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[nats-bishop]

INVISIBLE STRINGS - alessia russo

*i started writing this and loved it then got bored by the end so sorry for the rushed ending:) but thank you for the love and support on my first post!!

google would define invisible strings as a thread that connects two people who are destined to meet regardless of time, place or the circumstances. the thread may stretch or tangle but it never breaks.

you and alessia both truly believed you were a prime example of the invisible string theory.

the two of you always existing among each other but neither ever really acknowledged each other until later on when you were both older.

you lived on the same street as alessia growing up, only a few doors down, she was the blonde girl you would always see from afar playing in the park with her two older brothers as they blasted the ball at the young girl.

however she always gave back as good as she got.

you had even went to the same school, however she was in the year above you. there were plenty school photos with the two of you in only a few metres apart. walking past each other in the corridor every single day - not having an idea how important each other would become to be to the other in the future.

you had played football for the local team as did she. the blonde playing in offence taking any spot on the front line whereas you sat at the back and played in defence stopping the opposition from scoring.

that is how the two of you met, well kind of. you played for the same team but you two never really friends. it wasn’t that you didn’t like each other it’s just you never really spoke to one another bar the few words when necessary.

however you only played with each other for a few months before she moved onto a new local team. only seeing her now when your team would face her new team.

you both existed in the backgrounds of each others lives.

when you were sixteen, you were scouted by the arsenal's academy for the under seventeens teams, it took you a little time getting used to playing academy football and not the usual sunday league but after a few months you had found your feet and began to settle in.

you had one goal, the england youth squad. your family pushing you each day to try and help you achieve your goal however just a month before the squad announcement you tore your ACL at sixteen.

you were out of football for a year, endless days sat with a physio, in the gym just trying to get your knee to bend again like it once used to. watching from the sidelines as your friends in the academy got their calls up for the youth teams and how you wished it was you.

you felt as though you were fighting a battle you were never going to win, you were falling out of love with sport that you had played your entire life.

after three hundred and sixty two day you were finally allowed to play again, however your return it wasn't the fairy tale dream you had spent the past year dreamed about. you ended up spending a lot of time on the bench not playing as regular as you did before your injury and you spent many of those ninety minutes wondering why you were no longer good enough.

losing all your confidence in yourself and your ability to actually play football - you felt as though you had hit a brick wall. finding yourself some days where you didn't want to play football anymore.

but thankfully your family, mainly your dad, were not going to let you give up so easily on the talent that they had spent watching over the last ten years. your dad repeatedly telling you 'that you time would come'

and like the fairy tale you had dreamed about you slowly begun to get minutes again and fell back in love with sport all over again. forever thankful for your family for their support each day, for sometimes dragging you to training even when you had told them multiple of times that you were done and that you quit.

and you dad was right, your time did come. your hard work finally paid off and just after your nineteenth birthday you made your appearance for the arsenal first time - even bagging yourself an assist.

the next few season were spent learning and being loaned to another other club spending half a season at brighton when you were 20. but you saw it all as learning and a way of improving - you were getting minutes, plenty of clean sheets and you were working towards a new goal: the 2023 world cup.

you were back at arsenal and were a regular starter in the back line for arsenal and with that came your good from and finally your call up for england came as they were beginning their campaign to quality for the world cup in australia.

"are you excited?" leah asked swinging her arm around your shoulders as you walked towards the changing rooms, she had been a big mentor to you since you had came into the first team, along with helping you to improve your game. you could say you became her little prodigy.

the squad had just been announced on social media for the first time and hearing your name on the sheet of paper had you feeling something you could even begin to find the word to describe.

“yes.. but no, i’m a little nervous” you admitted with a small laugh as leah gave you a soft smile and a squeeze of the shoulders to reassure you.

“listen, you’ll be fine! just play with the passion you always have” she said as you nodded slowly, “plus you’ll have me, beth and jordan!” the blonde added as you playfully groaned, leah gasping and unthreading her arm from around your shoulders.

“i’m just kidding, you know i love you all” you smiled, as leah rolled her eyes as you reached the doors of the changing rooms, “i do kiddo! ..but i’m at the top of that list, right?”

“whatever helps you sleep at night, lee!”

leah was right - you were fine. while you didn’t get any starts in any of the games at your first camp, you did get some minutes as a sub which was more than you were expecting. but while sitting on the bench you did find yourself talking to a particular blonde.

“you said you were from kent, didn’t you?” alessia asked as you hummed, a puzzled look growing on your face as you waited for the blonde to carry on. your eyes were glued to the girls running around on the pitch as you sat on the bench with a bright orange bib over your jacket.

“me too! what part?” the blonde asked as you turned your head at the question being slightly caught off guard at the fact she was also from kent.

“um maidstone” you gave her a small smile, your attention turning back to the girls on the pitch as the ball was close to going into the back of the net. alessia gasping making you think she had seen something you had missed on the pitch as well as making you jump a little, “me too!”

you turned back to her, giving her a shocked look. confusion filling you as the two of you spent the rest of camp talking about each others childhood finding out your grew up on the same street as well as going to the same school.

when the next england camp rolled around, you and alessia had became even closer to the point you were counting down the days until you next saw each other.

short and sweet messages turned into hours and hours spent on facetime until the other fell asleep. friendly comments turned into subtle flirty ones and the touches turned to ones that lasted longer than friends and slowly you found yourself falling for the blonde.

the last england camp before the euros in the summer at home had finally arrived, you had arrived at st george’s park with beth and leah but before alessia.

you found yourself sitting patiently in the common room, like a lost puppy waiting for the blonde to walk through the door. the other girls chatting and playing cards in the background.

“kid, if you stare any longer at the doorframe your gonna burn a hole in it!” lucy teased as you glanced away from the doorway for the first time in a least thirty minutes, rolling your eyes at the teasing comment you moved your gaze to fix at watching leah try and beat beth’s high score on the basketball hoop game.

eventually after what felt at least a year to you and fifteen minutes to everyone else - the blonde walked through with ella, as she made a beeline for you as you wrapped her in a tight hug.

the two of you finding a rhythm and falling into a deep conversation about all the things you had forgotten to tell each other over the phone.

“so then me and ella had to stop, so i could get a coffee and she-“ alessia was in the middle of telling you a recount of her journey here before you interrupted her with a big gasp, jumping up out of your seat to find your phone quickly.

“what?” alessia asked as she watched you frantically search for your phone on the beanbag you were sitting on - finding it wedged under the beanbag.

“i have to show you this before i forget!” you said a grin on your face getting bigger with ever swipe your finger did on your phone screen. moving closer to the blonde, your shoulders touching as she peered over your own shoulder wondering what on earth you were about to show her and why was it such a big deal.

"look-" you moved your phone so that it was in her eye line and on your screen was a group school photo, "i don’t get it? what am i looking at?" the blonde asked her squinted her eyes trying to get a better look at the photo.

"there's me and.." you paused as she pointed to herself as a small gasp followed from her, "and there's me" alessia whispered, so quietly you also couldn't hear her. shock has consumed the blonde and you sat back with a smug smile as she examined the photo a little more.

"how’d you find this?" alessia asked as she turned her head back to you, handing you back your phone, "my mum sent me them,, there's more if you swipe across" you said beginning to swipe along your camera roll.

the two of you spent the next hour looking through the photos, some from school and others from your grassroots club, recounting each others side of the memories both of you in shock of how close you to were to each other growing but in reality how far you were to each other.

"we've literally been in the background of each other lives forever" alessia smiled as you nodded. "attached by an invisible string" you added.

the international camp came to an end and you both went back to your respective clubs, this time the two of you were making an effort to see each other without it being on a pitch or about football — so on your days off you went to see alessia and on her days off she came to see you.

your feelings for alessia were growing each time you saw her, her smile was infectious, her blue orbs were the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. but you didn't want to admit your feelings to her in case it ruined your friendship, plus why would she like you back, alessia sees you as a friend and a friend only.

or so you thought.

"less, why don't you just admit you have feelings for the girl!" ella said as she caught the blonde smiling at her phone knowing that she was messaging you.

"w-what" the blonde stuttered her phone dropping into her lap. "less, we can all see that you like her!" ella paused as alessia's cheeks tinted red, "except for y/n - but she definitely likes you too!"

"she does?"

"of course, everyone can see the way you both look at each other!" ella said bumping her shoulder with the older blonde as alessia gave her a small smile and nodded processing the information that had just been given to her.

before the euros came around in the summer alessia managed to make the first move taking you on the first date — a fancy dinner accompanied by going back to her apartment and spending the rest of the night cuddled into each other while watching a film.

the euros had come and you were back with alessia and the rest of the england girls. the tournament had been the best time of your life making unforgettable memories with the girls. slipping in a few dates with alessia when you two had some downtime.

you were just beginning to enter the second half of extra time the score being 1-1 in the final, yes the final at wembley. the little girl inside of you was buzzing with excitement, you couldn't believe you were going to get to play here. your whole family had made the trip to wembley, sitting proudly in the crowd.

it was england's chance to score, germany had conceded the corner. alex was hovering over it to take it as white shirts littered germanys penalty area.

the ball swing in as everyone jumped up, you watched alessia drop to the ground and then watched as chloe poked the ball into the back of the net. chloe running off to celebrate as the stadium erupted, as you all gathered around chloe celebrating.

all you had to do was hold on for the next ten minutes and the trophy was englands.

keeping the ball in the corner, desperately waiting for the final whistle to blow.

germany had one last chance but before it got into the final half the whistle blew, england where european champions.

running to the closest person near you which happened to be leah, engulfing her in a hug as the tears began to fall. "we did it!" you whispered as she hummed, the two of you sniffing and wiping your eyes and going off to celebrate with the others but your eye caught the sight of your favourite blonde moving toward her.

you don't know if it was the adrenaline of the win that was flowing or if you had finally just grew the confidence to say it but after months of dancing around your feelings for the blonde.

you ran up swinging your arm around her neck, as you both cheered before you faced her grabbing her hands, "less! will you be my girlfriend" you blurted out, clearly catching the blonde of guard as her head perked up, alessia thinking she had misheard you before nodding, "yes, a thousand time yes!" 

you smiled bringing the blonde in for a bear hug, not wanting to let go. enjoying her touch, it made you feel safe and loved. as she pulled away she wrapped an arm around your shoulders pulling you into her, kissing the top of your head lingering there for a few moments.

"all along there's been an invisible string tying me to you."

liked by lucybronze and 915,703 others

alessia day one or one day?

comments -

lucybronze well y/n looks thrilled on the first one

24m 140 likes     reply

-> yourusername she annoyed me that day.

-> alessia how on earth can you remember that?

-> yourusername i can’t? i’m just guessing that you did

yourusername i love you<3

24m 140 likes     reply

-> alessia love you more, my love<33

#my song #alessia russo x reader #woso x reader

[nats-bishop]

i will never forget this

lionesses: Never too young to start supporting the #Lionesses 🥰

#leah williamson #england wnt #lionesses #arsenal women #arsenal wfc #arsenal

[nats-bishop]

Leah were so happy the girls beat Chelsea, a true gunner

[nats-bishop]

happy birthday to the queen of england🫶🏻

#leah williamson #arsenal women #arsenal wfc #pookie #arsenal #woso

[nats-bishop]

Lover (Alessia Russo x Williamson!Reader)

Part 13 of Lover - Part 1 is here

A/N: anybody who is the featured artist is who reader is (if there is one).

Life with Less was good. So good sometimes, you didn’t think it was real. Since she’d moved in with you two months ago, it had became even easier being with her, if that was possible.

You weren’t up to a lot lately, so you pretty much got to laze around or play some music while you waited for her to come back from work every day. Some days you went to your parents to spend the day with them, other days you and Luke or you and Holly went off to do something or chilled at eachothers places.

On days she had off, you went to her parents, or went out on dates. Sometimes, though, you spent the day on the couch eating and watching rubbish.

Yeah, life had never been this easy before.

You’d flown to see Anna and meet baby William and unfortunately, Less couldn’t come with you, due to work. But Luke came, as he wanted to meet the baby too.

Anna was thrilled to see you both, greeting you with big hugs when you arrived at her apartment in New York.

“This is baby William” Anna smiled picking him up from his chair and handing you the baby boy. His hands immediately found your face and you bust out laughing. “He likes you” Anna laughed.

“He’s adorable” you hummed in a cute baby voice, as if you were speaking to him.

Luke took a photo of the interaction with you and William, as he was under strict instructions from your girlfriend to get photos of you with the baby.

Luke (Steph’s Boyfriend)

Alessia (Y/n’s girlfriend)

Dying 🫠

He’s so cute

Steph wants one of you

Luke (Steph’s boyfriend)

Maybe if y/n decides to ever give him to anybody else she will get one 😆

You don’t know why you felt so at peace holding William, but it put you, and him, right down for a nap. Anna had gently pierced him from your protective hold and put him in his cot.

William was replaced by a pillow and Luke put a blanket over you to get you comfortable while you napped on the couch.

“How has she been?” Anna asked as the two headed off into the kitchen.

“She’s actually been doing great” he nodded, taking a cup of coffee from her and thanking her quickly.

Anna had been working from her apartment, now that William was a few months old.

“The label has been at me to get a tour on the cards or more music” she whispered, looking over at you still asleep on the couch.

“More music?” Luke frowned. “She’s just given them two #1 albums” he raised his voice slightly.

“I know” Anna shushed him. “It’s just the way things are. An album means a tour and no tour means they want something else to compensate” she informed him.

“Would a tour need to be world wide or?” He asked.

“There would be too much demand for her to do anything less” she nodded.

The word ‘less’ made Luke think of how happy you and Alessia had been in your little bubble. It had been hard enough to convince you to take this trip.

“I don’t think she’ll want to leave Alessia, and she also can’t go with her. It’s different than what she had with Mel” he whispered.

“You need to convince her to try tour now. She can lay low for as long as she wants to when it’s done” Anna replied. “Until then, get her to stay out of it while I sort it with the label”

You stayed with Anna for a few days, both of them just letting you enjoy time with her and baby William.

You fell in love with the baby, never letting him out of your hold. And he fell in love with you, never once crying when he was against you.

And all was well as you boarded your flight back to London, before Luke told you everything him and Anna had discussed.

So you were trying to lay low and out of sight from the bosses, so they wouldn’t make you go on tour and leave your little life in London with Less for months on end.

You knew it was coming, but you were delaying it for as long as possible. You’d left Anna and Luke to work out the logistics of it all. Your job was to just perform and not to get involved with these decisions.

The logistics were decided fairly quickly. They needed 6 months to book and plan your tour, build a stage, print merch, market, and on top of that hire a full crew. You and the band also needed to practice as you hadn’t been together in awhile. Apart from Holly, who you saw every few days.

It was when Alessia was gone abroad for an away game, that you flew back to New York without her knowing for a meeting with Anna, Luke and your label.

“Y/n, good to see you. Take a seat” you were ushered into a seat at the bottom of the long table.

A man in a suit stood at the top of the board room with a power point presentation set up behind him.

“Please remain calm” Anna whispered and you frowned.

“Okay, so as you are aware, we need 6 months to prepare your tour and it will be a world wide tour, hitting every continent in the world” he began. “In those 6 months though, we’ve set up a few collabs for you to do. That way, no original music needs to be written but income still comes in for all of us and your name stays in the charts until ticket sales start”.

Your place in these meetings was to just nod, and that’s exactly what you were doing during this little presentation. He went on to show you concept designs of the stage and merchandise and showing you different venues you’d be potentially playing in.

He then hit you with the line that you knew was what Anna had told you to remain calm about.

“So the tour then, would last around 12-15 months and your team can work out how you do that travel” he smiled, proud of himself for giving what he deemed a great presentation.

“Sorry, did you just say 12-15 months?” You asked.

“Y/n” Anna said sternly as you sunk further into your chair.

“I’m sorry, it’s just, my last tour was also world wide and I was gone for 8 months and that was rough enough as it was” you mumbled.

“I understand, but you’re more in demand now. For example” he flicked across a few slides with so many numbers on the screen you didn’t understand what it meant. “Ticket sales are projecting you’d need to do 6 nights in Madison Square Garden alone to comply with demand in New York”

“I’m not even 23 years old yet, this isn’t going to be my last tour people can see me on” you raised your voice as Anna put her hand on your leg and gave it a squeeze while Luke stood up.

“Thank you gentlemen, we’ll be in touch in relation to the tour route” he smiled shaking their hands.

He guided you out of the room while Anna stayed back to discuss various things with them.

“15 months? 15 fucking months? They can’t be serious” you snapped.

“Will you relax?” He huffed pushing you further away from the room he’d just closed the door of. “You knew this was coming”.

“Do you not get how long 15 months away is? That’s 15 months away from Alessia” you frowned.

“Yeah and do you know what else it is?” He asked and you shrugged. “It’s 15 months away from Steph, 15 months away from William, or bringing a baby on a world wide trip. You’re not the only one this is going to affect, but it’s our job” he whisper shouted.

It was new territory for you. The last two tours you’d done, Mel had been with you in every city for every second, and you wouldn’t have that this time. But neither would anyone.

“I’m sorry” you pulled him in for a hug. “It’s just a long time to be away”.

“I know, but you have me this time” he pulled you in a bit tighter.

A point you hadn’t even thought of, as you were too consumed being sad about that much time away from Alessia, was the fact that you’d have Luke this time.

The two of you had made a pact to not speak to anybody who played football for a living about the tour until the season was over, which thankfully was in the next few days.

You’d spent the game sitting with Luke, and your family to the left hand side of you, while Alessia’s family sat to the right.

You had all spent practically the entire game screaming at the top of your lungs.

But as the final whistle blew, it was all worth losing your voice.

“And that’s it, Arsenal have won the WSL title”

You watched on with Luke as both of your girlfriends, your sister, and her girlfriend celebrated on the pitch.

It was your sister’s dream to win a title with Arsenal and the whole reason Alessia moved here was to win trophies. And now they both had that. And even more special for you, they did it together.

“Baby” Alessia shouted towards you as she jogged to the side of the pitch. She instantly smashed your lips together before Leah came and ripped you two apart.

“Fucking disgusting, not infront of children” she teased before pulling you into a hug.

“So proud of you two” you smiled, pulling Alessia in for a group hug and kissing her on the forehead.

“That’s fine, don’t be proud of me” Lia teasingly pouted.

“Oh, come here Wally” you laughed, breaking away from the other two and pulling your sister’s girlfriend into a hug.

Steph and Luke were a little bit further down but once the three spotted Luke and Steph spotted you they were all switching positions to get to the other person.

You had security with you now, everywhere you went. Since the album release you’d grown even bigger and with the tour announcement just a few days away, there would be carnage with fans and with media. You never wanted a security team but once you were reminded it wasn’t just you, but also those around you that needed it, you signed the cheque.

You watched as Kim and your sister lifted the trophy and it was being passed around from team mate to team mate.

Alessia and Leah got a picture together and shuffled over with the trophy for you all to get pictures with it too. The Arsenal media rep had practically begged Alessia and Leah to get you in for pictures.

“Y/n” Katie shouted with a huge grin on her face. You two had kept in touch since the NFL game and the concert. “Alright? How are ya?” She beamed.

“Good mate yeah, congratulations” you did the little high five and hug motion with the Irish girl before you were both interrupted.

“Y/n, Katie, can we get a photo please?” A person in a bib with a camera said. You obliged as they quickly took their shot and you got back to your conversation.

“We’re all going out tonight. A few of the girls’ girlfriends and boyfriends are coming so I presume you are too, yeah?” She placed her hand on your shoulder.

“I wouldn’t want to intrude” you shrugged. “Just becomes complicated with me there” you added.

“Nah, that’s bollox” Katie huffed. “I’ll see you there” she punched you arm as she ran off, both of your security taking a step forward to check you were fine.

They were big men. One was taller and stockier than the other one, and he’d been personally assigned to you and when needed, Alessia.

The other guy, if you were with a group, looked after everyone else. But when it was just you, both of them were glued to either side of you.

One of them had left with Luke, your family and the Russo’s while the other had stayed with you, as you’d gotten stuck signing autographs for fans in the stadium.

When you’d finally been able to leave the ground, you were bombarded with people. You were just trying to get to your car in the car park.

“Can we take a step back please?” Your security shouted, gesturing the other one over who helped trying to clear a path for you.

Your family and Alessia’s family looked visibly worried for your safety as it was getting a bit too much for just two security men to deal with, regardless of how big they were. Eventually, the Arsenal security also jogged over to help.

You’d never experienced stuff like this before. Usually people had always been so respectful to you. But now, people just wanted any part of you that they could get. You were being grabbed at and pulled from left to right and security were literally piercing people’s hands from your clothes.

Alessia and the girls had just stumbled out to get to the bus that was waiting for them, all opting to leave their cars overnight due to them already starting to drink.

Your parents, Luke and Alessia’s family had all been ushered into their cars and were being asked to drive off. Your mum and dad refused at first but were practically forced into it to clear more room to get you out. Your mum could hardly look at you as she drove by.

“Is that y/n?” Katie frowned looking in your direction as she came out of the door of the ground.

Alessia and Leah had already boarded the bus, but Steph and Lia hadn’t. The two of them ran over to help get people away from you. They were offering to take photos and sign autographs just to distract people and, it worked for a brief moment, just so security could get your car door open and practically shove you inside it.

Lia and Steph hopped into your car too as now that you were gone out of sight, attention quickly turned to them.

“Jesus Christ, what the fuck” Steph breathed out from the back of the car when the three of you got in.

“Are you okay?” Lia asked from the passenger seat, placing her hand on your shoulder and you nodded at her, gripping the steering wheel for dear life.

“When did it get this bad?” Steph asked, remembering the day you two spent together at Christmas and thinking it was bad then.

“It’s pretty much whenever I go out now” you shrugged.

Security beckoned you to move off, and you started the car.

“Where are you two going? I can bring you” you asked.

They said the name of the place they were going, and you set off in that direction.

“Are we all set?” The bus driver asked the group who were on the bus.

“Nah man, where’s Lia?” Leah frowned standing up out of her seat, which was beside Alessia.

Alessia stood up now too, looking for Steph.

“Steph?” Alessia shouted.

“Katie?” Caitlin called looking around.

“I’m here, sorry” Katie shouted as she boarded the bus. “Fuck me, you should have seen that” she shook her head.

“Everything alright? Have you seen Lia and Steph?” Leah asked.

“They left with y/n. Leah, I swear I thought they were all gonna kill your sister” Katie looked horrified.

“What?” Leah frowned.

“Did something happen to y/n?” Alessia was straight over to the defender before the bus driver gestured to all three girls to sit down so that he could start to drive.

Lotte now sat holding onto Alessia, who was visibly upset while Katie and Leah sat infront of them with Katie explaining the story. Caitlin sat just opposite them.

“Does it happen a lot, Less?” Lotte asked when Katie was finished.

“Yeah, but usually her security can sort it out. Obviously it just got a bit intense today” Alessia huffed.

“Makes sense why she said she couldn’t come out tonight” Katie shrugged. “Said it would be too complicated with her there” she laughed before punching Alessia, similarly to how she did to you. “And here I was thinking you’s two were having issues”

“Shut up Katie” Alessia rolled her eyes with a laugh.

“Issues? They are practically at it every time you go to their house” Leah teased.

“Leah” Alessia frowned.

“Oh Russo getting it” Katie laughed, making Leah laugh too, until she added “and from baby Williamson”

“Oi” Leah snapped, making Lotte almost cry from laughing so much.

The bus eventually got to the club and the girls filtered off, heading in quickly to continue the celebrations.

Alessia spotted your car and instantly headed over to it while Leah, Lotte, Katie and Caitlin followed her. Your security were parked in a separate car just behind you, but didn’t get out when Alessia waved at them both with a smile.

Steph and Lia had just gotten out when the girls arrived over. Leah quickly took Lia’s hand sending you a thumbs up and you gave her a quick wave goodbye.

“I’ll follow you guys in” Alessia smiled.

Lotte’s boyfriend had just arrived, as well as Luke, so Lotte and Steph went off, with Katie and Caitlin, into the club.

Alessia got in the passenger seat and both of you sat in silence, watching on as couple after couple entered the club, without anybody bothering them.

“You’re not coming in then?” She asked, twisting the rings on her fingers.

“I don’t want to ruin your night, Lessi” you groaned.

“It’ll ruin my night if you’re not there” she whispered, looking back up at her team mates and their partners laughing and joking at the door of the club.

“If I go in, it’ll just be all eyes on me, when it should be you they’re looking at” you gripped her hand.

“I don’t need anybody to look at me” she shook her head. “I want my girlfriend with me to celebrate with my friends that I’ve just won the league for the first time in my career” she huffed.

“I just don’t want to be a burden for you and your mates” you said softly.

“It’s a private area in a night club where everyone knows you” she frowned. “You don’t care when it’s an event for you” she pointed out.

“Don’t be like this Less, please. I just want you to have a good night” you moaned, letting go of her hand.

“Then get out of the car” she shouted as your head flung back.

It fell back to silence for a few minutes before you noticed she was looking back at her team mates at the door again.

“If you’d rather be with someone that it’s easier with, I get it” you shrugged.

“It shouldn’t have to be this difficult, y/n/n” she whispered.

“I think a night without me wouldn’t be a bad thing” you shook your head. “You’re going to need to get used to being without me” you mumbled.

“What’s that suppose to mean?” She huffed, crossing her arms.

“I’m going on tour soon and I’ll be gone for over a year” you sighed.

“I’m sorry?” She said in disbelief.

“I didn’t want to tell you until your season was done and” you tried but she cut you off.

“Funny how you won’t come in because you don’t want to ruin my night, but instead will sit me down in your car to tell me your leaving for over a year and then expect me to enjoy my night?” She snapped.

You felt a wave of guilt wash over you, but it quickly turned to regret when you zoned back in.

“Don’t wait up for me” she said so casually as she opened the door, shut it with some force and headed into the club.

You groaned as you watched her enter the club with a handful of her teammates. You started the car again and drove off, back home.

As soon as you got in the door, the boys left you be for the night.

Your mum had called to make sure you were still alive, which you reassured her you were.

You’d tried to get comfortable , both in bed and then on the couch, but it was useless. You opted to just head to the studio to play some music to try and tire you out.

Music was blaring through Alessia’s ears too, except she, unlike you, was far from sober.

Leah knew you would personally kill her if she let anything happen to Alessia, so her eyes had been glued to her all night. Well, until she got distracted when Lia forced a shot into her and pulled her to the dance floor.

She was too wrapped up with her girlfriend to remember Alessia, or you, even existed right now.

Alessia looked around the dance floor to see all her friends with their girlfriends or boyfriends. She rolled her eyes and waddled up towards the bar to get another drink, although she definitely didn’t need one.

“Same again?” The girl behind the bar asked and Alessia nodded. “You sure?” She raised an eyebrow, looking at how drunk your girlfriend was.

“Yeah” Alessia snapped with a frown.

“Who are you here with?” The girl shouted over the music.

“My team mates, we just won the league” Alessia smirked.

“Oh, congratulations” the girl smiled. “Have this on me then, pretty girl”

“No, no I can pay” Alessia blushed.

“As long as it’s your last one” the girl smirked, sliding the now full glass across the bar.

Alessia put her purse back in her bag, as she took the drink.

“What are you doing, after this?” The girl asked.

“Nothing” Alessia shook her head.

“I finish in an hour, if you’re still here” the girl began.

“She’s fine, thank you” Luke interrupted and put cash down on the bar to pay for the drink.

“Boyfriend?” The girl frowned at Alessia who shook her head.

“No, I’m her girlfriend’s best friend, actually” he huffed.

“Oh? And where is the mysterious woman?” The bartender laughed.

“She’s too famous to come out with me” Alessia drunkenly giggled.

“Lessi” Luke frowned. He caught Steph’s attention who came up to the bar.

“Oh is this her?” The girl laughed.

“No my girlfriend is a singer. She’s going on tour and leaving me for over a year” Alessia pouted.

“Does that mean you’re going too then?” Steph asked Luke who looked to the ground. “You fucking pig” she huffed, storming off.

“Steph” he shouted, running after her and leaving Alessia alone. A bad idea, but Steph was his priority.

“I could probably finish now?” The girl asked as Alessia nodded.

Alessia was drunk. Too drunk to fully understand what was going on. She thought the bar tender was just being friendly. She had no intentions of ever hurting you, regardless of you just ripping her heart out only a few hours before.

Leah was pulled out of her bubble on the dance floor with Lia when Luke had knocked into her trying to get to Steph. She done a quick glance of the room, and looked up and over to the bar.

The bartender had her hand on Alessia’s waist and was whispering something in her ear which was making Alessia laugh.

Steam was visibly bursting from your sister’s head as she stomped over to her.

“Alessia Russo” Leah shouted which made the blonde jump. “What the fucking fuck do you think you’re doing?” She snapped further.

“Lee” Lia tried to relax your sister but it was no use.

“Talking” Alessia shrugged.

“Well say goodbye, we’re going home” Leah snapped.

“I don’t want to go home” Alessia shook her head.

“Can you just think long and hard about what you’re doing here?” Leah frowned.

“Can you just fuck off, mate?” The girl groaned. “She wants to come home with me, don’t you baby?” She smirked.

“What? No. I have a girlfriend” Alessia gagged.

Leah took a sigh of relief, realising now that Alessia was just drunk and was clearly looking for someone to confide in.

“Lessi, come on” Lia put her hand out for the English girl to take.

“I said she’s coming home with me” the girl practically growled, swatting Lia’s hand away.

“Everything alright?” Katie asked getting there just in time before Leah was going to kill this woman. Katie looked towards Alessia who looked uncomfortable, still in the girl’s hold. She brushed by Leah and Lia and went straight to the bartender. “I’d advise you to move, before I throw you across this bar” Katie grunted.

“Is this the girlfriend then?” The bartender laughed.

“No, but you’re lucky it’s not because I would throw you across the bar. She would kill you with her bare hands. Now move” Katie squared up to the girl, who stood up and walked back to the bar.

