Tuesday, 10th January 2023

Jamie snuck out of bed and the room to head down to his mother's room. She opened the door and smiled, handing him Katie as she finished packing.

"I didn't think we'd see you," Simon told him with a bright smile.

"I couldn't let you leave without one last goodbye."

"For us or for Katie?" Georgie asked with a laugh.

"Both of ya," Jamie told her running a finger along the tuft of hair on the crown of Katie's head. "You're still coming down next month?"

"Of course."

"Good," Jamie said, holding onto Katie and chatting until he slid her into her car seat and waved them away.

He went back upstairs, ordered them croissants and pressed his cold nose into Roy's neck to wake the other man up.

"Did they get off okay?" Roy asked with a yawn.

Jamie nodded.

"Do you want to go for a walk?" Roy asked. "See some of Gretna Green?"

Jamie yawned and pressed closer, wondering why the other man was so tense for having just woken up. "Breakfast and then sex and then a walk. Unless you want to do the walk first?"

"I have been thinking," Roy said.

"What about?"

"I'm not ready yet," Roy told him. "To be a coach in a relationship with his player and married and coming out as gay in my first year being manager."

Jamie realised what the tight muscles meant. "Okay."

"I'm sorry, I-"

Jamie covered Roy's mouth with his hand. "I'm so fucking proud of you, so fucking proud of you for telling me and for saying what you need…I love you and I don't care if we never come out, I don't care if we just live together and live our lives without anyone knowing. I'll still be Jamie Kent in private but I'll wait until I stop playing and we just become two dudes with amazing cocks who are married."

Roy huffed a laugh against Jamie's hand.

"I'm not in a rush, fuck, if you wanted it I'd tweet out a picture of your fucking hairless arse with my name written on it and let them all fucking explode but I'm in this relationship to be with you and that means we do this shit when we are ready and I want your name on my back when we are both ready for it and not a fucking second before that."

Roy nodded, his eyes bright and his whole body soft. "We need to start looking for some country estate for your chickens when you retire."

Jamie smiled. "We need to sort out Spanish Green first."

Roy rolled his eyes and leaned forward to kiss Jamie. "I love you."

"Me too! But I love you more."

Roy reached out and yanked Jamie, rolling them as he did until Roy was able to perch himself above the younger man and then he swore. "For fuck's sake!" He rolled back over and reached down to hold his knee.

"Roy," Jamie said, sitting up and rubbing his hand along Roy's calf.

"Fucking old body…fucking useless."

"Roy," Jamie said, leaning forward and pressing a kiss to Roy's knee.

Roy growled and held his knee, knocking it back into place. Jamie flinched but didn't move, his eyes on Roy.

"I'll talk to Ruth when we get back," Roy told him, voice soft and broken.

Jamie pressed another kiss to Roy's knee and then his thigh, the soft inner flesh inside of his hip, the line of his adonis belt, the patch of skin below his belly button, the line of his hairy abdomen, his left nipple, his right one, the pulse between his collar bones, the kink in his left collar bone from a break, the bump of his adam's apple, the cover of his jaw, the lobe of his ear, the apple of his cheek, and then his forehead.

"Jamie," Roy said, eyes closed. Jamie pressed a kiss to his left eye and then curled himself into Roy's side.

"I love you," Jamie said. "Every fucking cell in your body, the parts that leave tea cups when I'm already done stacking the dishwasher, the ones that make me do burpees until I vomit, the ones that hated me when I was a prick, the ones that love me when I'm a prick, the ones that defend me from my dad and love my mum, the ones that are damaged and broken and need love to get better."

"I don't deserve you," Roy said.

"Fuck that, I deserve you and that's really all that matters."

Roy laughed. "I need you to know, I want to tell the team, I want to tell the yoga ladies, I want to tell your mates, I want to tell the people in our lives because they matter, I want to fucking tell Nigel because that fucker has been ribbing me about you for years, I am not ashamed of you or this or us, I just need more time before we do everything out there in the public world or maybe just do one thing at a time. I don't know because I want to let you take that photo but I'm just not ready."

"And you are the best fucking thing in my life, you're better than scoring the winning goal just before the final siren and you're better than holding a trophy, you're…well, fuck I don't know that you're better than Katie snuggles but it's a very fucking tight race. There is no right timeframe and I'm more interested in you and I being happy than anything else."

Roy jostled Jamie until the other man moved up and over Roy. Roy kissed him. "How do you feel about that sex being with me on my back, with a pillow beneath my knee, and you doing all the fucking work?"

Jamie beamed. "Really fucking good."

Roy was about to kiss him again when they froze at the knock on the door. Jamie jumped out of bed and bounced to the door coming back with tea and croissants and a chocolate dip.

"That's never coming out of my fucking hair," Roy grumbled at the look on Jamie's face.

Jamie grinned. "Oh, don't you worry, I'll make sure it's all gone…I'm very good at using my tongue."

Roy flushed and let Jamie help him sit up in bed, helped him prop his knee, and didn't think about the fact that his body was broken already while Jamie's was toned and powerful because he knew that if it were the other way around, he wouldn't give a shit about Jamie's crappy knee – he'd just love him and he was determined to just let Jamie love him.

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