snap a quick picture of the two of you deep in sleep, Lia quietly closes the door behind her as she sets her sights for the kitchen.

Her sister and best friend? Together? Totally unexpected but Lia couldn't be more than happy for the two of you.

And when you sleepily stumble into the kitchen nearly an hour later, panic crossing your face at the sight of Lia already home, well who can blame Lia for having a bit of fun at your expense?

Especially when it means she gets to see Ana ungracefully scale the tree outside your bedroom window.

[wisteriaiswriting]

Ramattra, Junker Queen, Cassidy and Ana dating a male reader who has Insomnia

Dating Male Reader Who Has Insomnia

Words: 545

When he first noticed your lack of sleep, he was so confused, opting to question you about it.

But when he learns what it is, he’ll start doing and recording his research.

Since he’s an omnic, he doesn’t actually need sleep, so he’s more than willing to spend night’s awake if it’s with you.

***

“What are you doing?”

“Hmm?” Looking over at the door from your bed, finding Ramattra, who seemed to be surprised. “Oh, hey Ram.”

Turning back to your computer, trying to focus on your work again. Unable to as Ramattra’s footsteps echoed throughout the room until they didn’t, only to feel the bed dip with his weight. Without speaking you leaning over slightly, laying your head on his shoulder as you clntinued working.

If you couldn’t sleep he’ll gladly stay with you until morning rolls around or you finally fall asleep.

Odessa likely has insomnia as well, but was and probably won’t be diagnosed. (She also doesn’t really get the idea of it.)

She tries to tire you out by having you join her late night training sessions, which is just sparring.

Threatens the whole town to find and bring in their best doctor, (Who isn’t that much help.) so she reluctantly has an outsider come in for you.

***

“What are you doing?”

You had stepped into the gym, intending to try tire yourself out. Only finding Odessa already inside, and she was quick to notice you.

“Aren’t you knackered from today?”

“Aren’t you?”

Watching her snort, “Should be, but now that you’re here, fight me!”

She got into a fighting stance, seemingly not ready to take no for an answer, so you followed her lead.

I’m sorry, but he is dead to the world when he actually falls asleep. So it’s very likely he won’t notice what’s happening until it starts affecting you throughout the day.

But he is quick to feel guilty and tries to make it up to you by helping.

Leading to him trying to do his own research, but relents and bothers Angela or Ana about it.

***

“I don’t know what happening to him Ana, do–”

“Oh Cole, sometimes I think you’re dumber than you look.”

“HEY!”

“But take this,” Handing him a warm cup, he has no clue what's in it, “Give it to him and stay with him, now go.”

“I’m going, I’m going.”

Pushing open the door to your room, it was dark as the curtains hadn’t been drawn yet.

“Hey there Darlin’, thought this might help.”

Letting you take it from his hand, “What is it?”

“It’s– I… don’t know actually.”

She tends to also suffer from insomnia occasionally.

Over the years she has perfected some remedies that she keeps on hand most nights.

Very quickly learns to keep an eye on you during the day, staying close when she notices any physical differences.

***

“There’s my رجل وسيم,” Looking around to find Ana leaning against the counter, cradling a cup of, what you could only assume was tea, in her hands. “Thought you fell asleep on me.”

“Me, falling asleep? You should know better, Ana.”

Leaning over to grab the cup that she made for you earlier, pausing as she placed a kiss on your cheek.

“Guess I should.”

***

رجل وسيم - handsome man

[venture4treasure]

"Happy Birthday, Venture"

Words: 657

Premise: Venture’s birthday unfortunately overlapped an important Overwatch mission, but you do your best to make the best of it for them. 

Warnings: None

Three hours into a flight back to Gibraltar, and most of the agents have been lulled to sleep by the exhaustion of the mission aided by the gentle rumble of the plane engine. 

You slip into the empty seat besides Venture, they’re staring absent-mindedly out the window, head resting against their hand propped up on the tray table. They don’t make any acknowledgement of your presence. 

“Sloan,” you ask, your hand ghosting over their shoulder – unsure of if touch would startle them. 

They snap towards your voice, blinking a couple times to ground themselves before breathing out an exasperated groan. 

“Sorry, sorry,” they say, waving their hands for emphasis, “didn’t mean to ignore you, love”. 

“It’s fine,” you smile, reaching for a towel to wipe at some of the dirt on their face, “you didn’t wash up earlier?” 

“I was tired and thought I’d knock out instantly,” Venture leans back into their seat, “instead I’ve been thinking, getting into my own head about things”.

“Penny for your thoughts?” You hum. 

“It’s my birthday, I almost forgot with how busy everything has been,” Venture explains, “guess this whole ‘saving the world’ thing doesn’t come with vacation days”. 

“It’s also my first birthday away from family,” Venture adds, quieter, “like it was going to happen one day, but I really wish I were home with mi abuelita and not on this mission”.

Venture pauses, reflecting on what they’ve said. They make a face, sticking their tongue out as if spitting out something gross. 

“What am I saying,” they whine, “of course I want to protect the people and artifacts of Dorado, but…” 

You reach your arm across Venture’s neck, pulling them in for a hug. 

“No, I get it. We’re all so tired with everything recently,” you lean back, tracing their eye bags with your thumb – you can’t imagine how exhausted they are between Overwatch and the Wayfinders Society, it’s bad enough just trying to keep up with Overwatch alone these days. 

“Anyways,” you chirp, rummaging through your bag to take out a tupperware container. 

“Cupcakes,” you cheerily announce, “I wouldn’t forget your birthday”. 

Venture stares at you, at a loss for words. 

“How did you get them aboard?” 

“Who’s checking,” you ask back. Ana does, your mind helpfully supplies. But she all but encouraged you when you bashfully explained why, so that doesn’t count. 

Venture makes a noise, surrendering to your point. They pick up a cupcake, taking a bite.

“It’s good,” they lick their lips, “better than the rations on the plane for sure”. 

You agree, digging through your stuff again for a plastic bag that you haphazardly drop besides the cupcakes. 

“Rocks?” Venture asks, amused. 

You pick out one of the ‘rocks’ from the bag, breaking it in half to show them.

“Cake balls” you correct, popping the dessert in your mouth, “they’re really good, I got the recipe from Lena”.

“Lena cooks?” Venture raises a brow in disbelief, picking a cake ball for themselves. 

“No,” you laugh, “Emily does though, she's fantastic”.

The two or you eat in silence for some time, breaking the peace to show each other social media posts on your phones. 

“Oh,” you pull out a yellow slip of paper from your pocket, “I got this for you too”.

Venture takes the note, unfolding it to read its content. 

“A paid leave of absence…” Venture reads to themself, “from the Wayfinders Society and Overwatch?” 

“This isn’t real”. 

“It very much is,” you huff, “took forever to find who manages this kinda stuff for the Wayfinders, but Winston was happy to give you your well-deserved break”. 

Venture lets out a choked noise, catching you in a tight hug, shoving their face against your neck. You can feel them silently tear up. You hold them closer, running your hand comfortingly across their back. 

“Go enjoy a break with your abuelita,” you say.

“I will,” they assure, still clutching onto you.

“Happy birthday, Sloan”.  

Author’s Note: One (now a couple, oops) day late because I forgot until I saw a tweet about it.

[kpop---scenarios]

Reckless (9) - Final

Pairing: Lee Know x Reader

Warning: N/A

Word Count: 2k

A/N: Thank you all so much for reading and enjoying this story! I'm so sad it's come to an end!

Taglist: @hyunjinhoexxx @ovulatingrn @jisunglyricist @guiltycoco @fawnpeaks @purple-bell @caught-in-the-afterglow @ana-marais98 @rylea08 @astraystayastayastray @partyparty-yah @skzswife @sillyhal @feellikecinderella @asphalstead @minh0scat @anthropologymajorkpopmultistan @hyun-hwanj @zerefdragn33l @stelle-aka-simp @iambangchanswife

@seungminsapuppy @chanbahng29 @blackbluerose666 @mmarusa @gabriellamarie

@glitter-z

Previous Chapters

“I love you.” You tell Minho, grabbing his hands. “I'll always love you, but you and me, right now, cannot happen.”

His head drops, you can see his shoulders shake as you hear his breath shudder, letting it out. ”I'm sorry. But I need time. You need time. We need to heal, separately and if when I'm back in a few months, then we can see.” You whisper.

You did give him a guarantee. You couldn't. You didn't know how you were going to heal or who was going to help you heal. You couldn't tell him how you would feel in a few months. You had no idea yourself even.

“I'll wait for you. I'm going to start going to therapy, I'm really going to turn my life around to be the best version of myself for you.” He tells you.

“Don't do it for me, Minho. Do it for you. And if I'm lucky enough, I'll get to be with that version. But if someone comes into your life, don't reject them just because of me. If we're meant to be, then we will be.” You smile. “Now go, I have to finish packing and I have to be at the airport really early.”

“Can I take you?” He asks.

“Jisung is.. but you can come.” You say. He half smiles, nodding his head before turning out of your room. Your heart felt heavy and it took everything in you not to burst into tears and hold onto him for dear life. You didn't want to leave him but you knew if you stayed, things would get worse. The two of you would be toxic and you didn't want either of you to end up like that. You loved him as he loved you. And if your love was strong enough then it could withstand some distance.

“Be safe. Call me. Alot.” Jisung chuckles, giving you the biggest hug. You moved on to Jisoo, and then Hyunjin and then Chan, who all had also decided to come see you off. The last person you had there was Minho. You wrap your arms around him as he holds you so close. You take a deep breath, inhaling his scent for the last time for a while. You both pull away, you smile at him, he smiles back. He presses his lips to yours, a short, sweet peck. A tear rolls down your cheek. He wipes it away with his thumb, keeping his palm on your cheek.

“I love you.” He whispers.

“I love you.” You whisper back. You leave the group of the people you loved most in the world, walking through the gates to your fresh start.

When you landed, it was like you finally felt like you could breathe. You gathered your bag and went to the front doors of the airport, seeing a driver with your name on a sign. He took your bags, leading you outside to his car. The air smells different, it was almost crisper, fresher, the vibes were nicer, the people seemed happier. You immediately fell in love with the place, and you'd barely seen anything yet.

Over the next few days, you got used to your schedule, you finally met your roommate, she was so nice. You made a few friends from your classes and you felt like you were beginning to live again. As the days went on, they passed into weeks, and with every second, every minute, every hour, you thought less and less about Minho. You thought less about the agonizing months the two of you went through, the betrayal you felt from your own brother. Your mind was becoming clearer, and you were beginning to wonder if Minho was truly the right fit for you and you needed to find out if you were capable of loving someone else so passionately. So when a guy from your class asked you on a date, there was no hesitation when you said yes, and you honestly were so glad you did.

“You look gorgeous.” Keeho smiles, offering his hand to you. You happily take it, walking down the street from your dorm, following his lead. The two of you talked while you walked, looking in all the little shops, never running out of things to talk about it. It was refreshing, and so easy. There were no games, no secrecy, no toxicity and it was something you clearly had been craving. The sense of normalcy in a relationship, though you weren't sure if you were quite ready for that. You were happy enough to just be out doing things with someone new.

“So, what was your life back in your hometown?” Keeho asks. The two of you had sat down at a little restaurant with tables outside, ordering a few appetizers as the two of you learned more about each other.

“It was, um.” You pause. “Eventful?” You say, unsure of the word yourself.

“That's definitely a first.” Keeho laughs. “I've never heard someone describe their life as eventful.”

“It wasn't eventful in a good way.” You say, twiddling your thumbs under the table. “I don't really wanna get into it right now, but there are important people that hurt me, that I left behind when I came here. I needed a fresh start to clear my head.”

“You don't have to tell me anything if you're not comfortable.” Keeho smiles. “I'm glad you're here though.” He says.

“I'm glad I'm here too.” You grin. “And thank you for tonight. It's been a while since I've been this happy.”

“You have a beautiful smile. I would love to see you happy all the time.” Keeho says, just as the food is being brought out. You look down, hiding the blush that has spread across your face. Suddenly you see Minho in your head. A split second flash of his face and guilt consumed you. You knew you shouldn't feel guilty, you weren't dating him.

“You okay?” Keeho asks, bringing you out of your thoughts.

“Yeah, I'm all good.” You laugh, digging into the food. “Oh my god.” You say. “This is so good.”

“Right? I could eat here everyday.” Keeho exclaims.

That night, you laid in your bed, listening to the faint snores of your roommate as you stared at your ceiling. After Keeho had dropped you off, you took a shower, and called Jisung. It took all you had not to ask about Minho, you really just wanted to know how he was doing. A single tear rolls down your cheek. You close your eyes, picturing the way Minho wiped it away that morning at the airport. You missed his touch but you had only been gone for a month. It wasn't time, you weren't done with your healing. You were just beginning, still having four months left here.

Over the next few months, you and Keeho became almost inseparable. If you weren't in class, you were studying together, going out to eat, for drinks, hanging out with other friends. The feeling was quite indescribable but you were so happy and you really liked Keeho. Until, he leaned in to kiss you, and while he was a good kisser, and it was a nice kiss, the romantic feelings, the sparks, just weren't there. It was disappointing because he was such a nice guy, but you couldn't help how you felt.

“I really like you, Y/N.” Keeho smiles as he pulls away from you.

“I like you too..” you pause. His smile fades.

“But?” He asks.

“I really wanted to feel something romantic towards you. Like, desperately. But there's someone back home.. that I apparently just can't get over.” You sigh.

“Your first love?” He asks. You nod your head. “Is he the cause of those eventful months you talked about a while ago?”

You nod your head again. “Before I left, he told me he was going to try really hard to change and to do better. And as much as I want to move on from him, it seems to be impossible.” You sigh.

“I don't think the feelings of your first love ever really go away.” He chuckles. “I know if my first love popped back up, it would be over for everyone.”

“I'm really sorry.” You say.

“Don't be. But don't lose him, like I lost mine. I was such a piece of shit to her, but I wasn't willing to change for her. If he has changed then hold onto him, but if he hasn't, don't be afraid to let him go, Y/N.”

“I'm gonna miss you.” You sniffle, wrapping your arms around him.

