Chapter Text
Will’s been watching the team debate back and forth about whether or not to keep or delete explicit photos and not really taking any of it in. The minute they were brought up, after his initial fury at the violation of someone having their photos stolen, his mind had drifted.
He has photos on his phone.
From Amsterdam.
Some are fine! Photos of the match. A photo of Will holding two water bottles with a goofy look on his face - Cockburn stole Will’s phone to take it after the match. Some photos from the jazz club Higgins took him to.
And then… those photos. They’re good ones - the guy who took them is a professional photographer, apparently. The guy who took them was also one of the two people Will slept with that night. At the same time.
Will’s known he was bi since he was eleven and Aariz Singh smiled at him. The threesome bit of it, though, that was new. Incredible, really, but new. It’s been a while since he hooked up with anyone, much less a guy. His girlfriend of two years broke up with him just before this season started and he hasn’t had the time or energy to go out since then. Other than the times the team’s asked him to join them out, of course. But he isn’t about to be flirting with guys around them, and the girls tend to overlook him in favour of the whole actual football players.
(There’s also the fact that Will is maybe a little bit totally into Colin Hughes, one of said football players, which stops him from noticing other people when he goes out. But Will doesn’t really want to think about his hopeless crush on a straight guy, thank you very much.)
The revelation that Keeley was one of the people hacked has Isaac standing up and shouting at them all to delete any photos they’ve got immediately. It sends everyone into a frenzy, pulling out phones and worrying about how long it’s going to take.
Will pulls his own phone out. His night in Amsterdam was wonderful and the photos are great, but he doesn’t need them. Even if he’s less likely to be hacked than anyone else in the room, he figures it doesn’t hurt to delete the photos, anyway.
He really should have left the room to do it, he realises, because as he pulls the photos up, he feels eyes on him. Or, more specifically, on his screen. He slowly looks up, turning his head to meet Jamie’s eyes. He holds his gaze for a moment but Jamie doesn’t say anything so he looks away, hoping it’ll stay that way. Thankfully, he keeps quiet.
It’s not until he’s home that night that it really sinks in, what happened. There are several reasons why this is not good. The fact that Will’s dick was out in a couple of those, the fact that he’d just outed himself, and the fact that it was a professional footballer who’d seen. Jamie Tartt saw Will’s queer-as-hell threesome photos.
He supposes it’s probably better that, out of everyone, it was Jamie who saw. Will’s been getting bi vibes from him since they first met, but he isn’t sure if Jamie is aware of that yet. He might very well be dealing with some internalised homophobia, which does not bode well for Will. He could also just be straight, and if he’s straight and homophobic then Will really is screwed.
The next day is off so Will spends it doing some chores around his small flat. His roommate does some sort of office work - Will doesn’t actually know what it is and after living together for three years, he’s a little afraid to ask - so Will has the place to himself for most of the day. His mind manages to come up with some best-case scenarios. And some terrible worst-case scenarios.
He ends up calling his mum in the afternoon.
“What did he say?” she asks.
“Nothing,” Will flops down onto his bed, face down in the pillows for a few seconds before rolling onto his back. “He just left the room!”
“Then I don’t think there’s anything to worry about, darling.” He hears a clatter from somewhere in the background of his mum’s call. She’s at a job site at the moment, just taking a break from drywalling whatever building she’s in to talk to him.
“Dressing rooms are not a safe space, Mum,” he says.
“Mm, but this is Ted Lasso’s dressing room, is it not? Didn’t you say you only bothered to apply because you’d heard he’d helped with dressing room culture?”
Will flushes a bit, because yes, that’s true. But, “That doesn’t mean there might not be closet homophobes. I doubt it’s come up before, in any case, and I’ve heard the boys joke before.”
His mum laughs at him. “Did you just say ‘closet homophobes’?”
“Mum,” he groans. She laughs again.
“Alright, alright. What sorts of jokes, then?”
