it really does seem like people have already forgotten that we won the quadruple (!!) by beating one of our rivals 4-0 in the champions final. like that is such an achievement.
we can't let that happen! with this team to the fucking death: and it’s time to celebrate the champions victory every damn day until the start of the next season 💙❤️
Feel free to ignore this in case you don’t feel like answering it :) But speaking of learning languages: Do you have any tips/ did anything in particular help you to learn Spanish (or languages in general)? I’m moving to Barcelona for an internship next year and am kind of stressed, because I feel the need to speak both Catalan and Spanish at least at a medium level while also not knowing how to learn two languages within under a year lol. I started learning Spanish a few months back and I think it’s going okayish (I wish it could just pop into my head like English did, haha), but anyway. Just thought maybe you’d have some advice :) Hope you have a great day and moving to Barcelona works out for you <3
well i'm no expert, but my best advice is honestly just to consume and produce as much of the language as possible, as early as possible. don't wait until you feel like you have a "good enough" level for it to feel natural, and don't limit your use of the target language(s) to when you're actually "studying", but integrate it into your daily life as much as possible. at the end of the day the most effective way to learn a language is to chuck yourself off the deep end.
change your phone to the target language, listen to podcasts and music in the target language, watch tv and movies in the target language (i started doing this with english subtitles and gradually switched to spanish subtitles - the first time i went to watch a movie in spanish in the cinema (so obviously no subtitles) and understood almost everything i was so proud of myself hahaha), read in the target language (books, the news, anything), follow social media accounts/influencers/youtubers/whatever you're interested in in the target language. and also, you have to force yourself to produce the language starting as early as possible even when it's slow and hard and doesn't feel natural. journal, go to language exchanges and put yourself out there to talk to people, find a buddy to practice with, talk to yourself in the shower, whatever.
as far as specific recommendations, here are some other specific things that helped me with spanish, especially when i had a lower level:
beginner spanish podcasts - coffee break spanish (starts from absolute zero and explains concepts), notes in spanish (conversations between a brit and a spaniard so also includes some english explanations and also starts pretty basic), easy spanish (convos in spanish about real world topics, but designed for beginners with approachable vocabulary, structures, and speed)
dreaming spanish (comprehensible input videos at lots of different levels)
reading (i started with children's books that i'd already read in english and took notes on vocabulary i didn't know, now i read full novels in spanish but usually prefer to do it with ebooks so i can look up vocabulary and highlight directly in the app)
again watching tv and movies in spanish. kids shows and movies are also great to start with because they use more basic vocabulary, but i graduated to regular spanish shows with english subtitles pretty quickly. @hachenege has some great recs here!
tandem is a fantastic (and free!) app for language partners in so many languages. you can find someone who wants to practice a language you speak and speaks a language you want to practice, and message, send voice notes, i think calling is also an option in the app, etc. there's people at lots of different levels for lots of different languages and they tend to be very nice and motivated as you're all learning!
if you're not already doing actual classes, i took lessons online on preply for a few months before i moved to spain and it was super helpful! usually not too expensive and you can find someone who's from spain specifically
as far as catalan, i haven't started actually learning much, but i plan to take a very similar approach, and i already have pretty decent comprehension just from having a fairly good level of spanish and consuming content in catalan. i listen to a lot of catalan music (i'm obsessed with oques grasses) and i try to consume as much barça content as possible in catalan (@didalexiabreakupwitholgaisback posts a lot of translations of catalan videos on her blog which is super helpful! now i'm to the point where i can understand the gist of most things without translation so i will watch videos without it and then look for translations of specific words or phrases after having already listened once). and i'm taking these courses this summer, which are offered for free online through a university in barcelona. they have sessions starting in june and the a1.1 and a1.2 session dates overlap, but they're self paced courses and i believe are pretty short so i've registered for both. there's also some other great and mostly free resources here that i plan to look into, and @useless-catalanfacts also posts a lot of great info about catalan language and culture in general!
sorry this was unnecessarily long hahaha but i hope it helps! don't feel too much pressure to show up already speaking both spanish and catalan fluently as i'm sure you'll also improve a lot when you're there because being immersed in the languages helps a ton, but a year is plenty of time to get a good grasp before you go too! good luck :)
Could you write the oldest request with Aitana Bonmati and maybe make more parts of it with flashbacks if important moments (First Meeting, first kiss, first time pregnant, first daughters birth, first birthday, meeting Aitanas parents) there are many more moments you could write. If you don't write requests at the moment, I understand and don't put pressure on your self, if you don't like it don't do it.
