I was so very grateful to be asked to draw something for this lovely story. It's a Ted/Trent gala fic with some gorgeous dreamy imagery, sharp metaphors and as much angst as you can imagine (and it's so good!) And a happy ending as a treat.
*peeks head in two years late with Starbucks fic about Trent being down the most bad for Ted*
i put my sadness in a box
Hello, Tedependent nation, and Happy Pride! 🌈💖
I come bearing fic, in which Trent pines more than a Christmas tree, intergenerational queer friendships are friendshipping, and Colin is doing his best (at what? lots of things……trying to guess what’s up in Trent’s love life……trying to teach Trent how friendship works……trying to avoid being compared to Trent’s daughter whilst making a variety of pouty or pleading puppy eyes faces……)
No onscreen Ted, but Trent thinks about him so much, I almost felt like I could justify tagging him as a character.
Though I have publicly stepped back from posting Ted/Trent fic, I did want to celebrate today (March 30, 2025) being 2 years since I finished "Somebody Know Me Too Well." 💙
I still get messages from folks every now and again that it was the first Ted/Trent fic they read or that it was a story that got them interested in the pairing at all and that isn't something I take for granted.
Thank you to the folks who read this Bantr story of mine when it was first being posted and for those who have visited it since.
And extra big Thank You and gentle forehead kiss for the folks who left kind and/or wildly enthusiastic comments on it.
I wrote "Somebody Know Me Too Well" as a second chance on myself. (There's a reason it's the second Bantr fic I attempted to write.) I wanted a villain-free fic where Trent's two main exes aren't bad people — they just weren't right for him. I wanted a story where Ted fell first. I wanted cozy domestic moments. I wanted to weave something together where the same two people fell for each other at two different speeds, two different ways.
Thank you for these past two years with that completed story.
(And if you missed out on the bonus fic that takes place during the last chapter... feel free to check out "I'll Always Be There (As Frightened As You)"!)
Ever since he was a child, Ted was able to see the remnants of Love on a person: little flares of light that strobe when the one meant for them is near.
His parents are practically lighthouses when around each other, their whole beings lit up like the very best of Christmas Trees, bright and shiny and constant. Young Ted is always a little sad when he meets the parents of his friends only to see mere glimmers of light left on them, if any at all. But he's determined that when he Grows Up he'll be a lighthouse too, he'll find his perfect Love too.
Then his father dies and his mother's light is shuttered forever. Not a shimmer or a speck of it remains. She's dark, no matter the passage of time since his father was buried.
After that, well, Ted's resolve to be a lighthouse dims. What is the point of all that Love if the loss of it can be so very damaging? Better to help others, to guide those whose light still shines than to seek it himself.
Besides, no matter how long he looks at his own skin, he cannot ever see a sliver of light bright against his fingertips or dancing along the length of his arms. Not when Shelley Masters held his hand at camp, not when Howie Kim kissed him under the bleachers, not even when he met a beautiful woman in a parking lot after a game.
She had shone though. Michelle had been radiant when she looked at him, and he had yearned for her in a way he had never experienced, his whole heart aching whenever she was near.
That must be Love, Ted supposed. Surely he just couldn't see his own. Stood to reason. If he could see his own light then he'd barely be able to see anyone else's surely? Because Ted loved freely and often and hard.
Too hard, it turned out.
Over the years Ted watched as Michelle's light dimmed, sometimes flaring back to life for a short time, only to bank once more, until it was little more than an ember
Until she'd come home talking about her new therapist. She'd glowed in a way Ted hadn't seen in years
He should have known better than to put himself through being in the same room as the two of them, but Ted was nothing if not stubborn, resolutely heading to meet Doctor Jake, determined to save his marriage.
Less than two months later, he touched down in London
Within hours, head still spinning, he was being hustled into a claustrophobic room filled with judgemental faces and sharp words.
It wasn't until he called upon a man a few rows back that he was almost blinded by a flare of light. He put it down to the glasses the man wore, and tried to focus on his question instead of the smooth timbre of his voice despite the ridiculing tone. It was that or allow himself to notice just how desperately attractive the man was, and Ted was already in enough trouble figuring out the off-side rule.
