#Alanna Kennedy Imagine

[barcaatthemoon]

good enough || alanna kennedy x reader ||

you meet alanna's friends, but it doesn't go as well as you had hoped.

alanna was excited as she held your hand and led you towards her friends. you were beyond nervous, but alanna was adamant that it would be fine. she believed that her friends would love you. she loved you so much that they'd really have no choice, and even if you didn't get along at first, alanna was willing to be patient about that.

she understood that there would be some difficulty with the language barrier. the two of you had lapses sometimes in your conversations. alanna didn't think she had ever been so grateful for google translate, which had become a staple in her apartment since you started hanging around.

you had moved to manchester for school. alanna had run into you at a coffee shop, saving you from a rather aggressive and angry barista who couldn't understand you. as a thank you, you had gone out with her. that was the beginning of your relationship, and you hadn't looked back since.

"oh, there they are!" alanna said happily. she tugged on your arm gently as she pulled you over to a table. you glanced nervously at the group of girls sitting there, all of whom embraced your girlfriend in tight hugs. "(y/n), this is mackenzie, caitlin, and steph. guys, this is my girlfriend, (y/n)."

"nice to meet you," steph said as she pulled you into a hug. caitlin and steph seemed a lot more excited to meet you than mackenzie. you understood why, alanna was her best friend, and you had seemingly popped up out of nowhere.

"why don't you sit down and i'll get us something to drink, okay?" alanna suggested. steph and caitlin shared a look as alanna pulled your chair out for you. mackenzie, however, didn't seem nearly as impressed by things. she wasn't being outright mean to you, but you could tell that she definitely didn't want you here.

"despite alanna talking about you constantly, she hasn't really told us much about you," steph said as she leaned forward a little. "she mentioned you're not from here, though."

"oh, um, yes, i came from france for school," you told them. steph and caitlin asked you a few more questions about yourself before alanna got back. once she was back, alanna took up the rest of your attention. she hadn't done it on purpose, but it was a habit that she had quickly fallen into.

while a lot of people would argue that you didn't really do anything for work, your videos took up a lot of time. you were nearly at a record for followers on tiktok and instagram, and nobody had even seen your face yet. you made sure to do everything that you could to engage with people without revealing your identity. the last thing you wanted was to get swarmed by people whenever you were just trying to enjoy a day out with your girlfriend.

"hey macca, are you staying over still?" alanna asked. the little brunch was coming to an end, steph and caitlin having left just a few minutes before. they seemed excited to see you again, even if you'd be wearing a blue jersey then.

mackenzie glanced at you for a moment before turning to alanna to answer, "of course. i didn't come all this way for a cup of coffee. you owe me a few drinks at least."

"and i promise you more drinks than either of us should ever have, but first, i promised (y/n) that we'd go shopping after this," alanna said. mackenzie let out a little huff at that, but didn't say anything.

the three of you left together after that, alanna seemingly oblivious to the tension. you could feel mackenzie glaring at you whenever alanna wasn't paying attention. that was why you were glad to have slipped away from alanna and mackenzie after making a few stops at different stores. at least you had been until you got to the check out.

you had a good amount of money from your videos and social media profiles. it was enough that alanna's jokes about you being the breadwinner had stopped being jokes. that being said, you didn't want to have to call alanna to come and pay for you, but the clerk didn't seem to be willing at all to help with the language barrier.

"hey babe, sorry it took so long to get here," alanna apologized. you were quick to reassure her that it as fine and apologize in your own language. you had spent a good part of the day speaking english, and your brain was a little tired of constant translating. languages had never really been one of your strong suits, and it was times like this that you were grateful for alanna's patience with you.

"hey lan, do you think we can head back to your place now?" mackenzie asked. you still had a few things that you wanted to get, but mackenzie already seemed to dislike you, and you didn't want to make it worse.

"babe, are you done?" alanna asked. you nodded as you cuddled up to her side, pretending to be tired. alanna took your shopping bags from you and carried them to the car. she walked ahead of you, just far enough for mackenzie to pull you back for a moment.

"you shouldn't take advantage of her, it's wrong. alanna isn't your little errand girl, nor is she your personal bank account," mackenzie warned. you seemed to look confused, and so mackenzie decided to rephrase herself. "it's not right to treat her like this. she's way too good for you."

while alanna did seem to notice that you'd gotten sort of quiet, she still didn't manage to pick up on the tension between you and mackenzie. the glares that you had been trying to ignore all day seemed to penetrate through the mental barrier you'd put up. her words echoed in your brain, constantly reminding you of the insecurities that you had earlier on in your relationship.

"where are you going?" alanna asked as she watched you start to gather your things. she had been excited about you staying the whole week with her, especially after you had opted to spend the weekend on campus. your school schedule had been hectic, but this was a slow week with no assignments, one that you could dedicate solely on alanna.

"i can't stay here tonight, i'm sorry," you told her. alanna frowned as she watched you slip your backpack over your shoulders. she leaned forward for a kiss, one that you didn't give her as you rushed out of her apartment.

"hey, don't get all pouty on me. come on, get another drink and let's have fun," mackenzie tried. alanna didn't even look at her as she shot up from the couch and ran to follow you outside.

"(y/n)!" alanna yelled as she chased you through the parking lot. she was faster than you, so she managed to catch up before you reached your car. "what's wrong babe?"

"i can't stay with mackenzie there. she hates me. i just want to be good enough for you. i've been trying so hard, and she barely knows me, but she can see through me," you cried. alanna pulled you in for a hug, holding you tightly in her arms. "i'm sorry, but i don't think this is a good idea anymore."

"stop it. macca is protective, and while i love her, sometimes she needs to get her head out of her ass. don't listen to her, she'll come around to you, she just has to get to know you. now, i don't know where you not being good enough for me comes in because it's not true," alanna told you. she cupped your cheeks and tilted your head back a little, forcing you to look up at her. "i love you, and you love me. if anything, i'm not good enough for you, understood?"

"i know that you want me to stay, but i don't think i should while she's here," you said. alanna looked disappointed, but she wouldn't force you to stay if you truly didn't want to. "i'm sorry, lani."

"it's okay-," alanna pressed a kiss to the top of your head, "-i'll see you in the morning for breakfast. if it's okay with you, i'd really like to try and get you and macca on better terms, but we can wait a while first."

"she is your best friend?" you asked. alanna was quick to give you a little nod. "then i will try again tomorrow, for you."

"see, there you go again being too good to me," alanna laughed. she leaned down and pressed a kiss to your lips, careful to keep things soft and sweet. "i do wish you'd stay, but i'll pick you up tomorrow."

"tomorrow," you promised. "bye lani."

"bye babe, i love you." alanna dropped her hands away from you and started to slowly walk away.

"i love you too," you said back. alanna was smiling as she made her way back towards her apartment building. a part of you wanted to go back and spend the night, but you needed to clear your head a little and figure out what you were going to say to mackenzie the next day. you knew that alanna was going to have some words with the other woman, and you just hoped that she didn't say anything to ruin a friendship over you.

[pitchsidestories]

ball of the undead II Manchester City Women x Reader

masterlist I word count: 1344

a/n: dear readers, happy halloween, have fun ! 🧡🖤

“Any plans for Halloween?“

The question took you by surprise. You hadn’t even thought about that yet.

Usually, you didn’t care much for Halloween. The only good thing about that night were the parties. With your birthday being the following day, there was never a shortage of opportunities to celebrate. The only question that occurred every year was just which party you and your friends would go to.

But this year was different. You had just moved to Manchester in the summer and left your clique behind. It was the first time that you would celebrate without them, in a new city and without your silly little traditions.

The thought left you suddenly feeling very lonely but there was no time to dwell on it. Mary was patiently blinking at you, waiting for an answer to her question.

You forced yourself to smile at the young Australian: “No, not really… Maybe I’ll stay at home and watch some trashy horror movies.“

Alanna frowned at you as she emerged from her post-training shower with dripping wet hair: “But isn’t your birthday the next day?”

You shrugged nonchalantly: “Yeah but that’s only the next day.“

You could feel their eyes on you as you changed out of your football clothes, but no one said anything. You breathed a little easier when someone finally changed the topic. You really didn’t want to seem like the new girl who’d sit around alone on her birthday.

You mumbled “Bye “as you slipped out of the dressing room a few minutes later.

Unbeknownst to you, Mary turned to her teammates once the door fell shut behind you: “Girls, do you think what I’m thinking?”

“We can’t let her celebrate Halloween like that.“, Alanna answered decidedly.

“No, we’ve to celebrate together.“, Leila agreed.

Mary nodded enthusiastically: “We should organize a Halloween party for her.“

“I’m in.“, Alanna said.

“I’ll help too.“, Alex chimed in, a determined look on her face.

“I can bring some spooky sets.“, Lauren suggested, meaning her much loved building blocks.

Chloe rolled her eyes: “Hempo, that’s cute and all but it’s a party.“

“Do we have a motto?“, Jill asked the group.

Alannas eyebrows knotted together: “Let me think.“

“She likes Bridgerton, right?”, Mary suddenly remembered.

“She does.“

Alex smirked: “So Ball of the Undead then?“

“I like that.“, Mary clapped her hands happily.

Alanna nodded: “I think she’d too.“

“Okay, let’s get to work, chicas. Halloween is right around the corner.“, Leila laughed.

“I’ll build her a flower bouquet.“, Lauren decided which once again caused Chloe to roll her eyes at her: “Spooky.“

The girls kept planning the Halloween slash birthday party which was only interrupted by joyful laughter or eyerolls.

On the evening of Halloween, the things you bought for dinner and the threated empty, lonely appartement weighed heavy on you. But the expected quietness when you opened the front door was disrupted by your teammates cheering. “Surprise!”

“Wait, what?!”, you started at them surprised.

“Happy Halloween.”, Alanna exclaimed with a wide grin on her lips.  

“Wow.”, you muttered under your breath letting your eyes wander around the living room, open kitchen area of your home which they decorated heavily. There was a chandelier placed on the dinner table, covered in cobwebs and lit wax candles. At the kitchen counter you could see a huge lego flower bouquet most likely built by Lauren herself.

“She’s not happy.”, Mary sighed disappointed.

“No, I love it. How did you decorate everything so fast?”, you disagreed heavily. It warmed your heart to see how much loving detail your teammates had put in the decoration.

“Teamwork.”, Alanna explained proudly.

“Amazing. Thank you, girls.”, you smiled at them grateful to call these women your teammates.

“You’re welcome.”, Leila hummed while hugging you and pressing a kiss to your cheek.

“I appreciate it a lot.”, you said hoping they knew how much this meant to you. A pad on your shoulder made you turn around to face Chloe who was holding an elegant dress in her hand which could have been straight of the Bridgerton set if it wasn’t covered with a bit of fake blood to make it spooky.

“Here’s your costume. Get ready to party.”, she advised smiling.

Quickly you put on the dress while Alex began to explain the motto of the party. “The theme is..”

“Spooky Bridgerton, chica.”, Leila who was wearing a classy suit ended the sentence for her chuckling.

“That’s my favourite show.”, you beamed.

“We know. What’s your favourite spooky movie?”, Alanna asked.

“It’s night of the living dead I think.”, you replied smirking.

“Is it very scary?”, the Spanish defender questioned biting her lip nervously.

“Very.”, you confirmed chuckling.

“Hempito, I need you here.”, she decided.

“Yeah?”, Lauren blinked confusedly at the dark-haired woman.

“I need you to protect me from the frightening things happening in the movie.”, Leila stated in an uncharacteristically serious tone.

“Okay, I’ll protect you.”, the blonde winger giggled.

“And what about me?”, Laia pouted playfully.

“Then I’ll protect you both.”, Lauren declared who was rather amused by the tall Spanish defenders being scared by spooky movies.

“You’ll love it.”, you tried to assure them.

“We’ll see.”, Alanna said.

As the movie flickered on, you raised your glass that someone had put in front of you: “Cheers, witches!”

The others followed suit with exception of Jill.

“Who are you calling witches?”, she asked, scrunching her nose as she entered the room.

Vivianne appeared next to her, carrying her dog in her arms: “Sorry, we’re late. Myles costume took longer than I expected.“

She held up Myle who was wearing a small set of bat wings and didn’t look too thrilled about it.

Your jaw dropped in awe at seeing the puppy: “Oh my god!”

“At least she looks adorable.“, Vivianne smiled and set Myle down on the floor.

“I think you all look amazing.“, you complimented your teammates. They were all dressed as different kinds of undead beings in fancy dresses and you loved everything about it.

Alanna ruffled through your hair: “We only had her for a few weeks but I want to keep y/n forever.“

“Keep me? I’m not a dog!”, you frowned up at her.

“Don’t reply, Lani!”, Mary warned her teammate.

“I won’t.“, the older Australian agreed.

Shaking your head about the two, you quickly changed the topic: “More snacks, girls?”

“Yes.“, Lauren answered for them.

“Coming right up.“, you smiled and disappeared in the kitchen to grab some food.

Lauren smiled brightly at the sweets offered to her: “Thanks.“

“You’re welcome.“

You just settled back onto the couch to watch the movie when all of a sudden, Alanna yelled: “Girls, turn the TV off. It’s almost midnight!”

Everyone scrambled to their feet at the same time. You had no idea what happened but all around you was pure chaos. The Halloween decorations mixed with Birthday decorations and you suddenly held a glas of champagne in your hand.

“Time to raise the glasses!”, Alex announced at the stroke of midnight.

Your teammates all lifted their champagne flutes and toasted to you.

“I’ll get the cake.“, Vivianne promised.

You bit your lip, your heart felt soft and tender as the dutch player returned with a Halloween-themed birthday cake.

“You even got me a cake?”, you asked in disbelief.

Leila laughed: “Of course we got you a cake.“

“That’s so sweet of you.“

There were not enough words in the world to express how loved you felt and how grateful you were for your teammates.

Alanna grinned, clearly satisfied with the surprise: “You’re welcome.“

“Happy birthday, y/n.“, Mary whispered as she pulled you into a hug, just at the right moment so you could hide your wet eyes on her shoulder.

You managed a wobbly smile: “Thank you, girls.“

“Blow out the candles and make a wish!”, Alanna instructed you.

You gladly did what you were told, blowing out all the candles in one breath. But there was only one wish you could think of: Turning your old birthday tradition into a new one with your teammates.

[maxsimagination]

can you make a Alanna Kennedy fic ?

𝙬𝙚 𝙙𝙞𝙙 𝙞𝙩 - 𝙖.𝙠𝙚𝙣𝙣𝙚𝙙𝙮

summary: the world cup is coming up, the players are getting their call ups.

𖦹 masterlist

𝗜𝗧 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 of the year again.

while most would think of christmas, as a footballer, your first thought is national team call ups.

i wasn’t old by any means, only 21 years old, but i still hadn’t had my first cap.

most of my teammates at manchester knew, especially alanna. both of us were australian, the only difference being that she’d been playing for the matilda’s years longer than i had.

it was a training day today, an early start so i was driving down to my favourite coffee shop before reaching the fields.

“yn!!”

i heard a familiar voice shout after i’d hopped out of my car in the parking lot.

“lani!!”

i knew it was the blonde waiting for me at the entrance, just like she did every morning.

we walked in together, joining the rest of the girls before the coaches called us all out onto the pitch to start training. it was a solid session today, most of the team sweating profusely at the end. gareth had us running drills for at least two hours before we had another hour rest then back in the gym for weights.

finally we were finished and all the girls walked out, so ready to head home. i was walking to my car when alanna sauntered up behind me and jumped into my car with me.

