-Sometimes I forget that Shitty’s one of Bitty’s best friends, too. (I get so tied up in his fantastic, usually-naked, friendship with Jack.) Add this to Ransom and Holster’s careful offers of help and Lardo’s worried looks: Bitty’s got a built-in support system, ready to help him through all these rough patches he’s been weathering alone.
-“I hate that I can’t be proud of you.” This though. We’re all used to the idea of having to hide our sadness on occasion, but it can be just as painful to hold back joy and pride and the desire to stand up on a chair and scream, “THAT NHL PRODIGY IS MY BOYFRIEND.” Bitty hasn’t…actually…been very good at restraining his excitement about Jack’s games and funny little stories about his teammates, but imagine what a bubbly mess of joy he’ll be when he can actually open up about it the way he wants to. I have a feeling he’s going to talk nonstop about Jack for several months. (Hopefully Chowder gets to be in on the secret, because Chowder is probably the one person who could talk more excitedly about how awesomely Jack’s doing. Or maybe Shitty, when he’s drunk and weepy.)
-Jack zeroing in on Bitty’s admission that being in this relationship makes him feel like he’s gone back in the closet. Jack absolutely refusing to let that stand, now that he knows how rough it’s been on Bitty.
-Jack immediately suggesting they tell their friends. Bitty’s reaction here makes me think that every other time the topic’s come up, Bitty went into bright, cheery, “everything’s just dandy” mode, and Jack took it at face value. Now that he knows Bitty’s not actually okay with keeping it a secret – that it’s actively hurting him, and he’s only doing it because he’s afraid of secrets leaking and hurting Jack’s career…
-Their entire argument is centered around the two of them arguing for each other. They’re fighting over who deserves to be happier and more comfortable, and then apologizing for getting upset about each others’ welfare.
-That split-screen panel, though, with Jack yelling at Bitty about not prioritizing his career over his happiness, and Bitty sobbing that Jack cannot ruin his entire life for Bitty.
-That’s the moment where it probably fully clicks for Jack. Hockey is his career. Bitty is his life.
-It’s another Graduation Bells moment: Jack was in love with Bitty for a good percentage of that year, but it took a final conversational push to make him realize, Oh. Oh that’s what I was feeling. And he’s probably been feeling this way about Bitty vs his career for a while now: he’s prioritized hockey over everything else in the past, even his own health, but the brightest part of his day now is coming home after a game, hearing Bitty’s voice, gently touching the affectionate, supportive notes Bitty writes for him, finally believing that someone cares about him, rather than about what he can do on the ice.
-Winning a game might feel good. But Bitty makes Jack happy, even on his worst days. Bitty is more important than anything else in Jack’s life.
-And 110% Jack fucking Zimmermann is going to make sure Bitty knows that.
-Can I just say how much I love that breaking up was never even on the table for a second. That entire conversation was – “this is really hard, but we’ll get through this; I’ll be stronger – you shouldn’t have to be; you told me to tell you when I needed you, and I just needed you this week; I needed you to know how I was feeling, because it hurts, but it hurts less when I’m with you.” There isn’t the slightest hint of considering ending things, because these boys love each other and are willing to do everything in their power to make it work.
-Jack isn’t a hockey prince anymore: he’s the king of big romantic gestures.
-Running across campus, out of breath and desperate to see Bitty, his graduation gown billowing behind him, wasn’t enough. Now he’s gotta walk through a storm to wrap Bitty up in his rain-soaked arms??
–This boy.
-“You fool” is my new favorite pet name, after “bud.”
-Jack’s worried face, his hair dripping, as Bitty flings himself angrily at him, crumpling his elegantly tailored suit and berating him for not thinking about the consequences of his actions. Why would you do this for me, when it could’ve hurt you?
-But Jack has thought about it. When he saw those missed calls, listened to the broken-voiced message he was supposed to delete, heard the tears Bitty was trying to choke back when they talked…he thought about what it’d mean to him, to Bitty, to their relationship, to keep hiding from everyone they know. He thought about what it was like before he knew Bitty, when he was quiet and harsh and anxious and dedicating all his energy into being the best possible hockey player. He thought about the warmth that filled his chest when he talked to Bitty, the light, bubbly feeling he got when he had Bitty in his arms.
-It wasn’t much of a choice, was it? Not when one option meant Bitty fighting back tears, turning into the terrified, anxiety-riddled person Jack has far too much experience being.
