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1.
Spotting Colin making out with his friend was a surprise, but not really shocking to Trent. Statistically, there was at least one gay man in that locker room, and Colin was young enough to think he was doing a great job of fooling people. And his other, equally young teammates, did seem to be fooled. But Trent was much older, had seen this kind of thing many, many times before, had even been involved in this kind of thing before, so Colin was not particularly shocking.
Roy Kent though. That was a little more shocking to Trent’s equilibrium. His personal life had been tabloid fodder for decades now—models, actresses, actress-models, all of them very fit, all of them very happy to sell their stories about Roy for a few quid. There had never been a whisper, a hint, a single rumor anywhere, that his tastes might be broader than the general public were aware. But even more stunning than finding Roy with a man was the man Trent found him with.
There had never been any secret that the Captain of Richmond and the star player of Richmond hated each other. For one thing, the stories coming out of the locker room were always full of politics and tensions, especially in the things the lads chose not to talk about. There was also the match when they got a yellow card for fighting each other on the pitch. Trent didn’t sense any tension between them now, though. In fact, that sixth journalist sense he prided himself on did not tingle at all. So when he rounded the corner early one morning and saw Roy and Jamie standing together, he simply stopped short.
They weren’t doing anything, technically. Just talking. But Jamie had his back against the wall, and Roy was standing with his arm propped against the wall above Jamie’s head. His fingertips were just above Jamie’s hair, like maybe he was about to start playing with a few strands. They weren’t touching, but they had less than a book’s width of space between them. Jamie was smiling—not so unusual—but Roy was smiling, too. Like, actually smiling. It wasn’t a snarl or a baring of teeth. It was a smile that lifted the corners of his mouth and crinkled his eyes.
Trent must have made some sort of noise, because they both turned their heads at the same time. Roy’s smile was instantly wiped from his face, his eyes hard as stone. Jamie’s lips quirked as he tried, and failed, to hide his amusement. Neither one of them moved. They didn’t push away from each other like two clandestine lovers caught do something they shouldn’t be. Jamie remained perfectly at ease, and Roy never needed words to communicate. The expression on his face was clear enough—say something and I’ll murder you.
Trent pivoted on his heel and went back the way he came. He didn’t have any reason to be in his office so early anyway.
2
Beard did not ever, under any circumstances, offer an unsolicited opinion about other people’s relationships. For one thing, his own track record showed him to be no expert. For another thing, he didn’t want to invite commentary back about his relationship with Jane, which he knew was unconventional and even bizarre to outside viewers. And finally, stuff that wasn’t any of his business wasn’t any of his business. He had too many things that were his business to worry about. But sometimes, occasionally, he wondered if he should say something to Roy.
But what could he say? Hey, I saw that you brought Jamie lunch the other day? Or I noticed you and Jamie arrived at the clubhouse this morning together. Or isn’t that Jamie’s shirt? Even if all of those things were technically true, what of it? It wasn’t illegal to bring lunch for somebody—Ted brought Beard homemade lunches literally all the time. And it wasn’t unusual to arrive to work with somebody—he and Ted walked to work together every morning. And there were a lot of black t-shirts in the world, every single one looking much like the other. But he never found himself accidentally wearing one of Ted’s shirts, or even accidentally wearing one of Jane’s to work.
Regardless, none of it was any of his business because whatever was going on had no impact on the team. Nobody seemed upset that maybe Jamie was eating a home-made lunch instead of something from the cafeteria. When they arrived together, they were always on time. And maybe that wasn’t Jamie’s designer black t-shirt that Beard was certain he’d seen Jamie wearing just the week before.
All of that could be ignored. What could not be ignored was the way Roy watched Jamie when he wasn’t aware anybody was watching him watch Jamie. The solid-stone resting Roy-Kent-Bitch-Face disappeared. His eyes softened. His mouth almost looked like it was capable of a smile. Once he did smile. Jamie wasn’t even doing anything amusing. Just horsing around with Isaac and Dani in the locker room like usual.