“lani why are you in my car? you have your own car and house.”

i laughed at her antics but she simply grinned at me.

“well, my dear yn. i don’t have my car here today, mary drove me in. and i want to go to your house, it has a cat.”

i should’ve known she wanted to come to see marley. i’d adopted her a year ago when i signed for city and moved to england to play. alanna was the first person i met and had helped me move into my apartment.

marley had taken an instant liking to the tall blonde defender, which had surprised me and alanna. she usually wasn’t keen on people and lani was usually a dog person.

but every time she got the chance lani would tag along to see marley, never missing the chance to see her favourite feline. and she brought cat treats with her.

when we reached my place, marley was right there waiting at the door when we got in. alanna reached down to pick her up, cradling the purring cat to her chest. i laughed at the two, they were the cutest thing i had to get a picture.

the three of us spent that afternoon and evening doing some cleaning, cooking some dinner and watching netflix. and by we i mean me, while the other two sat on the couch and waited for me to finish so they could watch the netflix too.

it was roughly 07:00 pm when my phone rang. i answered, not thinking much of it.

“yn? this is tony gustavsson. how are you?”

i froze for a second, my brain not believing what my ears were hearing.

“yea hi tony i’m good, what can i do for you?”

“well, as you know it’s almost international break, and i’ve yet to select the team for the matilda’s. i would like to personally offer you a place on the squad.”

i sat in silence for a solid minute before i remembered i had to respond.

“you’re joking.”

“i can assure you i’m not.”

tony could tell i was astounded, laughing at how unbelieving i was.

“you want me to play for the matilda’s?”

“yes.”

“oh my god. thankyou.”

“thankyou, yn. i’ll let that sink in for you. have a good night.”

he hung up the call, thank goodness, because i was stunned into a statue. alanna had been comfortably sitting on the couch with marley the whole time when she noticed how shocked i was.

“are you okay?”

i nodded, just needing a bit longer to process things.

“i got the call up.”

alanna snapped her head up.

“no. please don’t tell me you’re joking.”

“i’m not joking. tony just called me.”

it was then that we both broke into squeals and laughter. i was so excited and ecstatic, i couldn’t believe i was getting my first ever national team call up.

“you did it.”

“we did it, lani.

couldn’t have done it without you.”

[etherealstar-writes]

I WANNA BE YOURS | WOSO X READER | PT 15

pairings: woso x reader

summary: in which you're accidentally added to a random group chat, not knowing they're all actually famous footballers, and obliviously end up having many of them competing for your love and attention.

part: fifteen

part one here

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

THE NATIONAL DIVING TEAM

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ nahhh that's it i'm quitting this job tillies my baes you guys hiring? 🙏

stairway NOOOO Y/N IM SOO SORRY

willybum Y/N NO

elton ABSOLUTELY NOT

kyra ABSOLUTELY YES

cha cha YESSS WE WELCOME YOU WITH OPEN ARMS

stephy of course! 🥰

the REAL karate kid NAHHH

neev WE DIDNT MEAN TOO Y/N WE'RE REALLY SORRY

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ NO YOU GUYS ARE NOT

meado what did you guys do this time

the imposter aka y/n ❤️

stairway it was nothing!

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ NOTHING?!

willybum did you just make a meme of me ....

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ i've made memes of all of you BUT THAT IS NOT THE POINT RN i hate you all except lotte i love you you're the only lioness i'll support

tom holland's twin while i really appreciate that pls don't leave me with these idiots 🥺🙏

meado waittt i wasn't part of all this why hate meee

earpsy yeah i wasn't there either why do we gotta suffer tho

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ MARY you not being there was what caused this torture and suffering in the first place 😭😭

keira i'm so out of the loop rn

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ SO THESE IDIOTS THOUGHT I'D BE GREAT FOR TARGET PRACTICE IN GOALS AND SHOVED ME IN THE BATTLEFIELD WITHOUT MY CONSENT ME WHOS THE OPPOSITE OF ATHLETIC GOT ABUSED BCUZ OF THEM ALL only lotte being the angel she is helped me

willybum it wasn't even that badddd

stairway yeahh you're being kinda dramatic

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ WASNT EVEN THAT BAD?! EXCUSE YOU I HAVE A CONCUSSION BCUZ OF YOU GUYS AND A MASSIVE BUMP ON MY HEAD AND YOURE CALLING ME DRAMATIC?!

tom holland's twin yeah it was a nasty bump ngl y'all knocked out her braincells

elton i mean to be fair she kinda didn't have many braincells to begin with anyway ....

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ SPEAK FOR YOURSELF THATS ITTT TILLIES YALL MY NUMBER ONE MY MAIN MY HOMELAND

the REAL karate kid

willybum NOOO NOT THEMMM WE SHOULD BE YOUR NUMBER ONE

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ WELL YOU SHOULDVE THOUGHT OF THAT BEFORE YALL ATTACKED ME AFTER EVERYTHING IVE DONE FOR YALL AND THIS IS HOW YOU GUYS REPAY ME?!

kyra charli and i are coming to get ya rn from these losers we're on our way

stairway WHO YOU CALLING LOSERS?!

willybum this is unacceptable

the imposter aka y/n ❤️

willybum

the REAL karate kid

neev NAHH WE'LL WAGE WAR

kyra

come at me you colonisers

tom holland's twin NAHH NOT COLONISERS 😭😭

stairway WE WILL

cha cha imma bring in the big guns

cha cha added brick wall, ford, lani and sammy the skippa

the imposter aka y/n ❤️

OMG MORE AUSSIES AYEE

cha cha um that photo .... anyway macca cait lani protect y/n at all costs

brick wall

aye aye

lani on it!

ford okay!

sammy the skippa um what is happening rn

stephy all you need to know is that we gotta protect y/n from the lionesses

sammy the skippa

neev we got our own big guns lucy millie mary rach need ya rn

earpsy here!

brightness yes.

daily i was summoned

rusty metal yeah?

kyra well WEVE GOT MCCABE KATIE MCCABE

the REAL karate kid WHAT?!

willybum SINCE WHEN WAS MCCABE WITH YOU GUYS?!

brick wall since always?

stephy yeah katie's an honorary aussie

meado katie?!

mccard yeah i am

elton WELL WEVE GOT ONA ISNT THAT RIGHT?

rusty metal ona?

ona well ..... i'm afraid to tell you that we spaniards have formed an alliance with the aussies

kie THE BETRAYAL 😭😭

willybum what is this blasphemy

tom holland's twin wait isn't spain also a coloniser tho ....

stairway oh yeahhh that's hypocritical of you

ona shhhhhhh

kyra

cha cha well y/n is successfully ours

willybum ABSOLUTELY NOT

neev WE'LL GET HER BACK JUST YOU WAIT

stairway YEAH WERE COMING FOR YOU KANGAROO RIDERS

samma the skippa

what are you all gonna do? drown us in your cup of teas?

the imposter aka y/n ❤️ DAMN yall got violated haha

the REAL karate kid

neev i cannot believe this just happened 😔😭

✦ ——— ✦ ——— ✦

next part here

[chaotic-toasters]

Crashing

AUSWNT x Teen!Reader

-------------------

"Hi, Macca!" You grinned, rushing into the Keeper's waiting arms. "I missed you!"

"I've missed you too, kid," she smiled, squeezing you tightly. "How's Spain treatin' you?"

"Good."

"What about me?" Alanna questioned. "I haven't seen you in a while too, y'know."

"Oh, hi Lani," you patted the defender on the shoulder. "Didn't see you there."

"You're so mean," the cityzen feigned hurt, all too familiar with your playful antics. "Kyra said to go and meet her and Charli in her room. They need you for something. Probably a prank."

"Alright," you gave her and Mac fist-bumps as you walked past. "If I turn up dead tomorrow, you know what happened."

---------------------

"Hey, Ky, hey Char," you greeted, eyebrows raised as you followed Kyra into the room. "What was it you needed?"

"Y/N, perfect," Charli was suspiciously gleeful. "We've got some Tim Tams that we need eaten, but Ky and I have already had too many. You mind finishing them for us?"

"Sure," you agreed instantly, never one to deny a Tim Tam (even if it was way too early in the morning. "I'm down."

-------------------

In short, you consumed three whole packets of Tim Tams. Kyra and Charli had shared a look, the former getting up and grabbing a coffee from otherwise empty desk. "You look kinda tired. Have some coffee, it'll help you get through the jetlag for now."

You hadn't thought much of it, so you'd graciously accepted it and finished it within the hour.

"Y/N! Kyra! Charli!" Lydia's voice called through the door, followed by a couple of knocks. "We've gotta head to training! Get ready to go!"

You rolled your eyes, much to Kyra and Charli's amusement. "Yes, mum!"

--------------------

"MINIMINIMINIMINIMINIMINI!" you practically yelled, barreling towards the surprised Midfielder excitedly. "LOOKLOOKLOOKLOOK!"

"Woah, kiddo," she sidestepped, glancing over at Alanna. "You're a lot stronger than I am. Careful."

Alanna was quick to pull you into a hug in a fruitless attempt to calm you down. "What's goin' on, Y/N? You okay?"

You were shaking, bouncing up and down rapidly in the defender's arms. "What d'you mean? I'm great!"

You bolted away, somersaulting across the pitch before slamming your foot into a ball that had been laying on the ground. "WHEEEE!"

"Y/N, Y/N, Y/N," Tony ran over with Steph in tow. "What's happened, kiddo? You just excited?"

"Yeah yeah yeah!" you did a random backflip for no reason other than you feeling like it. "I'm excited! Yup yup yup!"

Ellie looked severely ashamed for what she was about to whisper to Hayley. "Is she... is she high?"

"No, there's no way," the Madrid player shook her head instantly. "She cares about her career way too much to jeopardize it with something like drugs."

"Yeah, you're right. But if she's not high, then what?"

Across the pitch, Lydia and Mackenzie's eyes swept over each and every player like hawks.

Instead of being worried that a new, younger keeper would take their places when you joined the national team, they immediately took you under their wings and declared themselves as your team moms. It wasn't a secret that they'd kill anybody who messed with you.

"Mac," Lydia elbowed the West Ham captain. "Over there."

Mac's eyes zeroed in on two best friends, seemingly worried as they whispered in each other's ears. "Oi! Cooney! Grant! You got somethin' to share with the team?"

Both of their heads snapped up, fear written clearly all over their faces.

Two tall, angry Australian goalkeepers was a terrifying sight for anybody, but up until now, none of the Tillies had been on the receiving end of your team moms' wrath. Safe to say, no one was prepared.

"You give my kid something?" Macca demanded, rolling up her sleeves. "Why's she actin' weird?"

Charli gulped. "We— we, uh..."

"Spit it out," Mackenzie growled, ignoring the fact that you were currently clinging onto her leg like a koala. "What. Did. You. Do. To. My. Kid?"

"We gave her a bunch of Tim Tams," Kyra blurted out, caving as soon as Lydia dragged her thumb across her throat menacingly. "And... and... Charli gave her a coffee with, like, eight packets of sugar in it!"

"Me?!" Charli cried. "You literally handed it to her! And it was your idea! I only agreed!"

"Oh, you two are so dead," Mac glared, lumbering forward with much difficulty considering there was a 140-pound human attached to her right leg. "I swear to God, I'm gonna murder you both."

Lydia did it for her, seizing both troublemakers by the fronts of their shirts. "You think this is funny? Y/N can be fuckin' dangerous when she's hyper! She coulda run over Mini!"

Kyra looked past Lydia's shoulder to where you were snuggling into Macca's knee and babbling about racecars. "Uh—"

A smack to the back of the head shut her up real fast.

"Not now, Ky!" Charli hissed through gritted teeth.

"Tony!" Kyra pleaded as Lydia's grip on her training bib became tighter. "Tony, please!"

The manager held up his hands, walking backwards and almost tripping on the drinks cooler. "Nope. Not getting involved."

"Steph—"

The skipper looked around wildly. "I... I have to go plan your funeral! In the bathroom! Bye!"

"Ras, please—"

The Madrid player was gone before the gunner could even finish her sentence.

Lydia's eye twitched.

"Uh-oh."

----------------------

"Y/N, babes, you good?" Ellie asked, nudging you slightly.

You blinked slowly. "Huh?"

"I'm gonna go get Mac, I'll be right back."

True to her word, the Lyon defender returned a minute later with the ever-protective older keeper at her side.

"Y/N's kind of out of it," Ellie explained as your head bobbed slightly. "I think she's crashing from the sugar."

"Aww, kiddo," Mackenzie sat beside you on the bench, using a hand to place your head on her shoulder. "It's only three, you tired?"

"Mhmm," you murmured, only half-paying attention. "Sleepy."

She sent a cowering Kyra and Charli a death glare. "Go to sleep, kid. I'm sure Tony wouldn't mind. Right, Tony?"

The manager instantly agreed, giving you both an awkward and slightly terrified thumbs-up. "I— yup. Whatever you want, girls. It's- it's totally up to you."

Lydia walked over, brushing a flyaway out of your face. "I'll bring you up to your room when we're done here. Get some rest, kid."

[wileys-russo]

alanna kennedy, “I always preferred macca anyway”, tillies night out at a bar

competitive streak II a.kennedy

"everyone is going to give us shit for being late!" your girlfriend groaned in annoyance, checking her watch for the tenth time as the uber zoomed through the streets of manchester.

"lani are we talking about the same girls? the girls who are late for movie nights when we're all in the same hotel?" you laughed in amusement, squeezing her leg reassuringly.

"we wouldn't be late if you hadn't taken a hundred hours to try on every single piece of clothing you own." alanna grunted with a huff, thumbs flying against her phone screen.

when she felt your eyes burn into her head she looked up and met your unimpressed glare. "i mean but you look just so gorgeous that its worth it babe. so so gorgeous!" alanna attempted to fix things, smiling charmingly as you only hummed.

"mm thats what i thought you said." you warned as she grinned and kissed your cheek a few times, the uber nearing the restaurant you were meeting a handful of your national teammates at.

by some scheduling miracle a large group of them were all down in manchester with games this weekend allowing for the impromptu meet up. "el is jealous." you chuckled showing your girlfriend the annoyed selfie from your best friend who was living and playing in france.

"film this." alanna tapped your knee as you chuckled but clicked record. "serves you right for living in france carpenter, fuck you and i hope the fomo eats you up!" alanna flipped off the camera as you laughed and ended it, sending the snapchat to the blonde and tucking your phone back in your bag as you arrived.

"thanks mate." your girlfriend smiled appreciatively, sliding out of the car first before holding the door open and a hand out to help you up which you took.

"i've changed my mind, looking drop dead gorgeous or not if they give us shit for being late i will be throwing you under the bus."

~

"alright, pair up and lets get a tourney going!" sam clapped her hands together eagerly as you all hovered by one of the pool tables in the sports bar you'd all moved onto after dinner, losing a few of the girls to their beds along the way there was only six of you still standing.

"not a chance babe!" your girlfriend laughed grabbing caitlins arm as you tried to pair up with her and made a face of shock. "lani!" you huffed in offence as the blonde shook her head firmly.

