𝖛. No Georgina Sparks.
CLAIRE RETURNED TO WORK the next week with a smile, glad that she had survived her first week at AFC Richmond. The crew had shot a few things since their arrival, but similarly to the team and its players, they did not have anything good or rather useful yet. It was unfortunate, because unlike everyone else, Claire thought they were doing fine so far. Sure, this mockumentary series was still definitely missing something, but they would most likely find it in due time. Art cannot be hurried. Rome wasn't built in a day. Good shit needs time. Or as the kids like to say it—Claire has no idea if she's using this right—they gotta let him cook. She doesn't admit that she has no idea who him is.
Claire is surprisingly in a good mood when she walks into her office and greets her new cardboard cut-out of Daniel Kaluuya with a grin. However, her cheeriness comes to an end when Tracey eyes her with concern, simply showing her phone to share the news. A picture of Ted and Claire standing closely to each other—Claire detects it was taken on the day they went to the bar together with Coach Beard—is on the front page of the fucking Sun. Claire takes a deep breath whilst she scrolls through the pictures, even noticing that there was one of them leaving the bar together that evening. She hands Tracey her phone back and scoffs.
"This is just great. My privacy is being invaded and now everyone thinks I'm in a relationship with the married American coach. Love that." Claire forces an exaggerated laugh, whilst she frantically paces around the room, "And we were being followed that day?! By The Sun? Did those fuckers have nothing better to do? Fucking hell!"
Tracey silently frowns, whilst handing her a cup of coffee, resulting to Claire raising her brows at her, "This situation must be bad if you're willingly giving me more coffee."
Tracey nods at her and smiles, "I'll only allow it today. So, we'll try to get the story taken down as soon as possible and will sue those nits for defamation. But what is your stance on the press release? I'm guessing you'd want to deny the shit out of everything and throw them a bone by sharing the news of our recent partnership with AFC Richmond, hence explaining why you were even seen with said coach?"
Claire sighs with relief, satisfied with the fact that her best friend knows her so well, "You're the best. I love you."
Tracey bows jokingly, "I know. Love you too. Now, forget about this and actually get to work. Oh, but first you should probably speak to the American and Rebecca. After that you can leave this whole situation behind you. All right?"
Claire nods, feigning indifference, despite her cheerful mood from earlier, furrowing her brows at Tracey, "Fine."
Tracey takes that as her sign to leave the office and Claire takes a last swig of her coffee before she decides to walk out as well—chosing to ignore her phone that was blowing up. However, before she actually leaves the room, she returns to eye the cardboard cut-out once more, her lower lip protruding in a sulky pout, "Not even Daniel Kaluuya can fucking cheer me up, oof!" Claire prances out of the room, already sensing that this was going to be a very tiring day.
The first thing she does upon leaving the office is walking off to find Ted, who luckily is standing in the hallway when she finds him. She's glad the crew isn't filming, giving her some leeway to exclude this—her personal life—from the shooting of this mockumentary. Ted is grinning at her as soon as he sees Claire strutting towards him, not catching the annoyed look on her face, "How are you doing, Claire?" He asks, trying to read her face and noticing her huff.
Claire shrugs, shaking her head petulantly while she tries to not get angered again, "I'm awful, not even Daniel Kaluuya could cheer me up. Daniel fucking Kaluuya! That man is bloody gorgeous. Anyone would be happy to see him." She groans, rubbing her temples and quickly retorts, "And yet, here I am, worried over that stupid article written by those idiots who I shouldn't be losing sleep over. This is serious."
Ted gives her a blank stare, causing her to give him a puzzled look in return, "Didn't you see the front page of The Sun from today?" Upon noticing that his facial expression didn't change, she pulls out her phone to show him the pictures, "The headline is—New Richmond Coach Shags The Nation's Sweetheart Claire Laghari," Claire groans.
"I think a more accurate headline would be—Manager Is Innocently Acquainted With Young Woman Whose Relationship Should Not Define Her And Whose Privacy Should Be Respected." Ted quips, which fails to provoke a smile from Claire. He notices that she's serious, adjusting to her as he looks at her with a worried frown.
