#ok. Just say ted is his home whatever

[coachbeards]

thinking again about beard having a spare set of keys to ted’s flat…thinking again about how beard is ted’s personal handyman…

[its-time-to-write]

Ok first of all I love Jamie and I love how you write him.

What about a secret girlfriend or wife that no one knows about who is really smart and they’re discovered but it’s the POV of others. And they’re all shocked that such a smart person is with Jamie.

Like Roy or some team members.

I have a hard time doing other’s POV’s. I’m sorry. This is the best I could do. Thank you so much for requesting!

island made of faith

You’re a familiar face around Nelson Road long before anyone realizes why.

You suppose people just think you’re friends with somebody else, like how Ted thought you were friends with Sam, Sam thought you were friends with Dani, Dani thought you were friends with Higgins.

Everyone finds out in their own, memorable ways, and by the end of it you just wish you had taken Rebecca up on her offer to post a public service announcement. 

You’re there because you’re dating Jamie, obviously.

How it took everyone so long to figure it out, you don’t know. You think it’s because you’re always talking to everyone that no one notices Jamie’s arm is slung around you in a more-than-friends type of way. I mean, to be fair, Sam slings his arm around you. So does Dani. Richard is constantly flirting with you and so is Bumbercatch, but that’s just how they are, so no one pays attention when Jamie does the same thing and you blush just a little bit deeper than the others.

Maybe they’re just dumb.

Anyway, here are a few of the more unique ways people find out:

Ted finds out because you and Jamie are making out in the parking lot late at night, after everyone else has gone home. He immediately recognizes Jamie’s bright orange shirt and ICON hat, but is unfamiliar with whatever girl he has pressed against his car. Ted isn’t one to shy away from embarrassing one of his kids, so he shouts, “Good night, Jamie!” from across the lot. You both jump and break apart, leaving Ted to see Jamie’s surprised face covered in lipstick smudges and your embarrassed one, illuminated under a light. 

Ted is surprised as well. He didn’t know you were dating Jamie, and he says as much. He says he’s happy for you both, but he still has that same look of surprise. The next day, he assumes you two are trying to be secretive about it, because he doesn’t say anything in front of anyone, and you and Jamie don’t bring it up.

Dani finds out right after Sam, and it’s because he’s showed up at Jamie’s house on a Saturday morning with a large bottle of tequila and taco supplies. Jamie had forgotten about their breakfast taco plans, so you’re not expecting Dani when you open the door in one of Jamie’s t-shirts, hair messy from sleep. 

Dani looks at you, you look at him, and you yell, “Jamie,” without breaking eye contact. Jamie thunders down the stairs, says, “oh shit,” and that’s how you, Jamie, and Dani come to be taking tequila shots at 10:30 in the morning while putting the most outrageous things in between Dani’s homemade tortillas and having the audacity to call them tacos.

You’re not too far into your second taco when Dani points between you and Jamie and says, “It doesn’t make sense, amigo.”

Jamie looks at him. “What do you mean, mate?”

“You and her,” Dani replies, “She has such intelligence, and you’re you.”

A Look flashes across Jamie’s face and Dani hurriedly says, “I mean no offense, Jamie.”

Jamie grins and says, “None taken, muchacho,” and leans over to kiss you. 

Dani ends up passed out on your couch by 1pm.

Higgins finds out two days after Van Damme because Jamie needed a ticket for you. “That’s sweet to look out for her,” Higgins says, “She’s kind of like the team’s sister, isn’t she?”

Jamie lets out a snort. “She sure isn’t my sister.”

Higgins looks up from his computer, surprised.

“She’s my girlfriend,” Jamie clarifies. “That’s why she’s around all the time.”

“Oh!” Higgins replies, “That’s, well, that’s a little bit, well, shocking if I do say so myself.”

Jamie nods once then shakes his head, confused. “Sorry, how d’you mean?”

“Well,” Higgins seems flustered, “she just- I suppose, she’s just incredibly intelligent, and well-educated, and usually girls like that don’t go for star footballers.”

Jamie just looks at him. Higgins shrugs. “You know it’s true, Jamie. Look at her friends and see what types of men they go for.”

Jamie’s just at the point of feeling like absolute shit when Higgins says, “She’s lucky to have you.”

Now Jamie’s really confused, but Higgins continues, “I’ve noticed she smiles a lot more since she started coming around. She isn’t as quiet as she used to be. Rebecca was just saying the other day that she seems more- comfortable. She’s special, you know. Not many women go beyond exteriors to get to a man’s heart the way she does. She knew you had a heart of gold the moment she saw you. Take good care of her, because she’s a keeper.”

Jamie says, “Oh. I will,” because what else does he have to say to that? He’s out the door so he almost misses when Higgins says, “I know you will, Jamie.”

Jamie tells you about it later that night, and, because it’s dark, he doesn’t see you frown.

Other people find out in similarly “interesting” ways. Richard asks you out and then when you say you’re dating Jamie, asks, point-blank, “Why? You are so smart and so beautiful and he is so, comment dit-on,” here he searches for the right word and settles on, “he is so not.”

You wrinkle your nose at him and say, “I’m pretty sure he’s smarter than you,” and then go to find Ted to ask him if he has any food allergies, which is why you’re even in the smelly weight room in the first place.

Roy hears about it from Keeley, and he walks up to you after training while you’re waiting for Jamie to finish showering.

“Why the fuck are you dating Tartt?” he asks, no preamble. By this point, you’re getting pretty annoyed with what people think of Jamie. You make a mental note to murder the next person who reacts like this.

You glare up at Roy. “What’s it to you?”

Roy shrugs. “He’s just a prick. And you’re not. You’re actually fucking smart. You use more words in a sentence than he has in his whole brain.”

“Don’t fucking talk about Jamie like that,” you say, anger radiating off your whole body. You’re shorter than Roy, but you swear you can be scarier. “Say something like that to me again and I will personally wax your eyebrows off.”

Roy takes a step back, hands up in defense. “Oi, look, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to hit a fucking nerve. I say shit like that to him all the fucking time. I didn’t mean to set you off.”

He’s sincere, which causes you to deflate a little. You peer behind Roy to see if Jamie’s on his way out yet. He’s not.

“Look,” you say, “everyone has been giving us shit when they find out about me and Jamie. They say something really mean about me being smart and him being dumb, and I’m over it. He’s way smarter than any of you give him credit for, and you all just don’t pay attention because of his accent or his himbo energy or whatever, but I pay attention, and he actually has a fantastic grasp on the difference between academic and conversational language, a distinction many intelligent people cannot make. I just want everyone to back the fuck off.”

Roy says, “Shit,” and then Jamie’s bounding out the doors and you do your best to dispel the previous tension.

Roy looks at you both thoughtfully as Jamie gives you a quick peck and then opens your door. Maybe he and the team are too fucking hard on Jamie, although he’ll never fucking admit it.

—

You’re slicing carrots a little too violently when Jamie brings it to your attention by saying, “You trying to murder them, love? Pretty sure they’re already dead.” 

You look up from your pile of carrot shreds, pulled from your thoughts. Jamie smiles, the dopey one he does to make you laugh. You barely crack a smile, which wipes the grin off his face. Now he’s concerned.

“What’s wrong, babe? This about the fuckin’ carrots?”

You shake your head. “No. This is not about the fucking carrots.”

“What’s wrong, then?” he asks. “You’re obviously thinking the carrots are something else, so what is it? D’you need me to kick someone’s fucking nuts in? Is it Roy?”

You ask, “Why would it be Roy?” in a tone that states it wasn’t not Roy.

Jamie shrugs. “I dunno, maybe the fact that your face looked like a thundercloud two seconds before I kissed ya, or the fact that his fuckin’ eyebrows were scrunchier than usual.”

That makes you smile for real. “How did you even notice that?”

Jamie smiles back, relieved that you’re no longer hell-bent on chopping the carrots and pretending they’re someone else. “I’m a genius at body-science,” he jokes. “I’m as smart as you, I just hide it better.”

That statement brings back your cloudy face and suddenly you’re ranting about Dani and Higgins, Richard and Roy, and anyone else who made similar comments including (but not limited to) Beard, Bumbercatch, Jan Maas, and a goddamn pub regular who you think is named Baz. 

You’ve finished your knife-waving and put it down safely on the cutting board when Jamie pulls you into his arms and kisses you. It catches you off guard, so you pull back for a moment.

“Want to go upstairs?” he asks.

Incredulity is written across your face. “I say all of that, and you want to go have sex? Please explain your logic.”

Jamie grins. “Babe, they’re gonna think what they’re gonna think. Can’t change it. Been using it to my advantage actually. So, I don’t care. But-” he continues, “I think it’s fucking sexy that you care. Hence, me fucking asking you to go have sex.”

You have to admit, that is a good logical jump. And he used the word hence. Correctly.

You concede and let him pull you away from the carrots.

—

You’re at Nelson Road again, this time in the locker room. Sex with Jamie be damned (not really) but you still fucking care. It doesn’t help that someone from work commented on your relationship in the same way the Richmond team has, a comment you shut down with something along the lines of inappropriate workplace conversation and I’m technically your boss.

Basically, you’ve had enough. You storm into the locker room and climb on the middle bench.

“Oi!” you shout above the din. The team quiets down almost immediately. “If I hear one more word about Jamie being out of my league, or his intelligence, especially when all of yours is highly questionable, I’m going straight to Ted and I’m telling him what really happened that night at last month’s away game.” You hold up a hand. “And don’t say he won’t believe me, because I know for an absolute fact he will take my word over all of yours any day, especially in this because it makes more sense than that bullshit story you fed him and Beard. Under stand?”

The team nods and mumbles, “Yes ma’am.”

“I cannot hear you,” you return snappishly.

You’re almost deafened by the “Yes ma’am!” they deliver in unison.

“Good,” you say. “Now, since I’ve all got you here, who’s coming for family dinner this Friday?”

Hands go up around the room and Jamie just stands back in awe. How the hell he landed someone like you, he has no idea. But he’s not worried about it. He doesn’t need to know. He’ll let everyone else worry about that.

