Chapter Text
It was an abnormal day. Ted Lasso rarely had abnormal days, well supposedly that's what makes them abnormal. Either way, most days followed a pretty similar pattern. While most people find this to be monotonous and boring, Ted believes each day is a new day and full of suprises, if you think positively - joy will follow. That's his motto, well one them out of...only a few hundred. And so, with this repetitive (yet exciting) life, a day which very much broke the pattern in a meaningful way was a rare occasion. The day had started similarly, Ted awoke, sleepily rubbed his eyes and softly smiled to himself. He could feel the sun coming in through the window, shining warmly on his face. Clearly he'd forgotten to close the blinds. He felt suprisingly well rested, the past few nights had included spirals of anxiety which greatly cut into his necessary eight hours a night. Turning over, he grabbed his phone to check the time, it must be before the alarm, he thought absently. Unusually though, Ted sat up to find his mobile completley and utterly dead, looking down to see the charger laying sadly on the floor. He sighed and climbed out of bed, his knees clicking with the first few steps, old age am i right? Walking into the kitchen, he jumped as he stepped onto the cold floor with bare feet. On the wall hung a classy roman numeral clock - which, when he was younger, had been scribbled all over by Henry with actual numbers. It always made Ted smile to look at, and miss home that much more. He squinted up at the clock on the wall, his eyes still being a bit blurry and unadjusted to the light, to find that it infact wasn't before his alarm but instead a rather concerning amount of time after it. Ted could be described as quite a morning person, he woke up between half six to seven everyday, ate breakfast, made biscuits if he hadn't last night, had a shower, got changed and enjoyed a slow walk to to work (arriving early everytime). He enjoyed his morning rountine and listening to sound of birds tweeting as he got ready for the day. However, unlike usual it was 8:44AM (later than the time he usually arrived) and work began in 16 minutes, which unfortunetly, was less than the time of his commute alone. He rubbed his forehead, sighed and retreated back into his bedroom to change.
Just 15 minutes later Ted had gotten changed, brushed his teeth and eaten some toast. He glanced down at his watch to find work started in one, singular minute, the half half hour stroll he usually took would take far too long, people must already have been wondering where he was. In all the time he had been working in England, Ted had only ever been late to work once - when he helped Doc after she got a concussion and that didn't even really count, considering it wasn't his fault. Unfortunetly not even those fancy japanese bullet trains would get him there on time. He was about to admit defeat and begin the agonisingly slow walk of shame to work when an idea popped into his head. Stuffed in the back of a wardobe was a completely unused bicycle Ted had bought when he'd first began coaching at Richmond, convinced he'd become and cycling pro in the cute little english town. He had even considered purchasing a basket. He practically ran over to the cupboard and began throwing things out haphazardly till he could wheel it out in all its glory.
Gleeming proudly, he grabbed the matching baby blue helmet that had been chucked halfway across the room, clipped it on and wheeled the bike out through the back door as to not run it over the carpet. Just before setting off, he checked the time once more to find it had already started 5 minutes ago. And yet, he shrugged, climbed onto the bike and began his commute, a sense of wonder untangling the thorns of anxiety muddled up in his chest.
This elated feeling though, didn't last long. Riding down the street, Coach Lasso found he felt rather stared at. Infact very stared at. Everyone he cycled past seemed to be glaring into his soul in a way that made him shiver. Ted decided to ignore it, he assumed it was like when you wear a cowboy boots or something for the first time and feels like everyone's looking at you because they know you aren't an authentic cowboy boot-wearer as if they could possibly know that. He shook it off and continued, this would just be one of those days, he thought. One of those days where everything seemed to go wrong and it just felt weird all round.
Ten minutes later, only 15 minutes late, the coach arrived at the stadium. Unclipping his helmet and locking his bike up, Ted walked into the building. He breathed deeply and tried shake off the weird feeling he had, it was just meaningless anxiety, he told himself, no rhyme or reason to it. He approached the changing room before quickly spinning around and heading towards Rebecca aka Da boss's office. Despite being late, he still had his trusty old biscuits, having made them the night before. He jogged up the stairs, eager to get back downstairs and get to work. Opening the door he found...no one. Okay weird, he thought, puzzled. Rebecca was always in her office in the morning. He couldn't remember the last time she took a sick day. He raised an eyebrow, pulled the box out of his backpack, left them on her desk and turned around to walk out. Even if she wasn't in, Higgins was bound to go in and end up eating them himself. He chuckled to himself at the thought. Walking downstairs he got his phone out of his pocket to send Rebecca a message,toncheck up on her before being reminded it was infact dead. He smirked, prepared for an 'I told you so' moment directed at Beard who always questioned his random draw full of a spare of - well everything you could ever really need - including but not limited to, a charger.
