#also by the way he comes to KEELEY. to thank her. because he’s realizing she’s been like. the sole bright spot in his life in recent years.
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Something something Keeley doesn’t ask how the match went, she asks him how he’s doing, and all Jamie can do is rapid fire list off his stats in the game. It comes across as arrogance, showing off a little about his performance to try and get back in her bed. But it’s actually a sign of how poorly he’s doing in Manchester, because the sliding scale of his well-being has become entirely dependent on how many minutes he’s getting and how well he plays during those minutes. You know. Something something.
#in conclusion: I’m sad#also by the way he comes to KEELEY. to thank her. because he’s realizing she’s been like. the sole bright spot in his life in recent years.#this is what Phil is talking about when he says keeley is the most important person in Jamie’s growth. BTW#Jamie Tartt#keeley Jones#ted lasso
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Heartfirst: A Ted Lasso Story - Chapter Nine
Chapter Nine: People Watching
Plot: The Greyhounds take another hit in Amsterdam, and a night out brings about revelation and realization for Y/n.
Word Count: 5.3k
Warnings: language, discussion of child neglect
A/N: AMSTERDAM!! This is the one that really ties the whole thing together and sets up the rest of the series. I think it’s also my favorite so far. Very little of any other characters (sorry to my Jamie girls) but I promise it pays off ☺️
Enjoy!!
(Yes, this chapter is titled after the Conan Grey song. It fit too perfectly)
————————
The Amsterdam match, while not counting for anything, was a tremendous defeat.
The Greyhounds lost to Ajax, 5-0, unable to score a single goal against the Dutch. The boys hung on the field despondent, the home crowd booing and taunting them as loud as they could.
Y/n watched from the suite, seated between Keeley and Higgins, her eyes drifting across the crowd. Rivalry between fans had never bothered her, until Richmond had become her club. Now she was feeling every insult as if it were directed at her.
“Rebecca,” Marjolein, a high-up at AFC Ajax took the chair next to the blonde, “My apologies. Now, you’ve come all the way to Amsterdam and we at Ajax have been such rude hosts.”
The woman gestured to the scoreboard that the foursome couldn’t bear to do more than glance at.
“Marjolein, you’ve been more than gracious,” Rebecca replied, “Especially given the circumstances.”
The cruelty towards the Greyhounds had been particularly hard to handle because it all tied back to the golden boy. Zava. The signs, the banners, the cheers against them…without the prick, apparently AFC Richmond was worthless.
As the whistle blew, the match officially ended and the teams headed off the field. Y/n, Keeley, Higgins and Rebecca stood to their feet.
“Till next time,” Rebecca thanked and shook Marjolein’s hand. Keeley and Y/n followed suit.
“Truly was an honor to play here at the Johan Croyff Arena,” Higgins complimented.
Marjolein touched her hands to her chest, “No. The honor is ours completely. But it is pronounced Johan Cruijff.”
“Oh,” Higgins nodded, “Still.”
Left to themselves, the foursome listened to the stadium chant the words to Three Little Birds as it played over the speakers. Salt in the wound that was still actively bleeding.
“This song’s depressing,” Rebecca muttered before downing the last of her champagne.
Higgins gagged, his tell-tale sign that he was uncomfortable. Y/n put her hand on his shoulder and took it upon herself to lead the group out. When the boys came off the pitch, her job began.
Higgins, Keeley and Y/n went to the locker room, the two women waiting outside as Higgins collected who they needed.
“I hate him,” Y/n complained, leaned against a wall, staring up at the bright florescent lights, “I hope a storm comes through and just wrecks that avocado farm.”
Keeley managed a snort while pacing the hall, she was tense about something other than the match.
Y/n peeked over at her boss, “You good?”
“Yeah,” Keeley said quickly, picking at her nails a little before she stopped in front of Y/n, “I have something I need to tell you.”
Barely opening her mouth to ask what it was, Y/n was stopped by Higgins emerging from the locker room, Jan Maas and Roy in tow.
“Let’s get this over with,” Roy grunted, walking alongside Higgins down the hall.
“If you’re gonna fire me,” Y/n looked back at Keeley, “Do it now.”
“No,” Keeley replied, hurrying to catch up, “It can wait.”
They stood to the side with Higgins as Jan Maas spoke in his native tongue, his tone surpassed the language barrier. The team were hurting.
Eventually, the interviewer turned to the coaching side. “And so, Roy Kent,” he began, “Don’t you think Richmond’s objectively poor performance is due to the fact that you’re nothing without Zava?”
Y/n inhaled, holding her breath after, “Here we go…”
“Who cares?” Roy replied, “It’s a fucking friendly. A friendly is a pretend match. This is a pretend conversation. You’re a pretend person with a pretend job. And I’m having a really hard time pretending to give a shit.”
If Zava didn’t give them enough headlines to clean up, Roy certainly did.
Will passed them in the hallway with armfuls of bags, whispering hellos to Keeley and Y/n, before Rebecca returned.
“Okay, a night out in Amsterdam it is,” she said quietly, “Let’s make the best of it. What’s the plan?”
“Ooh, I’m spoken for, I’m afraid,” Higgins replied, “It’s my first time in Amsterdam and I have a date with someone special in the red-light district.”
Rebecca, Keeley and Y/n watched their co-worker leave, staring in confusion.
“Nah,” they all said in harmony. There was no way.
“Just us, then,” Rebecca smiled at the two women.
Between the loss and her general stance on spending time together outside of work, Y/n already had her excuse prepared. “I’m exhausted,” she said, “I’m just gonna order dinner and turn in early.”
Keeley’s nervous smile returned as Rebecca turned to her expectantly, “I’d love to-“
“That’s a quick cancellation,” Rebecca replied.
“How’d you know I was gonna cancel?” Keeley asked.
“Because there’s a certain note in your vocal range that you only ever hit when you’re being preemptively apologetic,” Rebecca explained, glancing over to Y/n, “Am I right?”
Y/n scrunched her face at both her bosses, landing on Keeley. “Just a…little.”
“Come on,” Rebecca continued, “Out with it.”
“All right,” Keeley sighed, “Apparently, tonight is the best aurora borealis ever. Like it’s the aurora ‘boreal-iest.’ In Norway.”
Rebecca nodded understandingly while Y/n tilted her head. “How are you getting to Norway?”
Keeley ever-so-slightly shifted between feet, “And Jack and her plane are waiting for me at the airport right now,” she looked nervously to her employee, “That’s what I wanted to tell you.”
Y/n’s mouth opened and closed, her mind trying desperately to find words opposite to what she truly wanted to say. Keeley. Jack. Keeley and Jack. A thing. The boss and the boss-boss. What could go wrong? Everything.
Luckily, Rebecca spoke first. “Subtle,” she smiled at her friend, “And amazing.”
“Yeah, that’s,” Y/n’s total discomfort with the situation cut off the signal to her brain. She awkwardly made a fist and raised it, “Great. So great.”
Keeley was so in her own world, no doubt one that sat on a Dutch runway, she didn’t notice Y/n’s terrible performance.
“Go,” Rebecca nodded toward the end of the hall.
“I promise I’ll make it up to you,” Keeley grabbed Rebecca’s hands.
“Yes, you will,” the older blonde replied.
“Oh,” Keeley caught Jan Maas heading down the hall, interview completed, “Great job, Jan.”
“Yes, seriously,” Y/n added, “Thank you so much.”
The Dutch man smiled at the two and gave a wave.
“And, Roy,” Keeley called to her ex, “Thank you again for doing this.”
“Yeah,” Roy nodded, “Anytime.”
Keeley squeezed Rebecca’s arm, “I love you.”
“I love you,” Rebecca repeated.
“I love you,” Keeley grabbed Y/n’s hands, “And there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Y/n forced a laugh, nothing was actually funny at the moment, and watched as Keeley ran down the hall, Norway bound.
Rebecca, having spent enough time with Y/n, could sense her unease. “What are you thinking this very moment?”
“I’m watching my career get blown up because of a stupid night sky,” Y/n grinned, her eyes following Keeley’s fluffy pink coat bounce up and down.
Roy left the interviewer, coming to stand between the two women. It gave him a prime spot to watch his ex-girlfriend bound out. “Where’s she going?”
“Somewhere that believes they deserve her,” Rebecca replied, letting the thinly veiled comment smack Roy. She touched Y/n’s arm in goodbye before leaving the same way Keeley had.
Y/n let out a sigh, her and Roy turning to one another in silent resignation over separate matters. Y/n’s eye caught on the poster beside them, her face shifting with disgust.
Zava.
Roy turned and faced it, a small shrine to the legend’s short stint at AFC Ajax, and pounded his fist against it. It fell to the floor where Roy promptly landed a few kicks before casually walking off.
Y/n looked down the hall to where the interviewer was still filming, watching in shock as Roy stalked off.
“We’ll pay for that,” Y/n smiled.
“No, we won’t,” Roy called out.
Sneering once more at Zava’s arrogant grin, Y/n marched off toward the exit, ready for the day to be over.
—————————
Of course, by the time she got back to her hotel, it was barely 6PM. There was a whole evening to kill.
Y/n ordered room service, snacking as she scrolled the social media reactions to the match. When it became fruitless trying to find anything positive, she set her phone down on her nightstand and grabbed the tv remote instead.
She flipped between stations, finding most of the programming to be in Dutch. Eventually, she settled on the hotel’s channel that showcased their amenities and the city’s activities.
Y/n dropped the remote in shock, “Oh my gosh.”
With a Dutch overdub, a very out-of-fashion Keeley described some feature the hotel rooms had.
Y/n laughed, covering her mouth as she watched her boss over-exaggeratedly move around the screen. The sight was bringing her thoughts on Keeley back around to a more positive place.
It was eating at her, though, Keeley and Jack. Both of them were perfectly lovely, and Y/n had been witness to their natural chemistry. But dating the person that financed your company? That could decide at the drop of a hat to pack you up and dissolve everything you’d worked for?
Not that Jack would do that. Y/n reminded herself that the woman was level-headed and genuinely believed in Keeley’s vision. But there was always the great big “…what if?”
Y/n ran a hand through her hair, sitting on the edge of her bed. How could anyone be comfortable taking such risks with their career?
Deciding that she’d spiral if she stayed in her hotel room any longer, Y/n went to her suitcase and grabbed a change of clothes. She threw on her sweater and jeans, collected her wallet, phone and coat, and headed out the door.
She felt a twinge of guilt, telling Rebecca she was staying in and leaving the woman to fend for herself. But it wasn’t enough remorse to get Y/n to send a text.
Once she reached the lobby, she had to pass through the lounge to get to the exit. She quickly stepped back behind a wall when she spotted the entire team seated together, in deep conversation. Y/n couldn’t turn down another invitation, nor did she want to answer any questions, good-natured as they may be. She waited until a bellboy came through with a full luggage cart, hurrying alongside the suitcases that formed a perfect shield.
In the clear, Y/n stepped out into the evening air, inhaling deeply. She didn’t know where she was going, but she was going to enjoy herself. If nothing else, she was going to leave saying that she’d spent a night out in Amsterdam.
She wandered down to a busier part, not so stupid to think that as a single woman she could roam the city freely. In the more touristy section, there were buskers, much like in London. They provided a pleasant soundtrack as Y/n weaved through the crowds, searching for the first place she wanted to stop. Eventually, she spotted a street vendor, selling coffees and pastries, and decided that was as good as anything else.
Y/n walked until she found an empty bench, claiming it for herself. She ate her pastry, sipped her coffee and watched the crowd, listened to the chatter of the people passing by. There was something about being in a new city that electrified her, it was the same feeling she’d had when she’d first arrived in London. Everything was fresh and exciting and full of possibilities, even if she didn’t take any of them.
“And here-“
A familiar voice broke through Y/n’s thoughts. She traced it to find Jamie jogging down the cobblestone street.
“Is the most beautiful girl,” Jamie announced, running in place in front of Y/n and gesturing to her, “In all of Amsterdam!”
Spotting Y/n a grin, Jamie went on his way, leaving her laughing as he left. Ten seconds later, a well-worn Roy stopped to catch his breath.