“I’m sorry” Alessia sobbed, falling into Leah’s arms. “I thought she was just being friendly and everyone here has someone and y/n just doesn’t want to be here”

“It’s okay Lessi, it’s okay” Leah cooed, while hugging her. “You didn’t do anything wrong”

“Lee, you should take her home” Katie whispered as the English captain nodded.

“Maybe back to ours would be better” Lia chimed in. Once Alessia had gone to your now shared home indefinitely, Lia had officially moved in with Leah.

The trio got into a taxi and the couple helped put Alessia straight to bed. Neither of them thought to text you as they were both fairly drunk themselves.

It was the early hours of the morning when you realised Alessia wasn’t coming home. You knew you probably should have called or texted her, but she’d asked you to leave her alone.

You went to make yourself a coffee and headed to the couch to watch shit TV. Somehow, the coffee had a different effect on you and it knocked you clean out. You’d slept for hours and were now sprawled across the couch in Alessia’s England jersey and her Arsenal shorts. You never even heard Luke come in or Alessia come home with Leah and Lia with her, as you were still peacefully asleep.

“Sometimes, I think I’m dating the wrong sister” Lia teased in your expensively decorated kitchen.

“We are not doing this right now, I’m too hungover” Leah groaned from the table that her head was currently pressed against.

Leah and Lia were the definition of the perfect couple. They were never involved in any type of drama. They played nice with everybody and nobody had anything bad to say about them. They were often lost in each other’s company and it was obvious to everyone that they were in love.

“It’s best just to tell her” Leah hummed and Alessia nodded.

“Well you basically told the girl you were dating a singer” Luke laughed.

“And then you shouted at her using her full name” Lia added making Leah roll her eyes.

Luke was afraid the girl might say something to the press and Alessia would be dragged for nothing.

“Just tell her exactly what happened” Leah added and Alessia hummed in agreement, before turning to Luke.

“Are you and Steph okay?” Alessia asked quietly.

“She’s not entirely happy, but it’ll be fine” Luke shrugged with a sigh.

“What happened?” Lia asked.

“Lessi let slip it in front of her and she wasn’t particularly happy I was going away for 15 months” Luke replied and Alessia winced at the idea of you being gone again.

“Where are you going for 15 months?” Leah frowned.

Alessia and Luke looked at each other, now realising that you hadn’t said anything to Leah or Lia about the tour either.

“She’s going on tour” Alessia whispered. “We had an argument last night in her car before I went in”.

“If it helps, she flipped the lid about it being so long” Luke rubbed her shoulder.

“Everything is just” Alessia sighed. “I don’t know, it was fine, but it’s just hard” she shrugged.

“If you’re planning on having a group meeting can you do it anywhere else other than in our house” you grunted as you came through the door.

It was clear you’d just woken up, you had your usual tired face on and your hair was a mess.

“Baby, go back inside and get comfy. I’ll bring you a coffee in a minute” Alessia smiled as you wandered back into the living room and flopped down on the couch again.

“Maybe the break will be good. Things could calm down for her” Alessia said to the group as she went towards the coffee machine.

Leah opened the fridge to have a scan for breakfast ideas, before handing Lia some food and proceeding to beg her to cook.

Luke helped Lia cook while Leah trotted down to your studio to play on your piano. Alessia went inside with your coffee.

“Alive?” Alessia laughed.

“Just about” you nodded. “You didn’t come home last night” you said, as she sat down and handed you the coffee.

“Yeah” she breathed out. “Can we talk?” She asked.

You placed the mug on the counter, noticing it was the one she’d bought you for Christmas. You also saw a look of stress on Alessia’s face that matched the one on Mel’s when you’d confronted her about cheating.

“Last night, there was this girl” Alessia began as your heart sunk.

“Less it’s fine, it doesn’t matter” you shook your head, trying to just finish the conversation before it went into detail.

You didn’t need to know who or how. You understood why, and were willing to just get over it if it meant Alessia wouldn’t go.

“No, y/n, nothing happened” she grabbed your hand. “I promise you, nothing happened”

“It’s okay if something did. I get being with me is shit” you shrugged.

“No, I love being with you” she pulled you by the neck into a kiss. “I was just drunk and I don’t know I was just talking to her and she clearly got the wrong impression” Alessia tried to explain.

“Did you kiss her?” You asked and she instantly shook her head.

“She asked me to come home with her and I said no, and then I think Katie may have threatened to kill her” Alessia explained further as you laughed.

“You’re okay though? She didn’t hurt you?” You frowned as you reached for her and scanned her face for any signs of discomfort.

“I’m okay” she smiled. “I just missed you with me” she pressed her head against your chest and your hand fell to her back.

“I promise, I’ll be there whenever you need me” you rubbed her back before adjusting your grip slightly, and she knew what you were trying to get at.

“Your sister is in the next room” Alessia smirked and poked your nose.

“It’s nothing she hasn’t walked in on before” you shrugged with a smug smile.

“Jesus Christ, stop reminding me of that” Alessia laughed before she pressed her lips against yours and swung her leg over yours, to be sitting on you now.

It was quickly deepened by her and your hands roamed up and down her legs until they found the hem of her shirt. You were just about to pull it up when the door opened and you two shot apart.

“Can you two keep it together for 5 minutes?” Leah shouted with her hand covering her eyes. “Put up a sign, send a message into the group chat” she suggested before letting you know food was ready.

“By the way, Steph and Luke are also arguing over” Alessia held the last syllable of the word, so as to not mention your tour.

“Right okay” you nodded as you both headed into the kitchen.

“Can you please stop scarring your sister” Lia giggled while wrapping you up in a hug.

You and Lia had a really good relationship. Similarly, the way Leah and Alessia had.

“She needs to stop walking into rooms when we’re alone in them” you shrugged with a smirk.

You looked over at Luke who was aggressively typing on his phone in the extended part of the kitchen. You left Lia’s side after excusing yourself to walk towards him.

“All okay?” You asked, sitting down beside him and placing your head on his shoulder. Meanwhile the Arsenal trio had fallen into conversation about last night and started eating.

“Yeah, no, it’s fine” he smiled putting his phone in his pocket.

“You have never been a good liar” you huffed. “Plus, Less already told me” you added.

“She’s just not overly happy” he sighed. “But it will be fine” he smiled. “Come on, let’s get food” he pulled you up off your seat and you both walked to the island the girls had sat around to eat.

You grabbed a piece of toast and wrapped your arms around Alessia’s shoulders, standing behind her and letting everyone else sit down.

You made a mental note to buy two more of these chairs.

You talked about everything, and nothing through the morning. You were exhausted from your lack of sleep, so when they decided to head off, it was definitely welcomed by you.

“I’ll email you over with the list of collabs. You need to get them done asap” Luke said as he was leaving. You shot him a thumbs up and sighed with relief when you closed the door.

“You want to watch a movie or something?” You asked, turning around as the blonde nodded and smiled at you.

That’s how you spent the rest of your day, napping on the couch, watching movie after movie, snuggled up with Alessia.

This is what you’d miss the most when you left.

You had to practically carry Alessia to bed later that night and she was out like a light in seconds. You opened the email Luke had sent across and there was a few artists names that raised your eyebrows.

You never really did collabs, so having to do so many at once was exciting.

Some artists had the song written, some invited you to write the song with them, but you were excited to do both, and branch out into different kinds of music.

You took Less with you on recording days, letting her chill in the studio while you recorded.

She was over the moon you were finally letting her in to see this part of your job. She also wasn’t complaining that she got to meet big artists.

Sometimes she found it bizzare how these people knew who you were, yet she’d been just a fan of them. She also found it strange that somehow someone as famous as you ended up with her.

Some songs you liked, and others were not your vibe. But it wasn’t really up to you, so you just got on with it.

You recorded six in total with six different artists, and the plan was for one to be released each month before you toured.

T - 6 months

Today was the day to confirm the route of the tour and the dates that you’d be playing with venues. Tickets would then be going on sale next week.

Luke was going to be working from Paris for the next few days, as Steph was leaving for the Olympics. So, while you had the opportunity to sit down together, he needed you to agree on this.

You and Luke had argued about Paris. You’d told him to go and he’d offered to stay. He was about to leave her for 15 months because of you so it was a no brainer that he was going to Paris to be a supportive boyfriend.

Alessia and Steph were in the living room, just chatting, while you two were in the kitchen with a world map in front of you. Luke was holding two sharpies, and it was as if you were both doing a geography project for school.

“Okay, so with the blue sharpie, you draw the route you want and then in the black sharpie I’ll draw the one proposed” he said, handing you the marker.

Your route consisted of starting in Australia/New Zealand, then Asia, then Africa, then Europe , then South America and finally America/Canada.

Luke’s route was similar, but more appealing: Australia/New Zealand, then Asia, then Africa, then South America, America/Canada and then Europe to finish.

“So it’s pretty much do you want to finish in America or Europe?” He asked.

“I like finishing in Europe, I just didn’t think that was an option” you shrugged.

“The route I made is just the easiest to minimise travel and you should be able to get to awards shows and possibly home for certain dates that Alessia has games on” he smiled.

“Steph made this route didn’t she?” You laughed.

“Obviously” he smirked. “You really should have hired her” he added.

So that was that, your tour route was planned, venues were booked and tickets were flying out already.

The whole tour sold out in 19 minutes.

T-5 months

Luke had returned from being at the Olympics with a gold medal now in their house, while you got heavy into rehearsals.

Although 5 months felt like like it was long, to put a whole show together in that space of time was almost unheard of.

You and Alessia were good. Enjoying each others company before the fact that you leaving for over a year was looming closer and closer.

You’d told her about the tour route and that you’d try to make it back for certain things, and she told you she would try to make it to award shows if you were to be nominated. She also planned to get to some shows that didn’t take so long to get to.

T-4 months

The entire band were now in London, to rehearse non-stop until you were set to leave. Alessia and the other three went back to football after some well deserved weeks off.

They had to fly abroad for some pre-season friendlies which was shit, given it was getting closer and closer to you not being together at all. You also couldn’t go due to the fact you needed to rehearse.

But it gave you time to catch up with the guys in your band that you hadn’t seen since you had recorded the first album all those months ago now. They were somehow all staying in Holly’s London apartment. She’d bought a place when she moved to London to be with you full time.

You’d spend most of your down time partying with them and Luke. It was easier to numb the pain of having to go than to face up to it.

Alessia didn’t question you on your partying antics like she usually would. She knew it was due to fact you didn’t know how to deal with leaving. The only thing she pulled you on, which was consistent was smoking. God, she hated that you smoked sometimes.

T-3 months

Things were coming together. Your show was actually starting to look good.

You’d decided, with Holly, for your set list to be extremely limited in your old stuff, despite how popular they were.

Moving home to London was all about a fresh start and you didn’t want to sing love songs about someone you despised.

Your core set list was decided but could be swapped and changed around depending on the city you were in. It was fluid, and you were flexible with the crowd and their vibe.

You were also the kind of artist who wrote on the road. You often took advantage of having the whole group together to work on things, and you’d always try it out on tour to get an audience’s perspective on the song.

Kind of like the song you had written for Leah on your previous tour.

It was only when you were in strict album writing processes that you got closed off with sharing music.

T-2 months

2 months before the tour, you invited Anna to London to watch rehearsals.

You invited her to stay in your house so her and William would be more comfortable. You made sure Less was okay first, of course, with having a baby in the house.

He was bigger now than he was when you last held him. But he recognised you instantly and made grabby hands the minute Anna walked through the door for you to take him.

“Seems he hasn’t forgotten you then” Anna laughed as you happily took him from her arms. “He listens to your music all the time, don’t you Will” Anna cooed as the little boy giggled.

“Is he okay to come to this today? I did get him these” you frowned, rooting through your drawer in the living room with your free hand and eventually pulling out what you were after.

You’d bought him some noise protector earphones, that he could wear to the rehearsal. Anna nodded at you with a smile as the four of you headed out towards the car. You were also taking Alessia along with you, due to the fact she was not going to see the show for another while.

You drove the four of you there, Anna was impressed you’d also bought a car seat for William. It was like you had thought of everything.

You made sure the three were comfortable before shuffling off towards the stage to join the band.

You played the set start to finish and turned to the band as you finished.

“Hey listen” you said as they all shuffled in, high fiving each other and celebrating a good rehearsal. “I want you guys to take a week off. We’ve got a big few months ahead and you all need to rest up” you smiled.

“Wicked idea” Holly smirked.

“I’ll see you guys back here in a week” you nodded and everyone headed off already planning drinks for tonight.

You headed back to the house after some small talk in the car. You were sitting on the couch with William and Alessia while Anna was on the opposite one.

“You seem very prepared. And you Miss Russo seem to be a good influence” Anna laughed. “You’ve become very mature”

“I’m glad you think so” you nodded. “Because you’re not coming on tour with me”

Alessia whipped her head over to you and Anna’s head shot up. Your eyes were firmly planted on the ground, holding William like your life depended on it.

“I beg your pardon?” Anna frowned.

“He’s too young to take around the world for so long and it’s too long to be without him” you shook your head.

“I-I” Anna stuttered.

“I’ve already cleared it with the label, and they’re fine with you working from New York. By the time I get to America this guy will be a bit older” you laughed holding his hands. “We can discuss you coming to Europe then, but you’re not coming with me right now. It’s not fair on you and it’s definitely not fair on him” you looked at the little boy who was content sitting on your lap looking up at you.

“You’re such a great kid” Anna smiled, wiping a tear from her eye. “But I will not miss having to do that much flying” she laughed.

“I’ll miss you, you know?” You said, as Alessia’s hand fell to your back.

“I’ll miss you too” Anna smiled. You handed William to Alessia as you and Anna shared a hug. “You’ll never understand how much this means to me” she added with a whisper.

T-1 month

Everything was ready. The show, the stage, the merch, the crew.

Everything.

Everything was being shipped to Australia for your tour which began in 5 weeks but you were leaving in 4 weeks.

The league had started again for Alessia, and you and Luke went to the first home game of the season. You would both be away for a long time now, without being able to watch games at a normal hour of the day.

Alessia had scored to make it 1-0 before being subbed off in the 77th minute. Leah and Lia had also been subbed off after a good game, leaving just Steph on the field.

You and Luke were chatting, but had your eyes glued to the pitch. But oh, how you wish you weren’t looking.

It was a challenge that happened in the final few minutes. Steph was running up the wing, the opposing defender had made a clean challenge to take the ball from her but Steph twisted awkwardly trying to readjust her position. You watched as she fell to the ground, clutching her knee.

Luke’s heart sunk but he rose to his feet quickly to just try to run in any type of direction that would get him closer to her.

Alessia, Leah and Lia had also rose from their seats on the bench. The three of them knew from the way it happened what she’d done. Leah had been through this before.

“Luke calm down” you pleaded with him but he was so stressed he couldn’t even hear you.

A member of the Arsenal team escorted him down at a face pace, just to keep up with him. You sent a member of your security team with him to make sure he was okay.

It wasn’t until you and Alessia got home that news came from Luke, who had went to the hospital with Steph. Those 3 letters would make anybody want to scream. Luke had said they had just gotten home from the hospital about an hour ago.

“Can we go over to her?” Alessia asked and you instantly nodded, grabbing your car keys from the hook in the hallway.

“How long will she be out?” You asked your girlfriend.

“Her season is over” Alessia shrugged. It was a common occurrence now. Multiple team mates and other girls in the league had done it.

“Do you want to text Leah and Lia and see if they want to come? I can swing in and collect them on the way” you suggested as the blonde nodded.

She was being standoffish with you. You hadn’t done anything wrong, she was just consumed with worry for Steph.

Leah and Lia had agreed to come, so you picked them up from their house and all headed to Luke and Steph’s, who’d also moved in together only a few months ago.

Steph was in as good spirits as one could be, but it was evident she had been crying for a long time.

You headed out to the back garden of their place where Steph’s dog, Calvin, was. You patted him on the head before sitting down and lighting a cigarette.

You’d only taken about 5 drags of it when you heard a rustle at the door and seen Leah walking towards you.

“Put it out” she groaned as you rolled your eyes and put it out. You were sat on the hammock chair they had in their back garden as Leah flopped in beside you. “I’m surprised Less lets you smoke” Leah laughed.

“She’s not a fan” you chuckled. “Steph alright?” You asked, and Leah shrugged.

“It’s bloody shit” Leah replied. “The first night was the worst because so many emotions are running through you” she explained.

“I know I wasn’t here when you did yours, but how bad was the recovery?” You mumbled looking at the ground and playing with your fingers.

“It was tough” Leah nodded. “But I was lucky, I had mum and dad around and me and Lia had just started dating. Steph can’t just go home or her family can’t come here for such a long time and now Luke is going too”

“Yeah” you nodded trying to take in everything she said. “Will the club sort out her medical expenses?” You asked and Leah nodded and smiled.

“Don’t worry about it. You need to stay focused for your tour superstar” she poked your nose before pulling you up and into a hug. “I’ll miss you, like, a lot”. She hummed.

“I’ll miss you too Lee” you pouted.

“It feels like I just got you back and you’re going again” she whispered.

“I wish I didn’t have to go” you said quietly against her as she pulled you tighter.

“It could be good for Less though, Steph could move in with her. That way neither of them are alone” Leah suggested.

You thought long and hard about Leah’s suggestion, until you were set to go in two weeks.

Holly had just left with the rest of the band. You’d paid for them to enjoy some down time in Australia before the start of the tour.

Luke was over in your house with Steph finishing up some final bits of tour prep before the four of you had dinner in your kitchen. You watched how careful he was with every movement he made to make sure Steph was okay.

She’d had her ACL surgery just a few days ago.

“Is there anywhere you’re really excited to play?” Steph asked with a smile, breaking you out of your trance and stopping you from playing with your food.

“I’m looking forward to Australia, I can see Jacob there” you smiled back, and she giggled like she was content you’d given her a good answer with her home country. “Also, Japan. I love it there” you laughed.

“Luke has been non-stop about LA” Steph rolled her eyes.

“LA? Really?” You raised your eyebrows. “That’s not until near the end of the tour, you know?” you asked. Alessia gripped your hand in hers, she knew you were about to be the most selfless person ever right now.

“I know, but it’ll keep me preoccupied thinking about when we get there” he laughed.

“Luke, why don’t you just stay with Steph? You can come for the American leg of the tour if you really want” you mumbled.

“No, no. Everything is set” he shook his head.

“Anna will be making sure things run smoothly from New York, it might be better you’re here, doing the same” you smiled. “Steph needs you here, more than I need you there” you added.

“But you’ll be alone” he frowned.

“I have Holly and the guys” you shrugged. “Like you said, everything is set. We can make sure we get from A to B safely” you added.

“Are you sure about this?” Steph asked and you instantly nodded.

“15 months alone is a long time on your own, baby” Alessia tried.

“Well, thanks to Steph’s map I’ll get back a bit to see you guys” you smiled. “So we’re agreed?” You asked and Luke nodded hesitantly. But there was no convincing you otherwise.

You decided to take your mum and dad with you to Australia, so they could see your brother. They would just have to make the trip home without you, which they didn’t mind.

There was just one thing you had to get through before you left.

Your birthday.

You’d told Alessia, Leah and Luke countless times to not make a big deal, and they promised they wouldn’t.

You woke the morning of your birthday to an empty bed. Alessia had gone training and you’d slept through the morning. You’d noticed your phone was blowing up so you had a look through the notifications.

Alessiarusso99 with Y/n_Williamson

Liked by Leahwilliamsonn, katie_mccabe11, lottewubbenmoy and 945,678 others

Alessiarusso99: Lover girls birthday ❤️ You are my favourite person to ever exist. Ly 😘

Leahwilliamsonn: I will not miss this.

Lottewubbenmoy: Happy birthday y/n!!!

Ellatoone: happy bday ⭐️

Y/n_Williamson: Love you more ❤️

LukeJamesP with Y/n_Williamson

Liked by Alessiarusso99, leahwilliamsonn, Stephcatley and 237,569 others

Lukejamesp: my first and forever best friend ❤️ Happy birthday cowgirl 🤠

Leahwilliamsonn: yeehaw

Alessiarusso99: too cute ❤️

Stephcatley: ahhhhhhhhh

Y/n_Williamson: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

You’d gotten on with your day, just pottering about the house and not getting up to much. Like usual, you’d flopped on the couch and stuck a movie on, happily drifting in and out of sleep.

Alessia got home later than usual, but nonetheless woke you when she got in. The way she woke you was always so gently, stroking your face and then kissing you softly.

“Good afternoon, sleepyhead” she giggled.

“Shit Less, sorry. I should have made you food” you groaned as you sat up.

“It’s your birthday, we are going out for dinner” she smiled, pulling you off the couch. “Just us and your family” she added and you nodded with a grin.

Alessia picked an outfit for you and you quickly got changed, while she spent hours getting ready. You never once rushed her. You held anything she asked you to while she did her hair and make up. You fixed her necklace for her which was the final piece of the outfit she put on.

“You always look so beautiful” you chirped kissing her cheek.

“Look at you, just threw that thing on and you look so good” she smirked pulling you into a kiss that quickly got intense. “Okay” she breathed out, pushing you away. “We have a reservation at 8” she reminded you.

You’d insisted on driving but she was adamant on taking a car. She wanted you to relax tonight, maybe have a few drinks and let loose a bit. Although, you didn’t understand that this wasn’t just going to be a dinner with just you, her and your parents.

She gave her name at the desk as the server smiled at you both and ushered you right to the back of the restaurant, where there was a door for a whole separate room.

“Go on then” Alessia smiled as you placed one of your hands on the door and pushed it open. You slotted your other hand into hers.

“Surprise” the room shouted as you came in with Alessia’s hand in yours.

“What the hell?” You laughed.

“Everyone wanted to say goodbye before you left, and it’s your birthday” Alessia giggled as she pulled you in towards everyone.

Everyone was here that you knew. Family and friends of yours and Alessia. Even Holly was here, who’d been hiding from you for a week as you thought she was in Australia with the rest of the band.

“Did you organise all this?” You frowned as your girlfriend shook her head.

“We all did” she smiled placing a kiss to your cheek.

“Think of it as a see ya later alligator but happy birthday bestie party” Luke laughed.

“No, we agreed we were not calling it that” Leah groaned.

“I don’t think I’ve celebrated any type of birthday with my family and friends since I was 15” you said casually, like it wasn’t a big deal. “Thank you for this” you smiled and pulled them all in for a hug, being incredibly gentle with Steph.

It was a good night. It was nice to see everyone happy and you were happy too. You danced and drank and laughed with everyone that was there. You couldn’t have asked for a better birthday.

Holly was of course drunk, but promised Alessia and Leah that she would look after you on tour. She was heading to Australia before you, but she wanted to be here for your birthday.

“Leah” your mum called your sister over as she had her eyes glued to Alessia and you dancing on the dance floor. She’d never seen you look so happy before.

“Yeah mum?” Leah asked.

“Do not leave Alessia on her own while y/n is gone” she warned as Leah nodded.

“I won’t mum, we’ve all sorted it out” Leah smiled.

Luke, Steph, Calvin, Lia and Leah had agreed to all move in with Alessia while you were gone. All of them somehow came to the difficult decision that your house was the most suitable for all of them to live.

They’d all arrived over the night before you were due to leave and none of you slept a wink, just staying up and talking for the whole night.

It was 6am when everyone had drifted off, and you were somehow still awake.

You got up to make a coffee as your flight was in a around 8 hours so there was no point in sleeping now.

Alessia woke to the sound of your coffee machine and rolled her eyes as she got up and headed to get you.

“I’m surprised that’s not in your suitcase” she laughed from the door.

“Do you think it would fit?” You smirked as she shook her head and walked towards you.

“Do you really want to be a singer? You don’t want to just sell the house and move into a one bed flat in a rough part of London?” She teased.

“I would love to do that” you chuckled. “I’m gonna miss you so much Lessi” you gripped onto her for dear life.

You could feel the tears falling from her eyes onto your hoodie.

This was shit. Utter shit.

“I love you, y/n” she pulled you in harder.

“I love you too” you frowned against her, trying not to cry.

“Come on” she said wiping her eyes and pulling your hand. “Let’s try to get a few hours sleep” she smiled and took you towards your bedroom.

You woke after a few hours, Alessia was still beside you but she was awake.

“Hi baby” she smiled, now noticing you were awake.

“Hey” you grinned.

“I’ve got you all packed and ready to go. Your parents will be here in half an hour” she said as you nodded.

You quickly got up and dressed and headed down to grab breakfast and a coffee. You chatted to the gang while you waited for your mum and dad.

They’d arrived on time, as usual, and your dad and Luke loaded the car with you and their suitcases.

You said goodbye to Luke, Steph and Lia at the house. They weren’t easy goodbyes but they were definitely the easiest. You and Luke were used to being away from eachother for a long time.

You drove all five of you to the airport. Alessia was insured on your car too, so she was able to drive it back to your shared home.

You got all the luggage out of the car and all five of you headed to the private security section in the airport. Your bodyguard team were waiting for you to arrive. You gave them a quick wave to indicate you’d be over in a few minutes.

Leah quickly hugged your parents goodbye before coming to you. Your mum and dad, hugged Alessia goodbye as Leah wrapped you up.

“I’ll be back before you know it” you smiled as your sister shook her head and pulled you tighter.

“You look after yourself out there, and call me anytime you can” she eventually let go of you, and helped your parents get their suitcases checked in.

Alessia was already crying as your hands met her back and hers met your neck.

“I promise you, I’ll be back so soon. You won’t even notice I’m gone” you reassured her.

“I love you so much” she kissed you like she never wanted to let you go.

“Love you more” you said quickly before kissing her again.

Leah didn’t interrupt this time to tease, like she usually would. She left the two of you be.

They waved you off through security and headed back to the car. Both of them silent on the walk, but had a hold of each other for comfort.

Your mum was up at the buffet in the lounge as you and your dad slotted in beside eachother in a booth.

“You okay baby girl?” Your dad asked and you nodded. “You’ve found a good one there” he chuckled and nudged you with his shoulder.

“I know” you smiled.

The two blondes were silent on the way home too, as Alessia drove with teary eyes. Leah turned on the radio to try and distract both of them from crying.

“And coming up next, why don’t we play some Y/n Williamson? Here’s Northern Attitude”

The pair shared a look before both of them burst out laughing. They screamed every word at the top of their lungs on the drive home. As the song ended, Leah spoke for the first time since they’d dropped you off.

“What’s 15 months?” She asked.

Y/n_Williamson

📍 Australia

Liked by Alessiarusso99, leahwilliamsonn, lukejamesp and 7,587,290 others

Y/n_Williamson: The 2️⃣3️⃣ tour is just around the corner. Can’t wait to see you all x

Alessiarusso99: Already miss you mi amor ❤️ So proud of you 🌍

Leahwilliamsonn: That’s my sister x

Liawaelti: So excited for you. Miss your face 🫶🏻

Lukejamesp: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Stephcately: ❤️❤️❤️❤️

Katie_McCabe11: Yeahhhh the popstar girl. Any tickets for London left?? 🤨

[nats-bishop]

cute little blurb about being on camp in Spain with less??

puzzle book II a.russo

"and see this? thats called sunshine! and thats why you don't live in england kid!" lucy beamed smugly as the two of you finished up training and you grinned, her arm draped across your shoulder.

"oi! stop trying to poach my RB bronzey." beth warned tugging you away from her with a playful glare making you laugh. "i could put in a good word, thats all i'm gonna say!" lucy winked at you before holding her hands up in defence.

"don't you listen to a word she says! you're a gooner till you die and if you dare forget it i'll call leah and she'll be on a plane here to beat some sense into you." beth warned sternly before pulling you into a headlock. "meado!" you laughed again trying to pull away as she struggled to cling on.

you jumped a little as a new set of arms wrapped round your hips, pulling you easily from beths grip and into someone elses, though you relaxed immediately at the smell of your girlfriends perfume invading your senses.

"hello gorgeous." alessia smiled softly, kissing your cheek and hugging you tightly from behind. "disgustin!" beth gagged sticking her finger down her throat but she quickly scurried off at alessia's narrowed eyes.

"babe where we we going?" you questioned as your girlfriend started to walk the two of you in the opposite direction to where you were originally headed. "ice bath, recovery." alessia answered as you tensed.

"less! no i already did one yesterday i was told i didn't need it today." you groaned trying to pull away as she just held on tighter, lucy watching on with an amused smile already in the small pool.

"baby i am just looking out for you, gotta make sure you're in your best shape for tomorrow." alessia grinned, easily lifting you up and dropping you into the pool as you winced and hissed at the change in temperature.

"i hate you." you huffed as your girlfriend climbed in after you with a wink. "i love you too." she kissed your cheek and bumped her hip into yours with a grin.

"enjoy the view?" she smiled smugly, tucking her top up and bending down a little more into the water not missing the way your eyes temporarily dropped down to her abs.

"how soon did you say i could transfer to barcelona?" you turned to ask lucy with a frown making her chuckle.

"alessia!" you gasped as suddenly your legs were swept out beneath you, sending you tumbling down into the ice bath and onto your ass. "fuck thats cold." you winced, taking lucy's extended hand as she pulled you up.

"well it is an ice bath genius." ella piped up from a few metres away, head buried in a magazine as your eyes narrowed. "oi!" ella shot to her feet as you kicked your foot sending a small wave of freezing water onto her.

"nah man me crossword!" ella groaned shaking the dripping book as you shot your girlfriend a glare and promptly stepped out of the ice bath, accepting a towel from one of the coaching staff with a grateful smile.

"warned you that big mouth would get you in trouble tooney." lucy chuckled as you wrapped the towel around you and stepped into the sun to try and dry off. "less control ya missus would ya?" ella groaned as you raised an eyebrow.

though before you could lunge at her like you intended your girlfriend appeared in front of you with an amused smile, grabbing your hips and shaking her head.

"move. you're already in the dog house russo would you like to make it worse?" you warned with a scowl which only caused her smile to widen. "you're quite sexy when you're mad love." the blonde grinned, snatching your towel off you and wrapping it around her own body.

