#eightforyou

[meemalee]

Merry Christmas, @eightforyou - with love from your T/R Rom-Communism Secret Santa! 💜

[talldecafcappuccino]

checking for a fever + mutual pining 💜

Ahh I know you already saw this, but thank you for the prompt!! Sorry it took so long. Also, I need to double check the formatting at some point because I may have posted this to ao3 while in an Uber 😂

---

Rebecca’s steps slowed as she entered the empty locker room.

The player cubbies were neat and tidy with fresh towels lined up along the far wall, a sure sign that the team was long gone. She spotted Ted’s desk through the window to the coach’s office and checked the time, swearing quietly under her breath.

She knew Ted was ending training early so the boys could get ready for the gala, but had hoped to catch him before he left. Unfortunately her final planning meeting with Higgins went long and Ted appeared to have “flown the coop” as he was wont to say.

Her heels clicked as she walked into his office and the overhead lights buzzed tunelessly. There was no smile awaiting her when she stepped through the door, no cheery greeting bouncing off the walls. She frowned and adjusted her purse higher on her shoulder, suddenly self-conscious about being there at all.

It's not like she needed Ted for anything. All the details for the evening had been sorted. Besides, they would see each other in a few short hours. He’d run the auction while she worked the room like the well-oiled machine they’d become this season. She was just . . . disappointed. That’s all.

She peered over the top of his desk as if he might be crouching behind it, feeling silly the moment she did so. She shook her head and smoothed her coat with both hands as if to brush away her embarrassment.

Ted had left and that was that. There was no reason to feel put out about it, not when she still had a complicated chiffon to arrange and an expensive dress to pour herself into, not to mention–

“Heya, boss.”

She spun on her heel, her legs crossing at the ankles as she took in the figure in the doorway.

“Ted,” she breathed, the corners of her mouth tugging upward.

He lingered in the doorway with his backpack over onne shoulder and slid his hands into his khaki pockets with that soft, crooked smile.

“Well how about that, I was just up in your office. We must have criss-cross, apple-sauced our paths along the way.” He chuckled, eyes crinkling at the corners.

That’s when she noticed the dark circles underneath his eyes and his flushed face. Her own smile faltered. “Ted, are you alright?”

“Oh, I’m fine. Didn’t sleep all that well last night. Probably too excited about tonight, kind of like a kid the night before Christmas, you know? I’ve never emceed an auction before.” Then he swayed on his feet and his shoulder bumped against the doorframe. He turned and gave the frame an apologetic salute. “Pardon me, ma’am.”

She raised her brows at that. She’d seen him just this morning and he appeared perfectly fine. Maybe a little tired, but they all were. It was tough planning an event like this, even with the extra hands this year.

“I guess I’m not feeling a hundred p, if you know what I mean,” he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck. “I got this headache that’s kind of like if a jackhammer and a woodpecker joined forces with, I dunno . . . a solar flare? Started about halfway through training. I don’t want to blame Beard, but he was humming Danger Zone for about an hour while the boys ran defensive drills. But I also keep shivering which is weird considering I don’t even feel cold today and I’m always cold.”

Rebecca frowned and dropped her purse on his desk, pushing back her coat sleeves as he continued to ramble.

“Like this one time I went camping with my boy scout troop and I was put in charge of the campfire and—

She stepped into his space and pressed the back of her hand to his forehead, shutting him up instantly. Warmth radiated from his forehead like he’d been out in the summer sun and not the crisp January air.

“Right. You have a fever,” she announced. “You’re burning up.”

He squeezed his eyes shut, his forehead shifting underneath her hand. “Burnin’ up, burnin’ up for you baby,” he sang, a delirious smile on his lips. read the rest on ao3

[ohtendril]

27 😎

27. "Not my first choice."

"It wouldn't be my first choice, but I see where you're coming from."

Rebecca smudging his cuticles with silver as she looked up at Ted. "Well which one would you pick?"

"Easy. Red one. With this blue polish?” He wiggled his finger in her hand. “Richmond pride! Go Greyhounds!" He punched her air with his free hand.

She scoffed, amused and looked back down at his other hand still in hers only to curse at the poor job she was doing with painting his nails. She ran her fingernail around the edges of his nail, wiping the excess polish before it dried, the brush carefully balanced between her middle and forefinger.

"I don't know. Seems a bit," she paused and dipped the brush back inside the tiny bottle, considering her words as she watched the thick liquid drip against the neck of the glass. "Bold."

"Remember what I told you about...” Ted paused and Rebecca knew he made a face even if she didn’t see it, still concentrated on the drag of the brush. “Geez, was it a year ago already? How time flies when you’re having fun.” Rebecca’s eyebrows raised slightly at that. Relegation. Financial troubles. A streak of ties. Divorce. Panic attack. Fun.

“Fashion’s all about confidence,” he continued. “And I’m confident that’s the dress.”

Rebecca laid his hand down on the table and capped the silver nail polish, her mind occupied with the thoughts of that day— Rupert, the cold night air, Ted’s warm hand against her skin, the street musician he’d brought, the crowd dancing.

How the night turned out to be a success all because of…

How it wasn’t the dress that made her feel confident.

It was him.

Rebecca cleared her suddenly dry throat. Her gaze intently glued to the array of different colored bottles.

“You okay?”

