I kinda love the idea that Jack comes out and says he’s seeing someone but never says who and than a couple months/ a year later Jack’s jersey has changed from Zimmermann to Bittle
Yes????? Please???
And I imagine the hockey world goes crazy. People are on Twitter, asking each other who they think his husband might be. Some diehard fan is going through the people Jack follows on Twitter when he comes across @ omgcheckplease, Eric Bittle: “Baker of pies. Tamer of hockey robots. Beyoncé is my queen.”
Eric Bittle, who’s most recent photo, after about three delicious looking pies, is a snapshot of two entwined hands, with the caption “he liked it, so he put a ring on it.”
And then this spreads, and people are confused about how a famous baking youtuber and an NHL star met, but another fan puts together that this is probably the same Eric Bittle that was on Jacks team in college. And people go from being amused to being smitten, because of course Jack couldn’t marry anyone who didn’t love hockey.
And eventually people are tweeting them both, asking how they got together, what it was like being in a relationship while in the closet in professional sports and then keeping the relationship private after he came out.
Jack doesn’t answer most of them, but a few get replies.
“How did you guys start dating?”
“All dads fault. Made me realize I loved him at graduation , and so I ran across campus in my gown and kissed him before he could leave.”
“How often do you break your diet plan.”
“If my nutritionist is asking: never. Anyone else? About once a week for a piece of pie.”
“Which one of you proposed?”
“Eric. He cornered me before press after our loss against Tampa. Very spur of the moment, didn’t even have a ring.”And the falconers PR team loves it. This is more fan interaction than Jack normally gets in a month, and sure, he’s spending most of it talking about Bitty, but they’ll take that over nothing. So they set up a Twitter Q&A for the pair, using the Falconers Twitter page, and #askthebittles trends for four hours nationwide.
Tag: check please
Common (Head?)canon: #BadBobKnewFirst
Reverse Headcanon: #BadBobKnewLast
———
Bob: Wait, you’re dating that Bitty boy? Since when?
Jack: Since graduation. Remember when you told me to “say goodbye” to him at the ceremony?
Bob: I thought we were talking about that cute tennis girl. I didn’t even know you liked boys!
Jack: Really? Even when Kent and I were together?
Bob: You and Kent were together?! Alicia, did you know about this?
Alicia: Honey, ESPN knew about that.
Bob: Why didn’t you tell me????
AU where your soulmate’s first words to you are written on your skin (bc every fandom should have one and this is my favourite fic trope ever)
Jack gets his words when he’s five years old. At first, he’s
kind of confused.“Maman,” he says, tugging at his mother’s shirt where she
sits at the dining room table. He holds his arm up for her to see. “Je ne
comprends pas!”Alicia Zimmermann starts when she sees the words now
permanently inked on her son’s forearm. They’re written in a loopy, pretty
script down the middle of his arm, stark against his pale skin. She smiles when
she reads the words – English, which he hasn’t yet learnt to read – and pulls
him up into her lap. She holds his arm gently in her hands, and he pokes at the
words suspiciously.“Qu-est ce que c’est, Maman?”
“It’s your words,” she explains. “They’re the words that
will tell you who your soulmate is.”“Je-“
“Jack,” he looks away from his arm to meet her gaze, his
confusion evident. Alicia pulls her jumper to expose her collarbone and the
words written there. The handwriting is one Jack knows, recognizes pretty
quickly as his father’s, but he’d never really considered the fact that the
messy scrawl on his mother’s skin was actually written by his papa. “Everyone
gets them at some point or other. Most people get them when their soulmate is
born, but not always. Sometimes it’s a little later, or a little earlier, but
the point is, there’s someone out there waiting for you.” She lets her jumper
sit back in place and runs a gentle hand through her son’s messy black hair. “One
day you’ll meet someone who says those words to you. You’ll know they’re your
soulmate because it’ll be the first thing they say. Somewhere on their body
will be the first words you’ll say to them.” Jack looks thoughtful.“What do my words say, Maman?”