[madi-writes-things]

Francesca Pt. 1

Summary:

It broke Schlatt when he had to let Y/N go, But he would go through hell a thousand times if it meant he got to hold her again.

“If I could hold you for a minute… I’d go through it again.”

Word Count: 1.09 K

TW: Mental Illness, angst, ocd, depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, break up, pining, feelings of worthlessness, basically a self insert without a physical description, Based in Texas… because so am I

A/N: I’m totally ok, and definitely not scared of my mental illness… 👀

-Madi <3

“”“”“”“”“”

Y/N’s POV

My bags are packed before Jay gets home. I don’t want to make this any harder than it has to be. I should probably leave before he gets here, but he deserves an explanation. I’m not really sure what to say when he gets here, but he doesn’t deserve to be ghosted…

When the door opens I regret my decision to stay. He’s holding an H-E-B bag with frozen pizzas and ranch.

My favorite.

The second he locks eyes with me I break down. The bag falls from his hand as he rushes to pull me into a hug.

“What’s wrong pumpkin? What happened?” His voice is filled love and tenderness, very different from his online persona. It makes me cry harder.

“I can’t do this Jay… I-” He pulls me impossibly closer, mumbling a quiet ‘don’t do this’. “I already packed everything into my car. I can’t ask you to stay, I wouldn’t do that to you…”

He knows that I’ve been struggling lately, but I would never ask him to understand the extent of my anguish. I could never tell him about my hours spent researching. The notes. The fear of being alone with myself.

All I’ve ever wanted is to marry the man of my dreams, and have a big family. My mind constantly tells me that I can’t have it…

Nobody would want to deal with you, he’d get tired of it eventually. What if your kids are crazy like you? You don’t want to run the risk that he has to find you dea-

“You aren’t doing anything to me, you don’t have to do this… we can get through this, we can get you whatever help you need… please…”

I’m doing this because I love him. I can tell when he sees the look in my eyes, he mumbles a quick okay before leaving to put the pizzas in the freezer.

I run to lock myself in the bathroom… I feel like I’m going to throw up.

“”“”“”“”“”

When I finally get myself together, I leave the bathroom on a mission to get out quickly. It takes me a while before I realize what’s happening.

“where the hell did you put my keys Jay?” I see him sitting at our table, set with two plates of pizza and two glasses of wine.

“You’re not driving right now… I just heard you have a twenty minute panic attack, you’re in no headspace to drive.” I know he won’t give me the keys, no matter how much I try to convince him. “Do you even have anywhere to go?” I just shake my head. He gets up and walks into our bedroom.

I can hear him on the phone with Ted, he’s asking if I can stay in LA with him. When he returns, we sit down to eat the now cold pizza.

“What did he say?” I didn’t necessarily want to move across the country, but we both know I wouldn’t be able to actually leave well enough alone if I stayed.

I can tell that he’s been crying, but I know that this is what’s truly best for him in the long run. “He said yes, obviously. I’ll drive you to his place, and catch a flight back.” I knew that there was no convincing him to leave me alone for extended periods of time… I wonder if Ted told him not to let me out of his sight.

He probably did.

After dinner Jay offers to sleep on the couch, but I tell him that I don’t want our last night to be spent in different parts of the house.

He holds me as I cry myself to sleep.

This is what’s best for him.

“”“”“”“”“”

The nearly twenty hour drive was silent, stopping whenever the gas gauge lit up. Jay always knew what to get me from the gas station, while I stayed in the car reading. About halfway through the ride he finally decided to play some music, our shared playlist flowing through the tense atmosphere.

I decided to take a nap at some point, and was awoken by Jay gently shaking my shoulder while handing me some food that he had gotten. “We’ve only got about an hour left… you need to eat, and I think we should talk about it.”

No. You can’t handle this, the car ride is hell as is… and now he wants you to talk about why you’re breaking his heart?

“There’s not much to talk about Jay… there isn’t any way to convince me that it was a mistake.” I can see the hurt look in his eyes when I say it, and I really didn’t mean for it to sound so harsh. “I love you so much… and I promise, this is for you.”

He starts to try and argue, before settling on asking about publicity. My only response is that we can deal with it separately. I finish my food, and finish the last few chapters of my book.

“”“”“”“”“”

It takes less than an hour to move all of my stuff into Ted’s guest room.

Ted is my best friend, and we’ve known each other for years. He introduced me to the job prospects of the internet. He introduced me to all of his colleagues when I was first starting on YouTube…

He introduced me to Jay.

After helping move everything in, Jay got ready to fly out. He said a quick goodbye to me, before going outside to talk to Ted.

They were out there for a really long time.

What if he’s convincing Ted that you are a horrible person?

What if they’re working together to get you put away?

What if you opened the window?

What if you jumped?

My phone is in my hand immediately, looking up the likelihood of injury/death from a second story jump. Very unlikely. Shit.

All of the sudden, the walls feel too close. The window is too far. I hear Jay’s Uber leaving, and everything starts to collapse.

This was a mistake. I just ruined the best thing that ever happened to me. It’s too late. He hates me. I should have just left a note and Jumped off the congress avenue bridge.

I can’t breathe.

I hear a soft knock at my door, and hear it creak open. Ted sits down in front of me, placing my hand on his chest. We work on breathing exercises that he taught me years ago. When I finally feel slightly normal, he pulls me into a tight hug.

“”“”“”“”“”

@unbruisable @bernardsbendystraws @sturniolo-fann @jnkvivi @stasiesturn

@h3arts4harry @slutforsturniolos @memento-rory

[believesthings]

Give & Gain // Ted Lasso x Reader

Summary: You are overwhelmed with work and feeling unsure about your direction in life. Your boyfriend, Ted, does what he does best and offers comfort and cuddles.

“Ted! Do you need help?”

“Hey there sugar - no n-no I’m fine. I got it. I got it all.” He words are reassuring but the slightly labored breathing underneath makes you not so sure. Here is your sweet man, with bags of groceries up and down his arms. He went shopping while you were home, burying yourself in an incredibly frustrating work project.

You got up to clear a spot on the table so that at the very least, he’ll have an easy landing spot for all of the food he bought.

“Are we stocking up for the apocalypse?” You question while beginning to put any perishable items away.

He chuckles lowly at you. “No. No. I just, well, Henry will probably be coming to visit soon and Roy had mentioned that Phoebe wanted to have a play date with him and I just figured I would cover all the bases. Of course, when I was actually shopping it really didn’t seem like all that much but once I got back and tried to get everything in one trip, I realized how much stuff it really was. I almost pulled my arm out of the socket trying to balance that milk jug.”

He begins to help you put the last of everything away, it’s been a long day - hell a long week, for the both of you and he’s looking forward to finally resting with you at the end of it all.

“Is there anything else out there?” You question.

“Nope. Managed to get it all. Even closed the trunk - sorry the boot too.”

You give him a pointed stare. “You know, we are home alone, Teddy. You don’t need to correct yourself here. It’s not like a constable is going to come banging down the door and putting you in cuffs just because you said the word trunk.”

“Heck, I know darlin’. I just like to make the effort, you know? When in rome, right?”

With everything successfully put away, he grabs your hand and pulls you close, bringing you in to kiss you. Pulling away, he says, “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I walked though the door.”

He walks you over to the couch and the two of you settle in. He considers himself to be pretty well versed when it comes to you and he can definitely sense the tension resting in your shoulders.

“Hey, you ok?” He asks glancing down at you.

“Yeah. Why do you ask?” You say without glancing back.

“You just seem like you’re feeling off.” He raises his hand to rub your shoulders, feeling the tightness beneath his fingertips.

“Yeah. I’m good. I’m great.” You answer, a little too quickly for his liking. You definitely aren’t good, he decides.

“Look, whatever it is, we don’t have to get into it right now. But I know something’s up, honey.”

You stay silent for fear that the dam would break and tears would come welling up to the surface if you tried to speak.

Ted leans into your ear and whispers, “I’m here, okay?”

And that, as it turns out, is all it takes. You can feel your lip quivering and the hot tears pricking the corners of your eyes. You hang your head down and feel yourself start to crumble, while Ted pulls you closer.

“Hey, Darling. What’s going on?”

You snuggle closer into his side, finally looking up at him. “It’s just work, I guess. I have so many tasks to do and I feel like I can never get ahead of any of it. It doesn’t help that I don’t always seem to have the best support system in my job either. I’m actually kinda jealous of you, Teddy.”

He looks at you in surprise. “What are you on about?”

“You’ve got such a good dynamic going on with the team. You’re so great at what you do. All that positive reinforcement? I kinda wish I had that sometimes from my work too. It’s hard to stay positive when you don’t actually have someone giving you that positive feedback and sometimes I just kind of wonder what the point of it all even is. Is this really what I want to be doing? Am I even good at it?” I don’t even know if I know what my future is going to look like anymore.” You pause for a beat, “is that ridiculous?”

He shakes his head at you. “Not at all. I think that’s normal. It’s normal not to know what you what out of your future. Sometimes you think you want something but it doesn’t mean it’s gonna feel right once you’re in it and that’s okay. Now all of this talk about you not being good enough, I’m gonna stop that right now. You might be the smartest person I know. I hate that you’re doubting yourself, honey.”

He wraps his arm around your shoulder and drops a kiss to your forehead. “None of this means that you wasted your time and it doesn’t mean that you failed. It just means that you’re learning more about yourself and now you can take that and use to make whatever kind of space you need for yourself. Sometimes the path you take doesn’t always feel right once you’re actually on it. Doesn’t mean you’ve let anyone down. Not yourself. And especially not me.”

He strokes your cheek before continuing. “It’s okay to be unsure, you know. Especially when it comes down to something like your future. But you don’t need to decide right now. Now look, sweetheart. I can’t tell you what the right choice is but what I can tell you is that I’m here. You’ve got me. In whatever way you need. If you need someone to listen, you’ve got my ear. If you want problem solving, my brain is all yours. If you want a distraction and break from being all up in your head, Heck Darlin’ that’s my specialty and I’ll be happy to comfort ya all night.”

