Chapter Text
On September 13th 1991 Ted Lasso's father commits suicide, and on September 19th 1991 Ted Lasso decides he wants to change his name. His mother had been the one to name him Theodore but his father was the first person to call him Ted. He goes by his mother's last name in hopes to forget what his father left behind. So for his last 2 years of high school Ted Lasso is Theo Martin.
When Trent Crimm is 17 years old and in his last year of high school his father decides he's too soft. His father says he's being coddled too much at home and at school so he signs Trent up for a foreign exchange program in Kansas, in hopes that being out in the Midwest will teach him how to be a proper man. So for Trent's last year of secondary school he attends the same school as one Theo Martin.
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Trent Crimm has been hearing whispers about an American Football coach coming to coach in the premier league and he can't think of anything more ludicrous. He honestly thinks he's on some sort of prank show because what kind of name is Ted Lasso? The whispers only get louder until one day it is officially confirmed by Rebecca Welton newly divorced from Rupert Mannion, former owner of AFC Richmond. All Trent can think about is how he's got to get into that press room. He spends the next 2 days researching Ted Lasso and to be frank there's not much on him. American football coach at the college level, never playing the sport professionally himself and was only a backup during his college years. According to Trents research the man has never interacted with or coached the sport they call soccer at any level.
Is this a fucking joke?
The press room is the fullest Trent has ever seen, every reporter within a 20 mile radius cramming into one room to get a statement. Trent gets there exceptionally early so he has time to pick what he thinks is the perfect seat in the second row. Camera lights start flashing as soon as the door opens. In walks Rebecca and Ted Lasso, he's got a well groomed mustache and is wearing a black jumper over a collared shirt. Something about him seems oddly familiar and it's not just because Trent spent the last 2 days digging into his work history.
The teams manager of football operations Higgins introduces Ted "So without further ado the new manager of AFC Richmond, Ted Lasso!"
Coach Lasso awkwardly shuffles up to the table and takes a seat. "Alright how're yall doing?" Every front row journalist puts their recorder on the table at once. Coach Lasso looks down and back up at the crowd of people in front of him. "Okay."
He reaches over and grabs the bottle of water he was given and nearly chokes when he goes to drink it. "Did not expect fizzy water there, sorry." He puts the bottle down and wipes his face. "Why don't we just jump right in? Anybody got any questions?" Every journalist in the room goes crazy, putting their hands up at record speeds eager to talk to the man that will without a doubt tank this team.
Oh my God he's in over head.
Coach Lasso offers a small smile before speaking again. "Oh yea no. Shouldve saw that coming. You know what? You can put your hands down real quick um-" He gives a small nod to the assistant coach when he walks in. "How about I go ahead and address the larger-than-average elephant in the room. No, I have not coached the sport you folks call football at any level. Heck you could fill two internets with what I don't know about football."
Christ it's like they just threw this man out here. Did they not give him ANY media training before this?
"But I'll tell you what I do know. I know AFC Richmond, like any other team I've ever coached, is gonna go out there and give everything they got for all four quarters."
Oh it's so much worse than I thought.
"Halves." Pipes up one of the reports in the second row.
The poor new gaffer just looks more confused than ever while he attempts to politely ask a question he should definitely know the answer to. "What was that?"
"Two halves."
"Oh right sorry, halves yea. They're gonna give you everything they got for two halves, win or lose."
"Or a tie." A different reporter in the front row corrects.
"Right yall do ties here.Sorry that's going to take some getting used to for me. Cause back where I'm from you try to end a game in a tie well that might as well be the first sign of the apocalypse." And he's smiling when he says it as if knowing nothing about such a prized sport is something to be proud of he even lets out a little laugh.
"Now look here I respect what you folks in the media do. And my door is always gonna be open. All right? You can ask me anything. No topic will be into touch." And Trent thinks that this man actually means that.
He's gonna be a pr nightmare.
"Alright one final question." Nobody wastes any time before putting there hands up, including Trent.
"Uh how about that fellow right there in the second row." And Coach Lasso points directly at Trent. "Yea. I-I like your glasses."
Trent stands up almost immediately and takes off his glasses to look at them after his compliment. Trent gets an odd feeling of deja vu.
"Oh thank you." He waits a moment before continuing "Trent Crimm, The independent."
Ted Lassos' face morphs into what can only be described as utter disbelief once the words are out of Trents mouth. Leaving Trent feeling more confused than ever.
"Trent Crimm? No way! Did you by any chance go to Lawrence high school from 92 to 93? Cause if you did I got a bone to pick with you." Coach Lassos' tone is excited, like just won the lottery excited, despite the cynical final sentence.
Everything on his mind immediately comes to a halt. Hardly anyone knew that he went to America for school. He'd hated almost everything about that year.
Almost everything.
"I did- how could you possibly know-" And suddenly it makes sense why he seems so familiar he remembers breezing past his full name, every article referred to him as Ted so it didn't matter, but now it really matters because there's absolutely no way this is Trents life right now. Theodore
"Theo?"
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The school year of 92 begins in late August with a 17 year old Theo Martin late to his first class. He takes his sweet time walking through the hallways because he knows that even after a full year no teachers are going to speak to him about it. He knows why, he knows they all feel pity for him so they give him sad looks when he puts on a smile to get through the day. So he's already 20 minutes late to his first class when he sees another kid about his age looking lost. He is scrawnier and shorter than Theo with messy grown out hair, glasses and a very confused look on his face.