After Keeho dropped you off that night, you made a quick call to the airline, changing your flight to the next morning, instead of a few days later like your original flight. You were ready to go home and see everyone. When you landed, Hyunjin and Chan were waiting at the airport for you. They smiled so widely as they embraced you tightly, groaning about how they were never going to let you go again.

“It's been like a year.” Hyunjin whines.

“It was like 5 months.” You giggle.

“That's basically a year.” He sighs.

“It's good to have you home.” Chan grins, ruffling your hair.

The three of you walk out of the airport, heading to the car where you were heading to surprise Jisung at home. He had thought you were arriving for a few more days, so you were excited to shock him by just showing up.

You leave your bags with the boys, heading straight inside, hoping Jisung was actually home. You open the door, walk in. “Helloo?” You call out. “Is anybody home?”

“Y/N!?” Jisung screams, running from the kitchen. He bolts straight for you, almost knocking you over as he wraps his arms around you. “How?” He gasps. “When? How?”

“I just missed you all too much.” You laugh, holding onto him even tighter. He lets go of you, taking your hand in his to pull you to the kitchen. “I have something to show you.” He says. You get into the kitchen seeing Jisoo standing there, facing away from you.

“Are you gonna hug me or what!?” You laugh. “Also so glad you guys worked things out.”

“Well we kinda had too.” Jisoo giggles, turning around. Your mouth drops as he rubs her belly.

“It's a girl.” She sniffles.

“I'm.. I'm gonna be an auntie?” You gasp. You rush over to her, hugging her so tightly before pulling Jisung in for a hug as well. “I'm so happy for you guys.” You whine.

“Jisung as a dad, who would have thought, huh?” You hear. Turning around you see Minho standing there, a smile on his healthy looking face. He looks happy, and so good.

“Never thought I'd see the day.” You smile.

“Good to have you back, Y/N.” He says, walking up to you with his arms open. You walk into him, wrapping your arms around him. It felt so good, so right. It felt like home.

“I missed you.” You say.

“I missed you too.” He says. “How was it?”

“It was good.” You tell him, releasing him from the hug. “I met a lot of really great people.” You smile.

“Did you.. move on?” He asks.

“I hung out with this guy for a while, he kissed me, but it just didn't feel right.” You say. “But he really helped me heal and figure things out.”

“I'm glad you were able to heal, and become yourself again.” He tells you.

“Me too. You look well..did you.. move on?” You ask.

“No.” He chuckles. “I had a lot of self reflection to do and a lot of self improvement to work on. Y/N, I swear.” He pauses. “If you give me one more chance, I will never make you feel the way I did. I promise you.”

“I think.. I'd like to start over.” You grin.

He laughs. “Well in that case.. Hi, my name is Minho and I'd really like to take you out for coffee.”

“Hi Minho, I'm Y/N.. I'd really like that.”

The end.

[tonyspank]

CHAPTER ONE | THE PARTY & THE AFTER PARTY

Warnings; Uhhhh idk?

A/N: I never had to actually make coffee at my job, I kinda jus put the filter then dump out the coffee bag so… my apologies if it sounds crazy. (For all my professional coffee makers.)

Jenna Ortega x G!P Reader

series masterlist | main masterlist | previous chapter | next chapter

"I have a medium lavender ice latte with oat milk for, Ana?" You call out to half full coffee shop. A blonde in about her twenties walks up to the counter, you smile before handing her her drink.

"Have a wonderful day," She grins, "Thank you so much, you too!" Your co-worker speaks up from behind you, "I still don't understand why you're not somewhere strumming your guitar."

You've been working at Hughes Coffee since you can remember, you just happened to be walking by the place and noticed the Now Hiring signs on the door, of course, you had to go through an interview process but you landed the job and became close with the owner and his daughter.

Once she had officially turned eighteen he changed the shop name in honour of her, and she absolutely loved it.

You playfully roll your eyes before turning around to fully face her, "Alora," You begin causing her to hum in response. "I literally have to stay here to keep you in check. Ever since Mr. Hughes changed the name to Alora's Coffee you've been acting a little bit stuck up." You joke, illustrating how much with your thumb and pointer finger.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever," She points behind you, "Take care of that customer. I have to use the bathroom," You jump up in the straightest position ever, saluting to her. "Yes! General!"

She laughs, walking to the back. Turning around you're met with a familiar face, "Jack."

He smiles raising his arms, "Bestie!" You chuckle, smiling at your indeed best friend. "Hey, Jack. What's up?"

He smiles, shrugging his shoulders. "Oh, nothing. Just checking in on you—" Suddenly he slams his hands on the counter, you jump and eye the shop as some customers as staring at the two of you.

"YOU REALLY THOUGHT YOU WOULD GET AWAY WITH LEAVING WITHOUT SAYING GOODBYE?" He practically yells, leaning into your face. You bite down on your lip, furrowing your eyebrows as you try and hold in your laugh.

"Uh? I thought I gave my goodbyes to my best messenger, did you not receive it?" Jack leans back, hands still on the counter. "Oh! You mean Jenna?" You nod your head, waving your pointer finger at him. "Yes, yes! Jenna, yup."

"And the same Jenna that couldn't stop talking about you." Your ears perk up at this, and your heart drops, but in a good way.

"Really?" You question, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible.

"Oh, yeah!" He continues. "She was like, she has the cutest laugh ever. She's so funny where'd you meet her at? Y/N this, Y/N that! Oh, Y/N! Blah, bleh, blah." He mocks with a high-pitched voice.

"Really?" This time you can't hide it, and you're smiling like an absolute idiot. "Really. I was going to give her your Instagram but you know, you left early. So insteadddd," He drags out, and you listen in.

"I told her that you're already dating someone, but don't worry! I didn't be specific and tell her that it was me." You blink, and when Jack doesn't say anything else, you blink again.

"You're lying, right?"

He thins out his lips, shaking his head. "No, why?" You go back to being nonchalant, not wanting Jack to have this over you.

One time you had liked this girl freshman year and Jack would not stop talking about it. And every time he'd see her he'd tell her why won't she go out with you, or how she should give you her number. The girl would always laugh and shrug her shoulders.

Or Jack would come up with these fake stories about how you saved an entire family from a burning building, or how you had found the cure to cancer, the girl surprisingly played along, and would say stuff along the lines of, "Oh, I remember that." Or, "Oh yeah! I was there too."

"No reason," You say shrugging your shoulders, Jack nods staring at you a bit longer to see if he broke your shell of nonchalantness, if that was a thing.

Accepting defeat, but not fully he sighs out. "Welp, I have to go now. I promised Mason I'd stop by his place to try out his new sugar cookie recipe."

You send him a thumbs up, "Alright! Have fun!" You shout out, as he walks out the double glass doors.

You turned around grabbed a rag, and wiped down counters. It was rather late in the morning so it wasn't so busy, well, it wasn't as busy as it was earlier this morning, you were dead-ass sweating.

It comes back to you that Alora never came back out, so you decide to head to the back and go inside the employee break room. You're met with Alora laying across two chairs eating a bag of chips.

"Is this what you do every time you say you're going to the bathroom?" She jumps in surprise, sitting up she removes her left airpod. "Hello, friend." She grins cheekily. You send her a wave.

"Don't you think you should go back to the front?" She starts shooing you off with her hand, you back up, but remain looking at her.  "What about you?" She shushes, continuing her shooing motions."

You sigh out, leaning against the counter as you watch the customers in the store talk to their friends or type away on their computers.

You're so into the view you didn't hear the door open nor see the customer walk up towards the counter. Until you hear a ding noise come from the bell sitting on top of the counter.

"Shit," You mutter to yourself, you reach behind you, tying your apron tighter before walking over to the woman. "Fucking Jack," You slightly hear from her and it finally hits you once she takes off her glasses.

"That fucking sneaky bastard." You mumble to yourself.

"Hey, Jenna." You smile, Jenna smiles back placing her glasses in her purse. "Hey," She looks into your eyes, hating to admit she missed them, and so suddenly.

"Now I see why Jack told me to come here." You scratch your head, nodding. "He is a sneaky little bastard." She laughs at your words, "He actually called you the same thing when you left without saying goodbye, well technically you did, but.. I don't know." She catches herself rambling, making you smile.

"Did you want anything to drink?" You ask, drumming your fingers on the countertop. "It's on the house."

"Oh! Sure," Her eyes scan the menu, then you, specifically your name tag. You don't miss the smirk that slightly appears on her lips.

"Surprise me." Just as you're about to respond, Alora walks back out. "Good morning, how are you today?"

Jenna sends her a slight smile, "I'm great, thank you." She gives you one last look before going to sit down. Once it's clear that Jenna is no longer focused on you, Alora grabs your arm, her jaw-dropping. "Was that fucking Wednesday Addams?" You roll your eyes, moving to make Jenna's coffee."

You prepare one shot of Espresso Roast, and as you wait you pull out your phone, opening your messages with Jack.

i hate you

BESTIE

BESTIE DON'T SAY THAT?

i'm not the one who left w/o saying goodbye

I ASKED JENNA TO SAY GOODBYE?

whatever

don't you have to go like

impress her w your barista skills?

you're welcome by the way

goodbye jack

OH NOW U WANNA

SAY GOODBYE

You laugh before putting away your phone. And pouring your Espresso Roast into the mug.

"Her name is Jenna. But yes, she has played Wednesday Addams." Alora watches you, and her smile increases. "You know... I'm very happy that you work here."

You chuckle, preparing your froth milk. Using the Nespresso Aeroccino, you put the milk on the medium froth setting. And add in a bit of vanilla syrup, stirring it in the coffee. "You're only saying that because every now and then Jack will recommend your shop to one of his famous friends,"

She throws her hands up excitedly, "One of his very attractive famous friends!" You lean against the counter waiting for your milk. "Could you watch the counter while I talk to her?" Your voice is lower than usual.

"I fucking got you!" You can't help but laugh, taking your milk and gently pouring it inside the cup until it's almost full. Alora packages up a cookie before softly handing it to you.

"Go get her tiger," Rolling your eye playfully, you make your way toward Jenna, cookie and drink in hand. She sets down her phone and her face lights up seeing you make your way over to her booth.

"A blonde vanilla latte and a chocolate chip cookie for the one and only," You place her order in front of her, sitting down across the table.

She eyes you as she takes a sip, humming in joy. "Wow, this is good." She licks her lips, placing down the cup.

"So... Y/N," She begins. You fight back a smile, looking down at your name tag. "How long have you been addicted to cigarettes."

If you had something in your mouth you definitely would've spit it out. But instead, you're taken aback, "Uh? I don't know? A while,"

She hums, taking another sip of the drink you made her. "Not a lot of people know it but, I actually specialize in helping people with addictions."

You chuckle, "Really?"

"Of course, I'm a professional." You tap your fingers on the table. "So how do your services work exactly?"

"Usually I charge a hefty amount of money, but since we're such good friends. Money is not a problem, instead.." You raise your eyebrows in anticipation.

"Let's make a deal." You nod, telling her to go on. "You let me take you out on seven dates, if I don't manage to at least help you fight your addiction then you don't have to worry about seeing my face ever again. But if I do, then I get to take you out on more."

A huge smile has appeared on your face, "You're going to take me out? To help fight my addiction?" She nods, again sipping on her drink.

"Do we have a deal?" You hold out your hand, and she quickly shakes it.

"It's a deal Ortega," She smirks but doesn't hide it this time.

[princessamericachavez]

911 6x14 Spec

By the time Eddie gets home he’s welcomed by the distinct smell of Bobby’s shepherd pie recipe, which he knows for a fact Buck’s been perfecting during their shifts. It smells homey and comforting and absolutely wonderful. 

He follows the smell to the kitchen, where Buck’s washing the dishes. He’s wearing a soft navy hoodie with the sleeves rolled up and has a white drying towel slung over his shoulder. He looks at ease and comfortable and suddenly Eddie feels terribly overdressed. 

“Hey,” he calls as he walks in, taking off the red jacket his tia had insisted on for tonight. 

Buck turns around, eyebrows high with surprise. 

“You’re home early.”

“Yeah, it was... faster than I expected,” Eddie huffs a laugh, hanging the jacket on the back of a chair before sitting on it. 

“I know you said you were letting her down easy,” Buck says, turning around with his back against the counter, “but I thought you’d at least make it through dinner.”

“There was no dinner. She took me to a nightclub.”

“For a first date?” Buck laughs. “With you?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” It can’t be that weird for Eddie to go out dancing every once in a while. He’s thirty four, not eighty.

“Nothing, nothing! Just not what I would- never mind. Still, that’s good, right? It’s an easier place to just tell her you’re not interested.”

“You’d think,” Eddie huffs. “But she beat me to it.”

“Wait- She turned you down?” Buck’s voice is colored by something between shock and indignation, like the sole idea of not wanting to date him is the most ridiculous thing he’s ever heard. 

“Yeah, she said she wasn’t ready for a serious relationship but her tia keeps setting her up, too. So we just decided on some fake date story and called it quits after a margarita.”

Buck seems pensive at that, for a moment, before he turns his ever curious eyes towards him. 

“Well, you said you didn’t want something serious either. Kinda sounds like the perfect match, actually, if you guys just wanted to have some fun,” he says, trying to be light, but Eddie knows him well enough to notice some caution behind his words, some trace of suspicion. 

“First of all, I never said I don’t want something serious, okay? I do,” and for some reason it seems important to him that Buck understands that bit of information. “I just... I’m not sure if I’m ready for it. Not yet, anyway.”

Ana María’s remark about not wanting her own heart broken echoes in the back of his head. 

“And second of all...?” Buck asks, eyeing him intensely. 

“Second of all, even if I didn’t want something serious, dating around and just going out... I don’t know if it’s for me. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with it, but being a single dad makes it complicated. I’m not letting anyone into Chris’s life unless I know I want them to stick around forever.”

Something curious happens to Buck’s face then. The expression that flashes through his eyes is a mix of confusion and delight and surprise that eventually overflows into tearfulness. It lasts a millisecond before Buck duck’s his head, trying to hide a smile, and turns around with his focus back on the dirty dishes... 

