#roy kent reader insert

You didn’t know it was physically possible for the man’s voice to get any deeper than it already was, but Roy Kent’s sexy morning voice proved you wrong.

“Hi,” You replied with a smile as you stretched your arms back over your shoulders.

“Last night was…” You trail off, at the risk of sounding overly trite. 

“Good, really good,” Roy finishes for you as he reaches under the covers to pull you close.

“Yeah,” You reply with a small laugh as you press your lips to Roy’s. “We should do it again sometime,” You add lightly. “Are you free right now?” Roy asks as the hands currently tracing the skin above your hips move just a tiny bit lower. “Very funny,” You reply as you

“For breakfast,” Roy replies as his brow furrows. “Get your head out of the gutter.” “Yeah, I should be free after I have delicious morning sex with a very handsome, retired old footballer,” You tease before you preoccupy yourself and Roy for the next hour or so.

-

Your early morning rendezvous ended up taking up all of your free time that morning, so you had to skip out on breakfast and make your morning meeting with Keeley a coffee date so that you could shovel a pain au chocolat into your mouth before you collapsed from hunger.

“Sex on the first date? You slut!” Keeley hissed in absolute delight as she cackled. Clearly pleased that all of her scheming had paid off in droves.

“Keep your voice down, you incorrigible blabbermouth,” You hiss as you lean over the table to shush her.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” Keeley apologizes as she matches your stage whisper with her own. 

“There was just so much… build up, all that tension,” You replied.  “It was insane. I haven’t had that much sexual chemistry with someone in a long time.”

“So it was good?” Keeley asked.

“Kind of insanely good. Multiple orgasms, I went down on him, and then he did this thing with his mouth–”

“Alright, we get it, we get it!” Keeley cut you off before you could detail the whole night in play-by-play. 

“I’m happy for you,” She adds. “Like, so happy for you. You deserve this.”

“Aww, thanks, Keels,” You reply with a grin.

“So are you two dating now?” She asks curiously. “I don’t know, we haven’t talked about it,” You admit. You’d gotten so caught up in everything, the date, then everything after, that you hadn’t had a single moment until now to process much of what had happened, and what it all might have meant.

Casual fun? Exploring sexual chemistry? Something more? 

Was it even normal to settle on a label this early on? Even if they’d had sex, they’d only been on one official date. It’s not like you wanted to marry him or anything.

You didn’t want to think about any of this. Not with your latte sitting in front of you, maybe two sips drunk out of it. “You’re right, way too deep,” Keeley replied when she saw the existential look on your face.

“So what did you want to meet about?” You ask, quickly changing the subject before you can truly spiral. “I don’t think someone has ever sent me a Google Calendar invite after 10pm.”

“Sort of a last-minute project, I got a call last night from one of Jamie’s personal sponsors, Rolex. They’re supposed to do a photoshoot tonight, but the photographer called out at the last minute. Any chance you could fill in?” Keeley asks as she looks at you with those wide, hopefully puppydog eyes that you can never say no to.

Not that you would even consider saying no in this situation. “For Rolex? Of course,” You reply almost immediately. You’d be insane to refuse such a great job. “I will make myself free.”

“Amaze! I’ll call them right now!” Keeley shrieks excitedly as she leaps out of her chair.

You made a dent in your coffee while Keeley stepped outside for the call.

When she came back, you were feeling much more caffeinated and much more alive. 

“Okay, we’re all set. They’re going to send over the brief and the contract. We’re starting at the stadium, and then heading to the Shard tonight,” Keeley tells you as she sits back down, all without ever looking up from her phone as she taps rapidly. “Eeeeeeik! I’m so excited!” 

“You’re brill, Keels, thank you for thinking of me,” You tell her as you grab her hands across the table and squeeze them tightly.

“Of course! You’re the best photographer I know, it was a no-brainer,” Keeley replied. “Go grab your equipment, I’ll meet you at Nelson Road this afternoon. I gotta make a few more calls for tonight.”

“Alright, love ya,” You tell her as you both stand and squeeze each other tightly before you grab your bag and head out. 

-

You got to Nelson Road way too early. You were worried you’d be late, and didn’t want to make a negative impression on the Rolex reps. But now you were here, and no one else was yet, so there wasn’t much for you to do.

You were wandering the hallways, trying to kill time, when Roy came out of one of the doorways and stopped in his tracks when he noticed you further down the hall. 

“Are you stalking me?” He asks after a moment.

“You wish,” You reply as you make your way over to him. “What are you doing here?” He asks curiously.

“I’m working a shoot with Rolex and Jamie Tartt,” You tell him with a gesture to the camera bag slung over your shoulder.

“You’re early!” Keeley shouts from down the hall before Roy can respond, both of you instead turning to watch the little blonde stroke towards you. “I didn’t think you’d be here for another hour or so!”

“I got nervous,” You admit.

“Well, let’s head out to the field and set up. I think the Rolex people will be here any second, and we can talk through everything with them before Jamie’s done with practice,” Keeley tells you.

“Okay,” You reply with a nod.

“The plan is to shoot here when he’s sweaty and kitted up, a sort of post-match look. And then we’ll head to the strand while he cleans up and changes for the debonair James Bond vibe.”

You nod, you’d figured as much from the brief that the Rolex people sent over.

“Cool, I have my night shoot gear in the car for later, but I should have everything I need for here in my backpack.”

“Why the fuck would anyone want Tartt to represent their brand? Don’t they want to sell their products?” Roy grumbled beside you. “Woah,” You reply as you whip around to face him. You’d almost forgotten he was there.

“Jesus,” Keeley replied. “Tell us how you really feel.”

“I feel like Jamie is a dick,” Roy doubled down as he crossed his arms over his chest. “That’s why people like him,” Keeley replied with a shrug. “He’s a footballer. Most of you are dicks, it’s what people like about you.”

“And I love money,” You add, trying to diffuse the situation. “And if Rolex wants to pay me, I’ll shoot whoever they pick. No questions asked.”