Claire is fuming once again, not because of Ted but because she's reminded of how bad the situation is. She eyes Ted with concern, "Ted, this is really bad! Not just for me, but also for you and this club. They insinuate throughout the article that you're having an affair with me. They released a bunch of photos of us together, which means we were being followed. I don't want to put you in a bad situation with your family back home, I really hope I haven't."
"Don't worry about me," Ted reassures her, nodding to show her it would not be a problem, "They won't hear about it and if they do, I'll explain carefully. They'll understand."
Claire notes in her mind to check in on Ted about it later, noticing his fake smile when his family was mentioned. She lets it go for now, thinking about their current problem.
She sighs and continues to ramble, "Well, this isn't even noteworthy, but those dicks had nothing better to do. We're colleagues for fucks sake!" She notices the pointed look on Ted's face, which does manage to amuse her. She corrects herself with a grin, acknowledging their budding friendship, "Okay, I do consider you a friend, too. But that's it."
A person shouting from behind them catches their attention, which happens to be a worried Keeley who walks up to them, joining them to stand next to Claire and Ted in front of her. She eyes both of them with curiosity, "I know I shouldn't, but I just have to ask—is this a real thing or..." She waggles her eyebrows at them, jokingly insinuating to find out if the article was true. Claire turns to look at her close friend, scoffing at her brazenness, "No!"
Keeley casually shrugs and sighs with relief, "Oh, okay. Thank God. I figured that. I just had to ask to be sure. And I wouldn't judge you if it was. But you have been single for ages and the ring on his finger speaks for itself. You seem like a nice lad, though. I would understand if it was real."
"Well, as nice as he is, we are just friends and coworkers," Claire reiterates with a huff, "And unlike those romcoms where the two romantic interests say this about each other, I actually mean it. Ted is married, and like you said, Keelz, I haven't been in a serious relationship in ages."
Keeley grumbles, glancing over to Claire with rage in her eyes, "We need to address this publicly. Get those fuckers to take the article down and sue them! We're not going to let them do this to you, come on," Keeley grabs Claire's arm and drags her along, while Ted hurries after them.
The three of them end up at the door of Rebecca's door and Keeley barges right in without hesitation, her hand holding onto Claire's hand as she pulls her inside. Ted follows after them when the three are standing in the office, noticing a stressed Higgins and Rebecca sitting at her desk.
"Hey, boss," Ted says with a smile, somehow still calm and cheerful despite Keeley and Claire who were still angered.
"Ted, Claire! And Keeley. Hello," Rebecca says with a grin, which no one had noticed was fake.
"Hey, I found that in the hall," Ted hands Higgins his bag.
"Higgins, are you all right?" Claire eyes him with genuine concern, noticing him huff, seemingly out of breath.
Leslie fakes a smile in front of his favourite film-maker, whom he betrayed, having orchestrated the whole ordeal behind her back, which is what worries him, "Oh, yes! I am doing fine. Splendid, even! I should be asking you that, Ms. Laghari. I heard about that terrible article from The Sun."
"That's what brings us here, actually," Keeley speaks up, her tone serious as she addresses the room, "The fucking Sun cannot get away with doing this. I'm gonna find the piece of shit that took those photos and who hired them."
"No, no. Not necessary," Rebecca quickly cuts in, "I know the owner of the paper. We will threaten to take legal action and publish a statement to clarify what happened. This will blow over within a matter of days," Tracey enters the office with a notepad in her hand, which is the perfect diversion for Rebecca, "And there we have Tracey! How did it go?"
"Good news, the story has been taken down," Tracey announces happily, but it did not take long for her mood to change, "The bad news is—Claire is trending on twitter. At number one. Number two is Ted the Wanker and AFC Richmond is up there as well. We are... fucked."
"Did you release a statement?" Rebecca asks with concern.
"It's being uploaded as we speak," Tracey states, eyeing her best friend who simply nods her way with a soft smile, showing her gratitude as she squeezes Keeley's hand.
"Really? Oh, my God. That's good," Keeley nods along, squeezing her hand in return as she ponders out loud, "You should consider doing a press conference, to clear this up once in for all. But only if you feel comfortable, Claire."
