Warnings for: vaguely NSFW language and the city of Santa Cruz.
Holster always knew it would happen like this: he would be
having an otherwise normal conversation with someone and the opportunity to
make a bad joke about how not straight he was would present itself, he wouldn’t
be able to resist the temptation, and then everyone would know.
Like on some level, he’s a-ok with this because it’s 2016 it
shouldn’t be a big deal anymore, they’re at Samwell, he can just mention it
causally like that’s always been the case and everyone’s always known it’s the
case and that should be that.
He…he didn’t mean for it to be Ransom that he came out to. Not
first.
“Because it’ll be fuckin’ sick,” Ransom insists, showing
Holster the vacation rental he’s found. “Look how close it is to the beach!
Because bro, you do understand that there are
not beaches in Seattle right?”
“Yeah, I know,” Holster says. He’s looking forward to their
short vacation before they move west. They’re going together, because how could
they not, because Holster’s going to the Schooners and Ransom’s going to UW Med
and they’re going to be together. It’s the only part of his future Holster’s
ever been sure of – Ransom will be there. “It’s fuckin’ sweet.”
“Right?” Ransom says, clicking the reservation forms for
their beach stay. They’ll probably bring some of the team – Bitty, Jack, Shits,
Lardo, maybe Dex and Nursey if they can promise not to shoot each other,
Chowder if he wants to stay in a rental in Santa Cruz instead of his actual
house – but for the majority of the vacation it’ll be him and Ransom.
“Bro, just think
of how many hot chicks we’ll get to see,” Rans says, his head falling back in
delight.
“What? I’m only allowed to find half the population
attractive now?” Holster asks.
The words are out of his mouth before he really registers
what he’s just said, but Rans is staring at him, his eyes wide.
My problem is really that I need a narrative arc for Ransom and Holster that isn’t “they’re pining (they think) unrequitedly for each other” because that is just Not Working for me right now.
Holster and Ransom hook up casually one night in their first semester of freshman year, but aren’t prepared for how Right it feels. they have an awkward few days trying to avoid the subject but they can’t avoid the attraction, and start seeing each other. it gets pretty heavy pretty fast, and they’re both kind of scared of what’s happening. they meet up over winter break and come to their Agreement:
A) they’re probably It for each other B) they’re both young and dumb and not ready for It to happen yet C) this is college, they want to explore sexuality and romance and have terrible stories about waking up handcuffed to streetlamps or what have you.
So the deal is this. They keep their thing on hold until they graduate. If there’s still a spark – if it’s still It for them – then go for it. But they take the next few years to work out themselves, to grow as people, and to explore fully the limits of the human reproductive systems.
They don’t pretend it’s not tough sometimes, seeing the other with someone else. And a couple of times the agreement has come close to breaking down – but they talk it out. They know they have a good thing here, and they’re not gonna let miscommunication ruin that for them.
And buried within the meat of the Agreement is the Niagara clause. One place where it’s null and void – where they’re not Ransom and Holster, Hockey Bros, but Justin and Adam, disgustingly in love and so excited to get to the rest of their lives together.
*slams fist on the table* YES!!!!!!
OK all the other headcanons can go home. This one is perfect. All the angst with out the major servings of unrequited attraction. I mean there is angst but also…. HAPPINESS !!!!💓💓💓💓
Sequel to Keep It Small (you don’t have to read that one but it would probably help!); 12k; RansomxHolster
Keep It Organized
Ransom knows that, to most people, his Excel sheets are a joke.
Well, maybe not a joke, but they aren’t meant to be taken seriously. They are just a thing that Ransom does to help plan events (mostly kegsters) or if someone has a particularly big life decision and most people assume that about half the time he informs them “Excel says,” he is making it up.
He’s not though.
Not ever.
Because he knows that people think he is bad at managing stress and, to be fair to them, he does tend to miscalculate and break down at least twice a year (finals) but, really, for how anxious he is all the time, he thinks he does a pretty good job.
The lists help. He keeps track of things. He might have too much to do, but at least he keeps it organized.