"i'd just like to win baby, nothing personal." the taller girl winked as you sent her a scowl and someone else drew you into their side. "such a shame you won't be winning then. i'll be taking your girl and the trophy!" mackenzie grinned with her arm slung over your shoulder.

"with her hand eye coordination skills? you can have her." alanna dismissed with a shrug as your mouth formed a small o of shock and even caitlin winced at her best friends words. "you've never even seen me play kennedy." you reminded with a roll of your eyes.

"nah but i do live with you babe, and theres a reason i'm on an undefeated streak at game night. so get ready to lose!" the blonde smirked cockily as you scoffed again.

"hope you're hungry lanz, cause you'll be eating your words soon!" macca swooped in with a grin, guiding you away as you sent your girlfriend a mean glare over your shoulder.

"hope your couch is comfortable tonight lani." cait sighed and patted the taller girls back who rolled her eyes and pushed her away, sam and steph teaming up to play against the two of them for the first game.

you watched on with a silently smug smile at the range of shocked expressions which rocked your girlfriends features as you proved your worth, mackenzie grinning with delight as the pair of you won game after game.

"no way! you bumped the fucking table." alanna scowled as you sunk two balls in one shot, blowing on the top of your cue like a smoking gun before lining up and sinking another ball.

"just call it now! you and cait haven't won a single game lani." sam laughed, she and steph having beat them but no one was yet to beat you and mackenzie.

"nah fuck this, they're cheating somehow!" the blonde huffed dropping her stick onto the table as you sunk a further two balls, winning the game, and storming off to the bar.

"good news! you don't need to get me a birthday present this year, because the look on her face just then...priceless." mackenzie kissed the tips of her fingers as you laughed and pushed her lightly.

"better go do some damage control, hey cait take my place. you might even win a game!" you teased as your friend smacked you lightly and took the cue in your hands, sam setting up the balls for a new game.

it took a few minutes but you eventually located the defender who was leaning against the balcony of the empty smokers area, scowling out into the chilly night air making you smile.

"so is this where the losers hang out then?" you teased appearing beside her as she rolled her eyes and refused to look at you, crossing her arms a little tighter with a huff.

"you know if you'd have just paired up with me like i wanted, you'd have avoided all this horrid horrid humiliation." you knocked your shoulder into her, looking up at her with an amused smile as she groaned.

"don't remind me, should have known cait would be fucking useless." your girlfriend grumbled, flicking you a frown and huffing again before her eyes returned to the skyline. "i'm sure she's thinking the same babe, you sunk what maybe...two balls? and they weren't even for your team." you laughed as alanna groaned again.

"go gloat somewhere else, cockiness doesn't suit you."

"well are you going to be this pouty and moody all night? because i think i deserve a reward for playing so well." your tone shifted as the defenders eyes snapped toward you, seeing the familiar smile tugging at your lips.

"you just want to ditch them?" she questioned a little in surprise as your own eyebrow raised at the unexpected reaction of her not jumping at the opportunity like she normally would.

"no its fine, we can just go back inside and play a few more rounds. i mean i always preferred macca anyway." you smirked as you started to back up toward the door and her face hardened.

you grinned in victory as she surged toward you, taking your hand and practically dragging you toward the exit, calling out a goodbye over her shoulder and ignoring the shouts of protest from your friends in the distance.

"alanna!" you laughed as the blonde called an uber and promptly shoved you against the wall outside the bar, looming over you with a wolfish grin, leaning down so her lips ghosted you and ignoring the ping of her phone that the uber had arrived.

"think i've got a better idea of what i'd like a few rounds of tonight babe."

[trulyhblue]

Girl(friends)

Lauren Hemp x Aussie! Reader

Warnings: fluff, coarse language, awkward, OG Man City

A/N — I'm in a Hempo phase rn so be prepared. Short one today x

______________________

You dreaded the days when you weren't playing football.

It was the one thing you couldn't live without, your adoration for the sport was larger and more demeaning than anything else. The solidarity, solace, and peace you found in running up down the wing, the ball at your feet. The feeling of utter elation when the ball went into the goal, past a defender, through the goalkeeper's reach. The celebrations, the assists, and everything else in between.

You could talk forever about football.

Except on Media Days.

You hated the unknown of it. You had managed to excuse yourself beforehand from most of these shoots since you weren't among the best-known players of the club — save that for Keira, Gee, and Lucy. But on the rare occasion that you were chosen for the quick photoshoot or challenge with one or more of the girls, you remained relatively quiet, speaking when you must and laughing when you should. You had no trouble with any of the girls, it was just in front of the public's view, and you were squirmish.

You pulled yourself out of bed after hitting snooze thrice, hearing Alanna ramp on downstairs. You made sure to stay in bed for another ten minutes. You changed into your team's tracksuit and a random top, making your way downstairs, slouching into one of the stools by the kitchen counter.

"Oh, wow." Alanna chuckled, holding out a coffee towards you. "You look delighted. Excited for today, are we?"

You simply offered her a grimace, taking a large sip of your coffee, hoping the taste would clear your evident distaste for the day ahead.

Alanna was a social butterfly. She was used to feeding into the Media's hand whenever they came becking. Most of the City girls were the same, it was a very jovial team that trusted one another well enough to have fun in the security of their job.

All the girls had arrived by the time Alanna and you had trampled in, wearing matching blue kits. Hayley was laughing with Georgia in front of a couple of cameras, a ball at their feet as they struggled to keep the ball off the floor. Gee tried to kick at the Aussie's feet, by didn't catch the ball in time to get the point. Raso threw her hands up in triumph, the cameras panning to Gee rolling around on the floor.

On the other side of the indoor training field were Lucy and Keira, standing around a giant-sized game of Janga, talking to the PR Managers behind the camera as they posed questions to the two of them as they played. Alex, Lauren and Chloe were sitting by a desk, on their phones as they waited for their turn to be called up.

The gush of blood that rushed to your cheeks when Lauren smiled towards you sent Alex and Chloe into a fit of giggles. The duo were always around to tease the two of you with your beyond-obvious, mutual pining. You wouldn't call it embarrassing, but there were certainly times when one of you would go out of your way to gain the other’s attention.

When you first met, Lauren tried to give you a tour of the facilities, but she ended up getting both of you lost. She apologised over and over profusely, and she dreaded the awful, first impression she had left you with.

You and Alanna sat beside them, greeting them with conversation before falling into a satisfied silence. Your next game was the Manchester Derby against United. The team had been training non-stop this past week, today is the first day without strenuous drills and exercises. Nevertheless, it was still a day at work, and to be honest, you'd rather be sweating ten times over than talking to a camera.

The thought of doing a video alone daunted you as you watched Hayley and Gee from afar. On a regular day, Hayley would be your Media Partner; the two of you always did videos with one another. On the odd day that you didn't, it'd be Alanna. If not Alanna, it was with a group of you. Now that you thought about it, the two Aussie girls were the only ones you had done a video with one-on-one. The feeling of someone different was tormenting. As the five of you sat silent on your phones, you hoped and prayed all of you would be doing a video together.

While you kept to yourself for the most part, save for the Aussie girls, you would go out of your way to make sure Lauren was your partner in drills. You’d try your hardest when she was watching, and vice versa. The blonde would hit the ball as hard as she could into the back of the net, and you’d be that landed with the assist. In games, you had been quickly dubbed as a duo due to the chemistry you seemed to have in the game. Fans would swarm at any interaction you’d have with her.

But to their dismay — and apparently most of your teammates — you and Lauren had never been in a video together.

But, to your surprise, you spoke too soon.

"Alright, Ladies, are you ready?" One of the PR girls came up with an iPad, scrolling through whatever it was she was looking for, and glancing up. You noticed Lauren straightening up beside you, holding her arms over her chest, waiting for the woman to finish her sentence.

You found yourself catching sight of the slight furrow in the girl's eyebrows; the concern written all over her face. You knew she was worried, and you supposed you were too. "We've got Greenwood, Kelly, and Kennedy over there. You've got interviews."

You tried not to look too relieved at the news, hiding the smile in response to the girl's identical groans. No one liked Interviews. They were serious, solemn, and no fun whatsoever. It was always boring questions about your job as a Midfielder, or how you maintained a balanced life outside of football. It wasn't the fans' favourite video to watch at all, but it was more for the professional side of it than the Media. Everyone had to do it. You were just glad that today it wasn't you.

"Hempo and Y/l/n, we've got an auto-complete interview."

"That's not fair, those are so much better," Alanna whined at that, throwing her head back like a toddler. "Hempo, surely we swap."

Lauren pursed her lips together, cheeks going a bit red at all the eyes on her. Alex and Chloe waited for her response, a smirk aligned on each of their faces.

"Nah, leave her Lani." Alex sounded, prodding the blonde with her elbow.

Lauren's cheeks went a deeper red when Chloe laughed. "Hempo's been wanting to do this for ages."

"Shut up, Kelly." Lauren snapped in a mutter, turning away to march off towards the direction of the lone white background and chairs. You turned to see the two Brits giggling to themselves, dragging Alanna over to the back doors.

"Have fun, Y/n/n."

"Hope you're as excited as Hempo!"

You shrugged them off, sauntering over to the set-up. Lauren was already sitting on a stool, playing with the rings on her fingers, wearing a prominent scowl.

"Are you alright?" You asked, sitting on the spare chair, tensing when you accidentally knocked your knee with hers.

Her pale cheeks disappeared, replaced with the blush you saw from before. "Yes, they're just annoying. Very annoying."

"Having a laugh, I 'spose." You reasoned, though the blonde didn't come off as too convinced. "But you're right, they're silly."

The blonde simply hummed in response, the both of you listening to the man behind the camera.

"Okay, guys, this is really straightforward." He said, readjusting the camera as he spoke. "You just got to introduce yourselves before you start, then we'll give you a board full of questions and you've just got to answer them. All good?"

Everyone watched the two of you nod. No one could deny the definitive awkwardness between the two of you, and the obvious hesitance toward what you were about to do. It was safe to say neither of you was fit to talk on and on, especially under the scrutiny of viewers.

You didn't know the cameras were already recording, choosing to fiddle with your hands as you waited. You could tell by the definitive look on Hempo's face that she was just as reluctant as you were. The blonde glanced at you from the corner of her eye, shuffling in her chair before she muttered towards you.

"You have an eyelash."

You spun to face her. "What?"

Lauren's face reddened, her beady brown eyes widening at your sudden response.

Without thinking, she pulled her hand out from her pocket, reaching to pinch something off your face. She was gentle when pulling away, holding her finger up to reveal the eyelash she had picked. She watched as you blew it off, giggling meekly at the benevolent interaction.

"You ready?" One of the people asked behind the camera, making the two of you leave your intimate bubble. "When you're ready."

Lauren nodded towards you. "You can start."

You sighed, trying to hide the smile that crammed your lips. "Hello, my name is Y/N, and this is Lauren Hemp," You waited for the blonde to finish your sentence, but when you were met with silence, you took one look at her stupefaction and continued. "And today we're going to be doing a... what is it?"

Lauren lifted up one of the boards that balanced against the end of her chair. She picked it up, surveying it, reading out the bulk letters at the top. "An auto-complete interview."

"Right. That's what we're doing."

The two of you left the introduction at that, an empty silence vacating the set.

Thankfully, a voice sounded from behind the camera. "Who's starting?"

Lauren shrugged, filling the ungainly silence. "I can."

You both stared at the board in between you. "I think you peel them off." You spoke, motioning at the tape that covered half the sentences. Lauren took your advice, skinning the first sticker to reveal the question.

"Who is Lauren Hemp's team?" You read out, making both of you giggle. "Oo, that's a good question."

"I play for Manchester City." Lauren played with the tape in her hand as answered. "But I play for England in the National Team."

She peeled off the second one, waiting for you to read it. "Who is Lauren Hemp's favourite teammates?" You spoke, rubbing your head in deceitful confusion.

Lauren laughed, glimpsing at you with a beaming smile. "We haven't known each other for long."

"Yes, but I'm very charismatic." You shook your head, sighing. "But go on, who is it?"

"Well," She thought to herself for a second. "I'm close with all the girls but... I'd have to say Esme, of course. She's my best friend."

"No brainer, clearly." You made a point to roll your eyes, huffing about, but it was plain to see that you were only joking. "Alright, who is Lauren Hemp's... boyfriend?"

There was a bit of an awkward interlude, leaving everyone looking around the pitch. Lauren, however, fell into a cynical fit of laughter, with you following shortly after.

"No boyfriends for me."

You didn't know why, but your stomach recoiled at the thought of Lauren with someone. It was a great relief to hear that she wasn't. "None at all?" You couldn't help but ask.

Lauren was quick to reply. "No, no boys... or girls at all."

"Right." You replied, placing the board onto the floor, hoping no one was noticing the pink across your cheeks. "Who's next?"

The next board was displayed between the two of you like before, except this time, your name was typed across it. Lauren shuffled closer to you, pinning the board to her side. “Go on then.”

You peeled the first question off. “Who is Y/N Y/L/N’s favourite team?”

Lauren looked at you, laughing when you were silent. “Well, I'm not answering, you are.”

“Yeah, well, hold on, I'm thinking.” You scoffed, pretending to whack the girl playfully with your board. She swatted you away, grabbing the board from where it rested on your thigh and smiled.

“I'm gonna say the Matildas because why else,” You could hear the Blonde’s indistinguishable disapproval, clicking her tongue. You’d later find out when watching the clip that she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms over her chest affectionately. “But yeah, my childhood club was Sydney FC, so I’ll stick with my roots.”

“But she plays for City,” Lauren added, both of you giggling at your ambiguity. You never liked these types of questions, especially when the media took them out of context. You love City with all your heart, but it was easy for people to twist things and make it out that you didn't mean what you said.

“But I play for City, yes, and I love it.” You repeated, proceeding in ripping off each of the stickers as the game went on.

Lauren was patient when it wasn’t her go, adding in her opinion and a subtle joke every so often, basking in your immediate reaction each time. You bounced off one another like wildfire, seemingly knowing what the other was going to say before it was said. You were intellectual in what you shared, favourite meals, celebrity crushes, words of advice — pretty much anything the questions asked. Without knowing, you and Lauren discovered more and more about each other without directly asking. Your relationship blossomed, even with the presence of the cameras, into something tangible, free, and warm.

When it got to the end, you were still holding the board, fiddling with its edges as Lauren wrapped up the last of her questions. Somehow, you felt a little upset that the video was coming to an end. You wanted these questions to keep on coming. You would spend hours listening to the girl talk about what she loved and who she was. But by the time the last question lingered, you feel into comfortable silence.

Ever so slowly, Lauren inched her hand closer to the board you were holding, brushing her pinky and ring finger across your thigh as she did so. You pretended to conceal your flustered state by smiling, giving her the board to chuck away.

You didn't know how you coped when you felt Lauren keep her hand on your thigh.

“Well, that's the end of the video,” She finished, looking towards the camera, then to you.

You smiled back at her. “We hope you enjoyed and if you what to see more—”

“Well there's no more videos of us.”

“But go check the channel anyway.”

“Bye!”

_________________

manchestercity

manchestercity — watch our fan-fav duo answer your questions on our youtube channel!!! 🩵🩵🩵

Coming out later today 💪🏻💪🏻

tagged: laurenhemp, yourusername

Comments:

alexgreenwood — I'm as excited as @ laurenhemp, right @ chloekelly???