Tracey leaves the room once again, going back to the crew.
"Thanks Keelz, but no," Claire shrugs, "This club has probably had enough of those for this season," She shudders at the thought of Ted getting embarrassed in front of the whole nation, especially due to Trent Crimm's questioning.
"Well, I assure you, we will get this sorted today." Rebecca reaffirms, sending a genuine smile her way this time, "We'll threaten to take legal action, demand a formal apology and make it adamantly clear that this cannot happen ever again."
"Thank you so much, Rebecca," Claire says this time, letting go of Keeley to take a step closer to her desk, "I'm a hugger, but I understand if that's too soon. But if I could, I would've pulled you in for a hug right now. Thank you."
Rebecca smiles politely, "No need to thank me,"
Ted points to her with a smile, "See, what I tell ya, huh? This woman right here is strong, confident and powerful."
Rebecca holds her arms up in a pose, showing off her strength as she continues to smile and Ted goes on, "Boss, I tell ya, I'd hate to see you and Michelle Obama arm wrestle, but I wouldn't be able to take my eyes off of it either."
"That's not a compliment I've had before," Rebecca mutters.
Keeley stares at her as well, "You do have perfect action figure-y arms," Claire happily adds, "Like The Hulk."
"There's another one," Rebecca winces, while the three of them smile at her innocently, "Anyway, I'm glad to help."
The three of them thank Rebecca once more before they decide to leave the room, while Claire also urges Higgins to rest a bit, having noticed the tired look on his face. They walk out together, not knowing that Rebecca releases the sigh she had been holding as soon as they're gone, "There's no way they can trace that photo back to me, can they?"
"Yes," Higgins grimaces, sensing where this is going.
"What do you mean, yes?" Rebecca exclaims, her worry visible, "Did you not use an alias or a burner phone?"
Higgins is at loss for words, before he answers, "I'm not a spy, Rebecca. I'm just the director of football operations."
Rebecca glares at him, "And equally proficient at both."
"Well, thank you. Wait..."
Claire decides to sit out on attending practice. Everyone understood, guessing that the rumour was most likely weighing on her mind. Claire loves and values her privacy, she prioritizes it even. It's why no one in the public eye even knows the name of her little sister Eleanor or the fact that her dad passed away from cancer all those years ago. She believes those details are irrelevant to them and the same goes for her love life. Only those close to her knew that she hasn't really dated anyone in years. Her love life consists of a series of flings and meaningless one-night stands to this day, which for her are easier; they are good enough.
To her, it is better than being in a relationship, because it's frankly not something she has the time for or would willingly risk her solitude for. But today, that decision was made for her, when the news about her was released without her consent, which left people questioning her and her love life, which was none of their business. It annoys her, but Claire is intent on forgetting the situation even happened.
The film-maker is sitting at her desk, informing her colleagues at the CBC that she's fine. They had just heard of the mishap and reached out to her. She has just gotten off the phone when Tracey enters, who's supposed to be filling in for her to direct the shoot instead of eyeing the cardboard cut-out in the corner of the room with a pleased smile. Claire furrows her brows, "What are you doing here?"
Tracey turns around with a smile, "Training is over, they're all running laps around the field. The crew lost interest and we anonymously decided that we need to change it up."
"Like I said before, we're doing fine," Claire reassures with a smile, "Sure, we haven't exactly gotten anything useful yet, but it's too early for that. We can't rush filming this."
"Well, with today's events, the public knows we're making this project, which means there are going to be high expectations. Not just from the fans, but also from everyone who wants us to fail. This has to be good," Tracey frankly reminds her, walking up to sit in the chair in front of her, "I'm not going to force you, but it's your call, boss."
Claire sighs, rubbing her temple, "I'll think of something."
Tracey nods, while taking a peek at her desk. She picks up the framed picture of Claire, Eleanor and her together, which was the existing only picture of them together where they looked nice. Tracey chuckles at the sight, before she puts the picture down and glances at her, "Are you... okay?"
Claire shakes her head, "I've been better. This is not even the only thing that's annoying me right now."