“Amen, sista,” Keeley replied. “Let’s head out there. See you around Roy,” She adds with a little wave to Roy.

“I’ll text you later?” You say/ask Roy as you let Keeley drag you off.

“Yeah,” Roy replied as he watched you go.

-

Jamie was a bit of a dick. If you were being honest. 

But he wasn’t worse than the Rolex reps. 

Seriously, where did they get off on micromanaging her through every single shot?

She had worked her fair share of corporate gigs, so she knew the deal. Marketing reps or whoever else always had a need to get their two cents in. 

“Can we make sure that the light is catching the watch?” One of them, the balding one asked as he peered over your shoulder so closely you could smell the cheese and onion chips he’d had with his lunch on his breath.

“We absolutely can,” You huff. As if you are so incapable that you can’t do the basic job you were hired for. 

“Jamie! Can we get some movement? Maybe some juggling?” You ask him as you stare at him through squinted eyes. He’s too stiff, too… fake as he stands there, ball in hand, smizing right down the barrel of your camera.

“Are you sure?” He asks after a moment.

“Listen to the professional, Jamie!” Keeley calls out from where she’s fielding concerns from the other rep about whether or not the colors of Jamie’s jersey clash with the watch.

“Yeah, give the ball a few touches, pretend we’re not here,” You tell him with your camera at your side. “Or are you telling me you can’t even get to ten touches any more?” “Ten! Please,” Jamier scoffed as he dropped the ball to the ground before quickly tipping it back up into the air with his toe. “Try a hundred.” “I’ll take that bet,” You reply as you pull your camera back up to your eye with a grin. Now we’re talking.

Your shutter clicks rapidly as Jamie grins, ball a loft in front of him, arm somehow perfectly placed in front of him, watch glinting in the golden hour light.

You couldn’t have planned a more perfect photograph.

You grin as you look down at the photo you’ve got.

“I think we’ve got the perfect shot,” You say as you encourage everyone to step around to where your laptop is propped up, and take a closer look at the final shot.

“Brilliant!” Keeley crows as she squeezes a hug out of you from behind.

“Woah,” Jamie mutters. “I look fucking magestic.”

“We’ll need a few alternatives in case the team doesn’t like this one,” The non-bald rep intones as he peers at the laptop. “But this one is my favorite,” He adds with a smile as he claps you on the back. A little too hard.

“Of course,” You reply with a nod. 

The rest of the shoot is equally brilliant and infuriating, once the team is happy with your alts you move on to the Shard. There’s a car service to take you all downtown which is lovely.

But then there’s a hiccup as the reps seem to have forgotten they aren’t at Happy Hour and are already pissed by the time Jamie shows up with Keeley. Which is probably a blessing in disguise because it means that they’re mostly just shouting their ‘tips’ for the shoot at each other and leaving you and Keeley alone to work with Jamie to get some baller shots of him on the View deck, with the London skyline lit up at night behind him. 

Very debonair. 

You and Keeley pack the reps into a taxi heading (hopefully) home. Along with saying goodbye to Jamie before Keeley turns to you with a sigh.

“Drink?” “After that? I’m going to need a few,” You reply as you head over to the pub around the corner.

“Christ, it really is amazing the way pretty much every man in the world is a total jagoff,” You intone into your cocktail as you sit at the bar with Keeley.

“I can’t believe there’s still so many guys like that out there,” Keeley muttered.

“If you’re going to mansplain my job to me, at least be professional about it? I mean if we’d shown up drunk…” You trail off. Knowing that there was no way you’d ever work again if you were that unprofessional. “I know babes, I wish I could only ever work with women from now on,” Keeley replied. “I’d love to never have to speak to a man again.” “Amen to that,” You say as you clink your glass against Keeley’s. “I know you don’t really mean that,” Keeley replied.

“Yeah,” You admit. Thinking of the only sometimes-dickish man who decidedly put his dick to good use last night.

“Are you off for a repeat with Roy?” Keeley as she peers at you curiously over her drink. Clearly living vicariously through you.

“I dunno, I haven’t texted him all day,” You tell her with a shrug. But now that she mentions it… It certainly would make you feel better. “But now that you mention it…” You add as you pull out your phone.

-

You: Just finished work. What are you up to?

Roy: You’re finally done with fuckwit?

You: Aww were you jealous?

Roy: Desperately.

You:  What have you been occupying yourself with while you miss me?

Roy: Who are you? The cops?

You: How embarrassing is it? I’m picturing you drawing NSFW furry art

Roy: My yoga group is catching up on Lust Conquers All

You: Awww

Roy: Don’t mock me

You: It is fantastic tv

You: How wine drunk are you?

Roy: Sober enough to consent

You: Come by when you’re done?

You wake slowly that morning, begging your alarm to cease so that you can stay in your warm bed with your even warmer boyfriend. You roll over to lean into him, hoping to siphon off some of his remaining warmth before facing the day, but when you do, you’re faced with a cold bed, and rumpled pillow. You sigh at this and finally open your eyes. The glow of early morning light peaks through the windows of your flat, and the honking from the street below shows that the world is awake. You get out of bed slowly, throwing on your robe and slippers before heading toward the kitchen for coffee.

You can hear him before you see him, the sounds of sizzling and utensils clinking raise a smile on your lips. You walk down the stairs, littered with photos of your family, friends, and the two of you, smiling at each other with such love that looking at them now makes you feel like you’re back in that moment. The soft padding of your feet doesn’t alert him, or if it does he doesn’t show it. Quietly, you move up behind him as he’s plating the pancakes. You wrap your arms around him, feeling the warmth of his bare back against your cheek as you hug him.

“Good morning, love.” He chuckles, setting the plate on the counter, and carefully turning the stove off before turning to you. You immediately bury your head in his chest, mumbling a response that comes across ‘goob morbing’. He holds back another laugh as he pushes you away slightly. You pout at this, looking up to him.

