First entry for @badthingshappenbingo is a go-go!

Square: non-consensual touching

Summary:

Jamie's the one who dropped into position. Jamie's the one who helped Zava set a record. He did this to himself. Jamie let it happen.

Wait… Isn’t Ed Balls day coming up? ED BALLS DAY, I HAVE TO GET READY TO CELEBRATE 

🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻🪻(gotta keep you in roses/flowers indefinitely)

And they are much appreciated. The Big Bang is certainly going to be a big bang so that is my primary priority at the moment and it won't be seen for a while so here's a little snippet to tide people over 💕

Jamie pulled a little bit of light blue notepaper from Phoebe’s space notebook out of his pocket and started to unfold it. "Oh, for fucks sake," Roy mutters under his breath as Jamie straightened out the crinkled piece of paper like he was about to make an announcement in front of parliament not read a speech written by a muppet and a ten year old.  "Roy, I wish you to join me in taking part in this year's season of Celebrity Hunted. I understand you may have some reservations about this idea but I would appreciate you hearing me out on my reasoning for wanting to pursue this opportunity and why I think it would also be a beneficial endeavour for you also," Jamie began, eyes flickering up at Roy and then back down at the paper repeatedly.  "How long is this?" Roy sighed. There would be no stopping the lad now. He sounded like he had swallowed a thesaurus. "It'll be longer if you keep interrupting me," Jamie glowered until Roy mimed zipping his lips and then the nervous smile returned. Roy shuffled down in his seat and prepared to be here for the long haul. 

Six Sentence Sunday ✨

The morning was relatively peaceful. It was just pre season and so the boys looked to be approaching getting ready for training with the languid attitude a nice summer's morning warranted. Ted couldn't blame them, he had spent at least five minutes this morning standing in Richmond Green with his eyes closed and head tilted towards the sun basking like a sunflower in a quest to grow. What was that saying, it was the calm before the storm. "Where the fuck is he?" The ruckus started out in the corridor and broke the peace like a bomb being dropped in the middle of their nice day out. Because Ted would know that voice anywhere, and what was Jamie Tartt doing back at Nelson Road?

I love your Jamie Tartt meta so much and seeing your take on things is so interesting! People have been reblogging with tags about Jamie at Manchester City. What's your take on that?

I can't sleep and I'm back on my bullshit about S1 Jamie and his return to Man City and the Man City of it all and writing fic so you can definitely have more meta.

Because for me, I completely get the opinion that being benched for half of one game by Ted in Man City's eyes isn't much fodder for getting rid of Jamie. But we also don't see, apart from that last game in the season, Man City actually wanting Jamie there.

Full Disclosure - Now I am not a Pep fan, I'm actually a Pep enemy and will always wax lyrical about how he's not as good as he thinks he is. So that is the grain of salt to be taken here.

Back to Jamie - He's a top scorer. He's a dynamic versatile forward. Nothing that Cartrick or Ted taught him was worthwhile so he would have returned to city in the same shape that he left really just with game minutes under his belt. Yet ... he doesn't make the team. He only gets a few minutes, a few touches of the ball. When he does touch the ball he creates and he scores ... so why isn't he playing regularly?

Say it with me now ✨disciplinary issues✨

Because Jamie returning to Man City under a cloud isn't only bad for Jamie's reputation ... it's embarrassing for City as well. You've got this talent that you've fostered through the academy, spent money on, grown yourselves and he's got an attitude, needs the edges sanding down, doesn't really fit into your scheme so you send him off. Either he'll come back and be City ready or he'll come back with a nice little price tag for the summer. But neither happens and so your little academy pet project is now a "problem". He comes back still rough around the edges but now with a reputation for not caring about his teammates, fighting on the pitch and not going to training. No one is going to want to risk him until he proves he can fall in line but City can't risk playing him if he's not going to fall in line with their scheme and be a good fit which he likely won't be because if he would then he would have done it by now. They are at an impasse.