"and you're proper ugly when you're calm." "right thats it tooney come here!"

~

"not sitting with the love of your life? do i smell trouble in paradise?" mary teased as you dropped down beside her, stealing her sunglasses as the team watched the under 23's warm up for their match against spain.

"maybe i just missed you mazza, hardly got a good look at you when i was busy whipping balls past you last weekend." you smiled as marys face dropped. "i'm joking! i love you." you hugged her tightly as she hummed.

"yeah yeah get in line you pest." mary flicked your ear but the smile stayed on her lips as the two of you chatted, not really have had much time to do so this camp so far as the game kicked off.

"incomin!" you grunted as a weight landed on your back and you almost fell forward, grace clinging onto you as mary grabbed the back of your top to stop you from slipping off your seat.

"get off me you little shit." you groaned, grace pinching at your cheeks and stretching your face as you grunted and tried to throw her off to no success.

"you're so annoying gracie get off its hot!" you whined, smacking marys knee for help as she ignored you with a wave of her hand, eyes busy watching the game going on in front of you.

"grace, off!" you heard a new voice call out a couple of rows down, both your heads turning to see your girlfriend staring sternly at your young teammate in warning.

"or what?" grace grinned, arms still locked around your neck as alessia simply stood and grace immediately let go. "alright! no need to get ya shorts in a twist less." grace scrambled back to her seat as mary chuckled.

catching the blondes eye after she sat back down the taller girl pouted and tapped the empty spot next to her expectantly. "go on." mary nudged her shoulder into yours as you rolled your eyes and stood, alessia's face lighting up.

"hi baby!" she greeted happily as you sat down beside her, pulling you into a hug which of course you melted into. "missed you." she mumbled as you smiled and broke apart, her arm stretched out behind you as you leaned a little into her side.

"i saw you an hour ago lessi!" you laughed quietly as she pouted again. "exactly, you could be gone for ten seconds and i'd miss you." the girl frowned as you rolled your eyes again and softly kissed her cheek.

"watch the game you big sap." you leaned your head on her shoulder, closing your eyes as your face was bathed in the warm glow of the spanish sun, lulled by the chatter of your teammates around you.

you hadn't even realised you'd dozed off until a finger was poking at your cheek and your eyes opened slowly, pulling your head off of alessia's shoulder and smacking away the offending hand.

"wakey wakey!" georgia cooed as you pushed marys sunglasses up onto your head and rubbed your eyes. "i envy the way you can just fall asleep anywhere, please do teach us your ways." keira shook her head from the row behind as you glanced at her with a small smile.

"insomnia." you chuckled, leaning back into the comforting warmth of your girlfriend who was speaking to maya and millie on her other side, her hand moving to rest against the small of your back.

the game now finished only a few more minutes passed until everyone was called to head back onto the busses to drive back to the hotel. unable to avoid chattering away to georgia you were much more awake now, well rested from the tiny power nap.

"do you want to go for a walk by the beach when we get back to the hotel babe?" alessia asked, snagging your hand in hers and swinging them to and fro as you followed after the other girls out toward the parking lot.

"can we go to watch the sunset instead?" you questioned, that having become a routine of sorts with the two of you when you went to the world cup in australia. "great idea! we can all go." millie beamed as she grabbed your other hand. "one big happy family." maya agreed taking your girlfriends other hand.

"how romantic." ella made kissy faces from in front of the two of you as you lazily kicked at her and alessia rolled her eyes. "piss off!" the blonde chuckled, both of you tugging your hands free and filing onto the bus, your girlfriend pulling you into the seat beside her.

the ride back was quick, alessia latched onto you from behind as her chin rested on your shoulder and the two of you chattered away with beth and rachel who were sat across from you.

"where are you going?" your girlfriends arms circled around your stomach as most of the girls made a beeline for the pool and the gardens and you headed for the hotel once you were all dropped off.

"more like where are you taking me?" you laughed, smiling up at the girl who grinned. "poolside for some puzzles and a cuddle, obviously." alessia sighed, stealing a kiss and grabbing your hand again as you allowed her to lead you away.

"you and that puzzle book, baby it makes my brain hurt!" you groaned laying down onto one of the sun loungers, alessia flopping beside you and pulling it out of her bag.

"thats not hard considering its so tiny." ella piped up from where she stood in front of the lounger juggling a ball with millie and maya. "leave her, she only does it to wind you up babe and you bite everytime." alessia chuckled as you huffed and settled for shooting ella a glare as the girl blew you a kiss.

"millie!" ella gasped as the ball smacked her in the forehead making you grin as they took off chasing one another before someone cleared their throat.

you looked back to your girlfriend who had shuffled around to make herself comfortable, her head resting on your shoulder as her long legs tangled with yours.

"lets do some trivia today gorgeous, something different!" the blonde announced, flipping through the pages of her book as you sighed, tangling a hand in her hair and scratching at her scalp like you knew she loved.

"oh thats lovely, thank you." alessia all but melted into a puddle and patted your thigh as she pushed her hips up to grab out a pen from her back pocket. "you're such a dork." you smiled affectionately, her head swiveling to glare up at you.

"am not! if i have to watch those stupid nerdy elf movies of yours you can do a few puzzles with me to keep your brain sharp." alessia huffed as now you glared at her.

"they are not stupid nerdy elf movies its the lord of the rings and you asked to watch them with me and leah!" you defended as alessia only hummed. "because i love you and love is about compromise."

"you fell asleep twenty minutes in anyway, as always." you rolled your eyes affectionately at the strikers habit of being unable to make it all the way through a movie without falling asleep.

"snored too." you added on with a smile as your girlfriend scribbled down an answer before smacking you in the head with her book. "less!" you huffed, trying to sit up as she pulled you back down.

"no, puzzle time." alessias head fell back to your shoulder as she moved to drop your own hand back in her hair as you couldn't help but smile, scratching away with your fingers as the taller girl sighed happily.

"cuddle party!" you barely had time to look up before a body crashed on top of you both causing you and alessia to groan, grace pulling her head up with a delighted grin. "oo trivia!" the younger girl wiggled around and made herself comfortable on your other side.

"no! mine, get your own." alessia smacked away her hands where they grabbed at your free one clearly trying to get some head scratches as well. "fine. mary!" you winced at the yell in your ear as the goalkeeper appeared.

"play with my hair and help us with this trivia please." grace requested as mary sighed like a tired parent but sat down none the less, alessia shoving the book in her face already stuck on a question.

"was this what you had in mind when they said camp was in spain?" mary mumbled with an amused smile from beside you, nodding down to the two blondes lounging about half on top of the two of you working on the trivia together with determined frowns.

"not at all."

[nats-bishop]

#leah williamson #arsenal wfc #lil guy #arsenal women

[nats-bishop]

bring them backkkkk

Leah really enjoys teasing Jordan about her height doesn’t she?!

#leah williamson #jordan nobbs #leah and jordan #arsenal women

[nats-bishop]

guro🥹🥹🥹

overthinking thoughts ・❥・g. reiten

pairing: guro reiten x fem!reader

summary: what happens when your lover of almost three years gets a bit insecure about certain things? just something fluff, and it's rewritten. canadian!reader, fleming!reader

you gave the crowd a small smirk, as the cheering had gotten a bit louder. you were simply strumming your electric guitar, playing the last song on the set list, but you gave a cheeky smile at your sister who stood beside her teammates, and your girlfriend. your lover's eyes have never left you, in fact she watched you with a proud grin, as you sang your heart out for the last song.

when the song had ended, you were absolutely breathless as part of your layered hair had covered your eyes, quickly moving them--you had bid goodbye to the crowd as you headed backstage, alex (the drummer) your childhood best friend and quinn (the bassist) a mutual friend you had met in college had followed right behind you.

"excited to see the missus?" the irish had teased, as you chuckled at her words. but she was correct, you are excited to see her again--the months on tour had been restless, and since london was the final stop, you had decided to stay at your sister's place. despite being twins, jessie was still your older sister by a few minutes. but you were the taller one, so it was easy to tease your older sister.

"is it that obvious?" you asked, chuckling as you felt a bit shy at their teasing. maybe it was the way you kept talking about the norwegian, despite being miles apart. the bracelet she had made was currently worn around your left wrist, it's what caught the attention of your fans, but rather than answering them, you'd given them a shy smile as you greeted them before engaging in a small conversation.

"anyone can spot from a mile away that you're hopelessly in love with her." alex teased, his eyes leaving yours as he caught a glimpse of who was the surprise visitors. you felt someone snake their arms around your waist as they pulled you closer, a contented hum had escaped your lips as you turned around--guro gave you a soft yet wide smile, as you gave her a peck on her cheek. regardless of the fame you currently have, you were never one for public affection.

your relationship was the definition of lovers in private, and best friends in public. you had befriended a few chelsea players the moment your sister had signed for them, back in 2020, jessie wanted you to come with as she signed the contract for moral support, she'd say. but you were alright with it, that was how you met guro after all. it was during a chelsea game, you had spent a month in london writing and coming up with lyrics for the album, a confused look was seen on your face throughout the game.

when the game had ended, you were waiting for jessie near the barrier, scrolling through your phone not noticing how she came up to you. it took you a while to notice really, and when you did--you were the shyest person she ever met. jessie had seperated you from the norwegian as she noticed from afar that the two of you were talking, guro was surprised but then your noticable freckles had given it away.

"guro, you don't need to bring y/n to my place. i'm sure she'd like to stay with you." jessie teased as you gave her a shrug, a small chuckle escaped guro's mouth as she hummed.

"i didn't plan on it, fleming." guro said, as jessie raised her eyebrows before shaking her head at the two of you. the two of you bid goodbye, hopping into the backseat of one of the given cars. each bandmate was assigned a car and a driver, but you would share if you were headed together to an event, or etc. it didn't take awhile to settle yourself in your girlfriend's apartment, you wore her pajamas as you used your towel to dry your damped hair.

the norwegian was looking out the balcony window, her eyes were set on the couples walking through the streets, her jaw was a bit clenched--there was something obviously bothering her. you called out, not receving a reply the first three times as you shuffled around the apartment, joining guro on the balcony.

"are you alright, love?" you softly asked, knowing that there was something that was occupying her mind. but she had kept quiet, as you patiently waited.

"i just hate how i can't have you in public, or the other people who would get close to you." guro had commented, as you gave her a soft smile, she's jealous but you understood that--you want to be public about your relationship as well. but you're afraid of the backlash that she might get, rather than being worried about what would happen to you, you're more worried on what would happen to her.

"du vet at de ikke er deg, jeg har bare øynene mine på deg, guro. [you do know that they're not you, i only have my eyes on you, guro.]" her eyes widened as you fluently spoke in her native language, a soft smile appeared on her face, as tears filled her eyes. you had been practicing and learning her language despite your busy schedule.

"jeg føler bare at det er vanskelig å elske meg, jeg er opptatt med karrieren min, og jeg har kanskje ikke tid til deg. [i just feel like it's hard to love me, i'm busy with my career and i may not have time for you.]" you chuckled at her behavior, it's true she'll be more busy as time passes by, but so will you--so a part of you understood her, it may not be the training and games. but it was the constant tours, the vocal training, the busy fanmeets and you were too busy keeping up with your appearance.

"du tar ikke feil, kjærlighet. alle er vanskelige å elske, men husker du da jeg sa at du burde velge din karriere før meg? [you aren't wrong, love. everyone is hard to love, but remember when i said that you should choose your career before me?]" when you first started dating, you made the norwegian promise that you wouldn't be her first prority, that you'd be her fourth or fifth. herself must come first before all, then her family and friends, her career and lastly, you.

"selvfølgelig gjør jeg det. så hvorfor blir du? [of course, i do. then why do you stay?]" guro asked, as you hummed at her words. you gave her a soft smile, before pulling her closer into you, snaking your arm around her--just like she did awhile ago.

"fordi jeg heller vil lære deg enn å miste deg. jeg vil heller gjøre en innsats enn å ikke prøve i det hele tatt, kjærlighet. [because i'd rather learn you than lose you. i'd rather make an effort than not try at all, love.]" a small hum was heard, as she placed a soft kiss on your forehead, it was a gesture that she loves doing.

"jeg elsker deg. [i love you.]" "jeg elsker deg også. [i love you too.]"

｡˚ ✧ ┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ ｡˚ ✧｡˚ ✧ ┊┊┊┊ ➶ ❁۪ ｡˚ ✧

you know the drill, an instapost.

liked by _jessflem, niamhcharles17, alexstewart, sierrahill, and 3,620,762 others.

tagged greiten.

_jessflem: i guess the cat is out of the bag, well done little sister!

↪ y/nfleming: thanks, big sis.

niamhcharles17: never thought the hard-launch would happen.

↪ y/nfleming: a well known saying, always expect the unexpected, niamhy charles! ;)

greiten: my pretty girl.

comments disabled.

#woso x reader #guro reiten #woso imagine #guro reiten x reader

[nats-bishop]

this series is amazing

The Hard Yards vii - Final Chapter

Alessia Russo x Reader

Pt.1 Pt.2 Pt.3 Pt.4 Pt. 5 Pt.6 Pt.7 As promised the final chapter. Thank you all for your support during this. I think the last 2 chapters took so long because I didn't want to let it go! It turned into a 53K worded beast all in - so grab a brew and enjoy this last chapter! Hope you enjoy.

“Oh for God's sake!” “Well Hello Mary, nice to see you too, yes, you are welcome for the last minute goal and place at the top of the table wh…” “Shut up.” You barge past Mary into her home and flop yourself onto her sofa, face buried in a throw pillow, body tired from having made your way to Marys straight from the stadium.  You feel the cushions next to you dip with the weight of the goalie taking a seat, you then feel her hands start to card through your hair. “You know I love you being here y/n/n. What I don’t love is why you’re here and not with Less. What went wrong?” “Everything.” you mumble out, pathetically, muffled by the cushions. “Oh God, what could ‘av possibly ‘appened now.” You pop your head up from the couch and see Ella entering the room from the kitchen, bowl of popcorn in hand, mouth full, munching happily. She settles herself on the armchair in the corner, cross legged and looks at you expectantly. You groan again and put your head back into the cushion. “Nope, none of that come on.” You hear Mary shuffle back into the couch and slap her thighs, inviting you to flip over and place your head into her lap, which you do, ditfully, not too stubborn to accept some comfort from the older woman. 

“Speak.” And you do, you tell Mary and Ella all about what happened on the coach, what Alessia told you, how she was feeling, how you had clearly made her feel, and how you had no choice but to let her go like she had asked you to. And after your monologue you are met with silence. 

Mary stops her ministrations of scratching your scalp gently and you look up at her to see a silent conversation between Ella and Mary. “What?” Silence. “Come on Guys. What?” “You both are fucking idiots.” Ella answered. “Hey!” “No. You are! My God only you two could send each other into literal existential crises.” This makes Mary laugh and you sit up, affronted. “Mary!” “What! She’s right”, “Ha!” you turn between the two of them and see Ella looking very smug at Mary words across the room, still throwing popcorn into her mouth. You go to get up and leave the two of them to it, planning on sulking in Mary's bed instead but Ella grabs your arm and tugs you down into her lap. “Listen y/n/n. Of course Alessia feels terrible. Today was awful for her outside everything that's gone on with you. That crowd? She's made of tough stuff. But even with that, I was chatting to her after the game and all she cared about was how your recovery was going. She puts you first always y/n/n… always. You know that… She feels like she's lost her person, of course that's going to set her off. Make her question herself. But you love her and she loves you. You needed to, for once, not do what she asked, and instead do what she needs. Which is to knock some sense into her and tell her you worship the ground she walks on.” You look from Mary after she finishes speaking to Ella, who's nodding at you, “she’s right babe.” Oh no. You should have stayed on that bus. You let out a whimper and rub your eyes with your hands. “Also…” Ella lets out. “Also what.” you reply, sharply, eyes darting to Ella, what else. “I think she thinks you're shagging Galton.” “WHAT!” You bellow and stand immediately, staring at Ella. “Why does she think that! Did you tell her I'm not! I most definitely am not!” Your hands go clammy and your stomach aches at the thought. “Well she never actually said anything to me but she shuts down whenever I mention her and she was funny about her at camp. Today she nearly got a yellow for how aggressive she was being on her and Galton asked me what the problem was. I told her nothing. But Less had that look on her face. That look from before you got together and literally any other girl would talk to you, you know the one, the lazer eyes one” Ella moves her fingers to her eyes and starts to point them at you and makes lightsaber noises. “Pew pew pew. You know, the ‘if looks could kill’ one.” You do know the one. It used to make an appearance at national camps before you officially got together. —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The beat of the music drums through your body. The humidity of the club makes sweat collect on your brow and on the back of your neck, and the body that gyrates itself against yours raises your internal temperature further.

You find yourself placing your hand that isn't clutching your fruity cocktail being placed low on the hips of the nameless brunette in front of you. Encouraging her movements whilst you grind into her. You were celebrating a strong campaign for the senior England Women's National Team at the SheBelieves cup. When you and Ella got the call back in England that you were being called up as a squad player you literally had to pinch yourself. You were over the moon. You knew it was unlikely you would get game time but just being around the senior team was an honour in and of itself. The other benefit was that it would be the first time in months you would get to see Alessia. If asked, you would never admit how much you would find yourself stalking her social media accounts, never admit the giddy feeling you got when a notification from her would pop up. Since she had moved to UNC for Uni you hadn’t seen her, she hadn’t been present at the Lioness meet-ups that happened every few months. You had been stuck to each other like glue since meeting up in Miami. Always together and laughing. She was still easy to laugh. She still made you feel like the funniest person in the world. She still made your stomach flutter. Everything was just like it used to be in the junior groups. Apart from that, she was glowing. The American climate clearly agrees with her.

When you first met up in the hotel lobby Ella literally closed your jaw for you whilst Alessa pretended she hadn’t noticed you gawking. It was a trip of a lifetime and you had to pinch yourself at the fact you were living your dream. Playing for your country and travelling the world with your best friend. Which is how you found yourself here, in this sweltering club in Miami, the tournament had ended and some of the older girls had taken the new girls out to celebrate. Making sure you get you drinks which would be legal to drink at home, Lucy at the helm “You’re only young once y/n/n, just don't tell Gaz, stupid law anyway” she winked at you, before nodding behind you highlighting the flirty eyes directed at you from the brunette you now found yourself draped on. You took her words to heart. You are only young once. And with that spirit you allowed yourself to be pulled away into the dance floor letting the thoughts of the unobtainable blonde that had barely left your mind leave, instead throwing yourself into the more obtainable, clearly interested, party in front of you. As your dance partner confidently swaps places with you and moves to your back you find her hands on your hips now, guiding your movements and her hand teases on your stomach.

Flitting lightly across your abs, clearly happy with what she finds there and you hear her hum into your neck. You move your head back in reaction and you feel soft lips start to place kisses below your ear. You open your eyes when you feel the tingle of someone looking at you. Your eyes meet with Alessias across the dance floor. She's standing with Ella, drink in hand, who is talking to her but she doesn't seem to be listening, instead eyes directed towards you and your dance partner.

You shoot her a smile which isn’t returned and then you realise she isn’t looking at you, she's looking just above your right shoulder, giving daggers to the girl you are dancing with, who isn’t attuned to your teammate as you are and hasn’t noticed anything.

She feels you tense up and wrongly interprets it as a positive reaction to her wandering hands and she spins you in her grip, smiling down at you. “Want to get out of here?” the heavy american accent asks you. You start to nod to agree, absolutely, you think, before your response is stopped by someone bumping into your back and throwing their arms around you. Familiar arms. “Heeeeeyyyy y/n/n. Dance with me!” Alessia lets out, words slurred, you suddenly feel her put her weight into you and you struggle for a moment to keep her on her feet. “Woah Woah Less! Slow it down. You okay? Where's Ella gone?” You look around and don’t see your best friend anywhere, whilst still supporting the weight of the taller, intoxicated blonde. “I don’t know, let's daaaance!” and as she starts to move away from you to dance she stumbles again and you step closer to her, and away from your dance partner, to support her weight. “I think you’ve had too much, let's get you back to the hotel, hun” You tell her. Alessia agrees quite readily and you turn to the girl behind you to apologise for your sudden departure but find that she's moved onto someone else on the dance floor.

You shrug to yourself before slinging your arm around the taller blonde and making your way to the fresh air outside. On your way you find Ella and Lucy sitting chatting in the outside space and you make a beeline to them, leggy blonde in tow. “Hey Guys! I’m just taking Lessi back to the hotel. She’s had too much to drink. I want to make sure she gets back safe. Ella I’ll stay in her room tonight just in case, Lotte is still in there” you motion behind you, “can she room with you?” Ella and Lucy look up to you both with bewildered smiles on their faces that you can’t quite place. “Eh? Less wha…” Ella starts but the blonde interrupts her “C’mon y/n/n lets go to bed, i’m tired…” and your arm starts to be pulled away from your teammates. Meanwhile your stomach explodes with butterflies at the words of the blonde.

Not the sexual implication, of course nothing would happen with Less affected by the alcohol so much. But the domestic one, making you go weak at the knees. “Yeah that's fine y/l/n, I’ll let Lotte know, look after her, yeah?” Lucy takes control and replies, a smirk on her face and you’re dragged away from them back towards the hotel. Ella looks at her older teammate dumbfounded. “I’m so confused.” “I’m not, little one. Oh young love. Less has been drinking water all night, what we just saw, padawan, was the green eyed monster.”   

She laughs out, sending Ella a wink. Ella rolled her eyes when she realised what had just happened. “Idiots.” she smiles to herself. —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Idiots.” Ella says. “Still. The both of you”. “I wish you’d stop saying that” you groan out into the living room. “I wish you’d stop being that.” she replies, quickly and childishly. You go to respond, something just as childish on the tip of your tongue, before Mary interrupts. “I think what Ella is trying to say… is that it is frustrating for us. Who loves you both so much, to see both of you so unhappy when you don’t need to be. You're both trying to protect each other so much that you're doing the exact opposite.” “Exactly!” Ella agrees, nodding emphatically “Idiots… nincompoops… dimwits… imbeciles…”

You turn away from both of them and rush to put your shoes on, struggling and hopping on one foot trying to jam your trainer on, whilst also trying to put on your jacket and spinning your head around looking for your keys. All the while Ella carries on with her thesaurus impression of different words she would use to describe the two of you. “Numpties…. Cretins…. Fools…” “Wait y/n/n. Don’t leave. Where are you going?” Mary asks, moving to grab your arm. “To North London.” you reply, distractedly, snatching your keys from where you find them on the coffee table and shoving your beanie on your head. “Yeah you are!” Mary exclaimed with glee, “Oh it's like the last episode of friends!” “Excellent idea!” Ella exclaims at the same time “Genius!... Inspired!.... Wise!” You cackle as you leave the house, filled with pure excitement and adrenaline at your own actions. Ella’s praise gets more absurd by the word but still reaches your ears as you get into your car as you see her jumping around the living room through the window. —------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The street lights cast the inside of your car with an intermittent glow.

You had long since turned off the radio, instead choosing to drive in silence, the adrenaline of earlier leaving your body by the time you had made it as far as Birmingham. 

Insead, you are now filled with those familiar doubts and nerves in your stomach. You feel your mind start to wander, swimming in a sea of what ifs and why nots. You feel your brow furrow as you shake yourself out of your thoughts, sit further up in your seat and concentrate on the road in front of you. You look at your phone in the holder, notifications of good luck messages from your group chat with Ella and Mary still sitting there untouched due to your constant driving.

Your maps app with Alessia's address hurriedly entered in on it is innocently counting down the minutes til you arrive at your destination. Counting down the minutes to the rest of your life, you think to yourself.

You scoff aloud and settle yourself in your seat again.

God.

You’re dramatic. 32 minutes. 32 minutes to think about what you’re going to say. You had 3 hours previous to think of what you were going to say but everything felt too forced and dramatic. Too cringe. It had never been like that between you and Alessia. It was always too easy. You were meant to be. You and her. Always an Us.

Until it wasn’t. As the road you travelled down became more built up, more city than motorway the nerves in your stomach went into overdrive and you couldn’t help yourself as you shamefully popped open the glove box at a red light and scavenged an old and battered carton of cigarettes.

You popped one into your mouth and lit it up.

You open the window, relishing in the cool air washing over your face as you took a deep inhale and directed it out of the window.

17 minutes. 

Yes, you are a professional athlete but once upon a time you were an orphan who lived on the streets. Yeah, you had bad habits. But you haven't smoked for years. Maybe a drag when drinking every now and again. Looking at your life one cigarette in a life changing moment to settle your nerves was one small allowance you would give yourself to go through with this decision. As you started to recognise the streets where you drove you felt the need to stub out your cigarette, as though ashamed Alessia may be standing on a street corner somewhere and see you smoking, disappointed look on her face.

So that's what you did.

Stubbing it out on the car and flicking the stub out of the window and throwing a chewing gum in your mouth.  Apparently you litter now too. Yuck. 6 minutes. You continue to drive and as you pull onto her street you are somewhat grateful that there is nowhere available to park. London.

You end up parallel parking a street away and doubling back on yourself on foot until you find yourself standing in front of a door that you vaguely recognise. You look up to the floor where you know her flat is located and see the living room is dimly lit. You look down at your phone and see the time. 23:13. It’s late. Not obnoxiously late but late enough that you know a knock on the door would be alarming. You don’t want to frighten the blonde. Before you can talk yourself out of it you pull up her contact on your phone as you are about to press call when you feel a presence behind you. “Sorry love, didn’t mean to scare you, can you press the buzzer for flat 2 for me?” a heavily london-accented man requests of you, he’s holding a heat proof bag full of what you assume is whatever take-out Alessia had ordered. “For Alessia?” as the driver nods to you you put your hand out after fishing in your pocket for a tip that you hand him, “I’ll take it, thank you.” He gives you a friendly smile and passes you the food before he gets back on his bike and cycles away. ‘No going back now’ you mutter to yourself. You can’t leave the girl to go hungry. You buzz the door and are surprised that you are immediately let into the building without question. As you find yourself on the 1st floor you raise your free hand to knock but it hasn’t connected before the door swings open to reveal the most beautiful girl in the world. 

You love Alessia in every world. Every version of her. But this is your favourite. Her hair is damp and loose, collecting at her shoulders. Her long legs are on display as you can see she's thrown on an old pair of England shorts. She's got fuzzy socks covering her feet and her torso is covered by a familiar sight. An oversized, tatty, Manchester United hoodie. Your number is embroidered on the right of the chest. The red stitching greying through wear and tear and too many washes. “Hi… sorry, just give me a sec….” She's distractedly looking down at her purse, fishing through old receipts to find some cash, so distracted that she hasn’t noticed you. As you see her the nerves in your stomach disappear. Huh. Seeing her and hearing her exhausted voice gives you the confidence that you hadn’t felt until this moment. “Nice hoodie.” Her head shoots up as your eyes meet and her mouth hangs open in shock. “Wha… y/n/n… How did you get here?” “Someone told me once that the drive isn’t too bad. They were right, you know?” Now, if you’d have had a second to think you don’t think you would have immediately brought up what was said in the middle of your break up. But the throwback seems to knock the blonde out of her stupor and she closes her mouth and stands straighter. “What are you doing here y/n?” her hand remains on the door and for a second you are scared that she's going to close it in your face. “I was hungry” you smile at her, trying to get her to crack a smile as you lift your hands with her food in it and gently shake it at her. You know you’re successful as half of her mouth lifts in an involuntary smile. “Can I come in, Lessi?” you ask, letting a level of vulnerability enter your voice. She takes a step back and opens the door further, allowing you into her flat. As she closes the door behind you you turn in the small entryway and she stands for a moment taking you in, before she looks down and realises you’ve caught her wearing your hoodie, she crosses her arms over her chest as though that will cover the number and logo. “Once a red, always a red.” You smile at her and throw her a wink, which makes a blush rise up her neck, “Kitchen?” you ask, holding the food up again,  giving her an out as you turn and make your way through her dimly lit living room into her kitchen whilst you hear her feet padding on the floorboards behind you. You set her food out on the table and turn to see her settled against the kitchen counter looking at you with an appraising eye. “Y/n. What are you doing here? It's a 3 hour drive.” “3 hours and  32 minutes actually but I hadn’t noticed.” you try to joke back, but are met with an arched eyebrow which makes you squirm under her gaze. “I had to talk to you.” you continue, awkwardly. “Phones exist” she responds easily. “I had to say this when I could see your face.” you reply, more honest than you expected from yourself. 

This gives her pause as she looks down to her feet again. Leaning on the counter, What is it with you two and kitchens?

You swear to yourself if this works out you are removing any kitchen from any house you live in and cooking off a barbeque forever. You smile to yourself involuntarily as you imagine you standing in the Manchester rain with an umbrella cooking a lasagne in your garden off a barbeque. “What are you smiling at?” Alessia asks, a sweetness in her voice that has been missing all day, you look to her and see a smile teasing her face, tempted there by your own smile that you can’t seem to shake off since being in her presence. All nervousness from before disappeared. “Nothing, nothing, sorry” You shake your head, a bit embarrassed at your stupid thought, weirdly embarrassed that Alessia might read your mind and remember how geeky you were. The smile on her face, however, falls at your refusal to share your thoughts and she heaves out a sigh. The mood in the room changes suddenly as her arms across her chest again, body language closed off. “Listen, y/n/n, you know you’re always welcome here but… it’s been a really long day. I told you I had a lot to think about and I'm meeting with Leah early. And you’ve mov…” “I’m not seeing Galton.” you burst out. At the mention of the shared name you suddenly can’t have a moment longer of Alessia believing that there was any world in which you could have moved on from her. That stops her in her tracks. Eyebrows furrowing in confusion. “What?” sharp, breathless. “Sorry if you didn’t think that. But I just need you to know. I’m not seeing Galton. Or anyone. Ever. Not even thought about it. Once. As if I could.” But your words seem to be falling on deaf ears as Alessia looks into the distance, muttering to herself. “What about the coffee? And the TV?” “What coffee? What TV?” “You gave her coffee from France and she had recordings on your TV!” she exclaims, hands in the air in frustration. “...okay? And?” you reply, “And… and… she told you not to report to camp so you tried not to,” the blonde mutters out, sadly, “Less. Galton is my friend. Well actually I thought she was our friend. But apparently not…” you laugh, but quickly become sombre as she fixes you with a glare, “She's my mate Lessi. She's helped me alot these last months, but everything you're describing is completely normal friend behaviour.” “She gave you flowers!” “What are you talking abo…” you start but then realise. “Oh… at the stadium? You saw that?” The blonde nods in reply, bottom lip tucked into her mouth, and you have to stop yourself from taking her face in your hands and teasing that lip out with gentle kisses. But you realise there is no way to explain yourself further and your singleness without a bigger conversation. “We need to talk, can we…sit?” you gesture to the living area but Alessia shakes her head. “No y/n/n, you don’t need to explain anything to me, you haven’t done anything wrong. You don’t need to defend yourself or explain anything to me but I really, really don’t need to have this conversation today, I just want to eat my cheat meal and go to bed. I can make the sofa bed up for you…” she pushes herself off the counter and makes her way past you into the living room but you stop her by placing your hands on her biceps. “Less. Stop.” you say, firmly.