Always keep the fun at writingand if you are not having fun stop it, because if you don't like it the you will never write as good as a story you really had fun writing
Thanks for sharing these incredible story's with us
Linda
Aitana Bonmatí x reader request
-> Aitana hides a wife and eventually a child from her teammates
-> also requested by this anon - I hope you like it
-> Talk of IVF - Information from Google, 'Y/N' once, a lot longer than expected
➳ Masterlist
•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•
Doing something for the first time was always scary, most people knew that – and so did your wife. Well, now she was your wife, a couple of years ago she was just ‘Aitana Bonmatí’ the next person on your list of people you would need to photograph. That was your job after all, being Barcelona Femenís new team photographer after the last one was let go after facing harassment claims made by the players.
The first friend you made on the team was Caroline, who spoke English so that you could communicate, and it didn’t take long until Lieke warmed up to you as well. They made it a lot easier to communicate – you didn’t speak Spanish and most of the Spaniards, didn’t speak English, but you still managed to talk to each other – it was a mix of both languages, as everybody tried to learn.
Meeting Aitana back in 2019 was quite funny, the young Midfielder was next in line to get her photos for the season taken and she was nervous. A new photographer, who didn’t speak Spanish? How was this going to work?
But as soon as she saw you, she knew that you had already stolen her heart, ready to keep it forever. Aitana was a blushing and stuttering mess, while you tried to get through the shoot as fast as possible, thinking that the Catalan hated you. It was a lot of awkward back and forth until she finally asked you out on a date.
It would be the first of many, and because you had taken such a long time to even get to this point, both of you were now mediocre at the other's respective language, making conversation much easier and a lot more fun-er.
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The first kiss came with the third date when the Spaniard couldn’t wait any longer, and what better place than her bed? The footballer had invited you to her apartment and you had cooked together, joking around the entire evening until she could see your eyes droop.
“Let’s go to bed linda, hmm?” It was no secret that you loved when she called you beautiful, so with blushing cheeks and shy smiles you stumbled to the brunette’s bedroom, who excitedly pulled you after her by your hand.
Soft giggles filled the room when Aitana just pushed you on the bed, claiming that you ‘need to relax more’ before she started massaging your shoulders. A certain tension filled the room and ultimately the Spaniard couldn’t handle it – she grasped your ching gently, turning your head towards her.
She was stunning.
Soft brown eyes stared deep into yours, seeing you for who you really were before she gently closed the gap between your faces. It had been the best first kiss there could be (at least when asking you or Aitana), and the first time followed shortly later, she really couldn’t wait any longer.
Safe to say, that neither of you would ever forget that date.
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Meeting your girlfriend's Parents was quite scary for you, after all, your Spanish still wasn’t that good – but Aitana made sure to praise every new word you learned with a gentle kiss to your forehead, proud of you, that you wanted to learn her language and culture.
But when you met them, all your worries went out the window – they were so nice and very much interested in learning English as both of them were teachers of the Catalonian language and literature.
The evening was nice as Rosa taught you how to make Aitana’s favorite dish from home – she even gave you all of the recipe cards she had originally written for her daughter. While the footballer loved food, she tried to stay far away from the kitchen – luckily for both of you, you enjoyed it.
During that time Vicent stood in the garden with his daughter, giving her ‘the speech’ he had planned for you – but just like his wife and daughter, you had quickly wormed your way into his heart, making him turn on his daughter. But she could tell that the threats held no real weight to them, the sly smirk on his face giving everything away.
Rosa gave you all the credit for dinner when you really had just peeled potatoes and observed – but Aitana, none the wiser complimented you the whole night through, pressing appreciative kisses to your cheeks, forehead, and even your hair, while her parents watched.
They were in awe, wondering how you had gotten their daughter's attention when she had never been in anybody else. Football had been the only thing on her mind until she met you. Vicent and Rosa were so incredibly happy for their daughter – sure seeing her successful and fighting for equality was amazing, but seeing her so utterly in love? That was just something else.