You let out a laugh, the tears finally seeming to subside.

“The only thing I want - the only thing anyone who’s worth a damn in your life wants is for you to be happy. But you don’t need to know what the path looks like right now. But one thing I do know for sure is when you figure it out, I’ll be here. Think of me as your own personal cheerleader. Or a shoulder to lean on if you need it. And even if you choose a different path and you decide that’s not right for you either, it doesn’t matter. I’ll cheer you on down every path in this world. Even the ones with a lot of sharp turns. You know you got me in your corner, right?”

You nod at him. “Yeah I do, Teddy.”

He nudges you to sit up as he repositions himself behind you, digging his fingers into your neck and rubbing out the knots underneath. “You know you are one of the kindest people I know. Of course, you can still have a little bite too when you need to. But you care. Deeply. It’s one of the reasons I think I fell in love with ya in the first place. Will you please save some of that kindness for yourself?”

You whip your head around at him and he holds his hand up in mock surrender. “Now I know, darlin’ I’m not great at doing that myself either. Maybe that’s something we can work on together.”

“Ok.”

He drops his head down and places light kisses on your neck and shoulders. “I know we’re all our own harshest critics but the one voice you can never get away from is your own and I know sometimes it’s hard to make that voice be quiet but maybe you can add a new voice.”

Scrunching your eyebrows together, you ask, “what do you mean?”

“Maybe what you need is a little mini Ted voice added to all that chaos. And when you’re feeling down and unsure, let that voice say the words that I’m saying to you now. The kind of stuff you would say to me if I was feeling down.”

The thought of carrying around a little mini Ted in your pocket was so nice to you. If only it were actually possible.

“Come here.” He stands up from the couch and grabs your hand. You follow his lead as he leads you into the bedroom. He settles you into bed, cuddling you close into his chest and whispers against your ear. “It’s okay. You’re okay. You don’t need to figure anything out right now but you will figure it out. I know you will.”

You stay like that for a minute, laying on his chest feeling the rise and fall of his body as he breathes in and out. He whispers again, “have I told you I love you today?”

You chuckle. “You tell me everyday Ted.”

“Well, I love you. So much. So what do you need?”

“Cuddles, I think.”

“Well, that’s my favorite activity. course we can do that.”

You can feel him tracing patterns into your skin while you both lie there in each others warmth.

You sit up rather abruptly, looking down at your boyfriend.

“What is it?”

“Ted, honey I’m sorry. I never even asked you how your day was. We’ve spent all this time wrapped up in my problems.”

He waves you off. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I like comforting you. Doing this for you helps me just as much.”

“Really?” You ask him unconvinced.

“Yeah. Comfort given is comfort gained, you know. The Doc taught me that.”

“I always knew she was smart.” You lean down and give him another kiss, whispering against his lips. “Thank you.”

“Course. No need to thank me. That’s what love is, right?”

[scenetocause]

can i ask about grid boy oscar please?

ofc. grid boy oscar my beloved.

basically: the fia brings gridpeople back as a concept but they're there all season and it's an excuse to put oscar in a skimpy leotard, as well as various situations like having to participate in an FIA litterpicking initiative and endorse synthetic fuel as part of the "grid for good". all of this happens in front of a particularly half-drowned cat lando who's desperately lonely and kind of falling apart. also logan is lando's teammate (bc if no oscar he would have won f3, etc) and they are quite fun to write together.

lando basically falls in love with his hot, slightly awkward grid boy and keeps giving oscar his coat or hoodie and things when he's cold or his umbrella when it's hot and oscar's a bit bemused about it but not arguing because he only took this job to try and make contacts with teams about an engineering internship. except there's this cute, weird driver who keeps asking him to hang out and keep him company at dinner and falling asleep while oscar's sitting on his bed and lando sometimes looks so pathetically needy. oscar has no idea what he could do to help him out but he wants to.

so lando sort of staggers through the season, with oscar as more and more of a support and they're both a little bit lost but helping each other enough and then perhaps they have a lovely little snog when they realise they're going to be separated and oh, maybe they won't be, then.

snippet under the cut

“What do you think about the grid girls - well, grid people?” Lando is not expecting Ted Kravitz to ambush him, Notebook mic in hand, while he was trying to re-do his shoelace under the only bit of rain cover near McLaren’s hospitality in Suzuka.

“Uh.” He blinks, water dripping in front of his eyes. “They’re uh, they’re very nice?”

Ted gives him a look like that’s not the right answer and Lando’s mouth panics before his brain has time to catch up. 

“Nice people, you know. They clearly have lots of passion for Formula 1 and they-” there’s rain running into his mouth, off his hood. Has to pause to swallow and shake his head like a dog. “They’re here, you know, because of that.”

“Oh, right.” Ted nods. “Yes, it’s good for them, isn’t it?”

There’s a note of concern in his voice that says he’s not totally sure what they just had was a coherent conversation but it’s the Notebook so. Whatever. Lando shakes himself again, water spraying, as Ted burbles away from him and he finally gets the sopping wet lace on his team trainers into something approaching a knot that might hold to the car park, at least.

Logan catches up to him with a papaya umbrella halfway there. “Dude. You’re soaked.”

Ok, yeah, Lando probably should have thought about an umbrella himself. He’s a bit out of sorts, lately - Jon used to handle all that sort of thing for him and he’s actually fine coping on his own and it’s ok for Jon to be home for a few races and Lando’s an adult, yeah? He’s leading the team, Logan doing well enough but the points gap between them clear, Lando getting asked about executive-level decisions in the group like he’s one of the real grown ups, lately. 

So he’s doing fine, alright? Just, like, a bit wet. On this particular occasion. Sometimes he’s also thirsty and can’t find his water bottle or hungry and hasn’t remembered there’s a wrap ready in the fridge but he’s basically alright. His back hurts more but he’s fine, it’s only a few races. He can do this.

“Where’s the - team car or whatever, anyway?” Now he’s under the umbrella it’s obvious quite how bad it was, water sluicing off the spokes like it’s out of a tap. 

“I dunno.” Logan sighs, heavily. “I just figured Zak’d probably have another reason to fire me if I let you drown.”

[amazingmsme]

alright- individually for any character you feel writing for- how would the citizens of Hatchetfield react to Dan accidentally confessing his love???

You know it’s a small town with nothing to do when the local youth are all obsessed with the live saga of the news anchors. They all talk about it like it’s riverdale or some shit, any time either of them touches a shoulder or stares for too long, you’ll know about it the next day at Hatchetfield High. So I’ll start with the youngsters

Hannah & Lex are oddly more invested than you’d expect, so when they heard Dan Reynolds confess his love for Donna so casually Hannah screamed & jumped up from the couch & Lex is freaking out thinking something bad happened but Hannah rewinds the tv & now they’re both screaming & saying oh my god over & over & Lex is texting Ethan to get over here RIGHT NOW! (I think the reason why they care so much about it is because they were the closest thing to a mother & father figure they had growing up)

Ethan doesn’t get the hype but he pretends to be invested for their sake

Ruth is literally hyperventilating, she’s written so many fics about them falling in love, her coffee shop au is one of the most popular in the fandom. So she’s immediately posting about it & making gifsets & brainstorming her next fic

Richie & Pete are definitely invested, but they’re just here for the memes & they dunk on Ruth with their jokes & she’s like “STOOOP!”

Grace thinks their workplace relationship is scandalous, but secretly thinks it’s sweet & romantic

Steph acts all aloof about it, but she is secretly in the fandom & unknowingly reads Ruth’s fics about it & comments her “theories” about where the story’s going next & how they actually got together, stuff like that. So she’s internally dying & her heart is about to burst

Emma is annoyed by all the attention the town gives this meaningless shit & thinks it’s stupid

Paul is very meh about it & annoyed with the hype but he’s happy for them at least

Ok but what if Mr. Davidson called off work as a holiday the next day? I’d like to think so

Bill & Charlotte are the most excited in the office, just going back & forth completely fawning over how cute it was

Ted admires Dan’s “lady skills” but keeps loudly proclaiming that he knew they were boning, it was obvious, & he can just sense that kind of chemistry. Call him Cupid, so what?

Linda will turn it into the talk of the town is seconds flat, she’s on all the Facebook mom groups

Becky is excited because it “makes the news fun again” & has always liked their chemistry & she’s such a sucker for a good love story

Tom’s like meh whatever but when Dan admitted it on tv he’s like “oh shit” & rewinds it to record it for when Becky gets home from working the night shift because she’d die if she missed this

[queen-mabs-revenge]

I am so frustrated about the ‘it was never about me’ of it all. It /is/ about Ted both narratively - everyone at Richmond was changed by him (that’s sort of the entire premise) and in terms of the show - he’s the main character.

Also, Trent’s book must have had an angle / pov / argument and it’s not as simple as just randomly changing the title. But what should I expect given they used lorem ipsum text for the manuscript on screen and misspelled ‘Independant’ on the dust jacket. The whole reason Trent was there and they fumbled the ball on it so hard.

it's weird i can nearly allow them that creative license when it comes to the publishing process (realistically trent wouldn't have had much of a say in the title or cover design) bc they wanted to make a point and it's not a show about publishing if that makes sense? like it deeply fucking annoys me to no end that they made the west ham match the final one of the return leg (football seasons are the same match ups in the same order in the front and back halves just with the home/away sides reversed) but bc this is supposedly a show about football lmao. so like ok if they wanted to warp an aspect of reality that isn't integral to the show to make a point, fine whatever i guess.

but the fact still stands that it was a stupid fucking point -- bc like you said it is about ted hello?????? like was the point not that he was the total football playmaker off the pitch? that his ability to see the connections that people could be making with each other if they weren't trying to protect their soft underbellies and fend for scraps of false satisfaction instead of opening up to vulnerable genuine camaraderie was what put the gears in motion for those connections to be made? but that like the central playmaker, his role is essential in that interconnected web????

the finale really feels like they tried to say that, no, he isn't the playmaker -- the cog both turning and being turned by the machine to a greater collective purpose -- he was the allstar who came in, lifted the team up, maybe taught people a few tricks of the trade, but ultimately could be removed from the line-up and the other would be fine and better for it even...............