^ chloekelly — the real ones know 😂

^ user19 — what r they talking about Lol???????

^ chloekelly — yeah, Hempo, what are we talking about?

^ laurenhemp — STOP

User1 — they are so cute omg

^ user2 — IKKKKK

user22 — Alex and Chloe’s comments?

^ user25 — they know something we don't

^ alexgreenwood 👀

^ user22 — HELP

yourusername — hope you all enjoy 🩵

^ manchestercity — 🩵

laurenhemp — thanks for having us!

^manchestercity — 🩵

^ user3 — the blue heart is just so 😍

User4 — “you've got an eyelash.” “what?” UGH THE SOFTNESS OMG

^ user5 — the way Y/N lets Hempo brush it off and blow it away 😭😭

^ user6 — they definitely had no idea they were recording.

user7 — OKAY ADMIN FINALLY FEEDING US WITH THE HEMPO x Y/N CONTENT

^ user8 — RIGHTTTTT LIKE IM HERE FOR IT

user10 — they will win us the league.

^ user11 — why didn't they work together sooner?

^ user10 — fr

laurenhemp (pretend its you, luv u keira)

laurenhemp — winner winners

tagged: yourusername

Comments are limited.

Yourusername — stargirl 🌟

^laurenhemp — 🫶🏼

alexgreenwood — yeah the girl(friends)

^ chloekelly — yeah the friends…

__________________________________

A/N — this was really rushed and cut up but there isn't enough Hempo fics out there. I rlly didn't do her justice tn 🫠

[katiemccabeswife]

Daddy Issues

Biv Meadema x Teen!Reader || The Christmas break was ruined by your Dad's anger issues but Beth and Viv are there to pick up the pieces of your broken heart.

4.9k words (proud ✊🏼)

You were more than happy to be back in dreary London after the Christmas break, which was abnormal because you loved your home country and having Christmas with your family.

This Christmas had been a good one, after a couple years of cold and rainy summers, Australia had finally had a cracker of a summer and for the first time in years, the lead-up to Christmas actually felt like Christmas again.

You always loved getting to be home with your family and being able to go to the beach every day and this year was no different. Christmas day was wonderful, it started with a swim at the beach and was followed by a beautiful lunch filled with laughter and joy from friends and family.

Your relationship had always been a bit rocky. Sometimes you got on like a house fire, poking fun at your sister together and doing work around the house but other times you got on like cats and dogs. Your mum had always said that you two were too alike and that’s why you fought as much as you did. But it was also known within the four walls of your house that your Dad could be bipolar at times and had an explosive temper and should definitely be in some sort of program for his anger issues that seemed to come out of nowhere.

It was a few days after Christmas and only a few days were left before left to go back to London. You and your Dad were joking like usual and everything seemed fine, until it wasn’t.

You had some family friends over and you guys had just started a game of poker when your Dad asked you to go clean up the kitchen.

“Dad, we literally just started. I’ll do it after, don’t worry,” You weren’t facing him so you couldn’t see his unamused face and took his silence as a silent agreement.

Not even five minutes later he asked you again, “Alright. Now go do the dishes, Y/N,” He said sternly. You had an ongoing joke between the two of you where he would pretend to be stern about something and you would jokingly say ‘No’ right before getting up to go and do whatever he had asked of you. As you were still facing away from him and knew he could see you were still engaged in the game of poker, you assumed he was only joking.

“No,” You giggled slightly and so did the others around the table, “I’m almost out anyways, I’m running out of candy canes,” You joke as candy canes had been the substitution for money.

He only became more consistent with his asking and it was starting to piss you off. You weren’t very good at gambling and were trying to focus and his nagging was throwing you off.

Once you finally got out, first by the way, you were getting up to go and clean the kitchen when your Dad once again asked you to go and do exactly that, “What does it look like I’m doing?” You were fed up with his nagging and your voice portrayed that and the others around the table picked up on it.

“Someone’s mad they lose,” Your sister called out to you.

“Don’t be mad just because you lost!” Your cousin teased.

“Off you go to clean the kitchen,” One of your Dad's mates called out.

“Don’t be mad that you lost!” Your Dad called out which was the final straw for you.

“I’m not mad about losing, I’m pissed off because you’re sitting right behind me asking to clean the kitchen every 5 seconds when you can clearly see that I was in the middle of a game!” You can understand why your Mum says you and your Dad were so alike, but to be fair, he was extremely annoying with his constant nagging behind you.

After making your way inside and to the kitchen you began cleaning but were soon interrupted by your father storming into the kitchen pervaded with anger, "How fucking dare you?" You turned around and saw him making his way over to you.

You thought he was joking in the way you two had been for the past week you spent together, "What?" Your tone held an essence of humour to cover the genuine confusion.

"Get the fuck out!" Your father screamed at you.

"What!" You screamed in confusion as your entire body filled with dread and fear.

"After everything we've done for you! Get the fuck out!" You were trembling with fear when he stepped closer to you, held your arm with one hand and raised his other. You coward away from the large man you recognised as your father.

You ducked under his arm, picked up your keys and ran out of the house and towards your car. You got in and sat in silence for a moment before a wave of sadness washed over your body like a cold shower and you began to sob. You held your hands over your face and cried, you cried like you did when you were 7 years old and didn't finish your dinner because you were sick and your Dad yelled at you just like he had just now, like you did when you were 14 and stood up for your sister who was too scared to and your Dad's face was just as angry as it was a few minutes ago, just like you did when you were 16 and talked back to your Dad, fed up with his borderline misogynistic comments and you were almost as scared of him as you were right now.

You cried because you were scared your father was going to hit you. Your Dad always had a temper and exploded from time to time but never had he ever grabbed you and never had you genuinely believed he was going to hit you. Your hands were shaking and your chest hurt as you couldn't take in a full breath of air and your head was beginning to hurt from crying so hard. You were 19 years old and still crying over your Dad.

After 15 minutes of crying your heart out you started your car and went on a drive. You drove to the beach and took out the towel that was still in your car from your trip earlier that day and you walked towards the water. The waves had calmed and were no longer crashing into the shore with great force but softly rolled through the water and flattened against the sand with grace. You set down your towel and stripped from your clothes, thanking yourself for staying in your bikini all day and walked into the water.

You dove under the water and relished in the calmness and quietness you felt swimming. Once you'd swam out until you couldn't touch you moved to float on your back, closed your eyes and took a deep breath. You floated there numbly for at least 20 minutes before you got out and wrapped yourself in your towel. You sat in the sad, silent tears rolling down your cheeks as you watched the sun dip below the horizon. Once the light had been stripped from the sky you walked back to your car before the light of an ice cream shop caught your eyes.

You treated yourself to a double-scooped waffle cone and sat down outside the shop, looking over the beach you could barely make out. You knew how your Father would act if you went back home, he would ignore you, pretend you didn't exist and not talk to you until he felt better and after that time was up you would have to pretend nothing happened. You always did so because he was your father, your best friend at times and how could you not forgive him for screaming in your face?

You were grown now though and you weren't going to pretend this never happened and you decided that you weren't going to talk to him until he apologised. You knew that wasn't going to happen anytime soon so, you got out your phone and booked a flight back to London.

Once you had finished your ice cream it was well into the night and you had a flight to catch in 6 hours so you went back to pack your things.

You thought that everyone would have left by now and your family would be asleep but by the number of familiar cars littered through the street and the lights still on in your house, you knew that was not the case. You took a deep breath before walking into the house, keeping your head held high but not making eye contact with anyone. You walked straight past the living room ignoring the calls of your name and headed straight to your childhood room.

You were putting the few things that were spread around back into your suitcase when your Mum walked in, "Y/N, what happened honey?"

You tried to contain your tears as you turned to look at your Mum but as soon as you started speaking, the floodgates opened and you sobbed again, "I thought he was going to hit me," You said through the tears and your mother took you into her arms, securing your head with one hand, the other rubbing up and down your back to comfort you.

"I'm sorry, y/n/n, I'm sorry, but you know that you shouldn't push your father like that," You ripped yourself out of her hold and stared at her in betrayal, "You two are too similar, it's only a matter of time before joking become reality and laughing becomes crying. You know he has a temper, you need to be careful. I also think you should be the bigger person and apologise." She said. Whilst you didn't blame your mother for your father's actions a part of you despised how she always sat and watched you and your sister cry while he yelled at you two minutes after laughing with you.

You turned around silently zipped up your suitcase and walked to leave, "Where are you going, baby?"

You faced her with fresh tears born from anger, " I am leaving, I'm going back to London because I shouldn't have to 'be careful' around my own Dad. You know how fucked that is!? I shouldn't have to be the bigger person! He's a grown man, he needs to learn to regulate his fucking feelings and act like it!" You had never shouted at your Mum and you barely ever swore around her but you were tired of her picking your Dad's side over yours.

She tried to reach out to you but you brushed past her slightly and walked out the door. You should have been the bigger person and left silently but you heard your Dad laugh in the living so you left your suitcase at the door and walked to where your Dad sat. You walked straight up to him with a straight face, flung your middle finger into his direction and said, "Fuck you, you fucking pussy." You walked straight out the door and didn't hear a word from anyone in the house.

You spent the entire 24-hour trip back to London reflecting on the past day and what it meant for the future of the relationship with your parents. You knew your Mum just wanted to be the mediator and that your Dad was too stubborn to apologise. You also knew that you were going to stick to your word and not speak to your parents until they apologised. You also grieved the relationship with your father as you knew that it would never be the same ever again. It was one thing that he grabbed you and then he had to restrain himself from actually hitting you.

You grieved for the little girl who just wanted to please her father, who wished she was a boy because your Dad often talked about how much he wanted one. He was the reason you started football. Girls didn't really play it, it was seen as something only boys should be doing, so you cut your hair and signed up for the local club. He came to every game and cheered you on and after a good game he'd say to you, "Who needs a son when I've got you," It seemed like a nice statement but looking back on it, it really messed with you.

It was only when you moved out and overseas to play for Arsenal at 17 that you realised that your Dad really wasn't the best guy and an even worse Father. Albeit that you never said or did anything about it because you thought of all those kids whose Dad hit them or left them when they were young and reminded yourself that you were lucky.

But now, after 2 years of living by yourself and a therapy session here and there you realised that just because other kids had it worse didn't mean that what you went through was ok or that you didn't deserve to be treated the way you were.

When you landed and got your luggage it was 8 in the morning and you felt your phone buzzing in your hand. Beth was calling you and you weren't sure if you should answer but you knew she would worry if you didn't so you headed to the nearest bathroom and answered her Facetime, "Hey, Beffy," Your voice was a little hoarse from crying and you hoped Beth wouldn't pick up on how red your eyes were.

Beth smiled at you, "Hey chicky," She must have noticed that you were hiding in a bathroom, "What you doing?" She questioned.

"Umm," You hesitated, "I'm in the bathroom... In the airport," You said sheepishly.

Beth's smile dropped and her face took up a concerned look, "Why are you at the airport? Which one?"

You picked at your nails, anxious to tell her where you were and scared she would ask why, "London," You almost whispered.

"Oh," She looked really concerned now, "Do you want me to come pick you up?"

You shook your head quickly not wanting to be a nuisance, "It's alright thank you, I've ordered an Uber," You smiled slightly at the thoughtfulness of your friend.

"Well, why don't you come over for breakfast. I want to hear all about your holiday and I can even get Vivi to make the special waffles you like?" She was so hopeful you couldn't deny her offer and you really wanted Viv's special waffles.

"Yeah ok, I'll be there around 9? Is that alright?" Anxiety pulled at your chest at the thought of telling her and Viv about what happened with your Dad.

"Perfect, I'll see you soon, chicky!" You smiled and hung up the phone. You walked out of the cubicle and splashed water on your face to try and even out your breathing.

"Fucking idiot."

Thanking the Uber you rushed up the stairs towards Viv and Beht's place eager to fill your hungry stomach although once you'd got to the door you hesitated to knock. You checked your eyes in your phone camera and concluded that you could blame the slight redness and puffiness from sleeping and hayfever (it seemed you had hayfever all the time and the girls always made fun of your sneezes and even kept count, each time urging you to beat your 'high score').

You took a deep breath to release the hold anxiety seemed to have on your heart before knocking on the door. You instantly heard Myle and Rona barking and the sound and smiled, now excited to play with the puppies.

"Y/N/N! Oh, my little chicky," You were immediately wrapped in a hug from the girl and whilst reciprocating it you felt the urge to cry taking over you once again but you had cried enough for a long time and told yourself to suck it up.

"Hi, Beffy," Your voice was muffled from you pressing it into the crook of Beth's neck.

Beth waited for you to release the hug (she seemed to have a sense of when people needed a hug) and when you did she took your face between her hands, "How have you been, y/n/n?" She asked worriedly.

You smiled sadly at her, "I'm alright, thanks, how are you?"

Beth didn't seem convinced but knew you were aware you could talk to her at any time and if you weren't ready, she would wait, "I am even better now that you are here!" She exclaimed before taking your suitcase in one hand and your hand in her other and dragged you into the house, "Oh, Vivi! I've just gotten a very special delivery!" She turned back and winked at you but continued to lead you to the kitchen.

"Y/N/N!" Viv said with mock enthusiasm, trying to match Beth's with great difficulty with it being early in the morning.

You met her in the middle and gave her a hug, knowing she was joking and that she wasn't a morning person, "Hi, Vivi," You greeted.

Once you broke out of the hug you sheepishly looked to the waffle machine and back to Viv who caught on to your looks, "They'll be 'bout 2 minutes. I know two fluffy little girls who would love to see you," She egged on and you quickly went to find the puppies.

Once you spotted them you dropped to your knees and soon you had two dogs jumping on you and licking your face, "Hello Miss Rona and hello Miss Myle! How are we today my girls!" You spoke in a baby voice and continued to talk to the dogs as if they were such, oblivious to the conversation happening in the kitchen.

"Is she alright? She looks like she's been crying. And wasn't she supposed to come back in another 4 days?" Viv questioned.

Beth sighed and wrapped her arms around her girlfriend, "I don't know what's up but she definitely has been crying and I bet that would explain why she's back so early. When I called she looked like she'd only just stopped crying, I don't know what happened," She looked desperately at Viv. Beth and Viv were unofficially your step-in parents whilst you were in London or wherever you travelled with Arsenal. Beth was a second Mum to you and she took her role very seriously, always checking if you'd had a good sleep and what you had for dinner and if neither of you had plans she would always invite you over for dinner and a movie.

Viv was your unofficial 'Dad' as you'd claimed and would come over to your apartment to fix anything that needed to be done and give you piggyback rides when you were 'too tired' to walk, "Do you want to ask after breakfast? I don't want her to feel overwhelmed, maybe I'll take Myle and Rona for a walk and you could talk to her then?"

Beth nodded, "Yeah alright, I'll do that," She agreed with a sad face.

Viv noticed the look and hugged her again, "She'll be alright, she's with us now, yeah?"

"I just worry about her when she goes home. I miss her as well," She took a deep breath and put on a brave face when you walked in with Rona and Myle on her heels.

"Umm, I think the waffles are done?" You pointed to the waffle iron that was lightly smoking.

Viv rushed over and took out the waffles that were only slightly burned around the edges, "Crispy edges give them more flavour," she told you when she put them in front of you.

You looked up at her in amusement, "Of course, Vivi," You joked while adding your choice of toppings.