Days later, it happened again, only this time, Trent Crimm, The Independent, wasn't wearing his glasses. They were tucked into his hand, yet when he stood, he threw out a flare of light so bright it seemed to bounce off Ted himself, reverberating around the small room, unseen by anyone else.
It wasn't until their third meeting, the journalist striding confidently along the boundary of the pitch to stand a few yards away that Ted made a realisation as he gesticulated at the other man.
The light wasn't bouncing off Ted. It was Ted's own light flaring towards Trent, merging with the radiance Trent threw off with every step, a veritable supernova of Love between them.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the
Organization for Transformative Works
Trent Crimm wakes up from surgery.
Ted Lasso is there.
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Words: 3029
Rating: Teen audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Categories: M/M
Characters: Ted Lasso, Trent Crimm
Relationships: Trent Crimm & Ted Lasso
Additional Tags: Fluff, Hospitals, waking up from anaesthetic, warnings for talks of procedures, minor talk of pain, but i promise it's just silly and light hearted, set somewhere at the beginning of season 3, more friendship than romance, but obv it's always tedtrent romance too, no beta we die like earl greyhound, Ted Lasso being Ted Lasso, Trent going through the mortifying ideal of being perceived, and speedrunning every emotion under the sun, Trent Crimm needs a hug, always
"Phone in hand, and wrapped in a soft throw blanket, Trent slid the balcony door shut behind him. He had the borrowed sweatpants back on from the evening before, and his feet were bare as he stepped onto the prickly all-weather carpeting. The fall breeze slipped between his toes and playfully tugged at his untamed hair as he closed his eyes and faced the rising sun. Trent shivered as cool air met the damp spots where Ted had kissed his neck and lips before coming outside, knowing something inside of himself had woken up for what felt like the first time."
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For Chapter 13 of I Really Enjoyed Getting to Spend This Time With You by @rngaredead ❤️
Yes, Ted and Trent are holding hands in the second one. No, you wouldn't know how else they are spending their precious limited time together unless you head to the story!
Thank you, my friend, for each and every beautiful quiet moment ❤️
“I wasn’t gonna let you stand out in that storm,” Ted pointed out.
“No… I mean, yes, thank you for that, but thank you for letting me in here,” Trent said as he pulled his left arm back from around Ted and laid his hand on Ted’s chest. “I’m glad to know you better.”
Ted loosened his hold on Trent to bring a hand up to wrap around Trent’s.
“Thank you for wantin’ to know me at all.”
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For Chapter 21 of I Really Enjoyed Getting to Spend This Time With You by @rngaredead 💙
Like Trent in this chapter, I'll never be able to put into words how much this story and our friendship means for me. (“I still don’t think I was supposed to be here, but I’ll never regret showing up like I did”). Thank you for giving this a chance and not giving up until the finish line.
This story is about mistakes, but to me it's also about circles. Circling in suffocating thoughts after a misstep. Circling in words trying desperately to get them out right. Circling in a slow dance in the silence of the kitchen when all paths seem closed. Humming on the next level, hesitant light coming through with so much weight. Shouting through the music on the next one, filled with smiles and hope (and if you caught a pattern with those *wink wink rule of threes*, you get a gold star). Circling back to each other and up together.
“Well, that’s all we could ever hope for those we love most, isn’t it?” Rebecca asked.
With a knowing smile, Catherine raised her glass to Rebecca and the two women nodded a silent Cheers at each other.
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For Chapter 25 of I Really Enjoyed Getting to Spend This Time With You by @rngaredead 🩷
This is a love letter to soulmates coming in all shapes and forms.
Rebecca Welton is a queen we all know and adore. Catherine Waverly is a queen of my friend's creation. I'll be forever grateful for getting to know her (and hearing her voice in my head when I'm being stupid or hard on myself). Their epic meeting and being happy about their silly best friends was everything🩷
(And here is what these two were smiling about...)