He has a soft smile on his lips, caressing your face. He brings his thumb up to smooth away the wrinkles in your forehead, moving to your mouth as he pulls at your pout. He brings your lips up into a smile, and you finally laugh. He laughs with you, low and gravely, but it brings butterflies to your stomach. He finally brings your lips to his, and you sigh. It’s soft, an everyday good morning kiss, but his care for you never ceases to weaken your knees. His hum as he pulls away is what makes you open your eyes.

“You look beautiful,” he speaks, finally. His eyes flit over you.

“I look like a right mess,” you laugh. “But I appreciate it, though.” You wink at him and he shakes his head.

“You look like a fucking queen at all times in the day.”

“So poetic, Mr. Kent.” You kiss him, and he goes to deepen it right as you pull away, plate in hand.

“C’mon, dear. We both have work, and cannot be late.” You look over your shoulder as you go to the table. He smiles at you, shaking his head, but he still follows you. He would follow you to the ends of the Earth if he had to, but he’ll settle for breakfast first.

The rest of the morning flies by, you both eat, and he showers as you get yourself ready. It’s easy, the domesticity of it all. You did your hair and makeup at your vanity as he gets dressed, and makes the bed. He goes to clean up from breakfast as you finish, and you flit through your closet. You settle on a skirt, that Rebecca would be proud of, and a cream colored blouse to match. You’re rolling stockings up your legs when you feel eyes on you. Looking up from your extended leg, you see him. Roy leans against the doorway, eyes trained on you as you dress.

“Anything I can help you with there?” you smirk at him, straightening up.

“Just enjoying the view, darling.” His gaze rakes down your body, and back up again to your eyes.

“Take a picture, it’ll last you longer,” you snark, lightheartedly. He walks up to you, hands gripping your waist as if you were a precious piece of artwork.

“Why don’t we stay home today? I want to be close with you…” His lips dip to your neck, working their way up to your jaw. You sigh, leaning your body into his, gripping his arms. Before you give in, you gently pull his hands away.

“If you keep doing that, I might just give in.”

“That’s why,” he kisses you, “you should let me keep doing it.” He goes in for another kiss, but you turn your head. He groans as his lips meet your cheek, and buries his face in your neck. You could feel him pouting, and you let out a laugh.

“Babe, you know we can’t. You have a big game coming up, and I have a meeting with the executives. But, let’s compromise okay?” He lets out a grunt. “I will meet you at the club, and I’ll bring lunch. Okay?” He nods, and straightens up. You give him one last peck before backing away. “Now, I have to get dressed.” He continues to stand there. “Hellooo?” you wave a hand infront of his face when he doesn’t move.

“I heard you, just wanna watch.”

--

Lunch time rolls around far too slowly for your liking. You park your car in the lot next to Roy’s, and you carefully get out with the hot food in your hand. With a click of your key, you walk into the club.

You’re greeted by everyone there, saying hello as you pass, asking Liam about his girlfriend and when he’s going to propose. He laughs at this, and you go on your way. Finally, you reach the coaching office. With a quick knock on the door jamb, you enter.

“Y/N!” Ted cheers out, rising to hug you. “How’ve you been?”

“Great, Ted! You?”

“Better than ever.”

“Have you seen Roy? I’m here to meet him for lunch-“ as you finish your sentence, you’re lifted into the air. You squeal as your spun around, and the moment your feet hit the ground, your spun to face your assailant. Roy stands there with a smile, and you laugh with him. You lean forward to kiss him, and you hear ‘ooo’s’ from behind you. You look out to the locker room, and see the entirety of the Richmond team behind the glass. Your face heats up immediately, and you hide your blush in the deep grey of Roy’s shirt. He waves off the team, threatening running drills for the rest of training.

“Oi, you lot better scram here.” Soon enough, you’re left with Ted, Beard, and your beautiful boyfriend.

“Alright, well, we’re going to eat some lunch, boys.” You shake the bag gently, and grab his hand, pulling him into his office and shutting the door and blinds. You set up the array of food quickly, and the two of you talk about your days so far as you eat. It goes far to quickly, and you soon have to leave to finish the rest of the day off in your offices. He walks you to your car slowly, holding your hand, rubbing his thumb gently across your knuckles. As you make it to the drivers side, he presses you up against the car, kissing you languidly, trying to urge time to slow down, even for just a minute. But, your alarm goes off, signifying your departure, and he pulls away with a grunt.

“Listen, it’s just a few more hours okay?” you soothe, “Then, how about we take a bath and watch Da Vinci Code, huh?” He nods at this, as you kiss him one last time. “I love you, dear.”

“I love you more, darling.”

“Seems pretty impossible to me.” You wink as you get in your car, beeping lightly at him as you pull out.

Roy smiles softly as he walks back toward the club, hands stuffed into his pockets as he moves through the halls. Finally, he makes it to the offices where Ted and Beard sit quietly. He nods at them as he sits against the shelving. He listens as the other coaches discuss the plan for the training session for today, but his attention is taken away by the team in the locker room. They all laugh raucously as Isaac lifts Dani, a perfect mirror of what Roy did to you only an hour earlier. His blood chills as they joke about it, and through the glass he can hear the talk.

“Roy fuckin’ Kent’s gone all soft for her.”

“I never thought it could happen.”

“Who knew he could smile like that, I thought his face was going to break.”

“I didn’t know he could smile period!”

Laughter rolls through again, and he feels his ears burn. He shouldn’t let it get to him. He’s Roy Kent, for fuck sake. But, when it comes to you…

He’s snapped out of his thoughts by Ted asking his opinion on something, and he gives a half assed answer before zoning back out. His phone buzzes, the usual confirmatory text of yours to let him know you got back to your office safely left unread.

--

You know something is up. You hadn’t received many texts from him throughout the day, and when you do they’re uninterested, distant. You can feel your stomach churn, worry digging a deep pit within you.

