Brown Eyes Can Tell - A Seo Changbin 18+ ff
a part two of @roseykat's amazing fic 'Brown Eyes Don't Pry', which left off on such a good little cliffhanger that it inspired me to write this part two (I literally HAD to, it was that good) - PLEASE GO CHECK OUT HER STUFF, I BEG OF YOU!!! And big, BIG, HUGE thank you to @roseykat for letting me write this continuation of her fic and her idea, and being so nice about it!!! I was definitely scared she was going to say sorry but big no, but she was so polite and nice and I just want to thank her for being so accommodating to her readers and fellow authors. So, again, PLEASE check out her stuff, and HUGEEE thanks to @roseykat for letting me post this! Hope it reaches standards lol 🤞🤞
word count:
-2.2k (not including my nervous rambling 😍)
trope:
-friends to friends with benefits (?) roommates to something more (?😭)
-friend/roommate!Changbin x fem!reader
warnings: smut (that's basically the whole thing lmao); spit kink (guilty pleasure, what can I say), unprotected sex (don't be stupid) messy sex, size kink (?) eating out, cumplay, mentions of masturbation, porn, fingering, squirting, degradation, cursing, perverted characters (all consensual)
This includes a lot of smut, so please if you're a minor, DO NOT INTERACT!!! please and thank you 🙏💕💕
Seo Changbin, your friend and roommate, stood in front of you, fingers still pressing gently into you jaw, tilting you head sideways. He was observing you, you could tell. What he was thinking, you had no idea. But the way he was talking to you was starting to annoy you. They way he spoke, so condescending and almost as if he was embarrassed.
You scoff, the blush remaining across your face as you begin to get upset.
"Why were you watching me anyway? What, you said yourself you finished watching me get off. How long were you standing there, watching me like a fucking pervert?" You say, voice coming back to you as you shove his hand away from your face.
He's the one scoffing now, seemingly interested in the way you retaliated.
"Oh, so you're putting shit on me now, huh? As if you weren't the one just getting yourself off on your desk, for fucks sake? No, let's not pretend you weren't waiting for one of us to get home and see you getting off, waiting for one of us to fuck you, like a damn whore." He says, voice darkening, along with those deep brown eyes.
You can't deny you were surprised. You had never heard him speak like this before to anyone, let alone to you. You just roll your eyes, flicking them down for a split second.
"Looks like you'd love to fuck me right about now, judging by that massive situation you've got going on down there." You smirk, matching his condescending tone, pointedly tilting your head downwards.
He falters for a split second, knowing he can't actually deny that. He can't deny that seeing you like that was hot. Very hot. Begging to cum, even though no one was there to hear you. Well, that's what you had thought at the time.
"So what? You try not getting... excited... at someone getting off." He says, trying to defend himself. But, he notices you quickly glancing at your phone. He's confused for a second, but then remembers the video you were watching. Some woman getting pounded into the mattress by some strong, muscly guy. A smirk makes its way across his face, realizing the leverage he regained.
"You do..." He says delightedly, noticing the blush burning across your face once again.
"Do what?" You snap, playing dumb as you shove your phone away from you, scrambling to grab your clothes from your bed.
"Get off to people getting off." Changbin says, giggling hysterically at his own little joke. If you can even call it that. Sure, it's amusing to him, but he can't excuse the fact that there must be some kind of meaning to it. There's something there, he can feel it.
"What, it turns you on or something?" He tries, deciding to just poke around in the dark until he finds what he's looking for.
You shake your head, still fiddling with anything you can find to keep your hands from shaking. He's acting casual, but obviously it's still embarrassing. A lot.
"It's just background noise for when you get yourself off?" He tries again, hopeful.
You shake your head again, shooting him a sharp look.
"You wish it was you?"
Silence. You freeze up, avoiding his eyes, fighting to keep your embarrassment at bay.
Bingo, Changbin thinks, a smirk once again appearing on that smug face, expression darkening with amusement and... yeah, he's horny. How could he not be?
"So... I was right. You do wish that someone will get home, hear your pitiful little whimpers, come in, and start railing you. Isn't that right? I know it is."
You look up at him, brows furrowing in embarrassment and anger, apprehension and... hopefulness. Yes, even though this whole thing has just been massively embarrassing, a part of you still hopes that maybe he'll give you what you want. What you've been craving for so incredibly long now, deprived of touch, of pleasure.
He grins, staring right back at you, thinking about his next move. He decides to just go for it. Felix said he wouldn't be back for a few more hours at least... fuck it. Changbin wants to fuck you, and he wants you to want him to fuck you. Which shouldn't be a problem, judging by how fucking needy and desperate you look right now.