You, Beth and Viv conversed lightly over breakfast about your trip home and what you got up to whilst in Australia. You told them what you did with a smile on your face but they both noticed how it didn't stretch as far as usual and how you talked as if your parents hadn't been there at all albeit you staying in their house.

"Right, y/n/n you can go get yourself sorted in the spare room. You are staying tonight," Beth ordered jokingly to which you smiled and nodded in agreement, not really wanting to be alone for another night, "Vivi's gonna walk the puppies and I'll clean up." She clapped her hands and everyone spread off to their 'assignments'.

As Viv was a very clean cook Beth's cleaning was more or less tidying and she quickly joined you in the spare bedroom, "Hey chicken," She spoke softly when she walked in and noticed you staring at the wall looking crestfallen.

You smiled as brightly as you could, "Hi Beffy, sorry I got distracted. I'm a little bit jet-lagged," You waved off, "Do you need help cleaning the kitchen?"

Beth joined you on the bed, "It's all sorted don't worry sweetheart. How you feeling?" She questioned looking you deep in the eyes.

Her stare was so loving and concerned that it made that stupid feeling of crying come back, "I'm fine? You?" Your voice was slightly off as you had a lump in your throat but tried to play it off.

Beth sighed as she didn't want to press you but had to know what was going on with you, "Chick..." She spoke softly and you had to turn your head so she wouldn't see your eyes filling with tears.

She placed a hand on your shoulder and rubbed it gently and you couldn't hold it anymore, your hands came to cover your face and you brought your knees up to your chest and sobbed loudly.

"Oh, honey, no," Beth hated seeing anyone cry but you had a special place in her heart which hurt her even more. She moved your head to be on her shoulder and your legs to lay across her own. She rocked slightly and continued to rub your back. You were hysterical at this point, the comfort Beth was bringing you reminded you of your mother which reminded you of her taking your father's side which brought on another loud sob from deep in your chest.

Beth had to lift your head from her neck to make sure you could get enough oxygen and wouldn't pass out, "Honey, I know it's hard but I need you to take a deep breath for me please," She grabbed your water bottle from the nightstand and gave it to you and you clung to it like a lifeline.

You truly were trying to calm yourself but you couldn't stop crying and you couldn't get enough air to your lungs which was starting to hurt and you began to cough and gag. "Lovely, what's going on?" Beth was extremely concerned you were going to pass out.

After another minute of coughing and gagging you managed to get enough air into your lungs and nestled your head back into Beth's neck and she took your body back into her arms, "I thought he was going to hit me," You cried out as if the words caused you physical pain.

Beth was shell-shocked from the words that came out of your mouth but quickly recovered to comfort you. "Your dad?" She questioned as you had confided in her before about his temper.

You nodded and whimpered slightly as you had calmed down and were no longer audibly sobbing, "And mum," The thought of your mother made you sob again and it took you another minute to rein it back in all whilst Beth sat there patiently waiting for you to talk.

You managed a deep breath and Beth wiped your face free of tears although they were quickly replaced with new ones, "My dad got really angry and then he grabbed my arm and he had his fist up," You cried, "I thought he was going to hit me!" You sobbed.

Beth shook her head and cooed, "Did he?"

You shook your head and Beth relaxed slightly, "And then mum said- she said that I should know better than to push his buttons and that I needed to be careful and that I should apologise!" You weren't the only one who was angry now but Beth had to contain hers to continue to comfort you.

Beth shook her head, "That's not ok, y/n/n, it's not and I am so sorry you had to go through that and I'm glad that you told me, thank you for trusting me,"

You nodded sadly, "I love you Beffy," And you collapsed into her hold and cried silently as she rocked you.

"I love you too, chick, did you leave straight after that?" She questioned wanting to get a better idea of how quickly you left.

She felt you shake your head 'no', "I drove off to the beach and then got myself an ice cream and booked the flight. And once I got home, that's when mum said all that stuff but I'd already packed my bag so I went to leave but my dad was in the living room and he was laughing. I don't know what he was laughing at but it made me so angry so I went and called him a 'fucking pussy'," You both giggled slightly at it, you weren't known to swear and it always sounded weird coming from your mouth.

"I'm proud of you, sweets," Beth kissed the top of your head.

You nodded into her chest, "Thank you, for being here for me" You spoke quietly. Beth continued to rock you and had to look to the ceiling to stop herself from crying. She looked down when she heard quiet snoring coming from you and laid you down against the pillow and laughed quietly at you hugging your water bottle.

She had walked into the kitchen before she started crying. She didn't know how long she'd been standing there crying until two sets of paws jumped at her thighs and when she looked up she saw Viv's concerned face.

Viv dropped the leads on the kitchen counter and gently took hold of Beth's arms, "What's happened? Where's y/n?" She questioned quickly.

Beth sobbed quietly, "She- and her dad- oh and then her mum-," She couldn't get a full sentence out so after holding her in her arms to calm her down, Viv gave her a glass of water.

They had moved to the couch which was where Beth explained the whole story to Viv who was extremely concerned, "And she was crying so hard she was coughing and gagging. Vivi, I was so scared she'd pass out and oh her little face! I don't know how I kept it together!" She outraged quietly, acknowledging the fact that you were asleep down the hall.

Viv once again held Beth, just like she had you, "I can't believe it. I've met him and he seemed lovely. I mean I know they didn't always get along but I never thought it was that bad," She spoke in disbelief.

Beth nodded and was significantly more calm than she had been previously, "She's sleeping now. God, she must be exhausted. I feel so bad for her, my poor little chicken," Beth pouted at the thought of your sad face.

"I know, love, but she's here now, right? She is safe and she's sleeping, it'll be ok," Viv consoled.

"Yeah," Beth nodded dejectedly.

Once you woke up you checked your phone and realised you'd slept for 5 hours but it felt like you could sleep for an eternity. You didn't feel up to talking to the girls yet so you opened your phone and scrolled through Instagram for a while. Most of the Arsenal girls had posted photo dumps of the year and you smiled every time you saw yourself in one and when you saw the girl's comments. Beth and Viv's photo dumps warmed your heart. You appeared in almost all of the photos and laughed when you saw Katie's comment.

katie_mccabe11 might aswell adopt y/n/n now, hey?

You felt so loved and warmed that you decided to post your own.

yourusername

liked by stephcatley, lliawaelti and others

yourusername eternally grateful for my girls, i love you all ❤️ happy new year!

view 567 comments

kyracooneyx awe stop it you sap 🤭

alannakennedy love ya darls 🩷

leahwilliamsonn my favourite chick 🐥

bethmead_ love you chicken ❤️

Once you had plucked up the energy to head outside you were met with Viv and Beth tucked under a blanket with Netflix loaded on the screen in front of them and a variety of your favourite snacks on the table.

"Hey, y/n/n," Viv noticed you first and Beth quirked up at the sound of your name.

You were standing sheepishly in the hall with one of your pant legs pushed up to your knee, your hair a mess and your water bottle between your arms. Beth cooed at the sight of you, "Come over here chick," She moved over so you would sit between her and Viv.

"Any movie suggestions?" Viv asked teasingly, knowing which movie you would want to watch.

You smiled at her and leaned against Beth, "Grown Ups?" You offered and Viv snickered at the choice, it being your go-to movie.

"Of course," She put it on and whilst you could recite the entire movie off by heart you were still upset that you missed most of it but blamed Beth running her hands through your hair and Viv rubbing your lower legs for putting you to sleep, somewhere where you felt safe, warm and loved.

[avaf00rd]

little shits

kyra Cooney-cross x teen!Reader (platonic)

why is posting my first fic embarassinggg…

anywho enjoy this piece of shit. I’ll open my requests and try to write as much as I can. Luv u all xxx

————————————————————————

You were kind of out of it though as Caitlin was trying to mouth something to you further up the gym with her hands, you put your hands up in shrug towards her, but from the conversation in front of you you heard something along the lines of “if you don’t” and Kyra saying “deal”.

“Got that y/n?” Beth grinned at you

“yup!” You quickly said before running over to Caitlin who was motioning you to help her with something.

You had lost a bet. You were reminded by Kyra that you “weren’t supposed to do anything stupid towards anyone in the team for a week” 8 days later she shrieked at you as she was changing into her swimmers in the bathroom of the locker room.

And that’s where you found yourself, In the 15 degree London weather, you were being dragged by Beth, Jen and Katie who just wanted to see this play out, down to the ocean. As you all walked down to the cool air of the beach you shrieked at the harsh breeze “nup” you said as you started running back but was caught by Katie “bets a bet” she giggled grabbing you and dragging you down the beach.

You and kyra took off both of your jumpers as you looked at each other, regret filling your eyes. There were some lunatic surfers in long wetsuits, none like the ones back home in Australia but if you were honest you were terrible with cold water. Beth pulled out her phone to camera when Jen gave Kyra a light shove towards the water, she didn’t move though.

“Ok let’s be quick” you started walking down, just ready to get it over with, a shivering mess once you got down. You noticed the 21 year old was no longer behind you but was being carried over the shoulder by the tall Jen Beattie. Your jaw hit the flor as she was completely thrown into the water head first, with Jen now in the water too. “Okay giant” you giggled as Jen quickly ran out of the water but looking back to yell at you.

“Five whole Minutes!” was screamed from the top.

“Nah it was two!” You exclaimed as Beth shook her head with a grin. You were still only up to about your bellybutton in the ice-like water. That was until ‘little shit no. 2’ jumped on your back causing your head to be pushed under water. The cold water feeling absolutely hell-like on your skin. “KYRA!” You screamed as you came back up again, knowing she was done she started swimming away fast. Though luckily you were a fast swimmer, you caught up to her and completely dunked her.

On the shore, Katie, Beth and Jen slowly started to go ankle-deep into the water to feel the temperature for themselves. “Christ that’s worse than an ice bath” Beth exclaimed quickly before removing her feet from the water.

“They are gonna turn into ice” Jen said

“Or worse completely taken out by a shark” Katie said, as Beth’s face rose with concern. “Wait how much time left?

“It’s been up for about a minute now” Beth said “you two out you come!” she yelled running up to grab your towels.

But of course, you and the slightly older girl were in your own world once again. Trying to drown each other while laughing your heads off.

————————————————————-

On a slightly chilly December weekend, you had broke the curse. You and your teammates had smashed Chelsea with a wicked 5-1 and you couldn’t be more excited, your were a striker, quite a significant one for the team, and had managed to slot in a goal in the extra time just minutes before the final whistle. As that whistle went you jumped straight to Caitlin buzzing with excitement before Alessia joined your two by jumping on your back. As you went around to all your other teammates.

You made eye contact with Leah as she quickly went on to the field, the twenty-six year old meant so much to you since joining at the club, so you sprinted into her arms. “Lee!”

“Your goal was incredible I’m so proud of you tiny!!” You grinned at the nickname the team gave you and the fact that she was proud of you. She motioned for a piggy back to you when you were put down, when you jumped on her again she started sprinting towards the rest of the team you saw Kyra talking to vic with her back to you when Leah had come to a stop you tried to jump onto Kyra’s back straight from Leah’s but failed miserably when Kyra was completely knocked down long with Vic and you. Kyra’s funny bone hit your head which she squealed in pain. Nothing serious though.

And just like all the girls around knew that a child’s fight would break out between the two of you, you got up and started running backwards away from her. She started to chase you as you were laughing your guts off. You and Kyra were absolute toddlers anytime everywhere as the crowd and team completely stopped and watched in amusement.

————————————————————-

‘Harps!” You squealed as the Gorry toddler jumped into your arms in the lobby of the Hotel. You noticed most of the team standing around chatting as all the ‘London Aussies’ piled into the building.

“I missed you!” Her tiny voice exclaimed which made your heart melt. “I missed you heaps!”

You and Harper got along beautifully, she was like your little sidekick when at camp, the girl would not dare to leave your side the whole two weeks. Steph laughed with Mini behind you, greeting each other and laughing how you left your bags stranded right near the bus when you saw the small girl, Steph having to wheel them in.

“Mins!” You smiled as you gave her a warm hug.

After more hugs and hello’s were exchanged you all headed up to your respective rooms. Since it was only around lunch time you had a small meeting with Tony but were then allowed ‘chill out time’ before dinner and bed time. You, Mackenzie, Alanna and Caitlin were sitting on bean bags in the main room talking about random things and your Christmas plans. When Charli was completely thrown onto your head from behind.

“Ow” you laughed.

“Kyra!” Charli said towards the girl that was pushed onto you.

“Little shit” you mumbled

“Oi you can’t talk miss” Caitlin smirked before quickly going on about your latest stunt you and Kyra pulled together back in London making the other girls laugh. You soon got tired of hearing how good you are at getting away with pranks. As you curiously went to search through a cupboard that had some coloured things peaking out the bottom which amused you. You opened it to find random things from craft kits to movie projectors. You started to move things a little as you crouched down to find more. That’s when you pulled out a large white karaoke machine laying on it’s side, it was beyond you on how it got in there and managed to fit.

“What’s that?” Macca asked as you stood it up-right once it was pulled out. You didn’t reply as you smirked at Kyra who knew exactly what it was. “Awesome” Macca sarcastically said after no reply from you.

For backstory, you and Alessia found one in a room at your training grounds back in London. And you pair along with Kyra and the help of Leah’s terrible singing completely wore it out as it sparked and suddenly broke. Obviously, the mums of the team like Kim and Viv got mad that you nearly could have sent it up in flames.

“Oh no no no” Steph breathed out as she walked in to see you and Kyra teaching Macca and Alanna how to start it up so they could perform their duet to some random old Justin Bieber sing. “You set this hotel on fire, no blaming me to Kim that I didn’t stop you”.

And that’s how the night ended the whole team gathering around and taking turns in partners to sing away. With you and Kyra taking over the micv for more than half of the songs. “No way” you muttered as it suddenly stopped working.

“You-“ Hayley started and then laughed from where she was laying on the floor watching you.

“They’re cursed I swear” Kyra said as you put your arms up in a shrug towards steph.

[totaly-obsessed]

✌Appreciation

Request a player | with @alotofpockets

[woso-lover234]

Matilda’s x (teen) reader- beach day

Before the end of the camp after the Olympic qualifiers everyone promised you (and harper and Harley) that you guys would go to the beach. After a lot of talks with the older girls from staff they finally agreed so the next day the girls were due to head off.

The morning they were due for the beach trip Caitlin woke you up early so we would be able to find a good spot on the beach as that is what everyone agreed on minus mini and Tameka due to having kids with them.

After you groggily got up and complained to Caitlin it was too early and she just rubbed your back and helped you get ready.

"Do you think someone will teach me how to surf?" You asked Caitlin who nodded

"I'm sure if you ask nice enough they will say yes and teach you if you wanted" she replied as your smile grew.

On the car ride there you were stuck between Kyra and Charli and demanded they play I spy with you which they agreed to. After a few rounds you all started getting competitive and Caitlin, Alanna and macca (finally being the responsible ones) shut the game down so the three of you had to sit in silence the rest of the 5 minute journey.

Once you all got to the beach the older girls all set up their towels and umbrellas and just as you were about to make a quick break for the water mini grabbed your arm

"Sunscreen" she said putting it in the hand she had grabbed as you groaned

"Do I have to?" You asked and a few of the girls that were around heard and laughed

"We may love you but the sun doesn't really love you which means your gonna burn without this and I don't want to deal with that" mini said which caused more laughter from the girls and a sigh from you as you nodded and mini made quick work of rubbing some on your face, neck and ears.

