loverless nights, they seem so long

#pimmsfest2025 Week 4 Roundup

December 13 - 19

Happy holidays, Pimms Nation! We are wrapping up this fest shortly, but please enjoy this last week of slightly delayed roundup (🙇‍♂️). Don't forget to give this last batch and our awesome creators your love and cheers.

♠️ ao3 collection ♠️ works tag

♠️ there is a sadness in his eyes you only see in the exes of quebecois men art by @yaoimortician

♠️ check out at 12 fic by @yaoimortician | T, 2.9k words

Snippets set in Vegas hotel rooms. They don't mean anything. Kent can't let himself think that.

♠️ so many roads to choose fic by @comingofspring | T, 34.2k words

A group of friends come together as one of them starts live tweeting their first play through of the dating sim game, "Cupid's Slapshot". Soon, playing the game starts taking a backseat to attempting to discover the truth behind Aces' Captain, Kent Parson and what could possibly tie him to Falcs' Captain, Jack Zimmermann.

♠️ the physics of falling (again) fic by swanswords/ @an-ungraceful-swan | T, 3.2k words

The Providence Falcons play at the Las Vegas Aces. An unfortunate hit leaves Jack tunnel-bound and Kent reeling

♠️ the boy with naivety succeeds fic by cyborgian | T, 7.2k words

Vegas is a place where miracles happen. Kent and Jack, a freak February storm, and meeting each other again.

♠️ had you given me the chance (to say i do) fic by be_brave13/ @djemsowhat | T, 27.8k words

He feels insane. Maybe he is insane. But he feels ready. He feels like this is what he needs to have happen. And so Jack goes for it, words falling out with temperate softness. “Marry me.” Kent blinks at him. “Um. What?” OR: Jack flies to Vegas on a whim. Marrying Kent wasn't the plan, but he'll do his best to stick the landing.

♠️ springing up like daisies fic | T, 9.8k words

He’s lonely, but he is. Fine. And now there’s this deus ex machina baby who came in like a wrecking ball, throwing a wrench into his life and the season (which, if he was to be honest, was already heading to tank season anyway).

I cannot believe anyone genuinely sees a future for zimbits after the comic ends. On what planet would this relationship ever work out long term?

Sidenote just because I always think about it when I see her but Bottle really makes me think of Jojo Siwa. Anyone else ever had that thought?

I believed very earnestly that Jack and Bitty were going to have a break-up/makeup arc going into year three and I still believed that for much of year three bc we kept having these moments of extreme tension, these stressful situations building and building, and then they would just fizzle out with no real meaningful conclusion or denouement as everything continued to be Perfect and Shiny bc Love Cures and Fixes All, and it just felt so flat and unearned. I could get into the “I’m a queer person with severe anxiety” of it all or the “I’m a queer person who has spent much of the last twenty years thinking about the intersections between queerness and sports” because both of those things are true, but at the heart of all those other poorly handled issues, you really just have a poorly developed narrative.

If I was still interested in fixing that narrative, I would say they should’ve broken up part-way thru year three, Bitty gets some growing up on his own development, he struggles with school but meets queer friends who help him feel grounded and he actually grows as a person. Because Bitty is kinda self absorbed and he has a bad work ethic and he’s judgmental to a fault, he thinks everything is his way or the highway. And the thing is - there’s nothing WRONG with that in a character, those are real, interesting flaws, but we just never saw them addressed. Instead, everything just magically worked out for him, which….I get is a nice fantasy for some people? But for me, that’s boring as hell. I wanted to see him struggle and grow and learn and find happiness that was meaningful on the other side of it. And then on the other half of the equation, Jack deals with the reality of not being a teenaged phenom anymore, he deals with his obviously unresolved feelings for Kent, he deals with the fact that you can’t cut off your past and decide that you’re healed without putting in the work, and then maybe after all that, we see Jack and Bitty meet again as friends in year four and slowly build something back up again. I think that would’ve been fun and incredibly satisfying.

