A Little Better, All The Time
Follow up to I Get By With A Little Help | Complete - updates every other day
Series: Lonely Hearts Club
Relationships: Roy Kent/Jamie Tartt, Roy Kent & Jamie Tartt, Keeley Jones & Roy Kent, Coach Beard & Roy Kent, AFC Richmond Players & Jamie Tartt, Keeley Jones & Jamie Tartt, past Keeley Jones/Roy Kent, past Keeley Jones/Jamie Tartt
Tags: POV Roy Kent, Feelings Realization, Serial Monogamy, Pining, Hyper-fixation, Getting Together, Relationship Negotiation, Intense Relationship Dynamics, Interdependency, (that’s co-dependency's healthier cousin!), Hurt/Comfort, Therapy, Secondary Trauma, Happy Ending, mentions of Rape, Rape Recovery, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon Divergent after season 1, Jamie's mum is alive in this fic and in canon, he’s here (incredibly self aware), he’s there (totally oblivious), he’s every-fucking-where (a hypocritically contradictorily gloriously strong-minded individual), Roy Kent (knows himself extremely well), Roy Kent (and yet not at all)
Summary: He’d known Tartt could do it, but knowing it and fucking watching that masterpiece of a goal happen with his own eyes are two very different things. And best of all, he got to feel responsible for it. He had gotten to set that in motion for Richmond, for his player.
Ted grabs him in celebration, and Roy’s still roaring and oh, fuck. Careful what you wish for, Kent. Jamie’s seeking out his gaze, flipping him off from the middle of the pitch and smirking before accepting praise and hugs from the rest of the team, and Roy had wanted Jamie to spark some emotion in him, but this? This is electric, this is overwhelming. Roy wants to fucking run out there, grab him in a bear hug of his own, and not let go. This might become a new problem.
Roy wasn't about to admit it, but he'd been sort of excited to see Tartt again. Except when he returns to Richmond, Jamie is... different. On the pitch and off it, he’s quieter, more reserved, a shadow of the person Roy remembers from last season. He’s determined to get to the bottom of the change.
Roy's POV of I Get By With A Little Help
Notes and warnings: When I wrote I Get By With A Little Help, I thought I was done with that story. Except my editor wanted to know what on earth Roy had been thinking that led to him immediately saying yes in the cupboard and then being so intensely committed to Jamie, and I decided to write out his point of view. I did not imagine that it would end up being 40k words long, but ultimately, this is a story about hyper-fixation from a man who thinks a lot more than he speaks, so here we are.
You could read this before I Get By, but you’ll need to read both parts to get the full picture of what happened. Certain events referenced in one are not spelled out in detail in the other, and vice versa, and this one was definitely written with the aim that the reader is aware of certain things about Jamie that Roy is not - namely, the rape and abuse he suffered in his side of the story. Heed the tags and detailed content warnings on the Jamie side. This story includes discussion of Jamie’s burn scar in detail, and references to Jamie’s rape in the aftermath of Roy finding out.
Chapter One on AO3 | Chapter Two on AO3 | Chapter Three on AO3 | Chapter Four on A03 | Chapter Five on AO3 | Chapter Six on AO3 | Chapter Seven on AO3