Eddie knows his best friend’s heart like he knows his own and doesn’t need any mind-reading powers to know exactly what just happened. Some day, Eddie swears, he’ll get Buck to stop looking so surprised by the fact that Eddie wants him in his life. 

“Speaking of Chris,” Buck says, with his back turned to Eddie, “he’s supposed to be in bed already, but I’m pretty sure he’s been sneaking the Percy Jackson book under the covers when he thinks I’m not looking.”

Eddie laughs at that, shaking his head. 

“I was planning on checking on him in a bit, to make sure he was sleeping,” Buck adds, like he’s trying to show Eddie he can be a responsible adult even if he has to play the mildly bad cop. 

“I’ll do it and kiss him goodnight,” he says, standing up. 

As he walks to the door, he can hear Buck getting back to work on the dishes. It makes him pause. It doesn’t seem fair that his friend, on top of helping him look after Chris, has to clean everything up. 

“You can leave that, Buck. I’ll take care of it tomorrow morning.”

Buck half turns to look at him with a confused frown. 

“Eddie, I’m not gonna just leave you with this mess. You know Bobby taught me better than that,” he smirks. “Besides, I’m nearly done. I don’t mind.”

The easy earnest in his voice makes something inside Eddie’s chest melt with fondness. 

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it. You know I’m happy to be here,” Buck waves it off. “Go kiss, Chris.”

Eddie makes sure to make noise as he approaches his son’s bedroom and he pretends not to hear the rustling of bedsheets before he opens the door. Christopher is still too young to realize how obvious his not-sleeping-breathing is, but Eddie pretends to buy it as he kisses his forehead and brushes his curls out of his forehead. He puts the book away on the bookshelf, for good measure, and leaves the door slightly open before he walks back out. 

By the time he makes it back to the kitchen, the place is nearly spotless and there’s a plate of warm shepherd’s pie on the kitchen table. He stares at it, then at Buck, who shrugs with a sheepish smile that is way too cute for a man his size. 

“You said you didn’t get to eat dinner. Figured you must be hungry.”

The thoughtfulness of the gesture makes Eddie’s insides melt once more. His chest feels like it might burst with whatever feeling is expanding inside it. 

“Starving, actually,” he admits, sitting down. 

Buck opens the fridge and hands him a beer. 

“Wanna join me?” Eddie asks, pointing to the chair in front of him. 

“I already ate,” Buck laughs, “two servings, actually. But I’ll have a beer with you.”

Eddie watches as Buck pulls a second beer from the fridge and sits across from him, waiting until they are both seated to start eating (his mom drilled manners into him, after all). 

...and that’s how the night ends in a much sweeter note than he expected. He eats Buck’s homemade food, they drink together, one, two, three beers and maybe get a little tipsy while they talk about life, work and everything in between. Eddie laughs more than he did the whole night out and insists Buck crash his couch because it’s too late to get an Uber home (it isn’t that late, actually, but it’s ridiculous that Buck’d need to go home all alone at this point when Eddie has a perfectly good and comfortable couch). 

While Eddie helps Buck prepare his makeshift bed, his friend catches him off guard: 

“So, do you think you’ll ever be ready? I- I mean... to start dating again. For something real.”

Buck pins him with a pair of tired blue eyes, hopeful like they’d been after the lightning strike, and a little sad too. 

“Yeah... yeah, I think I’m getting there. I think... I think it depends on the person, most of all.”

“Right,” Buck nods, thoughtfully. 

“In the meantime, I gotta figure out what to do with tia Pepa. She’s not gonna relent so easily.”

“Just tell her you’re already seeing someone,” Buck shrugs, flopping down on the couch with a sigh. He closes his eyes and melts down on the soft cushions with a small smile across his lips. “You can tell her you’re dating me or something, if it’ll get her off your back.”

Eddie should laugh and brush it off, because Buck is jut kidding, but the idea makes a little too much sense to discard it just yet. 

“I might take you up on that.”

Buck’s eyes open and stare at him with pure shock that startles a laugh out of him. 

“As a last resort.”

“Ouch. I’m that bad an option, uh?” Buck winces. 

Eddie rolls his eyes. 

“Not bad, but if I tell her that then she’s never gonna let it go and I don’t think you want her grilling you forever on how our relationship is going.”

“You’re assuming she’d believe you.”

“Right, she’d never buy it,” Eddie huffs, smiling down at his best friend. “I don’t think I’m your type.”

Buck squints up at him, a little too serious. “What do you think my type is, Diaz?”

Girls. Redheads. Emotionally unavailable women who’ll hurt you and leave you and that I’ll quietly hate forever for it. Definitely not single dads still trying to figure out their messy lives. Not that Eddie cares.

“Whatever it is, I don’t think I’m pretty enough to qualify,” Eddie similes, giving Buck’s bent knee a pat. “Sleep well, man.”

He’s tired, and tipsy, and a little confused, so he’s pretty sure he imagines it when he turns off the lights and hears Buck whisper in the dark living room, “You’re definitely pretty enough.”

[outsideratheart]

I’ll protect you (Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic x reader)

Based off this request.

Have you ever met someone who you instantly have a connection with? Where it's like you knew each other in a past life and your first meeting is actual a reunion? That is the way you would describe the day you met Ana.

Now almost three years later the two are you are inseparable although neither one of you have confessed that you want your relationship to be more than platonic.

One of the things you loved about Ana was her commitment to the team and the Catalonian people. It came as a shock when she picked up Spanish as quickly as she did but it could be argued that it wasn't the student that was good, it was you the teacher.

Her passion carried over when Barcelona played Real Madrid, the legendary El Classico.

"Someone's excited" you spot Ana in her locker, her knee bouncing up and down.

"And you're not? I know you love this match just as much as me, if not more" Ana helps you tape your wrists, it was your first of many pre match rituals.

"I know that with Jenni gone and Alexia on the sidelines I am going to be their number one target"

In every El Classico so far, Real Madrid were predictable. They made it known very early on in the game who they wanted to take out. You enjoyed it and you loved any chance to tease your Madrid counterparts although they didn't find it fun getting beat time and time again.

"I'll protect you" Ana is deadly serious when she makes her promise to you.

"I can look out for myself. Focus on getting the ball in the back of the net"

History is sure to repeat itself as Barcelona find themselves 2-0 up just before half time. Madrid start to get desperate but it was to be expected and you warned the girls of this. Esther was no longer hiding her intention to hurt you and after the third of fourth tackle she got a yellow card. At this point you thought she would back off in fear of getting a second and then a red only this doesn't happen.

The half time whistle blows and instead of going into the locker room, you go straight for the woman that has been on your back the entire game.

"Keep going Esther. You know I have my limits and you are dangerously close" you body check her before walking away.

"I barely touched you. You just don't know how to play football without your friends. The whole world knows that you're struggling to play without Alexia and it is only a matter of time before they see that you're not worth the credit you get" Esther spits.

"Shut up or the next thing to come out of your mouth with be your teeth" Ana's presence startles you.

Esther continues rambling as she walks through the tunnel, her voice becoming quieter with every step she takes.

"She's right" you admit as you sink into your locker.

"No, she isn't and you'll prove her wrong when you go back out there and show the world just how good Y/N Y/L/N is"

Ana always has faith in you even when you didn't. Over the past few months you have doubted yourself more than ever but she was always there to remind you who you are.

In the second half you played with a new purpose, to show Esther who Spain's best forward was. With your confidence level at an all time high it led to Esther making more tackles than she did in the first half and every one she made got worse and worse.

Whilst you remain level headed you knew Ana was get close to blowing up. She liked to protect you whether that was in a nightclub when a stranger refused to take no for answer or like today when you're get getting hurt and nothing is being done about it.

The final nails on the Real Madrid coffin come in the form of two more goals, both coming from you. After the second one you saw the opportunity to taunt Esther and get in her head so after you finished celebrating with your team you look directly at her and do her signature celebration. You knew that it would anger her more but you no longer cared. There was only 7 minutes left on the clock, you could handle it.

Barcelona receive a corner which doesn't go to plan. Instead of football it becomes a game of ping pong, the ball going from head to head. You see it coming your way and you jump to head in the direction of the goal but at the last minute you see Esther coming towards with her foot high. Already in the air, you close your eyes and wait for her foot to hit your head only it doesn't, instead you feel her studs connect with your sternum.

The breath is knocked out of you, a mixture of the impact and the force in which you hit the floor.

"Y/N" Aitana tries to get your attention but your eyes remain shut as you try to focus on your breathing.

Something else that sticks out is the headache that comes thick and fast, you know you must have hit it on the floor when you fell. Your surroundings are a blur but you recognise the sound of the medics asking you question.

"I-can't-breathe" you say through laboured breaths.

"Try to stay still" one of them tells you.

"Ana" you use all your energy to call out for the one woman you want by your side.

"I'm here Y/N. Everything's going to be ok" Ana takes a hold of your hand. When she sees you close you eyes she squeezes you hand tightly so that you know she is there even if you can't see her.

Ana has never felt more helpless in her life. The medics cut open your shirt so they can asses the damage, it's something she wasn't ready to see. There in the middle of your chest was a boot print, some marking had even opened up and blood was trickling down your chest. You wince when you feel someone brush over the point of impact.

You swat the hand away immediately.

"Y/N let them do there job, please" you turn your attention to Ana. Her face is pale and you see a single tear roll down her cheek.

The medics lift you onto the stretcher, Ana remaining by your side the entire time. That is until she hears Esther speak ill of you, yet again, only this time she does something about it.

"At least now she gets to watch in the stands with dear La Reina" Esther jokes with her teammates only no one is laughing. Their faces drop when they see the Swiss international approaching them at speed.

"You're so insecure of your own abilities that you purposely try to hurt Y/N. You are a discrace and don't deserve to play football" Ana shoves Esther, sending her to the floor but she is soon back to her feet.

"Mierda!" Patri says as she runs after her team mate, others follow in suit.

Patri and Irene try their hardest to pull Ana away but nothing they do works.

"Come on" Patri begs.

"Don't let her get to you" Irene adds.

They both grab hold of her but she shrugs them off, clearly she wasn't done with the Madrid forward.

"You better hope she is ok or the next time we meet i'll--" Ana threatens only to be cut off.

"You'll do what?" Esther pushes Ana again.

This time Ana shoves her a lot harder than the first time and Esther hits the floor hard.

"You don't want to find out"

"Ana, walk away" Marta, who has been called over for extra help says "They are taking her to the hospital. Jona has got Mariona ready to sub in for you but if don't leave now you won't be able to go with Y/N"

This seems to work because Ana runs off the pitch without saying another word. She ignores the ref but thanks her coach when she gets to the side lines.

Later than night you are discharged from the hospital. After getting several scans you are told that you have a minor concussion due to the fall and a broken sternum thanks to Esther.

Ana accompanies you back to your apartment and insists on staying the night despite you telling her numerous times that you are fine. After all the doctors gave you some strong painkillers which reduced the pain significantly although you were warned that you would be very sore in the morning.

She helps you get changed, turning around when you are indecent even though she has seen you topless number of times.

Once in bed Ana helps you get comfy before leaving.

"I thought you said you were staying the night" even though you are adamant you don't need help you were still looking forward to the sleepover with your best friend.

"I'll be in the living room. You need to get some rest" Ana leans against the door frame.

When she sees you pouting she shakes her head ever so slightly. You pull back the corner of the duvet on the empty side of the bed and pat it a couple of times.

"Ana-Maria Crnogorcevic please come to bed"

Ana loved the way you said her name. The way you pronounced every syllable and how your spanish accent meant you rolled the r's. It made saying no to you incredibly difficult and you were fully aware of this, it's why you did it.

The two of you gets settled and Ana picks out a movie, one that she is sure you've never seen before. You may be focused on the TV but whenever you look over to your best friend you find her staring at your chest.

"Stop looking at my boobs"

"I -- I wasn't looking at them -- I mean I was but I wasn't -- I was looking at--" Ana face rivals the colour of a beetroot at your accusation.

"Looking at this" you pull the front of your tank top down revealing all of the marks left by Esther's boot.

"I told you I would protect you" Ana refuses to look you in your eyes as she thinks about how she failed you.

"There's nothing you could have done and from what i've heard you defended my honour afterwards" you could tell that Ana felt bad about you getting hurt and whilst you don't mind being the damsel in distress if she is the one saving you, you knew that this was just one of those times where nothing or no one could stop Esther from her attack.

"It's my fault"

"Really Ana?" You were staring to get annoyed. Ana was making is obvious that she wanted to punish herself but you really didn't want to spend the night talking about what happened.

"Don't look at me like that" Ana senses your annoyance "I provoked her at half time and since then her tackles got worse. She knew that by going after you she would be hurting me"

"This isn't about you"

"No it's not. It's abut you Y/N. Do you know how scared I was? I told you I would protect you and I failed you. I couldn't protect the woman I" Ana stops herself before she says something she cannot take back.

Your eyes widen when you realise what she was about to say. Is this really what it took for you both to admit your feelings. Was you getting put in the hospital your version of an airport confessions from the movies.

"Finish your sentence" you tell her. The expression on your face is serious. No part of you wants her to think you are making fun of her.

"I can't"

"Please"

Then it hits her. You know what you was about to say and you want her to say it anyway.

Ana tucks a stray hair behind your ear, her palm rests on your cheek and you melt into her touch. She looks you in the eye then at your lips, you didn't pull away from her touch yet she was still hesitating.

"Fuck it" you lean forward, ignoring the pain that rises to your chest at the sudden move and kiss your best friend.

It is Ana who deepens this kiss but you have to push her away.

"Ow, ow, ow" you lay back down as you try to get your breathe.

"Sorry. That's my fault, I shouldn't have -"" Ana begins to apologise only for you to cut her off.

"I swear to god Ana if you blame yourself once more I am kicking you out"

Ana hold her hands up in surrender. In this moment she would do anything to stay with you.

"Come here" Ana extends her arms so you can lay against her side" Carefully" you warns when she hears you wince.

The two of you go back to watching the film only for Ana to pause it after 20 minutes.

"The woman I love. I love you Y/N" Ana finishes her sentence.