But as it was written — baby, that relationship is a one way ticket to an early divorce.

yes, check please did a lot for queer sports stories, the influence cannot be ignored

at the same time though like, we can all agree that it's not very... substantial, right? it is cute, it has its moments, its charming and it has a colorful cast of characters with interesting dynamics that are fun to explore in fic

but if you try to string together the events of the comic into a coherent narrative there's just not a lot there. and like, yes i agree it would be intersting to see these characters put in a show, but looking at it from the perspective of someone who would have to pitch this to any network, there's just nothing to work with. the main tension is "how does he get the guy" and then the answer is: he just does. then there's a bit about "how do they manage being queer in the hockey world" and then the answer is: they just do. and it feels like im going crazy because people keep insisting there's some profound wisdom in things just working out when it's like. i literally don't care. of course you're allowed to want the characters to be happy and things to work out and a story where nothing much happens, but how would you get any exec on board with this?

so, people who are genuinely like, "oh, you like the gay hockey show, here's a gay hockey comic you could enjoy next" are so... mean? i don't know if it's the right word, but that's what my brain is telling me right now.

because, like, you're advertising a comic that is not even in the same realm as the tv show. the main character in the comic isn't even a hockey player i'm right, fight me on this. there are no actual stakes in the comic because it's all in the main's imagination. the only remotely similar thing shows up in the middle of the second season and it doesn't even happen to the main character and the author hates him. like i said in another post, if the comic wanted even a chance to be put on TV, the main character's love interest needed to be main and then the show needed to start back in juniors.

so, like, the only things people clamoring for newbies to read the comic will cause them to either 1) hate the comic because seriously, barely any similarities or 2) send them down the pimms rabbithole.

Anyway I’ve been thinking about how Jack actually has friends in the NHL that probably really cared about him and just got dropped after he overdosed.

So I was thinking about them hanging out again for the first time since they deal with the whole ghosting thing. And “Orange Juice” by Noah Kahan gives me the vibe of Jack’s juniors friends trying to accommodate him getting sober but still being unsure of everything. Treating him like he might just disappear again but desperately wanting him to stick around and be okay.

And something about the idea that they want him around after everything and even introducing him to their kids and wives is making me cry!

I need fanfic of this fanfic!!!

gambler's prayer (Kent's version)

playlist for pimms fest

Everything Everything - Kevin's Car

and while my mind's erasing i'm falling into you i'm sleeping in the back of your car sleeping in the back of your car

Rebecca Black - Sugar Water Cyanide

close your eyes, run through my veins dancing in your acid rain on my teeth, you're sugar cane what's pleasure without pain black coffee in the morning hit, hit without a warning there's no one like you lead me and i will follow still feeling it tomorrow there's no one like you

St. Vincent - Young Lover

young lover, begging you please to wake up young lover, i wish that i was your drug young lover, i miss the taste of your tongue young lover, i wish our love was enough

Caroline Pokachek - Go As A Dream

someone's changed the clock and left the window open when i must've drifted off and it's just your kind of trick to leave me empty-handed leave me with the riddle unsolved

Patrice Rushen - Forget Me Nots

did we give up too soon? maybe we just needed a little room wondering how it all happened maybe we just need a little time though we did end as friends given the chance we could love again

Caroline Polachek - The Gate

standing at the gate i come here every day just to see your face

Doja Cat - Silly! Fun!

we're so very silly getting married in Vegas imma keep him outside if he got that dog in him boy i swear if you don't get your ass back here i'm locking you out he could hit the club and get fucked up cause there's no stopping him don't you come back crying talking bout "you know what you lost" but just get lost again

Solange - Losing You

i know you're waiting for the worst that you cam get from me just treat me good and baby i'll give you the rest of me i'm not the one that you should be making your enemy i'm not the one that you should be making your enemy

Rebecca Black - Do You Even Think About Me?

but we etched the words in our own minds and they hurt less but got worse with time guess i'll be your villain and you'll be mine kinda hope i left a black hole in your life

Aurora - Your Blood

and maybe if you called out for help then i could help you outrun yourself come run again, we'll run again but i, i refuse to die, i refuse to die

Caroline Polachek - Gambler's Prayer