"Can we go in now?" You asked as you were waiting on your towel for a 'responsible adult' to be ready and go in with you which ruled out macca and Kyra who were the only ones ready and actually wanting to go in the water.

"Just wait another minute y/n/n I'll come in a sec I gotta let my sunscreen set" Charli said from beside you as you kept chucking longing glances at the water which felt so close yet so far to you.

After Charli had deemed that her sunscreen had set you, her, Kyra, macca, Caitlin and Sam headed into the water.

"Is no one else coming in?" You asked shocked so much of them decided to skip to opportunity to go in the ocean.

"I think teagan and raz are coming in, in a bit" macca replied just as she got splashed with water by you as you laughed like it was the funniest thing in the world "your gonna regret that" macca said smiling deviously as she advanced towards you as you tried to cower away behind Caitlin.

"Nuh uh" Caitlin said tryna move from infront of you "stay away from me" Caitlin finally moved from infront of you

"Traitor" you yelled at her as she pushed you towards macca as you then screamed which made the group around you laugh. You then caught sight of teagan and raz coming into the ocean and quickly swam towards them and hid behind the two before putting on an innocent act.

After a while of swimming you decided you wanted to surf. You came back to the shore asking all of the Matildas if they knew how to surf before you settled on lyds. Lyds grabbed a board and headed into the water with you to teach you some basics and hopefully by the end get you on some waves.

After a few failed attempts which between all of the Matildas on the beach had been filmed, you were starting to get that hang of it. You called out to lani and told her to watch this so Alanna took it upon herself to film it as lyds said a nice wave was coming. All of the Matildas on the beach and the rest that were scattered in the water watched with anticipation. You caught the wave and stood up smiling and throwing your fists in the air

"NAILED ANOTHER SPORT!" You yelled having finally gotten the hang of it before being smashed by a wave and unbeknownst to you lani had gotten all of that (including your fall) on camera.

After finally wearing yourself out after spending atleast 4 hours in the water and some out to reapply sunscreen, which you were forced to do or would have to stay in the shade next to lani, you came out of the ocean and laid on your towel. Steph was next to you and started patting your hair and detangling it a bit due to it being messy from the water and she didn't want to have to deal with it all later. She adjusted the umbrella to shade most of your body from the sun which Steph found hard eventhough you were wearing long sleeved bathers with shorts but Steph eventually managed it.

alannakennedy posted a new story

*the video of you surfing and saying you mastered another sport with lani writing 'wouldn't say mastered with all the attempts it took @y/n.y/l/n'

Once everyone realised you were having a little nap they were all interested to see what you would say when she woke up as it was always hilarious. When you started to stir everyone pulled their phones out but mini due to holding a sleeping harper and Steph due to running her fingers through your hair gently as to not hurt you or wake you up too fast.

"There's sand in my bed" you grumbled rubbing your eyes as everyone laughed.

After you had fully woken up you were ready to go back in the water again.

"Who wants to go back in the water with me?!" You yelled so all the Matildas that are still there can hear you

"I'll come" teagan says as you both go to the water

When lani and Steph look back out they see Tegan piggybacking you into the ocean so you're barely making contact with the water. Alanna laughs filming it to post on her Instagram story

alannakennedy posted a new story

*the video of you getting a piggyback from Teagan with the writing 'I thought she said she wanted to go back IN the ocean @y/n.y/l/n @teaganmikah'

After splashing around in the water with Teagan and playing mermaids with Cait, macca, Sam and Kyra you had fully worn yourself out and retreated back to the shore, slightly red (which would most likely go more red soon) and really hungry. Shortly after everyone left and as soon as you got back to the hotel you were in the shower to rid yourself of the salt, sand and smell of the ocean from your body. After that you enjoyed a peaceful dinner with the team before gathering in Alanna and maccas room for team bonding where you promptly fell asleep on Caitlin and everyone now realised how sunburnt you truly were

[barcaatthemoon]

cuddlebug || alanna kennedy x reader ||

Your cuddle session with Alanna gets interrupted.

18+

Despite all of the changes to United's roster, you felt good about your chances this season. At least you had until the thrashing City gave you at the derby. The game was rough, especially for you. Their backline hadn't given you any room to create chances. You found yourself face to face with Alanna several times, and by the end of it all, your body was looking a little worse for wear.

You arrived home nearly an hour before Alanna did. She had stuck around a little longer than you to celebrate with her teammates. Still, you knew that she had rushed out of there to get to you. If she could have skipped it all and come straight home, she would have. You didn't mind her staying out a bit, especially after losses like this. It didn't feel fair to you for Alanna to coddle you after a loss instead of partying with her teammates.

"You look comfy." Alanna stood at the doorway of your bedroom. You had taken a fairly long and much needed hot shower when you got home. The rinse off at the locker room had been nice, but it wasn't nearly enough to wash away the frustration and soreness of the game.

"And you don't have to be this awkward every single time that we play against each other. Alanna, your name is on the lease. I'm pretty sure that you paid for this bed on your own. Not to mention you did spend a pretty penny buying me this ring," you said as you flashed her your engagement ring. Alanna was listening to you, but you could tell that she didn't completely understood what you were getting at. "You're entitled to come lay with me, in fact, it's encouraged for you to cuddle with me. This bed is too big for me to lay in alone for the rest of the day."

"But I tackled you. It was a pretty clear foul honestly. I would have definitely gotten booked if Leila and Laia didn't distract the ref," Alanna mumbled. You huffed and patted the spot in the bed next to you. Truthfully, all you wanted was for Alanna to lay down with you. You wanted to feel her strong arms around you as your exhaustion began to win the fight you'd been having for an hour.

"Yeah, and I was mad about it in the moment, but right now, I just want my fiancee to come and cuddle with me." You gave Alanna your best pout and puppy dog eyes. It had the desired effect, and Alanna finally stepped fully inside of the room. She changed out of the clothes she had left the stadium in, trading them out for an old pair of Matildas shorts and what looked suspiciously like one of your old training sweatshirts.

You didn't even bother moving over at all in the bed. Once Alanna had started to get close to you, you rolled right into her arms. She seemed surprised by this, even though it went this way every single time that the two of you played against each other. Although, you had to admit that whenever you managed to get a goal or two past her, Alanna was much more prone to pouting and sulking until you pulled her out of it with heavy affection.

"You smell different. Did you get a new shampoo?" Sometimes it was hard to remember that this was the same woman who had strung you along for years. She had been adamant about being a playboy and 'keeping her options open' but Alanna was the softest, sweetest woman you had ever met. She had an extremely sensitive heart, and you were lucky enough for her to have opened it up to you.

"I borrowed a bit of yours because I ran out. Maybe later we can run to the shop and get some," you suggested. Truthfully, you didn't want to make any late-night store runs. It would probably be a week until you went and got your own bottle of shampoo because you'd just use Alanna's until it was out. The two of you had a bad habit of doing that, something both of you knew about but would never admit to.

"Eh, I plan on keeping you in all night. Maybe a bit in the morning too if you can handle that." Now, it was Alanna's time to talk big game. She knew that you'd never back down from a challenge if it was issued correctly. You knew that Alanna would end up tapping out long before she made you do it. She always seemed to forget just how intense your personal conditioning outside of training was.

"And you can, but first, I want to cuddle for a while. We haven't gotten an afternoon like this in a while," you told her. Alanna hummed as she pressed a kiss to your shoulder and relaxed behind you. She kept her hands clasped around yours as the two of you laid there. You were on the verge of falling asleep when you started to feel the first signs of it.

You hated how much your brain tended to run wild whenever you were trying to fall asleep. Alanna's breathing was hot and heavy, and right up against your neck. She had to be nearly asleep herself, a soft snoring passing through her open mouth. You were sure that it was a less than attractive sight, but she had curled her head up so that each breath passed over a pulse point.

The two of you had stayed pretty still aside from some shifting here and there. In that bit of movement Alanna's sweatshirt had ridden up a bit. You had forgone putting a shirt on after your shower and laid down in a sports bra. Alanna's body was pressing against yours, and you could feel the tight muscles of her abdomen as she pulled you in even closer.

It was a subconscious movement the first couple of times. You shifted your hips a little hoping to stop one of the two things that were turning you on. Instead, you just made it worse as you made room for one of Alanna's thighs to press against your center. The third little wiggle of your hips had done you in as you ground down directly on the muscle. Your leggings had never felt so thin in the entirety of the tiem that you had owned them.

"Stop moving around," Alanna mumbled. She sounded a little whiny, just like she always did whenever you woke her up.

"'M sorry," you apologized. The words had come out far breathier than you had intended them to. Alanna jolted a little behind you at the tone of your voice. You definitely felt her body shift behind you, leg sliding further between yours. "Lani?"

"Shh, it's okay. We can do this too. I don't want to do anything too much right now. You had a rough game. We can do this. I'll be sweet for you," Alanna promised you. You turned around to face her, the movement as a whole slightly awkward until Alanna helped you.

You ground your hips against Alanna's thigh as she cupped your cheeks and pulled you in for a kiss. She kept her kisses light, not pushing you to deepen anything. It was more control than what you were used to, but it was still welcome. You loved kissing Alanna, the mixture of her coffee creamer vanilla chapstick always left on her tongue. There was a sweetness to her kisses that nothing could ever really seem to take away.

Alanna's hands fell from your cheeks to rest at your waist. She helped guide your hips, adding a bit of much appreciated pressure. You could feel the subtle build up of your orgasm. It wasn't going to be anything explosive, but that wasn't what you would have wanted. There was something small and intimate about the moment that called for something a little more quiet.

"Alanna," you whimpered, hands balled up in her sweatshirt.

"I know. I know," Alanna whispered against your lips. She guided you through it, not letting go of you until you did so first. You rolled onto your back, suddenly craving a bit of space. Alanna waited for you to pull her in for a kiss before she tried to touch you.

"I love you," you mumbled against her lips. You started to sit up a little, but Alanna pulled you right back into her arms. "I need to change, I can't lay around in ruined underwear all afternoon."

"It's okay, let me take care of you," Alanna said. She helped you out of your clothes, wiped away the mess that she had made of you, and then stripped herself away of her clothes too. The two of you laid in bed together just enjoying the closeness of each other's bodies. A part of you knew that it was a chance for Alanna to see the bruises forming from the match, but you didn't mention it since you got the closeness that you so deeply craved.

[pitchsidestories]

Alanna Kennedy Masterlist

oneshots

You belong with me

[maxsimagination]

𝗺𝘆 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘁𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿 - 𝗮.𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗱𝘆

summary: yn goes on strike against the rfef but is bombarded with questions by the media at practice. alanna helps her through it.

-> !! tw for vilda and rubiales

𖦹 masterlist

𝗜 𝗪𝗔𝗦 𝗦𝗣𝗔𝗡𝗜𝗦𝗛 𝗕𝗢𝗥𝗡 and raised, it wasn't something i tried to hide. my friends knew it, my girlfriend knew it, the team knew it. unfortunately, the media knew it too, and when the world cup scandal happened and then the players returned to their home clubs, it was the perfect chance for the media to get their opinions.

but they didn't have a very friendly way of getting it.

i had been called up to the world cup, i'd played in it. i wouldn't have played if i knew about the corruption that the spanish federation held. and don't get me wrong i was stoked that we won, but i refused to celebrate the fact that vilda and rubiales won too. change needed to happen.

now i'd been called up to the national team again for the nations league. i was one of only three players who had stood by their decision and refused to play. mapi leon and patri guijarro the other two, who refused to play in the world cup.

i knew that they could revoke my license to play for club and country and they could fine me, but i didn't care. my manager and coach at man city knew of the situation and he was fully supportive of what i'd chosen to do.

most of my teammates knew of what was happening too, especially alanna. she was my girlfriend of two years, us having got together after only a couple months of knowing each other.

normally we'd drive me into practice or training together and we wouldn't have a problem with fans or media. but this morning i was at my own house and alanna wasn't giving me a ride. she had to pick up mary from somewhere and drive her into practice.

so i gathered my kit from its various places around the apartment and got ready. i grabbed my car keys from the hook and headed out.

i stopped off at the closest coffee shop on the way there, i needed to grab my morning coffee before functioning. when i pulled into the staff and players part of the parking lot, i knew something was up. there were more cars than usual here, especially in the normal parking and it had an overcrowded vibe to it.

i grabbed my kit from the back and had my coffee, phone and keys in my hands.

i saw alanna's car in the lot so i knew she was here already. before i could make it inside the training facility, i was being surrounded by people, mostly fans and media reporters. i quickly typed out a 'help' message to alannna and hoped she'd know to come out.

he reporters started throwing questions at me about the spanish football federation and why i wasn't playing. the fans just wanted to get photos.

i signed a couple of things and took a couple photos but the media kept asking and bugging me. they wouldn't stop, even when i tried to get in to train.

"yn! how do you feel about being called up again?"

"are you going back to play for spain?"

"why are you refusing to play, yn?"

only a couple of questions thrown at me were able to be heard, most of it was just people shouting and clamouring to get my attention. i didn't answer anything from the media, they were questions that already had answers to them.

i'd done an interview alongside mapi and patri when this first happened and we all answered questions to this degree.

i tried in vain to get inside the training facility again before checking my phone to see if alanna had gotten my message. she of course had, and there were a flurry of messages from her asking where i was and what happened. i shot one back just stating 'outside' and hoped to god that she'd come quickly.

thankfully she did and not even a minute later i was being dragged by the wrist away from the media and journalists and back into the safety of the facility and my girlfriend's arms. i breathed a sigh of relief as she hugged me.

"thankyou, i thought they'd eat me alive." alanna continued rubbing my back in comfort.

"they shouldn't even be here, it's a closed practice. are you okay? what did they say?"

"i'm ok, lans. they just kept throwing questions about the world cup and the federation at me. and shouting. there was so much shouting."

alanna hugged me again before she lead me inside and we set my stuff down.

"i am never letting you drive here yourself ever again. hempo can drive mary, they live close, i’m driving you. it will never happen again." my heart warms at her fierce words.

"you don't have to do that, i'll just get here early so they don't have a chance to get me."

"they shouldn't be here anyway. i'm coming with you, end of story." she raised her eyebrow at me, daring me to question her. i found it all funny how she reacted so i was smiling. "okay okay. you drive me to training. happy?"

"yes. very happy." she looked smug and very proud with herself and we joined the rest of the team in the locker room to get ready for practice.

[futfemfantasies]

The one \\ alanna kennedy x reader

Nothing but pure Alanna fluff with the mention of an injury (no details)

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

Picking up an ankle injury in your last game was a blessing and a curse. A blessing as the physios, doctors and Jonas allowed you to stay in Manchester for your recovery period with the occasional drop in to the training facility. It also meant you get to spend 5 weeks with your fellow Australian teammate and love of your life, Alanna. As soon as you said the Arsenal team allowed you to stay in Manchester, the blonde was out the door and driving 3 hours to pick you up.

Hobbling around your room to put clothes in a duffle bag took longer than expected. You feel strong arms circle around your waist and soft kisses on peppering your neck. After recovering from you mini heart attack, you turn and hug Alanna tightly. 6 weeks apart is too long. You look up at Alanna's lips and waste no time smashing your lips on her as her hands grip your waist.