“Going gay for Zava?” His mum snorts, then dissolves into laughing at him again. Hysterically. She calms after a moment. “Sorry, I’m sorry. It’s maybe a bit problematic but it is rather funny.”
He can’t help it, he smiles a bit. “Yeah, alright,” he sighs. “There have been some others. The usual ‘that’s so gay’ or ‘acting a poof’.”
She hums. “We can help you find another job-”
“No,” Will says. He doesn’t fully understand why, but Richmond feels like exactly where he’s meant to be, at the moment. He supposes that might change within the next few days, but he’ll just have to wait and see. “No, it’s alright. Thank you, though.”
“Of course, darling,” she says.
“So,” Will finally sits back up. “How’s Mama?”
“Oh! Just wonderful!” his mum goes on to gush about his mama’s new sculpture, which Will has definitely already seen because he Facetimed his mama just a few days ago, but mum doesn’t need to know that.
He heads into work with no small amount of trepidation. He always arrives before the team - has to, to get the dressing room ready for them. Today, he folds and places towels on the bench at each of their cubbies and starts on today’s sports mix.
The coaches file in. Ted greets him enthusiastically, as he always does. Roy grunts, Beard nods.
The players are next. Nobody says anything or treats him any differently, which Will counts as a win. Jamie shows up when about half the team is already there and says hello as he always does.
There are no weird looks, no snide remarks. Nothing, all day. Like it didn’t even happen. Things carry on exactly as they always have. Will supposes he should be grateful, but honestly, he’s maybe a little disappointed. He’s gotten no reaction whatsoever, and it leaves him feeling a bit bereft.
He is left wondering if Jamie even saw anything, in the first place. Maybe the small surprised look on his face was at the fact that Will had anything to delete, to begin with.
The next day is much the same, but now that he’s not really worried about getting a negative reaction or about being outed to the entire team, he’s back to being far more aware of his surroundings than people might expect. Which means he notices Isaac acting cold toward Colin. He wonders what that could be about. They’re best friends, though, so he isn’t too worried. Nobody else seems to notice or get worried over it, either, so he lets it be.
It continues into the next day. Isaac completely ignores Colin on multiple occasions, even on the pitch. At one point, Colin is wide open and Isaac passes to Bumbercatch instead. Bumbercatch, who’d been completely surrounded. Will doesn’t know what to make of it. He feels like he might be the only one who’s noticed. He’s overheard several personal conversations, knows plenty of crises that the people of AFC Richmond have faced, but he doesn’t really interfere. Ever. It’s not his business, really, even if he maybe really likes knowing everyone’s business.
He lets it be.
The boys ask him to join them at Ola’s a week later, just for fun, and he agrees. Colin doesn’t show up, and Will is too distracted worrying about that - yes, he thinks it’s probably time to be worried - that he doesn’t see Jamie approaching him until the man is standing right beside him. They’re at a corner table, a bit off from where everyone else is. Will’d been speaking with Dani and Jan Maas but they’d both broken off to have other conversations a few minutes ago.
“Is it difficult?”
Will has no idea what Jamie is on about. “Sorry?”
“A threesome,” Jamie says like it’s obvious. Will chokes on nothing, glad he hadn’t had a sip of his vodka-cran right then.
“Wha- you’ve never-”
“No.”
“Oh.” They sit in awkward silence for a moment. Will is surprised, to be honest, but then he feels kind of bad for being surprised. “Um. I mean, it was… sex? I don’t really know what you’re asking me.”
“Difficult, like,” Jamie says. “Figuring it all out, and stuff. S’weird with one extra person, innit?”
“I- uh. Not really? It was great, honestly.” He winces. “Er. Fine. It was fine.”
“Doesn’t someone end up feelin’ left out?”
“I suppose if you don’t do it right. Or don’t communicate with each other? Then yes. But otherwise, no, nobody’s left out.” Will can’t believe he’s sat here discussing threesomes with Jamie Tartt. He can’t figure out why Jamie’d be asking in the first place.