You pull up to your flat where Roy’s car already stood in the driveway, anxiously getting out of your car. You unlock the door, and you’re greeted by an unwelcome silence. The pit gets deeper. You’re usually greeted by Roy, kissing you until you’re breathless and asking you about your day. But when all you hear is the whirr of the heating unit, you feel uneased.

Kicking off your shoes, you make your way deeper into the flat, tossing your keys to the table, and setting your purse next to it.

“Roy?” No response. You walk to your living room where you finally see him, zoning out while staring at the silenced telly. “Babe?” No answer. You walk towards him, but he doesn’t show any response. You finally kneel in front of him. He looks past you, avoiding your gaze. You place your hands on his cheeks, and his resolve cracks, eyes flitting to yours.

“What’s wrong? What happened?” No answer again. “You were fine at lunch, what happened.” Silence. “Was it me?” This elicits a response.

“No! Fuck. No, it wasn’t you, never you.”

“Then what was it? What happened?” It’s silent for a moment longer, and you open your mouth to speak again, Roy cuts you off.

“The lads on the team, they… They said I went soft, because of how I was with you.”

“What?”

“They were mocking me. Saying shit that got under my skin.”

“Roy…”

“I know that’s not what you want, not some soft fucker. You deserve-“ But you cut him off.

“I’ll decide what I deserve, thank you very much.” This stuns him, so you take the chance to continue. “And so what? Who cares what the boys think? Their only love is Football right now, they don’t understand what we have. How special it is. I love you for you, Roy. When you’re rough around the edges,” You rub at his cheek. “Or soft as can be.” You place your hand at his chest. “I fell in love with you, this heart. So what if you’re ‘soft’ with me. You show me you love me, no matter what. And I love you the same, if not more. So please, don’t let them get to you. They’re kids still. I know you, and I know this heart. So please, don’t change because you think you have to, because they made you think you should. I fell in love with this Roy Kent, don’t change yourself to fit their image.”

He doesn’t speak for a while after that, heart thumping under your soft hand. He reaches up to grasp it, bringing your palm to his lips. He kisses them softly, moving up your arm until he finally caresses your face, and kisses you deeply.

“I love you, so much.” His voice cracks, but he quickly clears his throat. You smile at him, and bring him into a hug.

“Now, I’m going to take a bath,” You say after a long moment of holding him, standing up. He stays sitting as you walk toward the stairs. You glance at him over your shoulder. “You’re joining me, Mr. Kent.” And with a growl, you laugh uncontrollably as he chases you up the stairs.

----

Fic Tag List:

That’s what a real adult did. And God above did you want to behave like an adult. 

But you were also dreading it. Keeley had made you second guess your assumptions about that night. You’d barely had time to dissect your own feelings about discovering it had been Roy that you’d been talking to for weeks. How that affected your feelings about him. It made sense that perhaps you’d been a bit too hasty in deciphering his own feelings about it based on his unreliable facial expressions. 

But maybe Keeley was just giving you false hope. After two days with no answer, it was hard to read into that anything other than disinterest. Or maybe even some outright disdain. 

“Roy!” You shouted. 

You were back at AFC Richmond today to meet with Keeley and Rebecca. You had proofs to show them from the shoots and even though you had initially wished this meeting could have been virtual – or better yet – an email. 

But now that you could see Roy Kent’s all-black form heading down the hallway ahead of you this presented a unique opportunity for you to put on your big girl pants and attempt a conversation. 

Though, even with your ear-piercing shout that had caused every other person walking through the halls to turn and stare at you, Roy seemed to be intentionally ignoring you.

“Roy!” You tried again. Now walking at a near pace just below a jog to catch up to him.

You heard a grunt in response this time.

When you reach him he finally turns around and you try to remind yourself that the glare on his face is a permanent resident so as to not deter you from saying what you need to say.

“I just wanted to clear the air,” You tell him as he stares back at you. 

“After last week and the whole… y’know,” You add to fill the silence.

“Mhmm,” Roy grunts.

“I just wanted to apologize if I came across rudely that night,” You continue. “I think we were both just surprised and obviously you wouldn’t have even shown up if you knew it was me so I’m sorry.”

You catch Roy’s bushy eyebrows furrow slightly and he parts his lips as if he wants to interject but he doesn’t say anything.

“We’re going to have to see each other around,” You continue. “Keeley keeps adding shoot days to this project.”

“Can we just… I don’t know, be friends?” You ask. “Colleagues?” 

“Colleagues it is,” Roy replies with a nod.

“Great!” You reply with a relieved smile. 

“See you around, Roy,” You tell him as you head up the stairs to Rebecca Welton’s office.

“You’ll be very proud of me, Keels, I just spoke to Roy in the hallway and neither of us yelled or insulted the other,” You announce as you walk through the open door leading into Rebecca’s office to see Keeley sitting in one of the chairs in front of her desk, her legs hooked over the armrest.

Keeley simply grins at you and you hear a small chuckle from the side of the room and see Rebecca Welton in all her glory fixing herself a cup of tea while she glances over her shoulder at you in clear amusement. 

“Oh! Hi, Rebecca!” You exclaim as you try to figure out how to backtrack out of the personal information you just shared about yourself with the women signing your paychecks for this gig.

“Hello,” She greets you with a smile as she gestures for you to take a seat next to Keeley while she makes her way to sit behind her desk. 

“Is that an impressive feat for you and Roy? Not arguing?” Rebecca asks.

“Um, yes,” You tell her. “This is the first time we’ve managed that.”

“Ah,” Rebecca replies with a nod.

“They matched on Bantr and their first date didn’t exactly go to plan,” Keeley adds.

“Keeley!” You hiss as you reach out to swat your friend and her oversharing. 

“Oh, don’t worry about it, it happens to the best of us,” Rebecca reassures you. “I’m happy to share any number of my dating horror stories if it will make you feel better. But seeing as the most glaring one is plastered all over the tabloids every week I’m guessing you have some idea.”

“Rupert Manion’s a dick,” You reply without even thinking about it, causing Rebecca to choke on the sip of tea she’d just taken. 

