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Part 2 of Ted Lasso Time Travel Multiverse
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Published:
2024-02-26
Completed:
2024-03-04
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3,700
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2/2
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35
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370
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A Burst of Radiance

Summary:

Momentarily distracted by the comment on their current state of dress, Jamie looked over at Colin, who appeared to be doing the same. They were wearing matching light blue shirts, Colin’s reading ‘GROOM’ and Jamie's ‘GROOMSMAN’.

“You’re getting married?” Isaac's shocked voice broke through the silence like a gunshot.

Colin’s eyes widened. Jamie opened his mouth to say something, but before he had a chance Colin’s hand was sealed across his mouth. “Don’t say anything!”

OR: Colin and Jamie woke up five years in the past during Ted's early days. It was Jamie's first go-round at Richmond and a time when Colin was stuck deep in the closet. Separately, each of them had known they'd changed, but they hadn't understood just how much (and they definitely hadn't realized their teammates had changed too).

DISCLAIMER: May be updated at random, but can be read as complete. This means there are no cliffhangers or big unresolved plot points. (why it's marked as complete)

Notes:

An alternate take on the fic so many of y'all seemed to enjoy. This, same as the other one, may or may not be continued/expanded upon.

Enjoy!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: Prologue

Notes:

Have fun!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

POV Jamie

90:00:00:00

Everything went white…

Jamie stumbled forward and fell to the ground with a groan of pain. His ears were ringing and his head was aching as if he’d gone from zero to a full-blown migraine in a split second. Had he been hit in the head by a football? He tried to remember… he was just out with some of the lads, wasn’t he? Yeah! It was Colin’s stag do, wasn't it?

He pried his eyes open and squinted at the bright light beaming down on him as everything slowly came into focus.

He was in the locker room, surrounded by his teammates who were all staring at him. They seemed shocked, almost disturbed. Next to him, a figure was lying on the ground and groaning unhappily.

No one was taking any steps to help them so he croaked out, “A little help ‘ere?”

No one moved… The fuck?

“Jamie?” the lump asked pitifully.

“Yeah?”

“The fuck happened?” the lump raised its head, revealing none other than Colin.

There was suddenly a hand on his shoulder and he looked up to find Coach Lasso staring down at them, looking worried. “You boys alright down there?”

“I dunno, coach. I don’t know what happened. Last thing we were at that club…” he trailed off, looking to Colin for more information.

Colin shrugged. “I don't remember either. We weren't even there long enough to get one drink.”

“Now we're suddenly ‘ere?” he slowly pondered, more than a little dubious of the whole thing. “Could be a hit to the head or summat? Lose me memories?”

“There’s two of us though…” Colin frowned at a spot on the floor, looking as if he was thinking hard. “Shared hallucination?”

“Um…” Coach trailed off. Jamie looked back up at him, waiting for him to continue, but he said nothing more.

Suddenly the familiar sound of Roy’s cursing hit his ears, “What the fuck, Tartt?”

“What did I do…” he trailed off as he swung his head towards Roy’s voice, only to find him dressed in his old gameday kit, DubiAir logo and all, standing in front of his old cubby proudly marked with a number six and the name Kent.

“Whoah,” he said faintly, distantly hearing his exclamation mirrored by Colin.

He turned to the side and met Colin’s wide eyes, saying, “You see that too, right?”

Colin nodded wordlessly.

Now that he’d noticed one thing, it was like a switch had flipped in his brain and he started noticing everything. The old kit was not limited to Roy, everyone was wearing one. There were faces in the room that he hadn’t played with in years, and many more were missing. The ‘believe’ sign was whole and untorn and his cubby was where it used to be (before he became a better person and shit).

“Jamie and Colin disappeared in a flash of light, and you appeared here seconds later,” Beard’s voice caused him to jump slightly and his head snapped toward him. “Neither of you are… dressed how you should be and both of you have different haircuts. Whoever you two are, you’re not our Colin and Jamie.”

Momentarily distracted by the comment on their current state of dress, Jamie looked over at Colin, who appeared to be doing the same. They were wearing matching light blue shirts, Colin’s reading ‘GROOM’ and Jamie's ‘GROOMSMAN’.

“You’re getting married?” Isaac's shocked voice broke through the silence like a gunshot.