“Communicate,” Jamie repeats to himself. “Alright.”
“So, you did see, then?”
“Hm?”
“The photos?”
“Ah. Yeh, good on ya. Didn’t think you had it in you, if I’m bein’ honest,” Jamie says, and then, just like that, he’s out of his seat and across the room, laughing about something or other with Dani and Sam. Will is left sitting there, bewildered and wondering if that conversation really happened.
The Colin and Isaac situation continues right up to the match against Brighton and Hove Albion. The day before the match is especially tense between the two and at this point, Will thinks maybe he should step in, since nobody else is going to. He’s fought with friends before. Knows what happens when things can’t be patched up. He doesn’t want that for Isaac and Colin, who’ve both been especially kind to him since he started working for Richmond.
And maybe it’s because of the way Colin looks so sad and pathetic every time it happens, but Will hasn’t even floated the idea that Colin could have done something that actually warranted the treatment he’s been getting from Isaac. It could also be that Will thinks Colin’s well fit, but that’s neither here nor there.
After Ms. Welton shouts at Roy and Isaac makes a joke about Richard’s hairy butt, Will watches Colin quietly slide out of the room. Now’s his chance, he realises, and slips out of the room to follow Colin, who seems to be walking to… Trent Crimm’s office. They both just watched Roy get summoned to Ms. Welton’s office, so unless Colin intends to wait for Roy to return - which means he’ll likely be met with an extra-grumpy Roy - he must be headed to speak with Trent. Odd.
Colin starts to shut the door but Will manages to get there quick enough, shouting, “Wait!” quiet enough that it will only draw his intended target’s attention. It does, Colin pausing with the door partially shut and poking his head out of the office.
“Will?”
“Sorry! Sorry,” Will stops in front of the door, but now that he’s here, he isn’t quite sure what to say. He tends to be better at listening than he is at speaking, though he does think he has his moments of expert advice, thank you very much. “I just wanted to see if you were… alright?”
“Ehm, I’m fine,” Colin says, confused.
“Yeah, yes. Sorry,” Will steps back and goes to turn around, but thinks better of it. “Actually, uh. I’ve noticed that things have been. Tense? Tense, with Isaac.” Colin’s face falls.
“Oh. Is it that obvious?” And Will wants to say, yes, yes it is. But also Trent is right there and Will forgot he was here to write a book and he’s wondering again if maybe he could have done this a different way.
“Only a little,” he says. Colin’s mouth isn’t even a line, it’s barely even there at this point. “Sorry. I just- It reminded me a lot of this friend I had? He stopped talking to me after he found out I was bisexual. So I know how it can feel?”
Colin looks alarmed. “What?”
Oh. Shit. Will didn’t mean to say that. Not all of it, at least. Oh fuck. He just outed himself to Colin Hughes. And Trent Crimm, who’s sitting in his desk chair with his eyebrows raised high. “Not that it’s the same thing for you!” Will rushes to say. “The bisexual bit. I mean, obviously! Just that I know how it feels to have a friend ignore you, and such.”
Colin stares at him for a moment and Will braces himself. For a punch? For Colin to shout a slur at him? For the door to be shut in his face?
“Come in,” Colin says, swinging the door wider. Stunned, Will listens, stepping inside. Colin closes the door behind him, then slides the door to Ted’s office shut, too.
“I’m gay,” Colin says to Will, whose mouth drops open in astonishment. He doesn’t get the chance to respond, too surprised by the confession, as Colin turns to Trent, “Isaac knows.” Will is surprised that Trent knows, but here they are. Maybe he should have put more stock into that rainbow mug Trent is always sipping out of.
“That Ted’s son is failing science?” Trent replies. “Scandal.” Will can’t help but snort at that. “How did he react?”
“Not good,” says Colin. Will’s heart drops. This is just like when Aaron Greene found out about Will. “He won’t talk to me.”