Beard found it all very unnerving. He listened to everything that was happening in the clubhouse when people thought he was totally engrossed in reading, and he never heard anything unusual said. When Roy and Jamie did talk, it was about the usual stuff. Jamie called him “Coach.” It was the other stuff that Beard heard that left him questioning. For example, Roy didn’t shout at Jamie anymore. At all. About anything. He just didn’t do it. Sometimes instead of issuing an order to Jamie, he delivered his request like a question. Like, Jamie could think it over and do it if he wanted to? Jamie always, always did exactly what Roy told him, but Beard had the very real sense it was because that’s what Jamie wanted to do, not because he felt compelled in any way.
Beard considered mentioning it to Ted, but Ted spent so much time in his own little Ted World that Beard didn’t think it would be a productive conversation. He almost brought it up to Trent, just out of curiosity, but some sense of self preservation stopped him from gossiping about Roy Kent to the man who shared an office with him.
Still, he would swear until his dying day that was Jamie’s shirt.
Jamie was having an affair with somebody in the clubhouse. Sam wasn’t sure who, but he recognized the signs after his own clandestine and failed relationship with Rebecca. He was sure that it wasn’t another player, and pretty sure that it was neither Beard nor Coach Lasso. Sam watched to see how he interacted with the staff in the building, and he was always polite when somebody greeted him, but other than that, there were no signs that anybody in administration was of interest to him. Will certainly had his eye on him a lot, but Jamie was appropriately friendly with him. In Sam’s estimate, that left only one person. Roy.
At first, that seemed strange, but then Sam realized it made a lot of sense. Sam felt like they hated each other so much when Roy was captain because they were too much alike underneath their defense mechanisms. Roy used his anger to keep people away from him, and Jamie was a massive jerk, but they both got the same result—nobody was allowed to be close to them. Which Sam found very sad. It seemed they must have led very lonely lives, even when they were surrounded by people. Well, mostly Sam was sad for Roy. Not for Jamie.
Now Jamie was one of his closest friends, and it was easy for Sam to spot that something was going on. It was known that he and Roy met for extra training in the morning, but Sam believe they were actually training, if only because he saw the difference in Jamie on the pitch. But he was sure there was something else there. For one thing, Jamie’s eyes always clocked Roy; in the locker room, on the training field, on the pitch. The only time Roy didn’t have his full attention was when they were in the middle of the match, and even then, Jamie was the first to respond to signals.
Sam’s suspicions were confirmed when he came in early one day to talk to Coach Lasso about the schedule for the next month. Ted and Beard weren’t in yet, but the light was on in Roy’s office. Sam thought Roy would probably have the calendar, but as he approached the offices, he saw that Roy was not alone. Jamie was sitting on his desk and Roy was in his chair, his hand on Jamie’s upper thigh, his fingertips far too close to the groin to be a friendly touch. Jamie smiled and batted his hand away—though not with very much force—and Roy responded by adjusting his grip, his fingers definitely beyond the line of friendship.
That would have been more than enough to send Sam away, but then Jamie tilted his head and kissed Roy right on the mouth. And it was sweet. So sweet that it made Sam’s heart wrench in his chest, a thousand memories of Rebecca flooding through him. It made Sam happy and sad all at once. He wanted Jamie to be happy, and if Roy made him happy, that was fine with him. But at the same time, he feared for Jamie, how he was in the same vulnerable position that Sam had been in the year before. Loving somebody who he shouldn’t be loving. Somebody who could push him away. Somebody Jamie could not actually escape from if he found himself heartbroken because he would see Roy every single day.
Sam backed out of the locker room, went around the hallway, knocked on Roy’s door. When Roy shouted to come in, Jamie was still there, but he was on the other side of the room in Trent’s chair. Sam made eye contact with him, tried to give him a look of reassurance, then told Roy he needed the schedule so he could coordinate deliveries with his vendors.