Colin’s eyes widened. Jamie opened his mouth to say something, but before he had a chance Colin’s hand was sealed across his mouth. “Don’t say anything!”

Jamie stared at him blankly. (not a thought behind those eyes) After a moment he nodded and Colin finally removed his hand.

Jamie looked around the now silent room, as everyone intently watched their interaction. As calmly as he could, he asked, “Is this a fucking prank or some shit?”

He looked back towards Roy, who was glaring him down with a certain degree of hatred that he hadn’t seen in years. Something cold and uncomfortable curled in his chest and he looked away, sweeping his gaze across the others who only looked at him as if he were some sort of strange sea specimen.

“I second that question,” Colin said when it became clear no one seemed intent on answering.

“A prank?” Isaac sounded baffled. “You two appeared in a flash of light, bruv!”

“Well, I didn’t do nothin’!” Jamie yelled back, only a little hysterically.

“Me neither!” Colin agreed enthusiastically.

Suddenly the room was filled with the overlapping voices of his teammates, and it was nearly impossible to tell them apart from one another in the chaos. Ted’s hand was still resting on his shoulder and squeezed gently. “All right now. Everyone settle down. I think we’re all just as confused as one another here.”

“I’m not confused, coach,” Moe spoke up, “It’s time travel. I’ve seen this before.”

Ted sighed and took his hand off Jamie’s shoulder. “Alright. This is already bad enough, let’s please not make this worse.”

“No. He’s right, Coach,” Beard looked intently at Jamie. “Check your torsos. You should both have timers.”

“What?” Colin sounded as confused as Jamie felt.

“The fuck’s a timer got to do with anything?” Roy asked, still glaring at him.

“The hairy prick’s right,” he said, causing Roy to growl. “What are you talking about?”

“On your torsos. If it’s time travel you should have markings on your torsos counting down how long you’ll be here,” Moe said seriously.

Jamie’s hand flew to the hem of his shirt, and he could feel the entire room’s eyes boring into him as he raised the edge slowly, revealing a dark tattoo that definitely hadn’t been there a few minutes earlier.

89:23:57:19

His voice was faint, “What the fuck?” The tattoo seemed almost alive. Just as Moe said, it was a timer that was somehow actively counting down.

Beside him, he saw Colin lifting his shirt in his peripheral, letting out a low, “Holy shit.”

89:23:57:15

The ink was changing as the seconds passed. He glanced over and found himself staring at an identical tattoo on Colin.

89:23:57:13

They made eye contact, and a silent feeling of camaraderie passed between them. It was clear they were both thinking the exact same thing: What the actual fuck? He looked back down.

89:23:57:08

Jamie touched the tattoo with trembling fingers. It should have been impossible, but there it was. Coach Lasso’s voice echoed the thoughts running through his head as he asked, “Is everyone else seeing this?”

He received muttered confirmations from several players.

89:23:57:05

The mark felt slightly warm, but the skin was smooth and the steadily changing numbers were undetectable to his probing fingers.

89:23:57:02

Next to him, he heard Colin vaguely whine.

“I can’t believe this,” he breathed out.

Coach Beard was suddenly in front of them, crouching down. “It’s real. I’ve seen this before. It’s the universe playing a game, like Monopoly but on a cosmic scale. You come here, and our Colin and Jamie go to the future.”

“But I don’t remember any of this,” he said, more confused than ever.

Beard shook his head. “You wouldn’t… because it didn’t happen to you. The timelines split the second the switch happened. We were your past up until about two minutes ago. Now we’re in a parallel universe. That means your own future is set in stone, no matter what happens here, and our future is yet to be written.”

“Okay, does anyone else feel like they're going crazy right now,” Colin asked the room.

Jamie silently raised a hand, noticing several people following his lead. It was good to know they were all in the same boat of complete and utter confusion; except for Coach Beard and Moe, but they’d always been a little bit weird.

POV Ted

“-so now these ‘Future Fellas’ are stuck here for the next eighty-eight days. I talked with them a bit yesterday, and they both say they’re good to keep playing with us in their younger selves' places until they’re swept back to the future, so wish me luck with practice today! It’s certainly gonna be a memorable one.”

