Of Football and Forgiving
This chapter has been prompted by Mollie and her request was The Roscoe's play their traditional yearly football match but in doing so one of them suffers an injury
Now obviously it's still June, but what's a successful prompt fic with at least one out of date Christmas-time story?
Enjoy guys!
"This better be a clean game boys, I'm not having one of you sent to the hospital because you can't move past something that should have been sorted out months ago," Sandy said sternly, raising the whistle to her lips as she spoke. 2014 hadn't been an easy year for the Roscoe clan, but here they all were, on boxing day, ready to play their annual football game, relationships slightly more volatile than in previous years, but Sandy was determined for the game to go ahead.
She had no worries for her three youngest, neither had any problems with anyone else in the family, it was just Joe and Freddie. Ever since finding out about his younger brother's true feelings for Lindsey, Joe had visibly struggled with even remaining in the same room as Freddie, but after a couple of extremely difficult months, the two brothers had begun to work on their relationship once more.
It wasn't easy, but when Freddie asked for his share of the garage back from Sandy, moving back into the family home only days later, the blonde nurse knew that her family was getting back to normal.
But although Joe and Freddie could be in the same room as one another without world war three starting off, they were far from okay, and the remaining family members couldn't help but worry that the football game would set off the proverbial match, causing a fight of all scales.
"Don't have to worry about me mum," Joe said, a look of gritty determination on his face as he grabbed a water bottle from the side, taking a generous swig. "But then again, I've never had much trouble with restraint, Fred however, well he never knows when the lines been drawn."
The eldest Roscoe had to jump back to avoid Freddie's fist hitting his jaw, though the mechanic was soon restrained by both Robbie and Jason, the twin's sharing a concerned glance as they realised just how explosive the afternoon was going to be.
"And this is what I'm talking about! You both need to calm down," Sandy cried, wondering just what she'd just gotten herself into when agreeing to go ahead with the annual event. "And I'm serious boys, one more thing and we're not doing this. This game is meant to be a family event, not full of fights, and I refuse to let that happen!"
"Mum we'll be fine," Freddie grumbled, moving past to the centre of the field as he spoke. "Come on Zig, we've got a game to win!"
Freddie's annoyed cry caught Ziggy's attention, and separating himself from Leela, who was giving him an up close and personal good luck for the game, he ran over to his brother, getting ready for the game to go ahead, as the remaining members gathered around.
"Are they always so competitive?" Darren muttered into Lindsey's ear as she began warming up. One of the more positive outcomes of the year, was the fact that Darren's relationship with the Roscoe clan had only strengthened, even more so after his health scare only a few months back.
It had led to Sandy being just as protective over the landlord as she was the rest of her sons, and whilst it was odd to have someone who had only recently become part of his life mothering over him, Darren couldn't help but enjoy the extra attention, glad to have the opportunity to finally bond with his new family.
"Competitive is one of many Roscoe traits," Lindsey sighed, well used to the antics of her almost in-laws by this point. "But ever since Freddie's feelings for.. me came out to Joe, it's gone on to another level completely."
"You and Joe are still together though," Darren said, still confused by the family's more than complicated dynamics. He had tried his hardest to keep out of it, but sometimes his curiosity got the better of him.
"I don't think Joe will ever forgive Freddie for what he did," Lindsey sighed, still shocked to the core that Joe had decided to give their relationship another go, not that she was complaining. She loved Joe more than words could express, and the weeks when they were separated, her sleeping on the McQueen's sofa, whilst Joe remained in their bed, were almost more than she could bear with. "You know how complicated family can be Darren, we just have to hope that they can move past it."
"Right come on lets get started!" Sandy yelled, gathering the two teams together at the centre of the make-shift pitch. "If we keep nattering we won't start playing till next Christmas. Now remember what I said boys, and of course girls-" Sandy paused, nodding at Lindsey and the other new arrival to the teams, Phoebe, who was playing to even out the groups instead of standing on the sidelines like Holly and Leela were currently doing.
Whilst Holly had voluntarily not taken part in the match, the older blonde had twisted her ankle not even a day before, forcing her to back out, something Leela wasn't happy with, her complaints making it so that everyone in Chester could hear her displeasure. "We keep this game clean, it's Christmas and we all just want a bit of fun."
With that Sandy put the whistle to her lips and blew hard, starting the game with a shrill shriek. The ball went flying as the two teams of four flew down the pitch, passing and dribbling the ball to one another, victory on everyone's minds.
Darren quickly grabbed the ball, passing it to Robbie who was swiftly tackled by Phoebe, the younger girl kicking it over to Ziggy whilst both Holly and Leela cheered loudly from the sidelines, both enjoying the entertainment they were presented with.
"Just because she's your girlfriend you don't have to go easy against her you know?" Jason muttered to Robbie, as Freddie managed to defend the goal that Lindsey had tried for.
"You've met Phoebe right? If I even tried to 'go easy' on her, she'd castrate me on the spot, but unfortunately for us, she's really good at football and not opposed to fighting dirty," Robbie panted, before tearing down the field, desperately trying to grab the ball from Joe who had managed to intercept it before Darren had gotten hold of it.
