#also if you are the person who called this dynamic grumpy/sunshine a few days ago and apologised after I reblogged it:

[lesbianrecorderplayer]

"rapple is a grumpy/sunshine dynamic"

The dynamic in question:

If it's a grumpy/sunshine dynamic, the roles in question are NOT who you would expect lmao

[13uswntimagines]

Pressure (USWNT x Swift!Reader)

Authors note: This is part three in the swift life universe. I hope you enjoy it! Send me requests, questions or just hit me up if you wanna say Hi!

Part 1, Part 2, Part 4, Part 5

You were not usually a moody person. Yes, you were a little shy in crowded situations, but the team would say that your dominant personality traits were sunny and excited. Like a puppy, always running around and pranking people with the youngins, or cuddling into the closest veteran that you could find. 

Then, suddenly you weren’t. 

It had all started at family practice. Your entire family had made it, and you had been bouncing around like a toddler on a sugar high. Taylor had needed to leave early, but you understood and seemed excited to spend time with your brother and parents. You had been fine before you left for dinner with them. However, when the team saw you the next morning, your typically cheery demeanor was gone, and you seemed to tuck yourself back into your shell. That had been a week ago, and the problem only seemed to be getting worse. 

Practice was over for the day and while most of the team was packing up to head back to the hotel, you were lining up PK’s from all over the field. The vets were all watching as sweat dripped a little further down your face with each cannon-like shot you took towards the goal. 

“Is it just me, or is Baby Swift acting weird?” Alex asked, settling down on the bench being occupied by Krashlyn, Kelley, Becky, and Alyssa. They were beginning to get a little worried at how drenched your tank top was getting. 

“Totally not just you,” Ali winced at your frustrated yell when the ball ricocheted off the crossbar. You ran your hands frustratedly through your short hair, tugging hard on the strands. You mumbled something inaudible before slamming another ball towards goal. It too bounced off the crossbar. 

“She was out of the room before I even woke up this morning” Becky mumbled, as you chased after the errant ball, collecting in and sprinting towards the opposite goalline as though you hadn’t just gone through a crazy practice. 

“Y/n, willingly up before noon, there’s no way” Alex snorted. You might be known as a ray of sunshine, but you were most definitely not a morning person. The team learned the hard way not to mess with you before you had your coffee. 

“That cross was sick though” Kelley hummed as you rocketed the ball towards the opposite goal. It hit the back of the net with so much force that the metal rattled loudly. 

“If she kicks that ball any harder, she’s going to send it through the net,” Alyssa grumbled. Her chest hurt just thinking about trying to stop something like that. She could only hope you ended up on the red stars, so she wouldn’t ever have to worry about it. 

“Hm, why is she staying? Didn’t Jill release her early?” Becky’s eyes furrowed, as you collected the ball and began to run it back towards the opposite goal, acting as though you were faking out defenders and weaving through the midfield. The rest of the women shrugged. 

“Hey Linds, you know what’s up with the short stack?” Ashlyn called out to the blond who was paused midway through removing her cleat staring at you. She blinked a few times, trying to clear her head (like who gave you the right to look that good while drenched in sweat?) 

“No idea, but Sonnett might,” Lindsey hummed after a few seconds, her eyes still focused on the way the muscles on your arm looked as you clenched and unclenched your fists. She and Emily had all but told you of their feelings for you, and still, you were oblivious. They were probably going have to spell it out for you before you actually got that they were interested. 

“How about Alex and Kell go try and get some answers, we’ll see if we can work our magic,” Ashlyn mumbled, watching you worriedly. Yes, Alex and Kelley were your team moms, but Krashlyn had known you and your sister for longer. They also knew more about your family dynamics, and if that was what the problem was, they would have a better idea of how to go about fixing it. 

“Hey kid, want a challenge?” Ashlyn asked, placing a hand on your shoulder. You shrugged, inadvertently brushing the warm arm off you, and heading back towards the balls lined up just outside the penalty box. You didn’t have time to talk. Krashlyn shared a worried look at your clear dismissal. 

“Come on, where the typical smack talk about the Krashlyn department of defense?” Ashlyn tried again, this time snagging the ball from between your feet. 

“Not in the mood,” You huffed, your shoulders slouching as though they held the weight of the world. If you couldn’t keep the ball away from Ashlyn when she wasn’t even trying, then how the hell were you supposed to do it against someone like Kelley. You angrily shook your head, punting the nearest ball. Maybe your mom was right...