He strolled down the hall getting that familiar feeling (atleast familliar today) of being watched. Seemingly every employee and intern alike glared at him conveying a number of emotions, mostly sadness. He wondered whether it was some weird subconscious message from his brain about being unhappy. Was he unhappy? He pondered over the question in his mind, he didn't think he was. Emma who had recently been hired to work PR with Keeley was strolling past and when Ted gave a quick wave, she stopped suddenly, gently placed a hand on his arm, lent in close and whispered melancholically, "Are you alright, Ted?"
He paused, confusion etchted in his face. In his time here he came to know how much British people ask that but also learnt its more like a greeting than a genuine question. This didn't seem like one of those greetings. "Uh yeah, just fine - dandy infact!" He said with a chuckle. "And how are you?"
"I'm fine." She smiled sadly. "If you need anything don't be afraid to ask."
"Okie dokie artichockie!" He laughed nervously, his quick quips seemed to get worse when stressed, this clearly being one of those times. She patted his arm and continued walking. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and - as he looked back up - noticed the entire corridor stood round watching. But when they realised they were caught, everyone quickly dispersed and kept walking along, either head down, refusing eye contact or offering sad smiles and kind eyes. He felt like the mum in Broachchurch staring at a cereal box only to find the whole damn shop staring back! (Rebecca had gotten him into British crime dramas recently, much to the dismay of Coach Beard who had to hear a recount of the all the storylines in its entirety). Walking back to the office, he pinched his arm to check whether he was dreaming, and was honestly suprised to find he was awake. This day was turning from weird to weirder. Surely he wasn't making this up, he contemplated asking someone random who was looking at him oddly but decided he would just call Dr Fieldstone once his phone had charged back up.
Finally having reached his destination, he exhaled deeply and opened the door. The quiet murmurs and chatter immediately disappeared as he entered the changing room. The players all stared wide eyed and ogled at him as if a giraffe had just walked in. Okay this was definitely getting strange now. "What I grew a second head?" He giggled, trying to not show the concern building on his face. Rather than engaging further or waiting for a reply, he simply spun around in stepped into the office only to find much of the same scene from Roy and Beard. They both looked equally as baffled and worried as the players had. Ted glanced through the office window seeing Trent's gaze following him aswell, before he got up and walked into the room. He laughed nervously again, sitting down in his chair. The eyes of the players followed him through the window. When Beard noticed, he promptly shut the blind without a word. Ted was seriously close to screaming or crying or just plainly making a scene when an answer to this washed over him. "Oh!" He shouted, relief spreading over him. He'd been so wrapped up in his own head, he'd managed to have forgotten about the events of that morning. "I know i'm late." He announced, reaching around his drawer and and shouting a quick "Aha!" when he located his charger, wriggling it triumphantly in front of Beard who looked back in simple concern. "See, this drawer of 'crap', he airquoted, channeling Beard's past objections. "Does come in handy." He smirked, leaning down to the plug to charge his phone while continuing. "I know i'm a bit late and i didn't text - sorry about that, my phone was dead - but phew", he wiped his forehead theatrically' "I've had quite a morning!"
"Yeah, i'll say." Roy whispered, earning a glare from Beard.
"Coach, what are you doing here, are you alright?" Beard cut in, worry etched into his face.
"Yeah - are you lot good?" He chuckled. "Everyone seems off today, but hey - maybe it's me." He shrugged. After saying this, Ted remembered that not everyone in the building would be shook by him being late - but pushed the idea to the edge of his mind - he wanted to hold onto this explanation, however flimsly and inpossible it was. The other three men looked at each other, understanding seeping into their features like water into soil. He didn't know. At that moment, Ted's phone made a humming noise as it powered up. He picked it up absentmindedly only to be met with hundreds of missed calls and texts from a myriad of people. His stomach knotted in worry. "Ted," Beard began speaking again before he had a chance to read them causing Coach Lasso's head to shoot up anxiously. "Have you not seen the news?"