Work Text:
Roy sees Jamie skipping into training, and he’s got no fucking idea what’s got him so cheery. He’s dressed in all red and pink, and it looks ridiculous, but nothing out of the norm that Jamie usually wears. He throws his duffle bag on the bench and then pulls out another bag from it. He’s smiling as he stands in front of Sam, the only other person there, and hands him a piece of paper, a mini packet of Haribo, and a piece of chocolate. Roy tilts his head as his eyebrows furrow trying to figure out what the fuck he’s doing. Sam doesn’t look offended, instead he offers Jamie a huge smile and thanks him. Jamie grins at him and then turns to look at whoever is entering the locker room at the moment, and stops them to hand them it too. Everyone keeps smiling at him, thanking him, and Will even blushes when he gets handed whatever it is. Roy tries to put it to the back of his mind, gets the rest of the training schedule figured out for the morning, and ignores everyone in the locker room.
From the corner of his eye, he sees Jamie coming to pull open his door, so he stops what he’s doing and looks at him as he walks in. Jamie still has a smile on his face, and he’s holding the bag full of whatever the fuck it is. He’s about to scold him for not knocking, but Jamie cuts him off and shoves something at him.
“Happy Valentine’s Day!” Jamie holds out his hand with the same thing he gave Sam, and seemingly everyone else. There’s a small packet of Haribo gummy bears, a piece of chocolate to go with it, and one of those stupid Valentine’s Day cards that Phoebe hands out at her school. He looks up at him with an eyebrow raised, and Jamie just shoves his hand closer to his face. He hesitantly takes it, and Jamie radiates happiness as they look at each other. They hold eye contact for a few seconds, but then Jamie hears Isaac enter the locker room and he turns around so he can bombard him with a valentine too. Roy hates Valentine’s Day. He never really did anything for his partners when it happened. Maybe flowers and roses, but he made it clear to them it’s just a big capitalist holiday and he doesn’t want to celebrate it. It fucking makes sense that Jamie would love this holiday, and he can’t wait to make fun of him for it later.
Roy places the candy on his desk, he fucking loves Haribos, the only upside to this godawful gesture of feeding into this stupid holiday. Then he looks at the card before planning on throwing it in the trashcan placed next to his desk. It’s got a picture of a dog on it with the saying ‘YOU’RE TOTALLY PAWSOME’ plastered across it. He scoffs at the godawful pun. Then, he flips it over to the back to see Jamie’s handwriting on it. He’s glad he hasn’t opened the pack of gummy bears before reading it, because he’d be choking on one of them right about now.
To: Roy
I love you! Happy V-Day
From Love: Jamie
He thinks his eye twitches as he reads it, and he’s got no fucking idea what this means. Is Jamie fucking with him? Is Jamie confessing his love to him on a child’s Valentine’s Day card? Roy places it down on his desk, the dog facing up so no one can see what the backside of it says. He’s glaring at it, what the fuck is he supposed to do with this? He’s got no goddamn time to think about that. He gets up from his chair and storms to the pitch to get reading for training.
-
He can’t stop thinking about the valentine that’s sat on his desk. The crossed-out ‘from’ with the added love, and the fucking message of ‘I love you’. Jamie is acting like nothing is wrong, if anything he’s acting lighter on his feet. He’s running circles around everyone, showing off every single move he’s got. It’s infuriating Roy, because how the fuck is he being so calm when he just rocked Roy’s whole world? Maybe he wrote it on everyone’s Valentine, and that makes his stomach churn uncomfortably.
So, he tells everyone to get on the line and runs them ragged. He thinks of the gummy bears on his desk with the small heart-shaped chocolate and screams at them to push themselves harder. Jamie does it with a smile on his face while Colin pants next to him. He doesn’t even collapse onto the grass with everyone else when he yells “Whistle! You’re done.” he just throws his hands behind his head and takes deep breaths. Roy growls to himself when it doesn’t give him the reaction he was looking for. Something to knock Jamie off his high. He glares at him on the pitch and continues to do so when he gets back to the office with the stupid valentine mocking him on his desk. Jamie is smiling with everyone while they all talk about their plans for tonight. With him just sitting there glaring, he can hear small amounts through his closed door. Someone asks Jamie if he’s doing anything tonight, and he’s answering back with a no.
“My girlfriend has this single friend. She’s been nagging me for ages to help set her up. We could do a chill double date tonight?” Roy’s frown turns deeper when he hears that, and anxiously waits to see an answer from Jamie. He sees Jamie smile, but then he shakes his head ‘no’, and Roy relaxes into his chair. When he does, his eyes catch onto the brightly colored valentine and tense up again.
Roy hasn’t thought about his bisexuality in ages. Pushed that side of himself away from the public when he realized it wasn’t going to be something he’d be able to share in this line of work. But, fucking Jamie has recently snuck his way into his heart. The morning training together, the night in Amsterdam, and the nights they’ve spent hanging out together when they fucked it with Keeley have all added up to Jamie wiggling his way into his life. Roy can’t fucking complain, because he fucking likes it. He likes it when Jamie shows up at his house unannounced when he watches a movie with Phoebe on his couch, and everything in between. Like, when Jamie sends him a meme on Twitter and he has to explain it to Roy, because what the fuck does it mean when someone says ‘You better not be a cunty side table when I get there’. Or, when Jamie Facetimes him when he’s cooking dinner and asks him if he thinks the chicken is cooked enough. Fuck, he doesn’t just like it, he fucking loves it.
No, it’s not a fucking surprise to him that he likes Jamie, but it is that Jamie might fucking like him back.