He steps closer to you, grabbing your chin again, tilting it up to meet your eyes. Both of you are holding your breaths, staring into one another's deep brown eyes. Both sets of eyes are sparkly, each pair holding the same emotions. Want, need, even.
"Can I...?"
His voice is in your ear, softer than you had expected, especially considering the situation. But you nod, desperately wanting him to do everything and anything to you.
"Please?" You whisper back, matching his softness. Changbin grins, then grabs your waist and gently pulls you flush to his own body. He stares into your eyes, both pairs now darkening with insatiable need. Need for each other, to feel the other in ways they've only ever dreamed of...
And before you can process all the emotions you're feeling, his lips are on yours. It's soft, sweet, gentle at first. But then his tongue swipes swiftly across your bottom lip, and your mouth opens, lips parting to let him in. You inhale sharply, making him pull away the tiniest bit.
"You okay? Can I keep going?"
You nod immediately, pulling him back to you abruptly. He grins into the kiss, hands starting to roam down, further and further...
He reaches down, fingers hooking into your waistband. Hell, if you had known he was going to help you out, you would never have hastily thrown your clothes back on. He gently slides your sweats and underwear down, leaving you in only your oversized t-shirt.
And God, do you look good in it. He wants to take you right then and there, bend you over and pound into you until you can't even think. But, he'll be patient for now. Well, as much as he can be, anyway. His tongue swirls in your mouth, you just take everything you can get from him. He cups your face with one hand, pulling away suddenly.
He squeezes your cheeks, pinching with his thumb and fingers, getting you to open your mouth. Eyes flashing, he smirks and lets his spit dribble down into your eager mouth. He lessens the pressure, grinning in delight when you swallow immediately. Your lips connect again, and the kiss gets filthier.
You're both basically drooling all over each other, into each other's mouths, spit trickling down both your necks, stickying up both your collarbones and chests. And you both love it; the sounds, the feeling, the sensations.
Not breaking away, he starts undressing himself, pulling down his sweats, tossing them away. He pulls his shirt over his head as quickly as he can, tossing that away as well.
And damn, is he gorgeous. He tries to resume the kiss, but your hands fly to his chest, keeping him slightly away from you.
"Um, wow." You say, suddenly.
He smirks lopsidedly, proud but slightly embarrassed. He grabs your hands and pulls you to him again, bare skin against bare skin, lips and tongues clashing again. He walks you back until your knees buckle against the bed, climbing on top of you and starting to plant kisses on your inner thighs, tongue flicking out every now and then.
Your head flies back as he gets closer to where you need him, where your cunt is dripping. Your previous orgasm had already made you slick, but now you were even wetter, your arousal increasing the more Changbin had teased you. He finally reaches your pussy, tongue flicking out as he eats you out. His pace was slow at first, patient, as if he was savoring every bit, every taste. But soon, he picked up the pace, movements quickening as if he was starving.
Your head was tilted, face halfway turned into the pillows in pleasure, as you felt him insert two fingers. You let out a quiet moan, feeling yourself about to cum all over his face and fingers. He felt it too, the sudden clench of your cunt, as he worked his fingers inside of you, while still flicking his tongue over your clit.
"Bin... m'bout to cum.." You say, voice slightly muffled by the pillows. You feel him nod, tongue increasing its pace over your puffy clit, earning a small gasp from you. His fingers curled into you, pressing over that spot inside you, causing you to snap.
You came all over him, squirting over him and covering his chest and collar and face in your arousal. Panting, you turned your head to him, eyes half closed as you came down from your release.
You saw him grinning at you, as he sat up from between your slightly shaky legs. His face and the top part of his body was shiny and wet, coated by your release.
"Well that was hot." He says, smiling, licking his lips and fingers. Smirking at him, you motion to his cock, signaling to him that you're ready to take him. He's pretty dang big, too... about average length, thick as fuck. But, you're pretty sure you can take him.
He sends you another look, making sure you're comfortable with proceeding. Nodding eagerly, you pull his arm, tugging him closer to you and licking right into his mouth. He kisses you back, starting to slide inside you at the same time. He is thick, and you definitely feel the stretch. But it's insane how much more it turns you on, feeling your own cunt stretching around his dick, sucking him in like he belonged inside you.
Tongues still fighting each other, he slips inside you little by little, stretching you out until he bottoms, hips pressed against each other. He swallows all your little moans, returning with his own small grunts as he pushes inside you.
Fully bottomed out, you pant into each other's mouths, while he gives you time to get used to the stretch. Nodding at him, he begins moving, gently at first, but soon speeding up, just like he did when he was going down on you. His pace quickens, and you reach the brink of orgasm, legs shaking...