Tracey eyes her with intrigue, "Really?" She guesses what's on her mind, "So, tell me about this man of yours."
Claire seems to be taken by surprise, not expecting her friend to see through her, "Why all the sudden interest?"
Tracey looks at her pointedly, "What did you do?"
Claire feigns a cough, "No one."
Tracey shakes her head at her, silently judging her, which Claire clearly can't handle, "I know, I fucked up."
Tracey sighs, "You said you were going to end it!"
"And I was!" Claire exclaims in return, before she sees the annoyed look on Tracey's face and decides to admit it, "Fine, I wasn't. I stopped by his place yesterday and it was nice, he's nice. But our conversations are fucking terrible, there's nothing there. He genuinely wanted to talk about the weather. The weather is always shit here, who cares?"
Tracey shrugs, "You didn't get with him for his banter."
Claire groans, "The sex is good and it's no strings attached."
"But that's clearly not what you want, remember?" Tracey reiterates the same conversation they've had a few days ago, "You said there was something missing, just like with this mockumentary. And that's why you had to end it."
"There's no Georgina Sparks," Claire admits sadly.
Tracey stares at her, silently asking her to elaborate.
"Eleanor started binging Gossip Girl and I sometimes watch it with her," Claire explains with a grin, "It's actually a pretty good show, it still holds up mostly. El is always either doing that or learning those K-Pop dances in her room,"
"But as I was saying, there is no spark; between us and with this documentary. There's just nothing about it that stands out. I enjoy it in the moment, but looking back, I don't really find it entertaining. It doesn't fill my cup anymore."
"Are we still talking about your fling or this series?" Tracey asks, not quite understanding her vague observation.
"The fling, but this does also apply to the series," Claire nods to herself, acknowledging that she wasn't exactly clear, "I will end it soon. I miss romance. And I know I sound ironic for saying that, because I don't date. But still, I want the passion, the yearning, the chase, the thrill before the deed. There's no buildup anymore. No fanny flutters."
"Maybe talking to someone else could bring you exactly what you're looking for," Tracey shrugs, "Someone whose chest you've been looking at, you're not slick at all."
Claire sighs out of annoyance, "Ugh. Shut up."
The two ladies leave the room, realizing that practice was over and they had a job to return to. Claire decides to show herself to the team for the first time that day, hoping no one will mention the rumour. But as soon as she enters, the players watch her, while clearly talking about her. It seems to be the only thing that makes Isaac and Colin stop picking on Nate, which Roy notices. Isaac chuckles, "Are you okay, Claire? I hear you fancy the American coach, yeah?"
This makes some of the players laugh. Claire on the other hand is unamused, "Is that it? Is that all you had to say?"
"I saw the photos," Jamie mentions casually, "I did not know the two of you had a date after practice the other day."
Ted enters the room with Coach Beard trailing behind him, "The three of us went out to Mae's Pub, nothing more. It was friendly, simply to get to know each other a bit better."
"We weren't invited?" Richard cuts in, finding it suspicious.
"As if you would want to be," Claire scoffs, "None of you would've shown up, you would have had excuses ready."
The players nod in agreement, realizing she had a point.
"Oi, did you not put your hand on his arm in some of those photos? That does not look friendly," Jamie interjects.
Claire rolls her eyes, "I did not put my hand on his arm to flirt with him, it was just a coincidence! He's married!"
"So, you like married men?" Colin asks her in return, while Richard gasps, realizing now why she was not interested.
"Are you daft or something?" Claire crosses her arms, trying to not raise her voice at them after she listens to them speak, "How is that your conclusion based on what I just said?"
"Well, I know you have a type," Jamie speaks up in his defense, "Shitty, older and emotionally unavailable."
Claire sneers, her arms still crossed while she glares at him, "Lucky for us, you only tick two of those boxes, dickhead."
"Okay, that's enough. No more discussing that topic," Ted states, coming to Claire's defense as he glances at her with concern, waiting for to give him an appreciative nod before he continues to give his talk of the day, "Okay, way to run out there today, fellas. You guys are much faster than me. One last thing, there are some gifts up in y'all's lockers. In your little cubbies there. So, hope you enjoy 'em."
