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buckychristwrites · 11 months

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When the Rain Gathers | Chapter One | j.t

↳ Pairing: Jamie Tartt x f!reader

↳ Word Count: 3.8k

↳ Summary: Pain hits like a downpour, but when a heartbreak from your past is what greets you at your new job at Nelson Road Stadium, it's more like a catastrophic tsunami.

↳ Warnings: Enemies to lovers, Discussion of parental abuse, fluff and angst.

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“This is stunning.”

Your folded hands tightened.

Rebecca Welton looked between your resume to Sharon Fieldstone, who was sitting beside her. They were both beaming as you continued to sit nervously. Although, that was to be expected with you. They could’ve told you that you were sent by God himself and you would still be rifled with anxiety.

“And how exactly did you get a recommendation from Ted Lasso?” She asked in awe while reading the letter from the man himself. You shifted in your seat.

“I did some work with the Wichita State Shockers after I finished my degree,” You explained. “During Ted’s time there, of course. He was the one who sent this job my way, actually. Said I’d fit in nicely.” She read the letter over and over again, a fond look on her face.

“Any person who Ted trusts is someone I trust.” Was she getting choked up? You tried to ignore that in an effort to not embarrass her. Sharon nodded.

“I think you’re the perfect match to work with me,” The psychologist said definitively. “Now that we have the women’s team as well as the men’s, I can’t do it all on my own.” Rebecca nodded in agreement.

“You’ll take over the care for the men’s team while Sharon helps the women’s team adjust.”

You allowed yourself to take a glance around Rebecca’s office, appreciating the simplicity. The weight on your chest seemed to lift, now that you knew the job was basically yours. All morning you had been stressing over this interview. Even going as far as to sit in the car park for a whole 45 minutes beforehand so you wouldn’t be late.

“When do you think you could start?” It was clear that Rebecca was trying oh so hard to not sound eager, while also failing miserably at it. Funnily enough, you were doing the same. Your first answer would be that very minute, but you reeled yourself back.

“As soon as possible.”

You didn’t think it was feasible for them to look more elated, but you were proven wrong at that moment, as their faces seemed to radiate joy. Rebecca clapped her hands together before rising from her seat.

“Wonderful,” She said. “I hope tomorrow will work for you, then?”

It stunned you briefly, how quick the start date was coming. You had assumed it wouldn’t be for another week. But you were more relieved than distressed by the speed this was all going. Since the move just a week prior, you were desperate for income.

“Perfect,” You said as you also rose from your seat. Sharon swiftly followed, the three of you exchanging such pleased looks. It was overwhelming how well this interview went. It wasn’t really an interview, though. The impression you had been given when the conversation started was that you’d had the job the moment you walked in the door. Though, funnily enough, they had been trying very hard to not let you in on that.

“Shall I give you a tour of the club?” Rebecca suggested. You nodded excitedly.

“That would be wonderful.”

Sharon began to inch towards the door.

“I have some appointments to get to, I’m afraid,” She said as she glanced at her watch. “But I’ll be ready for you in the morning to help you with getting acclimated.” She gave you a warm smile, which you couldn’t help but return. “I’m so glad to have you.”

“Wonderful to meet you, Dr. Fieldstone,” You said, raising a hand in goodbye. “I’ll see you in the morning!” She gave one last look of what appeared to be relief before turning and leaving Rebecca’s office. You turned towards your new boss, the anxiety creeping in again.

You glanced out the window at the team, who were currently training on the pitch. The drills they were running looked intense, more intense than anything you had ever seen before. Which, considering you had seen and had even been involved in a great many football trainings, you were more qualified than most to say that.

Subtle rain droplets hit the window, catching your attention for too long before you refocused on the players.

A flash of one player as he spun around his teammates with the ball gave you deja vu, and you had to turn away before it began to fester in your head.

“Shall we?” Rebecca asked, gesturing towards the door. You nodded, following her out into the hallway and down the stairs.