But then he pulls out, grinning down at you before kissing your poured lips, flipping you over onto your belly. He spreads your legs out, giving him easier access to slide in again.
The new angle brings you to the edge quickly, and he quickens his thrusts into you, hitting your spot over and over. You're drooling into the pillows, and he gently threads his fingers through your hair, pulling your head back. He uses his thumb to wipe the drool from your chin, pushing it back up to your lips, and poking his thumb past them.
Obediently, you suck on his thumb, but soon your jaw falls slack again due to him pounding into you even faster, feeling like he's hitting deeper inside of you with each thrust. He spits into your mouth again, reveling in the way his saliva drips out of your mouth, still opened in pleasure.
He continues drilling into you until you cum over his dick, release spilling out while he slows his thrusts into you. He quickly feels his own release creeping up on him, amplified after seeing your orgasm. He pulls out and flips you over again, wanting to see your face as he cums all over your breasts and tummy.
You're pretty wiped out, but he seems eager to at least clean you up. How nice of him, right?
He sucks and licks all his own cum off your boobs, leaving small love bites in the valley of your breasts, and all down your stomach. He continues further down, until he reaches your pussy, slick and shiny with your own release. He starts cleaning you up, lapping at you casually, licking up your release, savoring the taste on his tongue again.
He sits back when he's had his fill, then carefully climbs over you and lays on the bed next to you, arms carelessly flung around your waist, hugging you gently.
It's a nice moment, you have to admit. At least, it is until you both hear the front door unlocking, meaning Felix is home.
"Shit... um, okay, you go hop in the shower, I'll clean up here." Changbin says hurriedly, climbing out of your bed and offering a hand to you, gently pulling you out of bed. He helps you hobble to the bathroom, even getting you a fresh towel before closing the door. He pulls on his boxers and sweatpants before going to greet Felix at the door.
But the whole night, he can't help but think about you. Just you, and how much he enjoyed railing the shit out of you. That image of you, fucked out, with drool all over your lips and chin, eyes half closed, lost in pleasure. the pleasure that HE gave to you, made you feel.
And how much he wants to do it again.
It's over! Ooooh cliffhanger, am I right? I guess I'll leave the rest up to you, and if anyone wants to make a part three, I would actually be super interested in reading it 😭And this is my first fic, so I'm kinda nervous lmao 😭 Hope you liked it, and again, please go check out @roseykat and boost her work, it's so good!! Thank you for reading, and I may or may not have a few more ideas and works in progress, so watch this become a writing blog 😨😍 Not super serious, but I'm definitely looking to post a few more fics of my own, so I guess look forward to those? THANK YOU GUYS 🙏💕💕
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excess of it
word count: 5k | tedtrent, mutual pining, Roy pov
[READ ON AO3]
Everywhere Roy goes, he comes across Ted and Trent just stupidly pining, staring adoringly at one another with unconcealed loveful eyes.
And he can't fucking escape it.
OR, Roy needs a break and he can't catch it.
The first time it happens, Roy thinks he’s imagining things.
It’s early one rainy Tuesday morning and he’s woken up two hours before his alarm rang. Suffice to say, he isn’t in a great mood as he walks through the still empty corridors of AFC Richmond. He doesn’t expect anyone to be there but the cleaning staff.
However, there are hushed voices coming from the coaches’ office. Something makes Roy stops in his tracks, though he could not say what. Perhaps it is the soft quality of the voices, the gentle rolling of words spoken in trust and quiet.
As discreet as he can, Roy walks closer, still hidden.
It’s Ted and Trent in the office, both their chairs brought close together and their bodies angled toward one another, yet untouching.
From his viewpoint, Roy can’t see Trent’s face but he can see Ted’s and, well. That’s quite a sight to behold. For all that he wears his heart on his sleeve, Ted has never worn such an open expression of openness in front of Roy.
Ted’s smile, though small, is as bright as the noonday sun in July.
Strangely, Roy feels like he is intruding on something precious and so, instead of barging in the office like he meant to, he turns back, footfalls still quiet, and makes his way out to the pitch, undeterred by the rain.
Roy doesn’t think too hard on it.
It was weird but he caught enough of the conversation to understand they were speaking of their kids, reasons enough for the soft look caught on Ted’s face, Roy figures.
Right.
He gives them ten minutes before he ventures back inside, and, this time, they each sit at their own desk, a respectable distance between them and no indication that they were having an intimate conversation just minutes earlier.
.
It’s not a one time thing however.
.
It starts slow at first.
