Dinner
Jamie drove them home and they did a little tidying before he created a shopping list on his phone and left Roy to it and went to get all of the stuff they would need for his pasta. It didn't take him long to get in and out of the shop, no one said anything to him except a set of twins who stared at him awestruck. He winked at them and offered a photo to their mum. He made it home while Roy was in the shower, so he set out the food and started chopping everything up. He still couldn't cook like Roy, but he enjoyed being the other man's shoe chef. Roy came out smelling like soap and deodorant and immediately checked the water which still wasn't boiling. He moved around Jamie, grabbing bits and pieces as he needed them. Jamie moved without really thinking about it, making space as needed or sliding into the space made by Roy.
"Jamie." Roy's voice was quiet and rough.
"Yeah?"
"I'm proud of you."
Jamie froze. "Yeah?"
"Yeah, that took a lot of fucking courage and I know part of it was for Colin, so I hope you know that I'm proud of you whether it was for you or for Colin or for anyone else."
"It's for me, yeah. I was thinking about Colin but I'm Jamie Fucking Tartt, the prickiest prick to have every pricked so why the hell should I hide somethin' like that."
"But there is something I need to say."
"What?"
"I think you might be pansexual."
"Wha?" Jamie remembered he heard Roy say that before.
Roy pulled his phone out and tapped a couple of buttons. Jamie's phone pinged, he rolled his eyes and pulled it out just as it started ringing. The face that lit up the screen made him beam.
"Hello, Mummy," Jamie said, answering it voice happy.
Roy put his hand on Jamie's hip and nudged him out of the way. Jamie went to sit at the kitchen table and watched Roy as he talked to his mother.
"I saw the news," she said. "Is this something you wanted to do, my baby?"
"Yeah, I thought I knew who was outed and I didn't want them to be alone, yeah, but also…I don't care anymore about what he has to say, you know?"
"I know."
"He can think I'm soft or a…you know, whatever, I'm not gonna let him stop me doin' wha' I wanna."
"I'm so proud of you, Jamie, my Jamie, are you happy?"
"Yeah, Mummy, I'm happy."
"Did you get the garlic?" Roy called out.
"Hold on, Mummy, I told you, we have some in the cupboard. You just gotta look, like the look me mum used to do when I couldn't find me boots."
"Fuck off."
"Old man eyes," Jamie muttered, his mother laughed in his ear. Jamie hipped Roy out of the way and reached in, grabbing the garlic bulb and handed it to Roy.
Roy grunted at him.
"Sorry, Mummy, Roy can't see."
"Fuck off," Roy muttered.
"What are you doing?" Georgie asked him.
"We're makin' dinner for the team. Are you still comin' next weekend?"
"Of course, did you get me a ticket for the game?"
"You're going to come? To the game? Really?" Jamie's mother had stopped coming to his games when he was still at the Academy, she had always found watching him fucking stressful and finally she'd had to stop coming when she almost ran on the pitch and fucked up one of the opposition team when they fouled Jamie. Well, she had run on the pitch, but Simon was faster and his coach at the time knew to watch her as well. Everyone else on the team were fucking scared of his mummy.
"Yeah, yeah, I think I can do it." Jamie had offered to put her up in the box with Keeley after she'd asked why his mother hadn't been at the Manchester game.
"Okay, Mummy, I'll get you a ticket. What about Simon?"
"Can you get two?"
"I'm the star of the team, ain't I?"
Georgie laughed. "Okay, go and help your man."
"Mummy!"
"I'm proud of you."
Jamie's face heated. "Thank you, Mummy, love you."
"Love you."
He hung up and opened the messages app to read the message Roy had sent – it was a link and he read it. "Fuck," he said, "I'll have to tweet out a correction, you couldn't have said it a bit louder at the press conference?"
"No."
Jamie laughed. "What else do we need to do?"
"Wait for all of that twats to show up."
"Rainbows," Jamie said. "Or fuck…is there a different flag? I'm not a very good pansexual."
