read 17 first!

For Billie's entire life, Roy Kent had always been her protector, as much as he could when he was two hundred and eighty six miles away in Sunderland. He tried his hardest to be there for his youngest sister in whatever way he could. He might not have been there to pick her up when she fell, or hug her while she sobbed over her first friendship fallout. But despite the distance between them he had always been Billie's personal superhero.

When he moved to Chelsea he was busier, but he was closer to home. He'd take his sisters out once a week for ice cream, and they'd tell him all about their weeks, and then when they'd ask about his week, he'd just ask more questions about theirs, because he didn't want to miss out on any of it, even the most mundane moments.

Roy never doubted his abilities as a footballer, he got paid to play a game because he was good at it, but he often doubted himself as a big brother. He worried that he wasn't there enough, when Billie was a baby he worried that she would forget his face.

But Billie never forgot, not his face, not his love, not everything that her older brother had done for her. So at the ripe age of twenty two, the same age her brother was when she was six, she felt that it was time to return the favour. She knew it wouldn't be easy, because Roy struggled with expressing his emotions at the best of times, never mind in front of his 'baby' sister.

So there she was, standing on Keeley's doorstep, armed with a tub of Roy's favourite flavour of ice cream, honeycomb crunch. Their mother would always keep a tub of it in the fridge for the days that Roy would visit, and even though the tub was meant for him he would always share it with his sisters, even if it left him with just a third of the tub.

The way he shared his love.

"You're here!" Keeley smiled as she opened the front door, wrapping her arms around the young woman.

"How is he?" Billie whispered, looking over Keeley's shoulder to see Roy sitting on the sofa while Phoebe sat at the dining table.

"Down in the dumpiest of dumps," Keeley whispered.

"You got spoons?" Billie pulled back, holding up the tub of ice cream.

"I've got spoons." Keeley nodded.

The two women made their way back into the house, catching the attention of Roy, while Phoebe remained none the wiser, listening to music with headphones on.

"The fuck are you doing here?" Roy huffed.

"Keeley invited me over for dinner," Billie smiled, placing the ice cream tub on the coffee table and sitting on the sofa beside her brother as Keeley fetched spoons from the kitchen.

"Honeycomb crunch ice cream is dinner now, huh?" Roy couldn't help but smile to himself.

"It's always been dinner," Billie smiled, "You okay, Royo?"

"I'm fine," Roy huffed.

"Ted spoke to you, didn't he?" Billie muttered.

"You know about that?" Roy asked.

"I know everything, I'm like Aslan," Billie replied, "So, are we talking about it?"

Roy paused, looking out the window before turning to his sister, "Football is all I've ever known, it's all I'm good at."

Billie sighed, looking at Phoebe, Phoebe who didn't care how many goals her uncle scored or how many passes he made or how many minutes he played in a match, "Phoebe," Billie called out, "Pheebs!"

Phoebe removed her headphones, turning to face Billie and Roy, "I didn't know you were coming, Auntie Billie."

"It was a surprise," Billie smiled, "Come here, Pheebs."

The little girl joined her auntie and uncle, sitting on the edge of the coffee table, "I was listening to your team bus playlist, Arctic Monkeys are cool."

"A girl after my own heart," Billie grinned, "I need you to do me a favour, can you close your eyes for me and describe Uncle Roy."

Phoebe closed her eyes, "Well, he's my uncle, his beard is scratchy, he buys me ice cream, he swears a lot, he's really funny, and I love him."

"Good job, Pheebs," Billie smiled, looking at her brother, "See, nothing about football."

"Phoebe," Keeley called out to the young girl, sending that the siblings could benefit from a moment on their own, "Why don't you bring that ice cream and we'll try on some of my dresses?"

"Okay," Phoebe smiled, grabbing the tub of ice cream and following Keeley upstairs.

"What Phoebe said is true, and it's exactly what I thought of you when I was her age, except you didn't develop a beard till you were twenty five," Billie told her brother.

"Fuck off."

"I never cared about football until Richmond, even when I was with Brad I didn't care about it," Billie sighed, holding onto one of Keeley's cushions, "And it's not because I didn't like watching you play."