Mostly, it’s looks. Just lingering looks when the other isn’t paying attention. Sometimes they’re just brief glances, stolen snapshots of the other that Roy just happens to notice.
Roy will turn to ask Ted something and find him staring at Trent’s profile as he writes in his notebook. Other times, Roy will want to commiserate with Trent, only to find Trent’s eyes being preoccupied by the sight of Ted telling one of his colourful nonsensical stories.
He can excuse the looks.
Though soon enough, Roy starts witnessing little strange moments between Ted and Trent that have him pause before he shakes himself with a reminder that this is none of his business.
Whatever this is.
.
Weeks go by.
The looks turn into touches, the touches into long conversations filled with private jokes and references that fly over Roy’s head, every word English and yet still a language uniquely their own.
One time, he finds Ted massaging Trent’s palm for some reason, but he turns back on his tracks and doesn’t ask about it.
Clearly, there is something brewing between Ted Lasso and Trent Crimm, but Roy cares nothing for it. He would have before he got to know Trent, but now that the both of them have made their amends and have become friendly if not yet friends, Roy will just ignore the whole thing until they make it official.
This tentative pining is painful to witness as it is.
.
This is where it should have stopped.
In an ideal world, Roy would have been able to continue on with days without being inconvenienced by a pining of such epic proportions – but that’s not what happens.
By some sadistic turn of events, it seems that everywhere Roy goes, he comes across Ted and Trent just stupidly pining, staring adoringly at one another with unconcealed loveful eyes. And he can’t fucking escape it.
He tries minimising the amount of time spent in the office but even this proves useless. The Fates are out for Roy Kent and they will make sure that he suffers. Perhaps it is revenge against his breaking up for Keeley that he should bear witness to brewing love when he himself ran away from it, so fearful of how it might end that he ended it before its time.
Fuck, he’s being so dramatic.
Still. He thinks he’s allowed it, as they are definitively making his life hell.
.
“You know I love our chats.”
Trent’s voice is so open it makes Roy want to punch the wall.
.
“Your hair is softer than I thought it’d be.”
The pen Roy is holding breaks in half. He doesn’t turn how Ted would know about the softness of Trent’s hair.
.
“Your neck giving you troubles?”
“It’s nothing, I just fell asleep on the couch last night.”
Before Ted offers, Roy already knows what he is going to say.
“I could massage the knot out for you, I took a class in college and boy, let me tell you, my A was well-deserved. These fingers are quite nimble, I’ll have you all melted like ice cream on a sunny day in no time.”
Trent Crimm flushing bright red isn’t something Roy thought he’d see in his lifetime, and yet here it is is – and it’s his cue to bolt it out of there.
.
They are laughing, once again standing closer than any just-friends would be. Ted reaches for Trent’s knee, squeezes it before he seems to recall himself and snatches the hand away.
Roy has seen teenagers flirt less awkwardly.
It’s driving him insane.
.
Roy is tired. His knee has been acting up all day, and the only thing he wants is to go home, get an icepack, and watch a stupid film he will never admit to actually liking.
It’s a struggle not to limp back down to the locker room though, by some miracle, he manages it. He only needs to pick up his phone that he forgot at his desk and then he can lick his wounds in private where no one will offer him sympathetic comments.
If only Roy had it that easy.
When he walks into the coaches’ office, Roy finds Trent fucking Crimm sitting on Ted’s desk, his legs sprawled and chest angled down to Ted. Ted himself is on his chair, gazing up at Trent with adoration and – oh, God – lust in his hooded eyes.
They aren’t doing anything but talking, and yet the air is charged with a tension so thick it threatens to choke him out.
“For fuck’s sake,” Roy barks.
He walks right out, phone be damned.
.
The three coaches are discussing what new strategy to implement after the West Ham fiasco. Trent is nowhere to be seen just yet, it’s unlike him as he has never once been late, but Roy is too focused on his conversation with Beard and Ted to wonder why that is.
Not that he’d worry about it.
He gets the answer minutes later anyway when Trent speed-walks into the office, glasses askew on his face and his hair tied up in a bun so messy it’s not even attempting to keep the hair away from his face.
Trent drops his messenger bag, yanks his notebook out of his breast pocket, and then he is rushing to join them, trying and failing to appear composed.
“Well, hello there, Sport,” Ted welcomes him with a bright smile. “Everything alright? It’s not like you to be so late.”
“Quite,” Trent replies, slightly out of breath. “There was a bit of a glitter incident this morning, that’s all.”
That’s when Roy notices it. Trent’s cheeks are covered with specks of glitter that catch the light as he talks. It reminds him of Keeley and how she would put golden glitter sometimes, it makes me sparkle, she’d say. Roy regrets never telling her she didn’t need it to be shine brighter than anything he’d ever seen.