Roy smirked. "Call Phoebe, she'll make a sign, I invited Ruth."
"Mint."
Jamie went back to his phone, he did some googling and then called Phoebe. She was excited to make him a sign. When he hung up he grinned at Roy.
"I need a new fucking outfit, I'll be back."
Jamie had a shower and fucked about in his closet until he found the perfect pink, blue, and yellow outfit. When he was done, he saw even more fucking messages on his phone so he fired off a quick message to his mum and then turned the phone off – the rest of the fucking world could wait. When he got downstairs, Dani was handing Roy some tequila wearing bright pink, purple and bright blue.
"We are not wearing the same colours, amigo."
"Roy explained I had the wrong word…well sort of, it's like bisexual, innit."
"I am wearing the bisexual colours."
"Your pasta looks good," Dani's mother said, peering into the pot. "I made rice and empanadas, turn your oven on."
Roy's head bobbed and he immediately followed her directions.
"These are the pansexual colours," Jamie said. "I love your outfit, amigo."
"Jamie Tartt," Dani's mother called out, she walked over to him and cupped his face and then yanked him down to her height. "My hijo told me what you did and I am proud of you." She kissed him on both cheeks and then let him go.
Jamie could feel his face heat. Thankfully he was distracted by the doorbell. He smiled and left to open it; O'Brien, his wife and their twins – both wearing rainbow tops, were waiting on the other side.
"I brought brownies," Roxy said, pressing a kiss to his cheek.
The twins were hiding behind O'Brien's legs, peeking out at Jamie. He waved and they hid before peeking again.
Richard and a beautiful woman came up behind them, skirting around O'Brien. Richard was carrying a few bottles of wine. Zoureaux arrived before the twins had moved again, carrying a massive potted plant. Jamie laughed, thinking it was an amusing response to Roy's joke…until half of the team showed up with a range of indoor plants.
Phoebe bounced in and ran at him while Jamie was still trying to work out where to put the large flat pot of succulents.
"Phoebe!"
"Jamie Tartt!"
"I made your sign."
"You're the best, Fifi, where should we put it?"
"In the lounge room, near the TV."
"Let's go," Jamie said, bending over and putting the pot on the floor near the side table. He went into the lounge room with her and hoisted her up to stick the sign up on the wall. He stepped back and looked at the sign. It was a bright blend of pink, blue, and yellow and has his name in black with glitter across it. He fucking loved it and was going to put it in his fucking room after the party.
"You're the absolute best, I love it," Jamie said.
Phoebe hugged him. "Does this mean you and Uncle Roy are dating."
Jamie choked on air and felt his skin heat up.
"I…um…you see…ummm…no?"
Phoebe shook her head and turned around to give him a look before announcing she was going to find snacks. Jamie watched her go and had to sit down.
Sam walked in a few minutes later, he smiled at Jamie and then paused. "Are you okay, my friend?"
Jamie nodded, forcing himself up and heading towards Sam. "I'm good, just took a minute."
"Simi send some of the dodo you like, I put it in the pantry instead of the bench so it will still be there when you want it."
"Thank you, bro," Jamie pulled Sam into a tight hug. "And thank you for everything at the press conference – you're the fucking best."
Sam ducked his head, then his eyes wandered for a moment and flicked back, his face strange. Jamie turned around but there was no one in the doorway.
"Come on, bet there's food, I'm ready for a fucking feast."
They went into the dining room and found everyone there, standing around the dining room table and through into the wide room that shared the space where all of Roy's bookshelves were. The kids were all sitting on the carpet in the centre of the bookshelves and playing. Roy was standing at the stove, working on the pasta but given all of the food on the table – and the assorted indoor plants, they probably wouldn't need it, but it's had become Jamie's absolute favourite training diet meal. Jamie wove through the crowd, chatting to people here and there but always heading for Roy. When he finally got there, Roy was tossing the cooked pasta into the other pot and coating it. Roy turned and smiled at Jamie as he stopped next to the stove.