[doodleempireofsticks]

In defense of Victim: a character analysis

OK before I start

Yeah, I know. I'm a hypocrite lol but, hear me out here.

After really analysing everything Victim has done...I can't say they're actually that bad anymore. Their actions seem extreme but they're actually kind of justified.

First of all, let's look at what most the fandom hates them for. The fight with The Chosen One in The Box. It's hard to watch and they certainly went all out, but it's not like Chosen isn't a dangerous character. He was a villian himself after all.

Chosen and Dark's actions likely led to many sticks losing their homes on websites and getting hurt in the crossfire, even if he was trying to free them. At worst, these actions were deliberate, at least on Dark's part. And how would Victim know if Chosen actually wanted to do this?

And I wouldn't be surprised if Victim knows.

In episode 30 of avm, King sees the first Animation vs Minecraft on a rocket corp TV

And Second sees the first Animator vs Animation during Animation vs YouTube (maybe that's why he recognises them? Theory for another day)

So is it that much of a stretch to say that Victim is somewhat aware of Chosen's past? Especially since they have some kind of access to YouTube.

Obviously this is a bit of a stretch, if Victim had seen Animator Vs Animation V they wouldn't have needed to use the memory reader on Chosen. But they must have known something about him to know that he has a connection with Alan, so it's possible.

On a similar note, they treat Second very differently. Sure, he's a less powerful stick in their eyes so they don't pay much attention to him, but he's still treated with respect.

First of all, he's left unpaused in his cell, despite the fact they already had him paused, they chose to let him at least some freedom by undoing it.

Also, when he was put in a box, it was a lot less violent.

Even when they were testing his powers the employees just...asked him. It was not forceful in any way and no one laid a finger on him.

Even when he was captured they were being easy on him

Agent Smith had second selected,he could have done anything, but all he did was spin then kick him and pause him immediately after. He was hitting him as little as possible, just trying to end the fight.

Then there's the last scene if The Box, probably the most unjustified part. But, here's the thing, Victim only has bad memories of Alan. He hurt and then tried to kill them. I think they believe Yellow is some kind of conspirator with Alan, maybe a lackey of sorts? Whatever they think, I wouldn't be surprised if this is some kind of misunderstanding. They may even be sympathetic towards Dark after seeing him be attacked by the cursor too.

Obviously this doesn't mean they're in the right. They're really not. But their actions have some kind of justice about them, and I don't think they're trying to be evil, so they actually have a good chance of being redeemed. And I can understand them now, so I at least don't hate them anymore.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I'll go back to fanart now (this was super out of my comfort zone and not the best explanation but I just wanted to say it).

[lunar-years]

I mean if we're taking that approach, then Ted should apologise to Beard for not talking to him about his clearly abusive relationship and "abandoning" him in turn to said relationship. What are they on about?!?

RIGHT!! Like no one is saying the two of them are always perfect friends to one another (*Hannah Montana voice* Nobody's Perfect! I gotta work it!!) but to frame it like Beard was in the wrong continuously for a season and a half for "shutting Ted out" "abandoning Ted in his time of need" "not being there for Ted" is uhhhhhh... completely f-ing bonkers?

And not to say that being in an abusive relationship excuses the way you treat those trying to be there for you (as evidenced by Rebecca shutting out Nora and Sassy for years, for instance) but... it is undeniably a part of abuse that the abuser will try to cut off the abused from their support system. Let's not forget that Jane LITERALLY FOLLOWED KEELEY HOME to ask her if Beard/Ted were a thing. A sure indication of just how threatened Jane is by Beard's close relationship with Ted.

And yet...notice how remarkably present Beard remains for Ted, and how he never wavers in their friendship, in spite of Jane's persistent influence?! Beard will prostrate himself at Jane's altar time and time again, but he never gives her control over his friends. He is (imo) very much there for Ted in all 3 seasons? Going along with whatever Ted wants to do all of the time, no matter if he disagrees, putting Ted's opinions and feelings above his own, covering his ass with the team when Ted isn't doing his job [or doing it well, at least], having the heart to heart with Nate and forgiving him... pretty much the sole instance of Beard choosing himself/putting his own feelings out there is their argument at the end of s1 where Beard calls him out for not doing right by the team in not benching Roy (I can't even say choosing to stay in London in the end was a decision Beard made for himself, because so much of it was influenced by Jane :( even though I do think the decision will be a good one for Beard in the end [post Jane]).

Beard also cannot help Ted where Ted is not opening himself up to help. Ted's entire arc in s2 is centered around how much repression has been a massive driver of Ted's poor mental health leading towards his mental health break (followed by the breakthrough of him opening himself up to Dr. Sharon). Is Beard supposed to be a mind reader and know what's going on with Ted before Ted is ready and willing to share it? I'm just. confused.

Anyway. All of the instances people are listing as the evidence of "Beard ditching Ted" are moments when Jane is being actively abusive and manipulative towards him??? So forgive me if I think Ted should be the one doing more to help Beard in that regard, rather than having Beard apologize for...literally what? For being a victim of abuse? ok.

[jamiesfootball]

jamie could have the eliot scene where he tries to go talk to his dad and his dad doesn't answer, and it could be like james just got out of prison and jamie wants to go see if they can Fix Things between them now that jamie's life at least isn't so violent anymore and maybe he can help james get on track on the outside so he won't end up back in and and and

and james doesn't answer because he blames jamie for him getting caught in the first place, and jamie tells him about hacking through the door, and he doesn't answer that either but he throws something at the door and jamie flinches back all the way off the porch. and then he just goes home.

and roy's like how did it go? and jamie says it went the best it could have.

Eeeeeeeeeeee ok ok ok but. but. Here's the thing. Jamie's dad is very Nate's-dad-coded to me. So in my mind I had it going more along the lines of The Three-Card Monte job.

Like this:

Even from the street Roy could hear the laughter spilling out of the Crown and Anchor, and after a long day of reconnaissance it called like a reward in waiting.

Roy didn't mind doing legwork for a con- in fact he appreciated Ted's insistence that the team dot their t's and mind their p's and whatever else he wanted them to inflict on the rest of the alphabet. Better prep made for a safer job. Roy had worked for enough men who'd sacrifice the time upfront if it meant getting to the next score faster; he respected that Ted wasn't one of them.

As their feet sloshed through the snow, Jamie kept a running commentary on the dirt he'd dug up in the breakroom. While he'd waited for his crawlers to skim the server (which to hear him tell it, was so laughably out of date that buying something on the company's Wi-Fi ran a bigger risk than riding passenger in Colin's Fiat), he'd learned from Jeanine who'd heard from Alan that Erik-with-a-'k' Davies was the one who'd decided to pass on Jim-from-R&D's project proposal after quarterlies came in low.

Thank fuck Roy'd never had a real job. He didn't know how people put up with it. He'd rather stab his eyes out than pretend to care about breakroom gossip.

But that wouldn't stop him from doing his job. He dutifully noted all the names - Jeanine, Alan, Jim, Erik-with-a-'k' - knowing that even the smallest details could mean the difference between making a cover or blowing the con.

"Can't believe I had to use a photocopier to make copies of the building schematics," Jamie complained for the umpteenth time. He stood back to let Roy open the door for him, despite the fact that it was Roy who was carrying his duffel full of tech. "In this day and age, a company worth billions should really consider digitizing-"

Six things happened at once. Years of experience gave Roy the particular skill to parse the components of a situation in order of importance.

The most concerning, the domino that set the rest in motion, was how Jamie's body froze, a fear response where he'd been at ease a second ago.

Instinct had Roy stepping in front of him, an arm slung protectively over his chest to hide, block, or push him away, whatever was called for.

His eyes hit all the exits: no one blocking the kitchen or alley, and the door behind them remained clear.

Identify the people of interest in the room, the other potential targets he might need to shield: Keeley and Rebecca at the bar, their heads thrown back in laughter. Colin, pleasantly bored or bored-ly pleasant, pouring out a lager for an older bloke.

Assess the older bloke; the only other other person sitting at the bar. Grey slicked back hair and a receding hairline. Steel-toed boots, worn through and poorly kept, so not an actual laborer. Clean, new denim and a mass market coat. An unspoiled duffel bag on the seat next to him. Fresh out of prison, then.

Either hearing the door swing open or feeling the cold breeze that gusted in behind them, the older man turned to look over his shoulder. Head-on he seemed younger than lines on his face implied, and his cheeks flushed ruddy with drink. He grinned (Manchester dental work), and under the guard of Roy's arm, Jamie flinched.

"Well, well, well. Look who's decided to show himself." The old bloke chuckled; it didn't reach his eyes. "If it ain't my own flesh and blood."

[beingfacetious]

please give us the correct negative Ted lasso review

Oh my God. This feels like a trap but I can't help it

update from the other side, this is no joke 2k words long and it's not uh happy lmao so dead dove do not eat

TL;DR:

Bill Lawrence's involvement lessened every season and it fuckin' shows

There were arcs and plot points established over the first two seasons that the writers very obviously just changed their minds about for this season

Takes about this season being dark/ending sad on purpose are MUCH too generous. like giving WAY too much credit.