“I can’t y/n/n, I can’t stand here whilst you explain to me your new relationship. I know we’re friends. I get it and it's really really decent of you to come all this way to tell me to my face but can we do it tomorrow? Just forget about it for today? Please?” She continues, looking down at her feet.

Begging you for a few more hours of ignorance and the peace it gave her. “Lessi. Please. Stop talking.” firmer, again this time. You needed her to stop. Your heart hurting at the look of desperation on her face. 

And she listens. Stopping her action of moving into the living room but you don’t move your hands as you let them grip onto her biceps, keeping her in place, though you think, if you moved them, she wouldn’t move from where she stood. “Are you ready to listen to me?” at her nod you take a deep breath and continue. This is it, you think to yourself, you need to get this out. “The flowers were for you. Galton was helping me pick them up.” you tell her as you feel her body tense with your admission. A beat of silence fills the kitchen. “Me?” she breathes out, barely audible, you think you detect a sense of hopefulness there which spurs you on with your reply, “Of course you Less. It’s always been you.” She sags at your words, the tension leaving her body as she looks up to you with glassy eyes. “Can you explain what you mean please because I really want to be on the right page here…” she whispers out to you, desperately. Her words are so quiet they seem to reach your ears on a breath of wind over a long distance. But you hear her, loud and clear. 

Her damp hair still frames her face and you can’t control your hands when you raise one to move a tendril of hair back behind her ear.

The water dampening her hair makes it a darker shade of blonde, the darker her makes her look youthful - like the Lessi you fell in love with as a teenager. Before everything else. Your hand rests, cupping her face, and she pushes her face into the warmth of your palm, you reply as you rub your thumb over her cheekbone. Her eyes closing at the sensation. “I didn’t ask you to stay…” you hadn’t planned on what you were going to say, you had dreamt of this conversation for weeks but now you stood here, in the kitchen you told her you could be friends in, trying to take it all back. 

The weight of the moment makes your eyes glassy and your throat scream in pain, making it difficult to force the words out, but you try again. “I didn’t ask you to stay and… I’m glad I didn’t.” you let out, you feel her breath hitch and her eyes snap open as she takes a step back, which makes your hand fall from her face. But you don’t let her go far as you move back into her space. “No, it’s true. I’m glad I didn't ask you to stay Lessi. It wouldn’t have been right. I have spent so long thinking about what I could have done, what we could have done, how it could have ended up differently and I always think back to that moment… back to that morning when I didn’t ask you to stay. You would have done…” She nods vigorously, “I would have, I should have…” she whimpers, tears streaming down her face. “No see, you shouldn’t have stayed there for me. It wasn’t right. And it wouldn’t have been fair for me to ask you too. You would have always wondered what if and… eventually that would have come between us. I can see that now.” You take a deep breath and grasp her hands with yours, she immediately threads your fingers together and you feel a sense of calm settle over you. “So no. I didn’t ask you to stay. But I’m asking you now, please, will you let me stay with you? Can we be us again? Me and you? I love you so please - be my family again?” You feel her hands grip yours in a vice. You missed her hands. She looks up at you with wide, glassy eyes, “I don’t know how to do anything else.” You tilt your head to the side in silent question, you’ve said what you needed to say, you want her to speak. You need to know what she’s thinking.  

“Those months we didn’t speak… God. I was so lost. Everyone around me was so kind but I didn’t deserve their kindness. Not after what I did. Even when I settled in here… you were the first person I wanted to tell about everything…. Like always. The new ice cream shop I found that you’d love, the cat that followed me home, something funny Beth said in training but… you were just… gone. And then your accident happened and I…” She stops speaking, eyes bright and glassing over and finally a tear escapes, slowly drifting down her cheek, you fight the urge to wipe it away, instead gripping her hands harder, urging her to say what she needed to say. “I thought I was going to die. When I saw you on the floor. I see that image every night when I close my eyes. And then I felt you letting me back in and I started to feel whole again. God it’s so cheesy but it was like the world was literally brighter.” she takes a rattling breath and separates one of your hands so she can brush away the tears from her cheeks, though she is quick to grip yours again. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay today… it was just we hadn’t spoken and I had felt you pulling away - I thought you’d thought such horrible things about me… you hadn’t even invited me to stay… Then I saw you with Galton and I felt like I’d lost you all over again. So… no.” “No?” you ask - what? Fear grips you for a second. “No, I don’t know how to do anything else y/n/n. I don’t know how to be anything but completely and irrevocably in love with you. Please, let’s be us again.” 

You feel your heart lift in your chest at her words and you and finally you release her hands from yours as you move your forehead to rest against hers, hands cupping her face gently. Your vision blurs from your proximity and you close your eyes as you take in a breath, breathing her in.  You feel a familiar nudge against your nose as Alessia bumps her own nose against yours, softly. You open your eyes slightly to see bright blue ones looking into yours and you can’t stop yourself tilting your head down as Alessia moved one hand to your hip and the other to the back of your neck - shivers go down your spine as your body recognises the familiar feeling of her playing with the baby hairs she finds there.

“May I kiss you?” you ask but you don’t receive a vocal response, instead, like a horse bolting out of a gate, she moves forward and connects your lips.

But whilst the connection was rushed the kiss is anything but, she kisses you like she has all the time in the world. And God, you think to yourself, you hope she does. As your lips mould together you can't help the tears of relief escape your closed eyes and cascade down your face.

You feel her realise you are crying as her cheeks feel the damp and she tenses and reluctantly tries to pull away, but you don’t allow it, keeping your hands on her cheeks you probe your tongue gently over her lips seeking entrance, which she gladly allows, you feel a rumble in her chest before you hear the light groan leaving her throat at the caress of your tongue.

Finally, you both have to pull away to catch a breath though you don’t allow your forehead to leave hers, again, nuzzling your nose softly against hers.

“Look at me y/n/n. Let me see your eyes”

And who could deny her that? A stronger person than you, that's who. You open your eyes and meet hers, a determined look in her gaze,

“We can do this, can’t we? Me and you?”

You know what she's asking. The distance. The rivalries. The schedules. The exhaustion. Everything that comes with being a professional athlete, especially a professional athlete in a long distance relationship.

“We have to Lessi. This is temporary. Me and you though? We’re forever.”

Her eyes brighten with joy at your answer and the clarity it was given in and she mumbles her agreement into your lips. It shouldn't have taken you so long. But you’re here now. With Alessia.

“Does this mean I don’t have to sleep on the sofa bed?” You ask, giddy. She laughs into your lips, placing a gentle quick kiss there again, as she pulls away she rolls her eyes at you; “No, you don’t have to sleep on the sofa bed.”

You fist pump into the air as you pull yourself away, making the blonde cackle in laughter as pride swells in your chest at causing the familiar sound. You are taken by surprise as a yawn escapes your mouth, moving your hand up quickly to cover it but the blondes eyes haven't left you since you entered the flat so it is easily picked up on.

“C’mon, let's get you to bed, you must be exhausted, you've played 90 and then had a long drive…” she starts to pull you towards the bedroom but you stand firmly in place.

“No Lessi, you’ve not eaten….” you insist, gesturing towards the now-cold food on the kitchen table, “C’mon let’s reheat this you must be starving, It can’t go to waste… I tipped well!” you wink at her. The blonde's face flushes at your actions, her heart warming at the feeling of being cared for after so long. Don’t get her wrong. She loved her teammates and the staff at Arsenal. But she missed being someone's number one. The way you made her feel so cared for, always having spare snacks on the bus, always packing a pillow in case she needed a nap, all the little things that she missed so much when you were gone. She moves to protest, trying to put you first but you hold firm, moving around her kitchen like you lived there, “No Less seriously. Eat this. I kinda…” you stop yourself, embarrassed. Moving into the living room with her now warm plate of food she follows you dutifully. “You kinda…?” she prompts, settling next to you on the couch, practically on top of you, legs draped over yours as she sits up straight tucking into the meal you passed her. You move your eyes away from hers, taking in the room again, “I kinda don’t want to waste time being asleep. I miss you. I missed you so much. I can sleep at home.” you blush at your clingy admission as your hands grip her legs on your lap, but when your eyes meet hers you see they are filled with glee. “Okay y/n/n, you don’t have to go to sleep yet…” she relents as she offers her fork to you, feeding you part of her meal which you accept gratefully. And you don’t. You both share her meal and sit and talk for hours. Sit and talk. And cry. And laugh. And just get used to each other again after so long. 

You explain your recent silence and how you’d planned on turning up to Ellas until Less left. You talk about the camp in France and what Mary told you, and how you realised what you’d been doing, and you apologise for how you must have made her feel with your hot and cold act.  She shrugs off your apologies and updates you on everything that had been happening in London, about how she had settled in and had grown close to Manu and Vic. She told you how they complained about her gushing about you, telling them about how good of a goal scoring defender you were, which is what Manu was referring to in the game. You feel shame take over you which she quickly scolds you for shaking off your apologies again. She tells you about how she felt about coming back to LSV.

“Oh God.” she suddenly groans. Her head falling back against the sofa, hands cupping her face… you tilt your head curiously. “I need to apologise to Galton… I was horrible”. You bark out a laugh imagining Galtons stunned face when she was on the receiving end of an Alessia glare.

“Stop laughing! She must hate me!”

“No one could hate you Lessi, she’ll just be confused, and probably a bit scared, your stink eye is vicious” you ease her worries, rubbing her legs at the same time, eyes finally starting to droop with tiredness.

“Well, as it should be. You’re mine. God. When I thought you’d moved on I just felt so…scared.” she looks out of the living room window in thought for a moment… “sometimes it scares me how much I love you. How much my happiness is directly linked to you. When we were apart… a morning text from you would make my week. I can’t lose…”

Her eyes start to tear up as you sit up from the couch and pull her into your chest, “Less. You don’t need to be scared. I feel exactly the same. I promise. I will never let you go again. I won’t let anything come between us. I’m here with you. In it. 100%.”

You feel her nodding into your chest,

“Promise?”

“I promise. No more not telling each other things, yeah? No more secrets, no more trying to protect each other but making it worse, we communicate. You’re sad. You tell me. I’m worried. I'll tell you. Everything and anything. Yeah?”

“Yes.” She replies firmly, “You’re my family.”

A tear gathers in your eye as you lie back and pull her into your neck, where your hoodie is bunched up against the back of the couch and you feel her take a deep breath as your hand rests on her back.

“Y/n?” a different tilt to her voice now, colder, confused.

“Yes love?”. She pulls back as a frown is directed towards you.

“Why do you smell like cigarette smoke?”

Your eyes widen in surprise at the question. Fuck. As you scramble for an answer that won’t get you into trouble you see her eyebrow being to arch accusingly at you.

“No more secrets.” She reminds you of your words not 2 minutes ago.  “I’m sorry!” you let out, eyes looking anywhere but the blonde. “I promise it was one. I was just trying to settle my nerves on the drive down here!” “By giving yourself cancer?” she asks you, plainly. “I’m sorry.” you mumble out again, feeling like a teenager who had been caught behind the art block on break with a cigarette. “You should be.” but it is said without a bite, “You smoke again and I’m telling Mary… and Marc.”  “You wouldn’t!” You gasp, appalled as she squares a look at you…”You would. I won’t. I’ll bin the packet.” She nods, seemingly happy with your response. “Like Marc would take your call…” you joke, lightly, receiving a stern glare again which you can’t help but smile at. God you missed winding her up. But then she starts to pull away that leaves an unhappy whine leaving your throat, until her hands reach the hem of your hoodie… “Babe I wouldn’t want anything more, but it’s been a long day and I really want our first time together again to be special and…” She fixes you with a look again, this time you can tell she thinks you’re an idiot. “No, you idiot.” See. “I don’t want that. Well. Actually I do…” she teeters off thoughtfully, you cough lightly to bring her back into the moment as you sit there, abs on display as she's started to strip you of your hoodie and she quickly realises you have no shirt on underneath, just a sports bra and her eyes fixate on your exposed skin as her mouth drops open. You cough again, louder this time, to bring her back into the moment as she successfully shakes her head and looks up to you again, guiltily. “Sorry. Erm… What was I saying?” “You were telling me how you don’t want to have sex with me.” you advise her, dryly. “Was I?” Her eyes drop again, quicker this time, just a glance, as her tongue peeks out to wet her lips… “Yea no, good idea. No sex. Not right now. But cuddles, yes.” and she pulls you up and raises the garment above your head, successfully disrobing you. “And why do I have to be topless?” “Because you don’t smell like you.” she replies, as though it's the simplest thing in the world. And it is, you suppose. “Your jumper smells like the back seat of a London cab and I miss your smell…. This is your punishment for smoking. That's better…” she sighs out as shes successfully pushed you back down and settled on top of your now much more exposed form, nose nuzzling into your neck and breathing in deeply. You feel her tiredness settle over her as her form moulds into yours. It doesn’t feel like much of a punishment. Her hand moves up towards your neck and you feel her start to trace the line of scar tissue that wasn’t there the last time you were in this position with the blonde. She caresses the marking with such delicacy, such care that it brings a tear to your eye that you try to blink away. “That was the worst day of my life.” she whispers. You grab her hand and move it to your lips, dropping a kiss to each of her fingers. Your other hand works its way under her jumper, tracing her spine in the way that you know she loves. “I’m here Lessi, I’m okay.” you reassure her. She moves her body up to settle higher onto yours, her head resting on your chest and neck tilted as she drops kisses on the mark, tens of kisses, each gentle and filled with adoration. She moves up and down your jawline and down the column of your throat as though she was healing the marking with each kiss dropped there. As her hand finds yours and brings it to her chest, you can feel her heartbeat thudding. She deposits your hand there and then moves it back to cup your face, delicately, tracing the shape of your eyebrows, the arch of your nose, the dip of your chin. You felt vulnerable, exposed and so, so safe.

Yes. You still both had a lot to work through. A lot to discuss and fight and cry and laugh about. Yes, long distance would be hard. You knew you would cry every time you had to leave the blonde. But you knew that if anyone could do it, you two could.

You choose each other.

Every time.

And you would be doing it together. Her ministrations settle you, and you can’t fight the exhaustion that overtakes your body anymore as you notice morning light start to break into the flat through the living room windows. You feel sleep take you and warmth envelops you as Alessia pulls the blanket from its place over the sofa to cover you both as she remains flush against you. A smile unconsciously gracing both of your faces, even in sleep. 

—-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “No Tooney…. No. Her car isn’t outside. I've just looked. I have looked!” a pause… “I can’t look again, people will think I’m on the rob!” a heavy London accent rings out in the corridor of the block of apartments. “One second I’m knocking now…”.... “I can’t knock louder, I'll wake the whole bloody building up!” A frustrated growl leaves the blonde haired woman's lips. “One sec, I have a key.” The woman starts to rattle her keys loudly, as though that will give the inhabitants of the flat a chance to get themselves decent. “I’m doing it, I'm doing it!” She struggles with the keys as she bends her neck to keep the phone in place at her ear. “And you’re sure her phone is not ringing… I’m sure she's just not plugged it in…” more noise from the other side of the receiver, “No… no I’m agreeing with you, If she said she’d text when she got here she should have done. One sec” The lock to the flat clicks open and Leah gently opens the door… “I’m in. Less?” the midfielder calls out to the quiet flat. “Less you here? Sorry I've used your key. But we were meant to meet an hour ago and I’ve got Tooney on the phone have you seen y/n her car isn’t outsid…..”

The lanky blonde rounds the corner into the living room and stops in her tracks. Taking in the scene before her with a smile teasing her lips. The striker lies fully on top of you. Lips still pressed to your neck even in sleep and hand tangled in your hair. Your hands are lost  up the back of the blondes jumper, holding her in place as your face is squished up against the back of the couch. Mouth opens in deep sleep and a gentle snore leaves your nose. You shuffle in your sleep, one hand moving out from under the striker's shirt and she unconsciously reaches back to grab your hand and put it back into position with a disgruntled huff. She can’t tell whose legs are whose as you both lie entangled and… you are covered in just a sports bra. Okay. She smiles despite herself and spins around on her heel.

“Yeah… Tooney she’s here. She's fine. They are both absolutely fine. Better than fine, actually. Happy. ”

—----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

#alessia russo imagine #alessia russo x reader #woso x reader

[nats-bishop]

The Bet | Leah Williamson x Reader

Summary: a peaceful night in turns into a long week (~15k WC)

Warnings: mild cursing, suggestiveness, corny, angst, kidnapping

*thanks @updownlately for the lovely help*

If asked, Leah would say that her top three loves are: her family, her girlfriend, and football, and while that may be close to the truth, those close to her know that her true love is winning. Leah wanted needed to win everything whether it be matches, board games, or bets. Even things where winning wasn't an option, Leah still somehow made it a competition. At first, this character trait of Leah’s was endearing, but then it wasn’t.

It’s a rare free Friday evening when you hear a rhythmic knocking. You straighten up from your spot on the couch, looking around, confused. You don’t remember inviting anyone over, and it was much too late for any packages to arrive. You feel too comfortable to go to the door when you’re not expecting anyone, but when the knocking continues, you push yourself up with a sigh. Upon opening the door, you’re even more perplexed to see Katie standing at the door, holding a bottle of wine. 

“Katie?” You greet her hesitantly, and she mimics your welcome before leaving you at the door and walking into the home you share with Leah. As you close the door, you’re racking your brain for any clues for why Katie’s over, but you come up empty. You assume Leah must’ve invited her and forgot to tell you. 

You’re a bit disappointed as you wanted a chill (and maybe more) night with just her, but you’re sure there’s a good reason for Katie’s presence in your home. It wasn’t as if you were short on time with Leah. 

When you make your way back to the living room, you find that Katie has made herself comfortable in Leah’s usual spot on the couch. She waves at your appearance and beckons you to come sit next to her. She kisses you on the cheek once you comply, still confused.

Before you could ask any questions, Leah comes back from the bathroom, drying her hands off on her pants. You wish she’d get out of that habit. You bought hand towels for a reason. 

“Who was at the-” Her voice trails off when she looks up, and it takes everything in you not to laugh at her obvious surprise and subsequent pout. From her reaction, you now know that she also was in the dark about Katie’s impromptu crashing of your evening. “What are you doing here?” Leah asks as she shoots you a questioning glance. You smile sheepishly in response, nudging Katie whose face breaks into a wide grin. "Oh, just checking in on the boring married couple." She nonchalantly replies, draping her arm around your shoulders. Your face grows warm at the statement, fighting back a smile. You're not married yet. Leah's eyes narrow in on your face then Katie's arm, and she's quick to grab Katie to yank her up. "Hey!" Katie stumbles onto her feet and you reach out to stabilize her, shaking your head at Leah who scratches the back of her neck unapologetic.

"I was sitting there." Leah plops back down, pulling you into her side. You welcome the affection with a light kiss just below Leah's ear, and Katie mockingly gags but sits on your other side. "Seriously, mate, why are you here?" Katie shrugs, resting on the arm of the couch. 

"Was bored, knew you two home-bodies would be around, thought I'd pop by for a visit." She tries to kick her feet up onto your lap, but Leah shoves them off you instantly, scowling at her who takes the push in stride and uses the coffee table instead. "You don't mind, do you? Caitlin's gone for the night."

"Actually, we-"

"No, of course, we don't mind. We were just going to watch some movies, right, baby?" You cut Leah off, squeezing her thigh, and Leah sighs in defeat, but brightens when you award her another peck.

"Fine, but no teasing, and you have no say in the movies." You tsk, but you can’t lie, a night without teasing does sound nice. 

"Wow, it is such an honor to experience such a welcoming host." Leah glares at Katie, obviously disagreeing with the sarcasm shown. 

"What did I just say?" You hastily grab Leah’s hand from the air before it makes contact with the back of Katie’s head. A few kisses on her fingertips subdue her, and she relaxes once again. 

"Sorry, sorry. It won't happen again." Katie’s hands go behind her head and she quiets down.

You're not even halfway through the second movie when Katie starts to squirm. This should've been a warning sign as a bored Katie always got up to no good, but in your relaxed state of bliss, your walls are down. 

During the first movie, Leah's head had found her way into your lap, and like second-nature, your fingers gently combed through her hair. If it wasn't for Leah's occasional kisses on your other hand that she has a hold of, you would've thought you had sent her to sleep. You lean down to kiss Leah's hairline, smoothing back the wisps of hair with your hand, and she presses her face into your lap, trying to hide the pink that appears. 

As Katie watches this scene play out in front of her, an idea comes to her mind, and she straightens up from her slouched positioning. She grabs the remote and pauses the film, causing you to look over at her and Leah to loudly voice her disapproval, having been invested in the movie. Before Katie even opens her mouth, the look in her eyes tells you that your peaceful night is over.

"Leah, I bet that you can't go a full twenty-four hours without a kiss from this one here." A groan erupts from your chest as you feel Katie's shoulder bump into yours and Leah's head shoots up from your legs at the challenge. 

It had been a while since the last bet between Katie and Leah. Ever since they nearly ruined team game night, and both of them had been left stranded outside of Steph's house forced to catch Ubers home, the bets had come to a complete stop. Foolishly, you hoped they had stopped for good.

"Deal. I won't kiss her for the next twenty-four hours." Your head snaps towards Leah, jaw dropping in shock. There's no indication that Leah notices as she sits up and holds out her hand for Katie to shake, but Katie smirks, not reaching for it.

"That's not what I said. I said you wouldn't last a day without a kiss from her." Katie repeats herself, pointing at you. You mouth at Katie to stop riling up your girlfriend and while you know for a fact she can see you, she chooses to disregard your warnings. Katie grins as the offered hand slowly lowers, believing she was finally witnessing the impossible, but alas, Leah's true love wins out; her hand rising back in the air. 

"That's basically the same thing. You’re on." You lower your head in resignation, and Leah finally looks at you. She winces at your frown, but her hand stays. Watching this interaction, Katie laughs with glee and enthusiastically shakes Leah's hand up and down.

"You don't even know what you just agreed to." Katie lets go of Leah's hand and skips off towards the kitchen with Leah's narrowed eyes tracking her movements. You sink back into the couch, sighing, arms crossing over your torso. “Have fun being mopey.”

"What do you mean?" Leah called after her. No response, but you do hear sounds of a pantry being raided. You groan again, this time louder, wondering what you did in your past life to end up with two overly competitive people in this one, but you internally vow not to do it again. Leah kisses your temple in apology, and you wave her off. So much for a relaxing evening off. "McCabe!" She shouts over your head. "What do you mean?" 

"She means that, you, ‘Miss. I need a kiss every five minutes, or else I'll be grumpy’, are not going to have a good time." Leah's eyes snap to yours as a faint bark of laughter is heard from the kitchen. "What? I'm just saying." You shrug, pushing yourself up and brushing off your legs, with Leah quick to follow. 

"That is such an over exaggeration. I just accept the kisses you give willingly as a good girlfriend should. I don't need them." She argues, crossing her arms across her chest. 

"Sure, baby, I believe you." You pat her on the shoulder as you side-step her taller frame to head towards the kitchen. Leah huffs. 

"You should believe me! I don't need your kisses." She repeats herself, trailing after you. Hearing this, you give Katie a knowing look that Leah is quick to pick up on. Not wanting to be the butt of a joke, Leah continues on. "Fine! You don't believe me? I bet I can go three days without your kisses." 

You roll your eyes. You can always count on Leah to find a way to challenge herself. It's slightly offensive that she claims your kisses don't affect her at all, and because of this, you want to make this her hardest challenge yet.

"Why stop there? A whole week." There's silence, and she's gaping at you. Likewise, Katie's jaw has dropped as her eyes bounce between the two of you. You tap your foot impatiently waiting for a response, and Leah shakes herself out of it. You're almost worried that she'll increase the length, but luckily, Leah knows better than to further push your buttons. She nods slowly, carefully eyeing you to see if there's a catch, but you give away nothing, your jaw set. "Okay then, I will not kiss you for a whole week starting now." There's movement coming from the corner of your eye as the popcorn Katie grabbed gets placed onto the counter behind her. "Oookay, I'm going to go now." She rocks on the balls of her feet, but neither of you acknowledge her, eyes still trained on another. "Please don't kill each other… or me." She walks around the two of you slowly, and the moment she's out of sight of the kitchen, she is running out of the apartment, pulling her phone up to her ear. "Caitlin, we are in so much trouble."

In the apartment, the tension slightly dissipates when the instigator exits, and you move back to the living room to pick up the dishes left on the coffee table. While alone, Leah makes herself busy by tidying up the mess Katie made in the pantry and puts away the popcorn left out. 

When you re-enter the kitchen, Leah takes the cups and bowls from your hands, setting them into the sink. To show your thanks, you start to lean in for a kiss, but you quickly catch yourself and go for a hug instead with Leah’s arms hesitantly wrapping around you. 

"You mad at me?" She asks quietly, rubbing your back up and down. Your head is resting on her chest, and her heart is beating faster than you’d expect for an athlete supposedly at rest. When you whisper back a no, she exhales in relief, and her shoulders relax. “Okay, because if you are, I can back out.” You pull back to look at her with disbelief in your eyes. 

“What? Already giving up?” She pulls you back into her, shushing you. 

“No, no. I just want to make sure you’re okay with not giving me kisses. I know you like to.” This woman. You grimace and step out of her arms to head to the bedroom, leaving Leah to hurriedly finish up in the kitchen so she can meet you in bed. “Babe! It was a joke!”

"A joke, huh.” You say quietly enough for her not to overhear. “Don’t worry about me; the bet’s already been made." And while you call that out to her, she really should worry because already you’re scheming on how to make her eat her words. 

The next day, Leah wakes up to an empty bed. The two of you had gone to bed together, and while she wasn’t able to keep her routine of receiving good night kisses, the cuddle made up for it. Waking up alone and cold, however, sucked. Leah grumbles as she swings her legs out from the bed to go look for you. 

It’s a Saturday. A free one at that. There’s no reason for you to be out of bed. The two of you should’ve slept in and woken up together, cuddled for an hour or two, and then gone out for brunch or lunch depending on how long you two stayed in bed. She calls out your name, but all she hears is the living room clock. When she makes her way into the kitchen, there’s a note on the counter that causes her shoulders to slump forward. “Hope you slept in, baby. You’re so beautiful that I almost forgot about the bet. Went to grab breakfast with Less to resist the temptation. I love you!” Where there are normally kisses at the end, there are lines, and a smaller note below the crossed out x’s. “Whoops, don’t want to make you lose already!”

If Leah didn’t love saving all of the notes you wrote her in a box kept in her nightstand, she would’ve crumpled the note in frustration. You always invited her with you. She has half the mind to go to your favorite coffee shop just to drag you back home to restart the morning the correct way. However, she chooses not to. She’s not that desperate. She can handle waking up alone… no morning cuddles… getting left behind… Alessia Russo replacing her… Leah ends up throwing herself onto the couch, burying her face into the cushions. 

It’s only a bit later when you come back, tea and muffin in hand for Leah. You find her on the couch, absent-mindedly watching a replay with her notes set out in front of her. She hums in greeting, pausing the game as she stands up to properly welcome you home. You smile at the sight.  

“Hey, baby.” You set down her breakfast, and she immediately wraps you into her arms. “Have you been awake for long?” She shakes her head, and it’s your quick thinking that allows you to jerk back when she leans in for a kiss, a cheek kiss, but a kiss nonetheless. Her eyebrows furrow, and she tries again, but you step away, shaking your finger at her. “Oi! What’re you doing?” She glowers at the distance you created between the two of you, and you shrug, amused. “C’mere.”

“Look, if I can’t kiss you, you can’t kiss me.” You sing, plopping down onto the couch. Leah presses her lips together and stands in front of your sitting form, arms crossed.

“That is so not the deal.” She falls forward onto her hands, hovering over you. “Let me give you a kiss.” You dodge her attempt again, pushing her head away.  

“It is now. Less gave me the suggestion to make it more fair.” You tell her, giggling when she looks up to the ceiling, exhaling in surrender. “So don’t be a loser.” Leah scowls at the L word, shaking her head firmly. 

“Remind me to tackle her studs up tomorrow.” She says half-joking before collapsing into your outstretched arms, prompting an oomph to release from you. You clasp your arms around her, embracing her tightly. 

“Well, about that, Less invited us to go out with her and a few of the other girls tonight.” Leah hits her head against your shoulder multiple times.  

“And what makes you think I want to go anywhere with Russo after what she did?” She asks after her dramatic display. 

“Because you looove me,” You poke her in the side. “And because I may have already told her we’d be there.” Leah’s nose crinkles, and she pushes your hand down, drawing away to look at you.