-
He stays in his office the rest of the day watching everyone fill out from lifting. He doesn’t talk to anyone, only a quick thanks when Beard hands him a sandwich from a shop down the street. He doesn’t even say anything when they swap halves and just continues to try and ignore the bright-colored Valentine next to his stapler. He ignores it when he eats the Haribos after his sandwich, and when he eats the heart-shaped chocolate. The urge to look at Isaac’s or Sam’s valentine while they’re lifting to see what Jamie wrote on theirs is strong. He goes to the bathroom around five times to distract himself from snooping, especially since he sees a couple of them sitting on the bench and their cubbies in plain sight. It would be so easy to just sneak a peak, but he can’t anymore when Will comes in to collect some laundry, and then the rest of the team starts to slowly trickle back in.
Jamie is just as cheery when he comes in. Everyone starts patting him on the back and once again thanking him for the treats and the card. He smiles at everyone, and he even hands them an extra piece of chocolate as they come up to him. Roy’s eyes are on him when Jamie turns slightly to see him staring at him. He smiles briefly at him, and Roy can’t bring himself to look away. He sees him tilt his head every so slightly and his lips loosen up, but he’s saved by Colin wishing him goodbye as he leaves.
Roy starts to pack up for the night too. Closes his laptop, shoves it in his bookbag, and hesitates when he goes to grab the valentine. He shoves it in his coat pocket and starts walking down the hallway. He’s already got his keys out to unlock his car when he hears the door open behind him, and Jamie is yelling “Roy!”. He stops in his tracks and shuts his eyes while he waits for the footsteps to approach him. He turns around and gets the first word in before Jamie has time to say anything.
“I love you, too,” Roy spits out. He didn’t imagine this was how’d he tell Jamie he loved him, but Jamie started it. So, he might as well just say it back if Jamie said it first. He looks at Jamie’s face and sees shock spread all over it.
“What?” Jamie breathes out, and Roy thinks he’s completely fucked this. He pulls out that valentine from his pocket and holds it out for Jamie to see. The back is faced up and both of them can see Jamie’s handwriting on it.
“I can’t believe you fucking told me with a kid Valentine’s Day card. It doesn’t fucking matter though. Do you want to come over for dinner?” Roy waits for Jamie to catch up. His mouth is dropped open just a bit, and his eyes are flashing between him and the card. The longer the response from Jamie takes, the more Roy thinks he’s completely fucked this. He pulls back the card and shoves it back into his pocket.
“Fuck,” is all Jamie says after a couple of minutes, “I was just going to ask you to give this to Phoebe,” and holds out a valentine similar to Roy’s with sweets gripped in his hand too. It’s instant that way Roy’s stomach drops. The realization that Jamie wasn’t coming to ask him about what he thought of the Valentine to see if it would go anywhere. The only response Roy can come up with is a nod of his head. The feeling of dread that he’s read too much fucking into it and how could he think Jamie was saying he was in love with him. Jamie hasn’t even acknowledged it, and Roy has the fear that he must’ve written it on everyone’s card so why the fuck would Roy take it so personally. Roy thinks back to just a few moments ago when he was unlocking his car door and could’ve pretended he didn’t hear the scream of his name. So, he turns around and starts his way back to the car. He grunts, turns back around, and grabs the stuff for Phoebe. He tries to keep the interaction as short as possible, his hand trying to grab the sweets fast, but Jamie grips his hand to keep him in place. His other hand is shuffling in his pocket and pulling out a stack of valentines. He has to let go of Roy’s hand, but he stands there and waits for whatever he’s doing. He’s going through the stack frantically, reading the back of each card to find whatever he’s looking for. His hand is shaking when he grabs the one he was looking for, and he hands it to Roy too.
“This is the one I was supposed to give to you,” Jamie shakes out. Roy hesitantly takes it and reads what’s written on this.
To: Roy
Happy V-day ya old fart ♡
From: Jamie
“I fucking wrote the other one, fuck, I don’t know why. Just a fucking intrusive thought, confessing my love to you on a valentine. I must have been too fast grabbing it when I gave it to you, I didn’t,” Jamie trails off, he doesn’t know how to finish the thought. Roy grips the new valentine harder between his fingers and pulls it closer to him.
“We can forget this happened,” Roy turns around and continues his walk to his car, but he can still hear footsteps following behind him. He ignores it and just opens his car door to throw his stuff in. When he turns around, Jamie is standing right in front of him with a determined look on his face.
“You love me back,” Jamie states. It’s not a question, and Roy already threw himself under the bus five minutes ago, so he nods his head instead of denying it. Jamie’s face doesn’t change, but his eyes search Roy’s face for any giveaways there. Roy is just about to push past him when he steps forward and completely invades his space. Roy tries to back up, but he just ends up against his car door. Jamie doesn’t let him say anything before he presses his lips against his. It’s a shock, and they just stand there for a second before Roy realizes he needs to fucking kiss back. His hand moves from his side and goes to grip the back of Jamie’s neck to keep him in place. He turns his head slightly and opens his mouth eagerly for him. Both of their lips are chapped from the cold wind outside blowing against them, but the warmth of their mouths helps. Roy pulls him closer and feels the warmth radiating off him. He plays with the small hairs where his hand is gripping and feels Jamie gasp into his mouth. He’s getting pressed further into the car door which causes the handle to dig uncomfortably in his back. He uses his hand on Jamie’s neck to pull himself back and lean away from the door. He keeps Jamie close, their foreheads pressing together as they try to catch their breaths.
“Our anniversary is Valentine’s Day,” Jamie breaks the silence. Roy opens his eyes to see him with a smug look on his face, and he almost rolls his eyes at the statement. But, when he looks closer, he sees a blush covering Jamie’s face, and his eyes glazed over, with a smile indicating how happy he is. Roy just grunts in response and pulls him back into him for a quick peck on the lips to hide the grin that’s threatening to overtake his face.
Fuck. Maybe Valentine’s Day isn’t that bad.