trashchildren | For Joan

Ted glances down shyly, always so giddy to get compliments like that from her. He almost feels like an impostor sometimes, she has such a completely positive opinion of him. He worries that eventually she'll see that he's only human, that he gets angry or frustrated like everyone else, and then the shine will wear off. Like eventually she'll fall out of love with him just like Michelle did.

But he tries not to worry about that.

"Well, likewise," he answers fondly, and gives her another kiss. They're not gonna be able to be so open about their affection for the rest of the evening, so might as well take advantage while they can.

She knows that he's human, knows that there will be a time when he's angry or hurt or tired, and won't be nice and friendly and positive. That happens with everybody. She hasn't known him long enough to be sure, but she believes that if and when that happens, it won't be that she's suddenly seeing his true self. She'll be seeing a good man in pain, and she hopes she'll be able to be there for him.

She kisses him back, taking her time, since they won't be able to do this once they leave the building. It's been increasingly difficult to keep her affection hidden and to be with him without so much as holding his hand. She suspects they may need to have another conversation about that soon.

When the kiss ends she steps back, letting her hands run down his arms and squeeze his hands before letting go entirely.

"Let's go."

Ted nods in agreement, following her outside. He stuffs his hands in his pockets so he won't be tempted to take her hand again.

"I think that went rather well, by the way," he adds, nodding his head back towards the apartment, indicating his first meeting with Sherlock. "He didn't even say anything inappropriate. And he said it was nice to meet me," he says, smiling playfully.

It's honestly a better introduction than he's had to quite a few people who have ended up being lovely people and even friends.

"You surprised him," Joan notes with an answering smile. "There aren't a lot of things that really surprise Sherlock. But you definitely did."

It will be interesting seeing how they relate to each other going forward. How Ted will respond the first time Sherlock tells him to give Watson more orgasms.

Joan slips her hand into her coat pocket as well, to keep herself from threading her arm through his.

"So, who's going to be at karaoke tonight?"

Ted's not even sure what he did that was so surprising. He was mostly just polite, and not put off when Sherlock wasn't polite in return. That's not even something he has to try to do, that just comes naturally.

"Rebecca and Beard both said they'd be there," Ted answers. Rebecca had taken a little bit convincing, but it's gotten easier to get her to come along to things like this than it used to be at least. "Sam, probably. Nathan might come along but he doesn't usually sing. Keeley will definitely be there, which means Roy will too, but I don't think you've met either of them. You'll love them though. Well, you'll love Keeley," he says with a chuckle.

Joan would guess that the fact that being kind just comes naturally to him, rather than being a tactic toward some ulterior motive, is exactly why he surprised Sherlock. Sherlock is cynical about human nature, and it's very hard to be cynical in the smiling face of Ted Lasso.

"It will be nice to see Coach Beard again," she remarks. "The others, too. You have a great team." She glances at him. "Do they know I'm coming?"

"I mentioned it to Beard. It's not really an exclusive event or anything like that, people bring friends. I didn't want to make a big deal out of it, you know, announce it ahead of time," he answers with a shrug. Ted isn't necessarily great at doing things sneakily, but he's trying, for her sake. "Oh, speaking of Roy, he makes about as good a first impression as Sherlock does, but don't worry, he's a good guy. He's just got... very angry eyebrows. And, well, attitude."

Joan is really good at being sneaky, seeing as it's literally her job. But she's definitely is feeling the tension in keeping their relationship secret. She doesn't necessarily want to shout it from the rooftops, but she does want to hold his hand in public. And have his friends and his team know she's his girlfriend.

"Noted," she said about Roy. "I have a lot of experience handling guys with attitude. Sherlock keeps me in practice."

Ted chuckles warmly. "Yeah, me too. Took Roy a while to warm up to me. Called me Ronald McDonald first time we spoke," he shares with a grin. Obviously not exactly an insult he took to heart. "But I got a lot of that attitude first time I came here. Just had to give people some time to actually get to know me."

"Ronald McDonald," she scoffs teasingly. "Well that's totally unfair. I mean, come on. You're nothing like Ronald McDonald. He doesn't have a mustache." She playfully flashes her eyebrows at him.

"Seriously, though. I'm glad people got to know you. I'm guessing they are, too."

Ted snickers at her teasing and nudges her a little with his elbow. It's probably the constant smiling that was the main comparison. Ted might be blithe, but he's also self-aware.

"Yeah, so am I. And now they'll get to know you too," he says with an excited smile. He's obviously looking forward to that.

Oh, that excited smile makes Joan blush a little. It's been a long while since someone was eager to introduce her to their friends. And since they're not publicly a couple, she knows its not him showing her off to make himself look good. He actually sincerely thinks she's someone cool enough that they will enjoy knowing.

"I'm glad to get to know them," she says.

Joan wonders if at some point she'll get to introduce Ted to her friends in New York. To her parents. To Oren. And then she tries to remember when the last time was that the idea of taking someone she was seeing to meet her family even occurred to her.

It doesn't take them too long to get to the karaoke place, and while not everyone is there yet, people have already started drinking a bit, though no one has started the karaoke yet.

Pretty much the moment they walk in the door, Beard shows up out of nowhere and hands each of them a bottle of beer. As usual with his supernatural ability to predict what Ted needs and when he needs it. Beard gives a respectful nod of greeting to Joan.

"Thanks, coach," Ted says with a chuckle, giving an amused look to Joan before taking a sip.

Joan blinks in surprise as Beard hands them their drinks. It really is uncanny. She gives him a smile and a "thank you," then glances at Ted with raised eyebrows, impressed.