The club was a lot larger than the outside suggested. Rebecca showed you the press room, conference room, all of the bathrooms, and where Sharon’s office was located, though the door was shut at the time. Pictures

“How was the flight… home?” She asked in a more questioning tone than anticipated. “This is home for you, yes? Your accent is certainly… unique.” You pressed your lips together. This was quite a popular question from both the English and the Americans alike.

“Yes and no,” You explained. “I’m actually from Manchester. But I moved to the United States for school about…” You did the maths in your head. “About six years ago, I guess.” Saying it out loud felt so strange. Some days, it felt like just yesterday that you had gotten on the plane that swept you away from England. Others, it felt like a lifetime ago. Which, with the changes that had occurred in your life, it might as well have been.

“The Americans got to you then,” She teased, tapping her hand against your arm as if you had known her forever.

“That’s exactly what my mum says when she hears me speak anymore,” You admitted sheepishly. Remembering her original question, you turned to face her. “My flight was a nightmare, by the way.” She looked at you in shock. “Yeah, my daughter had an ear infection the day of, naturally. So when we took off and the pressure built in her ears, she just cried and cried for a solid hour until she fell asleep.”

“You have a daughter,” Rebecca said, poking her bottom lip out just slightly. Subconsciously, you pulled out your phone.

“Yes. Ivy,” You told her before lifting your phone screen to show off your brunette baby. “She just turned two at the end of May.”

Rebecca took your phone to gaze at the toddler. At first, you thought it was because she was in silent agreement that the child was the cutest thing to ever cross the Earth. But then you saw the crinkle form between her eyebrows as she brought the phone closer to her face.

“She-” Her head tilted to the side, her lips pressed tightly together. “She looks so much like-”

“Rebecca, hi!”

The both of you turned to find a small blonde woman bouncing towards you. She was wearing a neon purple top, with black skinny jeans and heels higher than your ankles could handle. As Rebecca’s face changed from confusion to delight, you slipped your phone from her hand and back into your pocket.

“And to what do I owe the pleasure, Keely?” She asked, turning her hands towards you. “I’m sure you know, this is the new sports psychologist that we’ve hired to help Sharon.” Reaching a hand out, you introduced yourself to Keeley. In lieu of a handshake, she pulled you in for a hug.

“Keeley Jones, at your service!” Her hug made you feel warm. It had been a while since you’d had one so loving, and from a stranger at that. It was surprisingly nice. When she released you, she went to give the same to Rebecca. “I came to see Roy. The boys’re coming in from training now, if you’d like to go down and introduce her to the team?” As Rebecca pulled away, she looked at you with excitement in her face.

“Would you like to meet the team?”

You could practically feel the rise in your blood pressure, the anxiety pouring out of your ears. But you knew if you didn’t meet them today, you’d have to tomorrow, and your first day would go much easier if the most stressful part happened sooner rather than later.

“Of course!”

With wide smiles and rosie cheeks, Rebecca and Keeley whirled around and led you down the hallway, arms linked together. Watching them was incredibly lovely, and made you yearn for a friendship like that.

“Before you interrupted, Keeley,” Rebecca said playfully, earning a glare from her long haired friend. “She was just showing me a picture of her lovely daughter.” Keeley’s head whipped in your direction.

“You have a daughter? How old is she?” She asked eagerly. You grabbed at your phone again.

“She’s two,” You said proudly as you showed her the same picture you showed Rebecca. Her face went from joyful to dazed, her grabbing at your phone and looking down at it.

“Do you have any other pictures?” She asked with a less hearty smile this time. The ease in your chest began to falter. Trying hard not to feel offended, you opened your albums and pulled up another photo. In this one, it was a better look of Ivy’s face, and not her just making goofy looks for the camera, like your lock screen photo showed. Grabbing the phone back, Keeley and Rebecca examined it as they continued to walk. They were so distracted that you were surprised they didn’t hit a wall when they rounded a corner.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing?” Rebecca asked Keeley in a low voice.

“That she looks exactly like-”

You had seen the impending collision that was about to occur, like it was written in the stars, but you were too late in your efforts to warn them, for both Rebecca and Keeley ran into the door of the changing room that had just been opened by one of the coaches.

