Unheard - reader x leah x elle

Summary: A sweet day off during the Euros turns ugly when you have a fight with your girlfriends. You try to be miss independent, but you need them more than you think. 

Word count: 4.3k 

Warnings: mentions of endometriosis and r being in pain

..

Switzerland was kind, gentle, and beautiful. It was a small country, but filled with pretty landscapes and delicious food.

You and Leah didn't have much time to go out and appreciate the scenery, since you two were always training or doing interviews or having meetings.

Elle, on the other hand, was having the time of her life. She visited all the tourist places, tried all the food, and attended every game you and Leah have played so far.

You were honestly having a good time at the Euros (ignoring the fact that the Lionesses had lost the first game), although you were feeling weird.

You were more lightheaded than usual, more snappy and more tired. You blamed it on the stress that came with the semi-final approaching.

But it seemed like you were the only one feeling that way; none of your teammates (or girlfriends) looked like they were struggling.

So you kept it to yourself. Trying not to ruin everybody's mood.

..

You and Leah got a day off, and you decided that there was nothing better to do than spend time with Elle.

Elle came with friends to Switzerland because she knew you and Leah wouldn't be able to give her much attention, but it didn't change the fact that you and Leah were feeling a bit guilty for not spending time with her.

So that's why the three of you decided to visit a little village in Switzerland's countryside on your day off.

The village was small and old, with only locals living in it. The houses were beautiful, vintage, just like the movie 'Heidi' that you used to watch when you were a kid.

The village wasn't really touristy, but there were a lot of cafés and restaurants, as well as a petting zoo for the cows.

Leah and Elle were completely in love with the cows, petting them and saying it was the cutest thing they had ever seen.

You, on the other hand, were more focused on tasting the hot chocolate from one of the little cafés you saw earlier.

You looked at the sky. It had that sweet orange and pink colour, indicating it was the end of the afternoon. You pressed your lips tight, looking at Leah and Elle, who were in front of you, moving to pet yet another cow.

You looked at your watch: 5:46 pm.

The café was going to close soon. You wanted that hot chocolate so badly. You felt like it was the only thing that was going to make your day better.

Of course, spending time with your girlfriend was amazing, but you just weren't feeling your best today. Your body hurt, and it didn't seem like it was from training either.

You had told them before leaving the hotel that you wanted to do something more chill, but Leah had insisted on walking around, getting to know Switzerland.

Elle was looking between you two, not quite sure who she agreed with. In the end, you gave in and said that you would do whatever they wanted to do.

"Girls," you said. "Can we please go to that coffee shop I wanted?"

You waited a few seconds, but neither of them looked at you, too engrossed in the... cow in front of them.

You rolled your eyes, saying a bit louder this time. "Leah, Elle. Let's go? It's getting late."

"She's so fluffy," Elle said, looking at Leah with a big smile. "How can a cow be fluffy?"

"I've never seen this breed before," Leah answered, rubbing the cow's snout. "Cutie!"

You rolled your eyes again.

They couldn't honestly just be ignoring you right now. You breathed once, then twice, then took three steps toward where they were.

When you got closer, they finally looked at you, clearly happy.

"Hey, baby, touch her head, I swear it's—" Elle began saying, but you interrupted.

"Can we go now? Please?" you said, showing them your phone screen. "That coffee shop I told you about is almost closing."

Leah looked between the cow and you. You couldn't help but narrow your eyes.

"What if we stay just five minutes?" Leah asked, giving you one of her side smiles that would (normally) make you melt, but not right now.

"If we stay five minutes, we're going to have to run to get to the café in time," you argued, a pout on your face.

Elle chuckled and kissed your lips sweetly. "Just five more minutes and we'll go, alright? We want to see the other cow breeds."

"But—"

"Five, we swear," Leah said, kissing your lips the same way Elle did.

Leah took the other girl's hand and moved through the grass to see the cow that was standing near the fence a few meters away.

You didn't follow them.

You searched for a bench to sit on and stayed there, watching the two of them having the time of their lives.

You kept watching your phone screen, noticing how the shadows made by the trees changed position as the sun set down between the Swiss Alps.

You wanted hot chocolate. So. Fucking. Much.

You considered leaving, leaving Elle and Leah behind, since it looked like they were having way more fun without you.

You sighed, feeling something hard pressing on your chest. You didn't like it. You were sad, very sad.

You were stressed with the tournament, and there was definitely something wrong with your lower abdomen. Your head was pounding, and the only thing you had told your girlfriends you wanted to do on your day off was to get hot chocolate.

But they clearly didn't care.

You were sitting right in front of one of the cows. She mooed at you, and you considered that an offence.

You rolled your eyes at her, holding yourself back from giving the middle finger to a literal animal.

It was 6:12 now, less than half an hour until the coffee shop closed. If you were sad before, now you were angry.

You watched Leah and Elle; they were patting the last cow. Maybe now you would be able to really do something you enjoyed.

"Can we go now?" you yelled at them, trying to be heard from a distance.

They looked at you confused, so you put your hands on your wrist, as if touching a watch.

They exchanged a few words and then smiled, making their way to you while holding hands.

You stood up from your bench and waited for them.

When they got closer, Elle wrapped one arm around you, and you kept walking.

She kissed your cheek. "Let's go, Miss Impatient."

"I'm not impatient," you told her, crossing your arms as you heard Leah chuckle. "I just want to—"

"Drink hot chocolate," Leah finished for you. "We get it, grumpy."

You rolled your eyes and didn't say anything as you made your way back to the old town square.

Although you started to get restless as you saw a street clock saying it was 6:26, you had exactly four minutes to reach the coffee shop.

You began pulling at them, making Leah and Elle walk faster. "Come on, it's closing soon."

"Oi, mate," Leah said, "calm down, we're going."

"But it's closing soon!"

"Baby, stop!" Elle protested, and then gasped. "Oh fuck, my ankle!"

You and Leah stopped in your tracks.

Elle was holding herself to your shoulder with one hand, while the other hand went to her ankle.

It didn't look bad, it wasn't swollen or red (yet), but judging by her face, it hurt.

"Oh, Elle, baby! I'm sorry," you said guiltily, "I didn't mean to pull you so hard and—"

Leah practically put herself in front of you, holding Elle by her elbows, letting her sit on the bench.

"Come here, baby, don't worry, let's sit for a moment."

You looked at the clock one last time before sighing and following them.

The two of you sat on the bench. You placed a comforting hand on Elle's thigh as Leah knelt in front of her, examining her ankle.

"I think you just twisted it slightly. I don't think it'll hurt for long," Leah said, then she looked at you accusingly. "You shouldn't have pulled her."

"I didn't mean to pull her," you tried to defend yourself, " I just wanted to go faster."

"Maybe we should have just walked like normal human beings instead of running."

"If you two hadn't spent the last three hours patting cows, I wouldn't have had to run."

"If you could be patient, then—"

"Enough!" Elle said, looking at you and Leah with a stern expression on her face, the one she always pulled when you and Leah were arguing.

Both you and Leah loved each other a lot, but you wouldn't deny that you two were a little too alike. A little too grumpy, a little too angry at times.

"Fighting won't get us anywhere," she continued. "Leah, we weren't very considerate of what she wanted to do, so can we please just walk to the café, trying to end the day without any arguments?"

Leah lifted her chin like a petulant child, while you rolled your eyes.

Elle sighed, but got up from the bench on her two feet. She tested her ankle, and it didn't seem like it was bothering her so much anymore.

"Let's go," she said determinedly.

The three of you walked. You were a few steps ahead of them, eager to get to the café.

You heard Leah murmuring something to Elle, but the American shut her down with one of her looks.

You had just one minute to get to the coffee shop, so you started to walk faster, leaving Elle and Leah bit by bit behind.

You turned a corner, and Leah and Elle lost sight of you.

As soon as you got to the coffee shop, you were face to face with your worst fear.

The lights were turned off. No one was inside. You tried to force the door open (just because), but it wouldn't budge.

You felt your eyes filling with tears.

"Oh," you heard Leah say behind you after a few minutes, and you turned to her.