“Training, Ted,” Rebecca corrected, taking a bite of biscuit. “Now, if you’re done teasing me for missing the last match, you should probably get going. I think you’re running a bit late.”

His face scrunched up. “Oh, no, ma’am. This aint teasing. This is as true a story as they come.”

Rebecca stared at him blankly.

Ted stared back.

In the corner, Higgens started gagging.

Notes:

Hope you liked it!

Chapter 2: Go With the Flow

Notes:

Still using this as a coping mechanism for my anxiety :)

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

POV Colin

Colin was vibrating with pent-up anxiety. He and Jamie had already missed the entire first half of practice due to a seemingly endless interrogation by Mrs. Welton—Ms. Welton, now—until she finally gave in to the inevitable conclusion that they were indeed from the future. They’d been pulled aside the second they’d entered the building and hadn’t even been given a chance to see any of their teammates or coaches yet.

“Calm down, man,” Jamie said, putting his hand on Colin’s arm.

He forced his teeth to unclench and hissed back, “This is insane!”

“Yeah,” Jamie shrugged as they entered the dressing room and he set his bag down on the bench, “-but what’d we say?”

“Go with the flow?”

Jamie nodded just a little too fast, verging on hysterical. “This can be normal if we just let it.” He didn’t sound too confident in his words.

Crossing the room and setting his bag down, Colin looked at Jamie thoughtfully before he realized what was bothering him. “You’re over here.”

“Hmm?” Jamie looked up from his phone. Their’s had been dead on arrival and they quickly discovered charging them did nothing to help, so they’d run out for new ones earlier that morning.

“Here,” he pointed up at Jamie’s name and number near his.

He watched realization dawn across Jamie’s face, chased quickly by a frown as he grabbed his bag and crossed the room. “I don’t like this.”

Having Jamie there was giving him weird feelings too and he grimaced. “Yeah… ‘s not great.”

As Jamie sighed and hopped in place a few times, Colin looked down at his kit. It was one of the old ones with DubiAir on the front. He didn’t really want to wear it, but there wasn’t much of a choice and he wanted to do all he could to avoid making waves.

The night before, Jamie had climbed into Colin’s car without a word and kept his silence until they reached his house—not a single word about his driving capabilities or an explanation as to why he’d just assumed he’d be going with Colin; to be fair, he’d assumed Jamie would be joining him without consulting the other man in equal measure.

Neither of them had any desire to apart from the one person who understood what they were going through, and every exchange they shared was underlaid with an unspoken, ‘thank fuck I’m not alone in this shit.’

When they were both dressed, he and Jamie shared a look. Jamie attempted an encouraging smile and said, “Let's just ignore it all and go play some footie.”

He returned the smile weakly and said, “Yup… let’s do this.”

POV Jamie

They walked onto the pitch slowly, exchanging a glance when it became clear that every eye had snapped to them the second they came into view. They stopped by the coaches, who were silent for a long moment.

Coach Lasso was the first one to attempt to diffuse the tension, greeting them with a bright, “Hey, fellas! Sorry the boss held you up so long, I probably should’ve guessed she’d want to confirm everything herself. She’s a very meticulous woman.”

Colin said, “Mhmm,” and Jamie just shrugged.

“Well,” Coach Lasso clapped his hands, “Why don’t you boys go take a few laps to warm up and after that, we’ll scrimmage.”

“Sounds good,” Jamie said bouncing on the balls of his feet as beside him Colin nodded.

One of Jamie’s Roy-given, be-a-prick requirements was that during training he didn’t hold himself back, even if that meant flying ahead of the pack while running. It’d been a long time since something like that had bothered the rest of the team, and they’d all made clear their support of him being the best athlete he could be.

The last thing Jamie wanted around this twisted version of their team, was to be any distance from Colin’s side. Jogging beside him, Colin seemed just as on board with their current levels of codependence as he panted out, “Thank fuck you’re not running ahead right now.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Not like Roy’s gonna start yellin’ now.” As a result of not running as fast as he usually would, he had the spare breath to drop his voice into the register he used for any impressions of Roy, “Tartt! Hurry the fuck up or I’m gonna punch you in the balls!”

Colin snorted and panted out, “D’ya think he… knows how- how homoerotic his threats are… sometimes?”