“That’s what I always tell her!” Keeley emphatically agreed. 

“I can see why you two are friends now,” Rebecca replies with a small shake of her head. 

“Should we look at the proofs before we end up tracking down a feminist rally and burning all our bras?” You offer as you pull your iPad out of your bag.

“Yes, plenty of time for all that after the meeting,” Rebecca replies, shooting you a look.

You grin back. Now you understand why Keeley likes Rebecca so much, you’re already bordering on obsessed with this woman. 

You spend the next hour showing them your work and discussing how it can be used for the team’s marketing and communications before you work on coming up with a plan for what else they still need.

By the end of the meeting, you’ve made great headway on your plan and you’re also already ready for a drink. 

“There’s a great little cocktail bar a few blocks down, should we toast to your amazing work and our success?” Rebecca asks as your trio walks down the hallway out to the car park.

“I’m always down for a drink or three,” You reply with a grin.

“Keels?” You ask as you turn to see if Keeley is down to come out too. You can’t imagine Keeley ever turning down the option to go out, but you never know. But when you glance at her she’s glancing back down the hallway at something.

“Yes! Totally!” Keeley replies after a moment. I just need to grab something from my office real quick, but I’ll meet you two there, kay?”

“Okay,” Rebecca replies. “Shall we?”

“Yeah, we’ll order your first glass,” You tell Keeley before heading out the door behind Rebecca.

Keeley turns on her heels once the door closes behind you and Rebecca and makes a beeline down the hallway to where Roy is in his office playing with lineups on a whiteboard.

“Roy,” Keeley calls softly as she pokes her head through the door.

“Keeley,” Roy greets her as he glances up at her briefly.

“I heard about what happened,” She tells him. 

“Fucking hell,” Roy replies with a sigh. Trying not to let his irritation at anyone knowing about his vulnerability show. Even if that person is only Keeley. One of the nicest people he knows. But the sympathy or pity or whatever you want to call it in her voice is grating.

“And when you just walked past us you looked like a grumpy little kitty so I wanted to check on you,” Keeley says.

“I didn’t-” Roy hisses before he catches himself and takes a deep breath. “I don’t need your fucking pity, Keeley.”

“I know, but I’m also (Y/N)’s best friend, and I know how hard it is for her to be vulnerable. Frankly, I’m surprised that the two of you ending up on a date didn’t go worse. You two are some of the worst communicators I’ve ever met.” 

“Thanks?”

“What I’m trying to say,” Keeley says as she tries to get herself back on track. “Is that you both suck at being vulnerable. And a blind date with someone you already have some tension with was bound to blow up in your faces. And that’s no one’s fault! But she really liked you, Roy, the version of you that she met on the app. And she likes Roy Kent too, as much as she would hate to admit it.”

“If you both want to, I think you two should try again,” She tells Roy.

“She told me earlier that she just wanted to be friends,” Roy replies as he shakes his head at Keeley. “She doesn’t like me. I’d have to be a fucking idiot not to understand that.”

“Because she thinks that’s what you want,” Keeley argues. “She thinks that you’re the one that doesn’t like her and you obviously think the opposite.”

“The two of you need to be honest about your feelings and figure this out,” She tells her. 

“I’m going to bring her to Sam’s restaurant opening,” Keeley adds. “Talk to her.”

Roy watches Keeley turn to leave and stares at the now-closed door to the office as he tries to process everything she just told him.

Could you really like him back but have rejected him in some strange self-defense mechanism? Roy would hate the idea of someone doing that to him if I didn’t know in the back of his mind that he had done the same thing. 

How is he supposed to set the lineup for the Manchester United game with all of this shit in his head?

“FUCK!” He hisses as he turns back to the board in front of him. 

“Oh!” a small voice squeaks and Roy whips around to see Will standing at the door with a box of cleats. “I just- I’ll just um, I’m going to-”

“Spit it out!” Roy huffs. “I’ll just leave these here,” Will whispers as he sets the box down and essentially runs out of the room. 

God. You’d liked him so much. 

All for him to turn out to be someone that you despised.

You had no idea what she had done to deserve this kind of karma. Maybe it was all the Uber Eats. All those takeaways had definitely been bad for the environment. And now you were paying the price. 

“Wait,” Roy called after you as he followed you out onto the pavement.

“This is already embarrassing enough, okay?” You hiss as you whip around to face him. Your voice cracks on you ‘okay’ in a way that makes your face heat up.

Roy’s back straightened as he pulled his shoulders back.

“Can we just pretend this never happened?” You ask when Roy doesn’t reply. 

You’re desperate for this conversation to end so that this horrible night can end too. You can’t believe how stupid you’d been. An hour ago you’d been giddy. You’d been imagining an amazing date with a great guy that would lead to equally amazing sex. And maybe even a good, happy, healthy relationship. 

And now those hopes had been painfully dashed. You’d been rejected the moment Roy had walked in and realized you were his date. 

He’d hated you since he’d met you. That had been painfully obvious in every interaction you’d had since. And how he’d seen you in a vulnerable position. This was awful.

“Yeah,” He replied gruffly. “Whatever.” 

“Great,” You replied before you pursed your lips and nodded at him. “Goodnight.” 

“Erh,” Roy grunted before you turned on your heels and walked down the street as quickly as you could without it looking like you were training to flee. 

Roy sighed and rubbed a hand down his face before shoving his hands into his pockets and heading down the pavement in the opposite direction. Even though he was parked in the same direction as you.

But he’d rather take the scenic route back to his car than have to interact with you again. 

And he needed to take a walk to clear his head.

Roy Kent hadn’t wanted to get on a dating app.

He hadn’t wanted to date. Period. 

But when he’d made the mistake of complaining to his niece Phoebe about the insane dating app that Keeley was pushing on all the players she’d turned to him with that perceptive look that Roy found so disconcerting on his nine-year-old niece.

“Don’t you want to find someone who makes you happy?” 