–“We’re a team.”
-Honestly, this is probably the most romantic thing Jack could ever say. It means loyalty, dedication, hard work, passion. It means having someone’s back, and trusting them to have yours. It means putting in the extra time and effort. It means being your best for the other person, even on the days when it’s too hard, when everything seems to go wrong. It’s an even bigger declaration than Jack asking Bitty to be his boyfriend. And Bitty knows it.
-Bitty’s stubborn chin, the defiant tilt of his head, and Jack’s quiet, soft expression as he waits to see if Bitty really does feel the same way.
-Bitty collapsing into Jack’s arms, and the tension melting out of both of them as Bitty buries his face in Jack’s chest, Jack curving his body around his boyfriend, pressing his face into Bitty’s hair, grateful to be holding him, to know that they’re going to be okay. Still hurting because he’d hurt Bitty without knowing it, but relieved that they’re going to fix it, now that they’re together.
-Jack smiling blissfully and chirping a tired, still emotional, but deeply affectionate Bitty as they head up the stairs. It’s them. It’s the perfect example of their comfortable, best friends and boyfriends dynamic.
-Bitty slipping easily back into pet names and stripping Jack out of his wet clothes. Jack thanking him for taking care of him – for letting Jack take care of him, too.
-“Let me in?” Jack asks, waiting on the porch, his heart on his throat. As though the answer would ever be anything but yes.
AAAAAGGGGGHHHHHH YES THIS
(Thanks for writing this all out so I don’t have to lol 😉 )
jack zimmermann: eric bittle??? yeah, he’s amazing [digs into jacket pocket] [pulls out hundreds of thousands of photos of bitty] he’s my boyfriend–just look at him [flips through them] i’m so proud of him [shoves photos in your face] see this? this is the first time he ever checked someone. god i love him so much.
Jack is not aware of how much Bitty is making him happy
Ngozi, making me cry in the middle of the stream (via bittybutt)
Headcanon I’m working on now: Bitty is team captain in his senior year. He has nebulous “omg what to do when I graduate???” thoughts but his plans are mainly “move in with Jack in Rhode Island, get a job”
Then scouts for NHL feeder teams start showing up to his games. And practices. And taking him out for coffee. And asking him who his agent is. Because let’s get real, someone who can start playing a sport and end up at NCAA championship level five years later? Is a pretty special athlete.
When he gets the offers Bitty is originally like, but I don’t WANT to play pro hockey! I wanna be with my boyfriend!
The greatest part of this would be when Bitty and Jack have games against each other, because their competitiveness would get ranked up to a million, since the loser will basically get chirped non stop by friends, teammates, family and of course each other.
And maybe Jack and Bitty start making small harmless bets. It starts with winner picks what we eat for dinner and what we watch afterwards, but then they move to stuff like if Jack wins Bitty can’t use twitter for the whole weekend, or Jack will have to appear on his next vlog post etc.
(And of course there’s the private fun stuff they also bet on but will never tell anybody about winkwink)
So it’s always small silly stuff, but they take it super seriously. And then they start using the games to settle arguments like this:
“Y’all, we need to win. You don’t understand, we have to. If we don’t Jack is taking us to the most boring vacation in history. He wants to go to
Gettysburg,
Pennsylvania
to watch a reenactment of the battle and of the
Gettysburg
Address and if I have to go, you will see a grown man cry of boredom. I want to go to the beach. I deserve to go to the beach.”
“We agreed the winner will get to set the thermostat. Bitty always puts it too high and it’s annoying.”
“If we win Jack will finally admit he has been pronouncing
pecan
wrong! No you don’t understand, this is important, we have been arguing about this for years.”
“Bitty will stop breaking diet and I’m afraid if we don’t win this, his nutritionist will kill him.” (They don’t win this, because there is 0 chance you will get Bitty’s team to give up all the baked goods they have been getting since he joined the team.)
Also, it is absolutely impossible to get interviews afterwards with either of them, because turns out playing against each other is like the weirdest most intense form of foreplay ever.
Like they can’t see each other very often during game season, so by the end of their games they honestly couldn’t care less about anything other than making it to each others apartments, so they skedaddle
with 0 shame and sometimes just go straight to the car and shower at home.
George: Jack, you have interviews…
Jack: (speed walking away) No.