You turn slightly so that you can face her.

"I love you Ana-Maria" you softly kiss her again. You want her and in this moment you ignore the pain you are feeling.

Ana cups your face and gently pulls away. You pout at the lack of connection but this time is doesn't work.

"Don't look at me like that. I want this just as much as you do but I won't have you hurting yourself more" Your heart warms at how Ana was back to protecting you, only this time it was from yourself.

It took 2 weeks for your concussion to pass and 6 weeks for your broken sternum to heal. The day you got the green light Ana took you out on your first official date and that night the longing you two of you experienced over the years was let go.

[gibuckaroo]

Buck has never been jealous before because he thinks he has no place and right to be jealous about Eddie.

Of course he’s been uncomfortable with Eddie’s relationships before, any person who has expressed to be close with Eddie. Of course, he felt it with Ana, with Marisol, even Lena Bosko (and if he was being honest maybe he felt the most uncomfortable with Lena, because Lena wasn’t a partner outside of their space—she was there inside their home. She sat in the same bench press, she ate the food Cap made and shared it with Eddie, she bumped her knees with Eddie in that corner in the fire engine Buck thought would just be theirs, she exchanged war stories with him. She was his partner for a time, in the way Buck was Eddie’s partner), but the difference was they were all women.

And don’t get Buck wrong—he’s not lumping women together to just generalise and categorise them all in the same way. Women are all unique and strong and Buck loves women. He does. And that’s not the point, but the point is—even Lena couldn’t really occupy the space he thought he made in Eddie’s life because they were women. Nobody can know Eddie the way he does, in their self made relationship that rarely made sense to anybody else. Nobody can share that part of Eddie’s life other than him. Nobody can take care and relate and talk to Chris the way he does.

In Buck’s head, no man can ever be close to Eddie this way. And women, well, he has learned to live with it. After all, Eddie was married when he met him. He knows Eddie with women. He understands it. He accepts it. He knows someday, Eddie will settle down with an amazing woman and it will be hard at first, but Buck will be happy for him. He will accept it, he will learn how to live with it because that’s just how life is supposed to be.

And he was prepared, he’s been preparing.

So, sure, he’s been uncomfortable. Sue him, he has abandonment issues and a thousand other things wrong with his self esteem, so of course he’s going to be slightly uncomfortable with any new relationship Eddie forms.

But nothing prepared him for the gnawing that happens at his chest for the image of Eddie and Tommy Kinard.

Women, he was prepared. He knew, even platonically, he can never truly offer what they can to Eddie. He’ll never be able to fill that space, that role, that was never his to take.

But this? This is Buck’s space, this is his territory, this is his home.

And Eddie is smiling and touching him, letting his eyes flit over that man in such a fond earnest way that Buck thought it’d take him years to give. But here he was giving it to Tommy.

This; Buck can’t comprehend. This; Buck can’t understand. This; is eating him from the inside out. He can’t even bring himself to say anything afraid that anything that’ll come out of his mouth would reveal just how truly ugly and selfish and rotten his feelings are.

Tommy can come in Eddie’s life and fill the Buck shaped whole he has made sure to be there for the rest of their lives. Tommy can be Eddie’s best friend. He can easily imagine Tommy slotting in Eddie’s life, in Christopher’s too. He can imagine him there in the kitchen, beer in his hand and talking to Eddie about their days. He can picture him in the Diaz’s living room sleeping in Buck’s couch after ten rounds of video games. He can see him making Christopher laugh and taking him to the zoo and baking cupcakes with him.

Hell, he can even see Tommy and Eddie arrive at the Grant-Nash residence, shoulder to shoulder and laughing and talking and people would just accept it.

Because Buck has already taken that spot and people won’t notice that the person Eddie’s with now has a new face, has a brighter laugh, probably easier to be with, too.

Because fact is, Buck is replaceable. He is forgettable. Eddie once told him he thought he was expendable, and Eddie was right, but he was wrong about Buck being wrong.

Buck knows it.

Buck feels it already happening.

He’ll just be another person that went through Eddie’s life and Eddie will forget about him, about everything they’ve been through and he won’t pay him any thought after he leaves.

But Eddie?

Eddie will be with Buck wherever he goes after. Eddie will be there in the corner of his loft holding a beer that’s never going to be finished. Eddie will be there on his couch waiting for him. Eddie will be there in the passenger seat laughing as Buck zooms through traffic, but tells him to be safe once he gets off. Eddie will be there in every corner and every memory and every reason why Buck has become who he is the past few years.

Buck will never forget him.

But Eddie? Eddie’s already slowly forgetting him.

Eddie’s replacing his spot, and soon after, he won’t even remember that once, Buck was here.

And that Buck loved him, and Christopher, and the life they have made so much. And Buck will just fade, and fade and fade.

[httplilyyy]

𝐂𝐇𝐑𝐈𝐒𝐓𝐌𝐀𝐒 𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓𝐒 || 𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐗𝐈𝐀 𝐏𝐔𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐒

pairing: alexia putellas x reader

request: ‘hello, the christmas ideas are perfect. just going with hurt/angst because i love all those woso ficlets. alexia’s girlfriend is very ill and she goes to visit her in the hospital with mapi and amc but when they see y/n sitting all alone in the hospital bed the night turns very emotional. alexia suddenly opens up about how afraid she is to lose y/n and how they are all a mess without her.’

summary: alexia visits her girlfriend in the hospital and hopes to bring the christmas spirit with her, she however, along with her friends, weren't prepared to let the waterworks flow.

warnings: the ‘L-bomb’, angst, fluff, established relationship

word count: 1.5k

a/n: i wasn’t heavy on the angst and i trailed a little off the request but it still follows the same concept - i hope :)

woso masterlist it’s the most wonderful time of the year

Christmas is that one time of year where families come together, no matter what has happened in the past year, to celebrate, give gifts and receive all the love around them. It's the time of the year which kids, teens and adults look forward to.

No matter how old you are, everyone loves christmas. That is, if you're able to be there. Be there with your friends. Be there with your family. It's different when you're not there with everyone. The festive spirit isn't the same. Nothing is.

That's how you felt right now.

You were currently laying in a hospital bed only having a couple of weeks till christmas day. You weren't excited, you weren't sad. You didn't really feel anything. From staring at the same four walls everyday to late night phone calls with your girlfriend, you still felt nothing. Everything went by in a blur. Nothing mattered and nothing made sense.

You desperately wanted to be wrapped underneath a blanket with some hot chocolate watching a christmas movie with your girlfriend, but the harsh reality made it so you couldn't.

Your room was bland, boring and somewhat depressing, nothing screamed christmas, in fact, it said the opposite. You’d think the grinch had decorated everything.

The blinds were closed, blocking you from the outside world. Any get well soon cards were in a pile instead of standing up. Any flowers that were given to you were either on the verge of dying or already dead.

The only time where the room really felt as if there was any type of life was when your girlfriend was there.

Just the thought of your girlfriend brought a smile to your face, one that, even god himself, could never wipe off your face. She was the only reason you got to the holidays. She was the only one to get you through it.

As you laid in your room, staring up at the ceiling, you heard a little commotion from outside. You were soon made aware of what was going on when your girlfriend and your friends came barreling into your room.

“Hola, mi amor.” Alexia said with a smile as she came over to your side and gently placed a kiss on your forehead.

“You missed.” You smiled, childlike features taking over on your face.

“I’m sorry your highness.” Alexia chuckled as she placed a quick peck to your lips but as she was about to pull away you cupped her cheek and kept her close for just a little longer.

“Alright, break it up love birds.” Mapi groaned, making you and Alexia pull away from each other.

“Hello to you too, Mapi.” You chuckled as you looked at your best friend.

“How are you feeling?” The defender asked as she placed a box by your feet.

“Better.” You smiled, hoping that she would, along with your girlfriend, believe the lie.

“That’s good to hear.” Alexia said, taking a hold of your hand.

“I found it!” Ana shouted as she came into the room holding a tiny christmas tree.

As Ana stood at the door holding the christmas tree, you couldn't help but let out a small chuckle at your friend's antics. A small blush appeared on her face which only increased your amusement.

“What an entrance.” You applauded.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Ana said, feigning annoyance.

“So, what is all of this?” You asked, gesturing to the boxes they brought in.

“The Christmas spirit.” Mapi beamed.

“Meaning?”

“We’re going to help decorate your room to make it a little more festive.” Alexia said, giving your hand a squeeze.

“Alright, let me just get up.” You said and as you pushed yourself up to a sitting position you felt two pairs of hands stopping you from going any further.

“How about you have a little rest?” Mapi suggested as you looked between her hands holding you back and your girlfriends.

“That’s all I've been doing.” You groaned as your head hit the pillow once again.

“How about you help me decorate the christmas tree?” Ana wondered as she came to sit beside you, handing you the small object.

“Yeah, okay.” You smiled appreciatively at the woman.

Whilst you and Ana decorated the christmas tree, Mapi and Alexia decorated the rest of your room, starting by putting up the christmas lights.

It didn’t take long for you and Ana to finish up the christmas tree and the two of you watched on as your girlfriend and best friend fought over who was better at decorating.

“You are getting better, right? Ana whispered, not daring to look at you, afraid she’d break down into tears.

“Ana-” you started.

“You are, you have to be.”

“You have to listen to me.” You said softly, taking a hold of her hand causing the blonde to look at you.

“You're not, are you?” Ana stated rather than questioned, a tear rolling down her cheek.

You didn’t have to say anything as she already knew the answer. You shook your head from side to side with a sad smile and the reality of it all came crashing down.

You were getting better. Just not at that exact moment. It’s just like in sport, you have to lose a couple times before you win.

“Why didn’t you tell us?”

“It's Christmas.” You smiled sadly.

“This is the shittiest present ever.” Ana said, causing the two of you to let out teary chuckles.

“Yeah, sorry about that.”

“Hey, hey, hey. What's going on?” Alexia questioned as she looked at you and Ana.

You looked at Ana and that silently told Alexia what conversation had just gone on. Alexia felt her heart drop. Due to the silence, Mapi turned around from whatever she was doing to look at the three of you.

“No.” Mapi mumbled, shaking her head as it all hit her.

The silence was deafening, you could hear a pin drop. No one said anything, waiting for you to take the reins.

“I’m fine, I promise.” You sniffled, “It’s all going to be okay.”

“It’s not though, is it?” Mapi whispered as she sat at the edge of your bed. “You're getting worse.”

“Not necessarily,” you said, “I am getting better, it’s just going to take some time.”

“How long?” Ana asked.

“As long as it will take me.”

Throughout the conversations you had with Mapi and Ana, Alexia hadn’t moved from her spot. The gears turning in her head as she watched you talk with your friends. She didn’t realise she was crying until you turned to her with a worried gaze.

“Ale?” You questioned softly.

“Hm?” Alexia hummed, wiping away the tears she felt falling down her face.

“Come here.” You said, patting the spot next to you.

Alexia did as she was told and she made her way to sit beside you. Once she was seated, you took a hold of her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“I can’t lose you.” Alexia said quietly, so quietly you barely heard it.

“You won’t lose me,” you replied, “you're stuck with me forever.”

“Y/n, I am being serious. I can't do this without you.”

“I’m not messing around either, Ale.” You said as you sat up, gently cupping alexias face in your hand, using the pads of your thumbs to wipe away any stray tears that fell from her eyes.

“D’you promise?”

“Of course. I’ll be back on the pitch with you all before you know it.” You smiled, looking at the three Barca players sitting on your bed, each one of them with tears in their eyes.

“I hate seeing you like this.” Alexia said.

“I’m just getting ready for my revenge era.” You joked, earning a laugh from everyone.

“Hey! It’s snowing.” Mapi said as she pointed out the window.

“Way to change the subject, Maps.” Ana chuckled, slapping the defender lightly on the arm.

As the two of them continued to mess around, acting like children and running around the room, Alexia didn’t and could’t take her eyes off you.

“Don’t look at me like that.” You whispered with a smile.

“Like what?” Alexia grinned, a teasing tone lacing her voice, the Christmas lights that were now decorating your room, showing off every intricate detail on her face.

“Like you want to kiss me.”

“What’s wrong with that?” Alexia mumbled, leaning closer to you.

“Absolutely nothing.” You responded, closing the gap between the two of you and smiling into the kiss.

The two of you pulled away upon hearing Mapi making gagging noises along with Ana making kissing ones.

“Children, honestly.” You mumbled, shaking your head cursing them to laugh.

“You love us though.” Alexia smiled as you moved over on your bed so she could cuddle up beside you.

“That I do.” You chuckled, wrapping an arm around her and letting her get into a comfortable position against your body. “But I love you the most.”

“You better.” Alexia replied, placing a kiss to the underside of your jaw.

“You know I do” You chuckled.

“What is it?” Alexis asked once she noticed you went quiet for a little, also noticing your staring.

“Nothing,” you smiled, shaking your head, “you’re just absolutely ethereal.”

Placing one last kiss to her lips before you felt Mapi and Ana join you on your bed, putting on a movie for the four of you to watch.

[mapileonxputellas]

Confusion (Mapi Leon x Reader Part 3)

The long awaited Part 3, thank you all so much for the patience and all your help coming up with ideas.

I may come back to this for a part 4 but I want to take a break and do some requests next.

Suggestions one, two, three and four. Thank you!

Pre-season seemed to fly by and before you knew it the season had begun, Barca as expected starting on a winning streak and you made substitute appearances in both of the matches. You understood at this point that it was a matter of getting your fitness back up to their elite standard and you were now fighting for your position back.

Mapi and Alexia had been amazing though, either one or both of them joined you every weekend when you weren’t playing for a day out. When your first away match happened, Mapi had organised for her parents to look after Bella for the night when your babysitter had to cancel on you.

“You know you don’t have to do this right.” You told Mapi when she told you about her plan. “I’m just going to say I can’t go.”

“Stop being so damn stubborn and just accept the help.”

“You know from the night we met, she doesn’t settle when I’m not around. Maybe it was all just a mistake.”