"As much as I love doing that my love, let's get you packed so we can go home"

Home.

With your contract is expiring at the end of the season, you've had several teams from various leagues reach out. One club stood out over all the Barcelona's and Gotham FC's. Manchester City. It's a no brainer and since mentioning it to Alanna, she;s been calling Manchester home and London a holiday. A decision has to be made by the end of the month and as you look into Alanna's eyes, you know your decision.

"Go sit your cute butt on the bed while I pack the rest of your bag"

You hobble over to the bed and rest against the headboard as Alanna put pillow under your moon boot. Seeing Alanna dance around your room sparks something in you.

"Lani?"

"Hmm?" Alanna turns to see you pat the small space on the bed next to you. She sits down and you hold her hands.

"I've made up my mind. I'm moving to Manchester baby"

"You're kidding? Baby that's amazing news" Alanna hugs you tightly and kisses all over your face, making you giggle with happiness.

"Let's get you packed so we can go to our home together"

After a few more outfits get packed, Alanna helps you down the stairs and into her car. Zooming down the street, Alanna's hand holds yours and you sigh in content of how perfect this is going to be. Alanna pulls up to the apartment complex carpark and she quickly gets your bags out, before helping you out of the car. She holds your hand through the short elevator ride and then you both arrive at the familiar apartment door.

"Home sweet home baby girl"

3 weeks in to your recovery and you have just finished your stretches and mobility exercises so you decide to watch a romance movie to pass the time until Alanna comes home. Halfway through, Alanna comes home and flops on top of you (mindful of the ankle). She leans up and pucks her lips, silently asking for a kiss. You bend slightly and give her multiple before Alanna cups your cheeks with her big hands and stares at you ever so softly and lovingly.

"You're the one. You're the one I want everything with, good, bad and everything in between"

Your eyes are brimming with tears as you take in what Alanna had just said.

"You're it for me Lani. You're stuck with me for good"

"There's no one else I'd rather be stuck with my girl"

[yeeterthek33per]

Please Don't Go (Caitlin Foord x Reader)

A/n requested. (Kind of, the request was a little less intense 😅)

Warning: This shii about to be angsty, so fair warning. Blood. Near death experience.

Oooh, she's a doozy. Strap in y'all. She's a long one. Hope y'all enjoy.

---------

Everyone in the stadium could tell frustration was starting to set in amongst the players. Frustration for the Spanish at being down 2-0.

Frustration for the Matildas at the resounding physicality that the Spanish were now presenting.

With Caitlin sporting her head wrap, after a nasty collision with Andres, you were fuming. Despite winning, you still felt helpless watching her go down every two seconds. It didn't help your feet were taken out from under you constantly, either.

Apparently, when you score on one of the best teams in the world, they tend to take it personally. The one-two combo between you and the striker had become deadly twice this game. One each for you and your girlfriend.

That left La Roja scrambling, and no matter how hard they tried, even Hermoso's football IQ couldn't get them through your backline.

With scrambling came desparation, and with desparation, came dangerous tackles and stupid challenges.

Caitlin was infuriated the moment you went down after a studs up tackle, that was one you'd barely managed to brush off, hopping up to avoid being taken off with just ten minutes of the game to go.

Her protests to the ref were ignored when she did nothing to punish the offending player.

Your heart was racing, eyes flickering constantly between your own teammates and the fast footed midfielders of the opposing team and where the ball was situated.

Constantly on the lookout, you were playing decently otherwise. Your head on a swivel as you passed the ball back and forth between you and Kyra on the left side rank, occasionally dipping back to Steph. You knew you were just wasting time at this point, keeping the ball away from Spain.

It's when the Matildas manage a third dangerous breakthrough in twenty minutes that you manage to get into the box, awaiting delivery from Steph, standing beside Cata Coll in hopes to steal the ball.

What your keen eyes don't see is the challenge that Bonmati makes when you go up for the ball.

Her shoulder digs into your waist, and you're sent away from the ball midair. Coll catches the ball in her gloves, and that's the last thing you notice before a searing white pain rocks your head as you collide with the metal goalpost and a fast fading black takes over.

Caitlin nearly loses her mind from her position just a few feet behind you, having seen Bonmati make the challenge. In fact, she's so mad as she turns to the ref that she almost doesn't see your body hit the turf like a sack of rocks, unmoving.

It takes the umpire merely seconds to notice your crumpled form before blowing the whistle furiously, signalling the medics onto the field.

A silence hushes over the crowd, a feat of magnitude, especially amongst the majority Australian audience.

When Caitlin turns fully to you after the fall, her face pales, there's blood trickling down your temple, which is just barely visible under the mess of hair, and your arms splayed out in front of you. There's a lot of it, too.

Both her and Sam fly over to you, panic stricken looks. The medics finally get to you, shoving both players away from your head.

Sam's hand rests on your stomach, eyes flicking over your closed eye stone cold expression.

"Hey, kiddo, come on, time to get up now. Like you always do."

The Australian captain can barely breathe as she watches the medics frantic hands try to stabilise you.

Caitlin shoves her way back beside you again, letting the medics try to stop the bleeding, your hand held tightly in hers.

"C'mon baby, you can wake up, please..."

There's a desperation in her voice that makes tears spring to Sam's eyes as she kneels on the other side of you.

It only gets worse as they signal for a stretcher and for an ambulance.

Tony stands on the sideline, pacing back and forth frantically with his hands on the back of his head.

Everything's moving so fast, Caitlin doesn't even realise she's left the field with you, signalling for a sub from the coach without thought.

The rest of the players on the pitch are all shock ridden. Play doesn't continue. A few players have to take moments to process what the hell just happened.

At that point, the players all concede that the game can end a few minutes early and the referee blows the whistle for full time, declaring an end to the game as the crowd, allbeit hesitantly, celebrates.

Bonmati looks like she wants to throw up, guilt stricken as she moves off the pitch as well to sit. She'd been your teammate once. You'd been close friends, and she'd gone and done that in a game.

The rest of the Aussies are silent, unable to formulate words or actions as they watched you get carried off frantically.

One question silently radiates in each of their minds. "Will she be okay?"

---------

The moment the ambulance arrives, you're on a gurney and lifted into the vehicle, Caitlin right beside you, telling the paramedics she's going with you.

Her hand is still clasped in yours. Tears are welling up in her eyes, and her knee bounces on her seat as the paramedic bandages your head, which is now also in a neck brace.

You were out completely, and there was no sign of life other than your slow and unsteady heart beat. It made the blood in her body run cold. She could only squeeze your hand to reassure herself as the ambulance screamed down the highway.

As soon as you're in the hospital, she's pushed to the side and told to wait as you're wheeled into the ED. Her hands run over her face as she takes a seat, and a nurse hands her a patient sign in form to fill out while she waits.

She can hardly focus on filling it out, though. Everything in her body is tensed, and her heart is racing as she shakily fills everything in.

Thoughts are firing through her mind.

Will you be okay? How much blood had you lost?

There was so much blood.

You were so still on that pitch.

She swallows as she writes on the clipboard, hands still trembling as she hands the board back to the front desk.

She carefully rubs at her own bandaged head, knowing she'd need to be seen herself soon to make sure there's no residual concussion and she tucks back the loose hair.

It takes an hour or so, of her pacing, unable to sit still while waiting before a nurse comes to find her, letting her know you've gone into surgery and you should be out in a few hours and that she recommends having someone to come wait with her while they contact your family.

"She doesn't have anyone, not here, at least. I'm her listed emergency contact."

After providing an ID, the nurse nods and tells her to let whoever she needs to tell know about your condition. She also tells her it could be tomorrow yet before she'll be let in to see her, but there's a small chance she'll be let in early.

She calls Tony first, telling him you're in surgery and asks if Sam had left yet. Sam was like an older sister to you, so it wouldn't surprise her if she'd left the stadium early.

Fifa had suspended the award ceremony until further notice. The winner wasn't something they could crown right now, not after the abrupt end to the game and also not with the winning team not even being there for it, they'd all left immediately to go to the hospital.

There'd been tears amongst the fans, having witnessed one of their own go down like that on the field.

The team had been forceful in finding rides to the hospital, which they found out which one from the medics after being cornered.

---------

The doors to the emergency room fly open as Sam, Steph, Alanna, and Mackenzie all fly in, looking around for the forward, who signals to them as she sits around the corner.

"Oh god, Cait, how is she? Have they said anything yet?"

She shakes her head.

"She's in surgery, but it'll be a few hours before we can even go see her. They haven't said anything about her condition yet, though. Could be a while before we can see her"

She rests her head in her hands, leaning her head on her knees. Sam moves to sit beside the girl, hand resting on Caitlin's back, running her other through her own hair.

"She'll be okay, Cait."

Alanna moves to stand in front of the winger, hands resting on her shoulders. There's tears flowing down her cheeks when she looks up, and the defender quickly wraps her up in a hug.

"Hey, she'll be alright, she's in good hands, she always comes back to us. She's got a hard head." The last part is said mildly jokingly, and Caitlin manages a huff of a laugh, but it doesn't completely calm her.

There's silence for a few moments as they all sit and wait.

"She was just so still, god, she's never been that still, not even in her sleep."

A silent moment of agreement passes over the five of them.

It was true. You tended to be a bit of a sleepwalker, as well as tossing and turning every hour or so. Luckily, Caitlin has always been a deep sleeper, practically dead to the world.

Dead.

It's not something she wants to think about right now.

But the thought still crosses her mind. She can't get the image of you bleeding profusely out of her head.

That's when she looks down at her hands properly. There was blood soaked into the beds of her fingernails, and there was a large stain at the bottom of her jersey. Apparently, it got a little messy when she'd turned you over onto your back.

Another thought crosses her mind. Why the hell did she turn you over? It's the number one rule of first aid to never move someone with a head injury without proper support. It was in case the injured person had a neck injury, so they didn't make it worse.

Suddenly, she'd forgotten all of her emergency first aid training in her panic to get to you. What if she'd made the injury worse?

What if-

She's cut off by Steph crouching in front of her, a bag in her hands. When had she gotten that?

"Hey, Tony dropped this off and told us to keep him updated. I messaged him. Figured you might want to change as well as the rest of us."

Caitlin looks down at the clean white shirts and sweats that most of them are now donning. The look on Steph's face is knowing, obviously having spotted her predicament too.

She looks at the clock above them on the wall.

It was about one in the morning. The other's had drifted off in their chairs, exhausted from the previous days events. She felt a little sorry for their spines.

She nods at Steph, grabbing the duffle bag. She hadn't even noticed they'd all gotten up to get changed at all.

"Thanks."

Not that she could eat right now. The nausea was settled deep into her gut, and she didn't think she could keep anything down if she'd tried.

Steph nods back, hand caressing the side of her arm.

She moves to go to the bathroom in the waiting room. Stripping down, she swaps out the clothing, thankful for the staff having given them fresh clothing entirely with some deodorant and what looks to be a few protein bars, a water bottle, and some small bags of lollies.

After changing, she moves to the sink that's settled outside the bathroom to try and wash her hands.

Without even realising it, she drifts off in her head, back to you, head facing the sky, limp in her arms as she holds you. She'd felt so helpless, watching you get checked over by the medics. In her head, she looks down at her own blood-soaked hands.

She'd given them a contemporary rinse earlier, but there was still lingering red in the creases.

Another pair of hands steadying her own over the sink breaks her out of it. She hadn't even realised she'd been standing there for way too long, scrubbing harshly at her digits. They were starting to turn their own shade of red under the harsh ministrations, and there were tears running down her cheeks.

Steph gently pulls her hands away from the faucet, turning the tap off. The blood was visibly gone, having disappeared within the first few seconds of washing, but it was like it was still there in her head.

Paper towels dry away the water, which was running as clear as ever despite the images that were playing over and over.

There's a concerned look in her eyes.

"Hey, look at me."

Caitlin can't bring her neck to lift her gaze up again.

"Look at me, Caitlin."

She lets out a shaky breath, still refusing to meet her eye.

Fingers on her chin tilt her head up. She meets her gaze, and there are still unshed tears in the striker's eyes.

"What's going on? Talk to me."

"I..." She's shaking now.

The tears start to flow and fast.

"I just can't get it out, I can't stop seeing it. Over and over. Watching her collide with the bloody post, she just crumpled. And then just. The. Blood."

She's cut off by own silent sob as Steph pulls her into her body tightly, Caitlin's arms wrapping around her friends neck in an attempt to muffle the noise so as to not wake the others.

"It was fucking everywhere. Steph, I'm so fucking scared."

Her sobs are heavier but small enough to let the words fall from her mouth.

"There was so much of it."

The defender feels helpless here. She wasn't sure what could comfort her Arsenal teammate at this point. She'd seen the same thing. You were her buddy, her confidant, her best mate. Seeing you collapse like that was terrifying in its own right.

"I know, Cait, I know. She's gonna be okay, alright? I know it's hard, but I need you to believe that for me, for the rest of them. It's okay to feel like this, but you need to believe she's gonna be okay. Be strong for her. Believe for Y/n."

Her hands rub soothingly over Caitlin's back, her voice a quiet whisper amongst her soft cries.

A few minutes pass of them both standing there, Caitlin eventually managing to calm herself enough.

Her breathing evens out, and exhaustion starts to show itself, her weight starting to lean on Steph a little more.

"You wanna try and get some sleep? I'll wake you if one of the nurses comes back."

She huffs a little laugh.

"Sorry, yeah, we should probably try and rest a little. Eugh, sorry, your shirt's all gross again."

Steph just huffs a laugh of her own.

"Don't be silly. My duty as your best woman is to sacrifice my clothing to be covered in tears and snot when it comes down to it."

Caitlin cringes, shoving her shoulder lightly with a chuckle.

"You're so gross."

A cheeky smirk crosses Steph's lips.

"You love me."

Caitlin bumps shoulders with her as they walk back to their seats.

"I wonder why."

A playful gasp leaves the defender as she settles in next to her.

"Rude."

Caitlin just smiles gently, settling into her own seat, head lulling back as her eyes drift shut.

---------

Caitlin's jolted awake by a soft hand on her shoulder. She panics for a moment until she realises it's just Steph and Sam, awake on either side of her. One glance at the clock tells her it's about 4am.

"Hey, sleepyhead. They're moving her to the ICU now, we've asked for a private room for her and some seats so we can stay with her. They're gonna let us in in about an hour or so. They said there'd be a doctor to come in and brief us in the morning. She's gonna be okay."

The other two are still dead asleep, Alanna now laying across Mackenzie's lap, the goalkeeper's head propped up against a watercooler beside the seats.

She nods, now wide awake at the prospect of seeing you and in utter relief from hearing the words come from Sam's mouth.

Her muscles protest at her moving to stand to stretch them out, a yawn leaving her as she looks around at the now almost empty emergency room.

She was grateful the staff hadn't told them to leave for taking up valuable space in the waiting room.

"Have they said how long until she wakes up?"

Her face falls slightly as she receives a head shake in the negative.

"They said they put her in an induced coma. The doctor will tell us more in the morning."

Caitlin swallows slightly, nodding, and takes a deep breath.

You'll be okay. You're gonna be fine. It's just protocol, making sure you're healing. She'll see you soon.

She sits down again, resting her still tired legs. She looks around the girls, feeling a little guilty that they're all stuck sleeping uncomfortably.