“Are you sure you can’t work it out?” Jack looks at his arm
again, brow furrowed in concentration. His English reading ability is poorer than
his French, and the handwriting is a bit too cursive for someone as young as
him, but he’s always been determined. Alicia waits patiently as Jack mouths the
words slowly, working them out in his head, trying to sound the letters into
something he understands.It’s five minutes before he smiles again, clearly pleased
with himself. Whatever he’s worked out is evidently a sentence he understands
from the way he bounces excitedly.“Maman, I know what they’re saying!”
“You know what your soulmate is saying?”
“Oui. I know what they will say.” He takes a deep breath as
he looks back down at his arm, running a small finger underneath the words as
he reads them carefully out loud. His mother praises his reading, and after a
few more minutes of questions about soulmarks the day returns to normal.It’s only later, when he’s curled up in bed with his stuffed
whale toy tucked against his body that he remembers the words again. He pulls
back the sleeve of his pajamas to see the words still stark and clear on his
skin, even in the low glow from his night light. He whispers them into the air
wondrously. For all his excitement now, over the coming years his faith that
the words will be spoken with good intention fade and fade as he learns more
about the world.By the time he’s fifteen he covers the words in a long arm
sleeve specially designed to hide soulmarks. He only takes it off to shower,
and never lets Kent see what’s beneath it. His mother tries to broach the topic
once, suggests carefully that soulmarks are rarely ever said in the way one
thinks, but his anger makes her sigh and leave it alone. She does encourage him
to see a new therapist though, increasingly aware of his unimpeded anxiety over
soulmarks and everything else. He feels guilty at his reaction to her concern
so he reluctantly agrees to talk to someone about it. They’re better than the
last one, and though they specialize in soulmate-related anxiety they quickly
latch on to the fact that there are a lot more pressing things endangering
Jack’s mental health. His visits are upped to thrice a week, and his
prescription is swapped for something less intensive. It doesn’t rid him of
anxiety, but it does help. He ends up making some changes to his life that help
to lift some of the weight off his shoulders, and everything begins to feel
more manageable.When he’s drafted first pick to the Providence Falconers
he’s in a tentatively good place. He’s happy about his team, pleased for Kent
as he heads to Las Vegas with the Aces, and feels surprisingly positive despite
the pressure the draft had put on him. The future looks brighter, clearer, and
as he settles in during his first night in his new Providence apartment, he
feels the urge to look at his words for the first time in years.They still sting when he sees them, an old wound reopened,
but he takes deep breaths. The writing is prettier than he remembers, and he
almost chuckles at the thought that there’s someone out there with his
god-awful handwriting on their body. He sobers up almost instantly, though, running
a finger across the words like he did so many years ago. He knows what they
mean: that his soulmate doesn’t want him, that he’s a disappointment, that he’s
never going to have a relationship like his mother and father do with his
soulmate. As he stares at the words he thinks that at least now he can probably
deal with it. He’s got a great team and a promising future; a best friend; a
much less strained relationship with his father. He knows, now, that he’s not a
disappointment to his parents, even if he is to himself or his soulmate. He
lives in a nice apartment in a nice area. He thinks he might get a dog.Despite the hurt they cause, Jack finds himself pressing a
soft kiss to the skin of his words, closing his eyes for a brief moment,
desperately trying and failing to imagine a way someone could say these words
and still want him.Oh no, he recites
in his head, those words that have been impossible to forget, it can’t be you.
In regards
to this post by @littlestpersimmon about ballet dancer Bitty, may I humbly suggest:Bitty who
used to do ballet and was pretty good, but has to give it up when they moved to
Madison and started doing no contact football as a way to keep active.He gets a
football scholarship by accident, because there were some scouts at one of
Coach Bittle’s games to see a promising player, and Bitty sometimes will be
around helping the guys warm up (he has a neutral relationship with the
football team here, and the guys who locked him in the closet where from his
previous school) and he catches the eye of Coach Hall.Coach
Hall finds out who he is, and that Bitty has a game the next day, so he goes
and tapes him. Coach Murray sees the tape and agrees that the kid could potentially
be a great backup wide receiver since he has
steady hands and is good at keeping his eyes on the ball. Plus Bitty is pretty
agile and fast as hell.(Basically, Bitty would only play when their starting wide receiver
is being too closely defended, so passing to them isn’t possible),However Bitty
is deadly afraid of tackles and that’s a problem.They
offer him a partial scholarship, but it comes with conditions. Bitty has to
prove he can play properly with tackles and all that, if he can’t he’s off the
team (he can stay at uni but obviously no scholarship money for him).Coach
encourages Bitty to take it, and Bitty sort of gets ‘pressured’ into at least
trying it out, but at the same time he does wants to go to Samwell, so it’s
50/50.