On that very night, Vicent had given your girlfriend a little box with two rings inside of it.
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A year of dating had passed and you were living together in a new apartment when Aitana popped the big question. When you started dating she had told you, that it wasn’t a question of ‘if’ you were getting married, but rather a question of ‘when’. You had only blushed, her certainty made you feel giddy. There was just something about it.
The proposal wasn’t some big gesture but rather a cozy evening together, where she pulled the box out and got on her knees when you were getting more wine.
There had been tears, and obviously, you had said yes after sinking to your knees and embracing Aitana in a tear-stained kiss.
The rings were beautiful, one of them was a little thicker than the second one, but both had beautiful vines with leaves engraved in them – multiple little diamonds were embedded in the bands.
“They belonged to mi abuela y abuelo.” Aitana was also crying, while she knew that you would say yes, she was still overrun with emotions. “We can get new ones if you want… I just thought th-“
You didn’t let her finish rambling, cooing a little at how nervous she was. “No – I love them, Tana. I’ll have to thank your abuela y abuelo the next time that I see them, huh?”
After meeting her parents for the first time Aitana took you to her grandparent's grave – family was important to her.
The actual wedding was held in a small circle of the closest friends and family members – the Spaniard loved keeping you to herself even with her huge family. The team obviously knew you as their photographer but Laia Codina was the only one invited from the team – sworn to secrecy.
It had been a dream.
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During your honeymoon, the conversation about having kids came up again and again. You had obviously talked about it before, but now as a married couple, everything seemed much more plausible. You had everything you needed for the perfect family life you had always dreamed of – except a kid, obviously.
After carefully considering your options you landed on co-IVF. Thanks to two well-paying jobs, you had the necessary funds, and both of you wanted to be actively, emotionally as well as physically involved.
The decision on who would carry out the pregnancy and who would be the provider of the genetic load came quite easily – Aitana was just at the start of her big career, important seasons would surely come, so you would be the one to get pregnant.
While it was typically the younger person who would be the genetic mother, Aitana was only a year older than you and had just turned 22 – she had a good ovarian reserve and the genetic screening showed no problems, so you could go through with the process. Your uterus had also been deemed fit to carry the baby, as was your overall health.
The process was long and tedious – Aitana had to inject herself with hormones for twelve days, to stimulate egg growth, before the final injection which would trigger ovulation. After that, the eggs are retrieved and the mature ones are fertilized by the sperm of an anonymous donor you had carefully picked out together. One of the embryos gets placed in your uterus after up to six days of growing, while you have prepared your body with progesterone and estrogen in order to make sure that your uterus lining is at the correct thickness.
But the hardest part came after the embryo transfer – A two-week wait before you could take a pregnancy test. It was pure torture, the only good thing was that you saw your wife every day, making the hormones much more manageable.
How the team didn’t find out was truly a miracle, they must have thought that there was something seriously wrong with their teammate when Aitana started to be more careful – not knowing that she was growing a load of eggs.
After the dreaded two weeks you finally took the test together – no matter how much you protested Aitana joined you in the bathroom, she really wanted to be here for this. In solidarity the Spaniard had sipped water alongside you – so now you both needed to pee.
After taking the first ‘First Response Early Result wand test’ test you waited anxiously on the couch. This was the best test kit for at home, your wife had made sure of that. The five minutes felt even longer than the two weeks – it was painful. When the timer was up, your eyes met. Together you turned the small device over.
No. It couldn’t be…
Out of shock, you took a second test, and after that showed the same result, you took a third one. Tears brimmed in your eyes, hands shaking so much that Aitana took the test out of them, turning it around – it was the same result.
Positive.
It had worked on the first try.
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As happy as you were to be pregnant, it really was a bitch. The first trimester was the worst, you had morning sickness all day long. Why do they even call it that? Morning sickness?
You still went to work with an upset stomach, extreme tiredness, and hurting breasts. Aitana tried to look out for you, as subtle as she could. Whenever at a match she brought you a chair, just carrying it after you so that you could sit down. She also took over the cooking so that you could rest as much as possible. But with all the problems the meals got smaller and more frequent.
As hard as it was, you loved it – so did Aitana.