Theo walks up to the boy and puts on a smile. "I like your glasses."
"Oh, thank you." The proper English accent takes Theo off guard immediately. He takes off his glasses to examine them like he forgot what they look like before he puts them back on. "Could you tell me where homeroom is? I'm a bit lost."
"Well I'd say you're more than a bit lost with that accent, Dorothy." Theo has never heard an English accent in person before, only in the James Bond movies his mother loves so much.
He looks down at his schedule for a second. "Right, I'm here on a foreign exchange program for my last year." Theo notices that the words come out quite rough, almost like he doesn't really want to be here. He can relate to that.
"That's neat, kinda sucks you're doing it in your final year though, you're not gonna graduate with your friends back home."
"Yea." He looks down at his shoes for a moment- white converse, before looking back up. "So homeroom?" He hands Theo his schedule so he can see the room number.
"Would you look at that! We got the same homeroom, cmon I'll walk you there." Without leaving any room for argument Theo walks off in the correct direction leaving the other boy to slightly jog to catch up.
They walk side by side in silence for a few moments before Theo comes to an abrupt stop and speaks up. "Oh where are my manners? I'm Theo, Theo Martin." He holds out his hand for-
"Trent Crimm." The two shake hands and then fall back into step. “Um, what exactly is homeroom? I don't believe we have that in the U.K.” Trent says a little shyly, almost like he's embarrassed he doesn't know.
Theo pauses and walks backwards in front of him. The action makes Trent smile for a split second. “Well, it's kinda a class where we do nothing for an hour. It's supposed to be for studying or the occasional lesson, but it's mostly nothing.” He explains.
These days he's gotten away with skipping almost the entire period or just sleeping through it without any punishment. Not so much as a call home, he's getting sick of it.
“Oh, similar to our registration.”
Theo stops abruptly, almost forcing Trent to bump into him. “You register for classes every morning?”
Trent furrows his eyebrows in confusion. “What? No, we meet with our form group for tutoring or special lessons.” He says gently.
“That's neat than, we're not so different than I thought. But hey, everything I know about the U.K comes from the James Bond movies.”
“I've actually never seen those movies.”
“How is that possible? My mom has the entire collection, she likes to watch them after her book club.”
Trent shrugs a little. “My parents would rather I be outside than watch movies.” He pauses almost like he's done speaking but quickly adds on. “I've read some of the books though.”
He's not proud to admit it, but Theo hasn't exactly been much of a reader, it's too easy to get lost in your head while reading.
“Well I'll be damned, look at this exchange of information we got going on here, I didn't know there were books.” He says while smiling.
“Oh yes, quite a few, the newest one came out a few months ago I believe.”
Theo squints at the other teen. “Some of the books? But you're up to date on the releases, I'd say that makes you a fan TC.” Theo lightly pokes Trent on the chest like he's driving the point in and the way he blushes after is not forgotten.
Trent clears his throat, and looks at his watch. “Are we going to make it in time?” He says diverting attention off of him. The tonal shift makes Theo feel like he's overstepped even if it was just for a moment.
They walk the rest of the way in silence.
They make it to homeroom with 10 minutes left in the class and the teacher just looks at Theo with the same pitiful look all the teachers give him. She then directs her attention towards Trent and stops him from following Theo to a seat.
"And why were you so late?" Her voice sharp enough to cut steel, the whole class just stares at Trent as he tries to stammer his way through an excuse.
“Oh i was just-”
"He was with me." Theo pipes up cheerfully from a desk in the back of the class. Offering Trent a quick smile and wink.
At this the teacher's gaze and tone soften as she just lets Trent take a seat next to Theo in the back.
The seat beside him has been empty for a year now. Most of his friends kept trying to get him to talk about what happened. As if talking would make anything better. He finally snapped at them all on the 6 month anniversary and they haven't spoken to him since.
The teacher deflates, knowing it's pointless to argue. "Right, just don't make it a habit." She goes back to talking about the syllabus.
"America is weird." Is the only thing Trent says when he reaches the desk next to Theo.
He smirks at his new friend. "You don't know the half of it."
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Trent Crimm feels like he's going to wake up from some wild dream any second now. But he doesn't, he's still standing in the press room trying to decipher the exact moment his life got this weird.
It was probably 1992.
Theo waves one hand in the air. "Well I go by Ted now but yea, it's real good to see you again TC. We can catch up later, please continue." He says diplomatically, like something so odd and obscure didn't just happen.
The old familiar nickname throws him for a loop and he has to take a moment to just stand there, everyone's eyes on him and Ted. At this point all the journalists can't decide whether to look at Th-Ted's cheerful expression or Trents frozen confused face. Most of them decide to just ping pong their head between the two, not wanting to miss what they deem to be a "newsworthy" reunion.
Trent tries his best to continue on like a huge bomb wasn't just dropped into his lap. "I just want to make sure I have this right. You're an American who's never set foot in England who's athletic success has only come at an amateur level- a second tier one at that- and is now being charged with the leadership of a Premier League football club despite clearly possessing very little knowledge of the game."
He won't admit it but he's proud he managed to actually get that put without messing up, especially now. He'd practiced that one in the mirror before coming here.
Ted just smiles brightly at him before speaking. "You got a question in there for me TC?"
His question only feels more relevant after the revelation from earlier. "Yea is this a fucking joke?"
Both the press room and Trents life explode after that.