HC – Bitty doesn’t have class on Thursdays and knows Jack’s schedule by heart and often is just taking a pie out of the oven when Jack gets home from practice.
I’m sorry for such a belated reply to this anon! I was excited about replying but was waiting to be in the mood to do a lengthier reply.
Jack’s well aware of the age difference between him and Bitty. He knows it doesn’t matter, not really. As you get older, age differences between you and potential partners become more common place. His dad is several years older than his mom and it doesn’t affect their relationship, not that he’s seen at least.
The difference between his father and his mom and him and Bitty though, is that his parents both led unconventional careers. His mom did go to Samwell, and had a lot of treasured experiences there, but she also was balancing working as an actress and model. Sacrifices of her normal college-life were made by herself for herself.
Jack knows Bitty likes spending time with him, and not just for his double oven kitchen. Despite the fun they have together though, Bitty is also still in college. He’s experiencing a lot of firsts, making those college memories that Jack got to make for himself and hears his mom talk about (again, and again, and again). He deserves to opportunity to get schwasted at kegsters and go tray sledding down the hill by library. He should be able to be do all these without worrying about if he’s spending enough time with Jack. It would be selfish for him to expect Bitty to make concessions in his college experience on his behalf.
I’m just saying
Eric Richard “Bitty” Bittle would absolutely destroy the competition if he ever competed on cutthroat kitchen because he would seem to be this sweet little baker to the other contestants and then it would switch to the personal commentary and he would have this terrifying smile on his face and he would just say “my boyfriend is an NHL star and I have my own restaurant I don’t need the money I am going to win this” and then he just comes out and kills every challenge and is still this sweet little baker boy and everyone is stunned
when bitty wins he just smiles and congratulates the other competitors and he still acts so sweet and innocent and says he’s gonna go donate everything to charity and everyone loves him
alton brown has never been this impressed and scared in his life
Bitty would be great because you would think he’s sweet and adorable and about to get steam rolled into the first round, and then surprise, he is the definition of cutthroat.
“I used to play hockey with my husband back in College, and I kind of miss that feeling of completely crushing your opponents.” (Later on you find out his husband is an NHL player…)
“Tiffany thinks she can get into my head, but bless her heart, she has no clue what she’s doing.”
Also, imagine one of the challenges is them cooking with their families, and everybody is expecting him to bring his NHL husband.
Bitty looks at the camera and starts laughing. “Oh Lord, no, absolutely no. I love Jack and he has gotten a lot better at following instructions, but I came here to win and I’m afraid Jack just doesn’t have what it takes to work in my kitchen. I brought the big guns.”
Bitty introduces Moo-Maw, who looks like a delicate little old lady and is about 80, and everybody is side eyeing him because of his choice, and then the competition start and Moo-Maw fucking throws down.
The two of them are like a hurricane in the kitchen and while they cook they have enough time to gossip/share stories.
“When are you and Jack giving me some great-grandbabies Eric?”
“Moo-Maw please not now.”
“I am not getting any younger you know! I am old and who knows how much time I have left in this world,” she says while smashing nuts with the wooden hammer and making the whole counter rattle. The camera man takes a step back.
Jack gets interviewed and somebody asks what he thinks of that “not having what it takes to cook in his husband’s kitchen comment.”
He just look at the reporter very seriously and replies. “I once helped with thanksgiving dinner and I have never feared for my safety like I did that day. My only job was doing the mash potatoes.”
Ok, first of all look up all the contributions people have added because they are all fucking awesome, and now:
Let’s talk about that season that inevitably comes around where only previous winners compete against each other.
So it’s been maybe 2-3 years and currently, Bitty has his own bakery, is opening a second location and has a series of best selling cook books, (the most popular ones are about cooking on a budget, easy and healthy meals for athletes and 5 steps or less meals for college student).
Last time he was on the show, Bitty was there to promote and challenge himself which he doesn’t need to do anymore, and he didn’t spend a single dollar on sabotages so he got to keep the entire $25,000 which he immediately donated to charity.