It turns out most of my feelings boil down to "it's not aggressively bad it's just nonsensical"

How tf was every episode twice as long as in previous seasons but everything important happened offscreen

FIRST OF ALL, since MONTHS before the season started airing, I've nursed a conspiracy theory that Bill Lawrence left the show because of creative differences with Jason Sudeikis and that therefore this season would be significantly less good than previous seasons. This started when I saw Bill tweet that he was going home, basically, and I figured we'd get "season 3 is in post" news shortly thereafter but instead there was that weird stuff about things being delayed because of rewrites...? Anyway, that is mostly to say that I was ready to think this season was worse because I love Bill Lawrence's storytelling and have forever and you should give Cougar Town a shot if you haven't yet it's no Scrubs but it's sweet

There were interviews early in the show in which I swear Jason/Brendan/whoever said they pitched the show to Bill because he's fuckin' good at TV and he basically said "this is a great idea but you're writing to the wrong ending, it should be this," and they were like "wow you're right that is a better ending." I can't find that now but I did find this from a more recent Bill interview:

I ran that show the first year because Jason was still shooting movies while we were doing the writers room. Then, at the end of that year, much like Gary with me, I was like, “Ah, I’ll spend a couple of months teaching him how to edit.” But after like a day or two, he’s like, “Yeah, I got it.” (Laughs.) So, the second year, we ran it together, and I’m only able to do other things now because that guy ran the show himself the third year, as it should be. It’s his voice and his world this season.

Now look, Bill Lawrence is obviously not trying to throw shade here because he's lovely and also this is a Hollywood Reporter article and how immature would that be, but I can throw shade for him and I will: Jason Sudeikis is a talented comedic actor and seems like a very nice man and he had a good idea for a show, and his instincts to involve an extremely experienced showrunner with an insane talent for feelsy found family sitcoms were good and he should have stuck to them!! Telling Bill Lawrence you're good after two days of editing instruction or whatever is stupid!! Insisting on your voice and your world when BILL LAWRENCE'S VOICE IS AVAILABLE TO YOU and also you CO-CREATED THE WORLD whatever gdi

OK fine I'll do Ted/Rebecca next. Obviously I was in for Ted/Rebecca. I wanted them to put their faces together. But look, I'm not a shipper over all else; over all else I want a good storyteller to tell me the story they want to tell. If I expect things or see them coming, that's not bad! That's good! If I'm surprised by things, that's good too as long as it holds together! "Subverting expectations" shouldn't look like spiting the audience, a lie is not a twist, etc. SO. If Ted and Rebecca were meant to be platonic soulmates, that's fine!!! I don't NEED them to kiss!!! But I do not believe these people are even friends in season 3, after season 1 and tbh most of my favorite parts of season 2 were about how much they impact each other's lives. That's a dropped ball and there's NO REASON to have not made time for them to interact meaningfully because every episode was so fucking long. Instead I guess we had to know how super sad Rebecca was about not being able to have children but not need to talk to anyone about it and immediately be fully over it. Also see a lot of lingering shots of Rebecca...looking at a matchbook...

sfjbkfgs early in the season they very obviously established that Rebecca's arc was going to be realizing she actually loves the team and wants to support them and see them succeed because of her own heart and not to spite Rupert, and I guess that happened but why didn't it happen gradually in ways I could see, why did it happen in an episode in which I'm supposed to have known all along that this has to do with her childhood self ?? and in which Rupert has a FULL personality change to facilitate her sudden realization. In what fucking world would he invite her to that meeting, because she's smart or because she brings ~diversity or because maybe he wants to sleep with her again? None of it tracks at all lmao but it was also the episode in which I really enjoyed Tony Head so whatever

speaking of not tracking, Nate.........I've never been invested in Nate especially but he was SO cartoonishly evil at the start and then kind of never again. I was braced for a redemption arc I wouldn't care about but that didn't even really happen?? he got a girlfriend and realized Rupert was a bad role model? it turns out his dad thinks he was a prodigy and always just wanted him to be happy, which, lmao WHAT where????? and what am I supposed to believe about Jade changing her mind about him btw because she's seen people be terrible to him at that very table before AND she has to know he loves the place and the food because he's there all the time, so what was the revelation that turned her from relatable-via-Nate-ambivalence to suddenly heart-eyes just fdslelugatw so much of my feeling about this season isn't even like it's bad it's just it's nonsense

One of my big complaints about the season is just Keeley's whole deal. Separating her from the team/rest of the cast was a wild choice. Barbara is fine but I also would have been perfectly fine without her and none of the other new characters for the PR side story added anything to the show. Especially if at the end Rebecca is just going to write Keeley a check for the chump change she needs to run the agency. Why didn't we just do that to begin with??? I guess this season I'm supposed to think Keeley ~learned to be independent in various ways but, again, I don't ?? And her needing to not be with Roy I guess as part of that and then get back together offscreen but then not really be together maybe but then also possibly having throuple vibes later that never get acknowledged feels, whatever, like something Bill Lawrence didn't write sdfjlsefaj,lwte I know this is my unsupportable argument that post I RBed was making fun of but idc

also Jamie wanting to be with Keeley at the end of the show feels extremely Harry Potter epilogue to me lmao Jamie you don't have to marry someone you went to high school with there are so many people

Roy was fine this season. He didn't have much to do but that's probably for the best lol. Him taking Ted's job is probably the only main character ending I feel like makes sense for this season and the overall show. Him training and begrudgingly becoming friends with Jamie was always funny.

OK one of the wrong reviews was basically like if you don't appreciate this season you don't appreciate classic tragic structure. Fuck off with that. First of all this was a sitcom about soccer so even if they were going for a classic tragedy in season 3 that's stupid and they shouldn't have been. But I also just don't think that's what was happening ??? I think I'm supposed to believe everyone gets a happy ending and I just don't. Like the whole oh it's sad that Ted ends up where he started and it's about how persistent optimism and kindness can burn you out or whatever, that's...if that's what they were going for, again, why tf, and also could we have seen that like. at all. Ted barely Teds for anyone this season (frex the previously mentioned never talking to Rebecca). ROY Teds more than Ted in season 3. If we got to see Ted trying to Ted even, like, twice, and either not being able to dig down and find the positivity or I guess noticing that he needs someone to be that for him, OK, fine. A Ted/Keeley scene would have been a PERFECT vehicle for this. Didn't happen. idk if we're supposed to think he's getting back together with Michelle but that would be so...so bad ??? like what about Tan Lines??? why even have Tan Lines??? even if not, we just left completely unaddressed her starting a relationship with their marriage counselor, which is also BAD lmao. God why did I have to see so much of Michelle this season. Michelle video calls every other episode and two lines for Dr. Sharon. Nonsense. lol one of my friends summarized Ted's ending as "yeah going back to the unfulfilling life that didn't work before the show started is a victory for our protagonist"

Even the soccer of it all re that whole thing was silly. Oh marriage counselor boyfriend is a bad guy because he doesn't care about the soccer game. Oh Ted is happy now because he's coaching Henry's rec league soccer team. like it's fine that EVERYONE is still together in Richmond but he's "home" now and still around soccer which is good because we definitely saw him learn to love soccer during the course of the show. sure Jan

(to be fair I am not the audience for "it's about the kid" plots so even if I felt like it worked from the start of the show for Ted to choose moving back to where Henry is, which I don't, I wouldn't care for it, so maybe those criticisms aren't especially valid) (I didn't care about JD's kid either)

speaking of the soccer though every single scene that revolved around the actual soccer team was essentially perfect. Great use of so many of those boys. Very few notes. Sam in particular had a few nice things this season and of course Colin. Another incorrect review by a critic I actually like very much was complaining about Colin's story this season and it being tired and overdone and not caring about Trent's or Isaac's parts of it, but I actually really disagree! It was well done and it was nice to see in the context of professional sports where, sorry, coming out and being received well is not a cliche thing that happens a lot! Also, hot take! Zava was a good part of this season! Nice contained little story that impacted some characters I actually care about plus he was legit funny! Sometimes things in a comedy should be funny! I'd honestly watch three more seasons of Richmond-focused half-hour episodes with idk probably Brett Goldstein in charge

I haven't mentioned Beard because I just never understood what I was supposed to think about him lmao. By far the funniest character overall but I never felt settled on whether he was meant to be a manic pixie comic relief BFF or if he was like...a real person?? It strikes me as potentially bad that he was so worried about Ted's mental state all the time and never really mentioned his own and that was sort of a thing in the weird s2 episode but then not again? I felt so much ire about so much else I didn't have any for him marrying Jane lmao but I do understand the people who are upset about that because that sure seemed pretty toxic, but wasn't it supposed to be played for laughs? Does that fit in a show that's supposed to mainly be about people treating each other well because we're all we've got? idk, RIP Beard, sorry your best friend in the world wasn't at your wedding because it would have been narratively underwhelming to see him leave and then see him back at a future major event or whatever

idk idk, season 1 Rebecca was one of my favorite characters ever and I was so angry in the middleish of the season about how much I felt like she was being wasted, but by the end I was just like...I mean, what's to be mad at. She's not even her anymore. Ted wasn't Ted anymore. Nate I guess literally reverted back to season 1 Nate which also is that...okay...him ending up lower than he started out feels not great

Good for Mae and the bar boys though, used just the right amount this and every season and always a damn delight

OK this is ridiculous I'm going to be done now. I do want to say I enjoyed several episodes this season a lot! A couple top 10 potentials! I really enjoyed the Amsterdam one actually because it reminded me of like a Nancy Meyers movie, very nice and warm, but it feels worth noting that that is not a feeling I would describe as being struck by fucking lightning :))))))

in conclusion maybe we as a nation can move on now from giving SNL alumni we find charming huge budgets and ethereally talented casts and collaborators and letting them get us emotionally invested in their midlife crises sandbox playing

[its-time-to-write]

bored

Don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’ve been posting less. Life’s been busy and I’ve been tired. Here’s some angst. It’s very long.

bored

It’s not falling out of love if you still love him, right? It’s more…slipping away. You feel like you’re falling off a cliff, scrambling for a handhold and coming up empty.

You hate this part in a relationship. The slide away. The boredom that creeps in. It happened with your last relationship, too. His name was Joseph, and you were together a year and a half when he started pulling away from you. It was little things at first, not talking as much and kissing you less. Then it was missing date nights and only kissing you on the forehead and silent dinners. He buried himself in books and barely looked at you and you knew the breakup was coming, but you could’t bring yourself to be the one to leave. So you didn’t. You just waited until he dropped the news at dinner and pretended like you were ok with it, and not that you had been secretly packing up your things for weeks.