In middle school, before he has his own computer, his room is a mess of post-its and lists and his family is happy chaos, always has been, but for Ransom that means his parents aren’t the type to keep track of things, are content to go with the flow and Ransom…
Ransom needs structure. So the lists become a whiteboard calendar and when he gets a laptop for high school, Ransom goes digital.
He picks Excel for many reasons. Primarily because Microsoft Word is too unpredictable (especially with bullet points) and, once he gets more advanced (figuring out his average in each class before his report cards come out, keeping track of his summer workouts so he is in shape for fall, etc), he needs the math that Excel offers him.
But also because no one in his family uses Excel. So when one of his sisters borrows his laptop (Excel says Kels borrows it the most), there is no chance they will look in the “Recent” files and see just how much Ransom relies on Excel sheets. For everything.
I blame the fact that it has rained here for like 3 weeks straight for this one. Ransom/Holster ~3K; TW: Panic attack, canon-level alcohol use, unrequited love
Keep It Small
People don’t know as much as they think they do.
Throughout this whole thing, that’s the primary fact that Holster has learned for himself: People don’t know. And they aren’t good at guessing much either.
Freshmen year, everyone “knows” that Ransom and Holster have been friends for years (not true, they’d met first day of hockey pre-season, same as the rest of the team) and everyone “knows” by sophomore year that they are always down for a threesome (they’d only done it twice actually; twice before it got to be too much) and, when Junior year comes around, everyone “knows” that Ransom and Holster are “best friends for life.”
“The closest bros,” people say. “On the same wavelength.” “Downright freaky.” “Always thinking the exact same thing.”
Also not true. Well, partly true. Most of it could be true.
If it weren’t for the other thing.
Of course, that’s where people are the most incorrect. Not even just the other guys on the team. Everyone, from what Holster can tell. The entire human race.
Because people think being in love is this huge, all-encompassing thing. They think it takes over and colors all it touches and it’s a constant stabbing, shooting pain that makes the friendship not worth it.
Bitty nervously gathers his friends one afternoon in the late winter to tell them that he and Jack are dating. Jack is planning on coming out at the end of the season, so Bitty wants to give them all some warning. They’re all happy for them of course, but a few are a little hurt Jack and Bitty had kept it from them for so long.
“I’m sorry, y’all. I hated lying to you, but it just wasn’t the time yet. I feel so bad about not telling you– something as big and as important as that!” Bitty wrings his hands and apologizes again. The rest of the team is nodding their forgiveness, but Dex looks more and more uncomfortable with each word.
“Anything you’d like to share with the class?” Lardo asks casually. Dex looks like he’s about to faint. She loves the kid, but heaven help her if he has a problem with Bitty and Jack…..
“Bitty’s right. It’s not something we should hide. And I’m sick of lying about it.”
“Wait, when did this happen?” Chowder asks, caught between astonishment and excitement (his natural state of being, but just stronger in this particular moment).
Dex flushes. “Like…..last year? After we lost the playoffs?”
“Right after,” Nursey confirms.
“Ah,” Holster says sagely. “Roadie magic. That’s when me and Rans first started hooking up.”
“WHAT?” squawks Bitty. Rans claps a hand on Holster’s shoulder. “Shit, bro, I think we forgot to tell them.”
“What else haven’t y’all been telling me?” Bitty demands, and after that, confessions start rolling in.
“I’ve had at least two drunken sexcapades with Shitty.”
“Lards, bro! Same!”
“Didn’t Johnson get it on with the other goalie that one time? Goalies are weird, man.”
“Hey, Ollie and Wicks are totally doing it, right?”
Then, amidst the increasingly loud and colorful tales of sexual exploits, Tango shouts, “I’ve thought about kissing Whiskey!”
The rest of the Haus falls silent, Ransom and Holster smothering giggles. Whiskey calmly looks Tango up and down. “Huh. Cool. Let’s do that sometime.”
–
That night when Jack asks Bitty how it went telling the team, Bitty sighs helplessly. “Honey, I don’t know where to begin.”
just moving along like everyone else 