“Don’t think like that, look we can go round to their place tonight and introduce Bella to them, they love children and honestly she’s going to love them. I can even bring Bagheera round to yours for the night when we’re away and she’ll forget you’ve even gone.” Mapi was firmly one of Bella’s favourite people in the world but if anyone was close to her it was that cat, you’d introduced them a few weeks ago and now every night she had to facetime Mapi and check in on her new feline friend.

“Are you sure they don’t mind?”

“They offered when I told them what was happening, I promise they don’t mind and if anything does happen when we’re away they’ll call straight away.”

“Ok.”

Thankfully the night away went without any trouble, as Mapi has reassured you, Bella was fine with the cat and her parents. The day after you had promised to make up for your time away by taking her to the zoo, which Mapi tagged along for even though you had reassured her several times she didn’t need to. She definitely filled a gap you always knew was there in your lives, even though you’d tried your absolute best to be everything Bella needed you knew she needed someone fun to weigh out the parental figure you had to be.

That was all done over the weekend though and now it was time to get back into training and focus on the important matters of the first Champions League match in a few days time.

You’d been spending extra time on the training field, determined to make sure you wouldn’t be a weak link in the team, even though all the stats in your substitute appearances had proven to the public that you were still the same player as before.

As you were coming out of the shower in the washroom adjoined to the changing room you could hear some of the other girls come in.

“Where’s Y/N?” You heard Jana ask whoever else was in there. “I thought she would be finished by now.”

You could almost picture the smirk on Ingrid’s face as she answered. “Probably wants to stay as long as possible, get out of her responsibilities for a bit longer.”

“What do you mean?”

“All I’m saying is that it must be hard on the little girl having a mum who has to be away for so long and then doesn’t even spend time with her when she’s here.”

You’d grown used to detecting people from their voices and the next to question her was definitely Ana. “What? What are you talking about?”

“I just heard Mapi talking about the babysitter she has along with the nursery she already sends her to. I heard that she went out last night after leaving her with Mapi’s parents the night before.”

“That’s crazy.” And not true.

“I think she maybe even uses the kid to trap Mapi.”

“Trap her?”

“I just think she doesn’t want to let the kid down anymore, she kind of feels like she has to hang around with them.”

“What and you get this impression from Mapi?”

“I’m just saying that she no longer has time to spend with me anymore, like she’s always so apologetic and almost feels sorry for the kid.”

You couldn’t listen to anymore of this, every sentence more felt like another knife in your chest. You knew Ingrid was well liked within the squad, especially because of whatever was going on between her and Mapi, they’d all believe her. It was like you were almost back to square one. But as you quickly got changed and snook out the back door you failed to hear Alexia and Claudia storming in.

“What did you just say about her?” Alexia questioned the Norwegian, who quickly quietened down with the two new arrivals. “No go on because you’ve obviously got a lot to say.”

“Alexia….”

“Where do you actually get off on making this up? Like some of that is laughable.”

“You don’t know it’s not the truth.”

“I know a lot more than you do,” Not wanting to reveal just how much she knew about Mapi spending time with you. “Even if it was true, like why is it any of your business to spread this around, she’s meant to be your teammate.”

“I get bad vibes from her.”

“I really couldn’t care less, just don’t go spreading stuff like this about her, either of them in fact. She’s an amazing mum and if you can’t see that then maybe you’re the issue.”

…..

Alexia could practically feel the steam coming out of her ears as she rung the doorbell to her friend’s flat. She’d messaged you on the way indirectly checking you weren’t here and was glad that you seemed fine, presuming you’d quickly gone home following the training session.

“Your girlfriend is a piece of work.” Mapi had no idea who Alexia was talking about as she barged her way into the kitchen, immediately noticing the scattering of kid’s toys on the floor in the living room, the child’s bottle on the kitchen side. All things that would never have been here less than two months ago.

“Who? What’s going on?”

“I walked into the changing room after training expecting to find Y/N but instead I’m met with Ingrid spouting some shit about how bad of a mum she is and how she’s trapping you in this friendship through Bella because that’s how you’re describing it.”

“Firstly she’s not my girlfriend. Secondly, what?”

“Exactly you and I both know it’s not like that but if I hadn’t have come in at that moment they’d all be believing her.”

“I never said anything like that, well….” A moment of realisation coming as to where Ingrid has taken this from and exaggerated the truth to make this story.

“What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything, Ingrid was just bugging me about spending the day with her on Sunday but I wanted to spend it with those two so I just said that I couldn’t let them down and Bella knew I was already coming.”

“So you don’t know where she got the story about Y/N being out on Sunday night when we both know she was feeling guilty about leaving Bella for one night.”

“She hates leaving her at any time, there’s no way she would leave her two nights in a row without needing to.”

“This is all just so fucked up.” Alexia complained silently banging her head against the table. “We both know that Ingrid is only saying this because she’s jealous.”

“Jealous of me spending time with them.”

“Well that and the fact that you’ve always loved Y/N.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Mapi’s defences came up, immediately busying herself with tidying the already immaculate surface.

“You keep telling yourself that, all I’m saying is that you two will always have this connection that’s different from everyone else and Ingrid can see that already. I’m just glad she didn’t hear what was said today or that would really knock her confidence but you’ve got to sort this out before it gets even more messy.”

“I’ll try.”

“I’m not losing my best friend from all this, either you tell Y/N the truth and confront Ingrid or I will.”

“I promise I’ll try.”

…..

That promise came in the form of distancing herself from you to try and figure out the feelings she had for you. Two weeks passed and there was minimal contact time between the both of you, excuses were made as to why she couldn’t hang around with you at the weekend and you almost never saw her in the changing rooms. Even though you knew she probably had a lot going on right now with the whole Vilde situation it still felt like you were the problem in this.

Maybe Ingrid was right, maybe she did feel trapped and she finally decided she didn’t want to spend any time with you. Maybe she was seeing the other side to this, the side that your parents took. They didn’t believe in you as a mother and neither did she but if that’s how she saw it then maybe everyone else did as well. So you segregated yourself from the group, coming in for the minimum time for training, leaving before anyone could invite you anywhere. When you could see Alexia coming over you would quickly make a break for it because if there’s one thing that would break your heart more than anything else it was realising you’d lost them all over again and you knew that would break Bella’s heart as well.

But your actions confused Mapi herself. Just when she finally got the courage to make a move you seemed to retreat into yourself. Whenever she tried to partner up with you in a match you would immediately grab the closest person. Whenever she tried to speak to you after a match you would immediately head for the changing room. She couldn’t work out what had happened and though her first instinct was to just come over and see what the problem was, she also knew that was your space and you were obviously avoiding her for a reason.

“Mama?” It had been four weeks since the incident and the two of you were spending the Saturday after your match cuddled you’re your bed watching Frozen once again, though you could see her mind was elsewhere.

“Yes Bella.”

“Where’s Mapi? She hasn’t come round in ages.”

“I know, she’s just a bit busy at the moment but she misses you very much.”

“I miss her too.”

“I know you do.”

“And Bagheera.”

“And Bagheera.” You confirmed pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I promise mama will fix it soon but right now it’s just you and me. Like always.”

“Love you mama.”

“I love you too.”

Though you knew this couldn’t last forever anyway, you knew at some point you would have to make the first move for Bella’s sake. She’d got attached to Mapi and you could only hope that she wouldn’t let the girl down.

…..

The start of that week started with an injury, you’d been immediately ruled out of training for the rest of the week to hopefully lessen the strain in your hamstring. If that wasn’t bad enough since giving birth you occasionally had very bad periods and it felt like the world chucking everything at you all at once. On the second day of basically just hobbling round the flat trying to watch over Bella as you couldn’t take her to nursery, it had started. Not only did the cramps follow but the migraines started and all you wanted to do was sleep. Something that couldn’t happen with a two year old.

It had never been this bad before though. Even in the middle of the afternoon you couldn’t keep your eyes open and Bella was concerned when she turned to find you wincing into the pillow.

“Mama? Mama?” You could feel her hands on your sides training to get your attention but the bright lights forced your eyes closed, it almost felt hard to breath as the pain rippled through your head but you didn’t want to scare the child too much. “Mama.”

“Get mama’s phone and call number 1 like I taught you to, can you do that?” You knew at this point there was no way you could look after her in this state.

“Yes mama.”

“Good girl.

Almost in preparation for something like this happening you had taught Bella as soon as she was able to how to ring someone for help. In your state though and with the stress of the past few weeks you’d forgotten that Mapi had forced you to change the speed-dial list so she was the first one it would call.

This also came as a shock to Mapi. She was just making her way out of training when she felt her phone vibrating and looked down to find you name on the screen after almost a month of not speaking to each other. “Hello?”

“Mapi…” If Bella’s voice didn’t panic her enough the scared tone of the little girl’s voice definitely rung alarm bells.

“Hi Bella, what are you doing on mama’s phone?” She tried to keep calm.

“Mama not feeling too well, asleep on the sofa and she won’t open her eyes. Told me to call the number like she showed me to.”

“What a clever girl you are.” Mapi tried not to panic the girl, signalling to Alexia to rush to her car and start driving. “I’m sure mama is just really tired, stay on the phone with me and I’ll be there soon.”

Alexia must have sensed from Mapi’s words that something had happened and broke probably ever speed limit to make her way to your house as quick as possible. Mapi stayed on the phone, trying to use every distraction technique possible to sooth the worried girl but the panic was rising in all three of them.

“Sort this shit out today.” Alexia whispered to Mapi as they pulled up, Mapi coming off the phone after she instructed Bella to open the door. “I’m serious Mapi, we’re not leaving until this is sorted. I’ve let the two of you do whatever this is for the last few weeks but I want my friend back.”

“I promise I’ll sort it.”

The door opened to reveal the little girl, obvious tear marks down her face a good indicator that this serious.

“Hey Bella, why don’t we go and play upstairs and Mapi will sort your mama out. Come on.” Alexia led the little girl upstairs and Mapi headed into the living room, being met with your body on the sofa.

“Y/N. Y/N.” Mapi gently stroked her hand down your cheek, already feeling how hot you were under her touch, thankfully seeing you respond as you winced even as Mapi tried to whisper.

“Bella?”

“She’s with Alexia, she’s fine just worried about her mum. What’s going on?”

“Migraine. Cramps.” You struggled to get out. “Head feels like it’s about to explode.”

“Come on lets get you to bed.” She knew at this point there was nothing she could do to help you other than get you some more pain relief and transfer you into your bed. She gently transferred you into her arms, carefully ascending the stairs and going straight to your room. After placing you under the covers she drew the curtains to block the light out and ran down stairs to get you the medication and a hot water bottle she found under the sink.

“Stay.” You whispered when she came back, the room finally dark enough for you to open your eyes so you could take the tablets and place the bottle on your stomach. “Please.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Though you knew there was a conversation to be had you let yourself drift off to sleep, always aware of the hand now holding your own and your new appreciation to the woman beside you.

…..

Though the sleep didn’t fully get rid of the pain it was definitely a lot more manageable when you woke up a few hours later. You immediately noticed the missing person beside, taking your time getting steady and changing into some pyjamas before finding out what was happening in the rest of the house.

You quietly came down the stairs not wanting to reveal your presence and glanced into the living room to find Mapi and Bella covered under a blanket, a few slices of pizza in front of them as they watched Moana.

“I missed you.” You heard Bella say to Mapi, taking a seat on the stairs even though you knew you shouldn’t eavesdrop like this. “Where have you been?”

“I’ve missed you too, a lot’s been happening at the moment but I promise that won’t happen again.”

“Mama’s sad without you around.”

“I’m sad without you two around.”

“What about Bagheera?”

“Bagheera’s sad as well, she wants her best friend back.”

“I missed her too. Can I see her soon?”

“I’m sure your mama and I can organise something.”

You took this moment to announce your presence. “What are you two doing without me hey? Watching my favourite movie.”

“See Bella I told you mama would be fine.” Mapi said lifting the blanket so you could sit on the other side of Bella.

“Mama fine?”

“Mama’s fine, she just had a bit of a headache and with my poorly leg it was a bit hard to move but I’m a lot better now. Have you been looked after by Mapi and Alexia?”

“Alexia left but Mapi and I had pizza and then we watched Frozen and then we watched Moana….”

“But now that you’ve seen her you have to go to bed like we agreed.”

“Ok.” She knew it wasn’t worth the argument and gave you a kiss on the cheek, exchanging an I love you, before the two of them disappeared upstairs. You hadn’t realised how long it had been since you’d eaten so you almost inhaled two slices of pizza before letting them settle as Mapi reappeared.

“Hey, thank you for today.”

“I hope it’s ok that I gave her pizza, she was upset and that seemed like the best tactic to feed her and stop the tears.”

“I must have really scared her.”

“You couldn’t help it either, it was just an accident and she’s fine now. Plus you taught her the skills in that situation, you should be proud of yourselves.”

“That you and thank you for picking up the phone. You don’t know how much it meant to me.”

“I told you when you came back that I would be here for you and Bella, that includes times like this. Don’t ever hesitate to ask for some help, you should have come to me when you even just had the first inkling that you were unwell.”

“I didn’t exactly know if I could call you.” Though the words had a hint of anger in them it was mostly just sadness as to where the two of you were.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“You did it first.” You argued back, without even knowing it you both sounded like arguing teenagers glaring at each other before you let the sadness break through. “I thought you didn’t want to be around me anymore after all the rumours.”

“How do you know about the rumours?” Shit.

“I heard them one day, Ingrid telling everyone about what a bad mother I was and how I was trapping you. I just presumed everyone believed her and you wouldn’t want to see me anymore just like everyone else who’s cut me off. So I thought it was just easier to then avoid you as well before you cut me off completely.”

“How much did you hear?”

“I wasn’t about to stay and listen to her talk shit about me all day. I just heard that and left.”

“You know if you’d have stayed probably ten seconds later you would have heard Alexia stop her, telling everyone how that wasn’t true. No-one believes that and I certainly don’t.” She reached over to pull you into her side, her arm over your shoulder as you cuddled into her. “Who cares what she thinks, I’ve seen you with Bella and you’re the best mum she could wish for.”