“No photos and no names means you get to know people for their personalities, doesn’t it?” “You could find someone who you get along with.”

Roy had grunted in annoyance at Phoebe. 

But he hadn’t been able to brush what she said aside. 

So the next time he had to pick her up from school for his sister he’d hesitantly asked her what he should put on his profile.

And the way her face had lit up with delight was more than enough to convince Roy to give it a try.

He honestly hadn’t expected to meet anyone. 

But you’d messaged him. And then he’d replied and you’d never stopped. 

You were easy to talk to and with the anonymity, Roy didn’t need to worry about you just laughing at his jokes because he had a nice house, or because you could sell pictures of him to the tabloids. 

You actually found him funny. 

Roy had opened up to you. 

He’d told you things he hadn’t told anyone else. 

He’d thought he was ready to meet you when you asked.

He’d wanted to meet you.

And then he’d locked eyes with you when you walked through the door. Your thinly-veiled distaste wasn’t even hidden when you saw him. 

And when you realized he was your date and you were his. 

You’d looked so disappointed.

It had cut at a part of Roy that he didn’t even like to admit existed.

You’d said it was embarrassing. The idea of going on a date with him was so embarrassing to you that you’d almost cried.

What was Roy supposed to do with that?

And how was he supposed to pretend that tonight had never happened?

“Hiya babes, what were you up to this weekend? I didn’t hear from you at all,” Keeley greets you as you walk into the AFC Richmond building on Monday morning. 

She has too much energy for this early. And you’re not even hungover, but you’re suddenly wishing you’d worn your sunglasses this morning.

“Oh, I just needed a quiet weekend in, getting stuff done and all that,” You tell her. 

It’s not a lie. You did spend the weekend in your flat pretending you were dead to the world so that you could watch Love is Blind and cry about the relationships on the show (and definitely not anything to do with the state of your personal life).

“Yeah?” You knew that Keeley knew something was up. But she was also a good enough friend that she didn’t push you any further.

You would break down and admit everything to Keeley sooner or later. You both knew it. It was just a matter of if it would be tonight or eighteen months from now. And Keeley didn’t mind. She’d be there to listen whenever you decided you were ready. 

Keeley chattered along beside you as you moved to grab your equipment out of the storage closet that Keeley let you use to store it in. 

You’re lugging it all out into the hallway, Keeley still talking away, your camera bag in her arms, when you make solid contact with someone as you run into them.

“Shit, sorry,” You murmur as you try to maintain your grasp on the bags you’re holding onto and have tucked under your arms.

You look up to apologize further when you realize who you’ve run into.

“Roy!” You exclaim as your tripod drops from your grasp to the floor.

Roy mutters your name as he stoops down to pick it up and wordlessly hands it to you before pushing past you and continuing down the hallway.

You and Keeley turn to watch him walk away.

“That was…” Keeley mutters.

“What?” You ask as your head whips around to look at her, sounding way more defensive than you meant to.

“Even more awkward than last week,” Keeley replies. “I don’t understand why the two of you are so tense around each other.”

“Hmm,” You hummed in a non-committed reply. 

Today’s shoot was for action shots of the team so you were out on the field for Richmond’s practice. Granted, you were in the stadium and not on the practice field, but everyone was looking around nervously like they’d never been on the field before.

“Where do you want ‘em?” Ted asked as you made your way onto the field. 

“I want these to be as natural as possible, just run them through your normal drills, and I’ll move to get the shots. You won’t even notice I’m here.”

Roy muttered something unintelligible under his breath and you managed to hold your tongue as moved past him to find the best light. 

“I met someone,” You blurted out a few days later at one of your and Keeley’s coffee dates. 

So it would be sooner rather than later. 

Keeley shrieked as she nearly spilled her latte.

“Oh my god! Holy shit!” She hissed as she stared at you with wide eyes.

“On Bantr-” You start to explain when she nods for you to continue.

“I knew it! I knew you would! God, I knew it would be perfect for you.”

“I asked him out-” You continue.

“Yeah? How was it? It must have been amazing if you ignored me all weekend,” Keeley replied as she continued to pepper you with her questions in her excitement. “Holy shit, were you having wild sex all weekend? I knew you were too tired on Monday for it to have just been a chill weekend in!”

“No,” You reply with a sharp shake of your head. “It was Roy,” You tell her in a stage whisper.

“You had sex with Roy?!” She full-on screams, causing the entire cafe to turn and look at you.

“No! I didn’t! That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” You hiss at her through the mortification of all of these strangers now knowing your business. “The guy on Bantr turned out to be Roy,” You repeat.

Keeley paused.

“And you didn’t have sex?” She asks as her forehead pinches in confusion. “No! We obviously didn’t go on the date!” You reply in exasperation. Confused by why Keeley is being so intentionally dense. You know she loves to see the best in people. Just look at her dating history, but she’s got to understand why the two of you together was a no-go.

“Why?” She asks.

“Because he hates me!” You explain. “We both agreed to pretend it didn’t happen.”

“Did he?” Keeley asks, her forehead still pinched together. You’re tempted to reach out your hand and smooth out the wrinkles. Knowing Keeley she’ll complain about you causing them once she catches a glimpse in the mirror of them.

“Yes, he was clearly disappointed when we both realized what had happened.”

You could still see the permanent scowl on his face.

“He walked out on you?” Keeley asked as her eyes widened.

“Well, no, technically I walked out first,” You reply, causing Keeley to open her mouth. “But he followed me!” You add before she can interject again.

“And is that when he told you he hated you and never wanted to see you again?”

“Um...” You stall.

“Did you call it off or did he?” Keeley repeats.

“I did!” You admit. “But he never talks. If I hadn’t said it we would have just stared at each other in silence until one of us walked away.”

“What if he was just nervous?” 

“That’s definitely not what was happening,” You scoff. “Have you seen that man?”

“Yes, but you’re one of the sexiest, smartest, coolest girls I know,” Keeley replied. “Anyone would be a little intimidated by you, even Roy.”

