Work Text:
Rebecca took a bite of a biscuit and let out a borderline pornographic moan that was covered by a hearty yawn from Ted.
“Late night?” She asked, wiping crumbs off of her skirt.
He looked at her from across the couch and rubbed his eyes. “Sorry about that. ‘Bring It On’ was on ITV last night and that movie just sucks you right on in. You ever seen it?”
“That’s the one with the cheerleaders?”
“That’s the one.”
“Do you really have those in America?”
His eyes went comically wide. “Cheerleaders? Oh, yeah. Intimidating bunch.”
“Yeah?”
“Oh, boy. Yep. I’m getting flashbacks.”
“They couldn’t have been that scary! Although American movies definitely beg to differ.” Picking up her teacup, she had a thought before she could bring the cup to her lips. “But you coached American football, didn’t you play on the team in school?”
“No, I never had any interest in trying out. I watched every game though, gave a few tips here and there. They’d get so excited if my advice helped them win, I guess that’s when the coaching bug bit. There’s nothing like making a difference.”
“I can’t actually imagine what you were like in school. It’s hard to picture you sans moustache.” Studying his face intently, she thought about how much she rather loved his moustache. Thoughts of how it would feel against her skin briefly crossed her mind but she promptly shook those images away.
“Then I’m gonna have to dig out some old photos for our next biscuits with the boss morning!” A flash of excitement crossed her features. “Y’all don’t have cheerleaders here?”
“God, no.”
“No?! Those long legs kicking around in a cheerleader’s outfit?” He let out a dramatic whistle and pointed at her. “That might’ve been for the best, you would’ve had every football player distracted. Probably would’ve started accidentally scoring for the other team.”
“Please.” She laughed but was secretly grateful for the compliment, especially since it came from Ted.
“So, come on. What were you getting up to in high school? Which was your clique?” He rested his chin on his hand as he leaned forward, intent on listening.
“Honestly we don’t really have the whole clique thing in England. I pretty much just got along with everyone. But Sassy and I were joint at the hip, we got up to some antics.” A wistful smile crossed her face as she reminisced and he took great joy in seeing that look in her eye. It was as though her entire face lit up.
His interest was well and truly peaked. “Tell me something funny y’all got up to.”
“Jesus, where to start? I remember one time in year 11…” She noticed the confused look on his face and clarified “That’s when you’re like 15/16. Sass had the ingenious idea to put vodka in a water bottle so we could drink in our maths lesson. By the end of the day, we were practically crawling back home.”
Her laugh filled the room as tears welled up in her eyes and she doubled over, tightly holding her side.
It was contagious and soon enough, Ted started to cackle too. “Rebecca Welton!”
“I love her but Sassy really was a complex influence on me. But I wouldn’t change it for the world. She helped me with my first everything, I literally grew up with her.”
“Well, you’ve certainly grown into an incredible woman so she must’ve done something right.” His voice was so genuine and she knew he truly meant it.
“What about you? It’s your turn to entertain me.”
“What do ya wanna know?”
Taking a risk, she asked “When was your first kiss?”
Before he answered, he smiled thoughtfully. “I haven’t thought about that in a long time. I was 18, at prom actually. I didn’t really date in high school so I never asked a girl to prom, I mainly helped my buddies plan elaborate ways to ask out their dates.” She listened intently. “That night, there was this girl called Caitlin Gold and she was real beautiful. We never really spoke to each other much before but I made some stupid joke at the punch bowl that she liked enough to take me outside.”
“Outside?! Naughty…” Rebecca wiggled her eyebrows at him over her cup of tea.
He almost snorted. “It was just a kiss! But it was great. We were leaning against this brick wall and there were gold hanging lights above us…it was real special.”
“It sounds like it. What about after that night? You didn’t see each other again?”
He smiled contentedly. “I don’t think either of us wanted to, you know? We both knew it was nearing the end of the school year and we’d be off to college, it was just a wonderful, isolated moment.”
They sat in a comfortable silence until he spoke. “Do you mind if I ask when your first kiss was?”
“Mm, it was beautiful…dinosaurs were still roaming the earth.”
They both let out a throaty laugh in harmony with one another. “Enough of that, we’re literally the same age!”
“No, I was 15 and his name was Joseph Fletcher. We were at a house party and, surprise surprise, Sassy encouraged us to go into the empty living room together. We snogged on the couch in complete darkness for at least 20 minutes. I remember being scared to look my mother in the eye the next morning because I thought she would know he had put his hand up my shirt.”
“And did she know?” He asked curiously.
“That woman has a sixth fucking sense! She knew immediately that I had been up to something.”
“Was it a good experience though?”
“It was, yes.” It was nice that Ted always seemed to make her recall memories that she otherwise didn’t give much thought to. “Although gold lights overhead would’ve made it a touch better.”
“This is my favourite part of my day, you know? Peeling away parts of that Rebecca onion.”
For a second, she considered keeping it to herself, hating the thought of admitting defeat, but she decided to go for it. “I actually have to admit this has also become the high point of my day too…”
“I knew it! I just knew I would win you over! Hey, does this sound familiar…’Ted, I cannot have you waltzing in here whenever you wish!’” He impersonated her with a fairly impressive English accent.
Silence. “Was that supposed to be an impression of me?”
“You got it straight away! Pretty spot on, huh?” He was grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
She put her pointed index finger above her lip and began to speak. “Howdy, ya’ll, my name is Ted Lasso. Let’s do as the man says and believe!” Her Southern drawl was in full effect and she couldn’t get through her sentence with a straight face.
“See, you said my name there which kind of ruins the guessing aspect.” He retorted.
“Okay then, who’s this?” She scowled and let out a low growl.
“Would that be one Mr Roy Kent?”
“Bingo. Now we’re even.”
They smiled at each other as a somewhat unexplainable atmosphere filled the room. Neither commented on it but both felt it. Subconsciously, he shuffled closer to her while her eyes were fixated on his hands.
“Can I…ask you something rather personal?”
“You can ask me anything. No secrets between us, right?” He maintained intense eye contact with her as she felt her words catch in her throat.
“We’ve covered first kisses, what about your first time?”
“Ah, also 18. First year of college. One night stands have never really been my strong suit, it feels almost empty without that connection. But that’s what it was. It sounds trivial but everyone had done it and I hadn’t, I felt like I should just get it over with.”
She nodded with understanding. “I mean, that’s not a completely awful game plan.”
“Was that a coaching pun?”
“Unintentional, sorry.” She giggled.
“May I ask?” He didn’t need to finish his sentence for her to know what he was referring to.
“16 at another party. I was everyone’s favourite person to invite to those things.” She quipped. “I think I had a similar mindset. I figured if my first time wasn’t anything special, I wouldn’t have anything grand to compare others to…” Her voice trailed off slightly. “It was a memorable Halloween night though. I woke up to clown paint smeared on my thighs.”
His face went pale and his smile dropped.
“Christ, too far?!” She was suddenly very aware that they were still at work, in her office, where she was his boss.
When he got his hitched breath back, he leaped into reassurance mode. “No, no, it’s just…my first time was Halloween too.”
Her face mirrored his. “Fucking hell! Talk about spooky.”
“Another pun?”
She rolled her eyes, she hadn’t even noticed that one. “You must be rubbing off on me.”
“Kinda like that clown paint.”
“Ted!” They burst into yet another fit of laughter and it was Rebecca’s turn to inch closer to him.