“Then why did you ignore me? It felt like I was back at square one again with everyone against me, I thought it would be different this time but again it was just radio silence”

“Because this is all just so complicated. I wanted Ingrid to stop talking shit about you but then I also knew I maybe had some feelings to get my head around.”

“What?” You looked up to find nerves etched all over her face.

“I’ve loved you since the moment I first laid eyes on you all those years ago and that’s why it broke my heart when you moved away because not only was I losing my best friend, but I was also losing the girl I loved.”

“But what about Ana and Ingrid?”

“Firstly I’m not with Ingrid, we hooked up once and there’s been a crossed wire but I’ve made it clear to her now that nothing’s going on and nothing ever will be. But neither of them have come close to you, you always had my heart and then when I met you again all these feelings came back and I had to work out what to do with them.”

“What are you going to do with them?” You whispered back almost scared to break the moment.

“I can’t ignore them any longer, the panic I felt today when I thought there was something wrong with you was on another scale. If you don’t feel the same way then I have to accept that but I can’t lie any longer.”

“Mapi.” You grabbed the girl’s cheeks to make eye contact, the nerves also eminent in her eyes “Kiss me.”

“There’s no going back from this you know.”

“You’re obviously blind as well because I’ve loved you since the moment I met you as well. All those flings were just a distraction to get my head off you even though it never worked.”

That was all the confirmation she needed before she sealed her lips onto yours. The kiss was nothing you’d ever experienced before, like you were pouring all your emotions into this one kiss as you carefully moved to straddle her lap. This was everything you’d ever imagined as you tangled your hands in her hair as her own caressed your hip.

“I love you.” You whispered taking the risk of saying it first. “I know my life is a mess at times and it’s complicated and there’s probably a million more girls out there who would be a million times easier to be with than I am.”

“I love you too. I promise I’ll be there for the two of you now and if I hear anyone make a comment about the two of you then I’ll be the first to defend you. Just know that you’re the best mum and whatever happens I won’t let the two of you down.”

“You’re the best.”

“No you are but serious now, please can we get Bella and Bagheera together again. That cat won’t stop crying and begging me to take her out.”

“You obviously haven’t seen my fridge then, I don’t think you can actually see any of the surface for drawings of that cat.”

[catmiemy]

Another Chance to Live Part 5 (Ana Maria Crnogorčević x Reader)

Summary: Things between Ana and you are going great, sadly the same isn't true for other aspects of your life.

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

A/N: One day early is still early, right? However the good news is that I almost finished editing the last part, so you should get that one at the beginning of next week. Although I might have to find a way to incorporate Ana's pink hair!

Happy reading! 😊

Things continued to flourish between Ana and you, and soon the two of you spent every possible minute together. Not that this was much of a change, you had more or less been doing that from the beginning. You still met up with other people too, you weren’t totally reclusive, but usually you did so together.

Somewhere in the back of your mind you started wondering if maybe moving in should be something that should be brought to the table sometime soon. What was the point of paying for two apartments when you were always together at one or the other?

However, you still weren’t confident enough to bring up something big like that on your own. Being with Ana, who constantly told and showed you how amazing she thought you were, had definitely helped bolster your confidence, but there were limits.

You were once again thinking about starting a conversation about moving in together while Ana and you were lying on your couch after a long day of training. The Swiss woman was in front of you, snuggled against your chest, your entangled hands resting on her stomach.

In the end you couldn’t go through with it though, just like always. You resigned yourself to wait for Ana to bring it up. Plus you didn’t want to complicate or possible even ruin a nice evening.

“I’m so glad I don’t have to go in tomorrow,” you sighed contently.

“Me too,” Ana agreed instantly, turning around to give you a soft kiss.

It went deeper than just the joy of having a day off for the both of you. Even after several months neither of you had really found your footing at your respective teams. At least it had gotten easier since you began talking about it together. It felt good to let out all of your emotions and complain about your situation without being scared to be judged for it.

It was in that moment that your phone buzzed and when you checked it you sighed again. This time out of unhappiness though. In an instant Ana sat up and turned around to you properly, a non nonsense expression on her face.

“Okay, what was that? This keeps happening, you checking your phone and then looking unhappy about it. Is someone bothering you? Mean comments? A stalker? Please talk to me,“ your girlfriend all but begged.

You hadn’t even realized that she had taken note of this happening. In your mind you had been subtle.

“It’s nothing really.“

Ana just raised her eyebrows, telling you with that one small gesture that she didn’t accept your answer. That she in fact thought this was something, something important even, if it was bothering you in any capacity.

“Just my parents, complaining I haven’t been around much lately,” you explained, not thinking much about it.

However, when Ana’s face fell and guilt spread across it, you recognized your mistake. Only now did you realize how this must have sounded to your girlfriend.

“Wait no, that came out wrong,” you scrambled to make this right, to put a smile back on your girlfriend’s face. You didn’t get far though before Ana interrupted you.

“Please don’t. You don’t have to lie, it’s fine. I’m sorry that I never thought about that. Now that I think about it, I realize that I have been monopolizing you a lot lately,” your girlfriend apologized, chuckling self-deprecating.

In that moment you hated yourself a little for making Ana doubt herself, for making her apologize for something that had made you so happy.

“No, no, no! Don’t apologize, tesoro, please. These last few months have been the best in my life and I’ve been so happy. And sure you’ve been monopolizing me, but only because I also wanted that. To be honest my parents aren’t the easiest,” you said, hoping that the Swiss woman could hear your sincerity.

You weren’t completely convinced that she did, still seeing some lingering doubt and guilt in her eyes, but the moment you uttered the last sentence, all of Ana’s focus shifted to that.

“Oh, I didn’t know. Do you want to talk about it?”Ana spotted your reluctance, so she continued, “You said yourself that talking about your emotions has been helpful.”

You rolled your eyes good-naturedly, leave it to the Swiss woman to beat you with your own words. She was right though. Still, this was different. This was definitely a case of you just being whiney and spoiled.

“Please?“ Your girlfriend pleaded and there was no way you could ever resist that face.

“Fine, but honestly it’s nothing bad at all, I’m just being ungrateful and apparently I love complaining about everything.”

You quickly moved on when you detected a fair amount of unhappiness about your words on your girlfriend’s face. She didn’t like it at all when you put yourself down. However, Ana also knew that you shouldn’t be stopped when you got into sharing mode, otherwise you would most likely withdraw again. Therefore the Swiss woman bit her lip and let you keep talking, vowing to bring this up again later.

“They just have a lot of expectations about who I should be and how a good daughter is supposed to act. Sometimes it feels like they don’t really care that much about me, but only about the person they want me to be. But that’s probably normal. I guess everyone has an image of how their kid will turn out. It just really sucks when you constantly feel like you’re not living up to the expectation.”

Once again Ana had to basically restrain herself from speaking her mind. This definitely wasn’t what she would describe as a normal relationship between parents and their kid. However, she sensed that you still had more to say, so she didn’t want to interrupt you.

“And the other thing is that it’s just me. You know I’m an only child, but also none of my aunts and uncles have children. Plus they all live here in Madrid too. So it’s just a whole lot of people from one generation against me. No wait, that sounds wrong, like we’re constantly fighting. We’re not, we just…” you trailed off, not even sure yourself what you were.

All you knew was that you never felt relaxed in the presence of your parents, aunts and uncles, that you always felt under scrutiny and every little thing you did or didn’t do was fair game for them to take apart and criticize viciously.

“But like I said, I shouldn’t be complaining. At least they care. I mean they’ve never missed a single one of my games,” you finished, happy with the way you managed to put a positive spin to this in the end.

Ana looked at you in confusion. “Really? I’ve never seen them at any of your games I’ve gone to,” she pointed out carefully.

“Oh yeah, I meant when I still played for Atlético. They’re all live long Atleti fans,” you clarified. “It was really hard for them when I had to transfer.”

Clearly the Swiss woman didn’t like this answer, her jaw was clenched tightly and anger burned in her eyes.

“That doesn’t sound very supportive! Honestly all of this doesn’t sound like a good family situation to me, but I know I personally can’t stand it if anyone other than me talks even remotely badly about my family, so I don’t want to overstep.”

You could tell that there was a lot more your girlfriend wanted to say and it was hard for her to hold her tongue. However, you appreciated that she did. You weren’t ready to get into a long conversation about this right now.

“I actually haven’t talked about my family to anyone before, so I don’t really know how I feel about that. But I also don’t really want to continue talking about them right now; I need some time to process first. Up until now I’ve been so convince that I was the problem and if I ever told anyone they would just laugh at me. I mean it’s not like they were ever abusive or anything.”

 In your mind you were still being overly dramatic and ridiculous, but the simple fact that Ana disagreed with that assessment, made you re-think your convictions.

“There is more than one way to hurt someone. And, Schatz, it’s clear as day that you’ve been hurt and people have severely damaged the image you have yourself.”

The gentle way in which Ana spoke to you, brought tears to your eyes. There is more than one way to hurt someone. You had never thought about it like this before.

“And it’s totally okay if you don’t feel up to talking about it right now. Just promise me that you won’t try to process everything all alone in your head! Talk to me once you’ve had some time to let it set, yeah?”

You smiled at that, your girlfriend really knew you too well. No, not too well, she knew you the perfect amount well. 

“I promise, I’ll try?” It came out more as a question than a statement. And in some way it was; a question if that offer was good enough. Of course you had no reason to worry.

“I guess I’ll take that. And in turn I promise that I will bother you about it again,” Ana retorted, winking at you.

You huffed in fake annoyance, but made sure to communicate that it was in fact exactly what you needed with a grateful smile and by closing the distance, that had been left between the two of you ever since your girlfriend had sat up.

Sharing your thoughts and feelings wasn’t something that came naturally to you, so you appreciated some gentle pushes. It made it easier to believe that Ana really wanted to hear what was going on inside your mess of a brain.

With this out of the way, you tugged on your girlfriend’s upper arm to get her back into your previous position. You wanted some more snuggles.

However, Ana didn’t follow your silent request, her body still a little tense and something clearly still on her mind. She was nibbling on her lips, having some sort of internal fight.

“What’s going on in that mind of yours?” You asked, placing a few kisses on your girlfriend’s shoulder. The soft contact made her relax visibly.

“Okay, so I’m just going to come out and say it, but I want you to know that there’s no pressure. And really it probably isn’t my place to bring this up. However, I also know that you tend to over think.”

“And you tend to ramble,” you quipped, hoping to soothe some of your girlfriend’s nervousness. It worked like a charm.

Ana chuckled, sounding much less stressed when she continued, “I’d be happy to come along to your parents whenever if you don’t want to miss out on any time together, but still want to go and see them.”

“Really? That would be amazing!” You replied. „And you were right; I never would have brought this up even though I have been thinking about it.”

One more time you pulled on Ana’s arms to get her to lay down with you again and this time your girlfriend relented without pause, snuggling into you.

“So should I tell them we’ll come over for lunch tomorrow and then we’ll say we are meeting friends at 3 or something, so we have a reason to leave,” you suggested.

Ana agreed easily, deciding to not ask why you felt the need to have other plans lined up, or well a lie prepared to be able to leave whenever you wanted. Without even meeting your family she already knew they were very different from her own. Also, you had asked for some time to figure stuff out, so she didn’t want to add another thing on top of it.

After your girlfriend had given her approval, you quickly texted your mother back, before putting your phone away and focusing on the moment instead. You gently stroked Ana’s arm, the rhythmic motion doing a lot to calm yourself down as well.

Normally this was the moment you would began to worry, think through every possible and impossible scenario that could occur the next day when Ana met your family, but with your girlfriend in your arms it was easy to put a stop to that and instead bask in the peaceful quietness.

  ---

However, the next day not even Ana’s usually almost magical presence did anything to help you relax. Seeing how nervous you were, your girlfriend insisted on driving, which left you with the job of giving directions. But with how preoccupied with your worries you were, you missed several turns.

“Schatz, do you just want to give me the address so I can put it into the GPS?” The Swiss woman proposed carefully, after you had gotten annoyed with yourself for missing a turn for the fifth time.

“No, no, it’s okay. I’m going to focus now. I’m sorry,” you apologized, trying to slow down the tornado of thoughts going round and round in your mind.

“Everything is going to be fine, just take a deep breath. We can always leave if you don’t feel comfortable.”

You only nodded tersely. It was sweet of Ana to try and calm you down, but she didn’t know your family like you did. You couldn’t just leave whenever you wanted, not if you didn’t want to risk a whole lot of guilt tripping and harsh words.

“Or we can just cancel?” Ana tried again, when she noticed her words had done absolutely nothing to soothe your nerves.

You chuckled humorlessly. That was even less of an option.

„No, it’s fine really. I’m just being dramatic again, don’t take me seriously.“

Ana frowned at your attempt to downplay things, but she decided to stop her futile attempts. She had to accept that words were not going to do anything for you right now. Instead she reached over and took your hand into hers, trying to communicate that no matter what happened she would be right there with you.

Although in reality that was part of the problem. By now you were seriously berating yourself for not thinking this through more. You had just decided one random evening to bring your girlfriend to your parents’ house, a first time occurrence since you had never been serious enough about someone before.

A little while later Ana parked the car in the spot you pointed out. And as soon as she didn’t need her hands to drive anymore, she reached over to awkwardly hug you over the center console. It helped to bring you back to your body from where you had been lost in your head.

“We can still leave,” you girlfriend offered, making sure you knew she was completely serious.

“No, it’s okay. Let’s just get this over with,” you sighed.

Only when you were walking towards your parents’ front door, did you remember to check in with Ana. You should have learnt from the past that just because the blonde often seemed so calm, didn’t mean that she always was.

You tugged on her hand to get her to stop, hoping your parents weren’t already keeping an eye out through the window for you.

“And how are you doing? I’m sorry I’ve been making this about me so much. Now that I think about it, I should probably be the one calming you down.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Schatz. Also, I can see that this is really hard for you, so I’m happy I can be there for you. And really I’m fine.”

Ana’s voice sounded sure and steady, but still you couldn’t accept that answer so easily.

“Look, I’m being completely honest, somehow it helps me stay calm when you’re anxious, like I have something else than my own thoughts and worries to focus on,” your girlfriend explained once she saw your doubtful face.

