golden blonde¹

difference maker

in the end, it really was too obvious. victoria knew. lia knew. they had always known.

in truth, elena should have seen it as well. she was so oblivious that it had caught her off guard. it was an embarassing realization, but elena surprisingly could not find herself to care. not after what they had gone through before.

it really was a miracle they had made it out alive.

early february 2023
"wake up!" victoria screamed in her ear, slapping a spare pillow onto elena's face.

"god, you're going to be the end of me, really," elena groaned as she rubbed her eyes.

they had beaten manchester city at home in the conti cup. it was a rigorous 120 minutes of constantly fighting and clawing their way into a goal during extra time.

no, it wasn't one of their prettiest wins, but it was a win nonetheless.

they were currently in manchester, having spent the night here and playing against the citizens later tonight.

"was that a compliment? does that mean like we are going to be friends a really long time. like endgame?" victoria asked, far too awake and chipper for elena. the spaniard squinted at the digital clock across the hotel room, 7:21 it read.

"yes, vic. it was a hundred percent a compliment," elena replied sarcastically, unknowing that victoria was in fact telling the truth, she just didn't know it yet.

"oh, that's good! i think..." the girl answered a bit unsure. "anyways, gio invited us to have breakfast with them!"

"no, immediately no. no way in hell." suddenly, elena was a lot more awake than before, and victoria took notice.

"look who is awake now," she rolled her eyes playfully. "well, i already said yes. so you have to suck it up."

well, what a morning she would have.

if elena only knew what was to come later that day.

she walked beside frida in silence, if gio really insisted she come, the spaniard would just not talk to her. it was as simple as that.

they found a little breakfast spot in the middle of a busy street, but the footballers were the only ones there.

the 5 of them took their seats, elena somehow ended up sitting across from gio, but that was fine. she'd just have to avert her eyes elsewhere.

"i'm going to use the restroom," victoria said a little too loudly.

"me too," kathrine said, locking eyes with gio.

those little liars. elena glared at both of them but they both instead fixated their gazes to frida, who had no idea what the trio across the table had planned.

gio cleared her throat, making frida look up from her menu and up at victoria.

elena watched as victoria's stare grew harder, more stoic until frida finally nodded her head hesitantly.

"uh, i guess i'm going too?" frida's chair scratched against the floor.

the three midfielders basically skipped away, leaving elena in an entirely uncomfortable situation.

she didn't speak up, but she saw kathrine and victoria poke their heads through the back, clearly trying to weigh in on how gio's plan was working out.

"i just wanted to say i'm sorry," gio started, but elena was having none of it.

"save your breath."

"no, no, really el. i know i fucked up and i'm sorry it's taken this long for me to realize it."