What lives in head rent free now is the idea that Jack and Bitty being this established couple that everyone can’t wait to get married. And Tater, Jack’s best friend on the Falconers and supportive friend, decides to spend more time with Jack and Bitty even after his recovery.
Tater is very happy for Jack and Bitty to be out, even though he’s not sure he can be out himself due to various reasons (something related to contracts and Russian influence) but he’s happy to be in Jack and Bitty’s orbit.
But what ends up happening is that Tater eventually does this thing where he will be grabbing Jack close and holding his hand to show him things and just generally very touchy feely. And then he’d be the same to Bitty, but always be very nice and loving to taste test for him and being near him. Y’know. Friend stuff.
Tater maybe, might have had a little crush on Bitty and maybe a sort of crush on Jack at the beginning, but now they’re all friends, so it doesn’t matter. Right?
So Jack and Bitty and Tater are in this *thing* but Tater doesn’t really talk about it to them because they’re just *friends* and it’s hard to discern but Tater thinks it’s fine because they never really need to talk about it. They spend the next year just getting closer as friend and being in each others’ orbits
Jack and Bitty have been engaged for a bit, and people start to talk about it, y’know, but Tater feels like a swooping in a stomach but can’t place why it happens.
But then someone comments that Tater is being like, overly friendly, with Jack and Tater realizes he’s not quite over his feelings than he thought and then he realizes he’s like that with Bitty too, so he thinks the best course of action is to put some distance between himself and the happy couple.
So what ends up happening is that Tater goes back to his apartment (alone), goes through his routines after practice (alone) and just realizes a lot of his current life he doesn’t have anyone to go home to. Tater’s always wanted a big family, but he doesn’t have a family there to share with.
Tater tries to avoid Jack and Bitty, no matter how much it hurts him, but then Jack corners him after practice and asks what’s wrong all of a sudden and “Why did you just start disappearing?”
And Tater is like “You know, Give space to happy couple. Let be together”
Jack immediately responds with “We were happy with you there too” and it’s really funny because Jack has no understanding of the implications of that and Tater doesn’t let himself hope and so he’s sort of coming back into Jack and Bitty’s lives, but very cautiously because he can’t let himself fall for the “forever couple”
However, now Bitty and Jack are a lot more proactive in including Tater, including doing these little things like brush against his hand or move him around to show him things and he thinks it’s nice. Very nice. Very nice friend things.
This goes on for a while until one day Tater, Jack, and Bitty are all just in the kitchen doing things, and Jack hands Tater a plate and Tater is still sleepy and tired and just casually leans down and kisses Jack on the lips before sitting down. He doesn’t realize what he does until he sees Jack just standing there and Bitty turned around with wide eyes.
There’s a moment of silence. Then Tater’s panicking and thinking of how to explain that, how to just shove it under the rug, and then Jack just goes ‘Oh’ and then Bitty looks at Jack then looks at Tater, then also goes ‘Oh’ and then they both just stare at him.
Tater is really nervous, but Jack is very calm and Bitty’s really nice and they talk small talk for a bit until Jack just hits him with the “Why did you kiss me?” and Tater just spills everything out. He talks about how he sort of, maybe, definitely has feelings for both of them and then just not knowing how to talk about or that it’s supposed to be normal. It’s not like he can like them both at the same time, even if they weren’t already engaged
Jack and Bitty both are like “Oh. Um.” and basically talk about liking him as well and Tater sort of short circuits. But then Bitty is holding one hand and Jack is holding his other and they’re both smiling and Tater smiles back.
(Later, Tater is really curious as to when exactly Bitty and Jack were going to get married and both are like “We were ready for a long engagement. Adding a new person into the mix might as well be part of that.” Tater kisses them both on the head)