"I didn't expect so much food," Jamie said.
Roy shrugged. "You're all elite athletes, you can eat a lot of fucking food."
Jamie bumped his shoulder into Roy's. "That mean I can keep all of this pasta for myself?"
"Fuck…yeah, why the fuck not. Tell that lot to eat the food on the table first."
Jamie beamed at Roy and then spun. "Food's up on the table."
"What about the pasta?" Keeley asked. He hadn't seen her come in so he smiled at her and she waved back.
"The pasta is mine unless we need more food. Roy said so."
"You are his favourite," Dani said.
"Y-" Jan Mass was about to speak but Isaac elbowed him and then shook his head. Jamie frowned at them and then decided he didn't care.
"Kids eat first," Jamie said. "Let's carbo-load!"
The kids stood up and ran for their adults or the table. Everyone ate, sitting on chairs, the floor, and a few stood leaning against the kitchen bench. Jamie collected his food and perched on the arm of Roy's chair. After they ate, and had the amazing brownies that Roxy had brought, everyone spread out around the room, branching out into the lounge room. Keeley grabbed Jamie and pulled him into the lounge room.
"How are you, sweetie?"
Jamie took a moment. "Good."
"Good?"
"Yeah, after I spoke with me mummy, I turned off me phone. Had a bunch of messages, yeah, but everyone important is here or in Manchester and none of 'em care."
"You never told me either," she said, voice soft and questioning but not hurt.
"Never told no one, not anyone except me mum and Simon. And the guys I fucked but l always did that careful like, yeah?"
"I'm sorry you had to hide all of this," Keeley said, hugging him tightly.
"I used to hide a lot of shit, but I don't need to anymore. Now I'm not lettin' me dad's voice in me head decide what I do."
"That's good."
"I know, Dr Sharon's fucking mint, yeah? Thank you for takin' me to her."
"It's not just her though, is it?"
Jamie shrugged; he knew that Roy was a big fucking part of all of this but he weren't ready to tell anyone new about that. "You were a big fucking part of me being a better version of meself. I would'n'a got here without a couple arse-kickin's from you."
"That's not…you're welcome. I'm so glad you're happy now," she kissed him on the cheek and pulled away. She spotted Rebecca, who had just arrived, and left Jamie's side.
Jamie looked around the room and then stopped to watch Richard and Isaac walk over to Ruth. She smiled at them, her grin turning a little softer for Isaac…oh, Jamie knew that look; it was body language…oh, Roy was gonna kill Isaac. Jamie liked it when the other man's yelling wasn't directed at him. It took ninety seconds for Roy to stalk over to the trio and bark out a no before marching Ruth out of the house and into the backyard.
Jamie went over to Isaac and elbowed him.
"What?"
"Mate, that's some balls to make eyes at Roy's sister."
"Nah."
"You were," Richard said. "I am French, I know these things."
"Fuck off," Isaac said and walked away.
Jamie laughed.
He didn't see Roy again for almost an hour, O'Brien had had to leave, and Sassy had shown up, with a karaoke machine and her daughter who was still smiling at Sam just a little too brightly when they said hello. Jamie saw Sassy wiggled her eyebrows looked between Sam and Rebecca and he frowned, trying to work out why the woman would react that way. He watched Sassy walk away, Nora trailing behind her and drifting over towards Higgins' kids one of whom was staring at her. Cute…then he realised – his eyes darted back to Rebecca and Sam…he tilted his head and wondered but then the back door opened and Ruth and Roy came in.
"Uncle Roy!" Phoebe called out.
"Yeah?"
"Can you set up the karaoke machine please?"
Roy grunted.
"I'm on it, Little Kent," Jamie called.
Phoebe beamed up at him.
"Fucking suck up."
Jamie turned a smile on Roy and went to set up the machine. Roy made a beeline for Rebecca and pulled her away from Sam, as soon as they were done Rebecca drifted back to Sam's side. Jamie would have to ask Roy what he thought about that.
TBC...