It broke you a little bit. The slow pull. The obvious boredom that he had. The dissatisfaction with you. 

The waiting was torture, the aftermath was worse. Your dad was worried as you continued to dwindle into a shell of yourself. Skin pallid, eyes hallow, never smiling.

Your aunt Eileen said you needed to get out of the country and into a change of scenery, which is why you’re on a plane on your way to live with her in England. 

You’re fortunate that your job in graphic design allows for remote work and an asynchronous schedule.

It’s fun to live with Aunt Eileen. She’s very loud and very Irish. She only lives in London to be near her sister, who married and Englishman (much to the chagrin of the rest of your family). Your dad, their brother, married an American which was better-received. You have your mom’s accent, which is mostly due to the fact that you grew up in America. You think maybe if you grew up over here it would be different. 

Eileen does not let you be sad. And, it’s easier to forget about Joseph when there are no reminders of him around. It’s a completely new place with completely new faces. 

Eileen takes you all over Richmond. You meet her friends and the locals, and begin to feel things again. Not happiness per se, but some positive neutral.

Eileen kicks you out of the house every Thursday evening. She says it’s so you can explore and have time to yourself, but it’s really when all her yoga friends come over for rosé and awful reality shows. You don’t really mind, you caught a minute of one and couldn’t handle the absurdity of it. You suppose that’s the appeal, it just isn’t for you.

So instead, you get out. You brings a small sketchpad and a pencil, and create.

You haven’t done analog drawing in forever, and it’s refreshing to be away from a screen. You draw whatever you want, whether it’s your mood or a sketch of your surroundings. Little by little, you find yourself again.

—

Richmond is a big football town. Everyone loses their mind when there’s a match, and the streets become a sea of red and blue. Aunt Eileen doesn’t watch football, and neither do you. Like reality tv, you just can’t get into it. Apparently the coach (or gaffer) frequents a pub that Eileen takes you too, and he’s American like you. He heard you talking once and came over to introduce himself.

“I’m Ted and this is Coach Beard,” he had said. “Nice to hear a familiar accent around here. What’s been the biggest culture shock for you? Mine has been the fact that the cars all drive on the wrong side of the road.”

You like Ted and Beard. They remind you of home, the good parts of home. You see them pretty regularly and they talk about coaching and football, and listen to you tell them about your designs and family.

“You takin’ new work?” Ted asks one day. “Could find you some projects around Nelson Road.”

So now you’re contracted by a woman named Rebecca to keep things up to date around AFC Richmond’s headquarters.

Rebecca is something else. She’s everything you want to be, confident and fearless. She charges ahead and takes what she wants, but does it with kindness and grace. 

You suppose the kindness is what gets you the most here. Eileen thinks it’s good for you to get out and work with actual people instead of remote on a screen, and you privately agree with her. There isn’t always a lot of work to do, but Rebecca set you up with an office and allows you to work on projects for your other companies. Her friend Keeley pops in from time to time, to chat and tell you that your designs need more pink.

“It’s objectively the best color, babe,” she says. “Makes everything else pop!”

Keeley starts becoming your friend, too. 

Rebecca takes it upon herself to become your mentor of sorts, and she sits you for a meeting after your first week.

“What sort of work do you really want to do?” she asks. 

You tell her you love everything. You love murals and sketches and passion projects and surrealism. You love pencils and paint and digital art, but hate watercolor and charcoal. You love artsy interior designs and posters and tiny stickers and large paintings. You love making things expressive and beautiful, in whatever capacity you can. 

A week and a half later, you’re redecorating Keeley’s office.

“You know what I like, babe,” she says affectionately. 

And you do. You’ve known her two weeks, but she’s made an effort to get to know you and to make herself known. You’re trusting people again.

—

Keeley bursts into your office in a flurry of sequins and fringe two days after you did her office, dragging someone by the hand. 

“Babe,” she says, breathless from her obvious run to you, “tell Jamie he fucking cannot wear socks and sandals.”

You look at this Jamie and see he is indeed committing a terrible fashion faux pas.

And… looking good while doing it?

You look back at Keeley. “Keels, why are you asking me?”

She looks at you like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “Because you’re Richmond’s art person! You know what looks good and what doesn’t! And this one-” she pauses to pinch Jamie’s cheek affectionately, “won’t fucking listen to me.”

Jamie shrugs, looking embarrassed. “Sorry to bug you,” he says. “Know you’ve got other shit to do.”

This is interesting. This Jamie is looking sheepish, blush tingeing the tips of his ears. You don’t know him, but what you’ve seen of all the footballers, they have egos for miles. They’re all incredibly kind, but definitely confident. Embarrassment doesn’t even seem like something any of them are capable of, but here’s Jamie in front of you, all apologetic and shooting glances at Keeley with the clear message let’s go.

Keeley isn’t paying attention, just bouncing on her toes and waiting for your response. 

You assess Jamie and say, “Actually, he’s pulling it off.” You give him your name and he smiles a little, sticks out his hand, and says, “I’m Jamie.”

Keeley frowns at you (not a real one) then grabs Jamie’s hand and marches out the door in a similar fashion that she entered. Jamie throws you one last apologetic glance before he’s dragged out the door.

You sit back in your chair, processing what just happened. This is the first time you’ve actually met someone on the team, and it was not at all what you expected. 

—

You’re working through lunch on a side project the next day, when there’s a knock on your doorframe. 

“Jamie!” you say, looking up in surprise, “What can I help you with?”

He fidgets for a moment then replies, “Keeley sent me to make sure you weren’t working through lunch.”

Oh. That’s interesting.

You frown, though not at him. “Don’t worry, I’m not.”

Jamie squints at you. “You fucking lying?”

He says it so sincerely that you laugh, and put down your pen. “Yes I am, but if Keeley asks then no. I’m taking my required mental break and not working.”

Jamie moves from the doorway and plops down on the chair across from your desk.

“Whatcha working on?”

You spend the better part of thirty minutes telling Jamie about a redesign for a children’s center logo and the details of keeping the essence while modernizing it and revamping the color scheme, all while he nods and asks questions in all the right places. It’s not until your alarm goes off on your phone that you both jump and say, “Shit,” in unison.

“I’m late. Roy’s gonna fucking kill me,” Jamie groans.

You feel terrible. “I’m so sorry,” you respond sincerely. “Shit, I’m sorry. Tell Roy it was my fault.”

Jamie shakes his head. “Nah, weren’t yours. Should’ve kept a better eye on the time.” 

He’s halfway out the door when he turns back and smiles at you. “I’ll tell Keeley you took a real break.” He winks and and disappears around the corner.

You make a mental note to ask Keeley about this whole thing later.

—

“Oh he’s into you, babe.” Keeley says, hours later when you’re at her house for drinks and dinner. 

“WHAT, no!” you protest, “He’s not! He was just- just-”

Keeley nods and smirks. “Can’t finish that sentence, can you? Y’know, I just told him to check on you. I didn’t say anything about eating lunch with you.”

Rebecca nods in agreement. “I also overheard him telling Ted that he didn’t think you were attractive at all.”

You and Keeley turn to her with matching quizzical expressions.

“He was clearly not telling the truth. I didn’t even have to see his face, I could hear it in his voice,” Rebecca explains.

“Ooh, right, yeah, Jamie’s a shit liar!” Keeley exclaims. “Oh my god babe, I literally can’t believe it. You’d be so fucking adorable together.”

Rebecca tilts her head and gives you an appraising look. “I can see it,” she says.

Your face is on fire but you’re laughing and shaking your head. “If Eileen didn’t have her yoga group over for drinks, I would be totally out of here.”

—

Rebecca was right. Jamie does like you and he asks you out the next week. 

He says, “I think you’re fucking amazing. Do you want to get dinner?”

He’s radiating so much confidence that despite yourself, you laugh and say yes. Eileen is beside herself, so happy that you are going out with “such a nice young man.” Keeley and Rebecca feel a similar way. Keeley’s boyfriend Roy just grunts. You like Roy. He’d never admit it, but he’s very kind. You know he threatened Jamie within an inch of his life when he heard you two had started dating, and the sentiment almost made you tear up. Almost.

—

You slip in to a pattern. Living with Eileen, spending nights with Jamie. Dinner with Keeley and Roy, drinks with Keeley and Rebecca. Walks in the park, early morning breakfasts, family picnics. Jamie is present for everything except girl’s night. (He makes a pretty convincing argument for why he should be included, if you’re being honest). 

It’s… scary. You’re still hurting from Joseph, but Jamie does his best to erase any trace of him. He tells you he’s going to kiss every inch of your skin, so that his lips are the only ones you think of. He brings you flowers and makes sure to tell you how much he loves you.

Eileen pretends not to notice that your bed is empty more nights than not, and you do your best to return that courtesy by keeping her in the loop of your comings and goings, so she knows if she should save you dinner. 

You and Jamie are together like this for four and a half months. It’s wonderful and terrifying and perfect.

You’ve almost forgotten Joseph ever existed.

Until one morning, Jamie has returned from morning training with Roy.

He walks in the door and you say, “Hi babe!” from your position by the coffeemaker. Jamie doesn’t respond, just absentmindedly kisses you on the cheek and grabs a cup. He doesn’t even smile at you. You look at him for a minute as he moves around the kitchen, waiting for him to acknowledge your presence. He doesn’t. He’s out the door again in a minute, barely even saying goodbye.

You chalk it up to the upcoming match. He always gets a little more focused than usual when it’s against Man City. You tell yourself he’ll be better by Sunday.

—

He’s not.

—

Jamie’s pulling away from you. 

It’s Joseph all over again.

You start to do little things to get his attention. You put on his favorite lingerie set under a “Tartt” jersey and greet him with it when he gets home. He kisses you on the fucking forehead and goes to grab dinner. He goes straight to the bed to sleep right after. 

You make his favorite dinner and set the table all fancy, candles and everything. Jamie says an absent thanks. You eat in silence.