This you could believe, you felt the same when Ana was particularly stressed or emotional. You gave the blonde’s hand a good squeeze, not feeling comfortable enough to hug or even kiss her when your parents were possibly spying on you.

“Good, but tell me if things change, yeah? We can always leave if you want to.”

Ana nodded, touched at this offer. From what she could gather just leaving whenever you wanted wasn’t something you ever did, even if your family made you uncomfortable. So, the fact that you were willing to do so if Ana needed it meant a lot to her.

Walking to the front door you gave yourself an internal pep talk. Surely things wouldn’t be as bad as some of the scenarios circling through your mind. Your parents weren’t the easiest people, but they also weren’t bad or anything. Ana and you would spend a couple of hours with them and then leave again to enjoy the rest of your day off. You could do a few hours! That was nothing in the grand scheme of things.

Sadly, this time you were proven wrong. Things turned out to be as bad as you had pictured them. And it all started with the realization that not only your parents, but also all of your aunts and uncles were there.

Your first thought, once you noticed, was that you were now severely outnumbered. At this point you still had hope though and even chastised yourself for thinking about this in a ‘you versus them’ manner.

However, then it continued with your family basically treating Ana like she wasn’t there. They didn’t address her, they didn’t react to anything she said, they didn’t even look her way. It made you want to scream at your family, but when you glanced over at Ana to gauge how she was feeling, she smiled at you bravely, mouthing that she was fine and that you should stay calm.

You wondered if she was hoping things would turn around, that your family just needed a little time to adjust and warm up to her. Or maybe your girlfriend had already resigned herself to a few hours of suffering through the awkwardness because she didn’t want to do anything that might impact your relationship with your family. Both were very Ana things to do.

You reached the end of your patience though, when your mother started dropping passive aggressive remarks aimed at Ana. The second time she mentioned how heartbreaking it was when people just swooped in and ruined a family, without mentioning your girlfriend of course, but clearly talking about her, you jumped up from your chair.

“Can we talk in the kitchen?” You gritted out between your teeth, staring daggers at your mother.

She just looked at your father meaningfully, like she has done so often when you were a kid and were throwing a tantrum. You balled your fists in anger; you hated how easily they could make you feel like a child again. And not a happy, excited about life child, but a stupid, worthless child.

“What is it, niña?” Your mother asked you innocently when you entered the kitchen, making your blood boil even more. It felt like you were one wrong word away from having steam shoot out of your ears like in a cartoon.  

“You know exactly what I want to talk about,” you snapped.

Still feigning ignorance your mother looked at you in pretend confusion. “No, niña, I obviously don’t, otherwise I wouldn’t have asked. So can you just tell me, so we can go back. You’re being really rude right now.”

This was the final straw. You were going to tell your mother exactly what was wrong, in great detail and not quietly at all. However, before you got around to venting your anger, you heard a loud voice from the living room.

Without even sparing your mother a second glance, you rushed back there. The only thought on your mind was that you had to make sure Ana was okay. That was much more important than shouting at your mother, you could do that later.

The scene you walked into wasn’t pretty. Your uncle was standing, his face red and contorted into anger, while he was throwing a stream of angry words at your girlfriend. The rest of your family was nodding along in silent agreement.

Ana on the other hand was still seated, her hands balled into tights fist, just like yours had been seconds before, and her gaze fixed on the table. It made her look small and defeated, but one look at her stormy eyes was enough for you to recognize that she was actually doing her best to keep her temper in check. Despite everything she was still trying to keep peace, even if your family had been nothing but horrible towards her. It filled you with so much anger and disappointment.

You caught the last few words your uncle was yelling, before he snapped his mouth shut, the moment he noticed you. Clearly you weren’t supposed to hear this.

“Isn’t it enough that you stole my niece’s place in our team?! Now you’re also taking her away from us! But I’ll tell you right now, you will never be a part of this family!”

Anger was roaring through you at this point. So when you opened your mouth to defend your girlfriend, you didn’t hold back anything.

“No, let me tell you something! Right now I’m ashamed to call any of you my family. This is how you treat my partner, the woman I love? She isn’t taking me away from you, I just finally feel happy and accepted exactly the way that I am. And she definitely didn’t take away my spot at Atleti, we don’t even play the same position!”

With that you marched over to your girlfriend and took her hand to pull her up. Ana followed your guidance without resistance, holding on to your hand tightly.

“Come on, tesoro, we’re leaving,” you told her quietly.

“Wait what? You can’t do that, we’re your family,” your mother cried out.

You shrugged your shoulders. “Just because you’re my family doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want and I have to put up with it.”

And without listening to anything else you walked out of the front door, the warmth of Ana’s hand in yours giving you the courage to do so. In the past you would have given in to your mother’s pleading, you would have been intimidated by your father’s anger, but not this time. You had learnt that you deserved better, thanks to your girlfriend.

Swiftly you guided Ana to the passenger side, before getting into the driver seat yourself and pulling away in a hurry. You didn’t want to risk your family coming out to try and talk with you again. Your confidence was only so strong; you didn’t need to put it to any more tests.

You didn’t drive all the way home though; instead you found a quiet place to park. It was important to you to check in with Ana as soon as possible. After all, you were used to your family, but she wasn’t.

“Are you okay?” You both asked each other at the same time. It made you chuckle which diffused some of the loaded atmosphere in the car.

“You first,” you pleaded. You needed to know right now how your girlfriend was feeling.

Ana stayed silent for a moment, mulling her answer over. It had been a lot to take in and she wasn’t completely sure yet how she felt.

“I’m a bit overwhelmed I guess. You warned me about your family, but I didn’t expect this.”

“Honestly I didn’t either and I’m so so sorry for it,” you apologized, harshly rubbing away the tears filling your eyes.

Ana gently caught your hands and brought them to rest on her knees instead.

“Schatz, you have nothing to apologize for. Your family’s actions aren’t your fault, not ever!”

You took some deep breaths to avoid breaking down into tears completely, there was still so much more you wanted to say.

“I’m still sorry and I hope you know that I don’t share their beliefs at all.”

Your girlfriend looked at you searchingly. “Not even about me taking your spot a Atleti?” She asked quietly.

“No, of course not! Why would you ever think that? Wait, has anyone else said anything like that to you?”

How long had your girlfriend been worried about that? It had never even crossed your mind, so you had never thought to talk about it with her. But maybe she had been feeling like she had taken something from you all along.

“No, no, no one said anything. I just thought…I mean with the timing…So you really don’t feel like that?”

The hope in Ana’s voice hurt your heart. Now you knew without the shadow of a doubt that she had indeed been worrying about that, probably been feeling guilty since she met you, for absolutely no reason.

“Oh my gosh, no! I really never thought about it like that. Like I said we play on completely different positions. Plus I’m pretty sure that the decision to let me go was made weeks before Atleti ever signed you.”

Tears of relief began trickling down Ana’s cheek. She had been holding this inside for so long and now she finally had confirmation that she had worried needlessly. You gently wiped the tears away with your thumb, a complete antithesis to how unkindly you had gotten rid of your own tears.

“I wish you were as gentle with yourself as you are with me,” your girlfriend whispered, leaning into your soft touch, letting her eyes flutter shut for a moment.

You bit the inside of your cheek, frowning. “I’m working on it,” you offered.

“I know you are, Schatz. Now please tell me, how are you feeling?”

Ana fixed you with a serious gaze, making it clear that you weren’t going to satisfy her with any sort of generic reply. Therefore, just like she had done, you took a moment to tune into your feelings and gather your thoughts.

“Angry, disappointed, sad, guilty but mostly angry,” you listed, “I can’t believe they treated you like this!”

Just thinking about it made you mad all over again. How dare they! And sure maybe you were biased, thinking Ana was the most amazing person in the world. But then again you had yet to meet anyone that didn’t like the kind-hearted Swiss woman, so you weren’t alone in your assessment.

“You want to know the funny thing about all of this?” Your girlfriend asked.

Somehow you doubted that there was anything funny about this entire situation, still you motioned for Ana to continue. You were more than happy to get out of talking about yourself more.

“The thing that really makes me angry? The way they treated you and apparently have always treated you! I don’t care that much about what they said to me or how they ignored me, especially now that we cleared up the whole Atleti thing, but the way they treat you? Let’s just say I was very close to punching someone.”

Ana’s voice shook with anger, and suddenly you were glad you were the one sitting behind the wheel. Otherwise you wouldn’t have put it past her to turn around to actually give your family a piece of her mind. And as satisfying as that would be, you didn’t want to complicate this entire mess even more.

“Well, I’m glad you didn’t. They probably would have pressed charges and I don’t want you to get into trouble because of me.”

Your girlfriend shook your head vehemently. “Because of them”, she corrected.

“Fine, because of them,” you relented, “But the most important thing is that it didn’t happen and you won’t have to deal with any legal matters.”

Once again Ana shook hed head, “No, the most important thing is that you recognize that you’re not responsible for your family’s actions.”

You swallowed a couple of times, trying to get rid of the lump that had formed in your throat. It continued to overwhelm you how much your girlfriend cared for you, how important it was to her that you healed from every bad thing that had ever happened to you.

“I’m going to work on that too,” you promised.

“And I’ll be right here by your side, helping you,” Ana vowed.

That was something you were never going to say no to. Everything seemed much less daunting with your girlfriend by your side. It was nice to know you had someone in your corner, and not just someone that pretended to be there for you, as long as you stayed in the corner they wanted you to be in.

“How about we go back to my place now and have a cozy afternoon after all of this craziness?” Your girlfriend suggested.

It was precisely what you wanted to do, still you couldn’t agree right away. Instead you chewed some more on the inside of your cheek, stuck in indecision.

“Or maybe I should go back and clear everything up right now?”

“It that what you want to do? If so, then definitely do it,“ Ana responded.

You didn’t even have to give it a single thought to come to the conclusion that it wasn’t what you wanted at all, but it was what you thought you should do.

Your silence was enough of an answer for Ana and somehow she guessed very accurately where your mind was at, “I get that you feel like you should figure this out right away. But, Schatz, I don’t think it’s something that will be easily resolved in an afternoon. So, I really think that putting it to rest for a little bit might be best. Or if you just want some time alone, I also totally understand that.”

“No!” You jumped in, “That’s the last thing I want. What I really want is to go home with you, have a nice cuddle session before cooking dinner together. But I just feel like I should try again. Am I a bad daughter if I don’t?”

You knew what you parents’ answer to that question would be. They had been telling you all your life that you were a bad daughter when you couldn’t meet their needs and obviously their need right now was for you to come and make things right.

However, Ana had slowly started to change the way you thought about yourself and your family, so you were curious what she had to say.

“Absolutely not! If my parents ever did something like that, I would expect them to come to me and beg for my forgiveness.”

“Except they never would do something like that in the first place,” you added the part your girlfriend had so graciously omitted in a vain attempt to spare your feelings.

“True. So can I take you home now and shower you with love?” Ana pleaded, unleashing her secret weapon on you, her pout.

“You know there’s no way I can say no when you look at me like that,” you groaned.

“Good,” Ana replied with a satisfied smile. “Do you want so switch so I can drive?”

You nodded, feeling too jittery to safely drive anything more than a few blocks. Ana and you both got out of the car and when you met in the middle, your girlfriend pulled you into a hug, swaying you softly from side to side.

“Just a little teaser for all the cuddles to come,” Ana joked after she let go of you.

You smiled at her brightly, glad that you had made the decision to go with what you wanted, instead of doing what you thought you should do. Going home to snuggle with your wonderful girlfriend sounded so much better than going back and dealing with you very frustrating family.

---

The next few days Ana was extra affectionate with you. To be honest it was surprising she could even step up her affection game since she was already very affectionate to begin with. However, you appreciated it and it helped soothe the fresh wounds your family had inflicted.

You got a lot of messages from them, although not a single one contained any sort of apology. There were a lot of, sadly very successful, attempts to make you feel guilty, and if it weren’t for Ana, you would have felt like the world’s worst daughter.

A little over a week after the initial fight you felt ready to try and sort everything out with your family. Ana offered to go with you, but you decided against it. Your girlfriend being there and potentially being disrespected again would only make you more emotional. And the one thing you needed was to keep your composure, if you wanted any chance at having a calm conversation about this.

In the end it didn’t matter though. Within minutes the conversation turned into a shouting match that resulted in you storming out of your parents’ house once again. You rushed home to fall into the waiting arms of your girlfriend.

“I just want this to be resolved,” you whined after the worst of your sobs had died down, “But there’s nothing I can do if they don’t even realize what the problem is. And I hate that so much! I hate not being able to do anything!”

Ana rubbed soothing circles on your back, humming in agreement. She very much felt the same; she hated that there was nothing she could do to make this all better for you right this moment. Having to accept that something sucked and you could do nothing to change it, was a bitter pill to swallow.

You cried for a long time that evening, and you cried a lot more in the next few weeks. Then slowly you began to accept this reality, resigning yourself to having no contact with your family for the moment. You only reached out once more, sending them a text with your thoughts and explaining that you wouldn’t come around anymore until there was a clear signal from their side, that they were prepared to work on themselves.

After that you ignored every other message they sent, even debating if you should block all of your family members, but you weren’t ready to go that far yet. They were still your family! Plus you had left the door open an inch, for the unlikely scenario that they wanted to work everything out, so you had to at least glance at their texts.

Ana wasn’t too happy with that decision because every message made you sad and worried that you were being selfish all over again. She even offered to read the messages for you, but seeing your girlfriend get upset on your behalf was even worse than reading the harsh words yourself.

Therefore every time you got one, you quickly scanned it, getting disappointed each and every time, and then deleted the message. Unfortunately getting rid of the words wasn’t as easy as getting rid of the texts; they played on a loop in your mind.

We did so much for you and now you just turn your back on us?

You’ll come running back to us, as soon as she dumps you!

How can you do this to us? Your mother can barely eat because she’s so upset.

We didn’t raise you to be so stupid and blind. I can’t believe you’re letting her manipulate you like this.

Why are you being so dramatic about a few words?