So Bitty is basically not going to accept, but the network is being pretty insistent because he is arguably the most popular and recognised competitor that has ever been on the show.
However his agent tells Bitty that if he does this, wins and turns out to be as popular as before, the network is interested in giving him a ‘spin off’ show or something.
In the end is Jack who convinces him to go, so Bitty and all the previous winners are there, but this time people know to watch out for his deceptively harmless ass.
Like in the interview about who people consider their biggest competition, Bitty is always the answer.
Bitty’s answer?
“Myself of course! I have 2 more years of experience, so I really want my performance to surpass expectations.”
Cute smile that makes you go ‘Awww’, until you remember this is the dude all over tumblr with some of the best clap backs and passive aggressive GIFs ever.
I mean, he very nicely just implied nobody was good enough to be considered his competition…
Anyways, Bitty is absolutely destroying everybody and he’s being sabotage left and right, but he remains above all the drama and is classy as fuck about everything.
Then for the episode where a family member comes to the show, he brings his younger cousin. Half the people are like wtf is he thinking and the other remembers not to underestimate this family.
Bitty very regretfully informed that “Moo-Maw was busy with the county fair pie competition, which she has won for the past 17 years, and mama and my aunt entered the jam contests, so I asked my cousins to do a bake off to settle between themselves who was going to help and Daisy won.”
Daisy is even shorter than Bitty, looks cute as a bottom and could absolutely wrestle you into submission and hog tie you if you cross her.
Midway through the challenge Bitty leaves, his surrogate is in labour and if you think he gives a toss about the show when compared to that you have another thing coming.
Daisy presents the dish which she finished by herself despite whatever sabotage they were working on. They win of course.
One of the contestants tries to complain but Daisy just cool as a cucumber asks if they really feel that threatened by a 13 year old and really is hard to argue against that.
Meanwhile Bitty arrives to the hospital with flour in his hair and wearing an apron, at the same time Jack arrives sweaty and dressed with an odd assortment of hockey equipment, since he got the news in the middle of a game and did the same thing as Bitty and just left.
Neither has a single regret about it, because they are just in time to be there for the birth of their twins.
Bitty drops out of the competition (and after checking with the producers, Daisy was regretfully not allowed to compete in his place). The show donates the money Bitty would have won to charities anyway because it’s good publicity and everybody knows he was going to win.
(Bitty does get his spin off show, which I imagine is exactly like this:http://itsybittle.tumblr.com/post/145559768835/tv-show-idea )
jack zimmermann interviews
aka: adorable things that jack 100% says in future televised interviews that make the samwell crew (ESPECIALLY bitty) lose their shit:
- early in the season, when jack is asked “how you think your detour in college affected your play,” jack gets very serious and says that he doesn’t like the term detour because it implies you weren’t supposed to go there at all and that is not how he views his time at samwell and it would be disrespectful to all the great players both on his team and who play at the collegiate level to say that they didn’t help him improve. it is the first time that jack zimmermann sounds passionate about something on air and this makes the PR team very happy and Shitty is at the Haus watching and everyone ends up hugging and crying about their boy except Lardo and Dex.
- The PR joy is short lived because jack never addresses the comments directly again but he gets very snippy about this. if anyone mentions phrases like “pitstop” or “detour” or even “it’s great to see you back where you belong” his face goes dark and stormy and he might not bother correcting them again, but whatever the question, they aren’t getting a good quote for their magazine. the press figures it out eventually.
- when asked what other professional sport he would like to play, jack zimmermann says “anything but lacrosse. never really saw the point of it.” and the Haus throws a party that spans two nights.
- when asked what his favorite cheat day snack is, jack zimmermann says “pie” with a smile on his face that seems a bit too happy but, hey, the guy must really love pie.