“You’ll be finding it everywhere for months,” Ted quips. “One time Henry and I, we were making these Christmas cards to all our friends and family, and we decided to have this glitter fight because Henry didn’t much agree with my choice of color coordination. Now let me tell you, Michelle was right mad at the mess we made, I’m sure she’s still finding glitter all these years after.”
“I’m sure,” Trent replies easily.
Ted’s gaze narrows. Ah, so he’s noticed the glitter as well. Roy feels like swearing all of the sudden.
“You’ve still got some there,” Ted says softly.
And then. Then he brings his thumb to his mouth where his tongue comes out to meet it in a slow, almost sensual gesture, his lips all but kissing it, his eyes never leaving Trent’s.
Trent stands rooted in place, mesmerized, his own eyes wide and unblinking as he stares up at Ted. Ted who brings his thumb to the spot of glitter on Trent’s cheek and starts wiping, conscious and gentle.
Roy is also stunned, though not for the same reasons.
Slowly, he turns to Beard. Are you seeing this shit? he asks without a word. Beard gives a slight nod to confirm that he is, indeed, seeing this shit.
Why is Roy still in the room? He should have left as soon as Trent walked in, honestly he should just walk away any time he sees Ted and Trent in the same vicinity, but for some unfathomable reasons, Roy is still standing there. His attention is returned to the two men who are making his life hell with their longing and rampant sexual tension.
Ted’s hand drops away from Trent’s face.
“Thank you,” Trent whispers, his voice so low Roy barely catches it.
For fuck’s sake. Have they forgotten they aren’t alone in the room? They are lost in their own little world of two, nothing existing around them but each other’s eyes and smiles.
“Sure thing, darling,” Ted tells him, his accent undermining the rhyme.
Trent giggles.
Trent Crimm, the man who’s made many a professional footballer cry with his scathing exposés and sardonic questions, the man who Roy used to think was always so composed and assured, that Trent Crimm giggles.
Roy snaps.
He spins around, grabs Beard by the arm and drags him away from this insanity that they’ve been witnessing.
Of course, neither Ted nor Trent notice their leaving.
.
“We need to do something about this,” Roy declares.
“Do something about what?” Higgins asks, confused about the brusque intrusion but ready to roll with whatever dilemma his dear Diamond Dogs bring about, and fuck, Roy will never admit that he thinks of himself as a Diamond Dog or he’ll never hear the end of it.
“Ted and Trent,” Beard quips.
“Oh, alright.”
Higgins doesn’t appear to be surprised at this, but of course he wouldn’t be. Roy is sure that half of the club has noticed the tension between the gaffer and the ex-journo, and the other half is sure to follow soon.
“So you agree we need to do something,” Roy says, a tad desperate.
“Well.” Higgins pauses. “No?”
On a good day, Roy Kent has a set amount of patience which is not much admittedly, but still, he has some of it. Today has only just begun and already it hasn’t been a good one. It’s been weeks of this dancing around, these yearning looks and hopeful smiles and broken smiles that only come with assured unrequited feelings.
Roy is sick of it.
He’s sick of this hopeful tentative thing forming before him, this something of magnitude that only reminds him of how alone and stupid he feels. Because he had a something, and he threw it away, and now he stands before Jamie’s door at 4AM everyday and there’s an inkling there, a possibility he won’t let himself acknowledge.
Feelings isn’t something he knows to deal with all that well.
“It’s better not to meddle,” Beard agrees. “They’ll come to their senses at some point.”
“When though?” Roy grunts. “They keep making moon eyes at each other, and I am this close to throw them into a closet and throw away the key.”
Beard’s left eyebrow rises as he thinks it over.
“No,” Higgins says. “We shall do nothing of the sort, I’m sure they’ll act on their feelings soon.”
His expression turns from certitude to doubt.
“I hope so, at least.”
Roy swears.
.
So they have decided not to intervene. Great, Roy can do that.
Except that he really can’t. He’s tried it, and he can’t.
And this is what breaks him.
It’s late after a match. Richmond has lost because that’s what they’ve been doing since West Ham, even with fucking Zava on their team.
The mood is down, even Roy is too tired to be angry about the loss. He wants to go to bed and forget everything for a few blessed hours before his alarm wakes him up at 3:30, before he has to ignore his own maybe-perhaps-but-surely-not pining and the strange little thrills he gets when Jamie directs a bright smile at him.
The team trickles out, the locker room quiet and subdued, until there is no one left but Roy, as well as Ted and Trent who are sitting side by side, each on the opposite end of their bench in the little corner Trent has all but called his own.