George: Jack!
Jack: (pretends not to hear her) Goodbye.
And well, George figures there’s some battles you can’t win and at least she’ll get an apology pie for this.
Jack lives alone, but Bitty has roommates. However they know better than to show their faces after a game, like we are talking complete pie ban for the whole team for a month here.
Also, if you think Jack Zimmermann is scary on the ice, you have never seen his face when you interrupt marathon sex after weeks of not seeing his boyfriend.
Where’s the goofy teen comedy where the popular girl gives the shy girl a makeover she can Get The Guy™, only to realize that she’s actually falling in love with her and then they have the classic Arguing In The Rain scene because the popular girl is sad that the shy girl went on a date with The Guy so she angrily confesses her feelings and then they kiss and it’s all the feels?
i love in fantasy when its like “king galamir the mighty golden eagle and his most trusted advisor who would never betray him, gruelworm bloodeye the treacherous”
When my sister and I were kids we had this one action figure, who was actually a brutalized batman doll without his cape (the dog chewed half his head, too), who we dubbed ‘Evil Chancellor Traytor’. The idea was that in the fictional society of our toys, ‘chancellor’ just came with the word ‘evil’ in front of it, as a matter of ancient tradition. Like ‘grand’ or ‘high’ or something along those lines.
Anyway, the running gag was that the king (an old Power Rangers knock-off doll) had absolute and unwavering faith in Evil Chancellor Traytor, who basically comported himself like a mix between Grima Wormtongue and Jafar from the Aladdin movies. Everyone was always sure that Evil Chancellor Traytor had something to do with the nefarious scheme of the day. The dude even carried around a poisoned knife called ‘the kingslayer’.
The additional twist on the joke, though, was that he never was behind anything. The king was actually right. Evil Chancellor Traytor was the most devoted civil servant in the entire Action Figure Dystopia. He spent his nights working on writing up new legislature to ensure that broken toys had access to mobility devices, was always on the lookout to acquire new shoeboxes for expanding city infrastructure, and drafted a proposal that once got half the ‘settlement’ in my sister and I’s closet moved to the upper shelf so that vulnerable toys were less likely to be snatched up by the dog.
The knife, as it turned out, was as symbolic as the ‘evil’ in his name. See, Action Figure Dystopia had a long history of corrupted monarchs getting too big for their thrones and exploiting the underclasses. The job of the Evil Chancellor was to always remain vigilant, and loyally serve a good ruler – or, if the regent should became a despot, to slay them on behalf of the people.
But since killing the king would be a terrible crime, the Evil Chancellor had to be the kind of person who would willingly die to spare the people from the plight of a wicked leader; because the murder would be pinned on them, in order to keep the ‘machinery of politics’ working as smoothly as ever.
Anyway, Evil Chancellor Traytor had a diary, in which my sister I would take turns writing out the most over-the-top good shit he’d done behind the scenes. Usually after everyone else had finished talking shit about him. I don’t know why but we got the biggest kick out of being like:
Barbie With the Unfortunate Haircut: Oh that Evil Chancellor Traytor! Why can’t the king see how wicked he is?!
Charmander From the Vending Machine: Char!
Jurassic Park Toy of Jeff Goldblum With Disturbingly Realistic Face: At least if someone puts a knife in the king’s back, we’ll know where to look!
Evil Chancellor Traytor’s Diary: Today I was feeding ducks at the park when I noticed another legless action figure sitting by the benches. I put a hundred dollars into his bag while he wasn’t looking. I really need to increase budgeting to the medical treatment centers. If only we had enough glue, I think we would see far fewer toys trying to get by without limbs… *insert iconic evil laugh*
Anyway, Evil Chancellor Traytor eventually fell victim to one of my mom’s cleaning sprees, and she decided he was too busted up to keep and tossed him out. My littler brother, who tended to follow my sister and I’s games like he was watching a daily soap opera, cried so hard that we had to do a special ‘episode’ where one of the toys found the Evil Chancellor’s diary, and so he got a big huge memorial and the king threw himself into the empty grave and then ordered the toys driving the toy bulldozer to bury him so that ‘Traytor’s grave would have a body’ (this seemed very important for some reason).
And then we had the Quest For a New King. Somehow or another that ended up being a giant rubber snake called ‘Tyrant King Cobra’.
just moving along like everyone else 