“Oh fuck,” A small man with gray hair and a kind looking face muttered as the women hit the floor. Your phone was quick to skid across the floor. The man scrambled to help Rebecca to her feet, as you did the same for Keeley.

“I’m so sorry, so so sorry, Keeley, R-Rebecca,” The man stammered, shaking his head. “I didn’t see you there.” Rebecca brushed herself off, straightening her skirt.

“Not a problem, Nate,” She said, although her face was still rather filled with embarrassment.

“Quite alright, Coach,” Keeley said, her bubbly tone not faltering for a second. Once you were sure the two of them were fine, you walked over and grabbed your phone. When you turned to face them again, your phone safely replaced in your pocket, you found his anxious eyes on you.

“This is Nate Shelley,” Rebecca said once she composed herself. “He is part of the coaching staff for the men’s league.” As you reached a hand out towards him, she introduced you to him. He looked at your hand in confusion before taking it.

Someone struggles with trusting people, you noted to yourself when your hand dropped from his.

Nate reopened the door to the changing room and kept his head down as Rebecca, Keeley, and yourself respectively made your way inside. When the door shut from behind, you noticed that Nate had not entered the changing room along with you.

“Is everyone decent?” Keeley asked with a hand disjointedly over her eyes. Everyone turned their attention towards her, amused smiles on their faces. From what you could tell, everyone was, in fact, decent. When Keeley dropped her hand down once more, she let out a pout. “C’mon lads, just one time!” They all laughed in a way that suggested this was a running joke, but they all somehow still found it funny each time. Rebecca took a few steps forward to give herself centre stage. Your heart clenched.

“I’d like to introduce you all to the new sports psychologist as Sharon transitions over to the women’s league.” She gestured towards you. “She will be taking over all of your care.”

As she told them your name, you watched the range of emotions that flooded all of their faces.

“Sharon won’t be working with us anymore?”

“This is a betrayal!”

“Why do the women get our Sharon and we have to have someone new? Send her to them for fuck’s sake!”

Any excitement that you had left evaporated as you listened to their complaints and shouts. While you never expected the transition to be easy, you didn’t expect it to be completely rejected, either.

“Aye!” A bearded ginger with a baseball cap shouted over the noise.

“Gentlemen!” Rebecca yelled, her voice a mix of anger and surprise. “This is not how we welcome someone to our family, is it?”

Some of them grumbled a response, while most of them just stared down at their shoes. A couple of them were eyeing you curiously. You folded your hands patiently in front of your abdomen. Rebecca sighed heavily.

“Where the fuck is Kent?” She asked the bearded coach, voice exasperated. “He should be controlling his team.”

“Running drills with Jamie,” He said simply. You felt a wave crash in your chest as he turned to face you. “Coach Beard, by the way.” He stuck his hand out towards you, and it took you a beat too long to compose yourself enough to take it.

“Nice to meet you,” You said, voice unsure. A nervous glance was tossed towards the distraught players again before you turned to him once more. “Did you say… Did you say Jamie?” His eyebrows knitted together, as if you had just asked him if he was able to poop on command.

“As in Jamie-”

The door to the pitch burst open, handle knocking against the wall. In came a tall figure with dark hair and even darker and thicker eyebrows. He paused just beyond the threshold, his eyes scanning the room. You studied him instinctively. The way the room stopped just upon his entrance told you that he was an important figurehead.

“It’s about time,” Rebecca scolded, hands planted on her hips. “Where have you been?”

“Sorry,” The man said, holding his hands up in a gesture of innocence, before directing his thumb behind him. “This one wanted to run a couple more drills.”

The one he was referring to entered at that moment, as if on cue. As if it were rehearsed.

Your heart stopped functioning altogether.

He was a new man entirely, with long hair that parted like curtains off his forehead and locks coloured a light brown, almost dark blonde. His jawline was more chiselled than you remembered it, arms and abdomen more defined as his shirt hugged his muscles dearly. Taking a glance around at the commotion, it took him a moment to meet your eyes. But the moment he did, his skin blanched.

You’d know those eyes anywhere. The greenish-blues you had looked into a thousand times in your life. Soft, gentle, almost innocent in appearance. It felt like they were the only thing about him that hadn’t changed completely.