"You gonna tell me Ted Lasso's got to your head?" Roy huffed.

"No, it's because you're my big brother and you could've done anything with your life and I would still look up to you," Billie told him, "You could've been a plumber, a mechanic, a priest, and I would still love you just the same."

"I don't have anything if I don't have football, Bils," Roy replied.

"That's not true and you know it," Billie remarked, "You've got us and we've got you."

"You're just saying that, Billie," Roy sighed, and his self doubt devastated her.

"When you were gone and I was growing up, you were my superhero, because you loved me in a way that Mum and Dad didn't know how to," Billie explained.

"What are you talking about?"

"They didn't want me, Roy, I was an accident, and that normally messes with a kid's head, but I had you and I had Hannah, that was all that I needed," Billie told him.

"I didn't know, Billie."

"Mum didn't want you coming back from Sunderland, she didn't want you giving up your dreams for us," Billie told him, "You weren't there, Roy, but I never felt unloved because I had you."

"You're a soppy little shit, you are," Roy muttered with a smile.

"I know you were Roy Kent the footballing legend before you became my big brother, but you will always be my big brother above anything else, even when you stop dying your hair and I have to visit you in the retirement home to feed you porridge." Billie told him, because she meant it, because she would carry Roy over the finish line the way he helped her grow.

"Fuck off." Roy muttered, wrapping his arm around his sister and kissing the top of her head.

"This is my roundabout way of saying, you're going to be okay," Billie whispered as she held onto Roy, "It'll all be okay."

"You're not a kid anymore are you, kiddo?" Roy smiled with pride at the strong young woman his sister had become.

"I'll always be a kid beside you, grandad," Billie grinned, "Now where's that ice cream?"

Billie, Roy, Keeley and Phoebe ended up demolishing the whole tub of ice cream before they decided to order pizza, followed by another tub of ice cream. Except for Roy, who just had a salad and a few of Keeley's potato wedges.

Once Phoebe had fallen asleep in Keeley's spare room and the three adults had watched the latest episode of Lust Conquers All, much to Roy's dismay, it was time for Billie to head home. But given that she lived a twenty minute walk away and it was dark, Roy wasn't going to let his sister walk home alone, so he stayed by her side, all the way through the town of Richmond. They spent most of the walk talking about various memories from the days when Roy would visit.

"We should go on holiday when the season's over," Billie suggested as they walked along the edge of the green, approaching the pub where Billie once worked, "We've only ever been on holidays in the UK together."

"Bloody Margate." Roy laughed, reminded of the rainy half term holidays that the family went on when Billie was little, all five of them sharing a small caravan on an underwhelming caravan site in the south of England.

"We should take Phoebe, I bet she'd love it as much as we did, and maybe Hannah could finally book a week off of work," Billie grinned, "You could bring Keeley."

"I'm not sure if caravan parks would really be her thing, Bils," Roy sighed as the siblings passed the pub.

"I think she'd make them her thing, for you," Billie remarked.

"And would you be bringing a plus one on this family trip?" Roy asked and Billie paused, would she bring someone? There was only one person who crossed her mind, but that felt rushed, that was still so new and she didn't want to rush into anything. Besides, there was no way Roy and Jamie would willingly spend a weekend in a caravan together, nevermind a whole week.

"Is that?" Billie muttered as she laid eyes on Ted stumbling out the pub, wandering towards the edge of the pavement.

"Yeah," Roy quickened his pace, getting to Ted just in time to hold out his arm, stopping the American who looked the wrong way from walking out into oncoming traffic.

"Hello stranger," Billie smiled as she joined Ted and her brother, "Let's get you home."

"Where's home?" Roy asked.

"That way." Billie gestured down the narrow pedestrian street close to the pub.

The unlikely trio made their way back down Ted's street while Billie rambled about the importance of the green cross code and how all countries should just flip a coin and decide which side of the road to drive on, Roy and Ted just listened. She then began to blame it all on capitalism and that's when both men switched off.

So there they were, Billie and Roy sitting at Ted's dining table as he stood in front of them, eating peanut butter from the jar with his finger.

"I still say nutella is a better choice," Billie muttered as she watched the American with intrigue.

