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pelova4president · 5 months

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Won us the World Cup

Alessia Russo x Williamson!Reader

summary~ Leah couldn’t attend the World Cup so you had to take the Williamson name to the tournament. When you arrive in Australia and get roomed with Russo you thought you were just unlucky. Rooming with the blonde wouldn’t be a problem if there were two beds instead of one.

!warnings! smut

Being Leah’s younger sister, you were destined to be a footballer. You wanted nothing more than to follow in your sisters footsteps, carrying the Williamson legacy further. Leah did her thing as a defender and the captain of England. You did your thing as a midfielder and Captain of the Under 23 of England.

You got scouted when you were about twelve when Arsenal found out that there were two Williamson’s. Arsenal had been your dream club, hearing Leah talk about the staff and team only made you want to work harder to get where she got.

When you finally got to play for the senior team you were so nervous. How could you ever meet the standards your sister set. Leah always said that you shouldn’t compare, her being a defender and you being a midfielder plus you were years younger.

It was an away game, Manchester United against Arsenal at Leigh Sports Village. Playing against United was always hard. Their defence was good and the Toone x Russo link-up was golden.

Jonas wanted to try something different, he was sure it would work since Beth, Viv and Kim were out for the season. He wanted Leah as a central midfielder. It wasn’t necessarily a bad decision, it was just a bit odd. Leah had always played as a defender but this was an attacking game.

You knew you couldn’t expect much. There was even a chance that you wouldn’t make your debut today but that was okay if it meant that you could get those three points.

The warming up went smoothly. You were doing passing exercises with Leah, who was talking you through the game. It helped with your nerves. It had always been like this, you didn’t really like to talk before games so you opted to listen to your sister and the tactics. Even when you were away for the England games you would call her before a game. She gave you a peptalk and ended with ‘i know you can do it y/n, you’re a Williamson, we thrive under pressure’ like she always did.

The game started and you had a bad feeling. Normally the stress and anxiety would fade away once the game had started but this time it kept blooming in your stomach.

It was the fifteenth minute when Leah fell onto the ground, screaming in pain and her clenched fist hit the ground. She was holding her leg with her other hand. The medics ran their way onto the field.

She wasn’t getting up and that’s when you knew it was bad, Leah always got up. Jonas was yelling at you to warm up and get ready to take Leah’s place.

This isn’t how you wanted to make your debut. You wanted to play with tour sister, not instead of.

Leah limped off the field with assistance of the medics. You could only stare at her with glassy eyes. She placed her hand on your shoulder and whispered “Go do you and impress everyone.”.

You jogged onto the field, taking the central midfielder place.

The game was rough and physical. They really wanted to win and you could feel that. There was a certain blonde striker who was making the game very difficult for you. In the extra time of the first half she even managed to score a goal for the home side.

The second half was even more physical than the first. The yellow cards were flying like the referee was Rebecca Welch, probably a Rebecca wanna be.

When the fulltime whistle blew you didn’t think of the loss, the only thought was Leah. Leah who was seriously injured. Leah who was crying when she limped off the field.

You ran towards the changing room but stopped when the United striker grabbed you by your shirt. You looked at her with a confused expression on your face, why wasn’t she saying anything. “What do you want? I need to get to Leah.” you told her, sounding a bit more annoyed than you intended to. “Uh yeah sorry, i just wanted to say that you played good.. Can you send my best wishes to Leah please?” she frowned.

You nodded and ran to find Leah. When you walked into the physio room she was laying on the bed. With puffy eyes and red cheeks she gave you one of her sad upside down smiles. You knew what it meant, you didn’t have to ask. You saw Beth and Viv do theirs, Leah had just tore her ACL.

You laid down beside her, your head resting on her shoulder. “Leah, they won. I’m sorry.” you whispered. She took a deep breath “I know.” she replied. The both of you stayed like that for a bit before the whole team came walking in.

A few days later the doctors confirmed what you all suspected, Leah had done her ACL and would miss the World Cup.

You tried not to focus on the World cup. Viv wouldn’t play, Beth wouldn’t play and Leah wouldn’t play. Leah tried to hype you up for the whole World Cup thing saying things like ‘Maybe you’ll even get to play, then there’ll atleast be one Williamson playing’ you shrugged her off, not wanting to think about it. If you even thought about this tiny chance your hopes would get crushed.

It was when you got a call from an anonymous phone number that you got a bit confused. You didn’t really read any of the emails you got from England since you’d probably be let down. Leah asked who was calling and you shrugged. “Y/n, pick up!” she yelled from the kitchen.

You did eventually pick up and were met with the voice of Sarina Wiegman. “Hey, i’m speaking with y/n Williamson. Right?” you were too stunned to speak and looked at your sister who was holding up her phone, filming like a proud mom. “.. uhh yeah, yeah this is y/n.” you finally spoke. “Well y/n, i’ve got good news. I’ve watched you play, for Arsenal and the England Under 23’s. You’ve had quite the season. So i just wanted to let you know that you’ve been selected for the World Cup squad.” she continued.

You looked at Leah with wide eyes, she was smiling at you and reminded you to reply. “T-thanks Mrs. Wiegman.” you thanked her. She wished you a good weekend and hung up.

Leah had always been the better one with words. She was the perfect captain, she could always say just the thing you needed to hear. And she did just that while you were stuck on the couch. “Fucking hell kid, you’re going to a World Cup. I know you’re gonna do the Williamson name proud.” she hugged you.

You hadn’t cried in a long time, not even when Leah had done her ACL. You didn’t really like to show anyone when you were hurt or just emotional. But now you couldn’t help but shed a tear. The Williamson’s are still going to the World Cup.

Lotte and you arrived at St. George’s park, apparently the first ones. You didn’t really know anyone that well so o it was relieving you didn’t have to walk into a full hall. You knew that you were the youngest with your twenty years but you were not aware of the height difference between you and the other girls.

Lotte was already tall but Millie Bright was a fucking wall. It soothed you a bit when mini Jordan Nobbs came walking in, not only did you know her but she was also just a bit shorter than you.

Just when you thought everyone had arrived two other girls came walking in. Ella Toone, who you knew from her goal in the Euros and that blonde striker, Alessia Russo. The one that wanted to talk to you after that horrible game.

You didn’t hate her. You quite admire her off the field. She seems like a sweet person but that goal and that loss really kept you from liking her. Alessia had followed you right after the game so you followed her back… a few days later, just because you’re too stubborn for your own sake.

You made eye contact but broke it almost immediately, walking over to little Jordan to bully her a bit more about her height.

It wasn’t long before Georgia and Keira had found you. G came over sprinting towards you screaming like she hadn’t seen you in years. “oh my god! You’re here! Tiny Williamson getting big!” she hugged you. Keira joined the grouphug and you couldn’t help but smile up at them. You knew that Leah not being there was hard for them so you wanted to do everything to make them feel a better.

The weeks before going to Australia were perfect. You could really prove yourself at the trainings and you got to bond with the group, most of the group. You played table tennis with Hempo, Niamh and Lucy. Made tiktoks with Millie, Rach and tiktok queen Mary ofcourse. Watched movies with G, Keira, Chlo and Tooney. You thought Toone and Russo were inseparable but everytime you were talking to Ella, Alessia was nowhere to be found.

It was when you got on your flight to Australia that you interacted with the blonde. You were seated next to eachother, you didn’t really mind since you got the window seat.

Alessia walked over to her seat and saw you. She said a quick hi and sat down, putting her headphones on immediately.

You were flying for about three hours when you felt something heavy on your shoulder. Alessia fell asleep on you. You couldn’t really move now, could you. She was quite cute when she was asleep, when she was awake too but nobody needed to know that you thought that.

It wasn’t much later that you fell asleep too, on Alessia.

ellatoone posted on their story

You woke up to a blushing Alessia looking at her phone. You wiped the sleep out of your eyes and peeked at her phonescreen. Fucking Tooney posted the two of you on her story.

Alessia didn’t want to make it awkward so she tried to make conversation. Everyone knew you weren’t really a talkative person, you liked listening and that’s what you’ve always done. But with Alessia it was different. Even though you mostly listened, the conversation was still two sided. She talked about her family, how she got into football and that game.

“I didn’t know what happened to Leah until i saw it on the news. I’m really sorry y/n but you’ll make her proud. You’re a really good player.” she told you and you just smiled at that. She was really sweet.

The rest of the twenty hours went by quickly. Alessia talked you through it and you let her listen to your music. She eventually convinced you to listen to her country music, it wasn’t for you but it made her happy so you’d listen to it with her.

When you arrived at the hotel where you’d stay for the tournament the rooms got divided. G got roomed with Kei, tiny Nobbs with big Bronze, brickwall Mills with Rach, Tooney with Mazza and you with Alessia.