“Fine. I’ll go, but I’m not going to be happy about it.” That’s a blatant lie, and both you and she know it. Leah’s happy whenever she’s with you, and you mirror the sentiment. Truthfully, you would rather stay home and make up for the lack of one-on-one time you lost yesterday, but again, you can’t make it easy for her this week. There’ll be no shortage of quality time with Leah later as you have no doubt that the two of you will become homebodies for the foreseeable future once this week is over. 

You two stay entangled with each other for a while, merely enjoying each other’s company, until Leah’s stomach breaks the silence, reminding you that the tea and muffin bought specifically for her were getting cold. You playfully scold her for distracting you from feeding her, but secretly, you love that she chose you over her bottomless pit of a stomach.

Later that evening, Leah drives the two of you to a new bar Alessia had scouted out when lost in London. She has her hand on your thigh, and every so often, she looks over at you. You know when she’s looking at you because your eyes rarely leave her profile. Even though this is a regular occurance, Leah still feels her body grow hot under your gaze, and a slight stutter makes its appearance. You relish in the fact that you still make her feel this way after all this time. 

As you both step into the bar, Leah's hand instinctively goes to the small of your back, guiding you with a gentle touch through the crowded venue. Amidst the swarm of people, she suddenly stops and leans down, her voice close to your ear, as she points out the girls you were there to meet.

“You didn’t tell me Katie was going to be here.” She says through her teeth, accusingly. 

“Less invited us. You didn’t think she wouldn’t invite her Macca, did you?” You slightly turn towards her. “Plus, why would you be avoiding Katie? If anything, I should be avoiding her. She’s the one who goaded you into the bet.” Leah huffs dismissively but gives you a gentle nudge, signaling for you to continue walking.

Alessia is the first one to spot you, setting her drink down to run over to you, causing the other girls to turn around and wave enthusiastically at your appearances. When she reaches you, she grabs your arms lightly to greet you.

“Fashionably late, huh?” Alessia teases, looking you up and down while you grin, knowing she was the one who helped pick out your outfit while at breakfast this morning. “Worth the wait when you come dressed like this!” Leah tuts, her arm wrapping around your waist, gaining Alessia’s attention. “And of course, you look gorgeous as always, Leah.” Leah smiles in approval, relaxing against you. “Now, come and say hi to everyone!” She squeezes your arms and lets go to hold your hand to bring you to the claimed tables, Leah a half-step behind. 

“Ah! My love!” Katie calls out to you, cackling when Leah shoots her a glare and Alessia reprimands her. “Don’t worry, Lee-Lee.” Katie drops from the bar chair, sauntering up to you and tugging you into a side-hug. “I won’t ask her for a kiss even though I could at least get one unlike you.” You shake your head at Leah who looks like she’s about to say something she would regret, and she stops. Ducking out from underneath Katie’s grasp, you take hold of Leah’s arm to make your rounds. 

After ensuring everyone received a greeting, you separate from Leah, who went up to order, and take the seat next to Vic, seamlessly jumping into the conversation. When Leah returns and sets your drink down in front of you, you almost forget the bet and plant a kiss on her cheek, but then you notice Katie. You quickly change course. Instead, you point Leah towards an empty chair next to Kim. Leah tilts her head and places her drink down next to yours, her arm resting along the back of your chair. 

“Are you wanting to move?” She asks, playing dumb as she toys with the napkin under her drink. 

“No, but you have to.” You inform her cheekily. “So shoo, go be social.” Leah reluctantly picks up her drink, but makes no move to leave. 

"I buy you a drink, and you’re pushing me away?" Leah raises an eyebrow, a forced pout forming on her lips. Her expression suggests a mix of amusement and mock disappointment, and you play along. 

“Don’t be dramatic, honey. You’re just a couple tables down, and you love Kim, and Jen’s over there too.” You wave across the table at the two older players who return the gesture before resuming the conversation they were having. Leah shrugs, tracing the patterns on the wood. “When I need another drink, I’ll wave you over.” You place your hand over hers and squeeze. 

“Oh, fantastic, love. I’m a bartender now, yeah?” Leah remarks sarcastically, withdrawing her hand from yours to gently rub the underside of your jaw which you lean into, savoring the affectionate gesture. 

“Only my pretty bartender.” You grin up at her, and she rolls her eyes but can’t stop the blush that reveals her true feelings even when she tries to hide behind her glass. You hope that’ll be the last of it, but she stays put, her hand falling to your shoulder. 

“Babe,” She whines. “Why can’t I sit with you?” You look around, and you notice that the conversation has attracted an audience. You pull her closer to you by her jacket and run your hand down the front of her shirt. 

"Babe," you mock her tone, "because I want to kiss you, so you have to sit somewhere else, or else you’ll lose. Go talk to Kimmy." Another pout is sent your way, but after another light push, she drags her feet over to Kim, who looks puzzled over her appearance without you. You watch her with a love-struck gaze until Alessia fake coughs into her arm which gains your attention and causes Grace to punch her in the arm. 

“You guys disgust me, and you weren’t even all over each other like you normally are.” Alessia comments; Vic nodding in agreement. Grace, however, is quick to disagree. 

“Noooo, that was so cute and romantic.” She pats your shoulder. “I love it.” You thank her with a soft smile, ducking your head down. 

“Grace, you don’t get to have an opinion.” Alessia firmly states. “This is like your first time seeing them together.” Alessia spreads her lanky arms out, causing you to have to grab the edge of the table to ensure you don’t tip over. “It is this much worse, if not more, when there’s not a bet going on.” You push Alessia’s arm down, glaring at her, but before you can defend yourself, Vic chimes in. 

“You have got to see them during training. And there, they don’t even do all the physical affection stuff, it’s just the tension.” Alessia nods rapidly, and you grumble to yourself, stirring your drink with a hint of annoyance. You can feel sharp eyes on you though, and you know you better liven up before Leah makes her way over to ensure you’re alright.

“Alright, enough about my love life. Where’s the boyfriend, Lessi girl?” You take a sip out of your drink, smiling when she stammers out excuses about him not being her boyfriend and it being a girls night out, even though a few others brought theirs. You would normally hate putting anyone on the spot like this, but it was the perfect distraction for you as both Grace and Vic immediately dogged on her. 

Luckily, the conversation continues to stay light and away from your relationship, perfect for an easy night out, you having barely finished your first drink. You and Leah both agreed to stay relatively sober for the night, knowing that if it was difficult to keep your lips to yourselves while having zero drinks, it’d be even more difficult while drunk. 

When you do end up taking the last sip, you immediately hear a chair being pushed back. The four of you pause your conversation to look up to see Leah heading to the bar. You feel the blood rush to your face when they all turn their attention towards you then towards your glass, quickly coming to the same conclusion. 

“Oh, she is just wrapped around your little finger, isn’t she?” Vic pushes you lightly. You laugh, but you know she’s right. You can’t argue when facts don’t lie.

A fresh drink is placed in front of you, and a soft ‘hi’ is whispered into your ear, causing goosebumps to rise, before she heads back to her previous spot. From across the table, you mouth a thanks, and Leah mockingly bows in return. You don’t hear your friends’ teases, remaining blissfully unaware, and even if you did, you don’t think you’d mind them this time around.

Halfway through the night, you and Leah end up leaving as you had an early morning. You split up to give good-bye hugs, and Leah speed-runs through them, eager to get home. You’re almost sure she hugs strangers in her haste. At your last hug with Kim, she holds you close. 

"Mate, I hope you know that that girl," she nods in the direction of where Leah is waiting patiently, "is completely obsessed with you. Head over heels in love with you. It was either her looking at you or her talking about you. All. Night. Long." You chuckle, glancing over your shoulder to see Leah staring at the two of you. She waves her fingers at you when she sees you look over, but you know it’s not to rush you. You turn back to Kim. 

“Well, Kimmy, don’t tell Leah,” you whisper conspiratorially, “but I am also completely obsessed with her.” Kim laughs, releasing you from her hold and pushes you over to Leah. 

“I hope you do something about it!” She yells from behind you, and you throw her a thumbs up, before taking Leah’s offered hand. She swings your hands back and forth as you walk towards the exit, chatting about the conversations she had and the fun facts the bartender gave her about the bar. At a lull in the conversation in the car, Leah can’t help but ask about the final conversation you had with the captain of Arsenal. 

“What did Kim want you to do?” You place your head against the window, watching the lights fly by, thinking about the future, irrevocably involving Leah. 

“Oh, nothing. She was just reminding me about how lucky I am.” Leah almost asks for further information, but when she looks over at your tired form, she knows it's a conversation for another day. You thank her silently in your head and continue to play mindlessly with her fingers in your lap. 

The morning after your majority Leah-less night, you’re waking up early again, and as you try to sneak out of the covers, you feel an arm encircle your waist, pulling you back to a warm body. 

“Stop trying to leave me.” She sleepily mumbles into your back, her legs entangling with yours again. “Too early.”

“I have those shoots and interviews in Manchester, lovey.” You turn around to face her, smiling softly at her scrunched up eyes. “You know this. Viv is going to be here in an hour to drive Beth and I to the station.” She groans, arms tightening around you. “Baby, you have to let me go.”

“And why wasn’t I invited?” Leah whines, pushing herself up and releasing your arms, but grabbing your hand when you start to leave the bed. 

“You were, and you declined because you knew you’d just be bored. And also, I know you hate it when we get shit about codependency so I am positive you can handle being on your own for a day and a half.” You pull out of her hold and finally make it out of bed.

“You’re staying the night?” Leah falls back, dramatically. “Also, just because I can do something, doesn’t mean I want to.” She raises her head slightly, playfully glaring at you. You poke her forehead in false annoyance, and she lets her head hit the pillow again. 

“Lee baby, do you ever listen to me?” You chuckle, pushing her hair out of face, revealing her sad puppy-dog eyes looking up at you. “I told you my itinerary last week, and I’m positive I forwarded you the email with my schedule on it as well.” You tap her phone on the nightstand, and she turns her head, muttering something incomprehensible. “Actually, I bet Beth even told you about it. Didn’t you have lunch with her a few days ago?” You have an urge to kiss her pout away, so you turn away, walking towards the bathroom, shirt half-way off. 

“Can I at least join you in the shower?” Leah asks, sitting back up, eyes trained on your bare back. You laugh, glancing over your shoulder. Leah’s leaning forward, and even in the dim lighting, you can see her pupils are dilated. 

“You absolutely cannot. I’m already behind on schedule.” You close the bathroom door, and you hear Leah jump out of bed. 

“Can I sit in the bathroom while you shower?” She mumbles against the closed door. You open the door slightly and eye her suspiciously. 

“I thought it was too early.” Leah sighs and looks longingly towards the bed. “Go back to sleep. I’ll say bye before I go.” She ignores you, pushing on the door slightly. You don’t let it go, an eyebrow raised. 

“Never too early for you, love.” Your face heats up, and at your distraction, she slips into the bathroom. Another win for Leah. 

“Alright, charmer. Make yourself comfortable.” You give in, waving to the counter. She jumps up, smiling in victory. “No funny business, though. I’m serious.” 

“Yes, ma’am. Swear.” She crosses her heart. “Just goin’ to miss you.” You pinch Leah’s arm playfully before parting ways with your sleep shorts and stepping into the shower. 

It’s the shortest shower you’ve taken in a while, but somehow, Leah found a way to fall back asleep still sitting up. After you dress and snap a quick photo of the sight, giggling, you stroke her cheek, causing her to stir, bleary eyes squinting in the bathroom light. 

“Hi, sweet girl. Why don’t you hop back in bed?” You coo, but she stubbornly stays, claiming she was just resting her eyes. You scoff, but don’t argue. “What are you going to do while I’m gone?” The question arises as you haphazardly towel dry your hair, and you throw some bathroom items into a bag. Leah yawns from her slumped spot on the counter. “Any plans?” You ask again when it’s clear she didn’t hear you.

“Only waiting for you to get back.” She breathes out, grinning in triumph when she sees you can’t resist the urge to smile. 

“You’re such a sap when you’re sleepy, baby.” You grab her hand to pull her off the counter and lead her back to bed. She refuses to sit down, choosing rather to shadow you as you pack the remaining of your duffel. You think it’s because she knows that she’ll end up falling asleep and miss your departure if she goes back to bed. She wouldn’t deny it. 

“What can I say? I’m just so in love with you.” She spins you into her arms, and even with the time ticking down to Viv and Beth’s arrival, you don’t try to escape, cupping her face in your hands. 

“I know you’re teasing, but I love you too.” You stare into her eyes, determined not to avert your gaze when you see deep adoration mirrored in hers. You step back. “And, I have to go.” She grasps one of your hands that drops, forcing you to look back at her. 

“Not teasing. I love you.” This time, it’s a more sincere declaration. You nod, squeezing the hand wrapped around yours. 

“I know. I love you too.” Leah releases you, and you head to the front, grabbing your bags. “You should go have lunch with your mom or your nan. I’m sure they’d love that.” She hums in agreement but frowns when you start pulling your shoes on. 

“No kiss goodbye?” Leah complains. You wag your finger at her. 

“I wish I could, lovey.” There’s a car beep from outside, and you glance at the door before bounding over to hug Leah who sighs in contentment at the contact. As you pull away, her eyes fall onto your lips. Viv honks again, and you reach up to caress her cheek; her eyes fluttering closed as she leans forward. “Alright!” Her eyes pop open to see you rushing towards the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow, baby. Have a good day!” You say as you race down the driveway and into Viv’s car where teasing immediately greets you when they notice a disgruntled-looking Leah come out after you. 

“We interrupt something?” Beth jokes, turning around in her seat as you slide your bag into the backseat. “Seems like it, huh, Vivvy?” You kick the back of Beth’s seat as you settle in for the short drive and roll down the window to give a last goodbye to Leah who waves back, one hand tucked under her other arm while she watches the car drive off. 

And there she waits, waving until the car disappears before she turns back around to go inside and find the email that tells her when you were coming back home to her. 

Unfortunately for Leah, the train you booked ends up being delayed coming back into London, so both you and Beth have to come straight to practice from the train station, denying Leah any quality time with you before a long, grueling practice. When you get to Colney, she all but skips over to you with a ball and an offer that you just barely refuse. Her face falls. 

"You’re not even going to let us partner up? I never get kisses when we're practicing anyways." She’s right. 

A few years ago while on international break, you made the decision that during any training or work-related events, it was pure professionalism. No affection between the two of you that wouldn't be shared between two normal teammates. You were quite strict with this, and to ensure the both of you kept to it, you ended up showing less affection to Leah than you normally would with a close teammate, and Leah follows your lead. 

Originally, Leah full-heartedly agreed with this rule, wanting to remain the stoic player, now captain, of England. Now, after your move to Arsenal, when she realized just how much time she would spend with you giving everyone except her affection, she grew very grumpy. It wasn’t until a promise of unlimited kisses before and after training and meetings was made did she finally accept your rule. You find it amusing that it was that easy to appease Leah.

"So you do notice when you don’t get kisses?” You waggle your eyebrows. “Lee baby, I'm just removing the temptation. I'm helping us both." You start running backwards away from her as she kicks at the ground, cursing you quietly. 

You're still laughing when you bump into another body, and strong hands grasp your arms, ensuring you don't tumble into the ground.

"Woah, there." Steph sets you straight. "You good?" You display a thumbs up, leaning up to give her a kiss on her cheek, knowing Leah's has her eyes on you. When the kiss lands, you hear Leah call out for a new ‘better’ partner, but you ignore the slight. Two can play at that game. 

"My hero!" You exclaim loudly enough for Leah to hear, patting her on the shoulder. You tilt your head at the ball at her feet, silently asking to pass to which she agrees. She kicks you the ball, and you walk together to a free space. 

“No Leah or Katie today?” She asks casually as the two of you spread out. 

“Leah, can’t. Katie, won’t.” You answer, passing the ball back. Steph looks confused, so you continue. “Katie dragged Leah into another bet, so I’m not partnering up with them this week.”

"Ah, so that’s why Leah's looking over here like I killed her dog." Steph says casually. "Should I be worried?" You look over at Leah who is quick to pretend that there’s something interesting in the sky. Super subtle, Leah. 

“Nah, she’s just grumpy.” You wave your hand. “She’ll get over it.” Steph nods, biting her lip, hesitating. 

"What was the bet?” Curiosity gets the best of her. 

"No kisses for an entire week… sort of.” It was too complicated to explain. Steph’s eyes widen, but she doesn’t pry. 

"You know, I thought she wasn’t doing those anymore since-” Your head flies up, and you’re quick to interrupt her. 

“Yeah, me too.” You do not need a reminder of that night. 

Steph gets the hint and moves on, but you see the twinkle in her eyes. 

“Do you think she'll make it?" You glance over at your girlfriend who still looks adorably lost as she searches around for a partner. You catch her attention and look pointedly in the direction of Alessia who is also coincidently without a partner, having just arrived to the pitch. 

In response, Leah turns the opposite direction, obviously still wounded from Alessia’s suggestion, to greet Kyra who eagerly agrees to partner up with the England captain. You feel bad for the young Australian who will certainly experience an unpleasant side of Leah, and you think to warn her, but you figured it’s better for her to learn sooner rather than later. 

"Oh, she's definitely stubborn enough to." But that doesn’t mean you won’t make it fun for yourself.

The rest of practice goes smoothly, and while occasionally, you can feel Leah’s eyes linger on you, the majority of her focus is on performing well for the next game and scolding Kyra’s antics. When practice ends and you’re both leaving the changing room, you find your way over to her, interlocking your fingers with hers. She doesn’t even try to fight the beaming smile when she looks at you. You grin back, catching her up on your busy day yesterday, as the two of you walk towards the carpark. 

“Hey, lovebirds, how’s the bet going?” Katie jumps onto your back, ignoring the calls of Caitlin behind her. You stumble forward, dropping Leah’s hand, as you try to regain your balance with the Irish captain hanging off of you, but you overcorrect, sending the both of you tumbling into the grass and dirt. You wince at the impact as you lay splayed out on the ground; Katie in a similar state of disarray next to you after you pushed her off of you. “Ow. That hurt.” Katie states the obvious as she looks over at you, grinning. 

“No shit.” Leah deadpans as she helps you back to your feet while Caitlin does the same for Katie. “You could’ve seriously hurt her. And yourself! You have to be more careful.” Leah glances over you, brushing off the grass from you gently. She inspects your hands, and she frowns at the scratches she finds on one of them. “Ouch, love. Are you okay?” Concern laces her voice as she thumbs over your injuries. She instinctively brings your hand up to her lips, ready to kiss the pain away, but you withdraw quickly which Katie jumps to question.

“Oo, what was that?” Leah groans, stopping her fuss over you, but intertwining your fingers again with hers. 

“None of your business, McCabe.” She responds. 

“The bet expanded. She can’t give me kisses either.” You say at the same time. Leah grips your hand hard, and Katie’s bent over laughing at Leah’s frustration. 

“No way, you did that.” She raises her hand up for a high-five and despite both Caitlin and Leah trying to prevent it, you still land a perfect hit. “I can’t believe you; please, you have to tell me all about it over dinner.” She drags you away from Leah, once again, causing Leah to lose her grip on you, and leaving both her and Caitlin behind. Glancing back, you shoot Leah an apologetic look but allow yourself to be pulled to Katie’s car.

Leah looks over at Caitlin exasperated, and she offers a sheepish smile in return. 

“Mine for dinner, then?” Caitlin offers. “I only cook really basic stuff, but if my source is right, which I know she is, given her familiarity with you, you’re a pretty picky eater anyways.” Leah covers her face with her hands, embarrassed, but agrees. At least it’ll give her something to do with you gone for the evening. 

When you get back home, Leah’s all over you, wanting to make up for the lost time. The temptation to fall back into old habits is strong especially with Leah encouraging it, but you are quite thankful of your ability to reject her advances and substitute the kisses with light touches and pats as you settle in for bed. Leah, not so much, but much too prideful to lose the bet herself.  

It feels like you've just placed your head on your pillow when you hear Leah scream in fear. You startle awake, your eyes shooting open, but before you can take anything in, someone forces you out of bed and slips a blindfold over your face causing you to yelp. When Leah hears this, the sounds of struggle increase tenfold. Likewise, you’re twisting and turning, but whoever has your arms has a firm grip. 

From what you can tell, there’s at least two other people in your room, maybe three based on the noise coming from Leah’s side of the bed. You’re not sure what you’re saying, and you’re not sure why Leah isn’t responding to you, but your cries are cut off when a gag is forced into your mouth. You’re shaking your head around frantically back and forth, trying to spit the fabric out, until a voice sounds in your ear.  

“Relax, mate.” The intruder whispers. You pause in your aggressive movements and try to place the recognizable accent. Taking advantage of your hesitation, your hands are tied up behind you. You’re still bewildered, but you do what you’re told, letting yourself be led out of your bedroom; your muffled questioning going unheard. 

Back in the bedroom, Leah can no longer hear you, and she panics. There’s someone standing behind her, pinning her arms to her sides, and she uses all her strength to throw her arms back. It’s a hit. They curse and let go immediately. 

“What the hell, Leah!” She doesn't register the voice, but there’s laughter coming from in front of her, and with her hands now free, she shoves out in front of her, making contact. With the attackers off of her, Leah immediately pulls off the cover over her eyes, searching the room for you before landing on those trying to cause her harm. Katie’s clutching her nose, and Jen’s bent over wheezing. “What is wrong with you?” Leah unclenches her hands, and she yanks the fabric out of her mouth, breathing hard. 

“What’s wrong with me?” She pants, running her hand through her hair. “What the hell do you think you two are doing?” She places her hands on her hips, trying to calm her heart down, while her eyes fly around the room. “Where is she?” Jen waves towards the door, still trying to catch her breath. 

“What did it seem like we were doing? We were trying to kidnap you!” Katie snaps, walking over towards the dresser to inspect her nose in the mirror. “You could’ve broken my nose, you idiot.” Leah doesn’t look apologetic as she looks anywhere but Katie’s face. “God, why did I get assigned to Leah?” Katie grips the edge of the dresser and exhales hard, making eye contact with Jen in the mirror. “I told her to relax.” Leah scoffs. 

“Oh yeah, because I’m going to do what my kidnapper says.” The sarcasm is laid on thick. “You literally woke us up for no apparent reason in quite possibly the worst way possible and expected us to listen to you?” Ignoring her, Katie walks into the closet, and had it been any other less stressful time, Leah would’ve dragged her right back out. 

“Your girlfriend did.” Jen mentions, she gestures towards the room. “That’s why she’s not here anymore.”

“Okay, well, she’s-” Leah cuts herself off. “How did you even get in?” Jen pulls out a key that Leah recognizes instantly by the keychain hanging off of it. “You stole Kim’s key?” Jen holds the key out of reach when Leah attempts to take it from her. “Kim’s going to be pissed when she finds out what you two are doing.” Katie walks out of the closet with a bag and makes eye contact with Jen before bursting into laughter. 

“Well, she’s your girlfriend’s kidnapper, so probably not too pissed.” Katie smirks. “Now, if you just relax and let us put these things back on you, we’ll bring you out to her.” Leah reluctantly agrees to comply and once back in the humiliating restraints, she’s pushed out of her home and into the cold. 

In the back of the car, you’re slumped against your kidnapper, who you have deduced was your Scottish captain that appears to have lost her ability to speak, but jerk up when you hear the opposite door open and a warm, familiar body presses into yours. You feel much more at ease without your sight with Leah next to you, who’s obviously wiggling in her seat so that she can get closer to you. With your foot, you find hers and you press on it three times quickly. Her squirming stops, and she pushes her head against yours. 

From the front you can hear hushed angry whispering, and you flinch when you hear Kim’s voice speak up next to you. Leah nudges your knee, concerned, but you don’t react.

“What took you so long?” She asks as you feel her lean towards the front. The whispering stops, and there’s silence. “Did you get their clothes?”

“Yeah, Katie threw them in the trunk.” You raise your eyebrows when you realize who else participated in the kidnapping. From the way Leah has no reaction, you’re sure she has figured it out as well. You really aren’t sure if Katie will ever be back on Leah’s good side. “Have you put in the directions?” Kim must have nodded as the car started, and you and your girlfriend found yourselves being driven to an unknown destination. 

With all the stress catching up to you, you end up drifting off with your head on Leah’s shoulder, comforted by her scent and warmth. Right before you fall asleep, you feel Leah’s head drop onto yours. 

When you’re woken up, much more gently than the morning, you’re helped out of the car, and you can sense that Leah is trying to follow until she’s told to wait so as not to tumble out. At your exit and Leah’s, you can hear laughter and clicks of cameras. 

Finally, the rope from your hands is untied, and you immediately reach up to yank the blindfold and gag off you. You squint into the morning light, and before you say anything, Leah has her arms around you. 

“Are you okay?” She runs her eyes over your face, looking for a sign that you aren’t. You can feel an apologetic pat on your back. You assume it’s Kim. Hopefully, you can find it in your heart to forgive her for the worst scare of your life. 

“Yeah, I’m okay, baby. Are you okay?” You turn her question towards her. “It sounded like you had a much harder time than I did.” Before she can respond, you’re smacked on the side of the head with a duffel bag. You whip your head to glare at the assailant who has a wide grin on her face.  

“Surprise!” Katie stretches her arms out towards the forest behind her, seemingly having found a better mood while in the car. From where you’re standing, you can see there’s a small bruise forming on her cheek that wasn’t there yesterday at dinner or practice. Your lip twitches upwards when you imagine where and how she got it. 

“Where the hell are we?” Leah untangles herself from you but keeps you tucked into her. You nod, agreeing with the question, looking around at your new surroundings. 

“God, you’re cranky.” Katie complains but doesn’t lose her excited tone. “We’re going on a team hike, so get dressed.” She points towards the bag at your feet. “Everyone else is waiting for you two.” Leah picks up the bag, and you peer into it, finding a jumble of random clothing and shoes crammed into it. You have a feeling today will not be a good outfit day. 

“And why did we have to get kidnapped for this?” She questions, her tone a mix of frustration and confusion. She places the bag over her shoulder. 

“The experience, Lee-Lee. You should be thankful. You were the special ones! Well, you, and a few others.” From your spot next to Leah, even from a brief survey, you can tell who got your morning wake-up call and who didn’t. “Now, go get dressed!”

Emerging from the bathroom fully clothed in the mismatched ensembles Katie picked out for you, cheers greet you, and the hike starts. Fortunately, no one immediately tries to split the two of you up and you’re able to linger at the back of the line. 

“Are you sure you’re okay?” You ask the too quiet Leah gently, tugging on her hand. She nods, but you can tell she’s lost in her thoughts. “You can talk to me, baby.” As soon as it looks like Leah’s about to open up, you see Lia approaching the two of you. 

“It’s team bonding, you two.You can talk with your girl later. C’mon, Lee.” Leah takes the out quickly, letting Lia pull her further up the front without even so much as a glance behind her and leaving you behind to find someone else to talk to. 

Normally, you would be hurt by Leah’s abrupt departure, but you know it grants her the much needed space that’ll allow her to sort out her feelings. You step into conversation with Lotte who was one of the lucky ones that got to just show up. She had refused to participate in the fake kidnapping, something you thanked her for when you found out she was originally Kim’s partner. 

You keep the casual conversation going the whole way up to the lookout point with Alessia and Victoria dropping in occasionally. Every once in a while, you glance up where Leah is, who to your relief seems to have loosened up a bit with Lia, Beth, and Viv. 

You and Lotte arrive thirty minutes after everyone else had made it to the point, having assured the others to keep going when the both of you stopped to take photos. When you come around the bend, you see Leah sit down, scanning you for what you assume is an injury check but makes no move to approach you. You sense she still needs some time without you, so you gravitate towards Katie and Caitlin, having already forgiven Katie for her participation in the kidnapping.  

“Ayy, there’s my favorite hostage.” Katie teases, opening up her arm to greet you. “How are you feeling?” You punch her in the shoulder. Forgiveness is overrated anyway. 

The three of you chat for a while, and you welcome the distraction. It isn’t until you hear loud laughter coming from Leah’s direction that you look up. A small circle has formed, and filled with curiosity, you, Katie, and Caitlin, push your way in. 

“What’s so funny?” Katie asks, not wanting to be left out. Jen’s phone is passed to her, and she chuckles as well. “That is funny.” She shows you the picture, and you look at it closely. It’s from this morning right before the hike, and the subjects are you and Leah. You look heavily disoriented, and Leah, while beautiful, appears to have one too many energy drinks for breakfast as she’s captured in motion rushing with her arms towards you. It is obvious from the photo that you were not expecting her. 

“Well, aren’t we one hot couple, baby?” You tease, looking across the circle at Leah who blushes and looks down but not before you see a light smile. Seeing this, you feel lighter. You feel a body hug you from behind, and the phone is taken from your hands. The laughter you hear in your ear tells you it’s Kyra. 

“Couldn’t say it better myself.” She presses a wet kiss on your cheek. “We do make such a good pair.” 

“In what world would I be talking to you, you gremlin?” You ask while you wipe your face off, grimacing. She slaps you playfully on the stomach and then lets you go to which you walk over to Leah who is more than happy to welcome you into her own arms as you embrace her.

“You wound me.” Kyra’s hand is placed over her heart, feigning hurt, but her long face doesn’t last long. “I bet I could steal your girl from you, Leah.”

“No, thanks. I’m done with bets involving her.” It’s an immediate response. She looks down at you and winks as you brush your hand against her cheek. There’s overdramatic gasps around the circle, and Leah narrows her eyes as she focuses back on them, Katie specifically, who looks a little bit too pleased with herself. “Don’t, McCabe.” Katie holds her hands up in surrender, grumbling she wasn’t going to say anything. 

On the way back down, no one interrupts your time with Leah, so you get to catch her up on everything you learned about your teammates. You’re not sure she’s fully listening when you bring up certain topics, but when you point it out, she is quick to deny the accusation. 

While you don’t push her to talk about what happened this morning, you do encourage her to tell you about the conversations she had. She claims she’d rather listen to you than hear her own voice, but she indulges you, bringing to life the stories she heard about Myle. Leah’s a born storyteller, and you’ll never get tired of listening to her even when she discusses the most mundane subjects. 