Y/n smirked, knowing that Jamie was exhausting him. She lifted her leg to show her sneakers, “You want me to-“
“No,” Roy panted, keeping one eye on Jamie, “Don’t give him any more fucking energy.”
Roy took off once more after his protege. Y/n watched the two men disappear into the night, smiling and shaking her head.
With nothing else to do, she decided to call her sister. Her and Caylee had a standing catch-up each Sunday and she wasn’t going to miss it.
The dial rang twice before it picked up, “Hey.”
Y/n smiled at the sound of the familiar voice, “Guess where I am?”
“Where?”
“Sitting along a canal in Amsterdam, sipping a coffee, surrounded by people I don’t know.”
“Look at you,” Caylee cheered, “Being all spontaneous and shit.”
With a full mouth, Y/n laughed. “I mean, I knew I’d have the time. Not sure that counts.”
“Still, it’s good to know you’re out. You with anyone?”
“No,” Y/n said, watching one of the boats float down the canal, “Just me.”
Caylee’s silence was deafening, and predicted. By them both.
“So not your boss, who you said keeps inviting you places?” Caylee asked.
Y/n chuckled, “My boss is in Norway right now.”
“And not your other boss who, quite frankly, sounds fucking amazing?”
Y/n sighed, thinking of Rebecca’s earlier invitation. “She…had plans.”
“Not the coach who home invaded you to deliver fresh baked cookies?”
“No,” Y/n was starting to squirm under Caylee’s interrogation, “And they were biscuits.”
“And not the ridiculously hot footballer who’s basically just dropped himself in your lap?”
Y/n pinched the bridge of her nose. Jamie had texted her multiple suggestions on how to spend her night in the city. She’d felt bad ignoring them.
“It’s not-“
“Yeah, I know,” Caylee cut her off, “It’s not like that. That’s not the important part of what I’m saying.”
“What are you saying?”
“You’ve got all these people who are jumping to be around you and you keep pushing them away, and quite frankly, it’s kind of ridiculous.”
Her tongue poking her cheek in frustration, Y/n let her free hand fall to her lap. “Why is it ridiculous?”
“Because you’ve got no reason to be doing it,” Caylee said, no doubt with a shrug. Y/n was inhaling to argue back when she was cut off again. “You’ve got every reason to. I do too. Except these people actually want to be with you. They’re fucking proving it every Sunday night you call me and tell me how you had to dodge another invitation to a birthday party or another drink after a match…”
Y/n felt backed into a metaphorical corner, all too exposed. She kept searching for some comeback, some solid point to make, but couldn’t find one.
“It’s a lot more complicated than that, Caylee,” she said, trying to steady her voice.
“It’s really not,” her sister replied.
“Yes, it is,” Y/n’s tone jumped, “You make it sound like all I have to do is go out for a coffee with my boss and all my issues are magically solved.”
“That’s not what I’m saying.” Caylee, to her credit, didn’t drop her even tone.
“That’s exactly what you’re saying,” Y/n retorted, her brain and her mouth working at different speeds, “Y-you’re saying that I should— I-I should jus-just let them into my life and-“
“When are you going to stop punishing everybody else for what Mom and Dad did to us?”
Y/n’s breath caught in her chest and her stammers stuck to her throat. The truth could paralyze you like that.
Caylee didn’t speak, letting the question wash over her sister. Eventually, after watching someone self-destruct for long enough, subtlety was useless. Sometimes you had to hurt them to help them heal.
“I love you,” Caylee said softly, “But you deserve a better life than this. The only thing standing in the way…”
The sentence didn’t need to be finished. Y/n knew.
“You can hate me if you want.”
Y/n chortled, looking down at her coffee cup. “I’ve tried. Doesn’t work.”
Caylee hummed, her smile somehow vocalized as well.
“I love you,” Y/n returned, “And I’m…sorry. For everything.”
“Yeah, that’s another thing you need to stop doing,” Caylee pointed out, “Stop apologizing for our shitty childhood. You didn’t do anything.”
“Yeah, well, you’re my baby sister,” Y/n sniffled, trying to stop the tears before they’d even formed, “Bit of a habit, I’m afraid.”
“Hey, I turned out fine,” Caylee chuckled, “Boyfriend, job, friends…I’m happy. I just want the same for you.”
Y/n smiled, she was so proud of her sister. She’d built her own life, and had found an inner peace regarding their childhood that Y/n had yet to discover. She wasn’t envious, she longed to understand how Caylee had done it. How she seemed to be able to pack up their parent’s negligence in a box and stick it under her bed. It was all Y/n had wanted since moving to London.
“Well, not that this isn’t fun, getting a verbal finger wagging,” Y/n sighed, “But-“
“Go,” Caylee urged, “You’ll never be in Amsterdam again.”
Y/n furrowed her brows, “I might.”
A sisterly silence crackled between them.
“You’ll never be in Amsterdam again,” Caylee grinned, imagining her tightly-wound sister in a city of such debauchery.
Y/n laughed, “Probably not.”
“I love you,” Caylee repeated, “Really.”
“I love you too,” Y/n echoed, “I’ll call you Sunday.”
“I’ll be here.”
Without another word, the siblings hung up, returning to their corners of the world.
Y/n took a breath, looking down at her coffee as if it held all the answers. She couldn’t very well sit on the damn bench all night, not after that conversation. She needed to do something.
Amsterdam. Tulips. That made sense. She needed to see tulips in their native soil.
Y/n searched the map on her phone and found a nearby garden, less than a half mile’s walk away. She could do that no problem.
On the way over, her thoughts managed to leave her alone. The weight of what Caylee’d said hadn’t fully landed. Weaving between tourists and dodging the drunken ones was certainly enough to keep Y/n occupied. She could keep herself in semi-excitement about her destination.
Upon arriving and paying for admission, she found the gardens to be surprisingly quiet. It was close to closing time and a fair share of parties were heading out the way she was coming.
Y/n strolled through the greenhouse. She found the path to the outer section, the pebbles crunching under her sneakers as she followed the signs with floral markers. Her head stayed quiet.
The sprawling tulip patch was stunning. The marketplace ones Y/n had bought and placed in her kitchen window didn’t do the real thing justice. These bloomed with the kind of radiance that only came with being in the place they truly belonged.
Y/n tried to admire them, but had never been more aware of her solitude. There were families strolling past, couples gazing at the flowers, hand in hand. The bustle of the Amsterdam streets had melted away, the peaceful silence of the gardens provided no escape from one’s thoughts.
She’d been at Richmond four months, growing more and more pleased with the job each day. Except it wasn’t the work that made her happy. She didn’t get a pit in her stomach at the thought of exchanging emails with some sneaker company. She didn’t feel jolts of electricity down her fingers from scrolling Twitter to see how a press conference was received.
It was the matches that thrilled her. Sitting in the owner’s box at Nelson Road. Being squished between Keeley and Rebecca and Higgins. Watching the team run up and down the pitch. Cheering and screaming when one of the boys scored a goal. That was what made her happy.
The tears built as a supercut of moments played in Y/n’s mind. The team, inviting her out after nearly every match, genuinely disappointed each time she declined. Keeley, clawing and scratching her way into Y/n’s life, desperately trying to be a friend. Rebecca, as intimidating as she was, constantly praising Y/n on her talents, always encouraging her. Ted, offering time and time again to be there for her, to welcome her into their fold. Jamie, texting her a full fucking itinerary for a night he wouldn’t even be there for. Helping her find an apartment. Listening to her talk about her shitty childhood.
Being there for her.
They all wanted to be there for her.
And she was too fucking scared to let them.
Y/n sniffled, her eyes so blurred that the tulips turned to watercolor blobs.
“Ahem.”
She turned to her right, a grey haired man taking slow steps toward her, pulling something from his jacket.
“Here you go, dear” he said, offering her a handkerchief.
“Oh,” Y/n tried to collect herself, inevitably failing and taking the cloth, “Thank you.”
“No need,” the elderly man held up a hand, he spoke with a thick Dutch accent. “It is easy to recognize a broken heart.”
“Oh, no,” she denied as she dried her eyes. She tried to give a small smile, “I’m just a little lonely. It’ll pass.”
“Ah,” he came to stand beside her, facing the tulips, “I would not say that.”
Y/n stayed silent, sensing the stranger had more to say.
“Loneliness…it is like a warning. A wave lapping at the shores,” he smoothed his hand over the air, “It grows a little bigger, and it starts to hit the shore. And out in the distance, more begin to build. But still,” he shrugged, “No storm, no worries. It is simply a wave. Until the skies darken, and the storm shows up,” he moved his hand to simulate bursts of thunder and lightning, “And everybody is running and asking ‘Ahhh! How? How did this happen? Why did no one tell us this was coming?’”
Y/n smiled slightly as the man clasped his hands together, speaking higher for the imitation.
“And the storm says,” he cleared his throat, “‘I did tell you. The waves grew wilder and wilder, but it was of no concern to you. You laughed and continued on, saying that it was nothing...that it would pass.’”
Y/n clenched the handkerchief tighter in her fist.
“Loneliness is not to be isolated further,” the man mused, smiling grandfatherly at Y/n, “Rather, to be smothered in the company of good friends, a lover. Family.”
Whether he was an angel or a hallucination, the man was telling Y/n everything the part of her mind she didn’t listen to did. She’d hidden away all her life, terrified to let anyone in. The effort had finally beaten her. She was tired of the loneliness, tired of lying, tired of fending off the efforts of those who were already in her heart.
Y/n gave a watery smile, “You might be right.”
He smiled back, “Maybe.”
With a wink, he started back up the path he’d come.
“Wait,” Y/n held up the handkerchief, “You forgot this.”
The man looked back and waved a little, “Keep it. A little reminder not to be alone for too long.”
He went off then, Y/n watched him until he disappeared around a corner, feeling dumbstruck. Terrified. Relieved. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but her feet set off with such purpose, it didn’t matter if she knew. She was on the right track.
She ended up in the red light district, of all places. There was no one to call, each of the Greyhounds off on their own adventures, but Y/n was determined to be somewhere there was life. To do something. Not stand on the sidelines and pretend she had no desire to be in the middle of it all. A jazz club seemed like the perfect answer.
The establishment she decided on was busy, but not too crowded. She took cautious steps through, hoping she didn’t pick too rowdy of a place. Soft jazz played from the stage at the back of the smoky room. She was about to settle at the bar when she spotted the backs of two heads she knew quite well.
Walking up to the two men, Y/n tapped Higgins on the shoulder.
“Y/n,” he exclaimed, no doubt a little tipsy, “What are you doing here?”
“Just wandered in,” she replied, looking past him and giving a little wave to Will, “You mind if I join you guys?”
“Oh, please,” Will gestured to the table, jumping up from his seat to help Y/n into a chair.
“The more the merrier,” Higgins added before going back to playing the upright air-bass.
Y/n tried not to laugh, she’d never seen him off-the-clock. She suspected Will hadn’t either as the two of them caught each other’s eye, sharing a look of mutual amusement.
“Has he been like this all night?” Y/n asked.
“Uh, little bit, yeah,” Will answered, Higgins scatting in the background.
One of the women that had been playing on stage made her way down to the Richmond table, scrunching down to Higgins’ level. She raised her voice over the music, “Do you play?”
Higgins startled, stumbling over his words due to surprise and liquor. “Uh…um…”
Y/n smiled and turned to the woman, “He does.”
“Yes, he— Yes, he does,” Will was quick to follow, “He plays bass because Chet Baker- Chet Ba- Do you know who Chet Baker is?”
The woman smiled sweetly at Will.
“All right, okay,” he replied, settling back in his chair and looking to Y/n, reminding her of an excitable puppy.
“What do you say, Higgins?” Y/n asked, looking over at her co-worker.
He looked to be wrestling with an already made decision. Will patted him on the shoulder, urging him to accept the unspoken offer. Buoyed by his co-workers, Higgins scooted his chair back and followed the woman up to the stage. Will and Y/n cheered him on.
“We went to see where Chet Baker killed himself,” Will said, his grin didn’t quite match his words.
Y/n raised her brows, still smiling. “Well, that must’ve been fun.”
