instead of being from georgia, bitty comes from some little mud-soaked town off the Bayou Teche and he’s pretty decent at Cajun French, because moomaw insisted he keep the culture alive
so he gets excited when he finds out that he’s on a team with Jack, who speaks Quebecois cause they’re both forms of French so maybe they can talk??? it’ll be great and it’ll help with that homesickness
but then they try and have a conversation and it’s just a fucking disaster because Bitty is like “well okay some of the words he pronounces differently but otherwise it’s pretty easy to understand” and Jack is just like “…what the fuck, why are you pronouncing everything wrong??????” and eventually they just get into an argument over it and finally bitty just kinda huffs off and mutters
“ c’est sa couillon...”
and jack just calls back, “i understood that, toton!”
this is something i find really kind of key to the way i characterise bitty generally speaking, because it relates to some central things that have really shaped who we understand him to be: his attitude towards physicality; his relationship with his own sexuality; and his upbringing. these three things are pretty intertwined, and i think there’s a bit of a tendency to overlook it all in regards to how bitty approaches dating and, specifically, his relationship with jack. i wrote about it in tu ne t’intéresses pas au sexe? but this as an analysis is a lot more detailed and a lot more pretentious.
let’s get started, eh? i hope you’re ready for an essay, because that’s what you’ve got.
No one notices that Dex and Nursey are together for two months. They’re surprisingly subtle about it, maintaining their decorum on the ice, saving their kisses for when they’re alone. They fight as much as they did before, because some things never change, but they resolve every issue with soft apologies and warm bodies in the dark of their rooms. It’s tentative but intense, and they’re both a little too afraid of the depth of their feelings to announce it to everyone – that would mean putting a name on it, on what they feel for each other, and they’re not there yet.
So they don’t say anything, and everyone’s too sure of their hatred for each other to see the change in their relationship. Two months since the first heated kiss in Dex’s room and the SMH are none the wiser. It’s almost too easy, Dex giving a practiced scowl whenever Chowder tries to get him to socialize with Nursey, Nursey shrugging nonchalantly whenever Ransom and Holster point out the pros of being friends and D-men. Even Bitty and Lardo miss the subtle cues they give: a glance here, a brush of a hand there, Nursey eyeing the delightful red of Dex’s blush whenever his shirt rides up to show a slither of toned, dark skin. They get a little reckless, stealing kisses in the Haus just outside the kitchen doorway as Bitty putters about inside, exploring each other’s bodies in the stands at Faber. They begin to talk about them a little more, growing more and more confident each day in themselves and their relationship to the point that Dex thinks they might soon be brave enough to define it.
And then they play Michigan, and everything goes to shit.
It’s a rough game, rougher than any of them have played in a long time, and they’re not prepared. Bitty gets checked in the first period and it’s dirty. He’s lucky it’s not worse, but he has to sit out for the rest of the game and they’re furious. The SMH are now on edge, every one of them out for blood, but even when Tango checks the guy who’d got Bitty hard, Michigan don’t let up. The atmosphere in the stands has gone from enthusiastic to tense, angry ripples running through the crowd, and it doesn’t help the team keep a level head. At the end of the second period Bitty calls them over and gives them a fond but firm talking to – he’s not a damsel they need to defend; they can’t stoop to Michigan’s level; they need to play their best and play for themselves, not to prove something to their opponents. Rans and Holtz give him surprisingly gentle hugs, tease him about being a shoo-in for Captain next year (everyone else agrees) and give their own brief rallying call.
When they go back out on the ice they’re braced to win with pride, or at least go down with dignity. Dex makes sure to skate a little too close to Nursey as they take their positions, a brief brush of arms as reassurance that they’re there, it’s okay, it’s fine. Something warm settles in Nursey’s chest, and he’s ready. The final period starts, and they’re off. The SMH play valiantly and cleanly, resistant and stoic in the face of Michigan’s questionable tactics, and it does them good. It looks like they’re going to win as they enter the final five minutes, and Dex can’t resist flashing a grin at Nursey as he hits the puck up to Tango. Nursey means to return it, meets Dex’s gaze – and catches the moment that a Michigan player crashes into Dex.