“Genuinely no clue.” He shook his head. “You’d think I’d know after livin’ with the fucker for two years, but ‘s just as much a mystery as ever.”

They were silent for a bit until Colin said, “Everyone’s staring”

Jamie grunted. He’d noticed that and was very much hoping it would stop. “I’m honestly just more lookin’ at Roy… ‘s weird he’s playing. Good… but weird.”

“Yeah,” Colin huffed out, “-and people are missing.”

“No Dani just doesn't seem right,” he agreed as they slowed to a walk on the last few metres.

Colin frowned at the other players, shaking his head. “It’s just... weird... It's weird.”

“No arguments here, mate.”

When they reached the coaches they both shifted uncomfortably. The staring wasn’t just from their teammates, and it was starting to feel… itchy.

Colin eventually said, “Coach?”

“Oh,” Ted said, finally seeming to realise how strange he was acting. “Sorry, fellas. Time travel’s a new one for me, and it’s takin’ a bit to wrap my head around.”

Beard grunted his agreement.

“Can’t say you’re wrong,” Jamie said. “It’s mad, innit.”

“Uh,” Nate’s voice was hesitant behind him.

He turned, saying, “Yeah, Coach?”

“...Water?” Nate held up the bottle caddy hesitantly.

Colin, who’d turned with him, grabbed a bottle and said, “Oh, thanks, mate.”

Realising what he’d done wrong, Jamie quickly course-corrected and smiled kindly. “Sorry, man.” He grabbed a bottle. “Cheers, yeah?”

Staring at them with wide eyes, Nate started slowly inching backwards, never turning around. He exchanged a confused look with Colin before turning back to the coaches.

Coach Lasso cleared his throat awkwardly and shook his head as if to clear it. “Alright…” He blew his whistle. “Everyone! We’re gonna scrimmage!”

POV Colin

At the sound of the whistle, the other team immediately gained control of the ball.

In a matter of seconds, Colin spotted an opening, stole the ball right out from under Moe, and immediately shot it off to Jamie who sent it off to the side where Sam-

Shit!

Sam hadn’t fucking picked it up and it fell directly into Roy’s lap. Before it could get too far down the field it was collected by Richard who sent a long ball down to Jamie. He charged the goal, which was being heavily blocked.

However, Colin didn’t have a single man on him. Knowing what was next, he positioned himself for the ball he knew would soon be flying his way.

Seconds later, Jamie used the side of his foot and sent the ball on a high, tight arc through the air making direct contact with Colin’s head as he knocked it in.

Gleefully, he let out a whoop of happiness and ran over to high-five Jamie.

Jamie was grinning right back at him and said, “Nice header, mate!” He waggled his eyebrows. “Though... it can be said, it was all thanks to my sexy pass.”

Colin snorted and rolled his eyes, patting Jamie’s shoulder in fake consolation. “Of course, boyo.”

Roy’s voice cut through their merriment, “The fuck was that?”

They turned to find the entire fucking team gaping at them. Colin felt the smile melt off his face as Jamie hesitantly replied, “...uh, football, mate? Ya’know, the game we’re all here bein’ paid to play?”

Colin closed his eyes and prayed for strength. “Uh, I think what he means is, uh…” he trailed off and looked at Jamie. “Yeah, I don’t know either.”

The whistle blew and Beard called loudly across the pitch, “Alright, enough standing around! Let’s go again!”

Despite their first goal, which turned out to be a major fluke, the team was playing horribly.

Colin didn’t remember them being as bad as they were, but holy fuck they were absolute shit. No wonder they’d been relegated if this was the best they could do.

It wasn’t even like he and Jamie were playing a different style from the rest of the team, though it wasn’t hard to imagine the nightmare that adding Total Football into the mix would bring. But even playing the game using simple as 4-4-2 seemed to be throwing the rest of the team for a loop.

He could see his frustration mirrored on Jamie’s face with every fumbled ball, botched pass, and missed goal. They both kept kicking the ball to people who weren’t where they should be and Colin was slowly going crazy because of it. It didn’t seem right, just how off-balance everything was. Not a single of his attempts to steal the ball or tackle had been successfully countered or thwarted, and the only person who was reliably where they were supposed to be was Jamie.