4.
Will was tired of Roy and Jamie fucking in his kit room.
First, he had to be super careful about not walking in on them because he was pretty sure they thought they were being super careful about not being caught. He was afraid of Roy and in awe of Jamie, and didn’t want either one of them upset with him. So instead of merrily going about his business, he always had to stop at the door and doublecheck to make sure there were no signs that the room was already occupied.
Second, he did walk in on them once and it left him feeling super confused. He genuinely loved his girlfriend and mourned the relationship when she left. He’d never looked at anybody else, not another woman and certainly not any men. Jamie was holding Roy’s head and kissing him with passion Will had never seen or experienced before. Fortunately, they were too wrapped up in each other to notice Will and he was able to get the hell out of there, but no matter where he went, he could not escape the memory. What would it be like if Jamie kissed him like that? Would it be wonderful? Because it looked like it would be wonderful.
Third, they always left the room a mess and just made more work for him. He had to rewash, dry, and fold all the kits that were on the floor. Sometimes his stand for dirty boots was knocked over, leaving grass and dirt all over the place. Sometimes he needed to do a load of wash and he couldn’t even get to the machine, so he had to busy himself elsewhere, and he was afraid he’d get caught pretending to be busy one day, and then he’d have to choose between getting in trouble and telling on Roy and Jamie.
But Roy didn’t yell at everybody quite so much. He seemed a lot less angry in general. More relaxed, really. Jamie was more friendly. Asking after Will, sometimes. Like, maybe he felt guilty for what he was doing to the kit room. Something about having Jamie’s smile directed at him made him feel sick and dizzy and happy. It almost, almost, seemed like a fair trade.
5.
“I just don’t know how to tell, Roy, you know. Like I know he ended it, but it’s never a good feeling when your ex starts dating somebody else.” Keeley accepted the biscuit Rebecca offered as consolation. “Oi, Ted’s getting really good at these.”
“I don’t think you’ll need to worry about Roy,” Higgins said before taking a sip of tea.
“What? Why not?”
“Yes, Leslie. Why not?”
Higgins’s eyes widened. “Oh, you know, just because he’s Roy Kent, right? Nobody’s as tough as him.”
“Leslie.” Rebecca said his name in the reproving tone that Higgins couldn’t help but respond to.
“Word is that he might…possibly…maybe…could be…seeing…somebody now.”
Keeley blinked. “What word? Who is he seeing?”
“You mean, somebody here in the club?” Rebecca asked.
“I really don’t know anything about it. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“But you did say something, so spill it,” Rebecca ordered.
“Well, the scuttlebutt is…Jamie.”
“Jamie. Jamie Tartt? That Jamie?”
Higgins nodded miserably, clearly wishing he could extricate himself from the conversation.
“How could he be seeing Jamie?”
“That’s just the rumor. You know how rumors are. Usually they mean nothing.”
“But where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Keeley said. “Well, that does solve my problem, doesn’t it? Maybe we can skip right over any bad feelings and move on to being bisexual best friends. You know, BBFs.”
Higgins smiled encouragingly. “Hey, yeah. But also, you know, when you discuss being BBFs, please don’t mention my name.”
Keeley patted his arm comfortingly. “Of course not. I’ll just tell him Jamie told me.”
“Won’t that make things awkward for Jamie since he didn’t tell you?” Rebecca asked.
“How you mean? Awkward with Roy? Nah. If they’re fucking, then Jamie probably knows all the ways to calm Roy right down.”
+1
“You staying late, Coach?” Ted asked from the doorway.
“No, just wrapping up right now.”
“Got any big plans for your weekend off?”
“No.”
“What about Jamie?”
“What about him?”
“You gonna be training him?”
“Might do a little tomorrow.”
“Okay, well, have a good night. Oh, and Coach?”
“Yeah?”
“There are cameras, like, all over the place. Just thought I’d mention it. Alright, well, you take care now.”