The players open their lockers, checking the contents while the two Coaches and Claire leave the room. They each have received a book, which not all of the players appreciate. Claire follows them into their office, where Ted grabs a wrapped gift for her as well, walking up to her to hand it to her, "And this one is for you. I'm not sure you would like it, so if not, you could just give it to your little sister."
Claire unwraps the gift, noticing a copy of the book Daisy Jones & The Six inside. She hadn't read it yet, but had been meaning to, because she had heard Sam Claflin was going to be in the series based on the book. She truly feels grateful to him in that moment, looking up from the gift to look Ted in the eye with a soft smile, "Thank you, Ted."
She doesn't allow him to speak up, cutting in before he gets the chance, realizing she should probably say the following words, "You are an amazing guy, you know that? You are truly beautiful inside and out. Such a vibrant soul."
"Thank you, Claire, that's very nice. Don't hear that a lot," Ted grins sincerely at her, showing her his appreciation.
Claire smiles awkwardly, deciding to continue her speech, "But, um... I just wanted to make this clear, in case the rumour about us gave you a certain impression of me," She takes a deep breath, cringing as she closes her eyes to avoid seeing his reaction, "I do not want to shag you."
When she opens her eyes, she only notices Ted looking at her with confusion, "You don't want to dance with me?"
"Huh? I'm sorry, what?" Claire remarks in return, not sure why he would even think of suggesting that at the moment.
Ted shrugs, while still rambling, "—It doesn't really seem like the time or place for it, Claire. But maybe next time."
Claire furrows her eyebrows, admittedly still flustered by Ted's suggestion to dance together, "What?"
Ted chuckles at her in return, "I gotta admit, I am not sure how this fits into the recent rumor about us, though,"
Claire sighs, finally realizing their miscommunication. She smiles mischievously, "You know what? Forget about it."
"Thanks for the gift," Claire says with a chuckle, leaving the office while she notices Roy glancing at her as he enters.
The camera zooms in on them walking past each other. The camera has also caught the entire exchange in the locker room and between Claire and Ted, but it was then when Claire and Roy look at each other when Tracey realizes what exactly this mockumentary was missing.
A will-they-won't they.
Luckily, Claire was stubborn, so that alone would definitely make it take a long time before they eventually will. Or it's going to be a matter of if they even will. It's then when Claire leaves the building for some fresh air, her phone in hand as she checks Twitter to see if she's still trending when coincidentally Roy leaves the door right behind her.
For some reason, the crew arrive there after Roy as well, but Claire simply shrugs at Tracey, deciding to let them try whatever they had in mind, since the mockumentary was indeed missing something. She didn't think they'd find anything in amusing in the two strangers standing next to each other, but to her surprise, Roy actually speaks up, "How are you dealing with what happened this morning?"
Claire furrows her eyebrows at him, silently questioning if he was actually asking her that question, "Are you serious?"
Roy shrugs, "Yes? I figured I would ask to... check in."
Claire leans forward, staring at him with intrigue, "I didn't peg you as the type to do that—check in. And did you even know about it before it was mentioned in there?"
Roy scowls at her, "Of course, I fucking knew."
She smirks, teasing him in return, "How did you even hear about that? I know you're not on Social Media. Did a dove deliver the paper at your doorstep? Or do you perhaps have an actual subscription? I thought you were better than that."
Roy scoffs, clearly offended by the insinuation as he takes a step closer to her, "What do you fucking see me as?"
Claire shrugs, kicking a rock that laid at her feet as a distraction, "I don't know. I just didn't think you would care to actively seek out information about me," She eyes her phone, seeing her name currently at number seven on the top ten trending topics on Twitter, "Although this wouldn't have been that hard to find, since I am still trending," She shows the screen to him, with him leaning forward to see it.
He stays silent as he stands closely next to her for a while, nodding to himself while he tilts his head to peer down at her, "Are you... okay? How are you dealing with that?"
Claire looks at him with uncertainty, not expecting the question, wondering if he was actually Roy Kent.