“It was,” Will replied, “What have you been doing?”
Higgins took hold of the bass, getting a feel for it before playing a complex intro to a song.
Y/n’s eyes never left the stage, “Nothing as fun as this.”
“Let’s get lost now!” Higgins called to the crowd.
Everyone let out a shout of approval, Will and Y/n’s the loudest, and the rest of the band kicked in. Y/n pulled out her phone and opened her camera app, she hit record just as the woman who’d pulled Higgins up began to sing.
As the song played, for the first time in four months, Y/n smiled so broadly, her cheeks hurt. When Higgins went into a solo, she grabbed Will’s arm and the two of them watched ecstatically. She felt like she’d come to an oasis in the middle of a desert, not even realizing how in need of water she was.
When the song ended, she was the first one to her feet.
—————————
The next morning, the Greyhounds were surprisingly sober aboard the Coach. They went about their separate conversations, waiting for the last of them to find their way onto the bus.
An unfamiliar pair of shoes slapped up the steps, drawing a couple of eyes upward.
Y/n stopped at the front of the bus, holding up a beanie.
“This,” she said loud enough to get all the player’s attention, “Is a collection plate. It will be sitting at the back of the bus, where at some point during the eleven hour drive back to our lovely nation, you will each place an unspecified amount of money which, in total, will amount to what we owe the hotel in damages to pillows,” Y/n held up a finger, smiling annoyedly, “And keep in mind, I do know your salaries. Give accordingly.”
There was a mixture of shame and amusement on the Greyhound’s faces, but no real regret. Nor was Y/n actually mad. She had questions, but she couldn’t stop herself from laughing when she came down to the lobby and saw Higgins doing damage control at the concierge desk over the feathery mess.
She made her way to the back of the bus where Ted and a very dressed-up Beard sat.
“Hey, stranger,” Ted greeted, looking up from his notebook, “How’d Amsterdam treat ya?”
“Alright,” she replied, looking at the empty spot next to Ted, “Do you…mind if I join you guys?”
Ted smiled, surprised but delighted. He knew if he said too much he might scare Y/n right back off the bus, “You kiddin’? Scoot your boot, c’mon.”
Sliding in beside him, Y/n exhaled against the plush seat. Will had already packed her bags in the luggage compartment and she’d texted Rebecca to let her know she wouldn’t be joining her on the jet back to London.
She finally got a full look at Beard’s ensemble. A big snout and pig ears, a glittery jumpsuit with silver platform boots, and an unmistakable blue and red lightning bolt painted across his face.
“I hate that I know what you’re going for,” Y/n remarked across the table.
“Don’t hate it,” Beard replied, spreading his hands, “Embrace it.”
Y/n chuckled before the cheering from the Greyhounds caught her ear. She glanced down the aisle to spot Rebecca making her way towards them.
“Hey,” she greeted.
“Hey, boss,” Ted added as Rebecca slid in next to Y/n, looking more relaxed than ever. “So, twelve unanswered texts, three un-haha’ed GIFs. We good?”
“I’m sorry, Ted,” Rebecca smiled, speaking slowly, “My phone is at the bottom of a canal.”
Ted pondered the answer, “Is that Keats?”
Rebecca shook her head, “Nope.”
“Well, I guess I didn’t need to send that text,” Y/n commented, “I won’t be on the plane home, by the way.”
Rebecca gave a breathy laugh, reaching over to pat Y/n’s hand. Out of character as all get out, but Y/n was happy to see her boss so…at peace.
“Hey, Will,” Ted called down to the kitman, “How we looking?”
“Uh, we’re two short,” Will answered, “Who’s missing?”
Y/n had clocked the missing presences the second she’d stepped on the bus. Being the closest to the window, she was the first to spot them, but she didn’t quite believe what she saw.
Jamie rode up beside the bus on a bike, Roy sitting behind him and hanging on with one arm slung round Jamie’s hips.
“You lovely people,” Jamie called out as Roy eagerly hopped off.
“Oh, this is gonna be good,” Y/n remarked.
“Don’t fucking ask,” Roy groaned as he came down the aisle, “Let’s go.”
Just as he’d taken his seat, Jamie jumped aboard, holding his fists in the air. “We saw a windmill!”
The Greyhounds cheered, high-fiving Jamie as he found a seat. He caught Y/n sandwiched between Rebecca and Ted, the two of them sharing a grin.
“You take my advice?”
Y/n shook her head, “Not a bit.”
Jamie clutched his chest, letting himself fall into one of the chairs. “I’m hurt,” he called over the chatter.
Rebecca slid her feet up onto the table, shutting her eyes as if she meant to go to drift off. This was the most relaxed Y/n had ever seen her, and she suspected the same went for Ted.
“Everything okay, boss?” Ted asked.
Waiting a moment, Rebecca responded with a tune that had had a much different meaning the day before.
“Don’t worry,” she sang, “‘Bout a thing. ‘Cause every little thing’s, gonna be all right.”
“Well,” Ted smiled, “I appreciate it.”
“Singin’ don’t worry,” Beard continued, singing back quite nasally, “About a thing.”
Y/n laughed, what else was there to do? She was watching a man in a David Bowie/swine get-up sing Bob Marley, and there was literally no place she’d rather be.
“‘Cause every little thing,” Rebecca sang along with Beard, “Gonna be all right.”
Ted chuckled alongside Y/n, “Ready for eleven hours of this?”
“Definitely,” Y/n nodded.
“Everybody!” Beard called to the bus before continuing the song, “Don’t worry…”
As she sang with the team, Y/n felt the four month old tension she’d been holding melt away. This was where she belonged, this was where she wanted to stay.
—————
Heartfirst Taglist: @lalla-04p @optimisticsandwichgladiator @makingmunson94 @taytaylala12 @storysimp @sokkigarden @lightninginab0ttle @poohkie90 @alipap3 @verra-nerevarine @shineforever19 @spaceagechimera @burnafter-reading @qardasngan @cyberpvnk-enthusiast @sogoodtoheritsvicious @buckybarnex @angelsunflxwer @blueanfield @thewildestwonderland @sablecities @oxxolovemelikeyoudooxxo @strawberryacethingz @mentalistfan @tortilla-maria1 @katdahlali @for-fuck-sake-im-alive @glitterquadricorn @jamieolivia27 @imvibin69 @katlizada @lil-tracys @fanaticalfantasist @heyitz-julia @cactajuice @peachyy-tea @notalxx @rockchickrebel @anxiety-prime-max @mentalistfan @loveforaugust @jellycolors @actuallybarb @heletsmelovehim @lovinnscarletknight @imfalling-inlove
#ted lasso imagine#ted lasso fanfiction#ted lasso fanfic#ted lasso fic#jamie tartt x reader#rebecca welton x reader#keeley jones x reader#ted lasso x reader
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Roy/Jamie/Keeley prompt: they’ve been together for a couple of years now but lately Jamie’s been feeling more like a 3rd wheel instead of an equal lover. Roy and Keeley are working together on something and Jamie gets stonewalled when he tries to participate. Jamie's birthday is coming up and he is super excited to celebrate it, hoping for at least dinner with his lovers. The rest of the team are on hand to take him out to celebrate but Jamie keeps waiting for Roy and Keeley but they never show. Jamie comes home and finds them chilling and oblivious and it’s the final straw. He lets them both have it for making him feel like he's been relegated to just a warm body they don't even bother using anyway. He then unceremoniously kicks them out of his house. Roy and Keeley are devastated and realize they’ve neglected their beloved. It gets even worse when Jamie refuses to speak to them, glares, and goes so far as to mail everything they ever brought with them to his house back to them. They’re gonna have to pull out the big guns to win Jamie back but eventually they do. Doesn't even have to be a grand gesture that finally has him forgiving them, just something bad happens and they could actually be there when he needs them most.
HH
Again I don’t tend to write Roy x Keeley x Jamie but I’ll try my best. (I also think they’d go so crazy for each others birthdays that they wouldn’t forget it but here we go I’ll try.)
Looking back Jamie really thought they were all past this. But no.
No
How wrong he was.
His exhausted. Fucked the game because of it. All the guys know it. They just don’t know why.
Jamie is curled on his couch. He’s rewatched the game highlights four times by now. He hears a key in the lock. Fuck.
“Jamie?”
Goddamn it Keeley.
“Yeah?”
He turns to look at them. He knows he looks horrible. Just saw Roy a few hours ago. Knew Keeley was in the box watching. They circle the couch and sit next to him. He’s trapped between them.
“We’re so sorry. Didn’t know you felt this way. Didn’t know we were doing this. It won’t ever happen again. I love you Jamie. Never want to hurt you.”
He blinks at Roy. That’s more of an apology he’s ever gotten from a significant other. He nods. His mind is racing. “Okay thank you. I love you too.”
Roy reaches a hand out and touches Jamie’s ankle. His thumb goes across the bone. Jamie smiles at Roy.
“I like personal space. I’m sorry. I took it too far. Didn’t realize I was pushing you away and dragging Roy closer. You’ve gotta know it wasn’t intentional.”
Jamie looks at Keeley. Her mascara is running a bit. He reaches up and wipes it away. “It’s not fine but it will be. You’ve just gotta talk to me. I don’t do well with silent bullshit.”
Keeley nods. She reaches a hand out for Jamie. He take her hand. “I really do love you Jamie never doubt that.”
Jamie let’s out a hollow laugh. “I never did that’s why it hurt so much.” Roy winces. “Can we go your bed. We can hold you better there if you’ll let us?”
Jamie nods again. He stands and pulls them up with him. “Sleep only.”
They both nod. Jamie ends up in the middle. Roy flat on his back with Jamie’s head on his chest, with Keeley wrapped around Jamie’s own back.
Jamie sighs. He knows they’re going to have to talk a lot more but it’s okay. They said they were sorry. Said they wanted to fix it.
—
The next morning they throw a make up birthday breakfast. It’s glorious and breaks all the meal plans Jamie has. He ends up being kissed all day. They never let him out of their sight.
#sorry it’s short there’s too much NyQuil in my system to think clearly about this#ted lasso#jamie tartt#roy kent#keeley jones#roy x keeley x jamie#keeleyroyjamie#jamie x roy x keeley#roy x jamie x keeley
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Can someone ezblain why we had that whole roy vs jamie over keeley fight revived? I was happy that they were being friends. Then they went to keeley's house and wer liek you pick and I was so sure she was going to be like why not both? I was on that train. Her canon reaction made sense but then made ask why bring it up at all? They were doing fine. Their relationship grew beyond fighting over a girl, after what they went thru togtherr? Idk
I really wish I could explain it, anon. Personally, I think the problem started an episode before when they suddenly introduced the "I don't want to just be friends" conflict when, from where I was standing, Roy and Keeley had already gotten back together, concluding the journey we've known they were on since the start of Season One. Keeley starts falling for Roy, they date, have some struggles, overcome them, and presumably conclude the series as an item, demonstrating that Keeley can be a strong, independent boss while also indulging in the romance she's been interested in since her introduction.
But then, suddenly, their night together + Rebecca's realization doesn't mean they're dating again. Okay, weird to introduce that in the literal final hour, but I guess they wanted one last conflict for the finale. I got ohhhhh so excited when Roy admitted to being anxious about "stuff" because what could that possibly be except him grappling with feelings for Jamie too? He and Keeley JUST slept together, he JUST wrote her a love confession, he JUST said overtly and without reservations that he wants more than friendship, so there's nothing Keeley-only related that he'd be this nervous about. It's got to be the poly plot-line that's been happening in the background. This is why everyone looks to Jamie during Colin's coming out scene. This is how we confirm Beard's reminder that there are more queer people in the room. This is why we see Jamie's bedroom with a sexualized Keeley AND a poster of Roy right beside it, positioning them as equals. This is why we got moments like Jamie attending Roy's uncle party because yeah, they haven't just become friends, they've become intimately close. Holy shit, Ted Lasso's actually gonna do it!