“This is just a bad pass,” he is saying. “This is a great team you have, they will find their footing again, and you will help them get there.”
Trent’s reassurances fall on deaf ears. Ted forces a smile on his lip that’s more of a grimace than anything.
“Just gotta believe, right?”
There’s none of his usual pep in it.
After a short goodbye that’s very telling of his true state of mind, Ted is fast out of the door. Roy turns to Trent to bid him good night as well, but the words die on his lip at the wretched sight he makes.
Standing, hand frozen mid-air in an aborted motion, Trent stares, lost, in the direction Ted went in. carved onto his expressive face is a look of absolute heartbreak, of helplessness too.
This is the face of a man in love who can’t do anything about it. Roy knows this face very well, he sees it every day in the mirror.
“Why don’t you tell him?”
Trent startles out of his staring.
“Beg your pardon?”
Roy doesn’t deign answer that with a sentence, a pointed look will suffice. Trent’s face does something very complicated, several expressions flashing across it at the same time before being replaced by another myriad of unspoken feelings.
It settles on resignation. It looks oddly out of place there.
“I don’t plan on telling him.”
There’s finality in it. Trent goes to their shared office to retrieve his messenger bag as if there is nothing more to say. Really, there shouldn’t be. Roy doesn’t have to say anything to that, what he already said is more than he was planning on. It’s also very clear that Trent doesn’t want to continue this particular conversation.
They should go their separate ways and pretend this conversation never happened.
So why can’t Roy let it go?
“Let’s go for a pint,” he says.
Trent turns to look at him, his eyebrow rising in question.
“Not the Crown and Anchor,” he replies.
“Of course not, who the fuck do you take me for.”
There is a moment’s hesitation in which Roy thinks Trent will say no, and the decision whether to keep on drilling him about Ted will be made for him. But Trent surprises him once again.
“Let me call my father, tell him I’ll be late to pick up my daughter.”
.
They sit across each other in the booth of a small pub Roy has been going to since he was a teenager. No one cares that he’s Roy Kent here and the beer is good.
“Why are you being a knob about it?” Roy jumps straight at it. “Just tell him and put us out of our misery.”
He’s not used to see Trent look like this – defeated. For as long as he’s known him, Trent Crimm has been assured, always looking for weaknesses in others so that he could write about it. Then Roy got to know the man and not the journalist
To see him with his shoulders down and his eyes tired, it’s wrong.
“I don’t pretend that you can understand,” he says tiredly, “the unique kind of agony that is falling for a straight man.”
Roy’s mind flashes to Jamie Tartt for some bloody reason, and he hastens to bury the thought hard and deep.
“Why are you so sure he is,” Roy replies, so flat it isn’t even pretending to be a question.
He isn’t certain of it, but to him, it does look quite obvious that Ted isn’t straight. No one talks that much about rugby men’s tights without being interested in more than the sport.
“Even if he weren’t, I’d be the last person he would ever be interested in, or have you forgotten the article I wrote disclosing his panic attacks?”
Breathe, babe, you can’t forget to breathe, yeah? That’s what Keeley used to tell him, and he really is trying to breathe but Trent, with his sad, resigned eyes, isn’t making it easy. Once more, Roy wonders why he decided to step in.
Then he thinks about witnessing another bout of pathetic pining and shivers.
“Trent, I’ve never pegged you for a complete imbecile.”
“Why, thank you.”
Roy swears he can feel the white hairs growing upon his head.
“I can’t risk losing everything,” Trent continues. “I was aimless as a journalist, quitting was the best decision I’ve ever made, and being here? This is what I’ve been missing. I’m– well, I’m happy here. I’m writing about something I care about and believe in.”
“So you’re really not going to say anything?” he asks despite already knowing the answer.
“I’m not planning on confessing my misguided feelings to Ted only to be let down no. Though I suspect he would be unbearably kind about it.”
He would be so fucking nice about it. Roy can picture Ted’s big brown eyes shining with regret and apologies as he gently explains that sorry, he isn’t feeling the same way, but Trent is for sure a catch.
Not that Roy thinks that would be Ted’s reaction to a Trent Crimm confession of love.
Love. Because yes, of course Trent is in love with Ted. It’s not about fancying him for a quick shag or two. He’s thought it before but there really is no denying it now.
“Fucking hell,” Roy mutters.
“Cheers,” Trent replies and raises his glass. “I’ll drink to that.”
.
Talking to Trent solved nothing.
Roy could stop there, he tried, it didn’t work, and it’s not his fault if Trent is a pining no-brain two who refuses to see what’s right in front of him.