He's nearly 24, the longer he goes without breaking through the more people are going to look and go "what's wrong with him?" so your next option is to try over summer and send him out on loan in Europe or to a lower league. But you call up a League 1 team and go "hey wanna loan this guy who got in the teens goals in the prem last year?" What will they say? ... "What's wrong with him?"

Teams do not want a loan player that will stir the pot. The last thing you want is what happened at Richmond where a player who is only there for a few months fucks with the dynamics.

For an example of this there is Djed Spence. A Tottenham player who was returned for "not fitting the ideals of the club" by Leeds United. He was immediately put up for sale. No sale came through. He was eventually loaned to Genoa and is probably going to be sold there. Player sent away to a lower ranking club to mature and get game time he wouldn't at his home club. Returned for disciplinary issues. Rejected but barely anyone is interested.

We then get to the LCA of it all, because in my opinion if Jamie was getting good minutes in preseason, a chance of starting for City regularly then that's the dream and yeah his dad would have been shit but Jamie wouldn't throw away the dream. If he genuinely thought I am one of the starting eleven then Jamie wouldn't have wanted to do anything to risk that. But if preseason is rolling around and no one is interested in signing him, loaning him and he's sat on the bench for 75mins of most matches then ... getting away from it all looks a lot more tempting.

hello, I'm back because I love the way your mind works and want to pick your brain. What do you think of the fact that Roy is technically the one who started the fight that got Jamie benched? And is also the one who from memory actually instigates most of the violence in the locker room that's usually attributed to Jamie but doesn't face any of the same consequences for it?

I ALSO HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS ABOUT THIS (she says surprising no one)

First point, Ted even says it. We see the two cliques, one led by Roy and one led by Jamie. But you don't end up with cliques like that without Roy at the very least allowing it to happen (which is what I think is the case).

It for me fundamentally boils down to Ted understanding what Roy's problem/fatal flaw is but when he assumes Jamie's he misses the point by miles. When he gives the books he makes assumptions about what problems are plaguing them. Roy he hits the nail on the head. Jamie he guesses and is wrong but keeps working off that assumption no matter the evidence that is presented to him. So when it comes to trying to "improve" Roy he immediately starts making leeway. He learns about Roy through the school visit, he sees Roy starting to take on the leadership responsibilities. In Ted's eyes he sees Roy starting to get "better".

Which means that when Roy slips up, reverts back to fighting he is lenient. He sees Roy fighting to "defend" his teammate and goes "well that's just Roy's passion boiling over again but he's doing so well with that at the moment". So doesn't yank him off the pitch.

Jamie however. Ted's making no headway. Nothing he is doing is seeming to "fix" Jamie. (Because he's trying to fix a problem that's not there). So when he says Jamie ignoring Sam on the floor, fighting with Roy, not passing the ball, celebrating a goal he said would be for Henry by pointing at himself and shouting me (which I think is the real catalyst here) Ted is not lenient. Because all the things he has tried before clearly haven't worked so he reverts to Dad Methods™️. He pulls Jamie off the pitch and benches him (sends him to his room without being able to go play with his friends) in what is a display that would be deeply embarrassing for Jamie. He's supposed to be the star of this team and he's been sent to sit on the naughty step?

It also very clearly assigns blame. It screams to Jamie "Roy was just lashing out because you provoked him so it isn't Roy's fault" and you know who else would have been telling Jamie all his life that he only got hit because he did something to deserve it ...

I would love to hear more about your thoughts on Jamie’s loan being terminated

You do not know the box you have opened my friend. I've been talking about this a lot today as fic may be coming but the one word summary is that it is all about the ✨optics✨

Because if we step outside of the AFC Richmond bubble and just look at the sequence of events that goes on, it looks so bad for our boy.

He fights with his teammate on the pitch over his treatment of another teammate. They are both booked for this fight. Jamie is then yanked in the first half of the game very close to half time. This looks like disciplinary action. It looks like the blame is being placed at Jamie's feet and he is being pulled off the pitch as 'punishment'. Because if it is a tactical change, if it is a problem with the play on the pitch then you wait until half time so it can be a more thought out decision. And looking at the quality of Jamie's play during the match, he's not playing badly so it can't be because of that. So it must be disciplinary.