“Hm? Mhm. Yeah, just. Picking the last color for—” she pointed at his hand still flat on her desk, the bare fingernail of his thumb waiting for it’s turn.

“Try this.” He reached for the deep red one and put it right in front of her. “Think that’s it.”

Rebecca uncapped the bottle and reached for his hand again, only for the both of them to pull back at the sudden jolt of static at the contact.

Ted shook his hand, “Whoo-wee! Feel like I’ve been struck by lightnin’!”

[chainofclovers]

12, 23! 🖊

12. favorite character to write about this year

Ted Lasso! A truly genre-defying character from a truly genre-defying TV show. I've had a great time writing about so many characters in the ensemble, but I would be lying to myself and the internet if I said my favorite character to write about this year was anyone other than Ted.

23. fics you wanted to write but didn’t

* goes to Abandoned folder in google docs to remember *

* goes to google keep notes to remember more *

Here's a note I had for a story idea about Rebecca's s1 plot and forgiveness: Ted and Rebecca talk to the coaching staff about Rebecca’s decision to return Jamie to Man City last season. She’s brave enough to admit how wrong she was, and even though the others are upset they aren’t as upset as she assumes they would be. Ted frames it as a Rupert-related mistake, and they had decided in advance not to talk about the failed attempts at sabotage, only the one that actually worked. Beard and Nate and Roy forgive Rebecca in their own way, because they believe her when she and Ted both say they can trust her to do the right thing.

Could have been a good story, but I didn't have time to write it before s2 started and the coaching dynamics really changed, as did the focal point w/r/t Rebecca's plotting, and I found all that stuff more compelling than going back in time to try to write this. (Oh and pre-s2 me clearly felt confident Roy would coach!)

I also have a variety of drafts in the old fic graveyard that are mostly just a line or two, some of which got repurposed elsewhere.

[lasshoe]

top 5 ways j*son s*deikis has ruined your life 😇

fhaslfijafjailfa

"i do believe they are soulmates"

sleeping with other people

making me genuinely attracted to mustaches :/

that gq article specifically this

being left-handed

ask me my top 5 anything!

[anastasia-my-darlings]

“Coffee - coffee - coffee” is a saying. Like an exaggeration. --Lorelai Gilmore

Merry Christmas eightforyou here is my gift to you. Best wishes for Happy Holidays and a wonderful New Year. May you feel all the love and joy you deserve. It was great talking to you and I hope you like your gift. 🎁 🎄  hohoho Your Secret Santa  🎅

[talldecafcappuccino]

1. Something I remember vividly - The whole scene of Ted running into Rebecca and John Wingsnight while out to get biscuit supplies in Onward, Forward…. Star-crossed divorcées and she’s just shooting by a little faster than him, that whole perfect piney passage!! Ted just watching them and at sea outside their inside jokes 😭 admiring how beautiful she is in the street lights ❤️‍🔥 ahhhh it just has the most intoxicating atmosphere and post-season one yeeeearning.. it still haunts me in the best way. || 2. What I like the most about your writing - I just know I’m in good hands when I start one of your stories 🥰 You’re such a wonderful storyteller and it always amazes me how you weave a narrative in such an entertaining and satisfying way. They’re always so clever and fun and there’s just so much love in them. They’re a happy place to be!

Kylieeeee this is so kind 🥺 You really are the best fic cheerleader and I’m so glad that whole star-crossed divorcées scene stuck with you because I really love it too. I remember being so proud of that little bit of angst and posting into the Ao3 ether like…it’s all done! And then it turns it was *not* all done lol.

Also, I don’t know if you reblogged that fic ask (you should reblog it if you haven’t already), but I need you to know I think about Beard and Bex After Hours like…at least once a week? It’s so romantic and funny (like a romcom!) and you made me care about a pairing I’d never really given much thought. The moment when Beard takes off his dress shirt to make Bex feel better about her post-baby blowout shirt on their date night is etched in my brain!! I’m not kidding when I say I want to read a full-length novel of their romance. It’s so cozy and lovely and warm, like a big hug 💜

[talldecafcappuccino]

- top 5 climactic romcom lines from film or tv!

- top 5 holiday movies 🎄

- random movie recs: away we go (2009), the scarlet pimpernel (1989) 🥰

Ooh I've seen Away We Go, but I haven't seen any version of The Scarlet Pimpernel 👀 I am adding that to my watch list because it sounds right up my alley...

Top 5 Holiday Movies (I’ve ranked my favorite *real* Christmas movies previously, so here are my fave made-for-tv romcoms!)

The Spirit of Christmas

The Nine Lives of Christmas

A Very Merry Mix-Up

A Holiday Engagement

Borrowed Hearts

Top 5 Climatic Romcom Lines

Nick Miller, New Girl (post-kiss): “I meant something like that.” *swoon*

Leslie Knope, Parks and Rec: “There is another option. We could just say screw it and do this thing for real…I miss you like crazy, think about you all the time, I wanna be with you. So let’s just say screw it.”

Luke Danes, Gilmore Girls: “Would you just stand still?”

Quincy McCall, Love & Basketball: “Double or nothing.”

Joe Fox, You’ve Got Mail: “If I hadn't been Fox Books and you hadn’t been The Shop Around the Corner and we'd just met…I would have asked for your phone number and I wouldn't have been able to wait 24 hours before calling and asking, "How about coffee, drinks, dinner, a movie…for as long as we both shall live?"