You got quite on now so it wouldn’t be a problem right? The two of you carried your suitcases into your room only to realise there was only one fucking bed. Both you and the blonde stared at is for a while before one of you spoke up. “I can sleep on the couch.” you offered and tried looking for the non-existent couch. “Okay so.. there is no couch but i’ll take the floor.” you tried again.

Alessia looked at you and shook her head. “No, we’ll both be playing. Let’s just share the bed, no problem.” she told you.

Yeah, yeah.. no problem.

You got changed into your nightwear only to discover you didn’t pack your pyjamas. You didn’t think you’d need it since it was warm in Australia and at the Under 23’s you’d never had a roomie before.

So while Alessia was doing her skincare in the bathroom you got into bed, in your sportsbra and boxers.

The blue eyed women walked into the room with a silky pyjama set on. You read a book for a little while and Alessia was on her phone for a bit. She put her light out, signalling that she wanted to sleep so you did the same.

Hearing the little snores you knew she was asleep. Arms wrapped themselves around you. Alessia was a cuddly person, you knew that but you weren’t at all. You only hugged your sister from time to time and were forced into grouphugs from G, Kei and Leah.

You’d be lying if you said that you didn’t like it atleast a bit. It was comfortable, she was comfortable. When Alessia’s legs tangled into yours you were already gone, both of you sleeping peacefully.

Alessia woke up the next morning with her arms still around you and with one leg draped over your hip. She didn’t really want to move but she had to, it would be weird if you woke up to her holding you like that.

Alessia had had a little crush on you ever since that game. Tooney saw her looking at you with lovesick eyes and knew she had to help het bestie out. She followed you on Alessia’s phone when she saw her bestfriends stalking your instagram for the third time that day.

The tall women climed out of bed and started to get ready for breakfast. You woke up minutes after her, hearing the shower running and figuring out that your roomie was taking a shower.

Walking into the dinner room everyone was already seated. You looked at your options, there was a chair free next to Alessia and one next to Lucy. You walked over to Alessia and sat down. Tooney was telling everyone about her next YouTube video.

The next week flew by. You’d walked with Alessia, went out for a coffee with Alessia and shopped with …Alessia. You did pretty much everything with Alessia. You had asked her if Tooney minded that you were spending so much time with her but she said that Tooney had had enough time with her so it didn’t bother her.

It was the day before your first game. Alessia and you walked hand in and, wandering on the beach. You knew you weren’t going to play, Alessia was though. There was a hammock on the beach, one where the two of you would always sit after dinner and training. Both of you rested there for a bit, your head on her chest listening to her heartbeat.

“I quite like it like this, i don’t want to go back to rainy London.” you told her. You could feel and hear her laugh “I like Australia better too.”. You looked up at the blue eyed girl and spoke again “Alessia, you’re really nice you know… And quite comfortable too.”. She looked you in the eyes and kissed you on your lips.

Alessia didn’t know where all this confidence came from but she was happy she did because you kissed her back. When she took her lips off yours she whispered “Hmm, thank you baby.” you smiled up at her with lovesick eyes. She knew you could put up this though girl act around others but you secretly liked to be the little spoon and be called all those cheesy nicknames she gave you.

alessiarusso99 posted on their story

y/nwilliamson posted on their story

The two of you went to sleep like you did every night ever since the first one, cuddled up close to eachother.

You woke up the next morning with Alessia by your side. You had breakfast, went on a little walk and drove to the stadium.

The game went alright, a 1-0 win over Haiti.

The second game had the same outcome, against Denmark.

The third game went a lot better, Alessia scored the first goal in the 4th minute. Even though you hadn’t won yet it certainly felt like it. Your gir- best- friend? had just scored her debut World Cup goal.

Alessia walked off the pitch at halftime and you sprung on her. “Lessi you scored! You scored!” you yelled and she let out one of her adorable giggles. You got off her back and she gave you one of her amazing hugs.

The whole team was staring but that didn’t really matter, right?

When you got to your hotel again you kissed her, hard. She was a bit surprised but leaned in to kiss you back. When it got hard to breath you pulled away. Alessia looked at you like she was starved and started pulling your top off.

She looked so hot. Her hair was wet and in a bun and she was stood before you in only a sports bra and shorts. “Hmm, like the view baby?” she teased.

You kissed her again and she started unclipping your bra. The blonde kissed down your neck and let your bra fall to the floor. You couldn’t hold your moans in anymore when she started biting down your neck, leaving bruises everywhere. “Fuck Lessi, more please.” you begged her.

“Yeah, tell me what you want pretty girl.” she ordered lifting you up by your ass, one leg on either side of her hips. “Want you please.” you whimpered.

Alessia laid you down on your shared bed and took your shorts and boxers down in one motion. She looked up at you, her eyes a little darker now. Kissing down your stomach she ended just above your pussy. She ran her finger through your pussy and smirked. “So wet for me hmm. Such a good girl.” she took her finger into her mouth and moaned at your taste.

“Fuck Alessia, please.” you cried. Taking her finger out of her mouth she started licking your pussy. You whined when she stoped for a bit and you could feel her smirk. She teased you a bit more before sliding a finger in. “Look at you, taking it like a champ baby” she praised you. If she didn’t already know you had a praise kink she definitely did now.

She climbed on top of you again, kissing you and biting down your lip. You gasped in surprise and she took that chance to slide her tongue in. She put another finger in your pussy “Baby, you’re so fucking tight for me.” she whispered against your lips.

She pumped her fingers harder and harder, you felt yourself nearing the edge. “Lessi- Lessi i’m gonna cum.” you screamed. “That’s not how you ask. You’re a good girl, try again.” she frowned. “Please- Alessia please make me cum” you corrected.

She smirked and watched as you came. You’ve never seen her look so arrogant in your life. With a smug smile she spoke again “You enjoyed that baby?”. You rolled you eyes at her and was about to kiss her again when someone knocked at the door.

“We’re about to bake some cookies, see you in ten love birds!” Tooney yelled. You couldn’t help but blush at that, love birds. You knew you were in love, but was she? You’ve just fucked, she just gave you the best orgasm of your life so are you just fuck buddies or…

You got in your head again and Alessia kissed you out of it. “Hmm what’re you thinkin’ about pretty girl?” she asked you. “I don’t know, just zooming out i guess.” you lied.

Alessia knew you lied but she also knew that pressuring you into telling her wouldn’t work so she let it be “ ‘kay you can tell me everything you know that right.”. You hugged her and went into the bathroom to change into something more comfortable and… more suitable. You fixed your hair and made sure no sign of sex could be seen.

You did a good job, you thought, until you walked into the big kitchen and went over to Georgia who looked at your neck and back to your eyes. “Y/n, is that a hickey!” she screamed. You pulled your hood up and shook your head no. “Georgia, why’d you have to yell that man” you scolded her. Keira came walking over and took your hood off. “Oh my god, who gave you this hick- all these hickeys.” they started to inspect your whole neck.

You looked around only to find Alessia giggling with Tooney and sending you an evil wink across the room.

After the duo was done inspecting the damage you walked over to Alessia. “Why didn’t you warn me!” you whisper yelled. “It’s more fun this way babe.” she argued. You rolled your eyes and she started tickling you.

The evening ended with some good cookies and you even managed to watch a marvel movie without Tooney asking questions every minute.

alessiarusso99 posted on their story

Before you knew it England were in the World Cup Final. Lauren James and Ella Toone had both gotten a second yellow card in the game before so they couldn’t play the final. You knew how terrible Ella felt about it, Alessia told you how she felt like she disappointed everyone.

Even though this wasn’t good news it did mean that you had to start. You got to make your World Cup debut.

You were in the changing room when Leah called. “Leah i feel sick” you told her. “I’m gonna start Leah.” you said panicking. Leah had never heard you so stressed about a game. “Y/n, you’re gonna do good, just be yourself.” she told you.

“Listen, i just wanna tell you now okay. I’m dating Alessia, well i think we’re dating. I don’t actually know. She’s really nice and she’s beautiful and i think i love her. She even kissed me but i don’t know how to ask her.” you rambled to your sister. “Oh my god. Y/n this is really not the perfect timing. Tell her about how you feel after the game, i’m happy for you. I know you can do it y/n, you’re a Williamson, we thrive under pressure. Go on and bring it home.” she spoke. “I love you” you whispered and hung up.

The game was about to begin. There were a lot of Spain fans but even more England fans. This was it. This was the big final.

The whistle blew and the game started. The first half was intense. A few Spanish player had gotten a yellow. Mary had to really fight to keep a clean sheet but she did it.

The second half was pure pressure. There were dangerous tackles and unfair challenges but the referee didn’t give anyone an advantage.

It was the 88th minute when Keira made a good tackle and took the ball away from the opponent. She passed the ball onto Georgia who dribbled past two players on the left side of the field. You were free and Keira saw the opportunity to pass to you. The ball landed at your feet, you only had to get the ball to Alessia who had a perfect position in front of the goal. You gave her a through ball and she shot straight into the top bins.