- when asked by a snobby interviewer what his major was (in a tone of voice that clearly says he is expecting Jack Zimmerman to say something stupid), jack zimmermann goes into a full speech outlining his thesis and noting which historians he thinks truly capture the time period and he keeps his voice flat and awkward (like all his interviews tend to be) but the boys see his little flash of a smug grin when the interviewer flounders after his five minute monologue and doesn’t have any followup questions.
when asked what advice he would give to young hockey players, jack zimmermann smiles just a little bit and says “eat more protein.” the press takes it as jack being ridiculous and maybe he even gets yelled at by PR for that because “c’mon, zimms, weve TALKED about this- say something INSPIRING” but bitty knows that little smile was for him and texts him a string of heart mixed with chirp emojis and tweets ‘this boy’-
- when asked what he thinks the best sitcom is, jack zimmermann pretends to consider for two seconds before saying in his most serious, deadpan voice “i’ve been told on good authority that the answer is 30 rock.” Holster cries. He cries harder when the followup question is “who’s your favorite character” and Jack’s answer is “sorry, i haven’t seen enough to know their names.”
- when asked why he is often seen at NWHL games on his days off, jack zimmermann replies “i love watching great hockey” and when pressed further on the issue, simply repeats that statement as if very confused why people are still asking this question.
- when asked (before he is out) if he has “someone special” for valentine’s day, everyone is expecting him to say no, but jack freakin’ zimmermann shrugs one shoulder and says “yup” and when they tease “oh, she must be very lucky”, this boy says “yeah, they are” and then refuses any further questions while the internet goes wild over his use of neutral pronouns.
- when he DOES come out and someone asks if he’s seeing anyone, jack zimmermann smiles directly at the camera – a huge, ridiculous, i am so fucking in love smile that the world has literally never seen before (and there’s a BLUSH TOO!!) – and says “Yes, I’ve been lucky enough to date my boyfriend for four years. thank you for your time.” and walks off before anyone can ask him anymore questions.
Whatever you do don’t think about Jack and Bitty out and about in Providence in fall or winter, and Bitty not having enough layers to keep warm or forgetting his jacket. So of course Jack gives Bitty his, and chirps him the whole time on being a southern boy and how big the jackets are on him. It happens a lot, actually, and Jack doesn’t notice because it’s not like he minds, but after like the tenth time, when Jack KNOWS Bitty had a jacket in his hands before they left the apartment, he asks about it
Don’t think about Bitty blushing down at his feet and fiddling with the too-long sleeves and admitting that after the first time he’s been ‘forgetting’ on purpose. Because he really liked wearing Jack’s jackets. He defends that they’re warm and he likes clothes a little big, thank you very much, but it isn’t until they’re alone again that he also admits that he just likes the smell of Jack’s cologne
And Jack’s brain takes like an hour to reboot after that but the next time they go out Jack doesn’t even put his own jacket on, he just holds it out for Bitty to slide into and they’re both happy and stupid and in love
I want to read a fic where the fire alarm goes off in the HAUS (like, someone was smoking, nothing bad) and everyone has to get out in their pajamas and wait on the lawn.
and then Bitty has to explain why he sleeps in a Zimmermann shirt.
lmao imagine someone trying to save bitty from being “bullied” by the samwell men’s hockey team because they saw bitty looking sad while being surrounded by 6′+ guys
at this point bitty is just used to people being weirded out that he’s on the hockey team
OKAY BUT
Dave’s a decent guy. He’s new to Samwell, arrived on an LAX scholarship, and is super pumped to be going to such an LGBTQ-friendly campus. He’s out, proud, and 6 ft 3, so if anyone’s got a problem with him he can show them where to shove it.
The thing about Dave is, he’s a bleeding-hearts kind of guy. So when he sees this small, blonde, extremely attractive guy being harassed by a bunch of dudes Dave’s height, he knows he has to step in. As he approaches the group of boys from across the road, Dave can see the skates the ginger one’s got thrown over his shoulder.
The hockey team, he thinks darkly. He’s heard all about the Samwell Men’s Hockey Team from the LAX bros. A bunch of assholes if ever there was one, apparently. And he can see it now as the blonde guy’s face falls even further, face scrunching up to stop tears as the hockey players crowd him. Suddenly the blonde guy is hidden from view by tall backs, and Dave’s had enough.
“Hey!” he shouts, causing a couple of them to glance around. “Hey, assholes!”
The SMH turn to glare at him in full force, revealing the blonde guy between them. A handsome, dark skinned dude holds an arm in front of the smaller one as if stopping him from escaping.
(In retrospect, Dave probably should have realized he was being protective.)
what i do is not up to you 