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Ted had made his move over to Richmond effortless and welcoming, not that he had expected any different. He knows the only reason he was allowed the behind-the-scenes access for his book was because Ted had allowed it. If it had been up to Rebecca and Keeley it would have been a straight up no.
Ted had helped sort out the issue he’s been having with Roy, he bought him baked treats regularly, they went out for dinner all the time and talked for hours, it was honestly the most comfortable and happy he had felt him a long time. Ted even took the time to go around and introduce Trent to every person who worked at AFC Richmond, it had been a little overwhelming but sweet and it was clear that Ted’s good word had gone a long way in everyone accepting him.
Six weeks in and he was so glad that he’d decided to make the plunge, the book was coming along, and it was the most excited he’d been about a project in years.
So excited that he couldn’t help gushing about it to his date, a man by the name of Jason, who worked in finance of some sort. They had been out for a nice dinner and were now sitting at The Crown and Anchor enjoying a pint.
Trent was just trying to decide if he wanted to invite the man back to his place afterwards when a familiar moustached man walked into the pub. Without thinking Trent called out a greeting, causing both Jason and Ted to spin around.
Ted stared at them for a moment before smiling and making his way over.
“Well, howdy Trent” Ted said with a big smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. Trent furrowed his eyebrows in concern, had something happened?
“Hello, Ted” Trent said warmly. “What are you up to?”
“Oh, you know, just grabbing some dinner before heading home. It’s been a big day.”
Trent nodded in understanding; they had been working hard all day on some new plays for the team to try out. “Understandable.”
A throat clearing had Trent swinging back to Jason, who he had forgotten was even there for a moment.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he apologised. “This is Ted Lasso; we work together at AFC Richmond. Ted, this is Jason.”
“His date” Jason interrupted, reaching forward to shake Ted’s hand vigorously.
Ted glanced between the pair, “your date?” Ted asked, his voice a little more subdued than usual.
“Yes” Trent said, “I was just telling him about my time at AFC Richmond.”
Trent’s journalism senses were tingling, but he tried to push them aside for the moment as he watched Ted carefully. The man knew he was gay so there shouldn’t be any surprise to see him out on a date with a man, but still you never knew sometimes.
Ted’s face seemed to light up, though Trent still thought it looked a little forced, perhaps something had happened at training today.
“Well, that’s wonderful” Ted said jovially. “I’ll stop interrupting then, no doubt you have better things to be getting on with than hearing me yammer on.”
With a nod of his head at both Trent and Jason, Ted turned around and walked right out of the pub, obviously forgetting that he had been about to order dinner.
“Nice chap” Jason said, eyeing the door Ted had disappeared out of.
“He is” Trent agreed whole heartedly.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++
When Trent turned up to work the next day Ted was as jovial in his greeting as always, even handing him a yellow iced cupcake before placing one on Roy’s desk as well.
Beard gave him a hard look that Trent couldn’t interpret before standing and walking out of the room. He looked at Ted for clarification, which is quite often needed when dealing with Beard, but Ted had already turned away and was reading over something on his desk.
Trent turned away himself, ignoring the twinge in his chest that told him something was not quite right. The feeling didn’t let up the rest of the day, but he couldn’t quite work out what was wrong.
The rest of the week carried on in the same way, Beard continued to give him the cold shoulder, which wasn’t saying much. He supposed he was seeing a bit less of Ted than usual but that figures, he’s a busy man and even though he made him feel welcome it couldn’t continue forever.
He caught Ted the following week, “dinner?” he asked looking forward to another one of their long and interesting chats.
Ted looked apologetic, “I’m sorry, I can’t tonight. Another time though.”
Trent just nodded in surprise for a moment, he didn’t think Ted had ever turned him down before. Ted was gone before he could formulate a proper response and he wandered into his office and sat in his chair with a thoughtful thunk, something was not right and he was going to get to the bottom of it.
The problem was he wasn’t sure where to turn to get answers. He knew Beard would know what was going on, same with Keeley and Rebecca as well, but he knew none of them would help him out.
But he did know someone who might.
