yo soy culé

prompt: you have to find a balance between supporting your girlfriend ellie and your childhood team barcelona at the champions league final 

word count: 2k

a/n: this is an alternative universe where ellie didn’t get hurt during the final

-

The loud ringing of your phone brings you out of your daydream, the Turin sun almost blinding you as you open your eyes to look around to find where you left your phone. 

Although the pain of having the sun beam into your eyes seems well worth it when you see the contact who is calling you. 

“Mi canguro!” you speak excitedly, the sound of your Australian girlfriend laughing into the other end of the phone at the nickname causing you to smile happily. 

“Hi baby, are you enjoying Turin so far?” Ellie asks you, making basic conversation just wanting to hear your voice seeing as she won’t get the opportunity to see you before the final tomorrow. 

“I am, I’ve been sunbathing all day, how did you enjoy training in the heat?” you tease. 

“You just had to mention sunbathing didn’t you?” she asks in return, not bothering to answer about training, more focused on the fact that you know exactly how to annoy her in the right way. 

“I had to tell you so you can spot me tomorrow, I will be a lot more tanned than you remember” 

“So I have to look out for the beautiful tanned Spaniard in a Lyon jersey” Ellie’s comment causes you to laugh. 

While you are undoubtedly in love with her there is absolutely no way that you would ever voluntarily wear a Lyon shirt, especially not tomorrow when they are versing the team you have supported since you were a small child. 

“That’s a negative El, you know I have to support my team. I won’t boo when you touch the ball though” you respond. 

Your comment now makes Ellie laugh, she is well aware that there was basically no chance that you would be sporting Lyon gear tomorrow, with the closest you’ve ever been to ‘supporting’ the French team is wearing her jumpers around your apartment. The comment about not booing her is the main reason for her laughter though, the memory of the way you two met coming back to her. 

-

You have just moved to Lyon and in an attempt to find some normalcy in your new life you attend a football match. You aren’t particularly interested in the French league but you already know that you can not support Lyon, the hatred stemming from the Champions League final defeat they pulled off over your team last season. 

You have always been extremely vocal while watching football matches, thus anytime a Lyon player is in possession of the ball you make sure to boo them. 

Your passion for the game catches Ellie’s attention when she is positioned on your side of the pitch for the second half, the booing for her more intense than the others due to how well she is playing and how much you wish she wasn’t such a good player. 

At the end of the game Ellie feels the need to speak to you, interested in you and admittedly stunned at how beautiful you look. 

“Bonjour” Ellie speaks, the horrible French accent making you laugh. 

“You are not French” is your immediate response, it comes out in a semi-harsh tone but in reality you say this in order to stop the embarrassment which would be watching her attempt to hold a conversation with you in French. 

“You are correct, I am Australian. You are not French either though” Ellie speaks on her observation, noticing your accent definitely doesn’t match those of her French teammates. 

“Non mais je pourrais passer pour Français” you answer, your Spanish accent disappearing as you speak perfect French. 

Ellie tilts her head slightly, still new to the country herself so while she recognises some of the words she can’t piece together what you have said. 

“I could pass for French though, no?” you reiterate what you said. 

“Ohhh” Ellies exclaims, “So you support Bordeaux?” she asks changing the topic of conversation. 

Now it is your turn to look at her, your head tilting slightly as you have no clue where the question has come from. 

“Bordeaux… the team we just versed, I assume you are a fan since you were booing us the whole time” Ellie explains. 

“Ahhh. No, I just hate Lyon” you answer, the bluntness coming as a shock to Ellie, she is ultimately amused by the comment though.

“Do you plan on coming to more Lyon games?” she asks, a silent agenda hidden behind the simple question.

“Oui” 

“I hope I can change your mind then, it was nice meeting you, I’m Ellie” 

“You won’t, it was nice meeting you too, see you next time Ellie” you respond with a wink, leaving before she is even able to ask for your name, the interaction leaving her with an insatiable need to win you over. 

–

“So you are really going to wear a Barcelona jersey tomorrow?” she asks. 

“Of course, I am still deciding between which one to wear though, I bought the home kit and the away kit, which do you think will look better?” 

“There’s no chance I can sway you to at least dress neutral?” 

“Have you been able to convince me to support Lyon?” you retort. 

“Not yet but it will happen one day” she answers, the cheekiness of her full display as she has been saying for months that she feels like she has been wearing you down and that one day soon you will definitely show up to a Lyon game in her jersey. 

“Well then maybe ‘one day’ you will convince me to dress neutral when you verse Barcelona, don’t get your hopes up though” you respond with a similar cheekiness, as this type of teasing has become extremely common in your relationship. 

“Ellie recovery time!” you hear someone yell in the background of Ellie’s phone call. 