Still. He can’t exactly blame Trent for it.
He hadn’t thought about it before Trent mentioned falling for a straight man, but it’s true that, if those feelings weren’t reciprocated, Trent had more to lose than Ted did. It mustn’t have been easy being an out journalist, especially reporting on football.
Roy has caught glimpses of some of it, the unkind jokes, the sneering, the hateful looks.
Even then, Roy tried harder than he should have. In fact, he shouldn’t have tried at all and, hell, maybe Keeley is right and he’s got something of a soft heart beneath all his brooding and swearing.
Said heart pangs when he thinks of her still. Idly, he wonders how long it will take to stop missing her.
There is only himself to blame though, so he shoves the longing down, down with the thoughts of Jamie’s earnest smile and floppy hair, down where he can ignore it.
There is nothing to do about all that, but he can help the two pining idiots get over themselves.
It’s for his own peace of mind, nothing else.
.
Roy doesn’t like Ted’s flat much. It doesn’t feel like Ted at all, it’s empty and subdued and nowhere near as messy as it ought to be.
He knows Ted didn’t have a choice in the colour of the walls or the furniture, but it’s lacking in personal touches.
No matter what Roy’s feelings on it are, this is where he and Ted meet once a month to discuss club matters. At least, that’s what called Ted first called it. In reality, it’s just an excuse for Ted to have some one-on-one time with Roy and make sure that everything is going well with him at AFC Richmond.
Roy allows it because he knows that Ted blames himself for not seeing Nate’s growing resentment.
Also, Ted’s biscuits are very fucking good.
In truth, too, it’s nice. Ever since his break-up with Keeley, Roy has had more time on his time that he knows what to do with it. The early work-out sessions with Jamie have helped. They also make sure Roy is knocked out in bed by 8PM which is an added bonus.
Roy is drinking the tea he’s brought because he doesn’t trust Ted nowhere near a kettle, and Ted is enjoying a cup with so much sugar and milk it has no rights to be called coffee.
Ted’s rambling lulls, and a comfortable silence settles between the two coaches. Some would not think him capable of it, but Ted knows when to stop chattering and appreciate the quiet of a moment.
“I haven’t asked yet,” Ted says to break the silence, his tone gentle, “I think maybe because I’ve been dealing with stuff of my own – which, by the way, I’m finally addressing. But if you want to talk about Keeley with me, I’d listen.”
The urge to tell Ted to shut up, and to change the topic – maybe even straight-up leave. He doesn’t though.
Ted is his friend. Roy is never going to be one of those people who say often what they feel about the people in his life, but he isn’t emotionally stunted. He knows what they mean to him, even if it’s hard to admit it sometimes.
“There’s nothing to say. I broke up with her because I got scared.”
Ted’s eyes widen imperceptibly. It’s clear he wasn’t expecting Roy to open up quite so easily, but he’s quick to smooth his face into an open expression.
“Why were you scared then?” he asks. “It was obvious to anyone looking that you had a good thing going on with her.”
He really did. He loved her, still loves her, and yet he left her because it’s better than being left behind, and Roy has never known to enjoy something without thinking of how it’d end.
“I think because it was too good,” Roy confesses.
“It might not to be too late, you know. You really were a strong couple, and she’d listen to you if you explained the real reasons you broke things off with her. Maybe getting back together won’t be exactly like how you left things, but maybe that’s for the better, too.”
There’s something in the way that Ted says it.
Oh. He knows then, about this Jamie-and-Keeley thing.
“Huh.”
“You may have noticed,” Ted continues, “I haven’t been quite myself lately, or rather I have but not the myself I wanna be. I’ve just been lost in the parts of Ted Lasso that I don’t really like, you know? The parts I don’t like to think about. I think I got lost in it a bit, so much that I thought that was just who I was – but it ain’t. The dark parts are still there but they aren’t all of me, and I know it’s going to get better. I’m already getting better. All those dark thoughts I have, they don’t have the same power over me.”
Roy nods, pensive. He’s glad to hear Ted is doing better after these past few weeks in which he’d dragged this added shadow to his step.
They are men in sports and there’s this prevalent idea of not getting involved, not saying anything even if you see someone struggling. Let them pull themselves up, wait to see if they reach out. Roy thinks it’s all wrong.
Perhaps getting involved, offering insight even when it’s not asked for, is the way to go.
He wasn’t there to offer help when Ted was in the mist of a mental health crisis despite the warning signs. It’s possible he wouldn’t have known how to help then, but he can help him now, with this less tremendous thing.
“So what are you going to do?” Roy asks.