When you finally arrive back at home after a full day of team activities, you’re quick to jump into the shower, pushing and locking a stroppy Leah out of the bathroom. 

To her disappointment, when you come out of your shower, you don’t want to take a second one with her, and she’s forced to bathe herself. 

Exiting the bathroom, she notices you comfortably settled in bed so she rushes the final steps of her routine to join you as quickly as possible. She snuggles up to you, resting her head on your chest, and slides her hands up the back of your shirt. 

“Do you want to talk about it now?” Leah stiffens, and you pet the back of her head gently. “If it’s bothering you that much, I want you to tell me.” 

Leah tucks her head into her chest, avoiding eye contact. When she speaks, it’s so soft, you have to strain to hear. 

“Never in my life have I ever felt that scared before.” She pauses, taking a deep breath in. “Hearing you struggling, and I couldn’t do anything? I felt helpless.” She looks up at you with wide eyes. “Even with the knowledge now that it was a prank, I still feel like you’re- I feel like I could still lose you.” By the end of her confession, her hold around you has tightened to the point of being uncomfortable, but you make no complaint. 

“Oh, lovey, you’ll never lose me.” You assure her, using your finger to guide her to look back at you. “I’m right here, not going anywhere. Never ever.” She has tears in her waterline, and she quickly blinks them away. After a few minutes of you soothing Leah, and Leah helping to calm herself down, you’re surprised when she rolls on top of you. All her weight is being held up by her arms, and she’s smirking as if the past thirty minutes didn’t happen. 

“Okay, I’m done talking about this now.” She leans down obviously wanting a kiss, and you’d give it to her had you thought she needed it for comfort, but you know it’s a distraction from her big feelings. “I won’t tell, if you don’t.” 

“And what if I tell?” You choose not to bring up her obvious deflection. 

“Then, I’ll say you coerced me.” She whispers into your ear, biting it, and your eyes slam close. She goes to your other side to whisper the rest. “That you begged me to let you kiss me. That if I didn’t, you’d leave me. I couldn’t let that happen, could I?”  

“Never took you for a cheater.” You say, eyes slowly opening to see her pulling back to glare at you. She clicks her tongue and shakes her head. 

“Not a cheater, just someone who really, really wants a kiss from their favorite girl.” Leah ducks her head down, stopping an inch away from yours. 

“Still makes you a cheater.” You breathe out, reaching your hands out to wrap around the back of her neck, pulling her impossibly closer. All that was left was at most a millimeter to close the gap.

“Kiss me.” She whispers, minty breath hitting your face. Her eyes not leaving your lips. You’re tempted to just throw the bet out the window, seeing the absolute desire in her eyes, but somehow you summon the willpower of a god, and you turn your head. Leah hangs her head. “Christ, love, you’re killing me.”

By Wednesday, it seems that the whole team knows that Leah has been deprived of her necessary kisses as Leah’s mood has exponentially worsened since Monday practice. 

"Leah is so miserable, mate. Please, just do us a favor and kiss her." Beth comes up from behind you, pulling you off to the side

“Well, this is a first. Usually, you’re the first one to tell us to stop.” You push her shoulder playfully. “But no way, she got us into this mess. She has to get us out of it.”

"I know, but look at everyone. She’s making everyone around her miserable." You do a cursory glance around the field, and everyone seems to be in a downturned mood, faces glum. “It’s like her sadness is contagious.” You frown and head towards Leah, leaving Beth feeling hopeful. 

Leah straightens up at your approach, instantly forgetting about the passing warm up she had started with Alessia. She lets the ball fly past her, and you can hear Alessia shouting from her spot on the pitch about how that was a perfect pass. Leah pays her no mind.

“All good, babe?” You wave off her concern and motion for her to follow you to a more secluded part of the pitch. “What’s wrong?”

“How much does the bet mean to you?” You ask instantly when you feel like you’re far enough away from people. She leans on the back of her feet, thinking for a second. 

“Not that much.” Leah replies, eyes flitting around as if she’s scared that admitting that will cause someone or something to strike her down from where she stands. 

“Okay, I’ll give you a kiss.” She perks up, her eyes brightening. “If you tell Katie right now that you lost and she was right.” You bargain, raising your eyebrows at her. The light in her eyes diminishes, replaced with a dark look.  

“Absolutely not.” Leah scoffs, turning away from you. “No chance.” She starts to walk back to Alessia, ending the conversation. You throw your hands up in the air and yell after her, attracting the attention of a couple teammates. 

“You are so stubborn, Williamson!” She spins back around you, glaring at you. 

“Oi! Don’t call me that.” She stomps back up to you. “Why can’t I just get a kiss without telling Katie? She’ll be insufferable if I tell her I lost.” She whisper-shouts, jerking her head over to where the Irish captain is pretending not to watch. 

“That’s you right now, Leah. Our teammates are starting to notice. Why can’t you just admit you like to be kissed by your own girlfriend?” You ask, frustration evident in your tone. 

“Sure, okay. If that’s the way you see it, then you’re being childish.” Leah retorts, the anger in her voice palpable. 

“I’m childish?” You point at yourself in disbelief. “You have to be taking the piss. Who’s the one who can’t lose a stupid bet?” You jab your finger towards her. “The one willing to lie just to win?”

“That was a joke. Who’s the one who’s throwing a tantrum because they aren’t getting what they want?” She spits back at you. 

“From the way I see it, it’s you.” You’re completely seething now, and from the corner of your eye, you can see a hesitant Katie walking up to the both of you. 

Jonas blows his whistle, interrupting the argument, and Leah jumps, eyes darting towards him. When she looks back, you’ve already stalked off, Katie speed walking to catch up to you. 

“You alright?” Katie comes up beside you, placing her hand on your shoulder. It’s said in an unusually concerned tone which rubs you the wrong way. You shrug her hand off, unable to handle the comforting touch. 

“Leave me alone, Katie.”

On the opposite side of the pitch, a similar conversation is happening except Beth is much more blunt.

“God, what did you do? Now, you’re both miserable.” Beth complains, falling into step with Leah who whips her head up at the accusation. 

“Shut up, Beth.”

Practice ends up going less than perfect with both you and Leah completely avoiding any and all interactions. The chemistry was off, and the frustration level was beyond… frustrating. Even the normally level-headed Jonas seems to be in a mood, ending practice late to run more drills. 

Initially, before the argument, you were going to head Alessia’s after practice as you had made plans yesterday to get ready with her for the team dinner that evening. Now, you thought that you’d go home with Leah to talk things through, but when you walk into the locker room after telling Alessia that you had to cancel, Leah’s nowhere to be found. 

After asking around, you found out that Leah packed her stuff up immediately and rushed out, not bothering to wait and see if you decided to change your mind. Alessia’s still happy to take you back to hers, but you know it’s awkward when you’re quietly stewing in the passenger seat. When she starts making lame jokes to try and ease the tension, you quickly find a way to get over yourself.

You have another fashionably late appearance at the restaurant due to a certain clumsy blonde so there are only a few open seats left. One of them is pulled close to Leah. When the two of you make short eye contact, she pushes the chair out slightly, obviously attempting to make amends, whether for show or not. However, being petty and still hurt by her comments, you choose instead to find the furthest chair away from her. If she wants to call you childish, you might as well play the part. 

Unlike at the bar, you refuse to look in Leah’s direction, but you also struggle to maintain conversations. You can’t keep up when your thoughts are all over the place, and your teammates notice but don’t say anything. Instead, they just keep ordering you drinks which you don’t refuse. From their treatment of you, you wouldn’t be surprised if word got around about the fight you had with Leah.

By the end of the night, you’re more than a little tipsy, and when the waitress walks by, you beckon her to come over with your finger, head drooping to the side as you whisper to her. 

“‘Ello, miss. You see that smoking hot blonde over there?” You point at Leah who is eyeing your interaction with the waitress. You don’t seem to notice, and you also don’t seem to realize that your whisper is loud enough for her to hear; her cheeks turning red at the brash compliment. “She’s mine, so please, put ‘er food and drinks on my tab, please, and thank you.” 

When the team gets up to leave, Leah is right by your side, ensuring you don’t fall. You look at her, unimpressed, but she stays. 

“Thanks for paying. You didn’t have to.” You roll your eyes, trying to place your card back into your wallet. When you fail and drop the card onto the floor, Leah bends down and snatches it up, rubbing it off with the bottom of her shirt before placing it back into your wallet herself. You thank her quietly before you respond to her earlier statement. 

“You paid for the drinks on Saturday. Leas’ I could do.” You reason, pushing her hands off you when they try to steady you on your walk out of the restaurant. You can hear your teammates say their goodbyes, and you wave behind you. 

Outside, you can feel yourself sobering up slightly in the cold,  and Leah drapes her coat over you when you shiver. You step instinctively closer to her for warmth. She watches as you scan the surroundings of the restaurant, but she can’t tell what you’re looking for.

“Are you coming home?” “Where’s your car?” You both ask at the same time. When you register what she asked, you look at her in surprise. 

“Do you not wan’ me to?” You ask softly. “Because if not, I need to go back in an’ tell Lessi.”

“No, no. Please come home. I want you to come home.” She reassures you and starts to guide you to where she parked. “I always want you to come home.” 

The drive home is quiet until you start to cry into your hands. Leah looks at you baffled and pulls over on the side of the road.

“Love, what’s wrong?” She unbuckles her seatbelt to get a better look at you, pulling your hands down. You let her do so reluctantly, and when you look at her with wide, reddened eyes, her heart drops. 

“Why don’t you want Katie to know you want my kisses?” You question between hiccups. “Do you really not want them?”

“Oh, my love, she knows.” She cradles your face in her hands, wiping away your tears as they slide down your face. “Everyone knows. I love your kisses. I love you.” She slides her chair back and pulls you over the center console onto her lap. “I was just being stubborn. I can end it right now. I’ll make the call.” 

You curl up into Leah, soothing yourself with the steady beat of her heart. 

“I don’t want you to have to end it if you don’t want to.” 

“I want whatever you want.” She pulls out her phone to find Katie’s contact. You think for a second then grab her phone out of her hand. “What are you doing?”

“You’re right. Telling Katie will be the worst for both of us.” You admit, wincing at the thought.  “We should be able to last a week without a kiss. We’ve gone longer…” You mention your previous times of long distance, and Leah sports a sullen expression when she recalls those dark days.

“That was different. We had no choice.” She claims, but you shrug. 

“Look, we can do this. Do we really want to be known as a pair of codependent losers who can’t go one week without a kiss?” Leah shakes her head slowly at your question. “I didn’t think so. This is a team effort. We only have two more days.” You press your forehead against hers, staring into her eyes, your tears gone. Leah accepts.

“I’m sorry I called you childish.” She says once you get into the house. 

“I’m sorry I called you insufferable and annoying.” There’s a pause.

“When did you call me annoying?”

“Disregard.”

On Thursday, it’s Leah’s turn to leave you in the morning, and while slightly hungover, you’re still the first one awake. 

“Baby, you have plans to get breakfast with Lia before your busy day.” You say as you kick the back of her calves. You’ve been trying to wake her up for almost twenty minutes now. “You need to get up.” Leah, barely awake, mumbles an acknowledgement. “Seriously, Lee, Lia has a key, and she’s going to drag your ass out of bed much less kindly than I am trying to do right now.” Leah removes her face from the pillow, gazing thoughtfully at you, trying to figure out a way to get back to dreamland.  

“I’ll get up if you give me a kiss.” You groan, and she flops her head back into the pillow. One point for Leah. 

“And have you blame me for us losing?” You roll back over to your side of the bed, and Leah throws herself on top of you. “Not happening.” 

“Then… I guess, me getting up? Not happening. What. a. shame.” She whispers into your ear, tucking her head into your neck, resisting the urge to place kisses there. And with Leah being all cute and clingy, who could really blame you for falling back asleep to the warm comfort of your girlfriend? You couldn’t.

You wake with a start to someone knocking on your door. Leah is dead to the world as she snores slightly next to your ear. 

“Door.” You mumble. The knocking speeds up, getting louder. “Lee, get the door.” You tap her back only for her to slide off you and cover her head with her pillow. “You have got to be kidding.” You grumble and moan as you get out of bed, lightly hitting Leah on the back with your pillow, but it garners no reaction. 

“She’s not getting up.” You say in lieu of a greeting when you open the door. At this, Lia closes her mouth, stopping what you expected was her prepared telling off of Leah who hadn’t been answering her ‘here’ texts. 

“Ugh, of course, she’s not.” She rolls her eyes as she steps into your home. “Will you please tell her that I’m going to leave with or without her in five minutes?” You nod but pause before opening the door to your bedroom. 

“How about I do you one better?” You suggest, lifting an eyebrow. From the look in your eyes, Lia knows this is a deal she’ll want to hear.  

“I’m listening.” Lia places her phone down, giving you her full attention. 

After a short conversation with Lia, you walk back into your room and start to rummage through your closet, trying to quickly change into an outfit. You don’t think you were being that loud, but Leah somehow hears you. You wouldn’t put it past her for her to have been awake the whole time you’ve been out of bed.

“What are you doing?” Leah cracks open an eye, watching you go through her side of the hung up clothes. 

“I am getting dressed.” You reply, pulling on one of her favorite shirts. She sits up against the headboard, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. 

“Why?” Leah looks at the time on the bedside clock. “What’s going on?” You find her befuddlement adorable, and you so wish you could kiss the crease between her eyes. You settle for a short squeeze of her shoulder. 

“To get breakfast with our good friend, Lia. Remember her?” You questioningly tease. Leah’s eyes widen when she picks up her phone and sees that it’s filled with missed calls and texts from her favorite Swiss friend.  

“You’re taking my breakfast plans?” She asks in disbelief. “You’re not being serious?” 

“Dead serious.” You nod toward the door. “She’s waiting out there for me right now.” You call out for her, and Lia responds with a loud 'what,' the volume of her response persisting until you decide to put her out of her misery and tell her never mind. Leah stumbles out of bed, pulling her shirt off over her head and hastily pulling the sheets up. 

“Wait, let me get dressed. I’ll come too.” You grab her arm, stopping her in her tracks, and shake your head. 

“No, nope. We’re already late, and the reservation’s only for two.” You tell her, pushing her back to sit down on the bed. 

“But, they were my plans.” Her shirt is in her hands, and you’re trying hard not to get distracted at the display of smooth skin as she gazes up at you, confused.  

“That you blew off.” You pat her cheek. “How do I look?” You twirl around in your casual clothing. 

“You’re beautiful.” There’s no hesitation in Leah’s response, and you touch her lightly on the nose. You hope she gets what you’re trying to replicate. 

“Thank you, baby. I love you. Please, don’t be late for the podcast. It’s at 10. And your other interviews are all on the calendar.” You leave the bedroom, but a few seconds after, you poke your head back in. “And remember, we have family dinner tonight.” You wait for her acknowledgment which she gives slowly, still disoriented as she tries to wrap her head around what’s happening. Once received, you exit, motioning to Lia you’re ready to go, and the two of you hurry off to the restaurant. Your enthusiastic voices become more faint as you move further away from the bedroom window, and Leah’s heart squeezes when the conversation fades as you two enter Lia’s car. 

“I love you too.” Leah says into the stillness of the bedroom; the words hanging in the air with no one to go to. 

The day goes by slowly for Leah; her fidgeting not going unnoticed by those she had meetings with, and she feels embarrassed when she sees multiple people online point out her tapping fingers and shaking leg. When she’s about to text you during a short break for a mood boost, a story notification from you pops up, and she immediately views it. 

What greets her makes her feel sick, and she has to blink multiple times to make sure she’s seeing things right. There you are, sitting with Alessia, apparently having lunch with her and also apparently hearing the funniest joke you’ve ever heard. Your eyes are shut closed with crinkles in the corner, and you have a bright and open smile on your face, and Alessia’s hand is on your knee. She views it multiple times, and each time, it seems she finds another aspect to focus on. Why were you sitting on the same side of the booth like you do with her? She doesn’t recognize the restaurant: are you trying a new one without her? Why is Alessia’s hand on your knee? Leah knows she’s spiraling, and she knows there’s truly nothing to worry about, especially with you telling her just a couple days ago about Alessia’s newly official boyfriend, and that most likely the reason that she’s feeling this way is because of the lack of physical affection and quality time she’s been receiving, but she can’t help it. She shuts her phone off and curls her knees up to her chest as she tries to get ahold of herself before the next interview. 

When Leah comes home, her stomach drops when she doesn’t see you out in the living room where you’d normally be waiting for her. Maybe you’re still with Alessia. She sniffles, running her hands down her face, and doesn’t notice you come out of the bedroom. 

“Baby?” You call out softly. Leah freezes, not removing her hands. “Baby? What’s wrong?” You gently remove her hands from her face, carefully brushing off the tears that fell without permission. “Oh, sweetheart, what happened?” You lead her to the couch to sit down, placing yourself next to her, while holding her hands in yours. She shakes her head, ashamed. 

“Nothing happened. It’s just stupid.” You frown, and Leah elaborates. “It’s… it’s just been a weird-bad day.” 

“Okay, baby, let’s talk about it. How were your interviews?” 

“It wasn’t the interviews. I think those went fine. I mean, sort of, but not really.”

“Mhm, okay, so what happened between the interviews?” She inhales sharply trying to prepare herself for the admittance. 

“People were criticizing my behavior on the interviews andthenIgotoverlyjealousofyouandAlessiafromthatstoryyoupostedbecauseIdidn’tknowyouweregoingoutwithherandherhandwasonyourknee.” She rushes through the second part of the sentence, and you hate to ask her to repeat herself when you know she’s nervous and tried her best, but you got nothing from it. 

“People were criticizing you… and? You have to speak slower, baby.” You encourage her with a nudge of your knee. The same knee Alessia had been touching, Leah notes internally. 

“I kept moving around in the interviews, and I think people found it to be unprofessional.” You scowl, shaking your head in disagreement, but let her keep talking. “And… I got jealous of you and Alessia.” You’re taken aback, but you nod. “I didn’t know you two were getting lunch, and I just, I don’t know, I guess, spiraled.”

“Okay,” you begin, “first off, as long as you’re answering the questions to the best of your ability, you’re doing great, no matter what a loser says on the internet. Your hands can move as much as they want.” You give her hands a shake. “Second of all, there’s nothing to worry about between Alessia and I. Vic invited Grace, Alessia, and I all out at the last minute, and I didn’t think to let you know because I figured you would be too busy to check your phone.” Leah leans forward over her knees, and you let go of one her hands to lightly scratch the back of her neck. “Baby?”

“You were out with Vic, Grace, and Alessia?” She asks quietly into her knees. You let out a noise of agreement, and she further deflates. “Oh.”

“Vic kept posing inappropriately, and I basically just met Grace but she also claimed to look bad in all the photos we took together, so I thought it’d be better to post the photo of only Alessia and I.” You explain. “Would you like to see the rest of the photos?” She untucks herself from her knees and nods, reaching out her hand. You give her your phone instantly and lay down in her lap, letting her unlock it and open your Photos app. 

Leah has never had a reason to go through your phone ever, so this is her first time to be on your phone other than when she sends a quick text for you or plays the music when you’re driving (which isn’t often). This being said, when she sees an album titled ‘lovey baby’, she can’t help her want to snoop. She glances down at you, and you’re not paying attention to her, just rubbing circles into her thigh from where you lay, so she clicks open the album. 

Inside, she’s met with what appears to be an unlimited supply of candids that you’ve taken of her, and the ones she first sees are all fairly recent. There’s even one from this morning, granted her face is being smothered by her pillow, but it’s her. There’s a few from the bar with one of her looking positively bored and another of her laughing at a joke she probably made herself. You even got some nice pictures of her on the team hike. In a couple of random shots from the past week that you’ve taken, it almost looks like she’s looking straight at the camera, but she knows she’s only just looking at you, not even noticing the phone pointed her way. Those ones are favorited. Leah may not always understand every emotion she experiences, but from the look in her eyes just from looking at you, she knows she’s in love.

She swipes out of the album and goes to your recents, immediately zeroing in on the one you posted with Alessia. She opens it and notices it's a live photo. When the photo plays, Leah wants to slam her head back into the couch. Alessia’s hand was on your knee for a half a second if not less. You feel Leah tense, and you look up.

“You good, baby?” Leah murmurs an affirmation and quickly scrolls through the rest of the photos taken at lunch. They were nice photos. She’ll encourage you to add them to a photo dump later, but for now, she sets your phone down. “All done?”

“Thank you, love.” You sit up, crawling into her lap for a tight hug. “I was just overreacting.” 

“No, not overreacting. Just reacting, and that’s okay. Okay?”

“Okay.” You squeeze her tight, and she mimics the motion. You still feel like she’s upset because she’s being a bit too quiet, so you try to offer her what she may want. Unbeknownst to you, she’s not thinking about you and Alessia anymore but rather on the album she discovered, wondering just how long you’ve been adding to it and how all those photos capture your love for her while simultaneously capturing hers for you. 

“Would you like a kiss?” You ask softly. She thinks about it, and while her heart says ‘yes’, the stubborn part of her isn’t ready to lose yet. Not when there’s just a day left.

“No, I’m good. I’m okay.” Damn, you were ready to end it all too, but what your stubborn girl wants, your stubborn girl gets. You nod, resting your forehead on hers, eyes peering into hers. 

“Do you feel up to going out to your mum’s?” Her arms tighten around you, and she moves her head back to your shoulder, already telling of her answer. 

“Can we just stay home?” Leah asks, fiddling with the back of your shirt. Your sweet girl. You’d kiss her head if you could. 

“Of course, lovey. I’ll text your mum. Do you want to order in, or do you want me to cook?” She chooses the former, citing that you also need a break which you have no complaint about. 

For the remainder of the evening, the two of you end up having the quiet stay-in that you expected to have last Friday albeit without the kisses before Katie made her appearance. You end up in the same position on the couch, and Leah gets to watch the end of her movie, something she had been waiting for. By the end of the night that consisted of numerous bowls of popcorn, many quiet conversations, and two movies, you’re both exhausted physically and mentally. This leads you both to crashing on the couch, and when you wake up partly through the night, you carry Leah back to bed, tucking her in carefully. 

With the emotional rollercoaster of Thursday the whole week, you choose to sleep in with Leah the next morning, something you know she greatly appreciates because you wake up with her gazing at you with something you can only describe as unadulterated love in her eyes. 

You also choose to partner up with her at practice, and while done mainly for her, you are hyper-aware of your teammates appreciation when you notice them giving you thumbs up behind her back. 

Everyone knows today’s the last day of the bet, and when practice ends early, you watch curiously when Leah’s entire face flushes beet-red as Katie whispers something into her ear. When you ask her about it, she mumbles something unintelligible about a thank you and the bedroom, and it doesn’t take you too long to put two and two together. As you walk out of the locker room with Leah, you slap Katie upside the head in passing.  

After dinner, the anticipation builds with each passing second at home. It becomes increasingly difficult to stay in the same room, so you choose to occupy yourself with the chores you put off while Leah busies herself with something crafty on the coffee table. You’re not sure what it is, but anytime you get close, she throws a pen at you, so you stay away. Fortunately, none of your chores involve the living room, and you can safely run a couple loads of laundry, clean the master bath, and start on the pile dishes leftover from dinner. 

As you're finishing up washing, you hear an alarm go off, a quiet whoop of hurray, and Leah scrambling to get off the couch to rush to the kitchen. You turn when you hear her coming up behind you, and it's only by instinct that you’re ready for the impact of a tight Leah embrace. A laugh escapes you as you wrap your arms around her waist as she nuzzles into your neck, peppering kisses where it meets the shoulder. After a few more seconds of this affection, she leans away from you, grinning, and shoves her phone into your face: a reminder labeled "kisses" and an excessive amount of emojis set for 10PM today, just over seven days since the bet was set, greets you. She kisses your forehead, looks at you, then kisses both your cheeks. 

"Look, babe, we did it." Leah's eyes are sparkling and searching your face for approval. You push her arm down gently, removing the bright screen from your face, and untangle yourself from her grasp on you, turning around to the sink to complete your last task. You nonchalantly address the win. 

"I'm proud of you, baby." Even without looking at her, you can tell she's frowning as she tries to maneuver you back to her, but you stand your ground. 

"The bet’s over. I won." She pleads, a subtle whine escaping her. You silently chuckle, checking over your shoulder to see her dejected form. “Why aren’t you kissing me?”

"Look, baby, if you don't need my kisses, I don't need to kiss you." You shrug as you continue to slowly wash the dishes. Leah grabs your hand to stop you, flicking the water off. You place the dish you were working on back into the sink.

"Babe! But I kissed you!" She argues, finally able to make you face her with another pull to your waist. “That’s not fair!”

“Yes, and thank you for that.” You touch her lightly on the nose that scrunches at the contact. “I just feel like since we’ve already been building up the anticipation, we might as well-”

You don’t get to finish your entirely unrealistic idea before she’s capturing your lips in hers, her hands flying up to your face to keep you still, but there’s no need; you practically melt against her. You’ve been missing this just as much as she has, and your hands make their way to her hair. Once she’s certain you’re not going to flee, her kiss deepens, and your legs almost buckle at the sheer intensity of them. 

“I am never doing that again.” She mumbles between kisses, pressing you against the counter. “Never, ever, ever.” You laugh against her lips, and she pulls away, lips visibly swollen; your hands falling to her waist with her own mimicking the action. “What’s so funny?”

"Oh, nothing much.” You can’t resist the urge to kiss her again, and she follows your lips when you pull away. “Just the irony that last Friday you claimed my kisses weren't necessary, yet here you are, painting a different picture altogether." She reaches out to stroke your face, but instead, you grab her hand and press a soft kiss to the inside of her palm. 

“Ah, bugger off, will you?” There’s no actual bite in her words as she stares at you adoringly. “You know I need your kisses. Actually, the whole team knows. I’ve been awful without them.” She admits, pushing a few stray hairs out of your face. 

"Oh, I know, baby, everyone's been calling me to tell me what a pain you've been in training as if I’m not right there with them." You gripe with a smile on your face. 

“Yeah, well, it didn’t help that people kept dragging you away from me.” She complains, pressing her lips to yours again. “It’s like they wanted me to suffer.” You shake your head teasingly before pulling her to the bedroom.

After reacquainting yourselves with each other, you’re curled up together in bed, faces centimeters apart. Leah is on the verge of sleep, her breathing even and her fingers slow down from where they were tracing your bare side. You press a feather-light kiss to the corner of her mouth, and it twitches up. 

“Missed.” It’s barely audible, but you press a languid kiss upon her lips. Her face somehow relaxes even more into an expression of satisfaction, a subtle release of tension echoing contentment. Your unwavering gaze remains fixated on her, and the intensity coaxes her to open her eyes, a bemused expression playing on her features. “What’s wrong?” Leah’s concern surfaces when you don’t respond, and she calls your name before propping herself up with an elbow to peer down at you. 

“Will you marry me?” The words escape you. She blinks, and then she’s up. 

“What?” It’s a complete 180 of how she was just a second ago, with Leah now fully awake, flicking on the bedside light. You squint at her in the light before pulling on the discarded shirt that lay on the ground before also pushing yourself up. 

“I said-” You start almost hesitantly. 

“No, no, I know what you said.” She shakes her head in disbelief. “You can’t ask me that.” You blink slowly as the weight of her words settles between you. 

“What do you mean?” You’re looking from her to the door, debating on running to tend to your invisible wounds, but Leah grabs your hand, keeping you in bed. With her free hand, she yanks open her nightstand drawer, rummaging through the random junk she keeps in there until she finds what she’s looking for and places a smooth box into your hand. Despite the anticipation bubbling within you, you resist the urge to inspect what she has given you, opting to wait for a response instead of raising your hopes prematurely. Luckily, she doesn’t make you wait long. 

“I mean, you can’t ask me that.” She looks stressed, running her hand through her hair. “I have a plan already!” This declaration prompts you to cast your gaze downwards, a small Arsenal-red velvet box sitting in your palm.

“Oh.” You aren’t sure if you’re reacting to her words or the box. 

“Yeah. ‘Oh’.” Leah laughs airily and pushes you lightly on the shoulder. “I can’t believe you beat me to it.” She gestures for you to open the box but just before you do, you look back up at her. 

“So, is that a no?” This time, instinct fails you when Leah lanches into your body, knocking you into the bed. 

It’s not a no. 

So in reality, Leah’s true love isn’t winning, and you’re sure, no matter how much the media frames it as, it’s not football either. You bet that you could get her to admit it’s you with a promise of a kiss, but you also don’t need her to admit it. As egotistical as it may sound, when you gaze into Leah’s eyes, and she lets you see inside her heart, you unequivocally know it’s you. 

*

Author's Note: Originally, I was going to send a request to @wileys-russo, but I decided against that. That being said, this is 100% inspired by her. I hope this post shows up in the tags.

#fic recs #leah williamson #woso x reader #leah williamson x reader

[nats-bishop]

Alessia x Morgan!Reader

Reader is Esme's sister but is the complete opposite, whilst Esme is sweet and kind , reader is stoic and hard headed. Reader is only ever sweet to Esme, the fans love to edit Reader being badass on the pitch, but kind/sweet to Esme. For example forehead kisses, hugs (Reader is taller than her).

Most people tend to try to stay away and adding to her hard exterior she could have a few face scars. Anyway Alessia is like a golden retriever, and people see that ever since they met she tries to follow Reader around , get her attention , and try to make her smile. And over time , it starts to work. Small smiles, protective nature , small gestures for her. We know Less is clumsy so stopping her from tripping , pulling out her chair, protective in a night out (towards everyone) , putting her hand on the corner of the table when Less picks something up, giving her jacket ect.

Sorry for waffling , I hope this is a good idea.

Polar Opposites (Alessia Russo x Morgan!Reader)

Everybody knows the expression that usually, twins are polar opposites of each other. Well, you and Esme definitely fit that stereotype.

Esme was everything that was pure and good in the world, meanwhile you were a hot headed little shit.