He knocked on Higgins’ door a few minutes later
“Ah Trent, wonderful to see you, come in come in.”
Trent smiled at the warm greeting and did just what was suggested and went in. He settled in the chair opposite Leslie, and both sat in silence for a moment, Trent trying to work out what to say and Leslie looking at him expectantly.
“Is there something going on with Ted?”
Leslie’s face immediately shuttered. “Something going on with Ted?” Leslie asked but Trent could tell the confusion was feigned.
“Yes.” Trent said bluntly.
“Well, I’d say there’s a lot of things going on with Ted just like there’s a lot of things going on with all of us” Trent had to fight back a smile at the dodge but at the same time his stomach sunk, so there was something going on with Ted.
“Is there anything specific that I should know about that’s going on with Ted?”
Higgins hesitated, opened his mouth and then closed it.
“There is something going on, but its not really my place to say.”
Trent sighed, he figured as much and respected Leslie for his loyalty.
“I understand” Trent said glumly.
“Look, just talk to Ted. There was a… misunderstanding and not just from Ted, you should clear the air.”
Trent nodded, it was good advice.
He left Leslie’s office and gathered his courage and went in search of Ted, whatever was going on, at least now he knew something was going on, he wanted to get to the bottom of it. Ted had come to mean a lot to him since they met, and he hated the idea of there being a problem between them. One that he isn’t even aware of.
When he finally found Ted, he was out on the pitch running training, which obviously wasn’t a great time, so he decided to wait till the end of the day and catch him as he’s leaving.
All went well and he waited outside the door to the parking lot, calling out “Ted” as the other man walked past.
“Well, howdy Trent” Ted said looking noticeably surprised and a little confused. “I thought you went home earlier.”
“No, just came out here for some fresh air, and to wait for you.”
Ted scratched his head, “for me?”
“Yes” Trent said decidedly, “I was hoping we could talk.”
Ted hesitated for just a moment, “well of course we can, what’s going on?”
Trent swallowed nervously, “correct me if I’m wrong, it just seems that something has been off with you lately and I wanted to check and make sure everything was alright?”
Ted’s cheeks flushed pink and Trent’s brain was whirring, why was the other man embarrassed?
“That’s mighty kind of you to check on me, but yes everything is ok.”
Trent didn’t respond, letting Ted fill the silence like he knew he would.
“There was just a misunderstanding, and it had me feeling mighty foolish and not a little embarrassed. I’ll be ok, just need to work through it.”
Trent nodded slowly, “do you want to talk about it?”
“I’d rather not but thank you for asking.”
Trent was feeling frustrated with the lack of explanation but tried not to show it. They both began to walk towards the parking lot, both in silent contemplation and Trent was beginning to think the mystery would never be solved when the door opened again and out walked Leslie. He immediately spotted Trent and Ted and made a bee line for them.
“I’m so glad you two have spoken and sorted everything out!” Leslie said with a big grin. “Even though dating didn’t work out for you, you are clearly too great at being friends to just let that go.”
Trent felt his brain white out and static fill his ears as he stared uncomprehendingly at Leslie. He chanced a glance at Ted and found the man looking at the ground, cheeks red.
A clap on the back from Leslie as he walks off to his car, snaps him back to reality and he stares incredulously at Ted.
“Dating!?” he chokes out.
Ted won’t meet his eye, “I’m sorry I’ve been acting strange, this whole situation has me all torn up and I thought a bit of space would be best.”
“Dating?” Trent gasps again. “Who was dating?”
Now Ted looks confused, “ah, we were.”
“No, we weren’t!” Trent cries out.
Ted’s face falls so much Trent’s surprised it’s not touching the floor.
“Right, yeah of course. It was nothing. Let’s just forget it and move on” His voice sounds broken and Trent hates himself for being the cause of his pain, but he is really bloody confused at the moment.
“No,” he says hurriedly, “I meant I didn’t realise we were dating.”
“Oh” Ted says despondently. “What did you think all the dinners, movies, lunches, visits to each other’s homes and long conversations were about then?”
And when he puts it like that it does seem rather obvious, but Ted never actually said anything, he’s not a mind reader for goodness sake.