He and Jamie managed to each snag another goal apiece before the final whistle blew and the coaches summoned the team to the sidelines and said they’d debrief back in the dressing room. Thoroughly worn down by the game, he knocked an arm against a downtrodden-looking Jamie, who shot him a wry half-smile. No one attempted to talk with them as they walked down the halls and into the dressing room.

So much for football helping ground them; it only seemed to have made things worse.

POV Jamie

The team sat in silence until the coaches entered. Ted looked around the room expectantly, and when no one said anything, he asked, “So, what happened out there today, fellas?”

It was Isaac who eventually responded, “Colin and Jamie are playing weird as fuck, and it's throwing everyone else off.”

“Hey!” He spun to face their captain—future captain. “Not cool man!”

At the same moment, Colin protested, “C’mon! We’re not playing weird!”

The room burst into noise as everyone chimed in to offer their two cents to the discussion, voices overlapping in a symphony of utter chaos. Roy’s voice cut through like a knife, “Everybody shut the fuck up!” The silence was instant.

Coach Lasso nodded at him. “Thank you, Roy. Now one at a time, please.”

“Their playing style is different,” Sam spoke up for the first time. “It’s subtle, but the two of them were playing just fine with one another… it’s when they played with us that there was a problem.”

Colin was nodding. “Yeah… makes sense.” He looked at Jamie for confirmation.

“I don’t think it’s the style though,” he said thoughtfully. “‘s like… we practice 4-4-2 often enough... and there’s not usually any issues, yeah?”

“I guess,” Colin said, “-but then why was it such shit out there today?”

“If I say it, I’m gonna sound like a prick,” he shrugged, a small smile playing at his lips as he stared at Colin jokingly. Colin obligingly raised a middle finger and he smirked. “Alright… it’s like… Colin and I are playing pretty great, but everyone else is playin’ like shit.”

Everyone started yelling and he winced at the genuine vitriol being spat at him, raising his hands defensively. Colin jumped in to defend him saying, “Hey, just listen to ‘im for a second.”

“He just called us shit!” Isaac exclaimed.

“No, not- not like that…” Jamie shook his head. “It’s actually a good thing if you think about it, yeah?”

He saw Colin’s eyes light up in realization as he let out a soft, “Oh…”

Jamie smiled at him. “Yeah?” He cast his gaze around the rest of the room, everyone’s faces remained blank and he slumped as he sighed. “Listen, would it be better if I said none of you got better after five more years of playing?”

“Jamie’s right,” Colin said. “None of you are where I’m expecting you to be… except Jamie, obviously.”

Jamie picked up the train of thought and said, “If I was playing with new people, I’d learn how they act, but with all of you, after so long playing together, I expect you to play like you… the you, we know,” he gestured between himself and Colin, who was nodding along with his words.

The room with silent as everyone processed that.

“It’s not just that,” Roy spoke up suddenly. “You’re both playing different… you might not be playing a new style out there, but you’ve changed the way you play in other ways.”

Jamie pursed his lips, unsure how to respond to that. Roy was right, but how could his emotional journey be explained to someone who hadn’t been there to witness it?

Fuck... Without outing him, how could Colin’s?

“We have changed,” Colin said, breaking the heavy silence that had fallen over the room. “Jamie knows he’s actually part of a team now, and I…” As the pause stretched on, it became clear that Colin was floundering for something to say.

Jamie jumped in and said, “He figured himself out... like, mentally.” He shrugged. “Colin Hughes is a strong and capable man.”

Colin shot him a grateful look. “Yeah, what he said.”

“In simple terms,” Jamie tucked his hands up in his shirt and his voice was quiet as he said, “-we grew up.”

Notes:

Hope y'all enjoyed it!

Please remember this isn't betad and barely edited :)

Notes:

Yet another chaotic, anxiety-fueled, barely edited, fever dream of a fic :)
I hope everyone enjoyed it!

What would y'all like to see in this version of the time travel story?

Find a typo or a stupid mistake?

It's my policy to include a little something for everyone. Since some people like to find errors, I regularly include a few in my publications to meet this need.

Please let me know :)

DISCLAIMER: Unbetad & barely glanced over, let alone edited.

(Also: Feel free to write stuff based on this. I'd love to see more time travel fics addressing just how much things changed throughout the show.)

Series this work belongs to: