Archive of Our Own ^beta

The Dane forward Pernille Harder came on as a substitute in the 70’ minute. It doesn’t take long for her to score a goal. The striker wasn’t even one minute on the pitch when she kicked the ball into the net.

Through Pernille’s goal they extended the lead.

Harder runs to her teammates and celebrates with them before they all return to focus on the game.

After Pernille has finished cheering with her team and said team walk over to the middle point, the referee approaches her and pulls out the yellow card. Directly after scoring that goal, the referee notices the necklace Pernille is still wearing unconsciously and that’s the reason she gives her the yellow card.

Pernille has her engagement ring on a necklace. The couple got engaged just last week. They still want to keep their engagement to themselves, so Pernille wears the ring on necklace.

It’s still unfamiliar for Pernille to wear that necklace, so she’d completely forgotten about it and had to take it off before she went on the pitch.

The Chelsea captain, who is watching the whole scene, doesn’t understand why Pernille gets a yellow card. She can’t think of anything her fiancée could have done wrong to deserve a yellow card.

Didn't the referee like how Pernille scored the goal? Did Pernille cheer wrong or what?

She certainly hasn’t taken off her jersey. What a boomer. She loves to see her girl shirtless. But on the other hand, Magda is also glad that Pernille didn’t take off her jersey because she doesn’t want the half world to see her half naked.

And it would also be stupid to do something like that. Because if the players take off their jerseys during the celebration, they get a yellow card. It would be a bit stupid if you’ve already got yellow and because of such an action you get yellow red.

Magda immediately goes to Pernille and the referee. She wants to know what is going on. She is not only Harder’s partner but also her captain.

“What is going on? Why did you give Harder the yellow card?” asks the defender and demands an answer.

“She forgot to take off her necklace”, explains the referee calmly and points at Pernille’s necklace.

“Wait. What?” asks Magdalena confused if she heard it right. She didn’t expect this answer at all.

The defender looks where the referee is pointing with her finger. And indeed, around Pernille’s neck is a necklace with the ring Magda gave her last week. Eriksson looks up to meet Pernille’s eyes and raises an eyebrow.

Harder blushes slightly and looks away from her fiancée.

Magda has to hold back a laugh. She can’t be mad at her fiancée because this is too funny.

“Did you seriously forgot to take off your ring?” teases the younger woman with a cheeky grin.

The Dane rolls with her eyes. She already knows her fiancée will never let her forget that. “It could have happened to you too”, grumbles Harder and walks over to the sideline.

Pernille quickly takes off the necklace and gives it to her coach, who will take care of it while the forward continues playing.

The Chelsea coach takes the necklace and notices the ring. Emma has a hunch about what exactly that ring is, but she doesn’t say anything. She knows the couple will announce it when they are ready to do so.

Without her necklace, Pernille walks back on the pitch and walks past the Sweden defender, who stops her.

“I love you”, whispers the captain as a peace offering so to speak for teasing her fiancée.

Pernille’s face breaks into a smile. She can’t say mad at her love for teasing her because honestly, she would have done the same thing.

“I love you too”, whispers she back. Harder would really like to kiss her fiancée right now. But now is not the time. They will have plenty of time for that later. Now they have to win a game first.

In the end Chelsea won 2-0.

In the locker room, the Dane goes straight to Emma to get her necklace back.

“Congrats”, whispers Hayes softly while she gives her the necklace back.

When Pernille hears that, she looks slightly shocked. She knows that Emma doesn’t mean the goal she scored. She congratulates her because of the engagement because of course, her coach knows what kind of ring this is.

The Dane just gives her a nod and smiles at her.

Of course, the other players notice what exactly their coach gives her back. It is a necklace with a ring on it.

Actually, everyone had noticed that Harder got a yellow card after her goal, but no one really knew the reason for it. They wanted to ask Pernille about it after the game. But now they can understand the reason. The striker probably forgot to take off her necklace before she went on the pitch.

Now that one question is resolved, they are asking themselves another. What kind of ring is that?

Sam Kerr is the one who asks the million-dollar question. “Will you share with the rest of the class what this ring is, P?” asks Sam and crosses her arms over her chest.

Pernille and Magda share a look with each other. They are communicating without saying anything.

The Sweden gives her fiancée a nod and Harder her attention to their teammates. “It’s my engagement ring. Magda proposed to me last week”, explains Pernille with a bright smile on her face. She takes the ring off her necklace and slips it on her left ring finger.

Eriksson wears a smile on her face and leans in to give her fiancée a kiss on the lips.

“Finally!” screams the Australian player and tackles the kissing couple into a hug.

Now the question is what does Sam mean by finally? Either they are finally engaged, or they finally announce that they are engaged. Probably the former. Because the couple made sure they didn’t show that they got engaged. The only ones who know about their engagement are their families.

Every player is happy for the engaged couple and congratulates them.

“We have to celebrate this”, says Millie excited.

Not only that they have won a game today but also their power couple is engaged.

Right before they all leave the locker room, Jess Carter comes to Pernille. “It’s reassuring to know that this could not only happen to me”, jokes Carter and laughs. A few weeks ago, she had also gotten a yellow card for exactly the same thing.