You were fucking winning in the 90th minute of the World Cup final.

You looked around the field searching for someone to run to when you saw Alessia sprinting towards you. She picked you up “I fucking love you y/n!” she yelled. Before you could register what she had just confessed the whole team sprung on the both of you.

But the game wasn’t over yet. You still had to play five minutes of extra time. Spain made it hard, you had to foul a player in order to keep it 0-1.

When the final whistle blew you dropped to your knees. Alessia scored the winning goal and you assisted her. This couldn’t be real.

Alessia was searching for you. Tooney saw her looking around and hugged her “Go and get your girl Lessi.” she whispered and pointed towards you. Alessia gave her bestfriend a quick smile and made her way towards you.

“So pretty girl, made the winning assist huh.” you heard her say. You took you hands off you eyes and looked up at her. She was beaming down at you like you were the World Cup trophy yourself. Alessia took your hands in hers and pulled you in for a hug and a quick kiss on your cheek.

“Did you mean what you said?” you asked. Alessia didn’t answer. “I mean with the ‘i love you’ thing?” you clarified. You felt her chuckle “Yeah i meant it. I really love you babe, even more now that you’ve won us the World Cup.”. You knew that you hadn’t exactly won England the World Cup, the whole team did but it still felt special when she said it.

“I love you too Lessi.” you mumbled.

“Y/n.. i’m moving to Arsenal.” you heard her say. Speechless you hugged her harder. Both of you walked towards the stands, where your family was, where Leah was.

Alessia still had your hand in hers. You were looking for your sister when Alessia asked you something. “You wanna be my girlfriend?” she asked like it was the most normal question. “Uhh yeah Lessi, i’d love too actually yeah” you rambled.

You walked over to your sister who saw everything. “So, how’d it go?” Leah asked. “Well, don’t know if you’ve noticed but we won the World Cup.” you joked. Leah rolled her eyes “Yeah i can see that. I mean how did the Alessia thing go?”. You smiled from ear to ear “You mean my girlfriend who’s coming to Arsenal after the summer?”.

You spent the entire summer with Alessia by your side. You met her family and she met yours. It was quite perfect, she was perfect.

y/nwilliamson

liked by lucybronze and 127.224 others

post World Cup haze

comments

leahwilliamsonn little sis is getting big

↳ y/nwilliamson Leah i’m 20

ellatoone cheesy 🧀

alessiarusso my pretty girl

stanwaygeorgia got those hickeys from someone

↳ leahwilliamsonn what hickeys??!!

woso4evr wait who’s next to her on those pics?

lessitoone11 is that Alessia on the second photo

alessiarusso99

liked by ona.batlle and 142.819 others

won us the World Cup

comments

leahwilliamsonn i still need to have a talk with you

↳ keirawalsh me too

↳ stanwaygeorgia me three

↳ y/nwilliamson oh my god

ellatoone third wheeling

↳ alessiarusso99 i’ve been third wheeling with you and joe for a while now

ellieroebuck_ cute ❤️

williamsons88 THAT’S Y/N

When Arsenal had officially announced the signing of Alessia you were happy. You’d spoken to Alessia about moving in and decided that that was the best thing for the two of you right now. Alessia was excited but nervous about the reactions to her transfer but it didn’t really matter anymore because it was the best decision, being with you.

alessiarusso99, arsenalwfc

liked by y/nwilliamson and 302.739 others

she’s here and she’s a gunner.

comments disabled

A/N i wrote this fic in like 4 hours straight so i don’t know what to think of it but it’s definitely my longest fic yet. Alessia is so so gorgeous in the first pic. Also if you have any music recs send them in because i’m getting tired of listening to my playlists for hours while writing.

#woso x reader #alessia russo x reader #alessia russo #engwnt #lionness #lionesses x reader #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson #georgia stanway #keira walsh #ella toone #woso community #woso fanfics #woso #arsenalwomen #arsenal wfc

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mysunshinetemptress · 6 months

Text

You Promised

Disclaimer: angst

Leah Williamson x reader

To say you and your girlfriend played the same sport just at different levels was an understatement.

Leah played for Arsenal in the WSL and is Captain of the Lionesses on the international stage whereas you played for and Captained Newport Pagnell FC an East Midlands women’s regional football team.

Now you where proud to play for them every time you walked out onto the pitch it was like you had led out an army ready to battle for the next 90 minutes. Only it was a pitch in the back arse of no where and the changing rooms where prefabricated buildings and your subs bench wasn’t the most comfortable place to sit but you wouldn’t change it for the world this was your team.

Dating a world class football player who had captained the English women’s team to European champs meant that many people began to have opinions on her life and in turn yours, and most of the time it was about the different levels you both played at.

Both yourself and Leah grew up in Milton Keynes and although you where a life long Arsenal fan you hadn’t began playing till the later Leah’s of primary school, unlike Leah who had been playing at Arsenal since the age of 8. You had both met later in secondary school and a friendship soon blossomed, your parents would often find you both either playing, talking or watching football together, but it didn’t take you long to realise that you both played at different levels.

It had become something you where rather insecure about. Watching as Leah made her senior debut in 2014 you had also been chosen to play on the women’s first team but your success would have to wait as you celebrated Leah’s and you honestly didn’t care as long as Leah was living out her dream and happy you would never care to celebrate yours. That was until recently.

Leah had asked you out on the night of your 20th birthday stating she simply couldn’t wait anymore and if it meant fucking over an amazing friendship for an even better relationship she would do just that. The first four years had been blissful. Leah played at Arsenal and had won the WSL as well as the FA cup and each time she just had to look into the stands to see your gleaming smile telling her how proud of her you where. Leah had played on the youth squads for England but in Russia in 2018 you had stood next to her family to cheer her on as she made her senior debut, as well you where the first person she called after Sarina Wiegman had asked her to be captain of the Lionesses heading into the euros, ultimately you had been asked to become the Captain of Newport Pagnell the same day but not wanting to take away such a moment from her you kept it quite. You had been there at every match of the Euros and had ultimately burst into tears at the sound of the final whistle on the 31st of July grabbing Amanda as you both sobbed with pride for the English captain, who had jumped the barrier and ran up the steps to kiss you right after. You had been there to witness all of Leah’s best moments from the minute you met, but you had also been there to witness her hardest moments. You had been sat in the west stand of Leigh’s Sports Village with Amanda and Leah’s cousin Holly hair still wet from training when she had gone down. Amanda had immediately grabbed your arm out of instinct before you stood stating you would go check on her. You had found her tear stained lying on physios bed “oh darling.” Leah had immediately burst into tears once more at the sight of you before explaining what the medic team had told her. There wasn’t anything you could do but hold her and listen wishing for it all to be wrong. Sadly it didn’t workout that way and it had been announced your girlfriend had torn her ACL and would be unable to Captain her team at the World Cup this summer.

It had been a selfish wish one that you immediately felt guilty about but you had hoped with this forced break Leah might attend a few more of your matches, maybe meet the team and the girls who had become some of your best friends, normally she either had training or was playing in one herself whereas you had a job as a teacher and trained night and played on Sundays. But what you had really hoped for was to turn to see Leah standing beside the pitch cheering you on as your team played their final match of the season and one that could potentially see your team winning the league.

“Lee, my love.” You had walked through the front door expecting to find your girlfriend sitting on the couch typing away on her computer, instead you found her in the kitchen with Lia Walti “oh hey Wally .” Lia stood pulling you into a hug “Y/n how are you.” You smiled dropping you bag before picking up the girls cups and refilling them making one for your self “I’m good Wally tired but good how are you.” Leah grabbed your hand pulling you to the chair beside her resting her hand on your thigh “I’m good, thought I would come check on this one since I’m out for the rest of the season as a precaution.” You smiled “thank you, speaking of how is your ankle I watched it after it was hard to watch no idea how you did it.” Leah squeezed your leg “she’s just built different love, you have to be to play at our level.” You froze slightly at what Leah was implying but chose to ignore it instead asking Wally if she was staying for dinner.

You lay in bed head on Leah’s chest as she stroked your hair softly “Lee.” Leah hummed “I was wondering if you would come to my last match on the 27th kickoff is at 2pm.” Leah smiled “I’d love to my girl.” You squeezed her gently “only if you want to.” Leah kissed your head “I promise to be there my love I want to be there.” You kissed her jaw before settling back down content with Leah’s answer.

Leah was still asleep when you woke up Saturday morning getting all your things ready to head to meet the team for the last match of the season. You ran back up the stairs after making yourself breakfast before leaning over to kiss her head “I’ll see you shortly Lee.” You had taken your jersey from last season and left it on her night stand hoping she would wear it before running out the door.