The check is violent to the extreme and completely illegal. Everyone’s yelling around them, the crowd in uproar, the paramedics making their way out onto the ice, the team screaming at Michigan. Nursey just freezes where he stands, stares at Dex’s unmoving form, watches as the paramedics search for a pulse. The relief is palpable when they find it, but Dex is still unconscious, and is that blood? Red is seeping onto the ice, staining the delicate strands of Dex’s ginger hair a vicious red. There’s a brief moment when Nursey remembers the night before, lying in Dex’s bed, running his hands through that beautiful hair, and then-
Tater’s parents divorced when he was very young, he doesn’t even remember a time they were together (although they had an amicable relationship post-divorce). His father was a hockey player, his mother was a figure skating champion.
He grew up in Russia with his father, but would spend a couple months every year visiting his mother in the USA. She retired from competition, but continued on to be a formidable youth figure skating coach. Her students were always successful.
When Tater visits his mom, he usually tags along to her early morning practices. Truthfully, he catches a bit more sleep in the stands most days, but he does really enjoy watching the progress her students have made on days mornings when he’s well-rested.
When he’s 11 or so, his mom takes on a tiny blond boy as her newest student, and Tater absolutely LOVES watching him practice. The kid is fast learner, and young Tater has been around the best and brightest of figure skating enough to know that this boy is going to be great.
Even when Tater returns home to Russia after his visit, he still asks his mom about how the little blond boy is doing with his lessons. The next time he visits, the improvement is already staggering. Now he eagerly attend his mom’s early morning lessons to see what this talented tiny boy can do.
Tater meets him once, but the funny little American boy talks very fast and Tater has no idea what he’s saying. He manages to say “Hi” and “good skate” and then stares, completely overwhelmed by this ball of blond energy shaking his hand and talking a mile a minute. Tater knows he’s saying something nice about his mom, because the boy is smiling a lot and looks over at her a couple times, but he knows very little English, so it mostly goes over his head. Still, it makes him smile, and he’s happy his mom has found such an enthusiastic student.
The years go by, and although Tater is sad to hear that his mom’s star pupil no longer figure skates, he gets busy with his hockey career. His mother has other talented students now, and she’s back in Russia. Life goes on. It’s been years since he’s thought of the tiny blond boy…
But one day, his teammate Jack starts (does he ever stop?) bragging about how wonderful his boyfriend is, and brings him along for a fun shinny game with the Falcs to show off Bitty’s skills and speed.
“Remember last time we did this, Bits?” Jack teases his boyfriend while the other guys set up the nets.
“The boys made me do a jump in my hockey skates for the school paper,” Bitty replies with a laugh.
Tater insists on seeing Jack’s little blond boyfriend do a jump, because he does miss watching figure skating like in his childhood. Bitty obliges, and the moment he lifts off the ice, Tater is filled with nostalgia. He knew something was familiar about this energetic young man.
“Hey, little B!” Tater skates over to Bitty immediately. “You’re so good. Always jumping so high, even in hockey skates.”
“Well, it would be better if I were in figure skates, and had a bit more practice…”
“Is okay. Long time since you started hockey, yes? When you were 15?”
Bitty doesn’t think too much of it, aside from being a bit of embarrassment that Jack has told his friends THAT much about him. “Yeah, I figure skated for years before that.”
“So many championships. Good skate.”
Bitty chuckles, remembering the time he met Katya’s quiet son who didn’t speak much English. That poor shy boy had only managed to tell him “good skate” too. He was hit with a wave of déja vu. This giant of a man was about 10,000 times more talkative than that boy, but now that Bitty thought about it, he did look a little familiar. “Um… Tater? This may sound strange, but…”
just moving along like everyone else 