So I went into the bar scene not liking the regression to jealousy -- and I hated that Jamie used the video to try and one-up Roy, especially after all the good work the writing did with that: having him apologize and keeping that information from Roy when it was none of his business -- but I figured this was just the messy way the story was getting us to that poly ending. They need to act in the traditional Manly Fashion over the girl, going so far as to demand that Keeley choose one of them, in order to access the opportunity for her to say (and I could hear it so clearly in her voice): "Why should I choose just one?" The lead-up to this could have definitely been done better, I thought, watching the three of them sit down at the table, Like, I hate that we're suddenly regressing to set this up, it's stupid, but a canonical poly ending will be worth some missteps. Hell, I'll forgive a LOT here because we almost NEVER get that representation and in a show this popular? Hot damn, that's amazing.
And then Keeley just kicked them both out.
Thank god she remained single, like she always should have been. Strong and independent! I've seen a lot of fans say post-finale and I'm just in my corner going wait, I'm happy for you, truly I am, but I'm asking in the nicest way possible if we watched the same show?? The one where Keeley has ALWAYS wanted a romance? How she's an amazing character in part BECAUSE the writing allowed her to love romance and sex and being a badass boss? Where she and Roy were set up to be the True Love story from the very start? How a Keeley/Roy/Jamie story has been happening subtly in the background, now primed to become canon in the season largely focused on queer identities? How Keeley did not need to be the narrowly defined strong, independent, single woman when Rebecca Fucking Welton was right there, loving her life post-divorce, and instead the story decided to give her a man and a little girl at the last possible second?
They'll at least address that and have Keeley announce her intentions to stay single for a time after that mess with Jack, as a way of wrapping up her story, I thought and then that never happened.
They'll at least address Jamie and Roy's lingering feelings for Keeley because surely, after that bar confrontation, resulting in an actual FIGHT, they won't just shrug this off over some kebabs, I thought and then that never happened.
Well, it sucks that we didn't get a poly couple, but I suppose it was always a long shot--
[Dani slams in with two model women we know nothing about, just literal arm candy at a wedding where Beard marries his abuser that, intentionally or not, is kinda framed as a dream and wait wait wait THAT'S the canonical poly rep we're ending on??]
I've seen a couple people say that they enjoy the finale more after a re-watch and hell yeah. More power to you. Wish that were me. Unfortunately, outside the stuff I liked right at the start, I've enjoyed the finale less and less the more I've returned to it. So much just feels like it came out of nowhere, regressed the characters, contradicted long-term setups, and generally left me feeling disappointed about things they I believe we had good reason to expect from the show. These weren't things we simply hoped for and thus fans are in need of a reminder that this is not their story. This was stuff Ted Lasso textually and thematically implied... and when you're the feel good show of the quarantine era, pulling back from those implied promises feels even worse. The long-running couple break up in the most confusing, backsliding way possible. The last episode cruelly teases one of the most popular ships. Nate's entire redemption arc was rushed/had key moments pushed off-screen, giving him almost no time to re-connect with Ted. The established abuse plot-line is played straight at the end. Ted goes back to Kansas and, according to the montage, full-on abandons his found family in the name of doing right by Henry -- a level of sacrifice I don't think this kid needs or, if given the chance to have a say in all this, would necessarily even want.
Idk, there were a LOT of fantastic moments (the sign reveal makes me SCREAM!!!!!) but overall the bones of the finale left me feeling sad. The Roy/Keeley/Jamie situation is pretty reflective of that feeling.
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obligatory 6am episode thoughts (and MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF TED LASSO SPOILERS)
so far it's ep2 > ep1 > ep3 imo. this episode was basically the start of various plotlines but didn't have any big moments for any of them, so it's a little 🤷
ngl, hated zava with a passion and all of his scenes were cringe and boring to me. we already went over the dick star player arc in season 1 with jamie, and zava purposely has less redeeming moments (because he doesn't have a three-season story ahead of him). this plot could only be interesting if it leads to a break in format or character development: ted yelling and giving up on a player / rebecca firing him despite the wins because she cares about the team / west ham drama.
I was SO FOND of colin and michael in this episode!!! they were sweet but not over the top and those moments were literally so far removed from the rest of colin's scenes in the ep, which just stresses how long colin has been hiding this. really liked michael coming to sam's restaurant and their collaborative cover story, because I'm pretty tired of gay relationship drama being one dude angry that the other one is "ashamed" of him. framing the media as their enemy and not each other is a good start.
speaking of which: trent. big sigh. could SO see that plot coming from all of the interviews mentioning trent as both a good and bad presence in richmond. idk if he'd actually out colin, because it'd be hard to come back from that in the eyes of the audience, but there's definitely drama coming and SOMEONE is going to either out colin or threaten him with it, leading to him coming out himself. could be rupert, and that'd be the start of nate realizing he's gone too far. either way that's one plotline I'm hella excited for.
that being said, if michael ends up outing then, I'm 🤡
I simply do not know what to make of tish's predictions. rebecca being upside down and drenched is foreshadowing the amsterdam episode, and whoever saves her (probably ted) would be the knight/shite. but being a mother? obviously not biologically, since hannah explicitly said it's no longer an option. so... tedbecca future???? I'm not even a shipper, I honestly can't see who else she could adopt. rupert's daughter somehow? idefk
jamie was my fave this episode, followed closely by roy. thank god for that bromance, and all of jamie's sudden vocabulary moments were laughing out loud funny. praying for a shot of him reading a dictionary and explaining his sudden word knowledge 😂 am Not Amused at the scene by the bar where keeley looks at them both, but we shall see. I'm actually kinda here for a jamie/shandy thing? their vibes sort of fit lmao. also YES to sam and his chef falling in love. let the man have some happiness and normalcy!
the ted/sassy ongoing hints confuse me, and their purpose escapes me even three seasons later. remind us ted can fuck? I don't feel like it's an endgame thing.
I'm not touching the jake thing with a ten feet pole, jfc. jake seems like a nice guy in theory, but going out with your patient/marriage counselor + not telling your co-parent that you're bringing a new man into your kid's life? no. michelle is on thin ice with me.
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ok but who would be who in a ted lasso mash au or alternatively a mash ted lasso au 👀
oh my goddddd don't even say this to me......... well off the bat ted and bj are like this 🤞🤞 so both ways they're the same (moustached dad who is a repressed bisexual and hiding massive inner turmoil under a pleasant exterior) but not all mash/ted lasso characters are one to one like that (though sidney and dr. sharon are also the same in both imo)
oh my god a ted lasso mash au you've unzipped me....... hawkeye as rebecca fresh from a divorce with trapper (trapper isn't anything like rupert in this au but hawkeye is just as angry as rebecca is because well. he's hawkeye) and is left with only the elite women's football club they had bought together while they were married to remember him by. on top of that, he also has to fill the role of their former manager (henry) who has retired to spend more time with his kids. so hawkeye, jaded from the divorce and reeling from the loss of two people he cares deeply about, hires bj hunnicutt in all his folksy charm to coach his team. (bj is fresh from a divorce himself, but he and peg are still close and he gets erin every other week.) hawkeye's higgins is originally frank as a holdover from the old owners, but he fires him and hires charles instead, and his keeley is 100% klinger (very fashionable and fabulous but also very smart like keeley). nate is radar for sure (short king that's holding the whole place together) and potter is a version of roy, a long-retired but well known player hired by bj. i don't think a coach beard exists in this au because bj doesn't have any close friends other than hawkeye and that's a necessary part of the beard/ted dynamic. so the coaching team is just bj and potter at first, and radar comes later when they realize how smart the kid is. originally i had margaret as keeley but quickly realized she's for sure jamie, brilliant and extremely sure of herself, needs to learn how to be a team player and then she'll become the leader she's meant to be. the nurses are the rest of the team, with kellye as sam. i think bj and hawkeye in this au would maintain some of the ted/rebecca dynamic of ted helping bring down rebecca's walls and help her be silly again, and i think he'd do that by incessantly pranking hawkeye until hawk gets so annoyed he pranks bj back in spectacular fashion but instead of being mad bj just goes see isn't it good to laugh again. and hawkeye goes oh shit oh fuck i think i could fall in love with this man and his stupid moustache. also the club is to this version of bj as the still is to mash bj (and i feel the same way about trapper and i never even met him. but he built this club with you...).
thank you for coming to my ted talk (pun intended) i will now be thinking about this concept until the end of time
#margaret and fellow teammate helen whitfield are dating in this au btw. it's women's sports of course there's going to be dykery#beejhawk as tedbecca is just sooooo delicious and works so well i'm a fucking genius#so incredibly not normal about this au christ#m*a*s*h#ted lasso
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Jamie Tartt + Drinking
Ok so based on my memory these are the times we see Jamie drink/be offered alcohol:
S1 at the club when Roy barges in, the iconic “vanilla vodka, such a child” line
S1 at the gala when he drinks that bright blue drink at the bar by himself before Roy approaches him for a heart-to-heart (and maybe also a beer while they were at the table? Can’t remember)
S1 “Two Aces” when he takes a drink from Dani’s liquor bottle at the bonfire and cringes at the taste + looks visibly disgusted for a while after
S1 when he visits Keeley to thank her, when she offers him a drink he turns her down until he realizes she means actually means she wants to have sex
S2 at the bar when he asks Ted to come back to Richmond, he doesn’t take a drink after they cheers but does take a small sip later after Ted turns him down
S2 in the locker room after Sam’s protest he has a beer in his hand that he drinks from at least once (but maybe only because everyone has one?)
S2 when Keeley offers him a drink at the funeral and he turns down a beer
Related Observations:
His father drinks at the Man City game in S2ep8 and is clearly drunk in the locker room when he causes his scene. I’d imagine he’s probably reeking of booze and Jamie can smell it on his breath before he even gets in his face. Jamie’s jaw is set and tense the whole time both from tension/anger/fear and likely also because his father’s breath smells so bad in a way that may also be triggering for him.
He’s often seen drinking sweet/fruity or otherwise “childish” drinks. I’d imagine that may be because he doesn’t like the taste of things his father drank (assuming hard liquor as opposed to beer given the flask he had at the game) and/or because he is young and still pretty inexperienced with drinking. He likely hasn’t developed a taste for liquor but knows he’s supposed to drink to look cool/fit in so he goes for fruity or sweet things since those are more palatable.
We never really see him take more than a sip or two of a single drink, unlike other characters who get visibly tipsy/drunk pretty often in the show. Ted especially but his relationship to alcohol would need a whole separate post.
My guess is that he doesn’t like drinking for one of three reasons:
1. His father’s drinking habits and how that relates to his abuse - likely being a factor in his anger/inclination to beat his son. He likely drinks at all football matches he attends for Man City like he did at Wembley so he would’ve been drunk frequently when criticizing Jamie about the games. I’d imagine this habit didn’t just start when Jamie went pro and was a contributing factor to a lot of prior abuse as well.
2. His lack of experience with alcohol and probably drugs/sex etc as well. I’ve seen others post about their head cannons that Jamie is largely inexperienced at many things, even outside of substances/sex since he also said Keeley helped him become more cultured with things like art/theater etc. I’d imagine his lack of experience (which shouldn’t be confused with lack of intelligence) could be attributed to his childhood and his isolation encouraged by his father. When he was young he grew up in a Council Estate in North Manchester and may not have had access to a great education or the money to engage in more “cultured” experiences. In addition to this, it is known that childhood trauma can make it difficult for kids to learn in school so this may have set him back in some ways. Later in life his father encouraged him to only care about himself and likely discouraged him having friendships/relationships/going out etc. So he wouldn’t have had many opportunities to learn about things like substances, sex, relationships, and just other things you learn while developing socially.
3. Deeply rooted fear that if he gets drunk he’ll behave the way his father does when he’s drunk and he’ll end up hurting somebody. He’s feared for years that he was just like his father and doesn’t want more reasons to confirm it, especially since he knows he followed right in his footsteps in terms of his behavior (even if he did this for his own survival and not because he consciously wanted to). Related to this, he may also be afraid of the lack of control that comes with being intoxicated. He has spent years carefully constructing his asshole persona to hide who he really was for fear of being vulnerable and getting hurt (by his father or by others) so the idea of drinking and risking letting that all slip away would likely be terrifying.