The second trimester came with back pain, stretch marks, and patches of darker skin over the cheeks, forehead, nose, and upper lip – the ‘mask of pregnancy’. But it also came with a slightly showing belly in the beginning until you could fully see it in your work clothes.
In week 23 of pregnancy, Aitana had the scare of her life. As usual, you were cuddled up on the couch, your back to her stomach as you tried to edit a couple of pictures in this position. Your wife's wandering hands were just making their way down to your pants, trying to tease you when she suddenly felt a nudge. “¿Qué fue eso?” You had felt it before, a gentle fluttering in your tummy, or like a tumbling sensation. “Linda? What was that?”
The baby had started to move, and Aitana fell in love all over again. She obviously knew that it could happen any day now, but actually feeling it? That was something else.
With your protruding belly, the other girls started to notice as well – it was Ana who discovered it first. You had come to her with the Club's Social Media phone, needing her to record a quick video for Instagram.
“Oie! Did I miss something?”
At first, you didn’t really know what she was talking about – completely forgetting that you had given up looking for baggy shirts and just worn one that was a bit tighter.
“Whoopsie?”
On that very day, Aitana decided to tell the team. She didn’t want to hide anymore. While having you to herself was incredible, she wanted to brag about you and the unborn child she already loved so much.
When you entered the gym room at the time you were told, everybody looked at you. “¿Cómo estás mi amor?” Alexia was the first at your side, and even if she saw your belly, she didn’t say anything when she kissed both of your cheeks.
“I know you already know her, but I wanted to re-introduce you. So… Meet the love of my life, and my wife – Y/N.”
The silence was swallowing you whole, Aitana’s hand in yours as she gently squeezed it, trying to calm your nerves. Just seconds later the gym erupted in cheers and you were pulled into hug after hug by the girls who knew that there was something going on between Aitana and you – but they never would have guessed just how close you were.
“Is it Aitana’s baby then?” – and just like that Ana made the team erupt in screams again, as if they were just looking at you for the first time.
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For the third trimester, you were sent home by Jonatan, Aitana’s training plan was heavily adjusted and her game time dwindled down. While she would have hated that at any different time – she was happy to be with you every single day of your pregnancy.
She helped you wherever she could, showering, making dinner, putting shoes on, and going on walks. When you started to nest, she never complained, just offering her hands whenever something didn’t work the way you wanted it to.
The Barca girls were a big help to their fellow teammate – listening to her rambling on and on about you and the little one, affectionally called ‘pequeño’ by everyone. No one knew the sex yet, you didn’t want to know until the baby was there. There were organized bets going on, organized by Mapi and Jenni – team boy currently held more money.
Your due date was calculated for the 23rd of May, with the Champions League final falling on the 21st. It took a lot of convincing on your side to make Aitana go with the team. “Tana this could be the most important game in your life!”
“But what if pequeño comes early?”
The Spaniard insisted on staying home until the day of departure came. You had reassured her countless times, that you would be perfectly fine – after all the baby wasn’t supposed to come yet, and what baby would actually be punctual? Definitely not yours. After all it haf your wife’s DNA, and Aitana was always late.
In the end, it was Rosa who convinced her daughter to travel to Italy with the team.
The loss of 3 – 1 hit hard, especially against Lyon but an excited hum filled the plane back that was originally supposed to take off the next evening – but when Aitana had gotten the call that your contractions started every existing plan got thrown overboard and just two hours later they were on their way to Barcelona.
It was safe to say that little Mira Linda Bonmatí made the memory of losing the Champions League finale the day before just that much better.
Now an entire year later you could barely believe it – your little girl was already turning one and her Mamí was getting ready for another final – this time with you and her little mascot by her side – making it a hundred times better already.
While standing in the crowd you couldn’t help but laugh, thinking back on how you had managed to hide your relationship, marriage, and pregnancy from the Barca Femení squad for such a long time. Now you couldn’t imagine life without them – 22 very eager Tia’s who would gladly look after Mia any chance they got.
it really does seem like people have already forgotten that we won the quadruple (!!) by beating one of our rivals 4-0 in the champions final. like that is such an achievement.
we can't let that happen! with this team to the fucking death: and it’s time to celebrate the champions victory every damn day until the start of the next season 💙❤️
