full name: jaden alexander simms. nicknames: jj, jay. gender: cis man. sexual & romantic orientation: bisexual & biromantic. birthplace: manchester, england. current residence: seabrook point, mirabella, ca, usa. voice & accent: softer, but still distinctly mancunian accent, soft-spoken, slight tendency to mumble. body type: slender, still athletic but much less fit than he was. height: 5'10. personality traits: grounded, loyal, patient, obsessive, resistant to change, & reticent. occupation: lovell's cat cafe owner, formerly manchester united fc and england national football team midfielder. hobbies & interests: photography, music ( plays piano and secretly has a very nice singing voice ), being a cat dad. tattoos & piercings: left ear lobe piercing, both arms have a significant number of patchwork tattoos, many of which he's regretted since his prefrontal cortex developed.

born and raised in manchester to a working class family, jaden was the youngest of three and spent a lot of his childhood with his older sisters. always idolised and adored them.

so much so, that he wanted to do what they did. as a kid, his parents agreed to sign him up for ballet lessons as long as he did football too. this was a win-win for jj.

he had something of a natural flair for both extracurriculars, and did relatively well in school. at ten, though, his parents asked him to choose one -- they couldn't afford to keep up with both. a little self-conscious, jaden chose the safer option of football. he played for his school team and a local district team.

a year into his football-only journey, he was scouted and joined manchester united's academy with a scholarship. he was lucky enough to stay with man u right through to their u21 team and even luckier ( he still can't quite believe it's the trajectory his life took ) onto the men's team.

he wasn't the flashy star striker, nor the kind of guy to love the attention that came with his job, but he was a dependable worker. he won multiple trophies with man u, 35 caps for england's national team across world cups and euros. jaden was the kind of player people assumed would be around forever.

in his late twenties, a recurring back injury started to become a problem. at 30, a particularly nasty tackle revealed a bigger problem: major disc herniation and nerve compression. he spent a year absolutely miserable and desperate to have the issue fixed so he could get back to playing. he had surgery and intensive rehab and headed back to light training only to be met with setbacks every time. the strength lost in his leg never returned and the nerve damage became permanent. quietly and extremely begrudgingly, he retires.

at a loss for what to do, mirabella popped back in his mind. he'd been to the town a handful of times, mostly with teammates on off the beaten track lads holidays. miserable at home in manchester, he looked it up again only to learn that the cat cafe he'd spent way too much time at each visit ( and was bullied relentlessly for ) was becoming too expensive for the previous owners to run and would be shut down.

jaden was never a particularly impulsive person ( quite the opposite, actually ) but something immediately clicked in his mind and he knew he had to save the business. he'd applied to buy the cafe before buying his plane tickets, even.

four years ago, he arrived in mirabella again, sorted a temporary, then permanent, place to stay and shut the cafe for a little while to give it some tlc and a small revamp -- careful to keep much of its original charm, of course.

headcanons.

unsurprisingly, has 3 cats. is a proud cat dad of one tabby ( rue ), one tuxedo ( alfred/alfie ) and one calico ( sapphie ). also considers those at the cat cafe 'his' too, even though most are available for adoption. also loves all animals.

suffers from chronic pain of varying degrees ( though never none ) as a result of his injury, sciatica, and walks with a noticeable limp that can get worse. uses a forearm crutch for stability, pain reduction and to help with endurance. prone to flare ups because he's stubborn as a mule and likes to push boundaries.

owns the cat cafe but also works there a lot, very keen to muck in and feel useful. has mastered more latte art than he ever knew it was possible to make, but also makes sure he stays out of the way -- the managers and staff know what they're doing more than he does, so he very happily defers to them.

coaches local little ones' soccer teams for the love of the game and of kids. always said if he hadn't been a successful footballer, he'd have been a teacher and this is a pretty good marrying of the two. the main focus is just having fun and doing your best, though. he doesn't keep his 'past' secret, but he doesn't advertise it either.

remains a very earlier riser despite no more mandatory training sessions. sometimes schedules physical therapy or medical appointments for as early as he can just to a) get them done with and b) fill the time in the morning before it's acceptable to go out and potter about the cafe.

wanted connections.