"You can't allow that!" Freddie yelled as Joe took a swipe at Robbie, causing him to fall to the ground. "That's a foul if I ever saw one."
"Oh come off it Fred," Joe growled, squaring up to his brother whilst the others watched in morbid fascination, all praying that the latest confrontation wouldn't end bloodily. "You've done the same thing in nearly every other game, and I bet if it was one of the other lads you wouldn't give a stuff, but because it's me and you still can't accept that you were in the wrong, you have to make a big song and dance about it. Robbie's fine aren't you mate?"
Joe turned to his younger brother, fully expecting to see Robbie stood near Jason and Phoebe, irritated by the two mechanics actions and fully ready to get the game restarted. This wasn't the sight he was met with, as the teen was still on the floor, obviously in pain despite his apparent determination to not show it.
"Actually mate," the teen finally said, voice cracking as he tried to not cry out. "I think you've done my ankle in."
"Tell me again how that was nothing?" Freddie asked, glaring heavily at his older brother whilst Sandy and Phoebe rushed over to Robbie, the latter showing an uncharacteristic amount of worry at seeing her boyfriend in pain, though he quickly worked to sooth her worries as Sandy checked his ankle, failing as he couldn't not wince when she pressed down on the joint.
"Can we not do this now?" he asked his brothers through gritted teeth instead. "Because I couldn't give a shit about your stupid fight when I can not physically stand up due to being in quite a lot of pain."
"He was the one who did this to you," Freddie started, well aware of just how childish he was sounding, though he couldn't find it in himself to care.
"Yeah and it was a dick move, but it's part of the game," Robbie grunted. "And Joe's right, because you wouldn't be this mad if it wasn't him who did this. We all get that you two can't stand each other, I mean you try to hide it, but it's the most transparent crap I think I've ever seen, but if you'd like to keep me out of it it'd be much appreciated."
With that, Robbie grabbed Jason's held out hand, his brother helping him get up, though when he was stood up, it was obvious just how much pain he was in.
"Where do you think you're going?" Joe asked as Phoebe moved into support Robbie on his other side.
"Home, where we all are," Sandy filled in as she watched the three teens begin to make their way back, the others all trailing behind. "Robbie's badly sprained his ankle, we can't continue the game now and he needs to rest. But if today has shown me anything, it's how much this whole thing between you two has spiralled out of control.
"I could pretend that it wasn't all bad before, I mean at least you two could live under the same roof without killing the other, but I see now I was just burying my head in the sand. Your brother was injured and you were both too involved in your stupid, petty rivalry to even check if he was okay.
"Instead you used the whole situation to make the other feel bad, and I'm sorry boys, but that isn't okay on any level. I was okay to ignore this whole thing at first, but I'm not doing it anymore. You sort this out, you talk properly and stop being so stupid, and you do it now."
"And if we don't?" Joe couldn't stop himself from asking.
"Then you can find somewhere else to stay tonight. You've made the whole place toxic and I'm not having anymore of it. So until you swallow your pride, you two are out."
Without another word, Sandy turned heel and walked away, not looking back, because she knew that if she did, she'd crumble and take back all the horrible things she'd just said, and in this instance she couldn't do that, not for the sake of the rest of her family.
In just moments, only Joe and Freddie remained in the park, still slightly confused by how the whole thing had happened. "I'm going to need a drink if we're going to do this," Joe said after an awkward moment, grabbing his hoodie that still lay by the side, pulling it over his head, though it didn't do much to rid himself of the chill that had started to settle in the moment the game had ended. "And a strong one at that."
"You mean we're actually going to do this?" Freddie found himself practically gaping, because despite all his attempts to try and talk to Joe, to fix their broken relationship, he had always been met with cold and stony words, and after a while, he'd simply given up, resigned to the fact that he and Joe would be nothing more than civil.
"You heard mum, she's not going to let us back in the house if we don't at least talk. And me and Linds are still trying for a baby, so we have to take every chance we can," the last part was a cheap shot and both brothers knew it, but Freddie was also aware that if he had any hope of fixing this whole sorry mess the last thing he could do was react to Joe's words, so taking a bracing breath, he turned to the older man, a fake smile firmly plastered on his face.
"Well we better start talking then."
}}}}}}}
"This is just ridiculous," Freddie sighed as he downed the last of his pint, motioning for Jack to pour him another whilst Joe only stared at a beer mat like it was the most interesting thing in the world. They had been at the pub for just under 10 minutes at this point, neither brother having exchanged a single word. "You were the one who wanted us to do this Joe, but you're saying nothing."
"It's kind of difficult to decide where to start, I mean there's kind of a lot for us to talk about. You pretending that I had run off with another woman, when in fact I was in a coma twenty miles out of town. And then I find out you had been using my hell as a way to worm your way into Lindsey's bed-"
"We've gone over this a million times if not more," Freddie sighed, realising that Joe was only interested in going over the same ground. "And I have explained everything to you. Fraser told me you were dead and was blackmailing me into lying, and the whole thing with Linds, well you're making it sound a lot worse than it really is."
"Trying to sleep with my fiancée when I was dead. Oh yeah, that's nothing, just me being dramatic obviously."