It’s him. Jamie Tartt.

Your Jamie.

Fuck, you thought to yourself.

Fuck, Jamie thought to himself.

It’s you.

His you.

It felt like he was repeatedly getting hit by a train. Over and over and over again. One right after the other.

His mind suddenly forgot how to think. For the first time in his entire life, it was completely silent. All he could focus on was your face. How different you looked and yet somehow you were exactly the same. The hair he had run his fingers through time and time again was longer than he could recall. Your face had somehow matured in the three years it had been since he had seen you.

Fuck, has it already been three years? He found himself thinking. Because even after all this time, it felt like a victory that he had gone ten days without thinking of you. Now, it seemed, those streaks would be long over.

Rebecca took you around the room to give every player an individual introduction. Though you tried to pay attention, Jamie continued to catch you looking over at him, as he couldn’t stop looking at you. He found your expression unreadable. Since when could he not read your mind by just looking at your face?

Oh yeah, since he didn’t really know you anymore.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Roy said in a low voice. Jamie hadn’t realised that his friend had even leaned in, the sound of his voice causing him to jump.

“The fuck you mean?”

“You look like a fuckin’ deer in headlights.”

He didn’t have a proper response, so he said nothing. The feeling of Roy’s eyes burning holes in the side of his head were nothing compared to the discomfort he felt from just entering the changing room. The air around him began to suffocate him. You were the only presence he could feel. It had always been like that, when it came down to you, but not like this. Never like this.

“This is Roy Kent, the head manager of the club,” Rebecca continued on with the introductions. Roy grunted in your direction, but a daggered glare from the owner forced him to raise a hand for a shake. You were stiff as a board as you took it.

“And last, but certainly not least, we have Jamie Tartt here.”

And then you were in front of him, wide eyes boring into his face. A whiff of your perfume hit his nostrils. The same perfume you had been wearing since he had gifted you that same bottle for your seventeenth birthday. Now it was a lethal gas, asphyxiating him. Hands shaking at his sides, he stuffed them in the front pocket of his jacket. From his periphery, he could see Rebecca just as angry at him for not going to shake your hand or properly greet you, but unlike Roy, he stood his ground.

After a moment, you cleared your throat.

“Actually,” You said with a shaky breath that Jamie did not miss. “We’ve met before.”

His lungs ceased to function as his entire body ran cold.

“We went to school together.”

It was such a simplification of it all. Twenty three years of knowing someone condensed into five simple words. It felt like a million swords flying through his body.

“How nice!” Rebecca said, her voice high. “Isn’t it lovely to be greeted by a familiar face?” She looked between the two of you expectantly.

You stared at him, your expression neutral.

“Yeah,” You said ominously. “Familiar.”

That was when he saw it. The fire behind your eyes. Oh, how many times he had seen that anger, but rarely towards him. When the two of you began to really fight, it was almost entirely over the phone, which meant he didn’t have to see it. Which was exactly how he wanted it. Having to see those eyes with so much hatred in them would’ve made him quickly fold. Just like he wanted to right at this moment.

Rebecca pulled you away, saying something about seeing your new office. Jamie’s heart went cold when the warmth of your stare left him. He couldn’t tear his eyes away from your receding back, and even when you disappeared behind the door, his gaze was still glued to that direction, as if you would reappear any second.

“Jamie, please tell me you hit that,” Jan Maas said as he also continued to stare at the door you disappeared through.

“Fuck off, Jan Maas,” He grumbled as he turned to walk towards the boot room. The room began to spin around him, his steps becoming clumsier.

The air in the boot room was fresh despite the reeking boots and unlaundered kits. It was untouched by your scent, which was what he needed. Jamie fell into the shelves, his hands supporting him from hitting the floor.

“Will, mate,” He said through shallow breaths. “I need ya to leave. Please. Go out there and make sure no one comes in, yeah?” Though he wasn’t looking at the kit man, he saw the movement out of the corner of his eyes.

“Y-yes, of course.”

