off | side

Fun fact! last summer I was working on the (very lengthy and detailed) outline for Fantasy Island, and was chatting with @flozak about needing like, a pivotal moment in the relationship that Nolan could look back on later as like, the best day, the closest he ever came to getting what he wanted, but also like, something he would use going forward as a reminder that they were THAT CLOSE and TK didn't choose it, didn't choose him. And that was the day he had to start facing facts, even though he didn't like it.

So we talked about different little outings they could have had together in philly or on the road, and I was looking at the schedule for the 18-19 flyers and we decided they should go up in the St. Louis arch. We cooked up this whole bonding experience of like, TK being claustrophobic but going up anyway, and Nolan comforting him through his panic attack, and them basically having a little romantic date in Pat's mind only TK never saw it that way, etc.

In the summer of 2023!

And then AFTER I started writing Starved (after the JD trade in January 2024), and I was just following along with the events of the season as they unfolded and incorporating them into the fic as I went, the Flyers had that day off in St. Louis during the huge cold snap in the midwest, and I had seen in some article how the reflecting pond under the St. Louis arch was frozen over, and I was like - wait.

As long as they're stuck in St. Louis we should hear about that same day from TK's pov, that will later be pivotal from Nolan's POV as well.