While both of you were centre backs, you read the game very differently. Esme was structured and timed her tackles well. You on the other hand, were not so subtle in leaving a hard challenge in on someone.

However, you were always fair in your tackles and they were genuine attempts for the ball, most of the time.

You’d both started off playing in Manchester, for the blue side, before an opportunity at Arsenal came up for you that you just couldn’t turn down.

Since the move, a particular Irish defender decided it would be a good idea to take you under her wing and since then, you’d become 10x worse.

You’d always known Esme could calm you down, but now that you didn’t have her, it was more and more difficult to keep relaxed on and off the pitch.

You were such a softie with your sister, she brought out a completely different side to you. A side that fans loved to rave about online when it would spring out.

Your tattooed, tall figure, even taller than Esme’s, may come across scary, but when you were with your sister, that was all lost.

Fans loved the pictures and videos Esme would post of you asleep on her shoulder on the bus or plane, or holding her arts and crafts items when she was making bracelets.

They would also eat up photos of the two of you hugging each other tightly after matches against each other. Esme just loved to see you smiling for a change, and not in the smug little way you normally did.

You had a cheeky little smile that came out when you pissed someone off, usually with Katie’s help.

You were overly protective of Esme, never letting anybody or anything hurt her. You’d gotten into a few fist fights in the youth levels when someone would leave a hard challenge in on her, that you deemed too aggressive, even if the referee didn’t.

You were smarter in senior levels to not punch someone, knowing people relied on you and it was your job. Instead, you’d put in harder challenges or give them a light push.

When Esme first introduced you to her boyfriend, you swear he almost cried.

Apart from your sister and Katie, you didn’t really have many friends. You kept yourself to yourself and tended to just fuck around with some girls who played in the league or that you just met on a night out.

After the heartbreaking end to the World Cup, you came back to Arsenal ready for the next season.

Your mindset had adjusted slightly, but not in a positive way. You were now more determined than ever to win the league, and nobody would stand in the way of that, regardless of what you had to do.

“Coming gym?” Katie asked as you shoved the last spoonful of your breakfast in your mouth.

“Yeah” you said after swallowing as Leah wagged her finger at both of you, pulling you back by the arm.

“We’ve got a team meeting in 15 minutes with Jonas and the new players” she informed you as you both grunted.

Leah had always tried to steer you in the right direction, and she would be successful sometimes, depending on if Katie was around.

“We’re not gonna listen in the meeting anyway” Katie shrugged as you freed yourself from Leah’s grip and both headed off towards the gym.

“We should have moved her in with Lia” Kim whispered to Leah who nodded.

It was their decision to ask Katie to mentor you and you’d ended up living with her since you’d moved to Arsenal.

You were both single when you’d first moved and on quite a streak with bringing different girls home at the beginning. But now she was with Caitlin, it was just you continuing on with that streak.

You and Katie got straight into a heavy arms session, her music thumping through the speakers loudly.

“Where are Y/n and Katie?” Jonas asked the group who shrugged. “I thought they would be tired of the fines by now” he shook his head.

You’d both been fined countless times at this stage for missing team meetings.

Caitlin anxiously took her phone out to start texting Katie, who of course, would just ignore them.

Jonas introduced the new recruits as everyone began to mingle, before getting into the plan for the next few weeks of training.

When the meeting had ended, you and Katie still hadn’t surfaced. Still in the gym, lifting every single weight in there by the seems of things. You would sometimes stay in there for hours, with or without Katie.

“Come on I’ll take you down to meet hot head 1 and 2” Leah laughed, leading the new girls towards the gym, pointing out different things on the way.

You were both sweating. Katies sleeves were rolled up and you were wearing an Arsenal vest top and shorts, that had ridden slightly up your thighs. Tattooed arms and legs almost on full display.

“Jesus Christ turn that down” Leah shouted as she came in.

You had a lot of respect for Leah, being the captain of the England team. You tended to do whatever she asked, unless Katie was there.

Katie hit pause, as you continued to finish off your reps before throwing down the free weights.

You were both built. Probably the stockiest two players on the Arsenal team.

Alessia knew you of course, from England camp. But you’d never really had a conversation before. Just the odd hello or speaking in training about drills. She got on better with your sister, like everybody did.

“This is Katie and Y/n” she introduced you to the few girls standing around as you just laughed.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll be out in a few” Katie waved Leah off who rolled her eyes at the two of you.

“Come on, let’s grab some food before training” Leah said as the group followed her, all except one.

“Hi y/n” Alessia smiled and waved at you.

“Hi” you smiled back putting your hand up in a quick wave, caught very quickly by Katie.

Alessia quickly ran off to catch back up with the group.

“Oh hi Alessia” Katie teased you as you punched her arm. “Are you going to?” She smirked.

“Going to what?” You asked, having a fair idea what she meant.

“Oh come on, you definitely could” Katie laughed as you shook your head. Before the conversation, that was overheard by Caitlin and Beth, continued, they interrupted.

“Katie stop being a windup” Caitlin shouted, only making her laugh more.

“Come on angry head, let’s get food” Beth said wrapping an arm around you and leading you towards the canteen.

“We’ve talked about you being a bad influence” Caitlin whispered to Katie when you were out of sight with Beth.

“Babe, I’m a great influence” Katie fake gasped.

She knew she was a bad influence on you, but she found it funny. You’d pretty much go along with whatever she said, even if it was a bad idea. She was the first person that you felt understood you, apart from Esme.

Well, she understood the side to you that was similar to her.

You grabbed your tray of food and headed to an empty table, content to sit alone and eat.

“How was the gym?” You heard the familiar voice ask as you turned your head towards her.

“Yeah, good” you replied.

“Is someone sitting here?” She asked as you shook your head and she moved to take a seat.

“But I’d rather just be on my own” you whispered as she simply nodded and walked over to a different table.

“Everything alright?” Leah asked as Alessia sat down.

“Why’s she so angry here? She’s different at England” Alessia huffed, biting into her lunch.

“Calm twin isn’t here” Katie laughed.

You really missed Esme. You felt a lot happier football wise at Arsenal, but you loved being at Man City due to the fact that Esme was there too.

-

It was a few weeks into training by now, you and Katie always partnering up and doing your own thing during the day.

Your mind was a bit all over the place. Due to an injury, Esme hadn’t been called into England camp next week and it was just another thing that blocked you from seeing her.

Over the last couple of weeks, Alessia tried really hard to make an effort with you. She offered to sit beside you everyday, but was always met with a no.

She would always wave at you from across the changing room or the pitch, even if you didn’t bother sometimes to wave back. After Katie’s relentless teasing whenever you would, you found it was better to just ignore the gesture.

But Alessia was persistent and knew eventually she would wear down your tough persona into the person she saw around Esme.

-

You were finishing off today’s training session with an 11 v 11 game. You and Katie playing beside each other, with Jen and Steph beside you.

Alessia was on the opposite team to you and was playing further out towards the wing rather than straight down the middle.

As she broke with the ball, Katie put in a rather tough challenge on her that made you wince as she screamed out with pain.

You don’t know why, but you saw red.

“What the fuck man” you said as you pushed Katie out of the way of you getting to the blonde on the ground.

“It was an accident” Katie replied pushing you back. It knocked you forward slightly as you turned back to look at her, anger taking over your whole body.

“What on earth is going on?” Kim asked Leah who shrugged as they both jogged towards the scene.

“Hey, hey” Jonas called from the sideline as you and Katie were beginning to get into a heated argument, pushing each other back and forth.

Jen and Vic were on the ground speaking to Alessia.

Caitlin, Leah and Kim eventually got to both of your sides, and it took both Leah and Kim to pull you away.

“Sorry Russo” Katie huffed as she helped the England striker back to her feet.

“What’s wrong?” Leah asked as you shook your head and pushed her arm off you.

“Nothing, I’m fine” you muttered as a shout was called to resume play with a free kick awarded to the other team.

You jogged into the box to defend the corner, as Alessia stood directly infront of you.

“You okay?” You asked as she turned in disbelief you had spoken to her.

“I’m okay” she smiled before turning back to get ready for the cross.

Your hand moved to her waist briefly as you easily jumped to clear the ball.

It was after the final whistle that Katie jogged beside you.

“Cmere” she laughed ruffling your hair and swinging her arm around your shoulders “What got into you?” She asked as you both began your walk to the changing rooms.

“We’re about to go into an international break and we have important games. England need her” you huffed.

“Yeah look, I said sorry” Katie smirked at your annoyed little face as she pulled your head in closer to her. “Come on, get ready” she said as she released you.

The whole team were going out tonight to celebrate a break before everyone flew/travelled home for international duty the day after tomorrow.

You took a shower and got changed into a tracksuit before leaving and walking to Katie’s car, robbing the keys from the girl’s bag who was still in the shower.

“Coming out tonight?” Alessia asked on the walk to the car park.

“Yeah, are you?” You replied as she nodded.

Her bag moved sharply from her shoulder and dropped down towards her feet. She began to trip over it before you reacted quickly and caught her.

“Easy there” you laughed, helping her back to her feet and fixing her bag to be on her shoulder again. “I’ll see you later” you smiled.

You smiled, a breakthrough.

-

When you, Katie and Caitlin arrived the place was already packed.

You spotted Leah and the three of you began to make your way to where the rest of the girls were.

“Nice of you three to show up” Leah laughed. “Coming to the bar?” She asked you as you nodded.

“Anybody want anything?” You asked the group as Katie and Caitlin gave you their orders.

You quickly met Alessia’s eyes who smiled and shook her head, holding up her glass.

You and Leah grabbed a handful of drinks and brought them back towards the group. You noticed an empty seat beside Alessia, so you instantly took the opportunity to sit there.

“Hi” you smiled with your hand firmly wrapped around your drink.

“Hi” she she said putting her head on your shoulder quickly before removing it again.

You had a good laugh with the girls, dancing around for the night.

“I like this side to you” Alessia whispered in your ear on the dance floor.

“What side?” You frowned.

“Don’t frown, smile” she laughed pushing your lips upwards with her fingers. “The happy side” she smiled.

“Maybe it’s just the alcohol” you smirked.

It partially was, and maybe that’s why at England camp you shrunk back into yourself.

You spent most of the downtime in your room or alone in the gym. You didn’t want to see anybody except Esme, and she wasn’t here.

The only two people you’d give the briefest words to was Leah due to her being your captain and Lauren, because she was the closest thing to Esme you would get.

Hempo

She’s miserable

Es

😞

I’ll call her

You were in the gym, alone, when your phone started buzzing, the ringtone ringing through the speaker rather than you and Katie’s shared playlist.

You disconnected your Bluetooth before answering.

“Hello?” You said into the camera.

“Hello twinny” Esme smiled. “Where are you?” She asked.

“This place called the gym, have you heard of it?” You laughed as she rolled her eyes.

“It’s 8pm” she laughed. “Why are you not in the common room?” She asked as you just shrugged.

“It’s not the same” you replied. “Nothing is since I moved to Arsenal” you added.

“Hey, don’t be getting all upset” Esme frowned.

“I’m not upset” you replied with a huff.

“Well Hempo said you aren’t talking to anybody, so what’s wrong?” She asked as you shrugged your shoulders again.

“Just miss you” you answered her honestly. With her twin telepathy there was no point lying.

“I miss you too” she smiled wearily. “But I’m coming to the games, so we can see eachother then” that made you smile.

You heard a ruffle at the door, but you were backed into the corner behind a wall so that you wouldn’t be seen.

“I think someone is about to lock me in here” you laughed. “I better head” you smiled.

“See you soon. Love you” she said through the phone.

“Love you too” you pressed end and hung up, grabbing your water bottle and towel.

Only it wasn’t someone coming to lock you in, it was your Arsenal teammate.

“Oh, sorry I didn’t think you were in here” Alessia lied. She knew full well you were in here. You noticed she looked sad.

“Are you doing a session?” You asked as she nodded. “Need a hand?” You asked but she shook her head.

“I wouldn’t want to keep you from talking to your girlfriend” she replied, turning to grab a weight.

“My girlfriend?” You laughed. “Did you hear me on the phone?” You asked as she nodded.

“You sounded happy” she smiled, but she didn’t mean it.

“I was talking to Esme actually” you smiled. “I don’t have a girlfriend” you replied as you noticed Alessia’s smile grow more genuine.

“You sure I can’t help?” You asked as she groaned.

“I would much rather just watch a movie than lift weights, if you wanted to join?” She asked as you raised your eyebrows.

“Yeah sure” you smiled. She’d caught you in a good mood. Knowing you’d see your sister this week had definitely raised your spirit.

If you were honest with yourself, you liked Alessia. You liked that she always came to check up on you and that she included you in conversations.

The two of you flopped onto bean bags in the common room and hit play on a movie on her laptop.

You had your back to the main door, while Alessia had her shoulder to it, that’s how she spotted Leah the second she came through, only a few seconds into the movie.

“She okay?” Leah mouthed at Alessia who nodded and smiled. Leah thought it was best to leave the two of you alone, so headed back out and up to her room.

You paused the movie around 20 or so minutes in, Alessia was tossing and turning on the bean bag.

“Are you alright?” You asked, concerned slightly.

“Just can’t get comfortable” she groaned slightly.

“I can hook this up to the TV if you want to sit on the couch instead?” You asked as she smiled at you. You’d never noticed how nice her smile was before.

You hooked the laptop up to the TV and plonked down on the couch beside her, subconsciously placing your hand on her leg, before pulling it away.

“Sorry” you mumbled.

“It’s fine” she smiled with a giggle.

“Just usually, I only ever chill with Esme or Katie and they’re both quite cuddly” you said as you stopped briefly. “Do not tell Katie I told you that” you said panicked.

“Aw McCabe likes cuddles? Is she little spoon?” Alessia teased.

You knew Katie would crucify you if you told anybody that the two of you weren’t as hard as everyone thought when you were alone.

“Hey, I’m just kidding” Alessia smiled rubbing your arm, before placing her head on your shoulder.

You readjusted slightly so she was lying between your legs with her head on your chest, your arms wrapped around her.

“This alright?” You asked as she nodded against you. It was extremely comfortable, so comfortable in fact, the both of you drifted off to sleep.

-

“Less?” Tooney shouted entering the room. “Has anyone seen Less?” She shouted again, looking around the room and clocking the blonde hair on the couch.

“Less, where have you, oh” she stopped as she got a bit closer, noticing you were also asleep under the girl, neither of you had adjusted position even slightly since last night.

Ella scooted around to the front of the couch before nudging Alessia slightly.

“Less wake up” she whispered as the blonde opened her eyes. “Did you sleep here?” She asked as Alessia nodded against you.

“Breakfast is in 10” Tooney informed her as she groaned. “I’ll leave you to wake her” Ella said as she slipped out.

It wasn’t a secret Ella was terrified of you. You were huge in comparison to her, and terrifying to play against.

“Hey y/n” Alessia poked at your face trying to wake you up as you let out a groan and she laughed. “We slept here, breakfast is in 10” she informed you as you pulled her closer for a second before releasing her and both of you stood up.

You ran up to your room and got changed quickly before heading back down to breakfast, sandwiched between Millie and Lucy.

A terrifying trio, all as built as each other.

Leah sat across from you, a bit taken aback by how smiley and chatty you seemed this morning. But it all made sense when a certain blonde walked through the door and you excused yourself from the table, with your tray.

“She’s not coming back is she?” Lucy asked as Millie shook her head.

“She seems happy though” Millie stated, looking towards Leah.

“Wonder why” Leah smirked, throwing her eyes over towards you and Less.

“Hey” you smiled as you sat across from her.

“Hi” she replied.

“I got you breakfast, I was afraid you’d miss it” you said as you slid the tray across with an untouched fruit salad, toast, coffee and a bar.

“I was wondering why she’d taken two of everything” Lucy laughed as they watched Alessia dig in and begin chatting and laughing with you.

-

It wasn’t long until you were on the training pitch, running drills and having a quick game to finish.

You didn’t mind marking Alessia, but every time you went in to get the ball she heard you mumble a quick sorry.

You’d never harm a hair on her body.

-

When it got to the day of the match, Esme came to the hotel before the game.

“I’m so glad to see you” you whispered into the hug, spinning her around.

“Where’s Hempo?” She asked as you groaned.

“Hello, twin sister you haven’t seen in months standing right here” you laughed as she punched your arm.

“How you feeling for today?” She smiled.

“Yeah, I’m ready” you nodded.

And you were, you just couldn’t have expected how rough the game would be.

Challenges were flying in left right and centre from the Dutch team. There was a lot at stake for both teams, Olympic qualifications were on the line.

You and Alessia were both in the starting XI, but she was definitely on the receiving end of far more aggressive challenges.

You winced every time you saw her go down, but took a breath of relief when she’d stand back up quickly.

It was in the 64th minute when Alessia’s ex teammate Jackie slid in and you could hear Alessia’s scream as you watched her fall to the ground. She didn’t get up quickly this time, she banged the ground a few times holding her knee.

You’d watched it last season with five of your team mates doing their ACL’s, you were not about to let someone do that to her and get away with it.

You watched as medics ran on the pitch to assess her knee as you saw Jackie looking far too smug talking to Viv, whose eyes were glued to you.

“I would advise you to run” Viv said as she watched you storm towards her.

“What?” Jackie replied, but before Viv could answer you had Jackie’s collar bundled up in your fists and you had lifted her up and off the ground.

“Beth” Viv shouted towards her girlfriend for help in pulling you off. Beth came sprinting over but she was no use in getting you separated.

Millie and Lucy got there just in the knick of time, Lucy grabbed your hand as it leaned backwards to swing a punch, pulling it behind your back.

“Relax” Millie grabbed you away and pulled you back towards your goal. The referee brandishing a yellow card to both you and Jackie.

Millie was calming you down surprisingly well, Leah coming along to only join in the deep breathing that Millie was going through with you.

She’d obviously watched Esme walk you through this routine before and learned it off by heart with the amount of times she’d seen her do it by now.

The crowd cheered as Alessia stood up and seemed okay.

When the final whistle went, you headed straight for the tunnel. You only briefly stopped at the dug outs to give Jackie a quick handshake and apologise.

You couldn’t even look at Alessia after the game.

Sarina had whisked you away for a stern talking to before anybody had the chance to come near you.

“Now listen, I don’t want to shout at you” she added, beginning to wrap up the conversation.

“Y/n Morgan, where the frick are you?” Even in the most annoyed tone, Esme was too good to swear.

“It’s fine, she will” you mumbled as Sarina laughed and walked off muttering a quick hello to Esme.

“What were you thinking? You could have been sent off, you could have really hurt her” Esme snapped.

“Yeah, I dunno” you shrugged.

“You don’t know?” She whisper shouted at you. “Well, let me tell you something that’s pretty obvious” she began wagging her finger about to go off in a tangent.

“I like Less, I know” you mumbled.

“You have serious anger issues, wait what?” She said as your eyes looked fit to pop out of their sockets. “You like Lessi?” She asked with a gasp.

“I dunno, I guess” you said eyes glued to the floor.

“This is amazing” she shouted as she shook your shoulders.

“How is me liking someone who has no interest in me amazing?” You said sternly.

“Oh don’t be so daft you big idiot” she shook her head at you before pushing you into the changing room and calling out Lauren.

“You alright mate?” Leah asked as you nodded and headed to your cubby, throwing your boots down and heading in for a shower.

You got straight onto the bus, head pressed against the window with your AirPods in. Right before the bus moved, you felt a body press against yours, and a head fall on your shoulder.

You quickly jerked your head around to find the blonde scrolling on her phone with her back against you and her feet up across the aisle and on Ella’s lap.

You wrapped your arm around her waist and put your head back and went to sleep. Neither of you said anything to eachother.

-

The non verbal communication went on and on between you and Alessia for nearly the rest of camp.

On your match day walk in Scotland, you were walking towards the back of the bunch, Alessia a few bodies ahead of you with Mary and Ella.

“You should have brought a jacket” Ella laughed at the shivering blonde who was just in a tshirt and tracksuit bottoms.

You on the other hand had worn under armour, a tshirt, a hoodie and a jacket.

You took your jacket off and jogged up to Alessia, holding out your jacket.

“Uh, here” you said as she stopped and looked at you. You didn’t want to talk so you practically shoved it into her hands, before starting to walk in the opposite direction.

“I think you broke her” Ella laughed.

“Actually, I think she” Mary pointed towards you, “broke her” and now pointing at Alessia as the United duo broke into a fit of laughter.

Alessia zipped up your jacket and continued to walk with her friends, every so often looking back at you. You had your head in the clouds and your hands in your pockets.

-

Esme

You should tell her how you feel!!

Y/n

No way

-

When you got back to Arsenal, the first thing Katie did was high five you for the fight you caused on the pitch in the Netherlands game.

She then proceeded to invite everyone over for a party as you all had a day off tomorrow.

“Katie man, I don’t really want to” you mumbled.

“Stop being a loser” Katie groaned as Caitlin shot her a look and Katie headed off to the kitchen.

“You okay puddin?” Caitlin asked, sitting beside you on the couch.

You liked Caitlin. Since her and Katie started dating she was around a lot.

“I just didn’t want to do anything tonight or see anybody” you huffed.

“You could always head off? Come back later?” Caitlin asked as you nodded. “It’s too late for me but save yourself” she laughed as you took off towards the door.

As you swung it open, you were met with the entire Arsenal team on the other side.

They erupted into a loud cheer as they passed you by and spread across the house.

The last two that were stood outside whispering and laughing to each other were Alessia and Esme.

“Es” you shouted, eyes popping out of your head, pulling her in for a hard hug.

“Hi” she giggled as she fell into your arms. Katie had invited her as a surprise for you.

“Ah you made it” Katie chuckled, hugging Esme, “see I told you to stop being a loser” Katie laughed as you rolled your eyes at her.

Deep down you were thankful that she’d invited her. She knew Esme wasn’t in a rush back to Manchester so she could easily spend a night over with you.

“Stop calling her a loser” Alessia giggled in a whisper as Katie hugged her.

“Aw sticking up for your girlfriend are we?” She teased with a whispered tone as Alessia frowned at her. The Irish girl could only smirk at her, before smirking back towards you who was deep in conversation with your sister.

“You gonna tell her?” Katie asked as Alessia looked over to you briefly.

“When are you going to tell her?” Esme shook your shoulders as you looked towards Alessia, catching her eye.

You both shot each other a smile.

“I think she knows” you laughed

#woso x reader #alessia russo x reader #fic recs

[nats-bishop]

i am LOVING all of the jessie fics lately🥹

Put Your Head On My Shoulder | Jessie Fleming x Reader

Words: 4k Summary: you and jessie go through many ups and downs but things work out in the end Warnings: angst, fluff, mentions of depression and taking medication for it, covid didn’t happen, pretending the game vs real madrid was at Stamford bridge not in Spain

Jessie Fleming and I met at the 2015 world cup, both freshly 17 and competing in our first big tournament. Despite the fact we didn’t play each other, I found myself stumbling into her on the sidelines of Canada’s game against The Netherlands. Words were exchanged but we didn’t see each other again until the next year.

We knew we were both on athletic scholarships for the Bruins at UCLA and promised to try and meet outside of training to keep in contact without sport. It was surprising however, when my box was knocked out of my hands as I crashed into the young Canadian, both of us trying to enter the same room. She was clearly struggling to see over her own stuff, stumbling over words as her cheeks flush a very familiar red, trying to apologise.

“J, if you say sorry one more time I’m asking for a new roommate. Which I had no idea we were until now.” I crouch to pick up my books and writing equipment that was in my box as Jessie tries to manoeuvre to her decided side of the room.

I give up and rush to help her when she stumbles over her own foot and nearly goes flying.

“Jessie! You’re going to break something before the season even starts Jesus Christ be careful!” my hands gripped her waist tightly to stop her from tilting forward, then I grab the top box so she can actually see. The same red blush covers her cheeks.

“Sorry, my mum just insisted I try to take all my stuff in as little trips as possible, which is proving to be difficult. I’m sorry about your books.” With her stuff firmly on the ground she finally looks as me.

“They put the Australian and the Canadian in the same room knowing we just basically kicked you out of the Olympics?”

“You did not!” the joke was rare coming from her. She was funny and kind but still rather serious and shy, preferring studying statistics and players over team bonding or spending time with people after a game.

I understood that, I felt that, and that’s how we worked. Us against the world. We trusted our team and confided in them, but we’d really only want each other in times of need. Obviously there were people like Sam or Christine, who were like our big sisters for our respective national teams, but Jessie and I were just drawn to each other.

-

After UCLA came Chelsea. Both of us were about to start our last year of uni when her offer came through, far before mine.

By this point we’d been inseparable for four years, so I worried we’d be split; her making the move to England and me stuck in our dorm. Except it’d be much emptier and lonely, or filled with some stranger’s things.

And it was just like that. Time zones caused issues with keeping in contact. Eventually that became other things. Study, because she still had to finish her course. Team bonding, practice. What would be a call once a day became once a week until it filtered out, and her texts would be answered in seconds while mine sat in wait for whenever she decided she was free.

My offer came in the January transfer window. Emma had been in contact with me for a couple months, clearly trying to convince me, and 6 months ago I wouldn’t have even thought about it. But when I stare at the ‘merry Christmas’ and ‘I got the offer’ messages left unread and think about seeing the girl I thought would never leave me, I take the time offered.

And a week later I find myself sliding into Sam’s spare room groaning into the pillow as she fusses over the Australian snacks I did manage to get through customs.

“What’s got you in a mood chickadee?” I feel the bed dip beside me and her hand rubs my back.

“J.” the older Australian lets out a hum before taking a moment to reply.

“She talks about you all the time. About how much she misses you and everything you got up to at uni. All of which I already know because I hear it every camp.” I can feel the joking eye roll despite not seeing it.

“She talks about me but doesn’t talk to me. That means nothing. And I know she’s busy but so was I. Just because I was captaining a university team instead a stupid professional team doesn’t mean I wasn’t busy or doing something important! And I still kept in contact!” by now I’ve rolled over onto my back and started fiddling with Sam’s tattooed fingers, trying to distract myself from the pit of loneliness and despair that’s been slowly eating my stomach.

I dare not mention to anyone the decline in my mental health or the required psychology sessions Emma was going to provide for me once every few weeks. Everyone knew I was sad and that’s all they needed to know. But once upon a time, Jessie would have known everything, holding my hand tightly the whole way.

“You should sleep, big first day tomorrow. I’ll make you breakfast. Alarm-”

“8:30, I know. Every day, same time. Thank you Sam, really.” She smiles and pats my head before leaving.

-

To say my first day didn’t go well would be somewhat of an understatement. At exactly 8:30 my alarm went off. At 8:32, the pill bottle rattling at the bottom of my bag was fished out and 1 was being washed down by water. At 8:43, Sam was banging on my door calling for breakfast and I was rushing to make sure the pill bottle was hidden after changing. No one needs to know I’m taking anti-depressants, including Sam.

When we pulled into Cobham, I started to feel sick, and I told Sam just that.

“I’ll catch a train home.”

“It’s just nerves, you’ll be fine.”

“No-”

“You stay until at least lunch time, then we’ll see.” A pointed finger is shoved into my face, but I begin to stroll alongside her anyway.

I do almost book it for the nearest train station as soon as I enter the locker room. Sitting in the cubby next to mine, tying her shoelaces, is Jessie Fleming. During the chaos of the move and my first day, I manage to forget the way our numbers are right beside each other.

“You’ll be okay. You don’t even have to talk to her.” Sam whispers as she makes her way to her own cubby, greeting people on her way through.

So I try. Placing my bag in the nook and beginning to change into my training kit without the Canadian even looking up. It’s when I place down the same styled Tiempo Legend 8s I’ve been wearing since they released, that I can see her head turn from the corner of my eye. I don’t acknowledge it, continuing to slide the boots onto my feet and tie them up. But that doesn’t stop her.

“Oh my god! Hey!” there’s a lightness in her voice that I used to be so familiar with and it makes my heart clench.

I take a moment before deciding replying would be too rude for my liking.

“Hi.” Short and simple, and quite blunt.

“I didn’t know you signed, or that you even got the offe-” forget being nice.

“You would’ve known if you bothered to keep in contact with me.” With that I slide out of my seat beside her and make my way to Sam.

-

It gets worse when Emma splits us into pairs for dribbling drills, and she slides me toward Jessie.

“Of course.” I sigh but accept my fate as a ball rolls our way.

“What’s wrong?” a phrase that, coming from her mouth, used to have me spilling every small emotion I was feeling.

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Come on Beans, tell me.” The nickname had been created in our first year of university. She learnt I loved green beans and I’m rather tall, so the name fit. But she didn’t feel like the same person who I let make the funny name.

“You don’t get to call me that anymore.”

“What? Because I moved?”

“No! You left for Chelsea and I was happy for you, we had a plan to stay in contact until I followed along to somewhere in England. But you stopped trying. You stopped answering. You left me alone when I needed you the most. I would’ve done anything for you to have the career you deserved but you got it, without me. I just thought I’d still have my best friend when it happened.”

To say that training was tense from then on wasn’t a stretch. Emma never paired us up and any time one of us entered the locker room, everyone else would wait in silence for a burst similar to the one on the pitch. It never came.

It was after my first session with the psychologist that things began to change.

Because the psych was only here for me, Emma was kind to lend her office to us for the 50 minutes while she did other work around the grounds. I assume the girls were grateful to escape the tension for the moment.

“Same time, 2 weeks from now! It’s good you’re making progress!” The rather lovely lady shouts just as I’m closing the door, waving and smiling in thanks.

But as I turn around, I nearly bump into a small figure. A rather familiar one at that. Jessie begins to fall backwards but I grip her waist, holding her in place. It’s a familiar scenario, the feeling of my hands on her waist and her burning red cheeks are something I struggled to ever forget.

“T-thanks” her cheeks burn that same red.

“No worries.” I mumble in reply as I remove my hands, taking a step back.