Additional random thoughts:
Maybe when Jamie met with Ted at the bar he also didn’t drink much because he was nervous and/or because it reminded him of drinking with his bio father so he didn’t want to replicate the same dynamic. It felt wrong to engage in a ritual he hates with someone who is also somewhat of a father figure, and one that he has mostly felt safe with. Maybe he also doesn’t trust Ted after being sent back to Man City so he worries that being even slightly intoxicated around him could be an unsafe move.
I feel like Jamie is a lightweight because 1) he presumably eats very healthy/doesn’t have a lot of body fat or carbs to help him out and 2) is so young and doesn’t drink often due to reasons stated above. This could also be related to why he only seems to sip drinks - he knows it doesn’t take much to get him tipsy.
Drunk Jamie is definitely either 1) Very sad or 2) Very cuddly/giggly. Maybe it can go either way depending on his mood and whether he’s drinking alone. I like to think that when he’s with people he loves he’s more apt to get touchy and happy (especially given how his love language is clearly touch even when sober) and let his goofy side out in a more genuine way that we often see in the show. I could also see him occasionally drinking alone in his flat when he’s really down, maybe after an interaction with his father, and that’s when he gets Sad Depression Spiral Drunk. But that’s just because I love some good angst.
So anyway this very random and disjointed post is just to say that Jamie rarely drinks ever and per usual I’m relating it to his trauma and also the fact that under his tough/cool exterior he’s just a young kid trying to figure things out for himself. He’s still so early in his journey of learning who he is and I’m so happy he’s getting to start that exploration around people he can trust.
#Jamie Tartt#Ted Lasso#abuse#I just have a lot of thoughts and feelings about this#even when he went out to the club early in season 1 I feel like it was mostly for show#because keeley wanted to and the guys wanted him to be there#so he went and played the part and got his vanilla vodka since it was the easiest to stomach#but realistically he’d rather just be at home and doing something quiet#ok now I’m just projecting but anyway#Ted Lasso creators need to give me a whole spin-off just on the care and keeping of Jamie Tartt because I have questions
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good evening and welcome to another episode of casey’s nonsense leverage crossovers: the ted lasso edition
(this was entirely born out of my desire to see ted and nate interact because holy shit can you imagine)
rupert mannion is a world class asshole richer than god who skirts responsibility at every turn. there’s no way he hasn’t done something to put himself on leverage’s radar.
they plan to run a scam around the club but then there is a messy messy divorce and the club isn’t his and they have to back up and regroup
now the plan is to figure out a way to sell him a part of the club that he will think is legal but in a way they can twist it to make it illegal
what i’m saying is sophie and parker are the milk sisters. from then on i’m not sure about plot but let’s be real this is about the DYNAMICS babey!
keeley is in love with sophie devereaux RIGHT AWAY. rebecca is weirdly jealous of this but then she realizes that sophie is incredible and now rebecca is also in love with sophie just a little bit
nate has no fucking clue what to make of the human hallmark card that is theodore ted lasso. he is trying to find the evil in this man and he just can’t do it. he wants for nothing. bribes don’t work, threats don’t work. one day he hears ted talk about his son in a way that feels achingly familiar and the next day there’s a little box of biscuits presented to him and ted has this look in his eye like he knows. nate hightails it the fuck out of there
roy kent eliot spencer. that’s all.
hardison is a big football geek. he genuinely can’t grift around the team because he’s too excited but like it works very well because he can feed nate information about any of the players without looking it up
parker is WILDLY good at football. she’s never really played before but she’s so agile and has such good coordination that she ends up “what like it’s hard?”ing at least three grown men at the sport they play for a living
the truth comes out, eventually. everyone takes it surprisingly well, save for a bit of smugness from jamie who thought something was off about the crew almost immediately and has to be banned from saying i told you so.
parker and beard hit it off. the entire team is in love with sophie now. keeley and hardison share tips on how to take care of your grumpy idiot and hardison teaches her some hacking stuff because she already has the coding base from her PR work. ernie lounds beware
ted sees nate and hardison interact one single time and then pulls nate aside to be like You Know You Really Ought To Tell That Young Man You Appreciate Him More and nate is just. who ARE you. but then that night nate thanks hardison for some benign task he does every other week and hardison gets this huge smile on his face, beyond amused, like. coach got to you, huh?
eliot and ted bonding over the heartland, and food. eliot teaching phoebe and nora how to really knock someone’s teeth out. eliot finding that he’s fine running, but he’s sort of stellar in goal, and bonding with zoreaux over that
and heaven help whoever makes trouble for afc richmond. because nate ford does not pull his fucking punches when it comes to people he cares about. and that includes these idiots now
#this is long i am so sorry#long post#ted lasso#leverage#tl#OBVIOUSLY i have more thoughts.#adhd dani hardison solidarity#oh my god hardison playing fifa with the team i will cry#c.txt#casey’s nonsense leverage crossovers
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"the holy or the broken" -Ted Lasso
I'm so sorry.
WORD COUNT: 2401
XXX
There are three eras in Roy’s life, and they’re all defined by the same woman.
The third echoes the first: Roy Kent, angry at the world with no one to pull him out of his frustration. It’s also worse, though, because before, Roy lived in blissful ignorance of the joy and sorrow that laid ahead.
Rebecca and Ted express their surprise at Roy’s anger. They thought him changed, or perhaps that grief would prevail over rage, and they were wrong. Because Roy Kent, when stripped of everything he is -his athleticism and grim humor and the love of his life- has anger. Nothing less and nothing more.
At first, he can’t say her name. He doesn’t even think it, because every reminder of her is a reminder that she’s gone. Despite her mark on everything- the furniture they picked out together, the bed they shared, her usual seat at the dining table, the compliments she gave his hair and clothes- Roy doesn’t think of her. Which means he doesn’t think at all, so he becomes his anger and his pain, and nothing else.
He stops coaching, obviously. Nobody asks him if he’ll keep going, nor does he announce his departure. His absence, professionally, personally, emotionally- is expected fully. Though people still coming to the fucking house. He tolerates her parents, and Phoebe once or twice, but eventually the visits dwindle, and Roy doesn’t check his phone or answer the door. There’s shouting, sometimes- inevitably Ted Lasso- but Roy has soundproof headphones for a reason and he’s perfectly fine with calling the cops on Ted. And he does, more than once.
His sister begs him to talk to her, or at least to Phoebe, and Roy, in all his anger, doesn’t have the heart to turn his niece away. So it’s just her and Roy, a few days a week, and they order food directly to the house and Phoebe tells him about school, and he grunts in acknowledgment. She cries sometimes too, and that’s when he holds her. No words are exchanged, but he comforts her, enough so that the sobs stop. The numb feeling he has remains intact.
The yoga moms scout his address, somehow, and drop off a wine basket- they drink in relative silence, and clean up his house and make a few casseroles. He picks at the food, but they slowly disappear, and it’s almost nice to eat more than once or twice a day.
It doesn’t get easier. People tell him it will, that the pain will start to lessen, but it doesn’t. Not three weeks after, or four, or five, or when summer emerges and the lilies bloom.
Roy’s not particularly good at adapting. He never wanted to be. And it’s bullshit that he’d have to start now, for some shit fucking luck and life-alerting occurrences he never saw coming.
Because he never expected that there would be an “after” regarding Keeley Jones. It’s not something he planned for and certainly not something he ever wanted. It’s just: one breath she’s there and the next, she’s not. Gone and the house empty, her office too, and suddenly every space at Richmond is filled with flowers because Roy doesn’t accept a single bouquet.
He does start to say her name, although only to his sister- the only adult he talks to. He spits it out, with venom, and he suspects that it’s this habit that prompts Rebecca to show up at his house.
She sneaks her way in, the stubborn shit. Apparently, she hid down the street until he ordered food, bribed the deliverer with an obscene amount of money, and rang his doorbell herself. Rebecca slips into the entry before Roy realizes it’s her, and slams the door behind her.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” He hisses, and to her credit, Rebecca doesn’t flinch. She gives her best businesswoman smile, the one that so directly contradicts the flint in her eyes, and straightens.
“Someone informed me that you made developments in your grief-
“Fuck you-”
“-so I thought a visit was due.”
“Get the fuck out of my house.”
“Somebody told me once that I was always welcome in her home. Has that changed?”
“Yeah. She’s fucking dead.”
Rebecca does bristle at that one but she doesn’t challenge the statement. Instead, she clears her throat, setting Roy’s food down on the table in the foyer.
“Your sister told me how quiet you’ve been. And that any time you talk about Keeley, you do so with an incredible amount of anger.”
Roy doesn’t deign to respond, glowering at Rebecca instead. She takes a look around the room, in all its dusty glory. Lights off, trash piling on the floor, clothes strewn over backs of couches. It matches Roy, in terms of appearance. Unkept. Uncared for. Unloved.
“I’m calling the police,” Roy decides, scanning the room for his phone. “You can’t fucking impersonate a food deliverer. Or fucking be here when I don’t want you to be.”
“I paid him handsomely-”
“-illegal. And fireable.”
“-enough so that his salary for the next few months should be covered.”
“Get out.”
“I can’t do that.”
“I don’t give a damn about what you’re here to fucking do or say. Leave me the fuck alone.”
“And leave you to stew in your anger and your filth? I don’t think so.”
And Rebecca struts into his living room and seats herself on a sofa.
“Dr. Sharon proposed to me that your anger had legitimate grounds. Not just your usual brooding about playing and coaching a game for a living, but you know,” Rebecca gestures to Roy. “Real reasons to be so surly.”
“My fucking wife died.”
“Yes, well. My best friend died yet I’ve been outside over the past few months.” She gives Roy another placid smile. “Despite the fact that I’m mourning.”
“It’s different.”
“Undoubtedly, yes. You’ve been much unhealthier in your habits.”
“Fuck you,” Roy growls. “Get the fuck out of my house.”
“No.” Keeley would refer to that as Rebecca’s scariest tone. “I came to talk.”
“I don’t care.” His hands clench into fists.
“You’re angry at Keeley.”
“I’m fucking pissed at you and your fucking break-in habits. Did you fucking compare notes with fucking Lasso?”
“You need someplace to direct your anger, and since fate dealt you both such a terrible hand, the only thing you can think to do is blame Keeley.”
“That makes as much fucking sense as you impersonating a takeaway driver. Fuck you.”
“So you go from not being able to say her name to saying it like a curse because you’re much more comfortable with your anger than sorrow.”
“I can say Keeley’s name.”
“Can you say it without sounding like the angriest person on the entire planet, Roy?”
“Fuck off.”
“Well?” Rebecca stands. In heels, she towers over Roy, who glares right back at her. “Show me you can, Roy.”
“I don’t have to prove shit to you.”
“No. But I asked you to.”
“I’m not fucking angry at my dead fucking wife.”
‘You’re angry at someone.”
“Yeah. You.”
“Come on now, Roy. Do better.”
“I’m NOT fucking angry at Keeley!”
Rebecca raises an eyebrow. “Clearly.”
“Fuck you.” Roy paces before her, ignoring how every step makes his knee throb. “Fuck you, fuck off. Fuck you.”
“Are you even sad?” Rebecca says quietly, and Roy freezes, his muscles clenching painfully.
“Ask me again,” he dares, his tone low. He takes a step closer to Rebecca, who remains unfazed.
“I said: are you sad your wife died in your arms, Roy?”
“Fuck you!” Roy bellows. He spins away to upturn the coffee table, sending dishes crashing to the floor.
“Do you miss her? Do you wish she hadn’t died?”
“I’ll fucking kill you.”
“So I’ll see Keeley again. How lovely.”
Roy roars, using the full force of his body to punch a hole in the wall. His fist comes out covered in plaster, bright red blood leaking from his knuckles dusted white.
“She fucking died in a freak fucking accident. There’s nothing- nothing- she could have done differently.”
“But she left you.”
“She fucking- she-” Roy’s chest heaves as he looks wildly around the room, at anything but the woman in front of him. “She was supposed to get her fucking nails done. We were going to get Thai for dinner. We had a sexy fucking weekend planned, and she was going to come home and it all would have been fucking fine.”
“And now she’s gone.”