And listen, Will’s been worried about the guys finding him out, but he’s also been, like, at least 85% sure they’d be mostly fine with it. And anyone who wasn’t, he figured Isaac would set them straight. Now, he isn’t so sure, and it’s unpleasantly surprising.
But then Trent says, “Give him a minute. You shouldn’t have to, but some people need it,” and, huh. Will hadn’t ever thought about it that way. “Don’t forget, you’ve known you were gay for twenty years.”
“Much longer than that,” Colin says. “Once I was out my mum, I never looked back.” It’s one of the most absurd things Will has ever heard but he kind of vibes with it, in his core. “But I hear you. Thanks, Trent.” Colin turns back to Will. “Nobody else knows.”
“Oh. No, yes, I won’t tell anyone!” Will assures. “I understand completely! It’s nice to know I’m not the only one of us in the building. Whenever Keeley isn’t here, of course.”
Colin smiles properly for the first time that Will has seen in a while. Not the fake smiles he’s been sending the boys when they banter in the dressing room or when they celebrate on the pitch. It’s unfairly beautiful.
Colin pulls the door to Ted’s office open again, then heads for the exit of Trent’s. Will nods and follows behind as they walk down the hall. It’s deserted, so Will takes the opportunity to ask, “How’d Isaac find out, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“The day we all deleted the photos people’d sent us,” Colin starts, raising an eyebrow like he’s asking if Will remembers. Yes, Will nods, he knows that day well. “I left the room to do it in private, but Isaac thought I was avoiding doing it.” Will has a sense where this is going and it’s making him feel a little sick. “He ended up grabbing my phone. Saw photos of my boyfriend and I.”
“You have a boyfriend?” Will didn’t mean to latch onto that and he feels himself flush because of it. But Colin just smiles again, and it’s really adorable how fond he looks at the thought of his boyfriend.
“I do. Michael. I introduced him to the team at Ola’s a while ago. As my wingman.”
“Your wingman? Oh my god,” Will laughs a little, even if it stings that for a moment he thought maybe he had a chance, now that he knows Colin likes men. He also kind of wishes he’d been there to meet this ‘wingman.’ “I’m sorry about Isaac, though.”
Colin hums. “Yeah. Well.” He doesn’t say anything more. They’ve stopped at the end of the hall.
“You know, something similar happened to me that same day,” Will decides to say.
“What?”
“Jamie saw my phone,” Will says. “Photos of this threesome I had in Amsterdam. Me and this lovely girl. And her boyfriend.”
“Did he do anything? Say anything? I’ll-”
“Woah! Colin! He was perfectly cool about it. If a little weird. But not in a bad way he just asked if having a threesome was difficult, which is odd, I think.” Will thinks it’s sweet that Colin would jump to his defence so quickly, but it’s also a tad bit sad, considering Colin hasn’t jumped to his own defence with Isaac. It’s different, though, when you’re such close friends.
“Huh,” Colin says. “Wait. You had a threesome in Amsterdam?”
Will laughs.
Things go assfuck sideways the very next day, during the game. Throughout the whole first half, Isaac is pissed as all hell. He yells at Colin at one point, and it’s uncharacteristic enough that even the coaches seem surprised.
Will… Will wants to be there for Colin, he does, but he doesn’t think he can sit and watch another friendship fall apart because one person loves in a way the other can’t understand.
So, he leaves. Heads to the boot room early and starts cleaning boots that don’t need cleaning.
A few minutes into the break, Isaac, of all people, storms into the boot room. Will is so surprised that he just stays quiet. Isaac looks distressed. Roy joins them a few seconds later and Isaac yells to leave him be.
From what Will can understand, based on the conversation he’s currently witnessing, Isaac got angry (angrier?) about something out there, and probably did something stupid. But Roy has picked up on the fact that whatever he’s actually angry about isn’t whatever he expressed anger toward.
