For Joan

[theodorelasso]

Continued from here.

(warnings: sexytimes. also, panic attacks, brutal violence, attempted murder, discussion of suicide and actual murder... )

Comments

[theodorelasso]

They are, obviously, definitely taking the elevator. And if it was just him, he might've been okay with standing around a little bit to chat with people, but he's still very conscious of making sure Joan doesn't have to stand or walk too much. He's sure she wouldn't enjoy suddenly having to sit down, or even worse her legs buckling, in a public place with reporters all over the place.

"All right, it's right around here," he says, leading the way out towards the stands. "You good?"

[formersurgeon]

It would definitely not be a good look. She can just imagine what the tabloid headlines would be, breathlessly scandalous theories about the gaffer's girlfriend in huge print, claiming some source or another divulged the detective is dying or some such nonsense. Making this whole trip as uneventful as possible is the goal.

"I'm good," she answers with a smile. She can hear faintly the sound of the crowd now, so they must be getting close.

[theodorelasso]

Ted smiles back, and leads the way out towards the door. Rebecca, Keeley and Higgins are all already there, and practically spring to their feet to make sure Ted and Joan get down the few steps alright, making way for them to take their seats and giving them a warm welcome.

[formersurgeon]

The way the three of them make sure she and Ted get to their seats safely warms Joan's heart immensely. They're wonderful people and wonderful friends. Joan makes a point to hug Keeley before she sits with a soft, relieved sigh. She looks out at the field, beaming with the infectious excitement radiating from the crowd.

[theodorelasso]

The excitement is definitely easily overpowering the anxious nerves by now, and the sound of the stadium and the presence of the people he cares about is making him feel at home in a way that only could be increased if he felt the grass under his feet.

He gives Joan and excited grin, just having a moment of appreciating that they're here and that they get to watch a game together. It's not something that's likely to happen often - not for a Richmond match, at any rate.

[formersurgeon]

She answers that excited grin with one of her own. They're here, not just at a Richmond game but out in the world after about a week of being shut up in their apartment, much of the time time spent worrying over Joan. Being here now feels like liberation, like they're starting to put their tribulations behind them.

She takes his hand, threading their fingers together, and leans in for a quick peck on the lips.

[theodorelasso]

Ted kisses her back happily, then looks down at their hands. "You know I'm gonna absolutely end up crushing your fingers in a fit of excitement like this, right?" he says playfully, though he's not entirely joking. Once the game gets properly going, at least.

[formersurgeon]

She laughs and squeezes his hand gently.

"I'll let you know if you're squeezing my fingers too tightly. For now, I want to hold your hand."

She's not quite that fragile, and it matters to her that they're doing this together, hand in hand.

[theodorelasso]

"Mmm. Underappreciated Beatles song," he comments cheerfully, bumping their shoulders together lightly, giving her a smile before looking down at the field to see how it's going. They got here pretty early, so the teams haven't even walked out yet.

While they wait, Keeley tells them about this new dating app she's promoting, and she's apparently got Rebecca trying. Ted obviously declines from trying it - even if he were to use it only for friendship, he's got enough on his mind, and he'd rather go out and see people face to face.

[formersurgeon]

"That it is," Joan says, smiling at the shoulder bump and returning it fondly.

Joan listens to Keeley's pitch with some interest. Not for herself, of course...she's happily coupled with both a romantic partner and a best friend. But...

"Maybe Sherlock should check that out," she remarks to Ted as he's looking down at the field.

[theodorelasso]

"Hmm!" Ted agrees, amused but also intrigued by that idea. "I feel like there's a lot of ways that could go, and would probably include scaring a few people off, but there's some potential there, yeah."

He takes a moment to envision that, how those conversations would actually go.

"Though he'd probably start analyzing, you know... Word choice, frequency of replies, punctuation. Two sentences in, he's like 'Nah, she's a 45 year old insurance broker with three failed marriages, I'm not interested'," he says, chuckling.

[formersurgeon]

She smiles at Ted's observations. He's really gotten to know Sherlock well, and there's also clearly a fondness there that Joan appreciates immensely.

"He'd probably enjoy that," she says. "Back when he was still training me he would periodically take me to the precinct holding cells and have me deduce what each person was in for. He likes that sort of challenge. Not to mention prurient correspondence is sort of a hobby of his."

[theodorelasso]

"Oh yeah, then he'd probably enjoy it, yeah," Ted agrees. "For a variety of reasons. Tell you what," he adds, turning to Keeley. "He'd probably super quickly point out what you could do to improve the app as well."

"Oh, great!" Keeley answers. "I mean, I'm promoting it, I'm not part of developing it, but I could definitely pass that sort of feedback along, yeah."

[formersurgeon]

"I'll see what he thinks," Joan tells Keeley. For pretty much anyone else she'd add a caveat about Sherlock's personality, but not only has Keeley met Sherlock, she also deals with Roy on a daily basis.

Joan looks down at the sea of people in blue and burgundy, impressed by the sheer number of fans in the stands. Richmond fans sure are dedicated, even after relegation.

[theodorelasso]

There's a swell of noise in the crowd, and Ted looks down to see the teams marching out onto the pitch, and Ted is yelling his support as loud as anyone.