You weren't one to cry in front of your girlfriends. You didn't like it, most times you kept big feelings to yourself, but this time, you couldn't help yourself from letting the tears fall.

Elle was looking at you sadly, completely guilty. Leah had the same expression on her face.

"Baby, I'm so—" Leah began saying, reaching a hand to touch your face, but you took a step back.

"Let's go back to the hotel," you said, turning around and walking before the two of them could say anything.

"Love, hey," Elle said behind you, trying to hold your forearm, but you were stronger than her and pulled away. "We're sorry."

You were silent.

The two of them kept talking in your ear the whole way back to the train station.

You kept ignoring them.

As soon as you stepped onto the train, you wanted to be petty and sit alone, let the two of them stay together (since it clearly was what they preferred), but you decided against it.

Well, you didn't really decide.

Leah was guiding both you and Elle with a firm hand on the bottom of both your backs as you walked through the aisle. She turned her body slightly to one of the cabins, and you had no other choice but to follow her.

You sat near the window, looking as the landscape passed by.

You couldn't see much (it was dark already), but you could see the fucking cows. You hated them now.

Leah and Elle were sitting in front of you. They clearly didn't know what to say, and your not very inviting face wasn't helping them either.

You continued to cry, but it was an angry cry.

You weren't sobbing, you weren't making any noise really. Just silent tears leaving your eyes as your cheeks got redder and redder.

After what felt like fifteen minutes in completely uncomfortable silence, Leah reached for your hand. You slapped it away without even looking at her.

"My love. Please," Leah said, using her soft voice, one she didn't use much. " We're sorry. We didn't mean to stop you from having your hot chocolate."

Your head snapped at her. It seemed like Leah was waiting for you to continue ignoring her, because she looked at you, surprised.

"If you two didn't mean it," you began saying, looking at Leah's blue eyes and Elle's green ones, "then you would have done something about it."

Elle opened her mouth, but then she closed it.

"I told you that the only fucking thing I wanted to do today was to drink that hot chocolate," you said.

"It was the only thing I wanted. Twenty minutes max - that's all it would've taken. But nooo, because you two had other plans. Plans that were going to happen regardless of my opinion"

"We can go on our next off day, baby," Leah said carefully.

"Yeah?" you said sarcastically. "The off day that will be in Zurich? The off day that we've already agreed to spend with your family, Leah?"

"Oh, yeah, I forgot about—"

"You two seem to be forgetting everything that doesn't involve what you want." You responded dryly.

You knew it had hurt them.

You saw how Leah held Elle's hand a bit too strongly, that Elle bit her lower lip in that way that told you she was upset, but it didn't matter.

You were hurt, and honestly, you wanted everyone to feel a bit of it, too.

The rest of the train ride was in silence. You had stopped crying, but your breathing still felt uneven.

You were still angry. You knew that some part of it was irrational. It was just hot chocolate. You bet the fucking stadium sold hot chocolate, you could also order one from the hotel's kitchen.

But you wanted the experience of tasting hot chocolate in the countryside.

You were feeling sad and upset since you woke up, and just wanted to do something for you, something that you were sure was going to light up your mood.

It was hard to be in a relationship with more than one person. The feeling of being left out was present some days, and you had to fight it.

Today was one of those days.

It was like they didn't hear you, or worse, they heard you but just didn't care. It was your off day, too, but you had spent the whole day doing what they wanted.

You just wanted twenty minutes to do what you wanted.

When the three of you left the elevator, you quickly turned right while Elle and Leah turned left. You didn't say goodbye, you didn't say anything.

You were ready to take your key card from your pocket when they showed up behind you. Leah held your forearm and turned you around.

"Hey," Leah said, confused. "Where are you going?"

"To my room," you said drily, trying to set yourself free, but Leah held you with a bit more force, so you stopped trying to squirm.

"Why?" Elle asked. "You barely slept in your room since the Euros started. Come stay with us like the other nights, baby."

"No," you said decidedly. "Let me go, Leah."

Your face was cold enough that Leah let go without a word. You shut the door behind you, catching a glimpse of them wearing the guiltiest puppy-dog expressions.