Then, in the press conference post match Ted makes the comment "Jamie knows what he needs to do". Which is just so Ted but I'm not going to get into the Jamie side of that now because that's not relavent to this argument. SO from a press POV, that sounds an awful lot like this being a recurring problem, internal disciplinary action had been threatened and Jamie continued with this behaviour and so it would be taken further. It also places the blame for problems squarely on Jamie's shoulders.

Next couple of days, Dani Rojas. Dani would be plastered all over social media about his return. Running around training, scoring goals, being hugged by his teammates. And who's missing from these scenes ... Jamie Tartt. The striker brought in when Dani got injured who has been walking a fine line. Whispers will start proper now, where is Tartt? He wasn't injured at the game, Kent didn't even touch him. Is this disciplinary as in being barred from training in which case that is ten times worse than anyone thought or is he choosing to miss training in which case that shows a major break down and potential breach of contract. Bad news.

Then ... Jamie's loan is terminated. Now from all the vagueness about Ted not being told, no one knowing if it was City that called him back or Richmond that terminated it that likely means there was a vague as fuck statement likely just saying "Jamie Tartt's loan has been terminated, all of us at Richmond wish him well". Which screams (say it with me now) disciplinary issues. The rumour mill would be going a mile a minute but what conclusions do we expect them to draw with that being the image that was painted in the lead up.

Jamie then barely plays for City the rest of the season which doesn't fill anyone with confidence that Jamie has been 'forgiven' for his transgressions.

SO - the point being, if any other team looks at Jamie during the summer loan/transfer window after S1, his record screams DISCIPLINARY ISSUES which for basically every team out there is a deal killer. Why would you want to spend premier league salary and transfer fees for a player that might come into your team and be hostile, refuse to train, fight within the team ... you just wouldn't.

Being returned from a loan for disciplinary issues is a career killer and it adds so much to beginning of S2 Jamie because what if he had looked for a footballing way out of Manchester but no one wanted anything to do with him for the money that Man City were asking and so ... what else was he to do? But then in running away to LCA ... he just proved all of those issues right and gave Man City a real opportunity to void his contract

... for ... disciplinary issues

Okay, so I just learned something new. Maybe y’all already knew.

But once a player has been subbed off, they can’t play again in that match. At all.

So when Ted benched Jamie, it wasn’t just that he did so with one minute before the half. Which was clearly to Send a Message. It meant he wasn’t playing any more at all that day. So he got 44/90 minutes.

I mean, Jamie stormed off the pitch. So it wasn’t like I had expected him to play in the second half. But he straight up couldn’t have.

I had to check rules over with @abubblingcandle (thanks!). Cause I had wondered if having a different starter for the second half still counted as a substitution. It does! So Jamie wasn’t playing any more whenever it was that Roberts went on.

It is just more obvious (and harsh) to sub him when there was still play on the pitch. More of a statement.

But that being the last game he played for Richmond before the cancellation of his loan was also a statement. Just one that Ted never meant to actually make. Rebecca understood the ramifications though.

Which is part of what really gets me. Ted’s lack of knowledge about British Football did harm to his players. Several second teamers left between season one and two. And their worth was diminished by no longer being Premier League players. 😬😭

For this week’s @ficwip word 'motion'. This is from the next chapter of When Darkness Falls. I'm hopefully not too far away from posting it.

The kitchen is constant motion, communication and teamwork. But there’s a void around Jamie. No one is talking to him unless they have to and they mostly leave him alone to get on with it. Simi keeps throwing looks his way, fleeting glances, not long enough for Jamie to even notice, let alone call her out on but often enough that Roy can tell she has concerns.