“Who were you talking to? That didn’t sound like Emma. And what are you making progress on?” the questions don’t come rapidly but I still struggle to process them. Jessie’s smart, she can put two and two together, so I should tell her. But what if she laughs? There was a time where the thought wouldn’t have even crossed my mind, she’s not that type of girl. But things change.

“I- I-” Jessie places a gentle hand on my arm and nods, confirming it’s okay to take my time, but please continue. I sigh.

“She’s a psychologist.”

“A sport psychologist?”

“Well yes and no. I… I’ve been diagnosed with depression, and Emma wants me to have someone professional to talk to.” Her grip tightens but I know it’s in concern.

“When- when did you…”

“A couple months ago. Don’t worry, it wasn’t just because of you, a lot of things happened.”

“But it was partially because of me. I wasn’t there for you when I should’ve been. You’ve always been there for me and I got here and treated you like shit. Discarded you like you were nothing. I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” tears well up in her whisky brown eyes, but I smile.

“J, if you say sorry one more time, I’m asking for a new roommate for the away match against Man City. Which I did know we are… for once.”

“You can’t just forgive me.”

“I’m not, it’ll take time, but I want my best friend back. Sprout.” Jessie charges forward and wraps her arms around my waist.

“I’d do anything.” Her voice is muffled as her head presses into my chest, but I smile.

~~~~~

Things changed once again a few months after that. The 2020 Olympics had been delayed due to natural disasters, but we still found ourselves milling around the Olympic village together in our very little spare time. I also found myself admiring her for every little thing, every detail. Eventually I had to admit to myself that I’d developed a crush on the girl.

“What’s going on in that busy brain of yours?” Jessie had been by my side every step of the way with my mental health after she found out, and this question wasn’t uncommon, but the answer would be.

“I know this could ruin things, I’m very aware of that, but I have to tell you now otherwise I don’t think I’ll ever have the courage to.” Gaging her reaction was difficult, Jessie was a very stoic person.

“I-, I’ve found myself growing feelings for you. Feelings that surpass best friends, or how I feel when you show up for me. I like you, a lot. And I need you to know that. Standing in the middle of a pathway surrounded by half naked athletes in Olympic Village, I like you.” I look her in the eyes. Those burnt umber eyes, so warm and comforting, that always draw me in.

“I really like you too. Everything about you. I want to care for you and be there when you need me. I want to wake up in your arms and be able to admire every feature as the sun beams down on you like the miracle you are. I would even go as far as saying I desperately want to be your girlfriend.” I barely let Jessie finish what she’s saying before I lean down, a significant way, and kiss her with everything in me.

~~~~~

2 and a half years later and Jessie hasn’t left my side since. Most of our quarrels are just that, silly fights that are solved by the end of the night. We moved in together after 3 months and were rarely been seen apart.

That included tough games.

Real Madrid was our first game of the Champion’s League season, and we knew it was going to be hard. They were physical most importantly, so we had to play to that. We knew that when we were up 2-1 in the 78th minute.

“Jessie Fleming challenges Athenea Del Castillo, barley missing the ball and clipping Athenea on the foot! Oh, and the ref is calling for a penalty. I’m certain first contact was outside the box.” Is what would be heard by anyone watching the match through a screen, but you didn’t need a commentator to know the ref made an unfair call.

The contact was clearly outside the box and yet we’re forced to line up and watch Olga Carmona take the wrongly rewarded shot, me grasping Jessie’s hand in my own as a way to reassure her.

It’s obvious the referees are against us when Niamh makes a shot on goal, the ball sliding in, but it’s claimed offside. Something to do with Sam supposedly messing with the defence, another false claim. There’s nothing we can do when the final whistle blows and we’re tied, all of us dropping to the ground in exhaustion and disappointment.

After shaking hands with the Madrid players and briefly talking with Hayley to catch up and talk about things that happened between our last camp and now, I travel toward Jessie.

My girlfriend stands solemnly with her head in her hands. I managed to pull them away momentarily to see the tears drifting down her cheeks, but she’s pulling her hands away and turning around before I can ask what’s wrong.

“Darl, it’s not you’re fault.” I don’t want to invade her space while she’s upset so I walk around her and simply stand, hoping she’ll reach for me.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Jess-”

“Leave me alone Y/n.” not another word is uttered as she turns toward Fran and Niamh and walks away from me.

I similarly turn to Sam and Erin, with a shocked look, jaw hanging and rejected tears looming on my water line.

“She probably just needs to be alone.” As Erin tries to comfort me, we all turn to look at the subject of the conversation, only to see her being comforted by Fran, Niamh and Ashley, despite her effort to insist she’s fine.

“Maybe I didn’t push hard enough?”

“No you should never push when they clearly need space.” Sam places a reassuring hand on my shoulder

“But why is it only me she needs space from? I’m supposed to be the one she seeks comfort in. That’s what girlfriends do.”

“I don’t know chickadee.”

-

I expect Jessie to already be back at our apartment by the time Erin drops me off. Our shared car had been taken from the parking lot at the stadium and Jessie had disappeared, so those dots connected themselves. But our designated parking space is empty as I stroll along the bitumen.

There are no familiar white shoes next to the door in the same exact spot she puts them every day, no kit bag hanging on a hook, waiting to be washed tomorrow. No Canadian waiting in our bed, curled up in one of my already oversized shirts or hoodies and shorts, begging me to hold her.

I try not to worry when I call her and she doesn’t pick up. Maybe she went the long way and there was traffic? So I call Niamh to ask her if she knows where Jessie went. She doesn’t have an answer. Then I try Fran, and Zecira, and even Emma.

I ask everyone to try and call her too, Sam offering to take Kristie and search every corner of London, Erin offering the same. It’s midnight by the time I give up trying to contact her, asking Aggie if I could borrow her car tomorrow to look around if she wasn’t back, her living down the road from us. The young forward is insistent on joining me if it comes to it.

When I wake up the next morning and find Jessie curled up against me, in one of my hoodies and shorts, relief washes over me. Her brown curls are messy, her soft pink lips cracked open to allow air into her lungs. The sun trickles in through the curtain and lights up her face, freckles looking like bursts of light against her skin. Her eyes are still puffy from last night and tears have dried upon her cheeks, and I can’t resist the urge to reach up and lightly wipe them away.

As my thumb drags across her tan skin, tracing her face, her eyes flutter open, and I remember how easy it is to get lost in them. So warm and inviting.

“Mornin’ honey.” I press a gentle kiss to her nose, her cheeks, her forehead and her eyelids.

“I’m sorry for last night. I just felt horrible, if only I didn’t make the tackle.”

“I know darl, but that’s what I’m here for. I love you, there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you yeah? I was bloody worried though.” Jessie nestles her head into the crook of my neck and nods, pressing her own kisses on any skin she could reach.

I wrap my arms around her and pull her up until she’s laying on my chest instead. My cold hands sneak under her hoodie and she jumps from the shock, swatting at my hands beneath the fabric.

“I reckon I make us some tea and brekkie and then we can do whatever you want all day. How’s that sound?” I flip us over so Jessie can go back to sleep for a while, but she clings onto me, pulling me down aggressively by the front of my old Chelsea travel shirt. Her lips press against mine with energy and love and I get caught up in the feeling. A moan slips past someone’s lips, which of us I’m not quite sure, but I slowly pull away, trailing kisses down her neck until I reach her collar bone.

“Let’s save that energy for later yeah?” I swiftly wink as I finally roll off the bed.

-

I’m making scrambled eggs when I feel Jessie’s arms wrap around my waist. She presses soft kisses across my back as I sway us back and forth to the slow jazz song spewing from the record player.

The next song comes on and I abandon the meal completely, turning off the stove and twisting myself in Jessie’s hold so I can face her. I take one of her hands in mine and rest the other on her waist, her spare landing on my shoulder.

“Put your head on my shoulder; Hold me in your arms, baby” the lyrics continue as we follow along, her head resting against my chest, my chin balanced on top. We dance slowly through the kitchen, the music carrying throughout the house.

As the song finishes, I dip Jessie, leaning over her as her leg kicks out. My gaze flickers between her eyes and her lips and within seconds I’m kissing her again, still in the dip. When I pull her back up, she jumps into my arms and pulls my lips to meet hers for more, the force making me stumble back into the counter behind me.

“I want to slow dance with you around our house when we’re old and can barely kick a ball anymore. Our kids and grandkids playing around while it just feels like the two of us. Because it’s always been the two off us and I never want that to change.” Jessie whispers against my lips. My heart clenches with love as I take her in.

“Will you marry me?” The words escape both our lips almost in complete synchrony. I almost drop her, but my grip on her thighs upholds as I kiss her again, and again, until I can’t kiss her anymore.

-

“I stole this video from Y/n’s phone not long after Jessie and her broke the news of their engagement. Y/n had texted me that morning saying she wanted ideas for a ‘day in the life of a woman in love’ video she planned on making that very day, and I knew that she would have forgotten all about the phone while she and the love of her life shared a special memory together.” Sam takes a pause to look at Jessie and I, sitting side by side at the front of the room.

“What isn’t shown in the video, is the ring that was sitting in the pocket of Yn’s shorts, waiting to be place on the only hand it was made for. The ring went with her everywhere for at least a month before this cute dance proposal. Every day in training, Y/n would tell me a new plan she had come up with to ask Jessie to marry her, and I always told her ‘you should do it when the moment feels right. Don’t force it.’, as I clearly had experience with this sort of thing… And she told me that was a bunch of absolute bullshit.” Our friends and family laugh while my wife’s face drops in shock, her elbow lightly nudging my side. I let out a snicker and kiss her cheek, wiping off the lipstick residue that is left behind.

“Well it turns out I was right. As always. And I’m honoured to be standing here as a best woman in front of two of my best friends, the most amazing young players out there, two people who were made for each other; sculpted by the stars and the earth, to be in each other’s lives, celebrating that love. You’ve both overcome a lot, personally and as a couple, you deserve this love.” A tear escapes my eye as I stand to hug Sam.

“Now can the two nerds please make their way to the dance floor for their first dance?” I take Jessie’s hand in mine and pull her along.

Her suit coat is left on the back of my chair and her waistcoat is unbuttoned and she looks fucking good. Her hair rests on her shoulders and her slack pants fit perfectly around her thighs. Jessie holds part of my dress train, so we don’t trip as we hold each other in similar fashion to the day that led to this, the same song playing on the large speakers in each corner of the room.

“Put your head on my shoulder Whisper in my ear, baby Words I want to hear, tell me Tell me that you love me too”.

Jessie stands on her tippy toes, my heels not helping our height difference.

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

#woso x reader #jessie fleming x reader #jessie fleming

[nats-bishop]

SO CUTE

Puzzle Piece // Jessie Fleming

a/n: based off this request.

You joined Chelsea in the summer transfer window three seasons ago. Your transfer was one of the best transfers ever. From the French league to the English one. The media went wild, you were known for your incredible talent and the elegance in your playing style. Many clubs wanted you, as well there were many conversations with clubs in different leagues but Chelsea offered the perfect deal which is exactly why you joined the Blues.

It was the right decision.

Everybody was welcoming and kind, they made you feel at home in less than two weeks. It was a plus that you knew Sam already, the Australian who had taken you under her wing the moment you joined the Matildas.

And then there was Jessie, the girl you only knew from Sam‘s stories. She seemed shy at first but when the barrier was broken between the two of you, you discovered her talkative side - a side of her you enjoyed very much. The heart eyes which appeared after some time, noticeable for each teammate.

-

"You like her, don‘t you?“ Sam asked as you leaned against the post.

Caught off guard, denying bubbled out of your mouth, "What?! No! I don‘t like Jessie"

Smirking, she replied, "So how did you know i was talking about her?"

"Because i was looking at her for too long" immediately your hand flew to your mouth, turning with wide eyes to the Australian, "i didn‘t stare, i- um, she-" your attempt to defend yourself fell to deaf ears, the striker already with the widest grin smiling.

-

It was easy to fall for her, so easy. You went through different stages of emotions until realization hit you.

Happy

When did it start? You couldn‘t tell. You had joined Chelsea seasons ago and somehow the freckled girl owned your attention. Being near her made your heart go crazy. With her sweet personality, she made you feel good about yourself and the happiness she brought you, slowly crept through your whole body like a disease - it was a pleasant and joyful state of mind.

It was simple: she made you happy.

Confusion

Why did you feel like that? Your mind was consumed by Jessie.

Do you want to be with her?

Do you want to be her?

or do you want to be her friend?

you didn't know. You wanted to be her friend, but then again you didn‘t, you know? Because how can you simply be friends with someone when everytime you look at them, you're thinking about how much more you really want.

Maybe you wanted everything - you couldn‘t tell.

Vulnerability

Being around Jessie made you feel safe, as if you could let your walls down. You put your heart on the line, even if it meant heartache in the end. She encouraged the most authentic version of yourself to come to the forefront. It scared you. Of course, she didn‘t know anything about your feelings or that she was the one who you felt the most appreciated with. This kind of vulnerability was different compared to the platonic vulnerability - deeper on many ways.

You loved your friends and those special connections but with Jessie, it was different - you couldn‘t tell what was.

Realization

1)

The first realization had hit you in the middle of the night. You were laying in your bed, laptop opened as you stared at the screen.

Am I in love - Test

You‘ve read enough books to know the feeling of being in love but you never experieced it yourself, so was the thing you felt for Jessie really love? Not knowing how to answer you just did the test. You did multiple - each one answering with 'yes'

You were in love with Jessie Fleming, there was no denying - not anymore.

2)

The second realization hit you slowly, over weeks pieces were slowly put together.

piece one: you‘d never stand a chance.

piece two: niamh and Jessie were inseparable - they live together.

piece three: she was Jessie Fleming, why would she ever want to be with you?

piece four: Jess and Niamh were a couple.

It broke your heart when piece four was added to the puzzle - the final realization. All these happy feelings you felt towards Jessie turned into silent admiring, heart aching for the sweet smile and hoping, maybe even praying that she was happy.

from afar.

-

"Why don’t you ask her out?" Sam asked as she threw her arm over your shoulder, pulling you away from the scene. "Why would I?" you asked confused. Jessie had a girlfriend, it was obvious. You wouldn‘t ask a taken lady out. Besides, Niamh was your friend and you would never disrespect her like that.

"She’s clearly in love with you too?!" the striker stated, the two of you still walking. You gave a short sarcastic laugh before you got serious, "no, she isn‘t."

Sam stopped, your body automatically stopping too, "look behind me discreetly. She‘s looking at us, isn‘t she?" you looked over her shoulder slightly, the Canadian girl watching both of you.

You nodded.

"She always does"

"Why? She and Niamh-"

"Please don‘t finish that sentence," the Australian held the bridge of her nose, sighing, "do you think they are a couple?"

nervously, your hand made its way up to your neck, scratching it, "maybe" you mumbled, looking to the ground.

The striker started laughing, your cheeks turning red in embarrassment, "why would you think that?" she asked, still laughing as tears started to roll down her cheeks. "Stop laughing!" you grumbled, hitting her arm, "they live together! What do you expect me to think?"

"You‘re so cute" Sam pinched your cheeks, giggling, "they are friends" she stated, in a more serious tone this time.

"Okay"

-

Even though, you knew now that Niamh and Jess were only friends something felt wrong - which was why you avoided the midfielder. Like always your heart raced at the presence of the Canadian, it just felt different. Your skin would still tingle and your mind would still go crazy but the pieces didn’t fit anymore.

piece one: you‘d never stand a chance, right?

piece two: niamh and Jessie were inseparable - best friends.

piece three: she was Jessie Fleming, why would she ever want to be with you?

piece four: Jessie was single.

It was almost impossible to clear your head with Jess near you, so that‘s why you started to distance yourself. She was your teammate, you would see her either way but the least you could do was to try to bring some distance between the two of you - doing drills with someone else, sitting at lunch next someone else, …

Of course, the midfielder noticed your behavior. She noticed it the moment you sat next to Guro instead of her. She shot you a questioning look and a helpless one to Niamh. Why didn‘t you sit next to her? You always did.

There was a drift in your dynamic which not only got noticed by Jessie herself but the team too. Question marks were written over their faces, what had happened? Usually, there was mutual vibe between the two of you. They were curious yet respected the change.

Sweet girl Jessie did not. She didn‘t like the fact that you didn‘t sit next to her at lunch nor did she like the fact that not more than a few words were exchanged with one another. What happened to the long talking days and nights?

-

"Sam, hey, can- can I talk to you for a moment?" the brunette asked your national teammate as she was about to enter the gym. "Sure, what’s up?"

"Did I do something wrong? With Y/n? She has been avoiding me" she mumbled, cheeks turning red at the mention of your name. Jess had always thought you had a beautiful name.

The striker looked at the girl who looked so small, shy and hurt. "No, you didn’t" Sam admitted. The Australian debated with herself how much she should tell the girl, she didn’t want to stab you in the back, but it was clear that you were building your walls back up - the walls Jess broke down. "She‘s in her head" was the answer she replied with.

"What do you mean?"

"I can’t tell you"

-

At home, the Canadian confronted her best friend. She didn‘t know what to do, she needed help.

"This is so frustrating" Jessie huffed with crossed arms after what felt like hours of talking and discussing the topic with Niamh.

"It isn‘t"

"It is!"

"Close your eyes" the defender requested, "what‘s your favorite colour? Leave your eyes closed" not knowing what else to do the midfielder answered without hesitation.

"yellow"

"What day is today?"

"Tuesday"

"What did you eat for breakfast?"

"Toast"

"Who do you want to kiss?"

"y/n" Jessie answered, her eyes opening in shock, "you tricked me."

"It worked though" the English woman smirked, "ask her out" she encouraged her friend.

With that being said Niamh left Jessie‘s room, the night starting as Jess thought about everything.

-

You sat on the couch, soft music playing in the background as you read your current book. Completely in another universe with your thoughts, you overheard the gentle knock on your front door.

Just as the guest decided to give up the knocking - it seemed like you weren‘t at home, you opened the door. Your hair was loose, fluffy socks, pants and hoodie hugging your body as you held your book in one hand, "oh hi?" you greeted, surprised to see the Canadian in front of your door at such a late hour. "May I come in?" she asked, her voice not too loud.

"Yeah sure" you stepped aside, so she could step in, the brunette looking around. She had been here before and as always it made her feel warm and welcomed, that’s just the way your home was - like you.

"Is everything alright?" you asked while she took a seat on your couch.

"Of course" she replied sweetly, smiling brightly. You didn’t comment that her smile was fake, that it wasn‘t a genuine smile - it didn‘t reach the corner of her eyes nor were her little dimples shown.

She picked up the remote from your coffee table and opened her favorite show on Netflix, "join me, please" she requested gently.

Putting your book aside, you placed yourself next to the midfielder. There was a fair amount of space between the two of you as neither of you sat comfortably on the couch. Both of you sat there somehow stiff and nervous, no more words exchanged. When you laid your hand beside your thigh, perfectly in the middle of the space between you, you didn‘t know what you expected or if you expected anything. You just couldn‘t sit still and stiff anymore on the couch, so you shifted your weight.

Her show was long forgotten when she saw your hand resting close. Should she take it? Could she intertwine your fingers? The tip of her ears had already turned red at the thought of doing it, however her cheeks only turned red when she placed her hand next to yours, inching as close as possible. Now, the sides of your hands were touching, both of your hearts racing, breaths hitching. You looked at her, her gaze fixed on the tv. When she didn‘t look at you like you somehow hoped she would, your stare fell back on the tv.

With a shaky breath, her pinky started to caresses yours before she intertwined them. This time, she looked at you, cheeks her as her breath was uneven. The simple link of your pinkies made your heart go crazy, the pieces twirling around your mind, heart and soul. What was going on? Which piece was the right one? Which one was missing? Was it even the right puzzle?

With a gentle motion, you laced all of your fingers together, your eyes searching for the midfielders.

As you were about to open your mouth, Jessie‘s index finger stopped you, "don’t say anything, close your eyes" she mumbled shyly, yet so determined, "please."

With a bit of hesitation, you followed her gentle demand. While her free hand placed one loose strand of hair back behind your ear, the other one still held yours firmly, both of you enjoying the touch.

Slowly, she inched closer - her breath fanning against your lips, stopping only about an inch away from them, "you drive me crazy" she whispered, "running through my mind all day." she felt so close, her hand cupping your cheek, "I can’t stop thinking about you" and then her lips touched yours, it was a peck, nothing more.

You opened your eyes, staring into the missing piece. Your gaze flicked between her eyes and lips - up and down, down and up. You wanted to feel her lips again, for longer than just a second.

"You are always on my mind" you breathed out, looking at her lips. As a respond, she squeezed your hand, go for it, she told you. And you did, this time with no hesitation. You pressed your mouth against her own, pouring all your emotions into the kiss, the same as Jess did. The kiss was gentle and loving yet passionate - pieces were put together.

When air became a problem, you pulled apart, cheeks crimson red as both of you looked shyly at one another, sheepish smiles covering your faces.

The final piece was found - Jess was in love with you.

—————

#jessie fleming #jessie fleming x reader #woso x reader

[nats-bishop]

[nats-bishop]

so cute🥹

I love your Niamh fic how about one with Niamh where Niamh sees her Girlfriend after a few years and you are standing there with Flowers in the crowd??

flowers - niamh charles

niamh charles x reader

description: in which you’re far away from home - your girlfriend struggling without you here, what happens when she sees you again?

warnings: some tears, mentions of gagging?

a/n; hiya!! thanks for the love and the request, hope you enjoy ❤️

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

you and your girlfriend, niamh met through the one and only, sam kerr. you play for australia, while niamh played for england. sam introduced you over 3 years ago when you played against england.

sure you’d played against each other before but you never had the chance to really look at each other, to interact with one another until your captain dragged you over to officially meet - just knowing that you and the defender would get along.

“great game out there, had me chasing you everywhere” niamh smirks, giving you a quick squeeze on the arm as you stood in front of her.

“well, great game to you too, you’re definitely a favourite defender to play against” you smirk back at her. the both of you engage in light conversation, the mutual intrigue fueling something special.

she asked you to coffee and you instantly agreed, both of you wanting to get to know each other more. you discovered that you’re literally perfect for one another, completely complimenting each other. and so, the years went by and you’re in a romantic relationship, the sweetest, most genuine love you’ve both ever felt.

while niamh was in england playing for chelsea, you stayed in australia, playing for sydney fc. you’d recently signed for chelsea without telling niamh. you’d always been one to find keeping a secret hard, so you employed your australian captain to help you out - she immediately agreed and kept niamh from being suspicious, well…she tried.

—

“hey, sam, any reason why my girlfriend hasn’t called me in two days but you talk to her every two seconds?” a scowl was evident on niamh’s face, her voice was imbued with venom. (someone had (y/n) withdrawals)

sam visibly tensed. “niamhy, you’re crazy, she’s just busy” she waves her away but niamh won’t move, standing directly of sam with one of the angriest expressions that she’s ever seen.

“no, i’m not crazy, what’s crazy is that my girlfriend talks to you more than me” niamh crossed her arms in front of her, anger radiating off the girl.

“listen, niamh, call her, i bet she’ll answer, you’re overthinking!” sam pleaded, niamh huffs in frustration and walks to her cubby, plopping down with a grumble. you always called each other everyday, multiple times during game days. it was game day, where was your call?

suddenly her phone rings, your pretty face shown as the contact photo, ‘my love❤️ ’ was calling. sam watches her across the change room, niamh’s face brightens when her phone vibrates.

niamh immediately picks up, “hi, baby” she breathes out relieved.

“hello my lovely, niamh” you coo,

“so you do have a girlfriend?” niamh says cheekily, you can’t help but let out a little laugh.

“sorry, baby, things have just been crazy at the moment” you could imagine niamh’s face right now, she probably looked like a kicked puppy and you couldn’t help but feel guilty.

“i know, baby, i’m sorry” niamh sighs, clearly upset.

“listen, i’ve got to go, i promise to call you a little later, okay? i love you”

“i love you too” you hang up with a big mwah on the phone. niamh is absolutely dejected, a small tear escapes her eye as she clutches her phone in her hand, all she wanted was to hold you. so tight so you wouldn’t leave her. maybe that could happen sooner than she thought.

—

the reality of the situation is that you are staying at sam’s house, all you belongings in there. you were currently getting ready to go to the game to watch your girlfriend and your new teammates. you were dressed in your girlfriend’s jersey, going to a nearby florist and getting niamh a bouquet of all her favourite flowers.

sam organised you a place in the friends and family section, you felt like your heart was in your mouth. you kept bouncing your leg uncontrollably, you had a hat on your head in attempts to conceal your identity, but you were absolutely terrified that niamh could spot you.

she looked so upset as she walked out, you just wanted to hold her while she cried. both of you were slightly struggling with the distance between the both of you. you knew she was heartbroken every time you hung up the phone but you were too. crying almost 4 out of 5 times when she said “i love you, baby, bye”

the game was going well, niamh played well despite her emotions, just wanting to get it over and done with. by the time it had finished, it was 2-1 and chelsea had won. niamh and your teammates do their laps of photos and signatures, a fake smile evident on your girlfriend’s face.

you take off your hat when sam approaches, asking her to get niamh over to where you were.

you watch niamh the entire time, your face was full of worry as she trudged around the pitch. you watch as niamh is turned around by sam, her finger pointing to where you were. niamh’s mouth hung open, she was frozen. there stood her favourite girl, a big bouquet of her favourite flowers in your hands, smiling at her shyly.

you send her a wave and see niamh begin to smile, she sprints towards you, face full of shock as she nears you.

she immediately envelopes you in a tight embrace, the flowers falling to the pitch. you wrap your arms tightly around her neck while hers hold your waist. both of you were crying, feeling each other shaking with emotion.

“my girl” you coo, cradling her head to your neck as she hides her face there. “aw niamhy, your flowers, baby” you whisper, she just shakes her head and pulls you impossibly closer.

“i’ll get them later, just let me hold you” she pleads, placing multiple pecks on the skin of your neck, you can’t help but let out a giggle at the ticklish sensation. “let me look at you” you whisper, she pulls away just slightly, her eyes flickering between yours, both of you taking in each other’s appearance.

“what are you doing here?” she smiles, moving her hand to cradle your face, running her thumb over the apple of your cheek.

“here to see my favourite player, of course” you wink, she smiles at you, grabbing your waist in between her hands and lifting you over the barrier so you could stand in front of her. pulling you into another tight hug before pulling away from you, holding both of your hands in hers, lightly swinging them from side to side.

“how long are you here for, my love?” niamh questions, a hint of sadness in her words. “however long you want me, charlesy” you wink, she looks at you confused, “what do you mean, baby?” she lets out a little nervous laugh.

“do you know why i haven’t called you in two days?” you say cheekily, niamh raises her eyebrows at you expectantly.

“i’ve been staying at sam’s, signing a contract for my new club” niamh’s eyes widen, gripping your hands tightly and pulling you slightly closer to her.

“what club?” she smiles, she’s just excited that you’ll at least be in the same country.

“chelsea, baby!” you exclaim, letting out a little yelp when niamh picks you up in a hug, your legs instantly wrapping around her waist as she held you tightly.

“if you’re joking, i’ll beat you up” she pulls her head away from your shoulder to look at you, you just shake your head lightly with a smile, tears beginning to form at seeing her tearful eyes.

“it’s real, niamhy baby” you coo, moving to kiss her cheek when she moves her head so you kiss her lips instead. she moves her mouth tenderly with yours, her hand cupping your jaw and running her thumb over it as she slips her tongue into your mouth. you can’t help but whine into her mouth, it has been so long since you’ve kissed like this, your noises spurring a slight grin to be evident in her kisses.

after a bit, you pull away from her in need of air, resting your forehead on hers. both of you breathing heavily and grinning.

“you’re here” she breathes out, you place a kiss on her forehead, gently scratching the back of her neck while looking into her eyes.

“i’m here” you reassure, pulling her into another hug and staying in the tight embrace until you hear dry wretching coming from the side of you.

niamh reluctantly puts you down, standing behind you and holding you to her chest. both of you are faced with sam kerr with a disgusted face.

“gross, maybe i shouldn't have helped you two get together” she grins amusingly, you can’t help but roll your eyes and lean into niamh when she giggles in your ear, pressing an affectionate kiss to your temple.

“yeah, yeah, kerr, whatever you say” niamh starts cheekily, “now, let me take my girl to the change room and then take her home” she moves her hands to squeeze your hips, flipping you around to face her before hoisting you up over your shoulder, bending down to pick up her bouquet.

you let out a bright laugh when niamh begins to run, placing you in her cubby, changing her shoes and chucking on one of your hoodies, your heart soared at the sight. she was really in front of you, all your emotions flooding in at once.

she stands in front of you, looking at you expectantly but she’s faced with your tearful expression and pout, cooing at you immediately and holding your face between her hands.

“why are you crying, baby?” she wipes your tears off your cheeks, “i missed you, niamhy” she pouts at you, “i missed you more” she kisses your lips gently, pulling you into another tight embrace before dragging you out to her car. she can’t keep her hands off you, terrified that you’ll disappear again but you definitely won’t let that happen.

your debut at chelsea had niamh extremely proud, so excited to be playing with you finally after all these years. you manage to get a goal in the final 5 minutes, niamh sweeps you up in a hug before you can even register that you got the goal. “that’s my girl!” she exclaims, the rest of the girls around you hugging the both of you in celebration.

everything was perfect, you and niamh couldn’t be happier.

⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆ ★ ⋆

you know the drill - just pretend it’s you xx

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niamhcharles17: baby girl is here to stay, blue is your colour, my love

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yourname: here to stay with my favourite girl who looks best in blue

↳ samanthakerr20: awwww (y/n)!!!

↳ niamhcharles17: oh

↳ yourname: baby, it’s not what it looks like

↳ niamhcharles17: yeah, okay, cheater

yourname: i’m niamh charles’ biggest fan! getting her name tattooed as we speak

↳ naimhcharles17: you didn’t

↳ yourname: come and find out

#niamh charles #woso x reader

[nats-bishop]

Can you do your camera roll as niamh charles gf pls

Your camera roll as Niamh’s girlfriend: