#jacksbits

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7 905 words

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eric bittle/jack zimmermann

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6 665 words

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eric bittle/jack zimmermann

It's not like they haven't talked about it.

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i hated the condescending smiles like............. wowie imagine being that ugly and petty lmao. let ppl live their life. go away.

 It’s the end of the third and the both teams are fighting tooth and nail not to go into overtime.

The game has been brutal in the best way, a moniker that only fits when hockey is being played in the best way. The speed with which Falcs and the Aces have been playing is “UNBELIEVABLE!” as the announcer has seen fit to shout a number of times in exchange for actually valuable commentary. But the crow is eating it up. The gloves haven’t come off, which would typically be disappointing for the players who are just waiting to start something and for the fans in the stands, but for once it doesn’t matter. 

Jack knows he’s lucky that years of playing have helped train him to fade out any and all distractions on the ice, leaving him only with razor sharp focus on what he needs to do to get his team the win. It comes in handy almost always, but especially when he’s playing Kent, even more so when Bitty’s there. He’s able to block out the niggling worries about everyone else, even though he knows it doesn’t matter. While Bitty always wears his Falcs jersey (he likes watching Kent pretend not to be pissed, and it usually leads to some very desperate attempts to win Bits over to the Aces), Jack knows that Bittle truly is impartial; congratulations and condolence pies both taste just as good after all ( as Bitty always says, “any saltiness you’re tasting is your own bitterness not any mistake of my own thank you very much.”

He and Kent have been neck and neck all evening. At the moment Jack’s racing down to the opposing end, trying to retain possession. With three minutes left, if they get one more goal then they can focus on staving off the Aces getting any more points on the board and wrap the game up nicely. Just as he reaches the back corner one of the Aces’ D-men comes out of nowhere and slams him into the board. Jack sees stars for a split second, and he’s sure he may have heard Bitty’s voice screaming a dirty curse even though he knows it’s unlikely he would above all the din. As he topples forward, the defenseman tripping over him head over ass as a result. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Kent coming in to nab the puck and the “Shit.” that he bites out becomes a silent, horrified Shit as he turns his head, watching the D-man’s skate come in contact with Parse’s cheek in what seems like a sickening slow-motion.

The blood hits the ice before Kent does. It’s no surprise, considering the way the blade practically ran from lip to ear. It smears across the ice as Kent falls forward and slides, his stick already having slipped from his hand. This time Jack knows he hears Bitty, though he’s not longer shouting enthused swears. He’s just screaming. It hits Jack then that everyone’s screaming, including himself. He didn’t realize the, “Kenny! Kenny. Kenny.” that had been ripped from his throat as he scrambled on hands and knees towards Parse, not bothering with standing up properly. 

One of Kent’s teammates have rolled him onto his back and the entire stadium gasps. There’s a gash across his right cheek at least a half an inch deep and he’s already going pale. A glance to the stands and Jack spots Bitty right away. He’s on his feet screaming himself hoarse while Shitty holds him back. Jack looks back to Kent whose eyes are roaming everywhere like he doesn’t know where to look. Jack throws his helmet off and then his gloves, this time not for a fight but so he can grasp Parse’s arm, pushing himself into his field of vision. 

“Kenny.” He chokes out, “Kenny, just stay with me. The paramedics are coming, they’re already on the ice.” He doesn’t know if this true. God, he hopes this is true. He doesn’t want to waste time looking away to check. “You’ve seen worse, eh? Nearly cried over that paper cut last week.” It’s supposed to be a joke but for him at least, it doesn’t land. He nearly throws up instead. It’s unfunny how little like the paper cut this is. 

Kent’s eyes have stopped roaming, staring at Jack who’s hoping his damndest that Parse is looking at him and not through him and is actually lucid enough to process what Jack’s saying. Crisse, there’s so much blood. Kent grunts in pain as he opens his mouth a little. Jack wants to protest but Kent manages to grasp Jack’s arm in return and gives it a squeeze. “Looks like you’re finally going to get to be the hotter one.” Kent wheezes out; his breath is coming faster now. “Scar might make me look badass though.” He attempts one of his classic shit-eating grins but it fails and morphs into a pained grimace instead. Jack feels like he wants to cry but he’s not going to, he’s not. “Fuck you.” He manages to get out, but it sounds less like a playful admonishment and more like a choked sob. Bending forward he manages to press his forehead to Kenny’s before the paramedics finally reach them, his teammates starting to pull him away. 

As he’s yanked away he feels wet on his forehead and presses his fingers there before drawing them back. He takes his eyes off for Kent for a moment to focus on his own hand, and just sees red. Kent’s blood. When he looks back up the paramedics’ movements have intensified and he wonders what could have made them move even more urgently when he realizes that Kent has blacked out after going into shock. 

He throws up this time, trying not to think about how the mouth to mouth CPR Kenny’s currently getting seems like the ironic version of the good luck kiss Bitty gave him this morning accompanied by a sweet, “Y’all behave yourselves. I’ll see you after the game.”

the first time bitty notices it is during his freshman year. he walks in on jack during a phone call and jack is speaking downright animatedly in french to whoever is on the other end of the line, his eyes rolling and his voice all bouncy with inflection. 

bitty’s a bit taken aback. like, jack hasn’t turned into a completely different person or anything (he’s still talking pretty softly, not using a lot of words to express what he means), but bitty’s just never seen jack talk with so much expression before

the other thing is, he talks with his hands when he’s like that. while on the phone. bitty has actually witnessed him gesture so hard while trying to hold his cell up to his ear that it flew out of his hand and across the room. bitty had to bite his tongue not to laugh.

bitty doesn’t really speak french so he has no idea who jack is even talking to, let alone what he’s saying. maybe it’s a girlfriend he keeps calling? that would explain the change, kinda. (he later finds out it’s usually his parents jack’s talking to)

then one day bitty hears jack speak french to ransom. ransom isn’t like a native speaker or anything (he grew up in toronto dude, not gaspésie or something), but he took french until the tenth grade, when he stopped cause he couldn’t fit it in his schedule anymore, and he likes to watch french tv to keep up his fluency. so they’re actually in the middle of watching a random episode sex and the city dubbed in french because there is A GRAND TOTAL OF ONE (1) CHANNEL THAT AIRS FRENCH TELEVISION IN SAMWELL MASSACHUSETTS AND EVEN IF IT SO HAPPENS TO BE BROADCASTING SEX AND THE CITY THEY ARE DAMN WELL GOING TO WATCH IT, THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE INSIGHTFUL OPINIONS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY, MR. WILLIAM J. “DEX” POINDEXTER.

(rest is under the cut, jesus christ this got long)

ok so I read this post by @jacksbits and it is the cutest thing omg basically when Jack and Bits get married he takes “Bittle” as his last name and so when he gets telemarketer calls or something he stays on the phone for hours just to listen to the other person on the line call him “Mr. Bittle” over and over again