“Yeah,” You reply. You know Keeley’s hyping you up the same way she hypes everyone up, and you appreciate the compliment, you always do, but even Keeley has to know that Roy Kent is out of your league. Along with being a complete and total ass.

“You don’t have to believe it, but you also have no reason to believe that he didn’t want to go on that date with you,” Keeley tells you.

“You have to talk to him,” She adds.

You groan loudly as you slump back in your chair. 

“I can’t do that.”

Keeley shrugs. 

Shutterbug: My friends. And work. Everything.

SirSwears-a-Lot: It's hard to be vulnerable with people. 

SirSwears-a-Lot: In the effort to respond to honesty with honesty, I’ve recently been struggling with the question: What the hell am I doing?

Shutterbug: I’m about to start a new job and I’m questioning every decision I’ve ever made.

SirSwears-a-Lot: Same.

You were trying to navigate your way through the AFC Richmond building when you spotted a familiar blonde ponytail down the hallway.

“Keeley!”

Keeley squealed your name when she turned around to see you. 

“EEEEEE! I’m so excited that you’re here!” She shouted as she ran toward you at full speed before launching herself at you, wrapping her arms around your neck tightly as you spin her in a little circle.

To this day you weren’t sure how you’d ended up being best friends with Keeley Jones. 

You’d met on a commercial set when you were an assistant to the photographer and Keeley as the talent for the shoot had charmed your pants off. 

Not literally. You two didn’t have that kind of relationship. No matter how often Keeley joked about wanting to shag you. 

But Keeley’s uncanny ability to befriend anyone and everyone she met had worked on you. Despite being the model-slash-acress-social media star at the center of the commercial she took the time to ask you your name, understand what your job was, and pepper you with personal and ranndom questions.

And as an unmoored creative professional in London, you’d latched onto Keeley as a familiar face in the circles you both ran in (Well, circles that Keeley ran in and you sort of loitered on the outskirts of with your camera). 

And when the two of you’d walked in on her boyfriend at the time shagging the executive for the brand you two were working on the shoot for, she’d slapped him clear across the face (the boyfriend, not the executive, you both wanted to continue working). And you’d let her move in with you until she could figure out what she was going to do next.

It had bonded you together for life. 

Which is how she’d managed to rope you into taking AFC Richmond’s promo photos despite your strong anti-sport stance. 

You were easily swayed by the Keeley Jones pout. And the promise of a well-paying job.

“Ted! Roy! This is my friend-slash-photographer-extraordinaire,” Keeley called out to two men in Richmond jackets that made their way over to you, introducing you all to each other. They both looked a little too old to be players so you assumed they were coaches. “She’s going to be the photographer for the promo shoot tomorrow.” 

“Nice to meet you, I’m excited to work with the team,” You tell them as you reach out to shake their hands. 

“Pleasure to meet an old pal of Keeley’s,” The one with the mustache, Ted, replies as he shakes your hand eagerly.

“Oh! You’re American!” You exclaim in surprise.

“Yes, we are,” Ted replies with a small chuckle. “But I promise we have nothing but the utmost respect for the game y’all call football.”

“I’m not really a football fan to be honest,” You admit with a shrug. 

You don’t necessarily have anything against the game itself. But the fact that the world pours billions of dollars into an industry built around boys kicking balls around seems silly to you. Especially considering the way some fans of the game react – hooliganism, riots, bar fights, increased rates of domestic violence after matches – it all seems like a waste.

“Roy! this is the photographer for the shoot tomorrow,” Keeley tells a man with a head of dark curls and a deep frown etched into his stubble.

You can’t help but give him the once over. It’s part of the artistic nature of your work, you’re always scanning people for their best angles, natural beauty, etcetera, that you might want to work with when you’re shooting.

And he’s pretty. In that gruff, grumpy mountain man kind of way.

“Nice to meet you,” You greet him with a smile as you hold out your hand to him. “Are you a player?”

“Do I look like I’m a fucking player?” He grumbles at you before he pushed between you and Keeley and walks into the locker room. 

“Excuse me?!” You shout after him, completely taken aback by the rudeness you’d just been faced with.

“You’ll have to excuse Roy,” Keeley tells you with an apologetic smile.  “He wakes up on the wrong side of the bed, well, every morning.” 

“Right,” You reply with a glance over your shoulder in the direction he stalked off to. 

“Since he’s not a player at least I don’t have to work with him,” You add with a halfhearted smile. Trying to play the optimist for the sake of your professionality.

Keeley’s eyes widen slightly when you say that and what smile you had managed drops off your face completely.

“Um…” She mutters.

“What?” You groan.

“He’s one of the other coaches,” Keeley tells you apologetically as she purses her lips at you.

“You’ve got to be shitting me,” You grumble. 

“Fucking dick,” You mutter under your breath as Keeley leads you down the hallway, explaining what the team owner, Rebecca Welton, is looking for brand-wise from these promotional photos.

Shutterbug: Why are men such assholes?

SirSwears-a-Lot: I feel like you’re expecting me to defend my gender but I honestly can’t.

SirSwears-a-Lot: Men are pricks.

Shutterbug: Agreed. This guy I met for part of my new job was a complete and total dick to me today for absolutely no reason. If I didn’t like getting paid I would have gone full psycho bitch on his ass. See how he liked that.

SirSwears-a-Lot: I would pay good money to see that.

Shutterbug: I did meet another guy at this job today who was actually a really nice guy, like unnaturally nice.

Shutterbug: And you’re nice. 

Shutterbug: So I guess #NotAllMen.

SirSwears-a-Lot: I’m not nice.

Shutterbug: Yeah, you are. 

Shutterbug: You let your niece help you come up with your dating app profile.

Shutterbug: And if you weren’t a nice guy you wouldn’t let me complain to you all the time.

SirSwears-a-Lot: I complain back to you so it’s really an even exchange. Plus most of your stories are hilarious.

Shutterbug: Well, I do usually like my work.