Beard pauses to look up towards the stands, and Ted waves encouraging down, and Beard gives a subtle salute in return, hard to even make out at this angle. That's one bad thing about sitting way up here, they're very far away, but they can also see the entire field really well.

[formersurgeon]

Joan is cheering as well, the atmosphere in the stadium absolutely electric. She would be on her feet if she could be. As it is, it's a good thing they're sitting in the first row of the owner's box so that they can see even when everyone else is on their feet. When Beard looks up Joan waves as well, and smiles at the coach's returning salute. The team strides out looking confident, but Joan knows they're struggling without their coach. Their last several games have ended in ties, and they just can't seem to shake themselves out of it.

[theodorelasso]

Unlike when watching at home, they can't actually hear the commentators, but at one point during warmup, the big screen does suddenly show video of Ted and Joan up in the owner's box. Keeley elbows Ted, who in turn nudges Joan and points to the screen, before waving and smiling, and a cheer rolls through the stadium, as well as with the team down on the pitch. Ted has to swallow down some emotion for the moment, feeling so supported and welcomed.

[formersurgeon]

Joan looks over at the screen when Ted nudges her, and smiles, giving a small wave. As a cheer rises from the stadium she smiles over at Ted, squeezing his hand, feeling so happy for him and proud of him. Richmond really loves him, and it's wonderful. He deserves it for all the heart and hard work he puts into coaching the team, and for just being the amazing person he is.

"Do they do kiss cams here?" she jokes, gently bumping her shoulder against his.

[theodorelasso]

He expects they'll turn right back and yell at him after he returns to coaching and they lose a match, but that's just fine. He wouldn't expect anything less.

Ted chuckles at the joke, squeezing her hand back. "Don't think so, no. We can save that for home, not TV," he answers with a smile. He'd normally go right ahead and kiss her at that, even in public, but.

When the screen focuses on something else, Ted leans closer to Joan. "Henry's watching," he points out quietly.

He's told Michelle of course, so he doesn't worry too much about feeling like he's rubbing it in her face or something. (It's still something he's conscious of, of course, just like with Sherlock.) But he doesn't want Henry to see him kissing Joan until the two of them have at least been introduced to each other.

[formersurgeon]

"Ah," Joan says. She gets it. Sometimes she forgets that Ted is not entirely free, that he still has responsibilities, to his ex-wife and to his son. It's part of the package, and Joan is totally onboard.

"I kinda felt like the First Lady there," she shares with a smile, changing the subject.

[theodorelasso]

"Yeah, that's pretty fun, right?" he agrees. "I usually tune out those screens, too busy focusing on what's happening on the field." He tries not to focus on the crowd as well, though that can be a bit more difficult, of course.

"Oh, look, here we go," he says, as the referee blows his whistle and the game starts. Ted is leaning forward in his seat, as if that will let him see better, eager to watch.

[formersurgeon]

She knows that Ted sometimes gets abuse hurled at him from the stands. She's always wondered how players and coaches (and referees...and umpires...) deal with that. She supposes they get used to it. Although in Ted's case his kindness and generosity of spirit must help a lot. Instead of focusing on the insult he focuses on the human being behind the words, a person with passions and wants and needs, someone to be respected and cared for. His reaction to Turner was merely that writ large.

When the game starts Joan leans forward as well to watch. She's done some research into football so that she knows what's happening on the field. It will let her get into the game and cheer for Richmond, which will make sharing this game with Ted (and with Keeley, and Rebecca) all the more fun.

[theodorelasso]

It also helps to know, just as a fan of sports himself, that emotions run high and that can lead to all sorts of reactions, and the vast majority of the time it has absolutely nothing to do with the people involved. It's not anything he ever takes personally. It's the pressure to perform, to live up to everyone's hopes and expectations, that's what's really the challenge to deal with. The crowd's reactions are just an amplified immediate response to that.

Ted also ends up doing a running commentary to Joan, though his eyes remain on the field. He knows everyone's numbers and positions, so he can name them, as well as point out when they're doing a particular strategy. Though sometimes the commentary definitely becomes just encouraging shouting. He knows they can't hear him from up here, but he doesn't care.

[formersurgeon]

Joan is entirely engaged, listening to Ted's commentary, asking questions and making comments, picking up remarkably quickly on the names, numbers and positions. She's not shouting out encouragement but she's definitely cheering with Ted when they play well, wincing with Ted when they screw up, and even yelling some outrage toward the ref when the other team is misbehaving or the ref makes a bad call. She's enjoying herself immensely.

[theodorelasso]

As much as Ted misses coaching right now, he also finds he's missed just cheering the team on, and doing so with Joan is even better. A feeling of belonging and having a shared experience, except he's not the one sitting with the responsibility. Or at least, only a little bit.

He doesn't even really mind when it ends up as a tie again. Well, he minds a little bit, definitely. But he won't let it sour his mood.

Once the game is over, he puts his arm around Joan's shoulder and leans over to press a kiss into her hair. "How'd you enjoy your first football match?" he asks. He'd normally call it soccer to her, but he feels like it's disrespectful to do so in the stadium.