And well, Will can’t help but add his own thoughts, because he’s maybe starting to think that Isaac isn’t angry about Colin being gay. That the reason he’s being so distant isn’t related to the being gay part and more to the how he found out part. It makes a lot more sense based on Isaac’s personality and his friendship with Colin, and it’s a much better thought than the alternative.
And he maybe wants to help Colin out a bit, because it’s been painful seeing how down he’s been recently. So Will, as nonchalantly as possible, spews some shit about snowflakes and avalanches, ripped right from his mama’s advice to Will himself. He hopes his advice, paired with Roy’s, is enough to get Isaac talking to Colin again.
He goes out to watch the rest of the match. Colin is incredible.
“What happened?” Will asks Trent, who’s sitting right beside him.
“A supposed supporter said the F-word after the first half ended.”
“Fuck?” Trent gives him an unimpressed look. “Ah.”
“Isaac went into the stands and attacked him,” Trent continues. Will gasps. He what? It’s good to confirm what he’d guessed earlier, that whatever Isaac is upset about, it isn’t the gay bit. “He got a red card for it, and it was very stupid of him.” Will can hear the rest without Trent having to say it; Trent supports why he did it wholeheartedly.
The crowd goes fucking wild and Will realises he’s missed a goal, which, according to the people around them, Colin assisted. Will can’t help the pleased smile that spreads on his face, even if he can feel Trent looking at him contemplatively.
“Colin came out to the team,” Trent says, and Will whips his head back to look at Trent so quickly that it hurts. “They took it well.”
“Really?” There’s hope in his voice, he knows. Trent hums, nodding, and turns back to the game. There’s nothing left for Will to do but the same, and he’s glad he did, because Colin ends up assisting Richmond’s second goal, and Richmond wins the match!
Jamie corners Will in the parking lot later that night. “Di’you hear what happened?”
“Trent filled me in.”
“Everything?”
“If you’re asking whether or not I know Colin’s gay, the answer is yes. Trent didn’t out him, though. Colin told me yesterday, and apparently Trent’s known for months.”
“Ah,” Jamie says. Then, “Huh.”
“Is that all?”
“Er- no. How’d you know?”
“What, that I’m bi? I realised I liked boys in the same way everyone told me I was meant to like girls. It was easier for me, I think, because I’ve got two mums, so it was more normal for me, even if everyone in school didn’t think so.”
“Oh. Hm,” Jamie still looks confused.
“Why? Do you-” Will contemplates how to ask this. “I mean, is there someone you like?”
“I think I’m bisexual,” Jamie blurts in lieu of an actual response. And, well, with that confirmation, a lot of things are coming back to Will and a lot of things seem different in this new light.
“Roy?” he doesn’t mean to actually say it, but from the look on Jamie’s face, he’s right, anyway. “It’s okay, you know. I know it can be difficult to talk about, and it must be ten times worse for a professional athlete. Thank you for trusting me with this.”
It seems to appease Jamie, who sighs. “I hate him so fucking much,” he runs his hands down his face in defeat. “This is so fucking annoying. The worst bit is I’m pretty sure I’m still in love with Keeley, too.” He says her name like Keeleh.
“Oh my god, is that why you were asking about my threesome?” Will’s mouth drops open because holy shit, that must be why. Unbelievable. “I’m pretty sure threesomes and poly relationships aren’t quite the same thing, Jamie.”
“I know, I looked it up,” Jamie tells him. Huh, surprisingly mature of him. “Doesn’t matter, anyhow. Roy’s straight. An’ he hates me.”
“He’s training you. Privately,” Will points out. “And you can’t really know exactly how someone labels their sexuality - if they do at all - unless they decide to tell you. You didn’t know Colin was gay until today.”
“Right,” Jamie throws one arm around Will, tugging him close. “Thank you, William,” he says cheerfully. “Night.” He lets go, walks to his car, and drives away. Will stands alone in the empty parking lot for a few minutes more, bewildered.