“I thought you were just being friendly, like you are with bloody everyone!” he swallows thickly, he may have sounded a little hysterical with that one.
Ted nods again and if possible, looks even sadder. Shit, shit, shit.
“I thought you were straight” Trent says desperately but Ted just shakes his head, “nope, bi. I thought you knew, most everyone knows by now.”
Again, Trent is completely flawed by this revelation.
“Look” Ted said quietly, “it’s all good. Just a big misunderstanding, lets move on and forget it happened.”
Ted has already started to turn to walk away when Trent finds his voice again.
“I’m sorry, I just, I thought you were straight, so I never really considered you as an option.”
Ted let out a low chuckle, “looks like my dating skills could use some work. Night Trent.”
Trent watched Ted walk away, mind reeling. Ted thought they had been dating, his brain struggled to catch up, he must’ve been so upset when he ran into Trent on that date then. His stomach clenched at the very thought and now he was thinking about it, that’s about when everything started to change.
He didn’t bother getting in his car, deciding that he needed some fresh air to try to settle his racing thoughts. Ted had thought they were dating. Did he want to date Ted? He thought about everything that they had gone through since they’d met, how close they had gotten. Ted was incredible, kind, funny, not perfect but that was just something else Trent liked about him. He didn’t want or need perfect. He was definitely handsome. And now that he had been given permission to think about it, it was like a whole section of his brain had been unlocked, one that had been steadily accumulating every single thing that he liked about Ted, but he’d carefully not looked at too closely. Of course he wanted to date Ted, who wouldn’t!
He felt like a fool for not realising Ted’s intentions or at least questioning them. Sure, Ted hadn’t said anything explicitly, but it was pretty fucking obvious when he looked back on everything now. Everyone obviously knew, probably blamed him for breaking Ted’s heart, and he couldn’t really blame them for that.
Oh, this explained Beard’s behaviour. Of course, Beard would be protective of Ted, they were best friends.
He ran his hands through his hair with a groan. What was he going to do now? But it seemed that his brain had already made that decision for him because when he looked around, actually taking in where he had been walking this whole time, he realised he was standing at Ted’s doorstep. He didn’t give himself time to think, just lifted his hand and knocked firmly. There was a shuffling sound inside and he waited patiently until Ted opened the door; his eyebrows furrowed in confusion. Trent noticed that his eyes were red rimmed, like he had been crying, and his heart clenched.
Ted was speechless for a moment before he physically pulled himself together.
“Well, hey Trent. What are you doing here?”
Trent opened his mouth and then closed it, before opening it again.
“I just wanted to apologise.”
“Oh, that’s alright, you have nothing to apologise for.”
“Still” Trent said, licking his lips nervously, “I am sorry that I hurt you.”
Ted just shrugged like his pain meant nothing and boy did that make him angry, because Ted should never be hurt, least of all by him. He cleared his throat.
“I was also wondering if you’d perhaps like to go on a date with me?”
Ted stared at him flummoxed, visibly shaking himself as he began to look upset again.
“Look Trent, you don’t have to do that. I’ll be fine with a bit of time.”
“I’m not doing it for you” Trent said incredulously, “this is purely selfish, because I would very much like to date you.”
Ted scratched his moustache looking like he wasn’t sure if he should believe him or not.
“Not an hour ago you said you’d never even thought of me that way.”
“A lot can change in an hour” Trent said honestly.
“That they can” Ted said quietly.
“So, is that a yes?”
“Yes, yes, it is. If you really truly mean it.”
“I never say something I don’t mean” and with that Trent darted forward and pressed a quick kiss to Ted’s lips. Oh, they were so soft and his moustache tickled his top lip deliciously.
“I’d say that was long overdue.”
Ted merely nodded and Trent took a moment to revel in the fact that he had left the Ted Lasso speechless.
“I’ll message you with a time and place for our date” Trent said, grinning happily when Ted just nodded at him again.
“Good night, Ted.”
“Night, Trent” Ted finally croaked out, and Ted walked away a spring in his step at the very thought of going on a date with Ted.