Stoic keeper and sick girl
Summary:(Y/N) is a goalkeeper for the USA woman national team who at one of their games sees a girl in the stands who catches her eyes. The girl makes memories from the past resurface and secrets are revealed.
Also, COVID19 doesn’t exist in this fic!
warrnings: Talking about cancer. if this is a trigger don’t read. Everything mentioned is from my own experience as may not apply to everybody.
Part 1/?
Around the soccer world, you are known as a stoic and collected keeper, even more than Alyssa. People would even call you cold when you had a bad day. You know the reputation you have and you’re okay with it. That all didn’t take away from how efficient you were on the field and your teammates have learned to take your stoic expression in stride, the girls had learned to leave you alone when you weren’t in the mood of being social. At least they learned to do it most of the time.
other times Carli and Alyssa forced you to interact with the rest of the team and even for how threatening you are those two still scared you.
Alyssa was the first person you bounded with at nationals. the woman was, even more, broodier than you at times. Turns out she liked to wake up early and do Sudoku’s so one morning you joined. The other people you bounded with are Ali and Ash. The first time you had seen Ashlyn you were mesmerized by her tattoos and asked where she got them. The pair was surprised at how enthusiastic you got over them but Ash matched your enthusiasm and during the conversation found more topics the two of you had in common.
The couple found out you turned into a whole other person when you talked about the things you loved.
The others didn’t believe them when until they saw you in a heated debate with Ash about your favourite dog. Since then the veterans went easier on you when you were in a bad mood. Well, the veterans were not the once you had problems with.
The younger players were a tight nit group that liked to have fun. It just seemed that their kind of fun wasn’t your kind. They liked to go out and get drunk, you liked to stay indoors and play videogames or read a good book. At first, you had tried to bound with them but after Sonnett called you a buzzkill when you tried to explain why you liked to read you stopped trying.
Ali and Ash picked up on it but you reassured them to not worry about it and told them you were used to people looking at you like you were weird. You knew they wanted to ask questions but those were memories you didn’t want to explain.
The match against Canada had just ended, which the USA had won with 1 to 0 when a harsh wind picked up and caused you to pull the beanie closer over your ears. The sun may be shining but it was still the dead of winter so it was cold as hell.
Sadly you hadn’t been able to play this match but Alyssa had killed it out there, you couldn’t wait to tell her how amazing she had done.
A girl that couldn’t be older than twelve at the front of the stadium caught your eye. She was bundled up in a thin-looking sweater and a thin-looking bandana on her head, her skin was sickinly pale with a distinct sunburn on her cheeks. The other thing that stood out was the facemask she was wearing. You frowned when you heard kids around her gossip and point at her. Kids could be brutal if they wanted too.
Instead of calling the out you made your way into the stands and made your way to the girl. As you were walking toward them you just knew that you were going to get a reprimanding from Alyssa when you got back about walking off without telling anybody.
The girl hadn’t noticed yet you and was still looking out at the field where the rest of the team was celebrating.
“hello.” You put a hand on the girl's shoulder to get her attention. That scares her a little but you smile at her when she turns around to reassure her.
You see the moment she recognizes you under your beanie.
“you… you are (Y/N) (L/N).” you think it’s kind of cute how the sentence comes out like a question or how flustered she got about it.
“yes, I am.” You respond with a small chuckle.
“ (Y/N) (L/N) is talking to me!” you see the euphoria morph into confusion.
“Why?” she asks after.
“why what?” you ask her in a soothing tone, picking up her distress.
“Why are you talking to someone like me?” the girl questions while looking at the ground.
“I saw all alone in the crowd and wanted to make sure you were okay. Why wouldn’t I want to talk to you?” you keep your voice soothing not to stress her out even more. She mumbles out something under her breath you don’t catch.
“what was that?” you crouch a little so you are eye height with her to hear her better.
However, before she can repeat herself you see a security guard coming up to you and calling out to the girl. What you understand from his yelling is that she snook into the stadium. You felled the little girl stiffen next to you and kind of got the conformation there.
“did you sneak in?” you whisper to the girl. She gave you a small nod.
“What is your name?” you ask her in the same hushed tone. The girl looks up at you with wide eyes but answers non the less.
“Lexa.” Her voice was as small as yours. You nod and stand up turning toward the guard. You keep your face neutral as you talk to him.
“it’s okay, she is with me.” You tell him not referring to the sneaking in. you take advantage of the surprise on his face when he realizes who you are and motion for Lexa to stand up. As you grab her backpack. After basically lying through your teeth the guard leaves and you turn back to Lexa.
You saw her knees buckle when she tried to walk and you quickly scooped her up so she wouldn’t fall. She is also feeling too cold for your liking and quickly put the coat over her that was lying next to her.
“it’s okay I got you.” You feel Lexa snuggle into your warmth and decide to take her somewhere inside. You opted for the trainer's locker room, it should be empty by now and is an environment you can control.
You set her down on one of the benches and place her backpack next to her. Trying to give her a sense of security.
“You can take your mask off if you like. I know how stuffy it can get.” You tell her, taking a seat on the opposite wall. Lexa eyes you curiously, you smile at her to put her at ease.
“Why have you taken me here? Why are you being so nice to me?” she asks, taking off her mask and breathing in deeply. Making you shrug.
“I figured you would be exhausted by now being around so many people especially with that face mask.” You respond not emphasizing how pale and sick she looked. She swallows hard and stares at the ground for a while.
“The doctors say I have to wear it outside because my immune system is to low or something. I don’t really know what that means.” Lexa confesses and you can imagine that is hard to understand for someone so young.
“It is to prevent you from getting sick. Your body is too weak to fight any sickness you might catch from bacteria or viruses.” You elaborate, hoping it makes it a little more understandable for her.
Lexa looks with a certain awe, nobody had ever tried to explain it in such simple words.
“Lexa if I may be blunt can I ask you something? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to but what else did the doctors tell you?” Lexa looks a little bit surprised at your question but when she looks into your eyes and sees nothing but kindness she relaxes again. Taking a big breath she speaks.
part 2