“You have to go?” a slight sadness overcoming you due to the limited time you’ve been able to interact with your girlfriend in the past couple of weeks. 

“I do but I will text you and a pre-game phone call tomorrow, yes?” 

“Yeah of course, I can’t wait to see you tomorrow even though the circumstances are horrible” you answer. 

“I know you are secretly rooting for me to win” 

“It’s no secret, I want the best for you, not your team though” 

You hear a few chuckles through the phone, an indication that Ellie’s teammates are now listening to the call as well. 

“I love you so much Ellie, and to the rest of you, play horrible for me tomorrow” you speak, again hearing chuckles at your comment. 

“I love you so much too (Y/N), I can’t wait to see you tomorrow even though you will be in the wrong jersey” Ellie takes the last bit of time she has to continue the teasing conversation. 

“Wearing a Barça jersey could never be wrong. See you tomorrow mi canguro” 

“See you tomorrow baby!” is the last thing you hear before the line goes dead, leaving you alone once more, allowing you to get back to peacefully sunbathing. 

-

Waking up to a new day you are extremely excited for the day. Before you can ruminate in your feelings about the day too much your phone begins to ring.

“Buenos Días mi canguro” you answer, the phone call being the turning point that causes you to leave your bed, you make your way over to the balcony of your hotel room. 

As you open the door to your balcony you are met with the sight of hundreds of Barcelona fans standing in the street, the sight causes you to smile to yourself, a feeling of pride that your hometown team is having such an impact. 

“Good morning baby, how has your morning been?” Ellie attentively asks, something you love about her is that even in these big moments, before important games she is always more than willing to talk about you and how you are doing, not being someone who is egotistical or selfish. 

“I just woke up actually, but oh dios mío, you know what I just realised” you speak excitedly. 

“What did you just realise?” 

“I am in Turin, and so is Alexia Putellas” you explain, the mention of your football crush causing Ellie to groan. 

“Baby, you know I am in Turin too, yes? And that you are dating me?” 

“Of course, but come on, it is the Alexia Putellas we are talking about” you further explain. This topic is another point of teasing in your relationship, you making it clear to Ellie from the beginning of your relationship that you have a huge crush on the Catalonia born footballer and that will likely never change. 

“If we are being like that, I am the Ellie Carpenter” Ellie states. 

“Ellie, your ego is becoming too much, tone it down” you joke, the two of you cracking up laughing, “but yes, dating the Ellie Carpenter is lovely” 

“Well I’m glad, I have to go now though, I love you and can’t wait to see you after the game”. 

“I love you and can’t wait to see you soon. Goodluck but not really” you speak. 

“Thank you, it means a lot” Ellie speaks genuinely, knowing that is the best type of support she is going to get from you today. 

-

It comes to the end of the game, a clear 3 - 1 result to Lyon, while you are so proud of Ellie you can’t help but feel absolutely heartbroken for the Barcelona team, tears escaping your eyes at that heartbreak that is clear on every Barça player’s face.  

You have to wait for the medal and trophy presentation to occur before you are able to see Ellie for the first time in almost a week. 

As she makes her way over you can’t help the smile that breaks onto your face, the joy that she holds is infectious and while you want to be so mad that she played so well you are just extremely proud of her. 

She gets up onto the railing, pulling you into a tight hug immediately, “I’m so so sorry about the result baby” she whispers sweetly, she knows how much Barça has always meant everything to you. 

The sentiment just proves to you that she is the only one that you could ever love. The fact that she takes the first opportunity to apologise for winning rather than celebrating her win with you which you know she definitely wants to do makes your heart flutter. 

“No, I am so so extremely proud of you mi canguro” you hug her back tightly. 

She pulls back slightly after a few moments, pressing a passionate kiss to your lips, you take the chance to hold her cheeks in your hands, not particularly caring about the fact that the internet is going to have a field day with the fact that Ellie is dating a Barcelona fan. 

“Not to brag or anything but is your little football crush doing it like this?” she asks, holding up her gold Champions League medal.  

“That was 100% bragging Ellie, don’t worry I’d still choose you over Alexia even if you didn’t come away with the gold medal today” you inform Ellie. 

“Oh I know. You want to wear the medal though?” she offers. 

You accept, allowing her to take the medal off from around her neck, placing it over your head, moving your hair out of the way so it sits on you properly. 

“This view is so much better than the thought of seeing you wear a Lyon jersey” Ellie admits, the fact that you wearing the literal proof that Lyon beat Barcelona, meaning more to her than a piece of clothing ever could. 

“I could never wear a Lyon jersey but I do hope you know that I am so proud of you in everything you do” you kiss Ellies lips sweetly, the kiss only lasting a second. 

“I do” Ellie answers, deep down she knows that the teasing will never stop but she wouldn’t have it any other way because moments like this prove that what you and her have is deeper than football.