"It hasn't been the first time people have assumed shit about me. And those old men at The Sun who are reporting about me will all die someday, so it's fine," Claire laughs cynically to herself, before she looks over and notices Roy somewhat eye her with concern, not finding humour in her words.
Claire narrows her eyes at him, curling her lip, "Chill, I was just taking the piss, Kent. Why are you looking at me like that?" She notices his gaze, realizing it hadn't changed. She hesitates, but the sight of his intent look filled her with awe, "Wow, do you...actually care... about me?"
Roy scoffs, huffing quickly out of denial, "I didn't say that."
Claire chuckles, taking a step closer to almost close the gap between them as she teases, "Your face certainly did."
He says silent, deciding to neither confirm nor deny it. "It is not real, though, right? You're not dating the gaffer?"
Claire snickers, "You have to be joking. You are joking, right? Because if you are, that's absolutely hilarious."
She laughs even harder when she notices the serious look on his face, realizing that he had meant every word, "God, Roy. He is fucking married. What made you think that?"
Roy shrugs, "I didn't want to assume. I wouldn't have understood what you could possibly see in him, besides that awful cowboy-like accent, that makes him sound like he's lived on a fucking farm, but I tried not to assume."
She eyes him up whilst giggling, speaking up to keep their conversation going, "I did not expect you to be so nice. Once is a coincidence, twice is a bit much, even for you."
Claire gasps, feigning a shocked look, "Oh my God! Does that mean Roy Kent is secretly a sweetheart?! Someone alert the media. Oh, wait. That's us, I am the media," She looks over at the camera crew, asking if they got that on camera. Tracey gestures that it is, while Roy looks at her, "You have to cut that out, that was private," Claire simply pretends to be lost in thought, exaggerating by holding her chin, "Uh, let me think about it. The answer is... no."
Roy growls, his eyes only on her, "Claire, don't you dare!"
Claire has a shit-eating grin her face, enjoying to rile him up, "Do you need me to uphold your tough guy reputation? Well, I'm definitely not seeing much of that right now—"
"Claire!" Roy scowls once more, acting more like himself.
"—But as an old fan, I guess I can do that."
Roy nods, promptly averting his look, "Thank you."
She peers up at him, her arms crossed while she addresses him, "I am not going to cut anything else in the future, we do need actual footage of you. I barely get any of you as is."
He nods to her in agreement, "That sounds reasonable."
Claire chuckles, teasingly hitting his arm to annoy him. "That footage would've been harmless anyway."
"Like I said, that was private. Doesn't mean those fucking idiots who will watch this series should get to see that."
"Fuck off." Claire snorts, jokingly taking a step away from him, feigning to be offended by his words, "Forget what I said before. You are a bigger dickhead than I expected."
Roy smirks at her, "Is that supposed to be a compliment?"
Claire nods quickly at him, shrugging, "Yeah, I like that."
"Alright then," Roy nods at her, satisfied with her answer.
The cameras are still rolling unbeknownst to the two of them, catching the banter between them. Claire's smile grows wider, and Roy does not seem to be scowling for once. While the crew agrees that this is exactly what they needed, Claire's thoughts are somewhere else. For a split second, she thinks of Roy, wondering if what she felt around him was the spark. She shrugs it off almost immediately—they've only had one genuine conversation that seemed to be initiated by both of them, but she can't help but think that she enjoys speaking to him. Unlike that fling of hers, who can't even make proper conversation. She smiles at him, while surprisingly getting one from him in return.
⋆ i can't believe s3 is almost here!!
it's honestly what's inspiring me to write for this fic so much. well that, and because i genuinely enjoy writing this fic the most at the moment. i feel no pressure, i get to be as creative with this as i want and i love sitcoms & comedy. but yeah, enough about that, i am so excited for s3. i want to at least be halfway into writing s1 before the third season starts airing and i feel like i could do that at this rate.
this chapter was over 5k words, can y'all believe that? it's a bit different from what happened in canon, but i figured it would be fun to write. i'm also not too sure if i'm writing roy too out of character at the moment, so i added the word fuck in almost every sentence of his to make up for it. enjoy ✨ i hope you guys liked this chapter, i would appreciate your comments <3 i'll be back soon with an update! 💗