“We can’t do any of that shit. Can’t fucking fall asleep next to her ever again. Or hold her fucking hand. We had fucking plans-” His words catch in his throat, and he looks away, examining the new damage to the wall. “We had plans.”
“Roy-”
“Don’t.” He closes his eyes. “You riled me up. Is that what you fucking wanted?”
“Yes,” Rebecca admits, and she retakes her seat on the couch, disregarding the surrounding wreckage. “Since the one person you want to talk to is gone, I figured I’d substitute.”
Roy glances around the house, at the forgotten groceries by the entrance, at the overturned table, and at the destroyed wall. “Good fucking job.”
“Thanks,” Rebecca says swiftly. “I figured I’d be better at it than Ted.”
“I’d have fucking killed him.”
“I thought so.” Rebecca sighs, massaging her temple. For the first time since her arrival, her bravado fades and her shoulders slump. It’s a familiar sight, one Roy witnessed the last time he saw Rebecca- at Keeley’s funeral, where all traces of the usually confident woman had faded away, and a grieving shell stood in her place. “Is that it, then? All the anger is for what’s never to be?”
“Yeah. That’s it.”
“And this is the first time you’re realizing it?”
Roy’s eyes narrow. “Yeah, it is.”
Rebecca shrugs. “Okay.”
Silence prevails for a long while, then Roy sighs and takes a seat next to Rebecca.
“You know, my office has quite literally never been quieter. Even with Ted bursting in at all hours, it’s just… not the same. I started to get frustrated at Higgins trying to coordinate with me simply because he’s not the person I want to see. And then I woke up angry, too. Absolutely pissed at the sun just for rising. Because every day that I experience is one I should be sharing with her.”
She looks down at her hands, which tremble slightly. “It’s not fair. And I have nowhere to put all my anger and blame.”
Roy wordlessly gestures to the wall, and Rebecca gives a soft laugh.
“There’s one option.” Then, she swipes at her eyes, and sniffs.
“Keeley would have never forgiven any of us if we gave up on you, Roy.”
“I know.” He clears his throat. “She told me as much. About me.” He rolls his eyes, then blinks rapidly. “I’m not supposed to give up on myself.”
“Good job,” Rebecca retorts, and Roy growls, but Rebecca gives another breathy laugh. “You didn’t call the police on me. I’d say that’s a good sign.”
“Don’t let it go to your fucking head.”
“No. Of course not.”
“Thank you,” Roy says very, very quietly. Rebecca takes his hand and squeezes it briefly. Her palm comes away coated in dust and blood.
“Clean up, Roy,” she tells him, standing. “I’ll be seeing you soon.”
-
Rebecca leaves, but she sends over a team of cleaners and a fresh batch of groceries. For the first time since Keeley died, his fridge is fully stocked with food for him to make into meals, and the house is spotless. He sends a text to his sister, telling her to fuck off in a way she’ll know means thank you, and showers. He trims his beard and dries himself off with a freshly laundered towel, then he falls asleep ass naked on the bed and sleeps for twelve hours.
He goes to see Phoebe and the rest of his family. They catch him up on all the petty bullshit he doesn’t give a fuck about, and it’s nearly normal, except that he drives home alone to an empty house.
He goes back to yoga, and every stretch feels like he’s never done a downward dog before in his life. Still, the wine after is good, and he ends up going home with a spare bottle and another casserole, and so another part of his life resumes.
It’s a slow process. Richmond is a hard place to face, with Ted trying to be casual as he checks in on him, and the boys stepping around him like glass, and Jaime Tartt in tears when he first catches sight of Roy. Her office, the lack of visits from his wife during the day, and the plaque commemorating her on the wall hurt like getting that phone call all over again. But it’s the beginning of the mourning process, Dr. Sharon will tell him, and now that it’s started, the hurt will eventually lessen.
With every end, a beginning.
Roy takes his first steps.
-
There are three eras in Roy’s life, and a thousand different Roys.
There’s the prodigy footballer, eight years old and scoring goal after goal in every match. There’s the Chelsea player, a championship winner, then the Richmond player, bittered by age. Injured Roy Kent, retired, coaching his kid niece’s football team. Then, briefly: professional commentator. Richmond coach.
Roy Kent, who fucking hates Jaime Tartt except usually his girlfriend is nice at least. Roy Kent, Keeley’s boyfriend. Roy Kent, Keeley’s fiancé, husband- widower.
Roy Kent- a bastard luckily enough that Keeley loved him too. Roy Kent, who lit up when she walked into the room, who smiled more during their time together than he ever had before in his life. Who wanted to start a family with her. Who doted on his wife and promised her the world and a thousand other cheesy things, because she had that power over him.
Roy, who was beside her at the very end, who evoked her last words and smile. Roy, who had that horrible, painful privilege of easing his wife’s passing with reassurances and small comforts and anything he could do to make her feel his love.
Roy, who loves her still. Who’ll die loving her and missing her, and wishing they had just one more day.
Roy, who learns to live to make her proud.
#roy kent#keeley jones#roy x keeley#roy x keeley fanfic#ted lasso#ted lasso fanfic#ted lasso fanfiction#roy x keeley fanfiction#roy x keeley imagine#roy kent x keeley jones#keeley x roy#angst#oops im so sorry yal#rebecca welton
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Holy shit, reading that anon (Jamie is son-shaped to Ted, but Ted is not father-shaped to Jamie) and your answer (how and why Ted fails Jamie every single time) I realized just how much, on the other hand, Jamie and Roy GET each other.
Roy gives Jamie direct instructions on how to become better and win his praise, not only with the training and diet regimen in S3, but back in S2 when Roy comes up with a literal signal, to tell Jamie exactly what to do and when. That's what Jamie responds best to, what he'd been seeking all throughout S2, and somehow Roy just knew.
And Jamie, he never pushes Roy to speak when he senses something is wrong. What he does is, he offers himself up first, honestly and openly, expecting nothing in return, but creating such a supportive environment that Roy naturally starts to open up (ironically, very similar to Ted's approach to Roy lmao).
In Amsterdam he knew that Roy was just taking his negative emotions out on him, and instead of challenging him, Jamie just went along with it, apologizing for being a dick first, sharing his memories of Amsterdam (good and bad), and finally calling Roy out lightly ("you're just taking it out on me"), in passing. And it did not make Roy defensive because until that point Jamie had offered Roy so much of himself, that instead of closing up, Roy naturally let go and was finally honest, with himself and with Jamie (if briefly).
I mean, Jamie taught Roy to ride a bike "for grandad!" but that wasn't enough, he still apologized for being a dick when he made fun of him. Our boy has become so emotionally mature 😭 (ep 12 doesn't exist, thank you very much)
These bitches get each other in a way no other character does. Even Keeley, as much as the fandom likes to ignore all her flaws and paint her as perfect, had serious communication issues with Roy, where she did not respect his privacy (airing dirty laundry in front of his literal boss and colleagues), and pushed him to talk when it came to something very delicate (the funeral and death in general). And Roy was the one to apologize, which made me very upset (particularly in the first instance).
I honestly can't see something like that happening with Roy and Jamie.
Fingers crossed for a spinoff, but even if it never becomes a canon romantic ship, Roy & Jamie would work extremely well in a Ted & Beard dynamic.
They just belong with each other.
(again, ep 12 where Beard leaves Ted's side and Ted doesn't even attend Beard's wedding doesn't exist ☺)
you're sooo correct. Jamie and Roy innately understand one another <3 Amsterdam is the perfect example of this because Jamie absolutely knows Roy is using him to air out his negative emotions, but Roy also knows Jamie's hyper-positivity is masking something else. They both have the right read on one another there, I think, and they both have the patience to draw the other out until they're ready to talk!
And the scene where they finally open up to one another is just soooo good from start to finish. Like, not only does Roy handle Jamie's tragic backstory reveal perfectly (i cannot say that enough, because god he does a really great job there), but then he finally opens up about what's bothering him, too! And I think because we focus so much on how majorly vulnerable it was of Jamie to tell Roy his red light district story, we don't ever talk enough about how majorly vulnerable Roy let himself be afterwards, too. Like, I think after Jamie dropped something so traumatic, it would have been particularly easy for Roy to have dismissed his own stuff as like, 'well I can't hardly say what's bothering me is just that the ex I broke up with has moved on and it's upsetting me. Not after he just dropped that, can I?' Like, especially given Roy's personality, I think his first instinct there was probably to minimize his own feelings and to dismiss his problems with Keeley as being so trivial and irrelevant compared to Jamie's Real Problems, and then to not talk about it at all and quietly simmer. So it's a true sign of just how much he trusts Jamie (as well as feels bad for using him as his punching bag all day) that he doesn't do any of that but instead properly opens up to him for the first time. And then Jamie realizes how monumental that is right away, and he's not dismissive either!!
Another scene I've been thinking about is the one where Jamie tells Phoebe that Isaac is his best friend and not Roy. Because like, on the one hand it's obviously mostly playful ribbing meant to rile up Roy (because Roy is quite obviously his actual best friend at that point). But I think there's also that underlying understanding from Jamie that Roy struggles with admitting how much he cares and loves people and he struggles to put a name to his feelings, etc. Jamie understands that, and he's okay with that, so I think his joke there is also his way of saying like, it's okay if you can't label this quite yet, whatever's between us - best friends or something else - it's okay if you're not ready for that. It's his way of giving Roy an out if he needs it. (this could also be bogus and me reading too much into everything lmao but like!!! something to consider)
Everything to me <33
#Roy absolutely needed to apologize to Keeley at the funeral though he was definitely being a dick#also i don't think royjamie would be like miraculously devoid of problems because they definitely would have plenty of their own#but i do agree that roy's problems with jamie would look different than the problems he had with keeley#royjamie#ted lasso#asks#roy kent#jamie tartt
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Thank you for the tag, @ryder616!
This tag game has unexpectedly led to an interesting discussion about what exactly an “Endgame Ship” means... which seems to be largely open to interpretation. I’m still not sure how I see that term, but for the purposes of this post, but to narrow it down and not mention way too many ships, I’ll take Endgame in two different meanings: for “Favorite Ship(s) That’s Endgame”, I’ll take it to mean pairings that were together and in a happy relationship at the end of the story. But for “Ship(s) You Wish Had Been Endgame”, I will take “Not Endgame” to mean that the ship was not treated as these characters’ main romance at the end of the show, or at least there was a lot of ambiguity and/or a rival ship for one or both characters was instead the current one at the end of the story. (A lot of my favorite ships have the tendency to end up unhappily in spite of being portrayed as the main romance of the story..)
Warning: this post contains spoilers for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Agents of SHIELD, The Hunger Games, The Leftovers, The Americans and The 100 (though if you’ve spent any time on my blog, you’ve certainly already been spoiled for the ending of The 100) and .
1. First Ship - When I was about 4 or 5, I was obsessed with Lady and the Tramp (I had a book version with a few pictures and it fell apart from how much I was reading it - it may have been my first book that wasn’t mostly a picture book), so I guess my first ship was two dogs (which is really appropriate, since I love dogs). If we’re talking TV, again going back to my childhood, before puberty and before I even knew what “shipping” was, I remember being pleasantly surprised when Raquel first appeared on Only Fools and Horses as a love interest for Del Boy - the show was an episodic comedy where the two brothers, in the early years, usually didn’t have a serious love interest. I thought “oh, he really is in love with her! And she feels the same, and they are so cute together.” I hoped she’d come back and wouldn’t just be a one episode character but a long-term LI. And then I was so happy when that very much did happen. I guess this can be considered the start of my TV shipping (and also an early sign of my love for contuinity and longer arcs on TV).
2. First OTP - Ignoring pre-puberty: at the age of 12, I was really obsessed with Wuthering Heights and Heathcliff and Cathy and read the book who knows how mny times. Regarding TV, I’ve shipped over the years, but I guess the first TV ship I would really call my OTP was in This Life, a 1990s UK drama about a bunch of 20-somethings in London, which I watched on TV in 2001. which now sadly seems almost forgotten. Anna and Miles had an on-off, love-hate relationship throughout - they were sexy, snarky, and it was painfully obvious that they were in love, but these idiots had trouble admitting it to themselves and even more to each other. If it had been a romcom, they would’ve been certain to end up together, but it was a realistic drama.
3. Current Favorite Ship - Bellarke - oh, what an OTP of all OTPs that was before it was stupidly destroyed out of spite. Over the last couple of years, Dark (season 3 mostly) made me really love Jonas and Martha (the first pairing I’ve made gifsets about), and most recently (last month!), I binged Halt and Catch Fire and fell in love with the show and with Joe and Cameron’s relationship (which, I just realized now, shows that my taste in OTPs hasn’t changed in 20 years).
If we’re talking current as in, in current shows rather than finished ones, then Kanej (Shadow and Bone), Harlivy (Harley Quinn), Gereon and Charlotte (Babylon Berlin) and Roy and Keeley (Ted Lasso).
4. Your ship since the first minute - I really rarely ship anything from the first minute (unless we’re talking Morticia and Gomez, who are of course already a perfect couple and nothing ever changes there). It usually takes time for me to fall for a ship. A rare exception is Roy and Keeley - their first one-on-one scene in S1 already had huge OTP vibes.
5. Ship(s) You Wish Had Been Endgame - Do I even have to say it? BELLARKE. A hundred times Bellarke, who were portrayed as endgame before the showrunner decided to retcon and ruin them together with the show overall.
Others: Jessica and Luke in Netfix Narvel shows, May and Andrew on AoS, Willow and Oz; or, depending on how you interpret Endgame, Willow/Tara (some argue that it is Endgame as Tara is definitely portrayed as the love of Willow’s life regardless of everything else). Spuffy (again, there are different opinions as to its status as both the show and the comics ended ambiguously and tried not to have a clear Endgame pairing for Buffy’s character), Xander/Anya (if you take comics into account).
6. Ship You Wish Was Canon - Some would say Bellarke, again, but I tend to consider it canon. It’s debatable, for sure (if you only consider making out/sex and/or “I love you” as markers of canon, it is not canon; if it is enough for the show to make it so blatant in the first 6 seasons that you have to actively search for ways to deny it to make it sound platonic, and for actors to confirm it was portrayed as romantic- than it is.)
So my answer would be: Kastle (Netflix Marvel shows), QuakeRider (AoS), and Octavia and Diyoza (The 100) and maybe Faith and Buffy (mostly in the sense that canon could have explored the nature of Faith’s feelings for Buffy a bit more and a bit more openly).
7. Ship that Most of the Fandom Hates, but You Love - Angel and Darla, May and Andrew, Coulson and Rosalind (hated how it ended though). Miller and Bryan (because they were more interesting than Mackson, and Bryan had a personality), Though “ships that most of the fandom ignores” would be a more apt term. The one that most of the fandom does hate and I like it is Octavia/Ilian - I liked it for what it was, two damaged people finding comfort together in what could have grown into something more - instead of the “we’re ve just met and talked to each other once and we’re already IN LOVE!” trope that the writers of The 100 were so fond of.
8. You Don’t Even Watch the Show, but You Ship It - Why would I ship something from a show I don’t watch?
9. Ship That You Wish Had A Different Storyline - BELLARKE (duh - the ending). Veronica and Logan (the ending, again). Coulson/Rosalind - they had such an interesting and fun dynamic that could have been explored much more; instead, the writers opted for one of the worst tropes there are, and I hated that entire plotline for so many reasons. Tyrol and Boomer on Battlestar Galactica - what they did with Boomer was crap. Baltar and Caprica - all the bad writing in season 4. This is a weird example of a ship that I shipped so hard for 3 seasons and that was given Endgame in every sense of the word, but, by that point, I barely cared anymore, because the writers forgot about their relationship throughout the final season and made it seem like they didn’t even remember each other, and then slapped a last minute happy ending. Plus they retconed/explained their connection in such a stupid and anticlimactic way that ruined it retroactively.
10. Favorite Ship(s) That’s Endgame - Everlark, Nora and Kevin (The Leftovers), Philip and Elizabeth (The Americans), and Josh and Della on Night and Day (a really obscure early 2000s UK show that was watched by maybe 100 people.) Some others worth mentioning: FitzSimmons, Niles and Daphne, Tim and Dawn (original UK The Office), Jake and Amy, Memori (the only bright spot in a rubbish ending). And of course, there’s Morticia and Gomez, though they are less Endgame and more AlwaysGame.
Tagging: @jeanie205 @kizo2703 @poppykru @sheigarche @weareagentsofnothing @sometimesrosy @misskittyspuffy @otp-armada @carrieeve @sexy-zeitreise-detektiv @jonaskanwalds @immortalpramheda @ladyofthefrostfangs @tennyo-elf @fandomkru @natassakar @hadrianvonpaulus @sillier-things @angearia @thekawaiislartibartfast @foolishnymeria @erikiara80 @heartbellamy and anyone else who sees this - sorry I didn’t tag you and please consider yourself tagged. :)
#ships#tag game#ship asks#fandom asks#the 100#buffy the vampire slayer#agents of shield#halt and catch fire#dark netflix#the hunger games#the leftovers#the americans#only fools and horses#wuthering heights#shadow and bone#harley quinn#babylon berlin#ted lasso#jessica jones#battlestar galactica#bellarke#veronica mars#brooklyn nine nine#jonas x martha#cameron x joe#joe x cameron#kanej#willow x tara#spuffy#angel x darla
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Ted Lasso 2x1 thoughts
Running out of time to capture my thoughts on 2x1 specifically before 2x2 airs, so here's a mess of things I thought about in response to the season 2 premiere. (Heavily informed by conversations w/my wife and some friends and family both within and without the fandom, discord conversations, things I've read on tumblr, reviews in the press, and, yes, my own little brain when it's alone.)
I really liked it (actually, I loved it)
Because a lot of people--myself included--binged s1 in a single go, I think a lot of people came away from that (beautiful almost perfect) season of TV with a sense that it was just this continuous five-hour explosion of feelings-y goodness with a very clear thesis statement: Make The Audience Happy. But obviously there's a lot of complicated stuff being set up within those five hours of TV, with intentional dividing lines and transitions between the episodes. I know some people watched 2x1 and felt frustrated because it didn't "feel like Ted Lasso" but I didn't feel that way. What I did feel, by contrasting 2x1 with all of s1, is that the atmosphere in s1 wasn't so much an audience-centric feel-good make-em-laugh kind of thing so much as a reflection of the gradual feeling of settling into home as Ted finds his place in Richmond and at AFC Richmond and in letting go of things (marriage) for the first time, and Rebecca, who's majority owner of the damn club but doesn't have a place within it, goes on a parallel community-locating journey. So the intensely warm, comfortable, feelings-y viewing experience is really just a reflection of what it was feeling like for pretty much every character with the exception of Rupert and Bex to carve out a more comfortable, honest, warm place for themselves.
But the challenges of relegation, the specters of the past, the longing any character (any human) has for more, and the mental health issues that come along for the ride meant that 2x1 needed to feel uncomfortable. They create that atmosphere by riddling 2x1 with so many jokes and references that it feels chaotic, overstuffed. The football season isn't going horribly, but it's WEIRD, and everyone is uncomfortable, and Ted doesn't know how to deal with the discomfort within himself so he's relying on the things he knows: references, anecdotes, strung-together wisdom. He clearly plans the Hank-the-dog speech in advance of the press conference, and the tongue-in-cheek "wow, this is so profound" expressions on the journalists' faces are hilarious to me because it's like we're watching them react to a man who's about to lose it and is in the final moments of being able to control the narrative about his team before someone from the outside will have to come in.
I'm obsessed with a tag @ratherembarrassing put on a TL reblog: "This is a show of soliloquies." I loved Ted's manufactured yet thematically necessary speech. I loved that Rebecca basically blacks out at a coffeeshop and tells John all about the messages (harmful or at least profoundly still-in-progress) she's been processing about intimacy and safety. [Side note: it's so perfect that she's still afraid to feel safe. It's like, "If I feel safe, what am I missing about the situation that's going to come back to hurt me?" OOOOF.] I feel like these moments where characters kind of speechify and the audience matters but the audience also does not matter just reflect the overall atmospheric stuff the show does. Like, it's more important to make us feel how it feels than to construct a moment of hyper-realistic dialogue. I get why it can be jarring but I'm into it.
The dog. Welp. A dog died right away. The special effects looked weird. I love dogs, I'm not a monster, but I was also just...not emotionally torn up about Earl at all. It's a catalyst. It's a very quick way to kind of bloop the entire world of Ted Lasso into a skewed and uncomfortable place where these characters absolutely need to reside until they can figure out how to attend to their own mental health and healing with the same focus and compassion they apply to their friendships with other people.
I'm obsessed with how much everything is going to HURT. Like, Ted walked in and Rebecca said she wished he was Keeley and then she didn't start eating the biscuits right away?!?
The biscuits are such an emotional crutch in s1 and SO MUCH of Rebecca's headspace is taken up with destroying something Ted is starting to love, destroying Ted, but also being there for him and feeling seen by him in a truly unique way, so I kind of love the psychic shift here, where all this emotional stuff has happened between them but to move forward they're going to have to learn some new conversational skills. Like girl talk.
The nail polish. I love everyone. I love the nail polish. I love that Ted was late to practice because of it. I love how much he wants other people to need him because it's so clear that he got his feelings hurt like 30 times in 2x1 and doesn't even fully realize it.
I love Dr. Sharon Fieldstone. I love that everyone but Ted very clearly understands the value of having a sports psychologist around. I love that her introduction is not about having to sell the players on the fact that they should talk to someone, but rather about Ted's discomfort over his own leadership abilities and the conflict this could create. It's so good. I'm so excited about it.
Beard and Ted in the pub! All people are different people! Ahhhhhh! Thank God For Beard (TGFB). TGFB is probably going to be my personal motto while watching this season of adorable and emotionally wrenching and ambitious television.
OK, I feel better now that I have this chaotic list out of my brain and onto tumblr. Should that make me feel better? I do not know. I do know that I'll probably try to do this for every episode because watching it week by week is going to drive me insane and I would really like to have some kind of record of the distinct-to-episodes yet cumulative viewing experience before I'm able to take in the full season (and the full series so far) as a whole.
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Jesus Christ on a bike (quot.)
* The three hours earlier were to give extra time to recover, it’s obvious.
* It wasn’t just those very emotional scenes. It was.. the whole package? We often joke about ‘a comedy? are you sure?’ and while you indeed aren’t supposed to cry like a disgraced televangelist during one, I realized that there were actually more funny, light-hearted, cute moments and bits wrt to other dense episodes? In the end, these are some very good, excellent, exquisite 46 minutes of television.
* Ted and Rebecca may not have had that cathartic joint scene we hoped, but the more I think about this week’s events the more I think it all makes sense? They are on parallel trajectories on their own journeys. It’s obvious in the joint confession about their fathers, of course. The anger of both, the regrets, the confession of a long kept secret. The relief of letting go such a burden.
* ( the fact those traumatic events happened on the same day is lowkey sick tho )
* These parallel trajectories touches, however. They still not fully intertwine, but they touch. Y’all read Hannah's interview when she says that Ted HAD to be the one picking up when she starts singing in the church and honestly I can only agree with this. Later, the way she asks him if everything is okay and clearly he is not and I felt her pain she couldn't help out again.
* The whole sequence of the eulogy really. Rebecca’s pain and broken voice. Ted’s arrival and his greeting. Rebecca singing Never gonna give up on you for Deborah. The strength coming from Ted and then Keeley and Sam and Flo and the team and everyone else singing along. Her fear of being alone is none, because she has all those people supporting her.
* We all discussed and thought about Rebecca and Ted elaborating their daddy issues but what about the bridges they built? Especially Rebecca with her mother, by the end of the episode they finally truly reconnected. That final scene was so good for the soul.
* Just a brief note about Jamie and Keeley. It sincerely surprised me his confession, but it doesn’t bother or worry me that much? It seemed to me a way for him to close with the worst self. I don’t think it is a serious threat to Keeley and Roy. Also, I’m gonna set myself on fire if the writers come up with a triangle.
* Sam. My sweet, sweet Sam. It ended before it really begun, so? And while I always thought it was a bad, terrible, not very good idea.. those sweet, happy moments at the beginning were so lovely? I ship Rebecca x happiness and Sam x happiness, fight me. It just made sense the moment it happened? They might not have the deep connection I see with her and Ted, but they sure have both physical and personality chemistry and for that little while, they made sense. I am glad she managed to end things gracefully and without traumas.
* He waited the whole day for giving her a hug!!! Sam you are too pure for this world.
* A few were worried about Nora’s reaction of finding out of Rebecca and Sam and her reaction was honestly gold???
* Also Deborah walking in her daughter’s lover is becoming a recurring gag LOL Sam’s reaction was priceless. (Someone good at writing fics should write the third installment when Ted is one caught in boxers in her kitchen...)
* I cannot say anything straight (pun intended) about Rebecca attire and lack of such during the first sequence. Thank you, God.
* Keeley & Rebecca & Sassy were back and it was glorious. Keeley running to Sassy a moment after telling ily to Rebecca and the whole chaos in the sacristy. YES.
* And Roy’s lil kiss with his condolences.
* The whole team wanting to support and dressing up! It was both moving and hilarious. It is especially moving when you think of how the whole premise of the show is Rebecca trying to destroy them as revenge and things are changed enough that they care for her and she cares for them and their support is actually meaningful to her.
* The whole Dani vs shoes saga lmaoooo
* Too bad Rupert wasn’t the one dying. Yes, his final moment with Nate scared me very, very much.
* Please someone says something about Leslie picturing heaven as being a pet to his beloved cat. I love (1) man.
* I have one hundred other things to say but this has become way too long already. This episode, I swear.
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I've been enjoying the love square pieces so much. Do you have a favorite POV for them? Someone you're most comfortable writing or most interested to explore their thought process or looking forward to writing? (I think my favorite so far has been Roy. I really like that his 'yes' in 'How much do you choose...' isn't a blanket yes to everything. It's a 'yes, let's figure out how this might work and what that includes or not.' Thanks for writing!
Thank you so much for this lovely ask!
I could say that I love writing all of their POVs equally (and I do love writing all of them a whole lot), but that would be a lie. It's Ted. Ted's my fave. I realize it's kinda basic for Ted Lasso to be my favorite character on a show called Ted Lasso, but it's just true. I mean...writing the Ted POV parts of "(barbecue sauce)," both the part with Roy on the couch and the part when he sorta comes out to Michelle and is afraid she's going to try to prevent him from seeing Henry made me properly emotional. And in "Two Mornings After," it was really fun for me to think about Ted's perspective and all the ways he was trying to juggle communicating across various distances.
But I definitely find it super fun to switch perspectives, and there are things I love about writing each of the other three, too. I feel like I know Keeley the least, still, so it's been fun to focus on her in the relatively minimal writing I've done from her POV and super fun to write her through Rebecca and Ted and Roy's eyes. For Rebecca, there's something gratifying to just get to write her giving and receiving an abundance of love--and to write her recognizing that need in herself--after the comparative starvation of her marriage. And for Roy, I'm so glad you pulled out those details in your ask. I love the way he's written on the show because he spends a lot of time trying to figure out what others think and what others want, and is starting to learn that he needs to communicate what HE thinks and wants, even if he might not get it, because otherwise he'll always be stuck in a misunderstanding. And he's finally in a place in his life where the relationships he has--whether to a partner or coworker or niece or someone he coaches--are valuable enough that he needs to figure out how to trust that he can keep them.
So, yeah. I love writing everyone, I look forward to writing everyone, each of the POVs teaches me something about the others. Also, TED.
#ted lasso#a lesbian watches ted lasso#hot dork club#anon#asks#writer things#the love square#ted x rebecca x keeley x roy
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“Kent v The Shitty Knee Itself”- Ted Lasso
A sort-of-sequel to "Kent v Linebacker," but this can still be read on its own. Part 2 of 3 of my fics about Roy Kent's shitty knee.
Part 1 // Accompanying AU
WORDS: 1649
XXX
Roy Kent is old as shit.
His daughter is a fucking toddler. His son is in preschool.
And he has fucking arthritis.
“What the fuck do you mean I’ve got fucking arthritis?” Roy Kent explodes at the doctor, who waits patiently for his outburst to finish. “I’m in my fucking forties! I’ve got two fucking babies at home! What the fuck am I supposed to do when my fucking daughter needs to piss and we’re all sprinting into the bathroom? I can’t fucking potty train on a shit leg.”
His wife rubs his shoulders comfortingly; the news is less surprising to Keeley, who gave a damn when the doctors mentioned arthritis could develop, and who is also extremely endeared by her husband’s priorities, which apparently lie very firmly with teaching their daughter to pee in the toilet.
Roy shouldn’t be shocked either; he’s had a limp for a long time now, and progressively worsening pain. He’s been elevating his leg whenever possible, to the point where Ted pulls chairs up for him or sits down first so Roy doesn’t feel awkward (on good days, Roy scowls at Ted and stays standing, but these occurrences are increasingly few and far between). It’s been a long time coming, and as much as the great Roy Kent hates to admit weakness, his shit knee is getting shittier.
Keeley had forced him to go to the doctor when Roy scooped up both their children, one in each arm, and proceeded to fall on the floor in a heap of small limbs and curses. He again made the case that he was fine, but there’s a limit on how much Tylenol one person can take in a day, and Roy’s exceeded that limit for weeks.
He walks like he’s on a hill, wobbling as he drags his right leg behind him. Keeley remarks on how uneven his gait is, and Lily, his precious fucking baby, demonstrates just how wonky Roy is by limping around too. It makes him laugh, but then his gaze meets Keeley’s, and he realizes there’s not much he can do aside from accept his fate and ask Dr. Patel why his knee is failing him (again, the fucking thing).
Arthritis. Fucking hell.
“The majority of your symptoms can be mitigated by limiting any strain on your leg. This includes walking, lifting, twisting, standing, stairs-”
“-breathing, blinking, fucking doing any shit worthwhile-”
“We can also prescribe medication, but given the amount of pain you reported, I think the best option to look at is a walking assistant.”
“What, like a cane?” Roy snorts. He feels Keeley still behind him, then he looks up at Dr. Patel, who’s gazing back at him, entirely serious.
“A fucking cane.”
“It’ll alleviate the weight on your leg. Ideally, you won’t need it every day, but it’ll make a difference when discomfort gets too high.”
“Fuck no.” Keeley squeezes his shoulder. “Fine. Fucking hell.”
-
It’s an adjustment. Roy walks back to their car, cane-less for the time being, limping, and imagines a cane in his hand. Imagines being able to straighten up, and not going to bed in fucking agony after a long day.
He also imagines showing up to the football club with a cane in his hand and Jaime fucking Tartt the fucking muppet smirking at him with his stupid fucking face, and he wants to turn around and tell Dr. Patel he’ll never use a fucking cane in his fucking life. Then he imagines having a stick to beat Jaime with when he’s being a prick, and Roy grins to himself at the thought.
That’s what he tells Keeley on the way home: he’s on the fence. That there’s a stigma he doesn’t want, that he remembers this the pitiful looks he received after his first injury and after surgery. It’s fucking bullshit, that he’d be looked at differently just because of a fucking rod in his hand, or because his stupid knee is fucked.
“Since when does Roy Kent care about what other people think of him? I mean really,” Keeley tells him, patting his thigh. “Everyone decent won’t bat an eye, and anyone who does is a prat.” She shrugs. “It’s a flawless system, really. Good way to sort people out.”
Roy grunts in agreement and drums his fingers on the door. He sighs, leaning his head back.
“What if I can’t keep up with Lily and Ollie? What the fuck am I supposed to do with little kids?”
“We’ll adapt,” Keeley promises, offering her hand. Roy takes it and presses it to his lips. “They already know they can’t run from you, or bowl into you at full speed-” Roy snorts at this. “-so now we tell ‘em that they gotta be patient.”
“They’re gonna be the most patient kids on the planet,” Roy muses, but his chest feels lighter. His wife is fucking amazing.
“They’re fucking perfect, they are. And besides- they don’t love you cause you can lift them or up throw them around or run around after them.” She squeezes his hand. “They love you ‘cause you’re you, Roy. You’re their dad.”
Roy nods silently. She’s right, as always. His heart is warm, much lighter against his ribs. “Thanks, babe,” he tells her, and Keeley beams at him.
-
They adapt. Roy remains in awe of the resilience of children- Lily and Oliver don’t give a damn that he uses a cane, except they quickly have to delineate that it’s not a toy, so Oliver doesn’t hit anyone with it, and so that Lily doesn’t hit Oliver with it. Because of this, Roy has to be careful not to threaten anyone at Richmond with his cane while his children are around. One day, his kids will learn to do as their dad says, not as he does, but for now, his babies swear and scowl, and pick up on every bad habit Roy shows them. It’s fucking adorable.
The first month is the hardest. Roy and Keeley decide to grant him some grace- he doesn’t have to do shit like garden or mow the lawn, or anything too strenuous. It’s uneven, in the beginning, and Roy goes to bed every night feeling like a shit husband for everything that’s unloaded on Keeley. They fight about it, eventually, and Roy apologizes to Keeley with tears in his eyes. They find a balance, which involves a chair in every room in their house and somebody hired to do the lawn. Their roles have shifted, but it’s a pattern he’s familiar with by now. He’s gone through so many major changes with Keeley: switching careers and marriage and injury and parenthood twice over. And using a cane isn’t any harder than having a newborn and a toddler, so they manage. After all, they’re unstoppable together.
Nobody on the team makes a comment on the cane, except Ted leaves sticky notes on it whenever Roy isn’t paying attention, and Roy wouldn’t mind so much if they weren’t positive fucking affirmations, the corny twat. Then the rest of the team follows suit, and they sign it and put stickers on it and all sorts of supportive shit, and Roy tells only one person this, but he kind of fucking likes it (against his better judgment, of course).
Commentators and the press are not nearly as kind. There’s any number of articles written about him and how old it makes the football world seem. Roy wants to fucking kill all of them, but Keeley reminds him that all the pricks have shown their true colors, and one day he finds a picture of a particularly insensitive reporter that has been utterly defiled and left out in the locker room. Roy tucks this away in a drawer in his office, and he’s almost nicer at practice that day.
Beard and Ted match his slower pace as they walk out to every match, which isn’t subtle even from the offset, but they don’t say anything about it and neither does Roy. He also realizes that he’s never the only one sitting in a group of his friends, even if it’s just him and Ted, or Keeley, or Rebecca, or Nate.
Yoga gets much harder, then he and the yoga moms spend a night researching yoga for people with shit legs, and yoga gets easier again. If they want to do a challenge night, Roy shifts into the role of yoga instructor, which he’s fucking great at, thank you, and so what if he gets to drink more wine because of it.
And his fucking knee feels better. His medication works, but the cane helps the most. Ted and Keeley had told him ever since his initial injury to be kind to himself, to rest when needed, and to not be a stupid stubborn prick about his health. This mindset turns out to have a few merits, and maybe it’s even a good habit he can teach his kids.
It says a lot about him, this cane that accompanies a man in his forties. He needs it because he was a professional footballer who injured himself preventing a goal in one last game. Who needed surgery cause his energetic maniac of a son ran into him. Whose wife told him to use it with pride, because he’s Roy fucking Kent and his family and friends love him so screw everyone else. Whose coach used it as a tool to force positivity onto Roy, whose team and kids decorated it with messages of love and smiley faces and the two worst signatures he’s ever seen (though he credits Oliver and Lily for trying). It’s a symbol of persistence, of the pain he’s endured, of those who rallied behind him.
Roy Kent. Married to Keeley Jones. Father of Oliver and Lily. Coach at Richmond AFC.
And he happens to use a cane.
#roy kent#ted lasso#ted lasso fanfic#keeley jones#roy kent x keeley jones#keeley x roy#roy x keeley fanfiction#roy x keeley fanfic#roy x keeley#ted lasso fanfiction#ted lasso imagine#roy kent fanfic
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