You closed the door on their faces and sighed, turning around and looking at your room.

This Euros, every player had their own room, but just like Elle said, you barely used yours. You had been sleeping with Elle and Leah every night. You were sure half of your suitcase wasn't even here.

Your bed was beautifully made, as if no one had slept in it in days. Which was true.

You let yourself fall face-first on the mattress. You didn't want to cry now. You really didn't, but you were feeling hurt.

So you allowed yourself.

You stayed in the hotel room.

You didn't get up when Elle knocked on the door and spoke in her sweet voice, telling you how much she missed you.

You didn't get up when Leah knocked and told you (less gently than Elle), that she wanted to stay with you and wished you would open the door.

You stayed still when Lotte's voice came through the door, telling you two could talk if you wanted.

You ignored the hundreds of messages Elle and Leah had been sending you.

You also ignored the room service that was sent by either Elle or Leah, because you clearly hadn't asked for dinner, although you were hungry.

You had completely dissociated.

So much that you didn't realise you had fallen asleep.

..

You didn't expect to wake up in a pool of blood at 4 am.

You didn't expect to wake up with the worst pain you had felt in your life, a pain that was as excruciating as it was familiar.

You turned around on the mattress, feeling too weak to move, both from the pain but also from the lack of food.

The last thing you had eaten was at yesterday's lunch.

You had completely forgotten about your period. Your cycle was completely irregular; some months you got your period twice, other times you went months without seeing blood.

You had become accustomed to it by now, of not expecting it, to always being surprised.

But this time, you cursed yourself.

All the signs were there: how snappier and more sensitive you were, how your belly was aching, how, when Leah had cupped your breasts a few days ago, you wanted to scream at her about how swollen they were.

You opened the nightstand, searching for one of the protein bars Elle had given you, telling you that you always forgot to eat proper snacks.

You found one and ate it, swallowing it down with some water from a water bottle left on the floor a few days ago.

You closed your eyes hard enough, trying to gather strength from... you weren't even sure. You let out a sigh and got up from the bed.

It was worse than you imagined... there was blood everywhere. You didn't dare to look at your pants.

You quickly took off the bloody sheets and left them on the side of the door, so you could take them to the hotel's laundry room.. then you knelt near your suitcase, the only one that was in the room.

You were searching for pads, tampons, menstrual cups, anything, but you found nothing. The suitcase with your period products was probably in Leah and Elle's room.

You groaned, fighting back tears.

You could barely walk, and now you were going to have to find a way to go to Leah and Elle's room, even though you really didn't want to see them.

You took a change of clothing from the suitcase and went to the bathroom. You took a quick shower (it hurt standing for so long), added a lot of toilet paper to your underwear, trying to create a makeshift pad.

You walked to your hotel room door and made your way to Elle and Leah's room. You were hating yourself for it.

You were hurt, you didn't want to see them. But you were in pain, on your fucking period, and your endometriosis was so bad you felt like throwing up soon.

Leah had suffered from the same thing as you. You and Elle always tried to help her through it.

You knew they wouldn't think anything less of you. You had been dating for two years now, and they had seen you at your worst, but you still didn't like to be so vulnerable.

You shyly knocked on their bedroom door. You heard noise on the inside; there was a shadow under the door.

You waited a few more minutes, and Leah appeared. She had just woken up. She was rubbing her eyes, and her hair was a mess. She was wearing an old Arsenal shirt with some shorts. She looked very cosy.

Leah's eyes widened and she smiled when she saw you, but then her smile turned to sadness. "Hey, what's wrong, baby?"

You didn't answer; you walked right past her. Elle was sleeping on the bed, and you hated how red her nose was, as if she had been crying.

You searched for your suitcase around the room, until you found it. You knelt in front of it, but before you could open it, Leah was kneeling at your side, her hand on top of yours.

"Hey, talk to me," she said seriously. "What's wrong? You don't look good."

You mumbled an answer, looking down, but Leah didn't hear it.

"What?" She held your chin, so you were looking at her. "What happened?"

"I got my period," you said, this time louder. "Just need some tampons, I left them all here."