The team had been on a high the minute you had all met at the clubhouse the excitement of the last match and potentially winning the league had set you all into a buzz as you all danced around the changing rooms getting ready to go out for warmups. “Anyone special coming Skip.” You turned looking to your best friend and teammate Tegan Mallor, you couldn’t help your cheeks get all read “oh is the wife making an appearance.” You laughed “she’s not my wife yet haven’t asked haven’t been asked but yes she told me she was coming as well as her Mum and cousins plus my parents.” The girls cheered at the thought of the Lioness captain coming to watch the final match.

Walking out on to the pitch for warmups you looked over to see your parents stood on the sidelines with Amanda,Holly,Ben,Jordan and a few others of the Williamson/Baker bunch it had made your heart swell at the sight you had grown up with no siblings and so Leah’s cousins and brother had taken on that mantle, but you couldn’t help but notice Leah wasn’t here yet. Putting it down to her being late you got on with training and put your captain head on ready to win.

The first half had gone terribly, the opposition had scored twice all in the span of 10 minutes of each other and you found the girls began to lose hope, you had never been more grateful for the half time whistle grabbing your team into the changing room and trying to hype them back up “what’s going on this isn’t the bunch of girls that where dancing around this morning we have 45 minutes to do this 45 that’s plenty of time turn it around come on.” The girls had jumped up and began running back out as the second half began. You turned looking to the sidelines hoping to catch your girlfriend but instead it had been the same group you had seen at training, Holly had caught your eye and shrugged letting you know she had no idea where Leah was.

The next 45 minutes flew in and your team had managed to tie the game but with a minute to go you had found yourself screaming for a cross in at the edge of the box from Tegan. The team held their breath as you sent a scream to the top right corner before they all piled on top of you screaming as the red blew the whistle stating the match was over and you had won both the match and the league. You all stood running to your family’s on the sidelines grabbing your dad into a hug as he cried “oh peanut I’m so proud that was amazing.” You squeezed him letting go as you hugged your mum before moving to Amanda “that was incredible darling no one deserves it more.” You pulled away thanking her before hugging everyone else “where’s Le.” Everyone froze “Go celebrate we will talk after.” You sighed shoulders sagging in disappointment “she promised.” Holly squeezed your arm “I’m sorry Y/n.” You shook your head “can I take him with me.” You turned asking Jordan if you could kidnap her son to help raise the trophy wanting to move away from their pitiful stares “want to go with Auntie Y/n buddy.” The baby simply smiled raising his hands for you to take him as you thanked Jordan and walked off to get your medal. “I’m going to kill her.” Holly punched Ben in the arm before Amanda spoke “you will have to get in line.”

You had been stood in the changing room dancing with the girls when Tegan had tapped you on the shoulder showing you her phone. You felt your stomach drop as you watched your girlfriend hobbling around the pitch at meadow park wearing a Rafaelle jersey as the girls shook hands and did their lap around. “I shouldn’t have gotten my hopes up it was so stupid.” Tegan grabbed your arm “hey it’s her fault she let you down ok you asked her to be here and she said no promised you she would ok.” You nodded turning to pack you bags just wanting to get home and change before heading to Amanda’s house for dinner.

You had arrived at Amanda’s and where currently sat on the floor playing with Jordan’s son while you laughed and talked about your summer plans when Leah had walked through the door “Hey.” You ignored her calling out in the hall as you talked about what you where bringing to Ibiza with Holly as well as possible things to do with Ben, “I’m bringing four bikinis max but my mum wants me to bring a rash vest if we are going jet skiing this year Ben after I came back the same colour as a strawberry last time.” They all laughed as Amanda grabbed Leah from the hall taking in her appearance dressed in an Arsenal jersey “you are in big trouble missy.” Amanda didn’t get to say anything else as you walked in with Jack (made up the name) resting on your hip, you stopped watching as Leah turned a smile taking over her face “Hi gorgeous.” You turned looking to Amanda “we thought we would come ask if you needed a hand with anything.” Amanda walked over taking Jack from you “no all good darling, I’ll leave you both to talk.”

You sighed turning to check the food as Leah went to grab you hand “hey what’s going on.” You shook your head “you promised.” Leah looked at you confused “what.” “You promised me you would be there, I thought you would be there, do you have any idea how embarrassing it is to tell my teammates your coming and then not show up only to see you all over instagram at Meadow park Le.” Leah shook her head “what are you talking about be where Y/n I have no idea.” You cut her off scoffing “oh my god you didn’t even remember, your telling me you didn’t care enough to remember.” Leah was getting annoyed now “what are you talking about.” You huffed not wanting to raise your voice “my match, the final match of the season where i captained my childhood club to win the league the one I asked you to come to the one you promised you would only to never show.” Leah froze “Y/n.” You shook your head “I left my jersey out for you to wear to it, I thought since you where injured you might come to just one of my matches heck even the most important one but you stood me up to go see Arsenal at Meadow park.” Leah sighed “it was Rafa’s last game.” You rolled your eyes “it was the most important match of my career.” Leah scoffed “you don’t have a football career Y/n your a teacher that’s your career not football for crying out loud your acting like I missed a World Cup final or a match at the emirates I missed a match in a field where the toilets are porta potties,the teams stand on the sidelines at half time and a bunch of wannabes pros run around so sorry I chose to go a more exciting match to support my friend in her last one for an actual professional team.” You felt tears spring to your eyes begging them not to spill over “so supporting your own girlfriend..” Leah scoffed “come on Y/n seriously I get bored watching you play at least my matches aren’t mind numbing.” You froze as Leah slowly began to realise what she had said “y/n” “ no your right, I don’t think I can do this anymore Leah.” Leah looked at you confused “do what Y/n let me explain please.” You shook your head “I can’t be in a relationship with someone who doesn’t support me they way I support them it’s not fair and I’m so tired of it Leah I really am and I’m so sorry because no matter how much I love you because believe me I really do I can’t keep being the only one putting in the effort or support so I’m done.”You began to turn to walk back to the living room where you knew everyone could hear “Y/n.” You just shook your head walking into the room collecting your stuff as Leah walked in behind you “eh thank you for coming I’m so sorry I can’t stay for dinner I have eh I really have to go.” Amanda stood up not bothering to look at her daughter “Y/n.” You shook your head “it’s fine enjoy dinner I’ll see you later.” You brushed last Leah and headed straight out the front door. “Mum I.” Amanda shook her head “I don’t know who you are but you are not the girl I raised the girl I raised would have understood how important today was for her girlfriend she would have been rushing the pitch after watching her girlfriend score the winning goal, the girl I raised would have been there point blank.” Leah felt her eyes fill with tears “they won.” Holly nodded standing up “your girlfriend led a team who hadn’t won a game in ten years to wining the East Midlands league in a season and she scored the final goal.” Leah shook her head “I didn’t mean it.” Amanda laughed “I have known you long enough and so has Y/n to know that you did and you know she is insecure about not being enough for you as a human being and as someone who plays football yet you told her today right to her face that those fears where true. I’m sorry I can’t even look at you right now.”

Leah stood hopeless “Holly I…” Everyone stood up leaving the room as Leah was left to think about what she had said “oh god what have I done.”

#leah williamson #leah williamson x y/n #awfc #leah williamson imagine #leah williamson x reader #leah williamson x you #woso couples #woso x reader #woso community #woso imagine #woso one shot #woso fanfics #woso soccer #woso

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jaegeraether · 5 months

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Sunsets and footballers (Part 44)

Lucy Bronze x Reader (39) & Jordan Nobbs x Leah Williamson Mini (3)

Masterlist (other parts here)

((**This is now my largest chapter at 7.5k. Enjoy!**))

YFN had instantly fallen asleep in her seat on the plane and woke to the jolt of the landing gear absorbing the impact on touchdown. She shook her fatigue away and took her phone off flight mode. 11:15am UK time. She gave a sigh of relief that the flight had been quicker than usual. She knew she’d been cutting it close with the flight time and instead of Ruby picking her up as planned, she’d told her to go to the stadium instead so she could get an Uber. It worked out well, because it meant she had time to speak to Jordan without feeling rude talking in front of Ruby.

She collected her bags and timed the Uber well, hopping in immediately as she exited the building. The stadium was thirty minutes from the airport so she’d be arriving just at kick off. She wasn't too concerned, though. Bridget and Emily were also in Manchester for a 1300 game between Man City and Brighton and were getting a bit more experience up onsite with Ruby at her game. She was lucky to have such good workmates.

She slid into the cab with a polite hello and found the only contact with a fish in it.

“Hey chicken! How was Barcelona?”

“Oh my god, Dory, it was amazing. Absolutely amazing. But I’m dead on my feet.”

Jordan laughed. “I’m guessing Lucy didn’t let you sleep much?”

“Don’t be cheeky. But you are correct.”