For this week’s @ficwip word: motion

“Now, Sam, I don’t trust Jamie to tell me. He’ll just say something, so I don’t worry. Tell me the truth, how is he?” Georgie asked.

Jamie made a motion cutting across his neck, trying to silence the truth before turning the phone back to himself. “I’m fine, Mummy, I just need to rest a couple days. I’ll probably be playing in the match next weekend.”

“Georgie! He is lying,” Sam said leaning over to be in view of the Facetime.

“Come on, mate!”

Sam pulled the phone from Jamie’s grasp.

Word Game Wednesday:

Motion

"I mean, you and Jamie?"

That got his attention. "What about me and Jamie?"

"Not to offend, or anything. It's just nice that you're friends now."

He hummed noncommittally, ignoring the way it sat unsettled under his skin. It was one thing to hear it from his niece -- another completely to hear it from someone who wasn't even here for any of it.

But Nate wouldn't take the fucking hint and leave it alone.

He motioned towards the cut on Roy's forehead with a smile and joked, "He didn't give that to you, did he?"

So he walked out the hotel, took a few shortcuts, and walked into the pub his da’ had chosen for their exchange. Like most conversations with the man, it was brutal and exhausting. He was looking forward to getting back to the hotel and napping.

It was while looking just over his dad’s shoulder, so he’d think Jamie was looking at him, that he saw a man at the bar dose a drink before passing it on to the lady beside him. Fuck, she’d been looking down to put her phone in her purse. Like it was a slow motion horror movie, Jamie saw her bring it to her lips and take a sip.

He was standing and moving before he’d really registered his intent.

Word Game Wednesday from @ficwip - Motion

From the Hunted AU Big Bang fic

Because they had somehow lost Tartt and Kent in the escape, they needed to start to put plans into motion. The first step was phone intercepts. “Tartt is close with his family, so is Kent but just his sister and niece it seems. They would know what we will be watching them so likely won’t fall back on Kent’s familial connections,” Kevin muttered staring at the mostly empty whiteboard. “But Tartt, he’ll have a large network up north. He’s talked about his background more frequently recently and it seems to be an it takes a neighbourhood dynamic for the raising of young Jamie,” Mira called out from in front of the computer. Kevin scrawled Ruth O’Sullivan, Georgie Sutton, and Simon Sutton on the board underneath the pictures of the duo. Those would be their principal targets.

RoyJamie Bingo P3 - "Give us a kiss then"

Roy doesn't know what to feel about the new season starting. Catrick is still a prick. Roy's body is failing him. The team is arguably shit. He just needs to take his mind off it all and what better way to do it than finding some pretty boy to suck all his feelings out through his dick “He’s new to the club, not new to the scene. Early twenties, sub but bratty, got an ego the size of Mount Everest, fit, been here basically every night this past week and nobody has worked out for him. Connor nearly lamped him,” Casey huffed a laugh. Roy’s jaw tightened and grip on the counter did the same. “But yet he’s still here. Back flirting and causing a scene. He’s Keeley’s latest part time fling but looking for someone to take him out of his head he says. They certainly gotta work for it though.”

So a big part of my writing 2024 resolutions was to try and step out of my comfort zone (and to finish fics but we can work on that) so I have well and truly stepped out of my comfort zone. This is the first ever sex I have written so my apologies if it is shit but here it is and a hope you all like it!

Six ish Sentence Sunday

From Ch4 of The Richmond Job

"God fucking dammit Tartt!" he yelled. "Your job was to be bait and you just fucked off," Roy growled, one hand holding the ice pack to his face and the other snapping up to grab Jamie by the neck of his shirt. Jamie ducked under the grab and pushed Roy back away from him with a flash of teeth.  "I got held up helping Keels get the tapes. Its fine though ain't it cause Old Man Logan here dealt with my wannabe assassin. Thanks for that mate," Jamie shrugged with a taunting smile.  "I'm going to kill you," Roy stated as if he was letting people know the weather, not threatening grievous bodily harm.  "Like to see you try," Jamie grinned with a flick of his tongue.