Shutterbug: But my pro tip of the day: don’t work with athletes. 

SirSwears-a-Lot: Noted.

“Hiya,” Ted greets you as you stand in the middle of the locker room on your phone.

You’re so engrossed in your text argument with Bantr boy about whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza that you jump slightly at the sudden noise.

“Ope, sorry, didn’t mean to scare ya,” Ted apologizes. 

“Oh, it’s fine, I just got wrapped up in a text conversation,” You tell him with a shrug as you tuck your phone back into your pocket and smile back at Ted. 

“Boyfriend? Girlfriend?” Ted asks curiously.

“Just a guy,” You tell him.

Ted nods for you to continue. Something you’ve almost never had someone, especially not a guy do to you in a professional context.

“Well, I’m on Keeley’s app. I figure at least one of us deserves to have success. Even if it’s professional and not personal.”

“You’re a good friend,” Ted interjects.

“And I have been flirting with one guy who’s actually funny. And intelligent. It probably won’t go anywhere but it’s fun to have someone to chat with who doesn’t know who I am.”

“I can’t say I understand the appeal of that sort of anonymity, what if you’re chatting with a serial killer? Or a homophobe? Or someone who hates pizza?” Ted replies. “But then again, I’m not young and hip.”

“It’s a valid perspective,” You reply with a nod. “I’m honestly not even sure if he would like me. If we ever met, I mean, I don’t know if I’m his type.”

“Well, you’re an absolute delight, I can’t imagine a single guy who wouldn’t like you, unless he hates, I don’t know, happiness and joy,” Ted tells you.

“Thanks, Ted,” You reply.

“Anything else I can help ya with?” Ted asks as he slaps his hands down on his thighs. “Got any of those big heavy lights you need moved around?”

“The lights actually aren’t that heavy,” You tell him with a burst of laughter. “I think I’m just about set up here. Just waiting on your team and then we can get started.”

Shutterbug: What’s your type?

SirSwears-a-Lot: Why do you ask?

Shutterbug: Maybe I’m getting plastic surgery so that I can look like it.

SirSwears-a-Lot: Whatever you look like, you’re my type.

SirSwears-a-Lot: Unless you’re actually my boss catfishing me.

SirSwears-a-Lot: In which case, fuck you.

Shutterbug:  Damn. You’ve caught me!

You couldn’t wait for this job to be over.

The team was actually easy. Other than a few players who tried to tell you about their best angles (Jamie Tartt had insisted that you needed to only shoot him from the left and seemed unable to not smolder during the shoot which was… an interesting choice), the solo shots of the players had been a breeze.

But these coaches were a whole different beast. 

Ted was happy, almost eager to take your direction. 

But the other three?

Coach Beard hardly spoke during the entire interaction and refused to smile but his pictures came out fairly decent. 

Nathan Shelley was so nervous and fidgety it took you ages to take the photos because he kept breaking the poses to ask you if he was doing alright.

Roy Kent was impossible.

“You have to stay in the pose,” You grumbled as you pushed past your lighting rig to re-adjust Roy for what felt like the hundredth time this afternoon to. 

“I feel fucking stupid in the pose,” Roy grumbled in response.

“Well, you look stupid when you don’t do it,” You shot back.

“Just listen to the nice lady, Roy,” Ted called out, causing a few of the others to chuckle. 

Something of a crowd had formed to watch the entire process. Some of the players who were done with training and the rest of the coaches were standing around watching now that their photos were over and you could tell that Roy hated having an audience.

“Shut up!” Roy shouted at them.

You groaned as he broke the angle again.

“Alright, everyone out!” You shout once you’ve finally lost your patience. You shoo at the men. “Everyone!”

Once it was just you and Roy in the room you turned back to him.

“The sooner you do what I tell you to do. The sooner this is all over,” You tell him. “You’re handsome, I don’t understand why you hate getting your photo taken so much.”

Roy didn’t reply with words, he simply grunted at you as you stepped towards him and lifted your hand to gently tilt his face back to the direction you wanted him to face before stepping away.

“There,” You said a minute later once you’d gotten all the shots you would need. “That wasn’t so painful, now was it?”

“Yeah,” Roy grunted again as he pushed through your set-up and disappeared back into the coaches' office. 

You watched him leave with a puff of mild annoyance before you realized that meant that today’s shoot was over and hurried to back up your things.

Shutterbug: Would you ever want to meet up?

You’d gotten to the restaurant too early. After you’d sent that message you’d thrown your phone across the room and tried not to panic. 

When you’d finally built up the courage to retrieve your phone you saw that he’d already messaged you back,

SirSwears-a-Lot: Yes.

SirSwears-a-Lot: Friday night? Bacco’s, 7 pm?

You grinned at your phone for a moment before typing your response.

Shutterbug: See you then :)

And you’d been riding on cloud nine for the last few days. You hadn’t told anyone about the date. Not even Keeley. No matter how hopeful you were about this working out, you hated the thought of getting someone else's hopes up so you decided to keep it a secret. 

Just until after the date.

But it also meant that you’d finished up the day’s shoot, gone home to get ready, and somehow ended up at the restaurant thirty minutes before your reservation. So you were standing in the waiting area, trying not to look too pathetic while you scrolled through Instagram.

Every time you heard the door open your eyes would flicker up only to be met with the view of a sweet elderly couple or a group of business partners making their way through the door. 

Until you heard to door open and looked up to lock eyes with Roy Kent. 

Your eyes widened before you offered him a sarcastic smile. 

“I’m waiting for someone,” You tell him in lieu of a greeting.

“Me too,” He replies gruffly.

“Good for you,” You reply with a furrow of your brows.

“Yeah.” 

You roll your eyes and look back down at your phone, tapping out a quick message to let him know you’re here. You hit send just as your phone pings with a similar text from him. 

You look up to scan the room again just as Roy’s phone buzzes and your eyes lock as you realize that you’re the only two people in the waiting area. 

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” You groan.