“How many hours are you running on?”

She counted. “I had two hours sleep on the plane so…about five hours?”

“What?!”

“I think…I remember we had a ‘midnight snack’ but that was about 4am so…”

“You’re unbelievable. Priorities, right?”

YFN chuckled. “I have no regrets beyond the struggle to walk-”

“Oh god! I don’t want to hear it.”

They both laughed together.

“How are you? Tell me everything.”

Jordan hummed and then proceeded to tell YFN about her dreams and the flowers and note that morning.

“Why didn’t you lead with that?!”

“I don't know. Good news before bad?”

“You think the flowers and note are bad news?”

“I don’t know. My head’s all over the place from the dreams. They were good and bad, but it’s just wrecked me emotionally.”

“I understand that…it’s not great for game day. Are you on your way there now?”

“Yeah, I’m on the bus. We have another hour and a half to go.”

“Well, you can’t resolve these emotions before the game because that would be a miracle. So how about you put a movie on and distract yourself? Don’t sleep, you won’t be able to.

“Yeah, I think I’ll do that to be fair…”

“Perfect. Have you messaged her?”

“No. I can’t do that today. Trying not to mess with my head before the game.”

“That’s all good, I was going to suggest maybe not responding until after the game.”

“You’re doing two games today, aren’t you?”

YFN’s mouth almost dropped open. “You have no idea how proud I am that you remembered that? I told you a while ago...”

“Oh, sorry, I should probably keep up my forgetfulness, right? Who are you again?”

YFN laughed. “I love forgetful Dory. She’s my favourite. Along with cuddly Dory. Football Dory though…jeez she’s terrifying.”

“I definitely will be today.”

“Get those emotions out, girl! Just don’t hurt anyone or get red carded please.”

“No promises.”

“As for your question, yep. I have the 1200 Man United versus West Ham game at Leigh and then the 1845 Arsenal versus Leicester game at King Power.”

“Oh that's right! Kyra…”

YFN had obviously told Jordan about Kyra. They both thought it was cute.

“Yes ma’am.”

“Our bus will drop us back at Villa Park about 7pm tonight…I can drive and meet you there?”

YFN could tell that Jordan needed comfort, and most of her friends were in London. She did the timing math in her head.

“You’d arrive about 8pm tonight with the traffic…how about you get a lift with my guy, Matt? He’s relocating to my game and then driving me back to Birmingham after it’s done.”

“Oh, yeah! That works out brilliant, that does. God, you’re so good at this logistics stuff. I just kick a ball around.”

YFN had a giggle at the visual image and messaged Matt. “And you look great doing it. Plus, you do more than that and you know it.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

YFN bit her lip as she thought a little. Jordan needed some love, and she knew just what to do. “What do you think about us asking Katie and Caitlin to stay the night? We’ll all finish up around 9pm in Leicester so they’ll have overnight accommodation. If I message them then they’ll have time for the team to cancel their room. They can come home with us.”

“Ohhh I didn’t think of that! See, this is why you’re the best.”

YFN grinned at the sound of genuine happiness in Jordan’s voice. She knew she missed them a lot.

She looked up and could see the stadium approaching in the distance. “I’m excited! Okay, I’m almost at the stadium. I’ll message the group.”

“Okay, love you!”

“Love you more. I’m so excited to see you tonight! Have a good game today, please. Smash it.”

They hung up happy and she opened a message from Matt that replied with an excited yes. Being a Villa supporter meant his dream just came true. YFN wondered how the car ride with them would be to Leicester and couldn’t help but be amused.

YFN then put a message in their little four-way group. Caitlin was usually the first to respond whether it be message or Instagram, and today was no exception. She’d answered an unequivocal yes for the both of them before she’d even stepped foot into the stadium.

The national anthems were playing just as she arrived and met up with her workmates. Bridget was running the boundary line, excitedly videoing the singing while Emily and Ruby were taking photos.

“Hey, Em.”

“YFN! Hi!” She gushed, wearing her purple and yellow Lumos hoodie. YFN was wearing Lucy’s hoodie so she opted for a beanie instead. “How was your flight?”

“I slept the entire trip,” she admitted with a chuckle.

Emily snapped a few shots of the starting line-ups.

“How are you and Bridget?”

“Oh, great! Yeah, we’re excited to be staying in Manchester tonight. Because we all have tomorrow off, we have plans to sight see and visit some family.”

They chatted for a little longer when YFN recognised the photographer from the last game she’d been to. The one who followed her home. She pretended to not notice him as she kept speaking to Emily and then made her way around the field to get a few good videos and say hi to Ruby and Bridget also. Bridget was running a mile a minute as she usually did, and Ruby mentioned that she had a date with Matt the next day. Ruby also ran a mile a minute, just with her mouth rather than her legs like Bridget. The whistle blew.

“Oh are those two already leaving already?” She asked rhetorically as Bridget and Emily waved on the way out. “Aw I didn’t say bye! Anyways, Matt said he’d take me on a date but I don’t know where-” she snapped a few photos and then cringed at the tackle she’d just captured, “-and I know it’s going to be amazing because we’ve been talking for a while now and…well not a while but since we all met and we were first partnered up-” she jogged further up the field to take another and came back when she was satisfied, “-and we’ve both been talking about supervising this next group of people coming in and we’re so excited for them to join us-” she took photos while YFN pulled her phone out to get a good Instagram video of Man United’s goal as they were both standing just a few metres from the West Ham goal. Goal number one, just three minutes in. YFN uploaded the video straight to their social media with an update on the score, “-and I just think it’s going to be amazing to have so many people with us. Is that guy staring at us?”

YFN turned to the photographer who’d been following her around the boundary, more focussed on her than the game.

“Yeah…just ignore him. He won’t hurt us.” She said, repeating what Catherine had said to her. Phone still on video mode in her hand, she pressed record but before she could lift her arm up to video him, they were interrupted.

“Now, now, physical violence isn’t my thing.” The voice teased from behind them.

YFN didn’t even have to turn, but she did out of polite habit as Mark stepped next to her, his eyes focussed on the game. She kept her phone on record and down near her body, but angling the mic towards him.

“Mark.”

“YFN. I hear you had a lovely trip up to Edinburgh to meet your…controversial leader.”

Ruby frowned, not understanding.

“He’s just teasing,” she assured. “Could you give us a minute?”

Ruby nodded and headed back up the field.

“So none of them know then?”

“What could you possibly be referring to, Mark?”

“Joanne.” He almost hissed. “That heartless woman.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Well let me be clear, then. I know your boss. She took something from me, so I’m going to tear her whole fucking business down.”

“Which business would that be?”

“The only one not protected by a board. Lumos. Her baby that she’s trying so desperately to hide. And you know exactly how I’m going to start?”

“By getting a photographer to follow me?”

He gave a grin that sent shivers down her spine. “Something along those lines.”

He handed her a large yellow envelope. Against her better judgement, she took it and looked inside. She found several printed photos of herself and Lucy kissing at the airport. The photos weren’t the best quality, they looked like they’d been taken on a phone, but still…it was disturbing.

She turned her attention back to the game as if she were unbothered. “Congratulations. You gave me photos of my girlfriend and I. You do realise that we are public? We have nothing to hide.”

“You don’t think that someone in your position dating one of the most famous footballers of all time is a conflict of interest? Let me give you some advice…people will care. Whoever Joanne has investing in her company will. And this is just the start. I’ll get more and more dirt on not just you, but your workmates also. I’ll drag you all into the fucking ground.”

She sharply breathed in. “You want to ruin a good thing for a little rivalry?”

“A good thing?” He scoffed. “Nobody wants to watch women play. Look around you. The stands are only filled with friends and family. As for everyone who works at Lumos…” He shrugged. “Collateral.”

YFN let herself look at him. He was determined and deadly serious.

“See that photographer? Get used to seeing him around. As for Joe…tell her I’m going to tear down her company before it even begins.”

It was a dominant display by Manchester United who ended up winning 5-0 with five different goal scorers. YFN felt for West Ham who she’d grown a soft spot for since her visit, and especially felt empathetic for their Captain, Mackenzie Arnold, a fellow Australian, as she was the goalkeeper. She couldn’t imagine how hard it must have been mentally after a game like that. You’d feel like it was all your fault while having to be the one to pull the team together.

A few of the players wandered over to her after the match, one being Mackenzie. She gave her a hug and surprisingly agreed to an interview. She interviewed her alongside Mary Earps, letting the two talk business. Mary didn’t exactly have a quiet game, she’d had shots that she’d saved and they both bantered about that, with YFN steering the questions when and where she wanted. The fact that they both pointed out the brilliance in several different moments of each teams and gushed over not just their team but the opposite was the exact reason she’d fallen in love with women’s football. After those two, she interviewed Kirsty Smith and Riko Ueki with Ella Toone and Lucia Garcia. The dynamics of who she put together were interesting and got the results she wanted. She felt like she was Graham Norton putting interesting guests on and leading them here and there with questions, making sure they each felt acknowledged and appreciated for their time and their skill on the pitch.