“You ok kid?” Ali questioned more firmly, stepping into your path and preventing you from rocketing another ball towards goal. 

“I’m fine. Are you playing or not?” You snapped, pushing her off of you and heading to another ball with your head down, completely missing the worried looks shared between the two women. 

Yes, sometimes you got whiny or grumpy, but you were rarely ever blatantly rude. It just didn’t seem to be in your makeup. 

“Hey, watch the attitude,” Ashlyn said with authority, again stepping into your path, placing a comforting hand on your shoulder. 

“We’re just trying to help you,” Ali murmured, coming up behind you and wrapping her arms around your middle. 

You Tensed at the contact, before relaxing back into Ali’s arms with a sigh. Here you were adding more on to their already full plate. Apparently it was the only thing you could do, bring everyone around you undo stress. 

“I don’t need any help,” You uttered lowly, wigging out of their grasp, and blatantly refusing to make eye contact with the women who were watching you with concern. 

“Hey, we don’t know what’s going on, but sometimes it helps if you talk about it,” Ashlyn whispered, taking a step towards your shaking form. You shook your head and let out a humorless laugh. 

“You can’t help me,” you said lowly, stepping up to a ball and sending it flying into the crossbar and back toward you. “Damn it!” You exclaimed, catching the ball and spiking it on the ground. You ripped your hands through your hair, grinding your teeth. 

Ali’s gentle hands grasped your wrists, carefully pulling your hands to her chest. Ashlyn’s finger tilted your chin up, forcing you to make eye contact with them. You could see the worry in their gaze, and you felt guilty that you were the reason it was there. 

“Maybe we cant, but it might make you feel better if you talk about it,” Ali’s soothing voice murmured. They didn’t know what was wrong, but the problem was bigger than any of them had thought before. 

“Trust me, it won’t,” You repeated, your voice filled with utter defeat, shaking your head and doing everything in your power to prevent the tears from dripping down your face. You wiggled out of their grasp, ignoring the worried stares on your back, and headed towards the locker room. 

****

After your talk, if you could call it that, with Krashlyn, the veterans were hoping that things might get a little better, but against all odds, it just seemed to be getting worse. Becky shot you a worried look as the entered the dining hall. You were sat all by yourself (something odd to begin with) surrounded by your laptop and about a thousand notebooks. It was a clear indication that you wanted to be left alone, another odd thing. You were usually clamoring over yourself to get a seat next to Sonnett or Lindsey. 

“I didn’t think little Swift was going to college,” She mumbled as she took her seat beside Alex at the table.

“She’s not,” Alex huffed worriedly, furrowing her eyebrows as she watched you.

“Then what’s with the 40 notebooks,” Alyssa asked through a mouthful of food. 

“I’m not sure” Alex shrugged biting her lip thoughtfully. “did you get anything out of Emily?” She questioned, finally tearing her eyes away from you to glance at Kelley. 

“Kid just said that Y/n had been avoiding her an Lindsey,” Kelley mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. 

“She wouldn’t tell Ash and me what was wrong, but if she’s avoiding team blond over there it has to be pretty bad,” Ali added, watching as you ran an angry hand through your hair, cringing when she saw the pen marks that covered your left arm. You had to be writing for hours for that to happen. You grit your teeth, staring at the offending screen. 

“I’m going to go talk to her before she has an aneurism,” Becky murmured, cringing when you tore a page out of the book in anger. 

“I’ll come with you,” Alyssa said quietly. They were the calm ones, and you generally responded well to them when you were upset. Perhaps their soothing strength would be enough to get you to open up. 

“Hey kiddo, mind if we join you,” Becky asked, waving a tantalizing piece of chocolate cake in front of your face. She frowned when you nodded, barely even looking up at your favorite forbidden treat. 

She slid into the seat next to you, glancing down at the papers scattered on the table in front of you. 

“What ya working on?” Alyssa questioned, doing the same on your other side, her eyes widening at some of the titles on the pages spread before you. 

“Stats,” You said distractedly, flipping through screens on your computer. 

“These are our scoring, defending, and playtime averages for like the past 10 years!” Alyssa exclaimed, grabbing one of the notebooks that were further out from you. The notebook with her name written on it. 