"How about you, Roy?" Ted held out the jar.

"I'm good."

"You got a nut allergy?" Ted frowned.

"I got a finger allergy."

"What else have I got to offer you here? We got some fruit twist fanta that Billie recommended to me, we got tea, and some two day old pasta water," Ted offered the footballer.

"Tea's fine," Roy sighed.

"Billie?"

"I'm good," Billie smiled, "Demolished an entire pizza and I'm fifty percent dough so I'm pretty content."

"Look, I'm sorry I told you to go fuck yourself," Roy sighed as Ted busied himself by the kettle, "I'm usually better at hiding my anger."

Billie laughed as her brother turned to look at her with a frown, "Wait, that wasn't a joke?"

"You think so?" Ted looked at Roy.

"He know so."

"Know thyself," Ted nodded, patting his fist against his chest, "Rest in peace, Socrates."

"Told my niece I might not be playing, she asked if we could order more ice cream," Roy huffed as Roy busied himself making tea.

"Well, hey, at least you got some smart ladies you can talk to, right?" Ted remarked, "How was the ice cream?"

"Good, it's fucking ice cream."

"I'm now on a cleanse," Billie added, "Ate too much."

"Ice cream's the best," Ted agreed, "It's kind of like seeing Billy Joel perform live, you know? It never disappoints."

"Or One Direction," Roy muttered.

"I knew you fucking enjoyed it!" Billie nudged her brother with enthusiasm.

"I asked her if she was still going to watch the match if I wasn't playing," Roy continued, "Little shit said yes, didn't even blink, just straight to my face."

"Well hey, that's showbiz, ain't it?" Ted sighed.

"And Phoebe doesn't do filters," Billie added, "She takes the concept of 'lying is wrong' a bit too literally sometimes."

"I promised myself I was never gonna watch Fresh Prince again when they swapped out Aunt Vivs, but truth be told, as long as they let Carlton do his thing, I was always gonna take a minute and just sit right there," Ted rambled.

"I don't have a clue what's happening." Billie muttered.

"Wrong generation." Roy sighed.

"Sidebar: Alfonso Ribeiro, the greatest physical comedian of the 19th, 20th and 21st century, case in point right here," Ted told the pair as he began doing the Carlton, clicking his fingers and swaying as Billie frowned with intrigue, "Iconic, yeah?"

"I never know how to react when a grown man does the Carlton in front of me," Roy muttered in disbelief and slight amazement.

"You could see a silhouette doing this, you know exactly what it is, you know exactly who's doing it, it is the one, the only, Alfonso-"

Ted's efforts were cut off by thumping from the flat upstairs, "Sorry, Ms Shipley!" Ted called out, "It has been a whole thing this past week."

"Sounds fun."

"Anyway, you know what we could do?" Ted sighed, "You've been hurt on and off all season, we can just say you're injured and can't play, no shame in that."

"That would help protect my stock if I wanna move next season," Roy huffed and Billie frowned, because she didn't want her brother to leave again, not when what they had was so good, "Maybe to a club that actually wants to start me."

"Oh, come on."

"Or God forbid, I end up having to play in fucking America," Roy sighed, "Where I'd dominate, by the way, they'd be like, oh is this football then."

"You're not leaving SW14, nevermind leaving England," Billie was quick to interject.

"Well, obviously, my preference would be to have you there, at practice tomorrow and the game," Ted told him, placing a mug of tea in front of Roy and one for himself, "But hey, you gotta do what's right for you."

"Can I think about it?" Roy asked.

"I'd call you a big dummy poo-poo face if you didn't," Ted sighed, as both men took a sip of their tea, his face frowning in disgust, "Be honest with me, it's a prank right? The tea, when us tourists aren't around, y'all know it tastes like garbage."

"You know how I feel about tea." Billie smiled.

"I love it." Roy remarked.

"You don't love it, it's pigeon sweat."

"Big agree." Billie nodded.

author's note: hope you enjoyed these chapters! this chapter was a bit shorter than usual but i love writing roy and billie's sibling dynamic <3

next update will be a rollercoaster (happy, sad and everything in between)