They finished up around 2:30pm and stopped for a late lunch and some quick editing and posts before they started their two-and-a-half-hour drive to Leicester for their next game. It was only early evening, and YFN could already feel herself getting tired.

As they got into the car, Ruby noted that and told her to get some sleep. She had no idea that Ruby could be quiet for long enough and was pleasantly surprised.

Just before she went to sleep, she sent the video recording of Mark’s voice to Catherine who she knew was busy with few royal duties, and then she fell asleep just after she put her phone on charge.

YFN woke to the loud sound of her phone ringing and she jumped, her face feeling half numb from the window. The car was stopped and she looked outside to Ruby who’d noticed her wake and gave her a thumbs up from the fuel bowser. She gave one back and answered the phone without checking the caller ID.

“YFN! Are you okay?!”

She recognised the voice immediately. “Cath- I mean. Joe? Wow, you really did a great job of sounding not yourself before we met.”

Catherine gave a light chuckle. “One of my secret talents. I listened to your video. Did he threaten you?”

“Not physically, just what you heard on the video.”

“He’s absolutely insistent and much more of a pain than I’d expected.” She sounded annoyed and that was amusing to YFN as she was always painted as the perfect Princess. “I’m so sorry. I spoke to Joe and even she is surprised. He will not hurt you. If you feel unsafe at all, I will hire security.”

“That’s okay, I think we’re okay for now. He seems to be all bark at the moment..”

“He is, I assure you. Also, there is no conflict of interest here. I’m aware of your relationship. We are not even covering her games yet and when we do, it is absolutely not a conflict of interest. The man doesn’t know what he’s talking about. I know you, I chose you for a reason and your judgement, and your actions won’t be compromised by your relationship. Not only that, but there’s nothing in which to base these allegations on just yet. I understand the implications that may occur with you interviewing her and potentially being seen as biased, but I’ve seen your work, I’ve seen you interview friends and colleagues without that bias. I chose carefully.” She sighed. “My plan was for us to build your reputation in the field so high it would surpass any of these allegations before they even occurred.”

“I appreciate the support, and I promise that anything to do with Lucy or her team against another team will not be an issue. I want everyone and every team to be represented, regardless of if they’re against her or not.”

“Perfect. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, I think. In the meantime, you don’t need to hide your relationship. I’d never ask or expect that of you.”

“Thank you…also I’m assuming part of your security check on us is that you look for anything controversial which may be used against us like this?”

She hesitated. “Yes. I don’t like it, but we need to protect ourselves and the business from any potential threats…”

“I understand, and I agree.” Ruby hopped back into the car then with a grin. “You have my support…Joe.”

Catherine took the hint. “He won’t find anything controversial on the other employees because there is nothing. We just need to stay a tight knit group and continue our jobs.”

“Copy that, will do. Would you like me to send out a group memo about him?”

Ruby started to drive again.

“Yes, absolutely. If you don’t mind, I’ll write it and you send it?”

“Perfect, that saves me the work.”

“Lastly, the office won’t be ready tomorrow.”

“Oh?” Her interest peaked at that. She could be with Lucy on her day off. Jonatan had been giving her more days off with her knee. She only had to train four days this week, Tuesday to Friday.

“It’s all related. Mark somehow managed to talk to the local council…anyways I’m sorting it. It’ll be ready by Wednesday, I promise you.”

“Okay. That’s perfectly fine. I’ll meet up with the real estate agent and then the original ten of us will settle in and prep for the new group to arrive.”

“I thought it would be best to start the new group on Thursday instead because of the timing with the office date moving, but I wanted to check with you first to make sure you weren’t losing too much preparation time with them for the next round?”

YFN thought about it a little. Their first game was Saturday, and it was the only one. Catherine had gotten permission for ten employees at that game which allowed her to send two original crew with a full new crew to train. “I think Thursday will work. It’ll give us two full days to cover everything which is enough, and for eight of them, they’ll get experience on Saturday at Stamford Bridge. If I feel we need more, I’ll organise Saturday with the others not at the game to prep more.”

“Agreed! We think very much alike, you know.” It was a compliment that made her blush.

Catherine asked if she had any more questions before the call ended. She wasn’t surprised it wasn’t a long conversation, as she knew she’d been busy all day with regular duties and then Mark’s drama in the background. She couldn’t help but think about the possibility of booking a flight to Barcelona to spend the next two days with Lucy, as she knew she had the next day off. She could explore Barcelona with Narla and do a bit of work on the Tuesday while Lucy was training… She bit her lip and shook her head. Jordan needed her. Jordan was her priority. Thinking of, she looked up Jordan’s game which was almost finished. It had been fairly even all game and Jordan had been subbed on in the 65th minute, having a goal attempt in the 66th minute. YFN smiled as she watched Jordan running around, looking frustrated which was so opposite to her everyday self. Aston Villa were up 1-0 and she watched while Ruby listened to the end of the game. Multiple fouls were made by both teams. Aston Villa scored a second goal. A foul by Jordan at the 90 minute mark. And then it was over. Jordan had only played 30 minutes, but she’d made an impact. YFN sent Jordan a message saying how proud she was of her.

They arrived in Leicester around 5:45pm and stopped at a local café for another snack and a drink before the game. Being too early at the stadium meant boredom. They made sure to arrive around 6:15pm and set their equipment up, capturing the players during warm up. The Leicester players exited first to warm up and a few came over to chat. Luck have it, Courtney was one of them. Australians tended to flock together outside of Australia, she realised. YFN asked if she’d do an interview after the game and she agreed for the price of a hoodie. She liked Courtney and could see why Kyra did too. They were both cheeky.

“Hey stranger.”

YFN turned to see Leah’s smile as she stepped next to her. She was alone and not in kit, not quite ready to play after her ACL.

“Leah!” She smiled, pulling her into a hug. She liked Leah, regardless of her issues with Jordan, and she’d previously spoken to Jordan about their little growing friendship. She was okay with it, of course, otherwise YFN wouldn’t have been so forward. “How are you?”

“Oh mate, desperate to get onto that field, I’m telling ya.” She looked longingly at the pitch and then back to YFN. “I watched your interviews. They’re great! I don’t know why anyone hasn’t interviewed like that before.”

“The ones from last week?”

“Yeah and this morning. I loved it, honestly. I’ll be happy to do interviews anytime with you, just let me know.”

“That’s just given me an idea…” She hummed as she thought.

“Taking me up on the offer already?” She laughed.

“Actually I’ve been trying to work out different segments and ideas that would make us stand out from other companies….you’re not playing today. There are always players who are not playing but watching their teams. So it might be a good idea to get players willing to on the sidelines with us to interview and to film some of the snippets we upload with their own perspective and jokes and insight. Sort of like when you’re excitedly screaming motivation at the girls from the bench, but this time they’d be in snippets for our social media. It’ll promote the team and show just how supportive all of the players are with each other. Plus, I think it'd be hilarious.”

“Sort of like when they mic up the cricket players?”

“EXACTLY.”

“Put me in, coach. I love the sound of that. Plus, if it mucks up, you can just blame me.”

“You are 100% my scapegoat if it goes bad.” She laughed. “You’d be willing to today?”

She shrugged. “I have nothing else going on and I’m used to the camera so why not.”

“Perfect! Yeah, oh that’s so exciting-” She stopped and bit her lip as she thought of Jordan.

“What is it?”

“Um…maybe not today? Maybe next game?”

The frustrating thing was that she didn’t know yet if she’d even be at Arsenal’s next game. It depended on the roster.

“YFN, just tell me.”

“So…hm…here’s the thing…”

“Please don’t tell me this is about Jordan?” She asked, a little upset. “I was hoping that wouldn’t affect our relationship…”

“It won’t! Dory’s fine with us being friends. It’s just…”

“Spit it out, mate.”

“She’s going to be here in under an hour.”

She swore Leah paled. She definitely froze. “Oh.”

“Yeah…so she’ll already be with me on the sidelines for company.”

“She just finished a game…” she looked at her watch. “…so if she’s coming here I guess it’s to talk about us?”

“Leah…”

“She told you about this morning?”

“Yes.”

“Okay.” She groaned and ran her hand through her hair. “Look, I don’t know your opinion on everything and I don’t want to drag you into it all, but I promise you I just want the best for Jordan.”

“And the best for Jordan is you?”

Leah held her eye contact. “Yes. Just…I know I don’t have the right to ask but I will. Can you please maybe tell Jordan it wouldn’t be such a bad thing to go with me this Friday night to the awards? I want to win her back, to be there for her but I can’t without opportunity to actually be around her.”

“I won’t convince her to do something she doesn’t want to…”

“I wouldn’t expect you to. Just…advocate for me? You don’t have to push it. Just…please?”

“I’ll have a talk to her,” she murmured.

“CHICKEN!”

The Arsenal players were headed out for their warm up and most were headed her way led by the Irishwoman who was being overtaken by a smiley, wavy Kyra.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it. Also, I can still do that thing with you, I can be over the other side away from Jordan if she doesn’t want me near.”

“Thanks Leah, I’ll ask her about it when she gets here,” she replied with a smile.

“Ask who about what?!” Kyra asked as she landed on YFN’s back. YFN’s hands immediately caught her legs.

“Oof. You do realise I’m small, right?”

“Yeah, but I knew you’d catch me. When’s Nobbs here?”

A few of the Arsenal girls looked awkward because Leah was there. “It’s okay…” she assured them. “She’ll be here during the first half.”

“Okaaaaay.”

“Oh, also Kyra invited herself tonight.” Caitlin said as she wrestled Kyra off of YFN so she and Katie could give her a hug.

“Tonight? Where was our invite?” Beth asked.

YFN grinned sheepishly. “Our apartment isn’t big enough for the entire Arsenal squad…”

“I’m just joking, this one wants an early sleep anyways,” she said as she nudged Viv who looked unimpressed as usual.

“Aw what a granny!” Kyra teased.

YFN couldn’t help but laugh at the look on Viv’s face. Kyra giggled at her joke, ducking away from Caitlin’s motherly swat to the back of the head when a blue shirt appeared amongst the red and Kyra stilled.

“Hey…”

“Courtney!” YFN replied, making sure she didn’t feel left out. “Hey!”

Courtney looked around, her eyes finding Kyra and then tearing them away pretending she hadn’t looked at her. “Just letting you know Sam and Sophie are both good for the interview after the game. Do you know who it’ll be with?”

“Awesome! Yeah, I was hoping Beth and Frida would be up for it…”

“Me? Yes please! Not sure if I’ll be subbed on though,” Beth said eagerly.

Viv rolled her eyes. “She’ll be subbed on.”

“FRIDA!” Katie yelled.

“FRIDA!!” Beth yelled shortly after. Viv covered her ears and YFN chuckled at that.

The blonde spun around and jogged over. “Yes?”

Frida Maanum was a Norwegian midfielder who’d been with Arsenal since 2021. She was rarely chosen to be interviewed and softly spoken, so YFN thought it’d be great to involve her and help her confidence out with Beth who she could always rely on to talk if she didn’t.

“Want to do an interview with me after the game? YFN wants to know.”

Frida looked over at YFN with a polite hello wave. “It’s going to be with Sam Tierney and Sophie Howard from Leicester. You can absolutely say no if you want.”

“You want me?” She sounded surprised.

“Of course she wants ya, you’re amazin’.” Katie said with a playful grab of her shoulder.

“O…okay. Yeah.” She smiled at YFN which made the Australian feel good for asking.

“Aw, I’ll look after you mate! No need to be nervous!” Beth said loudly, extending an arm around her shoulder.

“So…Beth and Frida,” YFN said to Courtney with a smile. “And then you and Kyra. Is that okay Kyra?”

“Yeah that’s cool.” Kyra said, suddenly quiet.

Courtney’s eyes widened hearing that she’d be interviewed with Kyra. YFN knew it was sneaky of her but it was an opportunity for Courtney to reject the idea before she surprised her with her ex. Not that they were ever public knowledge.

“Okay. I’ll see you after the game.” She said, directed straight at YFN but she knew it was more for Kyra from the tone of it.

Caitlin and YFN shared a sheepish look.

“Come on girls, Jonas is about to kick our asses. Let’s get warmin’ up!” Katie ordered.

“If you see me shouting from the sidelines, it’s because I’m mic’d up!” Leah warned them and received some amused looks in return.

“You’d better not be focusin’ on my ass.” Katie teased.

Caitlin messed up Kyra’s hair. “You’d better be focusing on this one’s debut!”

They all jogged off and Leah turned to YFN.

“Okay boss, where do you want me?”

Jordan and Matt arrived just after 7pm, both with wide grins. Matt because he’d just spent a car ride with Jordan and Jordan because of YFN.

“Dory! Come here!” She took her friend in a hug big enough to lift the footballer off the ground and a few Arsenal fans spotted Jordan and shouted their love for her as she did so.

“I missed you.” She mumbled into Lucy’s hoodie.

“It’s been a day. Needy, hm?”

“I’m always needy.” Jordan grumbled as she put her down.

“I missed you too.” YFN chuckled before turning to Matt. “You look excited, mate.”

He was still grinning ear to ear and nodded.

“I think I tired him out with all the talking, to be fair.”

“I’m glad you two got on for the drive then. Matt, are you okay taking a few of us back to Birmingham tonight? If not, I can ask Ruby…”

“Yes!” He almost shouted and then cleared his throat. “Um, yes, of course. Who..?

“Uh Dory, Katie, Caitlin, Kyra and myself. Oh actually that won’t work… Ruby will have to take some of us anyways… maybe those three and I’ll ask Ruby if she can take Kyra and I.”

“Done.”

“How was the game?”

“Yeah, great. Noel and I got some great footage. A few of the girls were asking about interviews but I said we’d start next week.”

“Next week hopefully… and congrats on Aston Villa’s first win for the season?!”

“Yeah!” Jordan grinned. “I wasn’t on for long but I think I did alright.”

Loud noises from the crowd turned their attention to Leicester running towards goal. The ball was pushed out by Lotte for a corner.

“I’ll go record that.” Matt said as he ran towards the goal up the side of the pitch. Jordan spotted Leah behind the goal then.

“Leah…?”

“You had to have expected her to be here,” YFN teased.

“Well yeah but…is she recording with a phone?”

“I have her mic’d up for some footage. Trying something new out and she’s helping.”

Jordan frowned but her eyes remained on her, mixed emotions in her eyes.

The crowd went wild as Leicester scored from their corner. Jordan swore. The game reset.

“She really wants you to go with her on Friday..”

Jordan’s eyes flicked up to meet hers. “She said that? What else did she say?”

“Nothing you don’t already know… that she wants the best for you, she wants to win you back, and she wants an opportunity to do so.”

Jordan groaned. “I can’t. We rarely went to events together before. Now she wants to show me off to the world like I’m hers when I’m not?”

“I think she just wants a night with you, Jords…”

“Nope. No way. Unless she has another plus one and you come to chaperone us.”

YFN tilted her head. It wasn’t football but… “I could get an invite?”

Jordan spun back around. “You could?”

“My boss can 100% get me a ticket. Now, did you mean it?”

“I mean…” she looked over at Leah. “If you’re going, I will.”

“And is this really what you want?”

Jordan got a little frustrated and pouted, trying to think. She was a bundle of confused emotions and the dreams wouldn’t have helped. YFN put her arm around her and pulled her close.

“What do you think?”

“I think whatever this is, you need to resolve it. The best way to do that is communication. I think you should go. Sooner or later it’s going to be clear to you if you do or don’t want to have her back in your life.”

Leah looked over at the pair, her and Jordan looking at each other. She nodded. “I’ll go.”

“You’re sure?”

“I think I wanted to, I just didn’t want to admit it. Plus, you’ll be there now so it’ll be less awkward.” She grinned up at her.

YFN rolled her eyes and messaged ‘Joe’. Just as she finished the message, Leicester was surging forward, forward, forward, and tucked away their second goal. Two goals in two minutes. A terrible start for Arsenal.

Jordan settled next to YFN, following her and her camera around, watching the game intently. She always wanted the best for Arsenal. They had more of a catch up in between photos that she’d changed to as Matt was now doing the videography. YFN didn’t miss Leah off and on staring across at them just as longingly as she stared at the pitch she missed. Jordan and YFN gradually moved closer to Leah through that first half, though Leah ducked away to the change rooms for half time with her girls.

While it was half time, Ruby, Matt and YFN on worked on their footage while they talked.

“New office tomorrow?!” Matt asked excitedly.

“Oh…no. That’s been delayed until Wednesday. Waiting on approvals. New group are now starting Thursday.”

“You’re not going to Barcelona?” Jordan asked. “Doesn’t Lucy have tomorrow off?”

“You spoke with her?”

“Yeah she messaged me. I assumed you suggested it,” she laughed, “she’s terrible at messaging.”

“Not with me.” YFN winked. “Also that was all her, I promise.”

Jordan rolled her eyes and nudged her almost off her chair. “She misses you.”

“I was there this morning…”

“You miss her too.”

“Dory…” She groaned.

“No.” She said, putting her hand on the camera YFN was playing with which made her look up at her. Ruby and Matt shifted a little nervously as they could do nothing but listen. Jordan looked serious. “Don’t you dare stay here tonight just for me. You barely get any time with her as it is. She’s my friend too, and I like to see her happy. And you happy. And you’re both never as happy as when you’re together.” YFN opened her mouth to argue but Jordan continued. “Let me live vicariously through you. You’ve already done enough, I have Katie and Caitlin and Kyra tonight! They need a bed.”

“You’re kicking me out of our apartment?” YFN laughed.

“Only if you can find a flight.”

She put her camera down and took Jordan into a warm, long hug, mumbling into her. “I love you, Dory. You know that? If we’re both single in five years, I’m going to propose.”

Jordan laughed but they were both emotional. They just wanted the best for each other. “Okay but Blu will be ring-bearer.”

YFN laughed back into her and sat back, wiping tears away that she didn’t even know had formed.

“You’re putting Kyra on the couch?”

“I’ll let her share my bed if she shuts up.”

“She’s only small, she’ll be asleep before you all finish dinner. She tends to tire herself out fast, the little baby.”

“Little baby,” Jordan mimicked adoringly. “Now look for flights. I’ll message Lucy.”

“Or…how about we make it a surprise?”

“I love it! If she thinks you’re robbing her and knocks you out though, that’s not on me.”

She did wonder what Lucy’s reaction would be. She found a flight from Birmingham to Barcelona at 11pm.

“Won’t you need her to unlock the door?”

“I have keys…”

“You two are adorable.”

“I found an 11pm flight from Birmingham…”

“Do you think you’ll make that?!” Ruby asked. “I’m happy to take you…”

“That…sort of works out perfect because then the girls will all fit in Matt’s car. Um…the game finishes at 8:30pm. Interviews until 9pm. Arrive at the airport around 10pm. Cutting it close for international but it’s a late flight and nobody will be there… I think we can make it?” She shrugged and booked the flight anyways. If she didn’t make it, it wasn’t meant to be.

Jordan grinned. “Tell her to thank me when you get there.”

“Honestly, I’m probably going to be passed out from fatigue all day and not even get the chance.”

Her phone buzzed. It was the flight confirmation.

“Are you sure?” She asked Jordan. Sure, she’d already booked the flight, but it was cheap and she didn’t care. She wanted Jordan to be okay.

Jordan grabbed her around the shoulders and smiled. “I promise it’s okay. You’ve really cheered me up today and helped with my Friday night decision. Plus, I have the girls tonight. We both know you’ll just pass out anyways.”

“How dare you…” she laughed as the crowd began cheering loudly as the players re-entered the field. Ruby and Matt got to work. She stood to do the same when her phone buzzed again.

Joe: Done, they sent us through two invitations. Check your emails. Enjoy!

She grinned at the message and then at Jordan.

“What?” She handed her phone over and Jordan took it, an ecstatic look crossing her face. “Yes mate!”

She took her phone back and pocketed it, holding her camera up to take photos of the players as they ran out.

“One condition.”

“Anything.”

She jerked her head towards Leah who was wandering over to the pair. “You tell her.”

Jordan groaned. “Okay but at the end of the night. She can sweat until then.”

YFN chuckled at that.

Starting the second half 2-0 against them meant Arsenal had to push deep. And they did. Arsenal kicked six goals in the second half. Their first came at a hesitation from Courtney which YFN felt terrible for. She was next to Leah when that happened who filmed a mic’d up scream of joy from behind the Leicester goal as the shot went in. Slowly Jordan gravitated towards Leah more during the match, Leah managing to let her come at her own pace. The rest of the match was an absolute riot. Caitlin with an assist and a goal, Katie with an assist, and Kyra with multiple attempts at goal. She was shocked when she saw Courtney take Kyra down in the 83rd minute and wondered just how much of the history between them she didn’t know. The game ended 2-6 Arsenal. A complete second half dominance that had Leah screaming with joy on the sidelines. It turned out to be the perfect day to test the mic’d up segment, as she posted the live updates with video’s Leah had taken of her yelling at the girls running towards goal and screaming, turning the camera around on herself to show her celebrating. It was great content.

Regardless of the outcome, the Leicester players still came over for their interviews. First she had Sam, Sophie, Frida and Beth who actually did get some game time and almost a first goal since she’d come back from her ACL tear. Beth was the loudest, of course, and helped Frida to open up a bit. Frida had some back and forth with the Leicester girls talking about some of the plays including Sam’s goal. Overall, she was happy with the results of the interview, and how much the girls had come out of their shells.

Next was her interview with Courtney and Kyra who seemed equally nervous next to each other. They knew each other well though. YFN waited to sense the overall mood before she allowed herself to go in with some cheeky questions about Courtney’s tackle on Kyra, and Kyra’s debut. Her goal was to get them to start teasing each other, and it worked. At first, they didn’t want to address each other, and after a few comments here and there, it was more them talking and throwing cheeky comments to each other, and YFN could almost sit back and enjoy watching the show. She had to steer it a few times of course, both were young, but the tension between the two was obvious. For the sake of the viewers and their privacy, YFN made sure to make it known to the camera that they were teammates and brought up that they went to school together as justification which started a whole other line of questioning about their start in football.

Only when she was satisfied that she’d helped them break whatever awkwardness they’d previously had, did she end the interview, but not before she told Kyra how proud she was of her on camera for her debut. Courtney gave her a proud shove for that too.

Being Australians, and women, they all hugged their goodbyes, Kyra whispering a thanks into her ear. As they were packing up, she could see them still chatting as Courtney was being called away. She gave Kyra her phone and she typed into it what YFN assumed was her number. Courtney gave an awkward wave, obviously not knowing whether a hug was appropriate, and ran into the change rooms. Kyra turned to YFN with a grin and a little fist pump. It was adorable.

She looked past Kyra to where Leah and Jordan were standing, Jordan telling her she’d go on Friday. Leah’s expression flashed excitement before she contained it, and then it went a little shy as she pretended to be calm about it. They didn’t speak for long, just enough for Jordan to agree before she wandered off with Leah’s eyes following her longingly. She watched for a while until she met YFN’s eye and blushed, having been caught. She mouthed a ‘thank you’ to which she gave a smile in return.

“We really need to go.” Ruby stressed. She looked at the time and groaned. She only had time for quick goodbyes with everyone and a threat to Katie and Caitlin to not have sex in her bed. Katie seemed to enjoy the idea of the threat, to be honest, and that terrified her.

She rushed through security as quickly as possible and was the last person to board the flight, sweating and grateful she’d made it, though cursing herself for having to stay longer just to make sure Kyra and Courtney were good. As with her morning flight, she passed out immediately and wished she had a chance for a shower before seeing Lucy. Instead of a shower, she tidied herself up in the bathroom at the Barcelona airport when she touched down, changing her clothes and washing away the day. She brushed her teeth and did her nightly makeup routine, ignoring some funny looks. She sure as hell wasn’t going to let her skin suffer more than it already was with the change in weather between the UK and Spain.

Her Uber dropped her off at just before 3am and for some reason she was nervous, jiggling the keys Lucy had given her in her hands and playing with the little flags. At the front door she took a deep breath in and unlocked the door, entering as quietly as possible so as to not wake Lucy or Narla. She kicked off her shoes and left her suitcase in the entrance, not wanting to risk the wheels waking them. The smell as she walked into the house was home. Vanilla and bitter orange, and whatever the hell Lucy had been cooking for dinner. She swore she could even smell the big breakfast they’d had that morning. She looked at the trophy Lucy still had out and smiled, putting her phone on charge next to it before tip-toeing her way into the bedroom.

Lucy was quite literally dead asleep. She was on her back facing YFN’s side of the bed, one hand touching the pillow YFN had been sleeping on the night before. She was beautiful. She loved seeing her so vulnerable and herself. Her dark hair was spread out over the pillow, another thing she loved. Lucy with her hair down. She clicked the door closed quietly and snuck around to her side of the bed, avoiding Lucy’s collection of shoes around the bed. She carefully laid down and when she touched Lucy’s hand to move it, she jerked awake, her head rising and her eyes opening.

“It’s just me.” She whispered and put a hand to her cheek, coming closer so Lucy could see her better without her glasses.

“What? What?” She was dazed and confused, her body tense.

“Shhh. Shhhh.” She comforted and cuddled up to her, her head finding Lucy’s collarbone. “It’s okay, it’s just me. I’m sorry for scaring you.”

“Little one?” She asked, unbelieving. “You…you’re here.”

Her arms wrapped around YFN tighter than they ever had before, holding her close to her body, her own body softening into her. “Is everything okay?!”

“Everything’s fine, Luce. I have the next two days off. I’m all yours.”

Lucy groaned happily and kissed her wherever she could reach.

“Sleep now, Luce.”

“You’re home,” she whispered huskily with emotion, her voice already fading.

“I’m home.”