“Hmm,” You hummed, squinting at the screen before jotting down whatever number you had been looking up. 

“Are these music stats too?” Becky asked confused, grabbing a different sheet with chart numbers from 2009. 

“Yeah,” You muttered back lowly. 

“Why the hell are comparing our averages to how artists and tracks do on the charts and how often they play at award shows?” Becky questioned, placing a finger under your chin and forcing your attention away from the numbers on the screen. You sighed. You didn’t have the time or the willpower to explain it to them. They wouldn’t understand. 

“I’m just checking…” You huffed, finally making eye contact with the woman, your shoulders slumping. She could see the sadness that seemed permeate through every part of your being, it was a sadness that she couldn’t place or ever remember seeing before. 

“Checking what? How you compare to the rest of us and other people in the music industry?” Alyssa’s voice was soft, like a protective blanket, as it probed you for more information, her hand resting on your shoulder. 

“Not people,” You grumble, your frustration leaking into your tone. 

“Who, Taylor?” Becky asked gently. You nodded slightly, squeezing your eyes shut, as though the action physically pained you. Becky’s eyes furrowed, why the fuck were you comparing your stats to your sister’s. She thought that you had gotten past this. 

“Look, as much as I love being interrogated, I’m trying to…” You grumbled, pulling your face out of Becky’s grasp, and staring down at your hands. 

“Trying to what?” Alyssa pushed, carefully moving a stray strand of hair from your face. You opened and closed your mouth several times, as though you were trying to find the words to describe what you were doing. Becky and Alyssa watched you, biting their lips and praying that you would open up to them. The didn’t like mopey Y/n, and they would do whatever they could to help you. 

“Just forget it,” You said finally, closing your notebooks and picking them up hastily. You shook your head. 

“Wait, kid,” Alyssa gently grabbed your arm before you could leave “you know we’re here if you ever need to talk?” She finished, and you met her worried eyes from a brief moment. 

“I don’t want to be more of a burden,” You whispered back hoarsely. Alyssa and Becky shared another set of confused looks. 

“You’re never a burden kid. Who made you think you were?” Becky quired, trying to keep the anger out of her voice. You were the baby of the team, and insecure enough to begin with, whoever the fuck told you that you were a burden was about to find out what happens when you messed with their little one. Your eyes widened at the admission. You shouldn’t have said that. 

“It doesn’t matter. Just forget I said anything,” You said far too quickly, grabbing your things and twisting out of their grasp. The two women sighed, at least they knew a little more about what was going on. 

*****

You couldn’t avoid Emily and Lindsey for forever, and after they demanded you come to their room for a movie night, you couldn’t find it within yourself to refuse them. Sure, you usually loved spending time with them, but after all of the things your mom said, you knew that they would never want you the way you wanted them. Why would they? 

“Hey babe, have you seen these tweets,” Emily laughed at her phone, and you glanced over at her disinterested, shrugging your shoulders. You weren’t big on social media in the first place, and after everyone found out about your relation to Taylor, you were even less of a fan. Her fans always thought it was funny to spam your page with compilation after compilation of your worst soccer fails. 

“They made compilations of our greatest fails, and you’re in like half of it,” Emily snorted, and Lindsey clamored over to her, trying to see some of your worst moments. 

“You know we were the ones in blue right?” Linsey giggled, after what you were sure was you missing a pass in an important game. But that wasn’t the end, the hits just kept on coming. They took turns pointing out your soccer missteps and joking about why they had happened with things like: “It’s supposed to go in the goal babe, not over it,” or “You got tripped by a ghost,” and your personal favorite “Aw, you look so cute when you’re faking a foul,”

They had laughed until tears had welled up in their eyes. You had played along, resorting to hiding behind a polite smile, and passing off your tears as the same as the ones your friends. You would never tell them how much it had hurt to watch them giggle as you failed at the only thing you had ever been confident in doing. It hurt to watch them joke about how you should turn these moments into a highlight reel for how to not to make it on the National team. Lindsey had even commented that maybe your inability to find the back of the net or beat the defender on a few occasions was the reason why your older sister’s talents had so often eclipsed your own. They had meant it in good fun. You knew that. They loved you and were probably only doing it to make you laugh and get you out of your funk. The problem was that you didn’t find it funny.

“Hey guys, I promised I would meet Kellex for dinner, so I gotta jet,” You interrupted after what you deemed to be an acceptable amount of time, hoping that your voice wouldn’t break. 