He brushes off any attempt you make to kiss him, and you can count the amount of words he’s said to you on one hand. You feel like a child, the way he’s treating you and all of the sudden, in between bites of chicken, you know. 

Jamie’s bored.

This is ending.

You spend the night because it would be weird not to, but you lay in bed, awake the whole time. You’re under every single blanket Jamie owns, yet your blood is running cold. It’s the only thing you can feel, really, other than your heart beating furiously in your chest. The rest of you is just… numb. You pretend to be asleep when Jamie gets up at 3:30am for training, but the moment you hear the door shut you leap out of bed and collect your things. You successfully sneak back into Aunt Eileen’s house and sit on the floor of the bathroom until sunrise, knees pulled to your chest as you stare at the floor

There’s been a constant rushing in your ears since dinner with Jamie, one that accompanies you as you mechanically dress and head to Nelson Road. Your body is on autopilot as you head to your desk, past Ted and Beard, past Dani, past Sam, Nate, and Will. You know Jamie’s there, although you don’t see him. You spend most of the day glancing at your door, waiting for him to appear with lunch and an explanation.

He doesn’t.

—

It’s late, not too late but late enough that the boys are all gone, and you’re in the locker room making aesthetic assessments for Rebecca when you see it.

Jamie’s locker. 

The voice in your head screams don’t do it! but your legs are moving on their own accord, drawn by some strange impulse. You stop in front of his locker and look inside. 

Your picture is gone. 

It’s your favorite one. Eileen took it at dinner one night. You’re in the kitchen stirring something on the stove, laughing at something Jamie said. He’s grinning at you and looking at you with stars in his eyes. The love is palpable.

And it’s gone. 

Autopilot gives way to shock and your knees buckle. You’re on the floor and you’re not sure how you got there or how long you’re crying, but the door is opening and Nate is kneeling next to you and asking if you’re alright in a soft voice. You don’t respond, just keep crying, and next thing you know Keeley’s arms are around you as you panic on the floor of the Richmond locker room.

—

She drives you to Eileen’s, and you burst in through the front door. 

“Eileen!” you gasp, “It’s happening again, he doesn’t love me and I don’t know what I did-” you ram into something solid not he threshold.

“Fuck,” says Roy, although that’s not surprising because that’s roughly 80% of his vocabulary.

“Hi babe,” says Keeley in a small voice, hot on your heels, “Forgot this was yoga night.”

“What?” you ask, Jamie temporarily forgotten.

Roy just sighs and says, “Come on. Eileen’s got rosé in the kitchen. But you already fucking knew that, didn’t you.”

—

Turns out Roy is part of Eileen’s yoga group. You swear never to tell anyone.

He, in turn, succinctly grills you on Jamie.

“What the fuck did the little prick do?” he asks in his most growly voice yet.

You’re in the kitchen with him, Keeley, and Eileen. Aunt Eileen has let the yoga group know there’s been a change of plans, and they take it all in stride. Maureen herds them all to G-A-Y and they’re gone in a moment.

So now you’re here, eyes dry but red, explaining how Jamie is bored of you.

Roy says, “Fuck.” Aunt Eileen looks like she’s ready to murder someone. Keeley just looks sad. 

“You’re coming to mine,” Keeley says, in a voice that leaves no room for arguments. “We’ll put on pajamas and do face masks and Roy will make that fancy little cheese platter he’s so good at.”

Roy doesn’t even protest, just nods and slips his hand around Keeley’s waist. She settles back against him in a way that makes your heart squeeze, because it’s the exact same way you would settle against Jamie.

Eileen says, “I’ll go pack you a bag,” and then she’s bustling upstairs to your room.

—

You and Keeley have matching cucumber-mango face masks, and you’re in her bed watching Look Both Ways. You can hear Roy downstairs in the kitchen putting cheese, grapes, and whatever the fuck else on a tray. He brings it up and places it on the bed, kissing Keeley with an amicable grunt. 

“I’m headed the fuck to sleep,” he says. “I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

You smile at him as best you can, which is really just turning your mouth into a straight line, and Keeley says “Bye, babe.”

Roy smiles (as big as he ever does) and leaves.

You reach for an olive and settle back on to the pillows.

—

You don’t sleep much, but you do sleep. Keeley is wrapped around you like a spider monkey so you finally drift off around 3am. It’s not lost on you that Jamie will be awake in thirty minutes, and that it should be his arms wrapped around you. 

—

You’re in your office for a grand total of fifteen minutes when Rebecca comes marching in.

“What the hell are you doing here?” she asks.

“My job..?” you respond tentatively.

She shakes her head. “You’re getting the day off. As a matter of fact, you can take Monday as well. You do good work, and you’ve never missed a deadline. You can take a goddamn break.”

Oh. Keeley must have told her.

You nod slowly then get up to grab your bag.

Rebecca pauses for a moment, then pulls you into a hug. It’s incredibly calming.

Rebecca asks, “Do you need anything?”

You shake your head. “I think I’m just going to get my things from Jamie’s while he’s at training. I don’t want to make a scene. I’ll call him tonight and let him know we’re done, just so it isn’t prolonged anymore.”

Tears appear in your eyes and Rebecca hugs you again.

“Well,” she says, “just give me call. You know how to reach me.”

—

There’s a lot of things at Jamie’s, but fortunately you keep a box in the back of your car. You’ve cleaned out your tea from his cupboards, toiletries from his bathroom, and are now kneeling on the floor, emptying out your drawer. Your hands linger a little too long over the Tartt 9 jersey Jamie gave you when a voice says, “What the fuck are you doing?”

You jump. “Jesus, Jamie. Aren’t you supposed to be at training?”

“Coach said I had to go home. What the fuck are you doing?”

You skip over the fact that he didn’t elaborate on which coach sent him home and remind yourself to kill Roy.

You blow out a long, slow breath. Fuck. This was not how this was supposed to go.

“I um, I’m cleaning out my things.” You can’t look him in the eyes. You’re still on the floor, Jamie’s in the doorframe.

Jamie is silent so you continue.

“I just wanted to make things easier,” you tell the jersey in your hands. “I… know what’s happening. And it’s fine, really. I’m not…entitled to your love, you know? So… it’s ok. I just-” you sigh, body feeling so heavy all of a sudden, “I just wanna know one thing.”

You look at Jamie for the first time. “What is it about me that’s boring?”

Jamie opens his mouth to say something, but you barrel on. “You don’t have to lie, we’re probably never going to speak again, so just tell me. Because I’ve been over it a million times in my head and I can’t figure it out. I tried to figure it out with Joseph too. I get it if I were too clingy or too talkative or something, but what is it that makes me boring?” Tears have started streaming down your face at some point. God, this has been such a shit week. All this crying is making your eyes hurt.

There are tears in Jamie’s eyes, too.

“I- you- you aren’t boring,” Jamie croaks.

He could’ve fooled you.

“Then why have you been pulling away from?” you ask, voice small. “You kissed me on the forehead, Jamie. Like I was, I don’t know, your great aunt or something.”

Jamie rubs his face with his hand. “Shit, I- shit. I’m so fucking sorry. God, babe, I’m so, so fucking sorry. Roy told me to come here, said something about fucking shit up again, so I came here and found you like that on the floor and- shit, I just fucked up.”

He’s made his way over to you, slowly, like you’re a wild animal about to spook. He crouches down on the floor next to you and reaches out a hand to your cheek.

“It’s my dad,” he says finally. “He came ‘round, asking questions and shit, and he asked about you. And I fucking hated that. He knew your name and shit. Made some threats. I didn’t- I wanted to protect you. And I thought once you knew about him you wouldn’t want shit to do with me. I was fucking waiting for you to break up with me once you found out.”

Jamie’s voice is far too raw for this to story to be made up. The only thing you know about his dad is that he exists, and Jamie never talks about him. This… makes sense. It’s fucking stupid, but it makes sense. So you tell him.

“Jamie,” you say, “that is fucking stupid. It makes sense, but it’s fucking stupid.”

He hangs his head. “God, I know. He comes ‘round and I forget how to fuckin act.”

“Hey,” you say softly, tilting his chin up to meet his eyes. “This was shitty. But we’re learning. We’ll work on communicating, I promise. I’ll get better at it too. And as far as your dad goes, we’ll figure that out.”

Jamie laughs wetly and you bring his head close for a kiss.

You two will figure it out.

[2bloved]

So I have a headcanon that I need to put out into the world so here I am, lemme know what you think /nf. So Glitchy Red (in an x reader scenario or something) would absolutely LOVE any sort of physical affection. I mean, man's been stuck in a game for his whole life he has to be some amount of touch starved. So of course stuff like hugs would be perfect but even just like holding hands, sitting back to back, one of them leaning their head against the other's shoulder, etc. Like imagine reader just sitting on the couch doing something (playing a game, reading, doesn't really matter) and Red is maybe only half-interested in what they're doing but he's looking over their shoulder while they lean against him and he's content with it, maybe dozes off a bit, but he's happy. Anyways thank you for coming to my TED Talk. :)

i want to write a oneshot for this. i really do. i love this so much. i may not have the mental energy to rn but if its ok with u i geninuely will /srs

HOWEVER I AGREE it would take him some time (like a couple of days) for glitchy to just. for it to hit him. for him to realize 'hey, there's someone there that just. wants to hold and love him'

if you show him that you're willing to give, he'll gonna want even more! (rest of headcanons or whatever below the cut)

it'd start with when you first meet with him in person for the first time - hooh boy was he estatic to just give someone a hug and maybe something a bit more! that's when he started to realize how neglected of affection he was

of course him showing this at first it'd probably be a little discreet like you arriving home from Undisclosed Job I Mentioned In Oneshot (if we're going off the fact it was indirectly based off of me lets just say dairy queen <3 sorry common dairy queen slander dub) and just flopping down on your couch - glitchy would immediately come out from your room to make sure it was you, of course, and sit down beside you, eventually coursing his way into your arms and you both following asleep like that

or maybe like you mentioned - you're home and somewhere in the house, maybe just playing one of your various games from ur PRIZED video game collection like ur ds or something and glitchy will hover around you until eventually being entangled with you, probably watching not only you but also your determined look to kick youngster joey's ass on pokemon hgss

the way you'll come over to him and gently play around with his hands, his loose locks of black hair, the way you give him gentle kisses.. fndsjfksdf

that's when he'd definitely start showing how much he really loves you. there'd be no more of a need to be shy about it - expect him to start coming up randomly behind you and holding you there in his arms, letting you listen to his fucked up glitched breathing (until u ask to let go that is, and he'll let u go on ur merry day) or when you clock in for the night, if he's not already there, he'll immediately come and curl up beside you at the sound of your bed creaking with you laying down on it

i think its even funnier if you also hc him to be not very talkative similar to canon/og red hehe

either way, he's gonna start looking like a lost puppy following you around if you give him the love he oh so desperately needs /lh /pos