"Is it bad?" Leah asked, taking her hand from you and placing them on your back, letting you search for what you needed.

"No."

"Don't lie."

You froze, and Leah noticed it.

"How bad?"

You finally found a pack of tampons. You got on your two feet, and Leah mirrored you.

"Bad." That was the only thing you said before turning around, ready to leave again.

Leah held your forearm again. "You aren't leaving," Leah said. "Stay here with us, I'll get you tea and medicine."

"I don't need any of that." You hated how dry you sounded, but you honestly just wanted to sleep, to make the pain go away.

Leah surprised you when she held your jaw in place - it was firm, but soft at the same time.

"I understand you are upset with me and Elle, and you have every right to be; we were idiots, but don't punish your own body because of it."

"I'm going to the hotel's kitchen to get some tea for you," she continued, leaving no room for argument. "When I get back, I want you in bed. Do you understand me?"

You were ready to be difficult, to give Leah a hard time, to show her that you could deal with your condition on your own, but a large wave of pain shot through you, making you curl.

Leah's stern demeanour changed in a matter of seconds.

"Shh," she said, wrapping one hand around your hips and bringing you closer as the other one settled on your lower abdomen, massaging it. "I'm sorry, I'm gonna make it better, I swear."

Leah helped you to the bathroom and left the room, promising to come back with what you needed. When you emerged from the bathroom, Elle was already awake.

It seemed like, while you were sorting yourself out, Leah had woken her up and explained everything.

Elle opened her arms, smiling at you sadly. "Come here, baby," she said, and you absolutely melted.

Your tough attitude was long gone.

You crawled to bed, letting yourself be pulled by Elle. Your head resting on her shoulder as she kissed your forehead.

"It hurts, Elle," you said, letting yourself cry against her warm body.

"I know it does," she said tenderly. "It'll be better soon, just close your eyes now."

"I'm sorry," you said after a few moments in silence. "I ruined our day off yesterday by getting mad and—and—"

"No," Elle said, "You don't apologise for anything. Leah and I were selfish; it was your day off, too, you deserved to do something you enjoyed as well."

"But I could have been more kind about it," you said. "I hurt your ankle."

"I think we all could have handled it better," Elle murmured. "And my ankle is fine, don't worry about me. I want you to worry about yourself."

You were about to say something else when Leah came back through the door, carrying a tray with steaming tea and what looked like every medicine she could find in the hotel.

"How are we doing?" she asked softly, setting the tray on the nightstand before climbing into bed on your other side.

"Better," you mumbled against Elle's shoulder, though another cramp made you wince in pain.

Leah's hand found your back, rubbing gentle circles.

"I brought chamomile tea and some painkillers, and..." she paused, looking almost shy. "I may have asked the kitchen staff about hot chocolate."

You lifted your head to look at her, confused.

"There's a café two blocks away," Leah continued. "I thought... maybe tomorrow morning, before training, when you're feeling better, we could go together? Just the three of us, no cows involved."

Your eyes filled with tears again, but this time for a completely different reason. "You don't have to—"

"We want to," Elle said firmly, pressing a kiss to your temple. "We should have listened yesterday. Your hot chocolate is important because you're important."

Leah nodded, reaching over to brush a tear from your cheek.

"Plus, I looked it up and apparently, they do this thing with heavy whipped cream and salt? I don't know if it's good, but it seems very Swiss."

You couldn't help but smile (the first real smile you had had since yesterday afternoon). "That sounds perfect, thank you."

"Good," Leah said, settling down beside you properly. "Now drink your tea and let us make up for yesterday."

Your period still hurt like hell, and you were still exhausted, but now wrapped up in their arms, you felt heard. You felt seen.

"I love you," you whispered.

"Love you too, grumpy," Leah murmured against your hair.

"No grumpy," you mumbled

"Just a little grumpy," Elle added, smiling.

You were almost asleep when you felt Leah's lips against your ear. "Tomorrow, we're getting you the best hot chocolate in Switzerland. I promise."

..

A/n: pls let me know if you guys liked it <3 it would mean a lot