The second the door closed was the same second that Jamie lost control of his breathing. They became quick and rapid as his knuckles whitened against the wooden shelves. His head slowly grew light, his fingers tingly.

It had been a while since he’d had one this bad. His mind went from being completely empty to running at a speed he couldn’t possibly comprehend. The room was silent, and yet so incomprehensibly loud. He squeezed his eyes shut. Nausea flooded his stomach and sent chills up his spine.

A voice filled his head.

Breath, my love. You need to breathe.

He inhaled in as best as he could, for as long as he could. As he held his breath, he counted to four in his head. Just as you had taught him.

Fuck.

The thought of you made him once again lose his composure, and then the panic began once again.

“FUCK.”

He began to throw boots off the shelves in frustration.

The guilt was filling his lungs, drowning him. Every single emotion he had felt over the years was coming back in full force, hitting him all at once. He didn’t know how to control it, so instead he let it out. The victims being the boots that Will had kept so clean and tidy.

Ground yourself. What can you see? What can you feel?

He forced another deep breath.

“The bench,” He mumbled to himself, looking down at the metal bench he was standing over. “Shelves…b-boots… kits… the wall…” He put a shaky hand on the shelf. “I can feel.. the wood…” Pulling away, he put it to his chest. “Me heart beat… and me shirt.” Then, he sat down, burying his face in his hands. “Me face.”

He could breathe again.

Even when you were ripping his mind to shreds, you were also somehow putting him back together again.

The door slowly creaked open, but Jamie didn’t move a centimetre. Quiet footsteps made their way over to him.

“What happened?” Sam’s voice asked. Though he pulled his hands away from his face, he didn’t look up at his friend, instead opting to stare at his socked feet. There was another pair next to them, the hairy legs letting him know that Roy was also in the room.

“It’s a long story,” Jamie said, wiping his eyes. He didn’t realise that he had been crying until that moment. “But it starts and ends with one thing.” Bringing a hand away from his face, he stabbed his index finger against his chest. “Me being a proper fuck up.”

TAGS

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#jamie tartt #jamie tartt x reader #jamie tartt fanfiction #jamie tartt imagine #tedlassosource #ted lasso fanfiction

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tartt9 · 8 months

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who is jamie fucking tartt, anyways? // a guide to the public's knowledge on richmond's #9, divided into three sections: non-football watcher, casual watcher, football fan

for the non-football watcher //

• you'd probably know of jamie as a footballer the way people would know of haaland or kane or saka. he's not beckham-level famous [ yet ] but he is a big deal in english football and very talented • if you're a reality tv watcher, your primary exposure to jamie would be his stint on the uk's number one show, lust conquers all. on lust, jamie very much played up a prick attitude, very much the smug sort of guy who knows he's sexy and will talk about it. he cheated on amy [ who he'd proposed to in a bathroom ] with denise by having jacuzzi sex, leading to his elimination from the show. • if you're from manchester, there's drama around him - he left man city two weeks into the 2020-21 season to do lust conquers all. united fans already disliked him, but jamie's abandonment of city led to pretty widespread dislike of him in his hometown. • if nothing else, if you find yourself around richmond with no knowledge of the team/jamie, he's loud, bubbly, bright - a very different person than he was on lust conquers all. you might see him kicking a ball around with kids on the richmond green, or chasing around a dog to wear it down for their owner, or training with roy kent [ who is a beckham-level big deal. you would know of roy kent ] and talking his ear off while he does names you'd know - roy kent [ current richmond manager, very fucking famous ], zava [ formerly of many teams, a striker, very fucking famous. played in america his last season (2022-23), with lafc ].