But she knows better than to ask them if they want to go back to the hotel. She'd probably get slapped for it, too.

---------

It's about 8 a.m., that she's awoken again, the nurse moving around the room quietly, checking your vitals, changing the bags on the IV drip.

The others are fully passed out in their chairs now. Except for Sam, who's not in the room.

The nurse gives her a sympathetic smile when she sees she's awake.

"The doctor should be about another ten minutes with the results."

"Thanks."

The nurse nods and cleans up before exiting the room. Sam returns not long after that.

"Hey."

"Hey."

"Nurse says the doc'll be about another ten. Should we wake the girls up?"

"Let Steph sleep a little longer. She was up the whole time. The other two can bloody wake up, though."

Caitlin has to muffle a laugh.

"Let em sleep. We all played the same game."

"Exactly."

She shakes her head at the striker, giving her a playful nudge. She knows she's only joking. The skipper isn't totally cruel.

Right on time, the doctor steps in the door ten minutes later.

"Friends and Family for Miss L/n?"

Caitlin perks up immediately.

"Yes."

He's carrying a clipboard with a stack of about ten pages on it.

"So, we've got some good news. She's in a stable condition. We managed to patch the bleeding. Her skull suffered a major breakage, and it put a little pressure on her brain, but we've put it back together with some glue and a few staples, so she's all clear in the physical department. There were no neck injuries, so she won't need surgery or therapy for that either. But, saying that, we do have a little bad news. Nothing major, though, but she may be a little more out of it than most if we wake her up too early. We want the surgery to heal a bit more before we try and pull her out of the coma. She suffered a massive brain contusion, and we want to wait for the swelling to go down a little more. There's a chance there may be some memory loss, particularly of the incident itself and of the time surrounding it, but we won't know the full extent for a bit until we can wake her up."

They both nod along, Caitlin's relieved that you aren't in major danger at the moment.

"Given that, the next twenty-four to fourty-eight hours are critical. She's still at risk of further injury due to the swelling so we'll keep a close eye on her, it's best not to disturb her too much but as long as you keep it relatively quiet, she should be alright. It could be a couple of weeks before we can safely wake her up, so keep that in mind."

"Okay." It comes out as a soft breath.

"Do you understand all of that? Do you have any questions for me?"

"Will she be okay?" It comes out as a meek whisper, but he does hear it. He gives a soft, empathetic smile.

"We don't know yet. But we'll do our best to make sure she has the best chance at recovering. Until then, you can trust us to do what we can."

Caitlin nods and looks at Sam, who's still processing his words.

"Does she have any family we need to notify?"

"Uh, no, parents died years ago, and she doesn't have any siblings or aunts or uncles that we know about."

"Alright, thank you for telling us. I'll be back in about 10 or so hours to check back in. In the meantime, I suggest you and your friends go home and find some rest. It'll be a while before we can update you any further."

She nods slowly.

She knows they won't want to leave. Not with you still in the ICU. Judging by the look on Sam's face, she's right.

The other three are still asleep, having exhausted themselves into sleeping longer than they normally would. Though, judging by the bags under Steph's eyes, she hasn't been asleep too long.

Still, she walks over to the defender, nudging her knee gently, and the girl rouses with a soft groan.

"Hey, Stephy, the doctor just stopped by."

Steph shoots up, now wide awake.

"Oh, shit. What did they say?"

"He says she's gonna be alright, as far as they can tell."

She sits in the chair next to her, rubbing her hands together.

"But..."

"But.." the defender prompts.

"She suffered a massive brain contusion, and some of her skull was crushed in the hit. They won't wake her for a couple of weeks in order to let the swelling go down and that she's on watch for the next few days in case it may get worse. He said she may have some memory issues, especially around the accident itself, but could also affect the time around the day too. He said they weren't sure, but it could be better, it could be worse, and they won't find out until she's awake."

Steph nods along as she talks, relief finding her features for a fleeting second.

"He also recommended we all head back to the hotel to get some rest since he won't be back to update us for another ten hours, at least."

She can see the hesitation on the defenders face, and she doesn't blame her.

"I know, I don't want to leave her either, but.." Caitlin gestures to Mackenzie and Alanna, who are practically sleeping on top of each other at this point.

"But we need it. We still have to do recovery, and I have to go see the med staff, too. I'd be lucky not to be concussed myself."

Steph's face falls at that.

"Shit, Cait, we should've done that sooner. And to think I let you sleep and-"

Caitlin quickly waves her off.

"It's alright, I'm fine, clearly, it's just a precaution. We can all head back, get showered, and sleep a little bit. Maybe find something to eat. I don't know if I'm gonna have the appetite, but we need to eat something. And do some recovery stuff as well, we did still play a full ninety yesterday. I'll drive us all back over if you guys want, but you guys need to sleep, especially you. You stayed up the longest out of all of us."

She sighs softly, and she hears Sam agree from behind her.

"Yeah, we need to head back, I'm definitely coming back later with you, but we need to get checked out. All of us. We all kind of copped it last night. I hate to say it, but my calf is killing me."

With that, Steph moves to wake the two sleeping defenders, updating them on your condition, and Caitlin packs up their stuff, notifying staff they'll be back later.

Mackenzie and Alanna both protest mildly at leaving you but are convinced to at least go back to the hotel for some much needed recovery. They'd be back soon.

Caitlin can only hope everything goes smoothly over the next weeks or so.

---------

Everything goes as smoothly as it can. It's just two weeks later when the doctor finally tells her he's going to wean you off the anaesthetic and wake you up, hoping you'll stay stable enough to be up and functioning.

They'd all used their time off to visit you. Most of the team had stopped by at some point. Steph, Caitlin, and Sam were all consistent in their visits, though. The other's had to return to their clubs for duties but asked that they be kept in the loop. Katrina, Courtnee, and Tameka are the ones who stayed to keep visiting. Katrina because she has plenty of time before Vjatsko wants her back and Courtnee and Tameka don't play for a while yet.

Sam, the cheeky shit, refused to even message Emma Hayes back about when she'd be returning at first, eventually telling her she needed the time off, and Steph and Caitlin told Jonas Eidevall that they couldn't return without you awake and functioning with them. To which he'd completely understood and told them to update him on how you were too and when things turned better.

The other two, Mackenzie and Alanna, both put in with their clubs as well to stay. Mackenzie had her back up keeper, and Alanna was injured anyway, happy to find a rehabilitation centre to work with while she stayed.

The arsenal girls all stopped by at some point just after the World Cup ended. Including Beth and Viv, who'd flown over to see you. They did have to return after a few days, right before you were due to be woken up. Leah stayed the longest out of them all, though. Her recovery still wasn't fully ready for field time and probably wouldn't be for a couple of months yet, so Jonas was the most lenient with her.

So, Leah, Caitlin, Steph, Sam, Mackenzie, and Alanna all stuck with you for most of your unconscious stage.

They were all sitting outside the room, waiting for the okay from the doctor, Caitlin being the only one who was allowed to stay with you.

Her hand was clasped in yours, eyes locked on your unconscious form, hoping for any sign, twitch, or movement that meant you were waking up.

It takes about twenty minutes or so. When she's looking down at her phone, scrolling through instagram for updates on the outside world, considering she hadn't really been keeping up with anything but you and the Arsenal team.

The overwhelming support from the fans had made her tear up at one point. The Matildas media had been updating them slowly. Keeping things vague but letting them know you were okay and would update them when you were awake.

She's reading a post from the Spanish Federation about the coach being fired when she feels it.

Your hand squeezes hers softly. It's subtle, but she shoves her phone away immediately.

"Y/n?"

It's a soft whisper, so not as to startle you and not too loud to alert the girls if you weren't awake yet.

There's a soft groan that leaves your lips as your eyes crack open slowly. The gunk that'd accumulated there annoyed you to no end, and you reached up to wipe it away lazily.

Everything feels fuzzy as you come to, blearily looking around at the far too white walls of the hospital room. When you go to move your other hand, you find it's being held by one you recognize immediately.

"Babe, why does everything hurt? And why am I strapped to a bed?" Your voice cracks every so often, and your mouth feels so dry. It could be considered a desert.

Her relieved laugh startles you a little.

"Hey, Baby, take it easy, don't move around too much. You don't want to jostle your head at all, I'm gonna call in the doctor, and we can go from there, okay?"

You're confused but when she goes to stand, you grip her hand tighter.

"Please don't go."

Your words make her heart break a little and tears well up in her eyes.

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere, okay? I just need to get the doctor, and I'll be back before you know it." With that, she presses a small kiss to the outside of the bandage. You can see the remnants of a purple mark over her eye, too. When had that happened?

Why couldn't you remember anything happening that would land you here?

That's when it hits you. The final. Had you even played it? Oh god, what if you'd missed it?

The moment she comes back in the room, you bombard her with questions that she just tells you to calm a bit with and that she'll answer soon enough.

"Hello, Miss L/n. Nice see you awake, we'll get you some water in a bit, see how you hold down food, and we'll go from there. For now, we'll get into why you're here. I'm under the impression you don't remember that?"

You try to strain to remember something, but nothing comes up, and your head only hurts a little more because of it.

"I... no, nothing."

"Okay, that's okay, that was to be expected. You took quite the nasty hit. You've been in a coma for two weeks. You hit your head on a metal post, and it's given you a heavy brain contusion and most likely a little memory loss. I trust your partner can explain the details a bit better if you wish to know. But basically, we've had you on full bed rest and want to continue so over the next couple of months. It could take months to fully heal, and we don't want to risk further brain injury."

Oh. Had you... did you get injured playing?

You ask as such, head turning to your girlfriend, who's sat quietly, hand still holding yours. The doctor steps out to let you both talk and also notify the other's outside you were awake and they could see you after some further assessment.

She seems hesitant, and you can see she's fighting back tears a little.

"You uh. You got shoved into the goalpost midair. I doubt it was intentional, but you just hit the ground like a sack of rocks. Sam and I both flew over to you as soon as we noticed, but jesus. It was a little bit gruesome."

She wipes away stray tears with her other hand.

"Was that the final?"

She nods.

"Did we win at least?"

She laughs at that and you smile. Mission accomplished.

"You're in the hospital after having nearly died, and that's your first thought. Oh my god, you're such a dork."

She eventually nods, though.

"Yes, we won, but the game was called off with five minutes of reg time to go. Nobody wanted to play after seeing that. Poor Bonmati, I don't think she'll recover after that one."

Aitana? Was she the one that made the challenge?

It starts to come back to you in pieces. You remember the crowd. The roughness. Faintly, though.

"Has she tried to call at all? Was she the one to push me?"

Caitlin swallows. She knows the midfielder never meant to hurt you, especially considering you were friends, but she can't help the minor twinge of anger that swells up in her chest. Which you seem to sense because you just squeeze her hand softly.

"Yes, she did push you, I know it wasn't intentional, though. She's probably feeling terrible. Barca wanted her back straight away after the final recovery period, so she couldn't stay if she wanted to. She did message me to apologise and said if you wanted to call her at some point when you recovered, she'd be all too happy to grovel over the phone to you instead."

You smile softly.

"I hate that she's feeling guilty about it, but I'll let her apologise. She probably needs the closure, if anything."

She nods in agreement.

"What about the others? I assume they've gone back to their clubs?

She chuckles.

"You underestimate their stubbornness. They all refused to return to club duties. Most of them fought their clubs for a few days but eventually did go home again. The Arsenal girl's on the lionesses and swedish sides came to see you. Most of them left. Beth and Viv flew over for a bit. Mainly to mother Steph and myself, making sure we were eating."

You chuckle, of course they did.

"Leah's stayed for the whole time, though. Well, most of it. So, I've got Leah, Steph, Sammy, Macca, and Lans all waiting outside at the moment."

"Oh god, you guys have club duties, though."

You pout softly.

"It's alright, Jonas was the one to tell us to stay until we could bring you back with us fully fit to start recovery. Of course, we were going to stay anyway, but he's adamant he doesn't want us back without you, babe."

You smile, looking down at your lap, but then flick back up to her.

"What about Sammy? I know Emma would be pissed if she didn't go back to start recovery after..."

Caitlin looms at you. Do you remember what happened that game?

"Her calf injury, do you.. remember that?"

"I remember it happened, maybe not it happening so much as that it just happened."

She nods in understanding.

"Sam refused to message Emma back about whether or not she'd be returning. It took a week for her to say she wasn't until you were better."

You shake your head. Sam's really stubborn at times. Now, being one of them, apparently.

"Can they come in yet?"

"Not til the doctor looks at you a bit more. He doesn't want you getting too overwhelmed."

You huff softly.

She smiles and moves to invite the doctor back in, who's now prepared the tests.

After about an hour or so, he's satisfied you're doing alright and allows the girls to come in.

Steph and Sam are the first ones at your side.

They both nearly smother you in kisses and hugs, but after a throat clear and a scolding tone from both Leah and Caitlin, they calm a bit.

Mackenzie and Alanna stand either side by your legs, hands resting there, and Leah stands at the foot of the bed, hand resting on your ankle.

Caitlin is in the chair by your head, hand still holding yours.

It's in that moment, as you chat with all of them, they shed some tears, a few laughs and quiet chatter, that you realise how loved you really are.

And also how much you hate nearly dying. Given all of their tearful reactions and Caitlin's faraway look, you know it was bad. Really bad.

And you'd all spend the time dealing with it slowly, healing mentally and emotionally.

Particularly you and Caitlin. Caitlin was still dealing with the thoughts of seeing you broken like that. Steph and Sam were too, but they managed in their own ways. You were grateful they had people to help them that loved them as much as Caitlin loved you.

It's not an easy journey. The nights are rough, and once you're out of hospital, you get more and more restless, wanting to return home desperately, and you're only allowed to fly after six months. Caitlin stays with you the whole time. Steph flies back and forth with Leah. Sam tries to stay but knows she has a duty to Chelsea and the rest of the Matildas team.

You both drive out to Perth to see the girls play in the qualifiers. Caitlin does get the call up to play. And the looming olympics frustrate you as you know you won't be called up to the squad for it, but you're just happy to return to England once your doctor clears you for flight.

Your recovery period in England is a little frustrating again. Jonas won't let you take the field until you're one hundred percent ready for a full game, not wanting to risk any further incidents. Caitlin is fully inclined to agree with him, too.

You do get in touch with Aitana, she flys over from Barcelona on her off long weekend. She does apologise to you, but you just smack her shoulder, hug her, and tell her never to apologise again.

In the time it takes to recover, Caitlin sticks by you the whole time, kissing you silly every time you even question whether or not you'll be able to return, reasurring you that you're one of the strongest people she knows, and that if she'd been allowed to, you would've copped a slap upside the head for it as well.

You chuckle at that, kiss her back, and thank her for being there. For all of it. She just kisses you again.

You'll never forget the crowds applause to you as you take the field in the gold medal match against England. It's your first ever start since the World Cup final. And it surprised the fuck out of you when you did get called up. It brings tears to your eyes as you run on for the warmups, the crowd whistling, screaming, and cheering as you look back on what is now just a scarred memory.

And when you celebrate winning again, this time, being able to fully celebrate, you make sure to hold your fiancee a little tighter, knowing what you all had to go through to get here.

Caitlin just kisses your head and whispers in your ear.

"I'm not going anywhere, Baby. You're stuck with me forever."

You just kiss her in response.

---------