[thoughtful-dragon]

Ted Lasso 3x11 reaction

Things I LOVED in 3x11:

Pretty much everything about the way Roy, Keeley and Jamie interacted; the way they worried about him and tried to be there for him and it just felt so solid and real, and like I could see how they would all function in a relationship together. Truly a gift

Roy in general was delightful. This has saved his arc for me. Still a bit tell not show, but he’s clearly now at a place where he has accepted he deserves good things and those good things are Keeley and Jamie (in whatever way you would like to read that)

The comedy between these three was fantastic as well

GEORGIE TARTT! I love her, I love her and Jamie’s relationship. I will not have any criticisms and will defend her and Jamie’s right to cuddle each other to the death.

Pep!! He was there! He hugged Jamie! This is all I care about! (They also had him say that he doesn’t care about the wins and losses! That’s ridiculous! I don’t even follow football and I know that it is ridiculous to have PEP GUARDIOLA say this!)

Things I am neutral/unsure about

I am sorry. I am a bit bored of Ted this season. I think he was one of the characters I was most invested in following season 2, but now… IDK. I thought the confrontation with his mother was well done, and I liked the ending but… I don’t know whether it felt as impactful as it could have

Nate coming back to Richmond, especially how it came about, was weird. No, it doesn’t make sense that the players are asking for him back, no, it doesn’t make sense that they would have any say in it. Also, I think I support Nate maybe figuring out what he wants to do without being pushed once again into football coaching. Maybe he would have been able to do that if people had let him keep being a waiter

Beard’s forgiveness of Nate – I LOVED the Les Mis story, don’t get me wrong and Brendan Hunt can really bring it on his delivery of these longer emotional speeches. But I don’t actually think it felt… right. Like, we know that Nate feels sorry for the press leak. WE know that Nate has written a 60 page apology, but Beard doesn’t, really. It’s never been properly addressed. And I kind of think that the writers want us to focus on Nate ripping the sign and shouting at Ted rather than the actual awful thing that he did. I just can’t quite see why Beard would forgive Nate (outside of radical forgiveness, which is… yeah, I don’t like it) without at least an acknowledgement of that. I also… don’t think he should have to. Or, he should let go of his anger, but that doesn’t have to lead to Nate working with him again.

Things I HATED:

Number one is obviously the radical forgiveness of James Tartt (I have already posted at length about this here and it makes me very angry so let’s leave it there)

Yeah. Boot room scene. Sorry. Bits were great. The implied intimacy. Roy. But the extent to which it was played to the audience for laughs was… awful and really uncomfortable. They do not do this with any other character’s trauma/emotional responses. It’s not OK.

The whole Man City game sequence didn’t quite work me. So: Jamie’s being booed by the Man City fans, which is… OK – but they have played them twice since he’s left and we have not seen this level of personal vitriol towards him. When I saw the trailer for this moment, I definitely thought he was getting some kind of negative press attention. So I don’t quite get this. Like, I know they’re at home and there would be more of them but…

The Man City players repeatedly fouling Jamie – putting aside the fact that none of these were caught by referees, in the game at Wembley there is a shot of one of the City players hugging Jamie and a general sense that, actually, he was quite well-liked. Now, this is football. Maybe they’re all different players now. But surely they’re not trying to say that Pep would create this kind of environment where the players would target a former player who was getting targeted by fans? I thought it would have been really nice to see support from the City players but not necessarily from the fans. Because I do think that City was a positive environment for Jamie, which they kind of try to imply with the scene with Pep, but have dramatically undercut it here

Did Ted Lasso emotionally manipulate a player into playing through an injury? Yes. Yes he did. It’s shit like this that makes me hate sports culture. When it happened, I briefly thought they were maybe going to address the fact that Jamie is used to hiding pain, stemming back to trauma and have him insist on playing through, but. No. I don’t think they realise the fucking irony here of insisting that Ted doesn’t care about the wins and losses, and yet putting the safety of a player below that. Arguably, it's not about the win, it's about… something else. But it is not prioritising helping Jamie so why should I give a shit?

Also, it’s only after that that the City fans turn around. Which. Is so fucking. So. Yes. There are obviously lots of different city fans there, but we focus in on a group who are being truly fucking horrible and then… Jamie… wins their approval by playing injured? Seriously, what the actual fuck? I didn’t buy this, but even if I did, this isn’t something we should be aiming for! Why should Jamie win these people’s approval through endangering himself? I hate it so much! And then they dare to show his dad’s friends saying his dad would have been proud to which my audible reaction was: I don’t care (briefly followed by: is he dead? But those hopes were dashed). That’s the whole point! Jamie doesn’t care. He shouldn’t care! Caring about his dad’s opinions was deeply damaging for him!

In conclusion, I will be focusing on the bits I loved and rewriting/fixing the others through fanfic. Just needed to get this out here because it has been driving me insane.

[scenetocause]

got tagged by @freeuselandonorris and @lost-decade to post my most recent wip, which just so happens to be gridboy oscar:0

“What do you think about the grid girls - well, grid people?” Lando is not expecting Ted Kravitz to ambush him, Notebook mic in hand, while he was trying to re-do his shoelace under the only bit of rain cover near McLaren’s hospitality in Suzuka.

“Uh.” He blinks, water dripping in front of his eyes. “They’re uh, they’re very nice?”

Ted gives him a look like that’s not the right answer and Lando’s mouth panics before his brain has time to catch up. 

“Nice people, you know. They clearly have lots of passion for Formula 1 and they-” there’s rain running into his mouth, off his hood. Has to pause to swallow and shake his head like a dog. “They’re here, you know, because of that.”

“Oh, right.” Ted nods. “Yes, it’s good for them, isn’t it?”

There’s a note of concern in his voice that says he’s not totally sure what they just had was a coherent conversation but it’s the Notebook so. Whatever. Lando shakes himself again, water spraying, as Ted burbles away from him and he finally gets the sopping wet lace on his team trainers into something approaching a knot that might hold to the car park, at least.

Logan catches up to him with a papaya umbrella halfway there. “Dude. You’re soaked.”

Ok, yeah, Lando probably should have thought about an umbrella himself. He’s a bit out of sorts, lately - Jon used to handle all that sort of thing for him and he’s actually fine coping on his own and it’s ok for Jon to be home for a few races and Lando’s an adult, yeah? He’s leading the team, Logan doing well enough but the points gap between them clear, Lando getting asked about executive-level decisions in the group like he’s one of the real grown ups, lately. 

So he’s doing fine, alright? Just, like, a bit wet. On this particular occasion. Sometimes he’s also thirsty and can’t find his water bottle or hungry and hasn’t remembered there’s a wrap ready in the fridge but he’s basically alright. His back hurts more but he’s fine, it’s only a few races. He can do this.

“Where’s the - team car or whatever, anyway?” Now he’s under the umbrella it’s obvious quite how bad it was, water sluicing off the spokes like it’s out of a tap. 

“I dunno.” Logan sighs, heavily. “I just figured Zak’d probably have another reason to fire me if I let you drown.”

[emmedoesntdomath]

Itey 🥰🥰🥰

He’s so freaking cute

he is really freaking cute, and anyone who’s mad about that opinion can fight these fists

AND we’ve actually found another character I can go on a history rant about!!!! I love history rants!!!! let us begin, my dudes.

so, historically, itey’s a nickname, just like all of the newsies have. it is, however, less to do with his actual name or tendencies, and more of a nod to his heritage in an insulting way. ‘itey’ is short for italian, and frankly, it’s a bit disgusting that disney (or a fan, I don’t know how we got his name specifically) thought it was ok to name him this, but whatever. what’s done is done, I guess.

considering that this was what the other newsies called him, it’s pretty safe to assume that when he first became a newsie, he either spoke with a noticeable accent, or he had difficulty with the english language. we can come to this conclusion because if he didn’t have any trouble or tells, then he would have hidden his accent and background entirely. new immigrants were often not treated with respect, and could be heavily persecuted for their cultures (see, I say this like things have changed. they have not.)

plus, castle garden (the new york immigration center until 1890) is in manhattan’s battery, which puts itey and his family in the right place at the right time.

taking all of this in, it becomes even more noticeable that manhattan was ALSO home to one of the biggest centers of italian culture to exist outside of italy: the lower manhattan districts, where “little italy” and other hives of culture like mulberry st. even better- little italy and the surrounding traditionally italian neighborhoods are near what? the bowery, and, subsequently, the distribution window of the world. coincidence? I think tf not.

so here’s what we got:

itey immigrated with his family (we’re going to say he’s got three siblings, all sisters younger than him, based off of averages and really what I would want to see) in the early to mid 1880s, when he was little. he becomes a manhattan newsie sometime before 1899, after growing up in an italian household and primarily italian neighborhood, and because of this, he struggles. let’s say someone like race takes him under his wing (because I’m a sucker for a slightly happier story), but he becomes friends, real friends, with sniper. he sells to the italian people, because it’s easier for him to endear himself to them, even in english.

really, what I’m trying to say here is that, of all people, newsies like itey deserve ALL the love, because they represent real people and real stories and real struggles. that’s it. thanks for coming to my ted talk.