#bittyblast

About 4 years ago, a bunch of fan art for some fictional shipping started appearing on my dash. I didn’t know what fandom they were from, but a lot of the art was impressive and the characters seemed like a cute couple, so every once and a while I’d reblog them anyway. Then one day someone filled me in

Now, given that at the time some of my favorite fandoms were Sherlock and Supernatural, I never expected the queer ship I kept see to be canon. So you can imagine my surprise

(Bonus: not sure which dog it was. They both make this look

)

This was a big deal to me.

It’s hard to put to words all that this comic has meant to me over the years. I first started reading it just after finishing high school. The story follows a baker from Georgia who is just starting college, is trying to figure out who he is and how he wants to fit in in this world, and is working up the courage to come out of the closet. The author designed the story to carry the nostalgia for her own time in college, and “bottle up those moments where we grow and change and fall down and pick ourselves back up.” So naturally, the story carries a lot of emotion with it, and has a tendency to touch hearts.

It was more than just this that affected me though. At a time when I was just starting to learn how to stand up for myself, and figure out how to communicate, I discovered this story of a kid learning to do the same. I got emotional and upset at his own troubles in the same way a sitcom character offers someone else advice that they themselves should be following. Watching Bitty grow and fight for himself helped me to do the same, and gave me a strength to do it I’m not sure I would have otherwise found.

Watching Bitty get comfortable with himself also helped me in other ways. When I first discovered Check, Please! it was right after I had figured out I was bisexual. It was the first piece of queer media I encountered after discovering I myself was queer and as such it played a key role in helping me grow comfortable with that aspect of myself. Watching Bitty through the years come out to friends and family, go through the fear and stress of it all, and ultimately come out more loved and accepted than ever before? Has done more for me than I could ever put to words.

So, I want to say Thank You to @ngoziu , the author, who has done so much to help me and so many others feel happy and comfortable with who we are. Thank you to @tdkeh for introducing me to this great comic. Thank you to the fandom, which has been the most positive and welcoming of any I’ve been a part of, especially the fanfic writers, headcanoners, and artists, who kept me going between updates, and who I’m sure will keep me going now. Thank you to the other fans of the comic, who shared in the joys and heartbreaks of every update with me. I am so very glad to have had this comic in my life, and though I know this is where it ought to end, I am so sad to see it go.

And so for my final baked good of the week, in honor of the very story that got me into baking in the first place, a Bitty Classic:

Mini Maple Crusted Apple Pies.

To those who haven’t yet, make sure to check it out on @omgcheckplease or checkpleasecomic.com