“Okay,” The woman shot you a smile, waving you off, and you excused yourself. Your shoulders slumped farther. You knew you didn’t have a chance with them, but you still didn’t like it when they threw it back in your face all of the time. 

*****

You took a deep breath of the cool night air, taking solace in the field that had always been your haven. It had always been the one place where you were more than just Taylor’s little sister. The one place that you had even a remote possibility of making your mother proud and proving to your parents that you weren’t a failure. Yes, you should have told someone from the team that this is where you would be. Yes, they would be upset, but you couldn’t find it within yourself to care. 

You growled, setting up another shot. Vlatko didn’t think you were good enough to play in the scrimmage at practice, so you were going to work your ass off until you could prove him wrong. Taylor had flown out here for nothing. Your mother had taken the opportunity to try to make you See that your soccer career was to be short-lived and without a college degree you were going to end up a slouch mooching off of your older sister’s success. You were going to do your damndest to prove them all wrong. 

“You know, if you kick it any harder, you’re going to break the net,” Kelley’s voice startled you out of your focus, causing you to send the shot wide. 

“You know it’s easier to score when it’s not 2 AM right?” Alex said as you turned to look guiltily at the women. You shrugged noncommittally, setting up another ball. 

“How’d you find me?” You asked, glancing over your shoulder at your team moms. 

“Just ‘cause you don’t use Snapchat doesn’t mean that the rest of the world doesn’t either,” Kelley laughed wiggling her phone in your face, and you blushed. You were probably one of the only Millenials in the country that had no idea how the app worked. You rarely ever used it, and only kept it on your phone because Emily had put it there. 

“Wanna tell us why you’re out here sooting PK’s so late?”Alex questioned, placing a hand on your shoulder. You sighed, focusing on rolling the ball between your feet. 

“My sister flew halfway across the country to watch me sit on a bench for two hours,” You said quietly, flipping the ball up on your toebox and rocketing it towards goal. Alex and Kelley’s eyebrows furrowed. Kelley opened her mouth to interrupt you, but Alex held her hand up to stop her. You needed them to listen right now more than you needed their reassurance. 

“And my mom threw a shit fit because I told her that I’m in talks with Portland about playing for them next season instead of going to college,” You rumbled, firing another ball towards goal. 

“And the fans won’t stop throwing all of my fucking mistakes on the field in my face,’ Your voice raising, ripping your hands through your hair, shrugging off Kelley and Alex’s comforting hands. 

“And Emily and Lindsey will never see me as more than a little kid just trying to keep up with them,” You finished with a yell, firing another shot towards goal. 

“Stop, Y/n Y/m/n Swift. First and foremost, you’re insane if you don’t think that those two knuckleheads are as into you as you are to them,” Alex said firmly, placing both her hands on your shoulders and forcing you to look at her. 

“Second of all, you didn’t get the full 90, but you scored two goals in the 20 minutes that you were playing,” Kelley reassured, wrapping her arms around you from behind, placing her chin on your shoulder. 

“And third, don’t listen to what anyone else says. You are freaking incredible, and even though it’s going to suck playing against you, the Thorns are lucky to have you,” Alex finished, placing a comforting kiss on your forehead. 

“There’s just so much pressure, and I can never ever be nearly as good as Taylor is,” You sighed, tears of frustration leaking down your face. 

“Babe, we’ve been through this. You are your own amazing person, and the talents that you have are different from the ones that Taylor has. You’ve won a world cup,” Alex said, using her thumbs to wipe the tears from your eyes. 

“And she’s won multiple Grammys” You responded lowly. 

“You can’t compare the two,” Kelley stated firmly, squeezing you a little tighter. They knew that you were always trying to prove yourself to everyone, but they didn’t know how to show you that you didn’t have to be Taylor. Your worth had nothing to do with how you compared to her. 

“You are incredible in your way, and we’re all here to support you,” Alex said, pulling you into a hug and letting you cry into her shoulder. They weren’t sure how long they stood there in the middle of an abandoned soccer field holding you, but they knew that this was what you needed right now. They would work on your confidence and the issues later. Right now you just needed to know that they were there and they weren’t going away. To know that you didn’t have to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders alone anymore. They and 21 other women were there to help you, and together you would show the world that You might not be Taylor, but you were a worthy Swift in your own right.