"I was comforting Lindsey through a difficult time, there was no ulterior motive," Freddie snapped, not mentioning the time when he and Lindsey had actually slept together. Her and Joe were finally at a good place and the mechanic was damned if he was going to be the one to ruin it, after everything they'd been through, it was the last thing he wanted. "And I'm over Lindsey, I am with Hayley remember?"
And for the first time, Freddie's denial about his feelings for the junior doctor was true. In early September he had met Hayley at The Loft, she was a new barmaid and he'd had to sort out a sour deal with Grace. It hadn't been love at first sight for the two, but there had been a connection made, eventually leading to the pair becoming an official couple, and Freddie happier than he had been in years.
He no longer pined for Lindsey, and it was a welcome change. And whilst she had believed Freddie when he'd told her, Joe was having a much harder time accepting the truth.
"You were married to Sinead when you still had feelings for Lindsey," Joe deadpanned, proving just why it was so hard for him to believe what his younger brother was telling him.
"And Hayley is completely different than Sinead. When I was with her I was in a bad place, just like she was. We were together because we thought we loved each other and because we thought it would keep us sane and alive, but the whole thing was toxic on every single level. Even if... if Katy hadn't died, we'd have split up by this point no doubt.
"Hayley though, I've never met anyone like her, she was the first person to truly make me smile. She isn't scared to call me out, but instead of just shouting she actually listens and makes sure that I know she'll always be there for me. And I'm good for her too, ever since we got together she has become so much more confident and it's brilliant to see, because us together is giving her the confidence to show the world just how amazing she is.
"And knowing that I had a part in that, well it's something I still can't wrap my head around. But if you don't want to believe my feelings for her are genuine then fine, but I really don't see the point in sticking around, because for all your talk about listening and getting this mess sorted, you seem pretty unwilling about the whole thing."
With a shrug Freddie pushed his chair away from the table though was stopped from leaving by Joe, looking just as surprised by his hand on Freddie's arm than his brother was. "I believe you," he eventually said, motioning for Freddie to sit back down. "I've never seen you so passionate about someone before, not even Lindsey. You love her a lot."
"Yeah, I do," Freddie nodded, not sure just what had happened and what was going to. "She's the most important person in my life right now and I see us having a proper future together, like the one you and Lindsey deserve. I'm sorry that my feelings for her got in the way of your relationship, it was the last thing I ever wanted and it's why I never said anything. I thought they would go away in time, it just took a little longer than it should of."
"Well I haven't been as receptive as I should have been," Joe said after a short pause, everything he said at this point had to be perfect. He couldn't just say whatever came to him, not if he wanted his and Freddie's relationship to truly repair itself. "And I'm sorry about that. Like mum says, if I hadn't been as pigheaded as I have been, this whole thing would have been sorted out months ago. I was just angry and hurting and-"
"I know mate, I get it," Freddie said with a small smile. His and Joe's relationship wasn't perfect yet, there were still a lot of issues they needed to sort out, but at least now they were on the same page, determined to get it sorted out. And as they both got another pint, Freddie couldn't help but thinking that maybe, just maybe, Christmas miracles did exist.
So this did delve away from the initial plot about the football game, but there's so much of Freddie and Joe's relationship going wrong at the moment, I couldn't resist the temptation to write about it!
Next chapter - Ruby didn't take back Ziggy in the hospital after her heart attack, he's hurt her way too much already and she can't cope with all his games. Too bad Ziggy just can't let go, and he's going to win his girl back – DBS2000
Guest – When chapter 193 was prompted, the Nancy and Robbie story hadn't even been implied on the show, but when it did start to happen, I was definitely thinking of using her as the teacher Robbie falls for. It's obviously going to be posted quite far in the future though, maybe even when the storyline has finished, but depending on what happens I may make the teacher Nancy, but at this point I can't give a solid answer, because I don't know myself yet!
Guest – Thank you so much for the lovely review! I've never been asked to give any tips for writing, but I'll try to make this as clear as I can!
Before writing any chapter I always try to make a brief plan of not only the promp on how I'm going to lay everything out, what's going to be the main thing to happen in the chapter, character interactions I want and developments for both characters and the plot. It's never anything fancy, but helps give me a direction with all chapters and prevents any unnecessary rambling, it's also really good for multi-chaptered fics.
Proof-reading is your friend, never post anything the second you've finished writing it, leave it for a couple of days and then go back to it. It means your brain is well rested and you're a lot more likely to pick up on any mistakes that you missed the first time round.
This is generally rather generic stuff really, but practice is what makes your writing better. No-one is perfect at writing, especially the first time round, but if you think it's good and if you're proud of it, don't change that for anyone. Sure you may not feel that way about something a few years down the line (I know I don't), but that's all part of you growing and learning new and better things.
I'm sorry I got carried away here and it's quite long, but if you do want to start writing (same for anyone reading this), don't let anything stop you! Any sort of creative outlet is so good for you, and I'm much happier and in a better place mentally now then I was last year, when I never wrote. Starting this prompt fic was probably one of the best things I did last year, because it's made me not only happier, but also a better writer.