It all fell apart completely at the game between Real and Atlético. You had been dreading that match for a long time. Not only would you be playing against your girlfriend, but also against your former club.

Ana and you had talked about it beforehand and promised each other that there would be no hard feelings, no matter what team won. You were pretty confident that the two of you would be able to follow through on that promise, but the anxious part of you still fretted about it.

However, once you entered the pitch for warm up you were slapped in the face by a harsh surprise, making every other worry seem obsolete. Your entire family was there, clad in Atleti’s colors and loudly supporting your former team.

It wouldn’t have hurt quite so much if they would have been at any other Atlético game this season, but they hadn’t. So the only reason why they were doing this now, was to upset you.

And they succeeded. Forgetting all professionalism you turned around and ran back into the tunnels, chocking on the tears you were holding back until no one could see you anymore. You heard a few confused voices calling after you, but you couldn’t explain right now, you couldn’t talk.

You found a quiet corner where you slid down the wall and buried your face in your hands, your knees pulled closely to your chest. Your entire focus went to keeping your breath as normal as possible to avoid spiraling into a full blown panic attack. Therefore you didn’t even notice someone coming up to you until that person sat down next to you and gently pulled you against their side.

For a moment you went stiff, uncomfortable with the sudden closeness. But then you smelled Ana’s coconut shampoo and allowed yourself to melt into you girlfriend.

“Wait, you shouldn’t be here,” you exclaimed once Ana’s calming power had helped you feel less overwhelmed and think more clearly again.

“Of course I should be here, you’re my girlfriend. No way was I not going to check on you after that stunt they pulled,” Ana replied harshly, softening her tone when she noticed you tensing up, “You’re much more important than any possible repercussions this could have, Schatz.”

“I just want to go home,” you mumbled, hating how much you sounded like a little kid.

“You can if you want to. I’m sure your coach would understand and if not I’ll beat them up. I could even go with you! Or I can go out there, grab your family and throw them out of the stadium. I’d happily do that.”

The mental image of your girlfriend literally throwing your family out made you chuckle. Although you had no doubt that she would actually do it if you asked her to.

“Or you go out there, completely ignore your parents and play an amazing game. And afterwards we’ll go home and I’ll hold you all night long.”

You stayed safely tucked away in Ana’s arms for a little while longer, before extracting yourself with a sigh. There was only one option you could live with, even if it was the one that meant suffering for the next few hours.

Ana studied you with pain in her eyes. You didn’t need to lay out for her what you wanted to do, she knew without a single word. And while she understood, she also longed to take you home, far away from the harshness of real life.

“If you change your mind at any point, let me know, yeah?” Your girlfriend requested.

“And then what? We run away together in the middle of the game?” you joked, but Ana didn’t react to your attempt at humor, instead she nodded seriously

“Yes,” she confirmed.

You swallowed, fresh tears pricking in your eyes because of your girlfriend’s willingness to do an absolutely crazy thing, if it was what you needed. And just that knowledge was a huge help in getting through the game.

Not once did you look over at your family, telling yourself they weren’t there. Still, you knew, and it hurt. It felt like something had been stuck right through your heart, twisting and turning with every movement, inflicting pain over and over again.

You didn’t let it show, though.  There wasn’t a lot you could control when it came to your family, but you could at least decide how much or how little of your feelings they got to see. And they didn’t deserve to see any of them.

Because while you always felt horrible when you knew that you were the reason someone was hurting, you had to assume your family didn’t feel the same; that they might even get some satisfaction from knowing they upset you. Otherwise why would they have done this?

Throughout the entire game you functioned on autopilot, and you continued to do so until hours later when you stumbled into your girlfriend’s apartment. You had asked to go there instead of yours because absolutely nothing at Ana’s place reminded you of your family.

The moment you stepped through the front door, tears began running down your cheeks. Ana had been expecting this and pulled you towards her couch, cocooning you in her arms. She didn’t even attempt to say anything to make you feel better; there really wasn’t much she could say. She just let you get it all out.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Your girlfriend asked softly, after your tears had stopped and your breathing had been much more even for a while.

You shook your head, not trusting your voice to function right now. Not having to rely on words to communicate was one of your favorite things about your relationship with Ana.

“Okay, I’ll be here to listen whenever you feel ready,” Ana reminded you. “How about we block their numbers now?”

Again you shook your head and you could tell that your girlfriend didn’t agree with this decision, but she kept her tongue. She watched you like a hawk when you sat up and grabbed your phone.

“What are you doing?”

Ana did her best to keep her tone neutral, but internally she was anything but. She was of course curious, but mostly your girlfriend was worried that you had already convinced yourself again that this was somehow all your fault and were going to apologize to your family.

You simply showed Ana your phone, erasing all of her fears and replacing them with satisfaction and heartbreak. You had typed out a message to your family, stating that you would block them, and expected them to leave you alone until you were ready to talk with them again.

After you pressed sent, quickly so you couldn’t second guess yourself, you handed your phone to Ana.

“Now you can block them,” you instructed her, snuggling into your girlfriend again.

It didn’t necessarily feel good to cut all contact with your family for the moment, but it definitely felt right. However, lying all night long in your girlfriend’s arm definitely felt good, so much better than having another argument with your family that somehow always refused to see your side of things.

And being told that you were loved and that Ana was so proud of you, was also much better than being called childish, dramatic, ungrateful and whatever else your family came up with. Still, was it too much to ask to have a wonderful girlfriend and a loving family?

[buddieisgoingcanon2024]

There is no way Eddie’s current storyline isn’t going to lead into a sexuality arc…

Like, aside from Ryan admitting Eddie has repressed feelings, it all makes sense.

With Shannon, she was his best friend and they formed a connection of sorts. They went into a relationship by force, she got pregnant and married because of it. Eddie was never bothered or interested in her apart from the ‘connection’ and ‘bond’ they had built. He went to war to get away from her and he never had her back in anything. He loved the idea of being married to her but never said he loved her, Michael said the same thing about Athena. He loved being married to Athena and having his children but he is gay and therefore never loved her in that way, as Tim Minear recently said, Eddie has this romantisised and idealised version of what their future could have been together and what their past was eventhough their past was unhealthy and they were barely a married couple and their future weren’t going to happen because she wanted a divorce.

From the perspective of the show, not actresses. Ana and Marisol come across as the perfect partners, they are both nice, beautiful and they both seemed to be very good with Christopher, I mean they kinda have to be if they are looking after him loads. So…why does he not want to be with either of them and he’s purposely messing up his relationships with them? Because they aren’t Shannon. He doesn’t have the same connection with them that he had with her, it’s always spoken about how he wants a mother-figure for christopher but never that he wants a partner. So, when he gets this ready-made family, he has panic attacks because he actually isn’t ready for it and messes it up. Breaking up with Ana because it’s got too serious and then moving Marisol out the same day she moves in. He has a habit of not spending time with his girlfriends but using them often to look after Christopher. A mother figure for Chris but not a partner for him.

As I said, they aren’t Shannon which is why he feels this way. But even then his relationship with Shannon wasn’t that great either so why is he trying to find it again? It’s the only ‘connection’ he’s ever known, or so he thinks, it’s the only thing that he’s experienced and had nothing to compare it to because he hasn’t formed any other connections like that since Shannon. From his perspective that is. He’s never been ‘in love’ and he doesn’t know what that feels like the only thing he thinks is that he was in love with Shannon and that is what love must be, ar least it’s the closest thing he’s ever had to being in love with someone that he’s doing everything he can to find that again which is why he was so quick to cheat on Marisol with Shannon’s lookalike. Delusion and Desperation.

I feel he’ll slowly start to realise that her lookalike may look like her but won’t end up being the ‘same’ as her. Devin said that the lookalike is going to meet Buck at some point who mentions that she isn’t Shannon in terms of her body language and personality etc and I feel like Eddie will end up realising that it’s true and once he ends up out of his state of delusion he’ll truely feel alone. He can’t have Shannon or her look-alike, he won’t have Marisol anymore because…he cheated amd he’ll realise he doesn’t need that mother figure for Chris…then what. He’ll struggle and push everyone away because everything that’s happened is all he’s ever known. He literally started a family from a young age. Then his sexuality arc will start and he’ll end up realising why all this has happened….because he never loved any of them in a way he was suppose to. But why?……

Ryan said s8 will a refresh button for him and will have a few bombshells and that Eddie will have a new lifestyles that will go into uncharted waters.

I love your thoughts anon. I wish I could right down mine as good as yours.

[canirove]

In The Name of Love | Chapter 33

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Masterlist

Congratulations on that goal, bro 😊

Thank you, Pepi 😊 How is your injury?

I may start training next week

Oh, that's great!  Miss seeing you on the pitch  How is your other injury?

🤨

The one in your heart

So poetic, Ferran 😂

But that one is the same, not healing

And it will probably never will

Don't say that, Pedri

It's the truth

I should have fought for us instead of breaking up with Val

Now she has moved on and we will never get back together 

How many times do I have to tell you that she hasn't moved on, Pedro? 🙄 She still loves you 

That's what you say

Because it is the truth, you idiot Yes, she has good days where she is the Val we all know and love, she is healing  But she also has others where she just cries and doesn't want to leave the house And that's because she still loves you

Oh, great. So I still am making her feel like shit

Pedri… 🙄

🤷🏻‍♂️

Anyway… Did you know that she and her mum made up?

How am I supposed to know that? 

I don't know, maybe Marina or David had told you I know you keep talking with them 

I do, but they haven't mentioned it

How did that miracle happen?

It was all thanks to that amazing girlfriend of mine ☺️

Ana?

Yep Val and her mum had had an argument, the usual between them. And while talking about it Ana suggested that maybe her mum had always wanted for Val to settle down and find a good job, a good husband and start a family, because she didn't want her to go through the same she went through Because she didn't want her to end up alone with a baby and her career and dreams ending too soon like had happened to her

Oh… I had never thought about that

Neither had she

It makes sense tho

She was protecting her and just wanted the best for her

Though she could have done it better, tbh

Like with better manners

Yeah…  And that's why she said she didn't like you despite knowing the feelings you and Val have for each other She didn't want her to get hurt

I still hurt her, tho

That was just a little bump on the road

Yeah, one that ended up with Val in the hospital 

Pedri, for the millionth time: stop blaming yourself for that

I'll try…

You better 😠

But then Val and her mum are good? 

They still are working on it, but things have improved a lot So if they've been able to fix things, so will you

It isn't that easy, Ferran

I fucked up

Yes, you did But you still love her, right?

Of course I do

Well, she loves you too, so 💃🏼 And besides, you are meant to be together

Doesn't look like it… 😔

You are, Pedri Don't give up, ok?

Ok…

DON'T GIVE UP

Ok, no need to yell 😂

I needed to make sure you heard me Manchester isn't close to Barcelona, you know?

I know

But Ferran…

Yes, Pepi? 

Do you really think she will come back?

Like, over there no one knows her and she can have a normal life

Here, on the other hand… 

It won't be that easy, no But what doesn't kill you makes you stronger like the song says, and that's what has happened with Val Her home is in Barcelona with her family, all her friends, and she's gonna go back there and fight for a certain kid she is madly in love with and WHO CAN'T GIVE UP ON THE LOVE OF HIS LIFE EITHER, OK?

Ok, message received 😂

What about you, tho?

Will you ever come back to Barcelona?

I don't know, bro I'm loving the red side of Manchester, it's better than the blue one

Yeah, the red side and a certain redhead too 😏😂

😏

I'm glad you found someone, Ferran

You deserve to be happy 🤍

Thank you, Pepi 🥺

Will you EVER stop calling me that? 🙄

I know you only like it when it is Val the one saying it but… no ☺️ And speaking of Val… DON'T GIVE UP ON HER

I heard you the first time, Ferran 🙄

Just wanted to be sure Because she wants you back, Pedri So you know what to do…

Don't give up

Exactly 💪🏻

━━━━━━❃━━━━━━

"Oh, Val, I'm gonna miss you so much" Ana says while hugging me.

"I will miss you too."

"Are you sure you don't want to stay with us for a bit longer?"

"I'm sure. You and Ferran deserve some alone time, I've bothered you enough."

"You haven't bothered us, Val" he says. "But yeah, you are right. We deserve some time alone. I'm tired of having to always wear clothes around the house and close the bathroom's door when I want to pee."

"Ferran!" Ana says.

"It's ok, don't worry" I laugh. 

"What are your plans now?" he asks me.

"I want to take my mum somewhere for the holidays, have like some proper mother-daughter time now that it looks like we've fixed things."

"Aww, that's lovely" Ana says.

"I also want to go somewhere with Marina and David to thank them for always being there for me. And I have to pay my cousin a visit and meet her baby."

"So family time" she smiles.

"Exactly" I smile back.

"And the school?" Ferran asks. "Are you going back?"

"I am. These months away have reminded me why I love teaching so much. Why, despite all the ups and downs, it is all worth it. And I miss Emma, Beth and Luis so much… They are like my second or third family."

"Third. We go first" Ferran says. "But I am so glad to hear that, Val." 

"Me too" Ana says, giving me another hug. "And about you know who… What are you going to do?"

"He still loves you and wants you back, you know?"

"I know, Ferran. You've reminded me of it many times over the past few months" I chuckle. 

"And you also love him and want him back."

"I do. Now that I feel like myself again and also stronger physically, mentally and emotionally, I want to fight for him. For us. Now more than ever I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with him. But I don't want to rush anything, you know? I want to let things flow and let it happen when it has to happen."

"You are letting destiny do its work." 

"That's it, yes. You all say we are destined to be together, so…" I shrug.

"You are, Val" Ana says. "I've not known you and Pedri for that long, and I probably didn't meet you at the best moment in your relationship… but I know true love when I see it."

"Awww, look at her going all cheesy" Ferran says.

"Oh, shut up" she replies, rolling her eyes.

"I'm gonna miss you, guys" I say, trying not to cry.

"We will miss you too, Val" Ana says.

"Group hug?" Ferran asks, opening his arms.

"Fine" I sigh.

"I love you so much, girls" he says while squeezing us. "Not in the same way, but you know what I mean."

"Love you too" Ana and I reply.