Ted’s eyebrows crease in slight confusion, “What about? The team or life in general?”
“About Trent.”
An expression of absolute bafflement falls upon Ted’s face. It battles with a mix of awe and worry also, a strange combination that should only work for a man as full of contradictions as Ted Lasso.
“What about Trent?” Ted aims for composed and fails miserably.
“You like him.”
“I mean, yes of course I like Trent Crimm, Independent! Who doesn’t? You like him, too, Waterloo, I’ve seen the two of you have several civil conversations. You’re not fooling me.”
Roy’s skin crawls. Having heart to heart isn’t his forte, but he’s started this and he will see it finished.
“Look, perhaps you’ve played for the same team your entire life and you never thought about playing for another team. Hell, I know I haven’t, but now I’m wondering and there’s no shame in that. Perhaps for you this isn’t the first time you’ve wondered, maybe you’ve even played that game before, I don’t fucking know.”
“No, I haven’t,” Ted confesses. “I’ve had moments where I thought– but no, I’ve never done anything about it.”
“Right, well. Maybe you weren’t ready or they weren’t the right team for you.” He pauses then swears. “Fuck, I can’t tell you what to do or feel, I’m just saying you should think about it.”
Ted’s eyes falls to his latte.
Silence stretches again between them, not as easy-going as it was earlier but not suffocating, not pressing. The both of them have some introspection to do.
Roy eats another biscuit, chewing with a bit more force than necessary.
“Sport,” Ted drawls. “What a metaphor.”
.
The week that follows their conversation, Roy finds Ted quieter than usual though lighter also.
Often now, Roy bears witness to Ted’s silent musing, gaze targeted on Trent who appears wary about this new development.
Trent in return shoots Roy suspicious glances that Roy simply ignores.
The ball is in their court.
.
It comes to no surprise that Roy, unwilling witness as he is, should be faced with its resolution.
It happens during lunch break. Most of the team is at the cafeteria, including Beard. Roy has finished his meal quickly because to review a few tactics before they are set off to start working again.
Of fucking course, Ted and Trent are in the office, standing close and talking softly.
Roy is ready to turn around and make his exit, yet he’s stopped in his tracks.
Something is happening there.
He could go and leave them to it, but there’s also a part of him that wants to make sure they aren’t being idiots again. So, silent and unnoticed, he walks closer to listen in.
“So there you have it,” Ted is saying. “I think I’ve liked you for a long time but I was too blind to see it. You know what they say about having it right in front of you. But I want to make clear that I don’t expect anything from you, alright? I’m just telling you because I believe in honesty, honesty with yourself and with the people that matter to you. I’ve promised myself I wouldn’t ever keep to myself how I value others.”
“Ted,” Trent sighs and he sounds oh so very besotted. “I’m afraid you’re still blind. I’ve destroyed my decade-long journalism career because it forced me into a position to hurt you. I’m here at Richmond not to write about the club, but to write about you. Ted. Of course I have feelings for you. Don’t be daft.”
Roy can see enough into the room to see the beaming smile of one Ted Lasso and the adoring shine of one Trent Crimm’s eyes.
He’s seen enough, more than enough in fact.
But now, at least, his nightmare has ended, and he won’t have to suffer their pining and flirting any more.
Still quiet, Roy goes away before they can spot him.
As he makes his way back to the cafeteria, Roy ponders about the merits of being brave and facing one’s fears. It may be time to follow his own advice.
There’s this new recipe he wanted to try and make – if he had some guests, it could be the excuse he needed to make it.
Roy arrives at Richmond AFC feeling lighter than he had in weeks. The team is still losing, but his training with Jamie is going great and he has no doubt the prick will outclass Zava soon enough.
More than that, Roy has reached out to Keeley and together and with Jamie too, they are heading somewhere with this something between them. It’s tentative, uncertain, but it’s hopeful.
There’s something to be said about trying, about staying and enjoying it while it lasts because perhaps, if they’re lucky, this thing will last for a long time.
.
.
Roy walks into the coaches’ office lost in thoughts.
His musing is soon crushed though as he finds himself staring in horror at Ted tucking Trent’s hair behind his ear, the both of them gazing openly and lovingly at each other.
No.
No.
This was supposed to get better. They were supposed to stop with the lovey-dovey shit.
Oh, fuck.
By helping them get together, Roy has made it worse – out with the pining, and in with the blatant adoration.
“Fucking hell you two,” Roy swears, already turning around. “Get a room.”
“We are in a room,” Trent points you, “you walked in there.”
Roy doesn’t answer, but he does give them the middle finger.
Good thing that he has his back turned to them, he couldn’t let them know that he’s fighting a smile.
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