As they move into the room, Joan looks around, recognizing people she talked to for the case here and there, smiling at them and raising her beer in greeting.

Ted nods at various team mates too, and is about to suggest they go get some nice seats, when someone pokes him in the back and he turns around.

"Hiya Ted," says Keeley, with a cheerful wave.

"Hey Keeley! Oh, this is my friend Joan," he says, gesturing.

"Hi, it's nice to meet you," says Keeley to Joan immediately, and she looks and sounds about equally sincere as Ted usually does.

"And that's Roy right there," Ted says, gesturing towards the man a step behind Keeley. Who does absolutely have murder eyebrows, and settles for a curt nod as a greeting.

Ted was right...Joan takes an instant liking to the woman. "It's nice to meet you too," she says, with an equally sincere smile. She turns her attention toward the man behind Keeley and has to keep herself from a surprised and delighted laugh. Angry eyebrows indeed! She raises her beer to him and nods in return.

"So, Keeley! Do you work for the team?"

"Oh yeah, I come in sometimes and do PR stuff for the players, set up branding deals and stuff like that," she answers enthusiastically. "What about you, how do you know Ted?"

She glances at Ted. The investigation had been kept fairly quiet so that the players who were involved had a chance to make amends without their careers being destroyed.

"I work with Scotland Yard," she says, turning back to Keeley. That's true, at least. "There was an investigation into a fan that got a little too enthusiastic that I was helping with. Ted was one of the people I talked to, and we hit it off."

She says it casually, like they're just friends hanging out.

Both Keeley and Roy look surprised at the news of Scotland Yard being involved, and probably also that Ted hit it off with someone who works with them. Then again, Ted seems to hit it off with everyone he talks to, sooner or later.

Ted meanwhile just smiles and nods along. "And I wanted to thank her for helping out, and karaoke seems like a fun way to do that," he adds, which is true. They had only barely started flirting by the time he invited her.

"Y'all wanna get some seats?" he adds, gesturing towards the couches, so they don't spend too long that subject.

She smiles at his addition to the story. He was in fact being honest, if a bit misleading. They certainly had yet to fall for each other as they had since when he invited her to karaoke.

"Definitely!" Joan turns to Keeley and Roy. "Would you like to sit with us?"

Keeley nods excitedly immediately, and Roy shrugs. Ted smiles warmly at both of their reactions. Roy never does anything he doesn't want to, so despite lacking enthusiasm, he's clearly not here against his will. And Ted knows he'll warm up as soon as everyone gets to alcohol in them and the singing starts. He's been a lot cheerier since starting to date Keeley.

Ted goes ahead and sits on the edge of the couch, so that Joan and Keeley can sit together in the middle and chat.

"So what's it like working at Scotland Yard?" Keeley asks, obviously already deeply excited to hear about this.

Joan appreciates Ted's thoughtfulness, and when she sits she surreptitiously brushes her knuckles against the back of his hand as she's getting comfortable, a tiny hidden gesture of affection and thanks.

Keeley's excitement is infectious, and Joan smiles wide. "I'm a consultant, so they bring me and my partner in on the cases that have them stumped. We actually live in New York, so the cases have to be pretty big to bring us here."

Keeley might think that Sherlock is a romantic partner, and at the moment she won't disabuse her of the notion

Ted smiles to himself at the gesture, and is otherwise very content to just sit and listen to them. They're both delightful ladies, so getting to see them interact is lovely. And they haven't discussed her work too much, so he may even get to hear some new things as well.

"Oh my god, so you're like special agent super detectives," Keeley says excitedly, which even Roy cracks a quiet smile at. "What's the most outrageous case you've ever solved? Ooh, or NOT solved, like, the biggest mystery?"

"Biggest mystery," she says, considering that. "There's not a lot of cases we haven't solved. We're pretty good at what we do. I think one of the craziest cases I was part of was the one with the severed ear." She pauses for a moment to allow a reaction to that before going forward. "There was a man whose wife disappeared about ten years before. He had been suspected of killing her, but he insisted that he had been contacted by kidnappers and had paid them, but she hadn't been returned. No one believed him. Then he got a package containing an ear and another ransom note."

Both Ted and Keeley react with exclamations to the severed ear. Ted's a pretty good audience, but Keeley is even better, big gasps and everything, while also looking excitedly horrified. They're probably pretty similar in how they actually feel about this sort of thing; exciting to hear about when told like this, properly detached from reality -- would be absolutely horrified to be anywhere remotely involved. Ted really admires the fortitude required for a job like that.

"Oh my God, that's-- Oh, there's Rebecca!" Keeley cuts herself off, sitting up straight to wave at Rebecca entering the club, who starts heading towards the couch when Keeley flags her down.

Ted doesn't realise until she's actually reached them that she's trailed by another tall woman (slightly taller than Ted, and therefore very much taller than Joan, even if it's not as noticeable while they're seated).

"Marlboro Man," she greets Ted with what can only be described as a knowing smile.

"Hey, Sassy Smurf," Ted answers with a surprised smile, that's maybe a touch on the awkward side compared to his usual greetings.

Rebecca seems mildly surprised to see Joan there, but steps in with introductions right away. "Oh, this is Joan Watson. This is my best friend, Flo Collins," she says, though she doesn't add any descriptions to who Joan is.

"Hi. You can call me Flo or Sassy, I don't care which," she says with a friendly smile, offering a handshake to Joan. Keeley seems very excited to have Sassy there too.

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