casual football watcher //

everything up ^^ there, plus... • jamie tartt is richmond's #9. he played striker while on loan with richmond in 2019-20 and is now a midfielder. he's from manchester and grew up in the manchester city academy system, making his premier league debut young. he plays for england and has begun to make himself a regular in the three lions' xi. • he played under pep guardiola for multiple years, and was a part of the premier league winning teams in 2017-18 and 2018-19. • he left manchester city to do lust conquers all, and was not welcome back to city. he rejoined the world of football with richmond while they were in the championship. they earned their promotion that season and returned to the premier league. • they were not expected to do well in the premier league, but after a shift of strategy after zava's departure from the club in 2021, richmond ended the season on a long win streak to finish second in the premier league, qualifying for richmond's first-ever run in the champions league. • jamie has won premier league player of the month twice and goal of the month three times. • jamie's got something going on with roy kent. he never fails to lavish praise on his manager when he's given the opportunity, despite kent's stubborn demeanor. • if you're an american, you may know ted lasso, richmond's former manager. he went viral for dancing in the locker room after leading his division ii wichita state shockers to the d2 championship game and winning the division ‎‎‎• ‎‎subnote to that^^ even more intense d1 college football watchers would probably only know him as the meme. d2 college football is not widely consumed in america - i'm an avid cfb watcher, and i couldn't tell you without googling who won d2 last year. names you'd know - sam obisanya [ richmond midfielder & nigeria international ] // isaac mcadoo [ richmond captain & centre back ] // dani rojas [ richmond striker & mexico international ]

football fan //

everything up there ^^ plus... • jamie has a lifelong hatred of manchester united. he will play harder in those matches, and he scored a hat trick against them at richmond in early 2023. • jamie grew up on a council estate, and was recruited for man city's academy when he was 8, starting with them when he was 9. • jamie wore 51 at city for all of the years he played there. • jamie's city senior debut was in 2015, when he was 17 years old, and he played with them from 2015 through 2020, when he left to do lust conquers all. • jamie was loaned to afc richmond for the 2019-20 season, where he made a name for himself. his chant is sung to the tune of baby shark. he scored 11 goals for richmond, keeping them solidly mid-table, until ted lasso's arrival. • his loan was cut short in february 2020, and he returned to city to play the rest of the season with his home club. • richmond was relegated to the championship after the 2019-20 season when jamie made an assist in stoppage time with man city to end the match 2-1, city. • jamie's return to richmond was not without controversy - he was hotheaded and kept the ball more often than he passed it while he was on loan. his relationship with his teammates was tumultuous at best, downright bad at worst. on the first match day of his return, afc richmond mounted a protest against their main sponsor, dubaiair. richmond lost that match, leading to the end of an 8-week tie streak. • jamie has publicly been very supportive of his teammates since then, especially in more recent years. he frequently ends games with an assist or more to his name, and is widely regarded as the central cog of richmond's team. • jamie wears 24 when he isn't starting for england, a tribute to sam obisanya. • jamie grew up a roy kent fan, and many of his plays mimic roy's from roy's prime. • jamie's england debut was in 2022, at age 24. • jamie is transitioning into playing more midfield for england, though their gaffer has commented in the past that jamie 'doesn't have the skillset to play centrally for england'. when in the xi, jamie typically wears the 7 or 8, though he has worn the 11 a handful of times, too - showing his dynamic ability to play just about any spot on the pitch. • as of october 2023, jamie has three assists and one goal for england, and is on the hunt for more. • jamie is a player with a mind for the game unlike most others', regularly seeing the game two to three passes ahead of where it is. he can play box-to-box incredibly efficiently, and has saved more than one goal from going in. he's a hard worker and always seems to be enjoying himself on the pitch during hard-fought games, though he has been publicly dismayed at hard losses before, such as a 5-0 loss to city in the fa cup semifinal in 2021. • he has a summer football camp in manchester named after him that he sponsors, providing free boots, shin guards, and other equipment to the kids who grew up like he did, without many resources but with a love of the game, and helps them get in front of academy recruiters. jamie is frequently seen training with these kids during his summer break. • as of present day, it's public record that jamie donates money to domestic violence, sexual abuse, and women's charities, as well as the nhs names you'd know - ted lasso [ former richmond gaffer ] // nathan shelley [ former west ham gaffer, current richmond assistant ] // the rest of richmond's regular starting xi, listed on my carrd // paddy o'gara [ former manchester city centre back, a mentor of jamie's ]

#headcanons !#i have brainrot can you tell yet #if you ever want more knowledge than this feel free to ask !!! i will expound !!!!

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