Chill

ANXIETY TRIO

DISASTER TRIO

PARENT TRIO

And then somewhere down the line Bitty runs into Jack on the street or wherever and he doesn’t plan on it because this guy is apparently a celebrity and he doesn’t want to be a bother BUT it’s been bugging him for days and so he goes up, all apologetic, and asks who Jack is because he saw him in the wax museum.

So follows an awkward conversation along the lines of “Yes. I’m in the wax museum.” “I know. That’s why I’m asking.” “No. Me. I was there.” “Yes. But what for?”

Holster and Ransom once came back with 40 lbs of chicken nuggets, a gallon of cocktail pickles, and beer - nothing else. It was considered a successful trip.

For Dex, even when the run is only for essentials, “Do we really need that?” is going to be uttered ad nauseum for the whole trip. And if you don’t make the shopping list specific enough beforehand, be prepared to deal with him spending at least ten minutes per item debating (with his companions and himself) between brands (up-front price vs price-per-unit).

When he was on the team and whenever he’s in town, Jack could be trusted to keep things on track. However, he presents the opposite challange that Dex gives: there is no sense of budget with him. No, price isn’t always directly proportional to quality, and no I don’t care that you want to pay.

Tango: Like, you spend puberty staring down Jesus all day

“Listen, Jack, you beautiful beast of a man, there’s an art show down at that museum that’s on the corner of sixteenth and forty-third! You remember, the one that displayed Lardo’s stuff last year? Anyways, they’ve got this big show coming up, and one of their artists pulled out and now they need someone to fill the slot! Guess who pulled some strings and got you in?”

That had had been the excited voicemail Shitty had left Jack that had started it all, but now, amidst the swarm of people, Jack was beginning to rethink his decision. He was past the point of uncomfortable with the crowd of people in the gallery.

The three photographers who were also on display tonight alongside Jack were dismissive when he’d tried to make conversation with them earlier, although that probably had something more to do with Jack’s terrible small talk skills. Alexei, one of the gallery assistants, had handed Jack a drink with a reassuring pat on the arm at the beginning of the night. It gave his hands something to hold on to rather than hiding them in his pockets.

The crowd was starting to dwindle, at least, but there was still another two hours left before the evening was officially over.

A commotion towards the front of the gallery caught Jack’s attention as he realized there were some uniformed police officers coming in. The gallery owner, Georgia, rushed forward in obvious concern. Jack couldn’t make out their conversation, but it ended with Georgia leading the police upstairs, presumably to her office where they could talk without several people trying to listen in.

Hushed whispers broke out as people began to speculate and wonder why cops were suddenly here. Several took it as a sign that the evening was over and began to take their jackets and leave, which Jack was secretly grateful for. Part of him wished he could leave with them, but it was probably bad manners to leave his own art showing early.

Half an hour later, the crowd had thinned out substantially before Georgia and the police made another appearance. As they passed by Jack’s display, one of the police officers, blond, cute, and exactly the type that would catch Jack’s eye, suddenly stopped to contemplate his collection of photos.

“Bittle! Let’s go!” called one of the other cops by the front door.

“Coming!” Bittle said before he joined his colleagues.

In another minute, they were gone, and Georgia was turned around to face what was left of the attendees with a steel expression that gave nothing away. She pasted on a smile, and continued  the rest of the evening like nothing had happened, though the exhibition did end an hour earlier than planned.

Two days later, Jack received an unexpected phone call from the art gallery

“Jack, congratulations! Someone buy two of your pieces,” Alexei announced happily.

“What?” Jack said a little breathlessly, having just stepped off the treadmill. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a towel. “Someone bought two of them?”

“You not have to sound surprised, you know. You are really talented.”

“I just didn’t expect anything so fast, I guess.”

Alexei laughed lightly. “He’s picking up this afternoon. You should come meet him.”

“Did he want to meet me?” Jack asked haltingly. He wasn’t sure how this buy and sell process worked with art galleries.

“I mean, he not really say, but you should come by gallery at two o’clock anyways.”

“Uh, Alexei…” Jack started because he’d literally just met the gallery assistant less than two weeks ago. The last thing he needed was someone to start playing matchmaker in his life.

“He very cute! I promise! Okay, see you later,” Alexei shouted, and hung up the phone before Jack could protest.

Jack considered not going, but in the end, his curiosity about who bought his photos won out.

When he walked in the gallery, Alexei’s eyes immediately lit up from behind the counter. “Oh, wow, what coincidence! Photographer is here!”

The person whom Alexei had been previously talking to turned around, and Jack was stunned to realize it was the police officer from earlier on in the week, the one who had stopped to look at Jack’s pictures.

“Oh,” he said in surprise. “I didn’t–I”

“Uh, hi,” Jack said nervously. “Um.”

“Eric tell me how much he like your pictures,” Alexei interrupted happily. “He buy!”

“Yeah, I’ve been looking for something to put up in my living room for a while,” Eric said sheepishly. “Your pictures caught my eye.”

“Which ones did you get?” Jack asked as he eyed the brown, paper packages on the counter.

“The ones of the trees and the pond, but it looks like they were taken in different seasons.”

“Yeah, that was behind my parent’s house,” he admitted.

“Really? That’s neat.” Eric picked up the two wrapped photos. He paused, and almost shyly, asked, “I don’t suppose you want to get a coffee or something? I’d love to hear more behind the pictures.”

“Um, yeah,” Jack said nodding, “I’d like that.”

that’s

im a swimming teacher, ages 4+, and kids are weird

bitty: made me cookies for the end of term and made me cry with joy

jack: sat at my desk and took the register themselves because they were “tired of waiting around for you all the time”

shitty: asked to do press ups at the end of every length but got so tired they lay face down on the floor

lardo: dumped an entire bucket of water over my head. i was dry

ransom: came swimming for the first time in their life and moved up two groups on the very same day

holster: slipped off the diving block, styled it out, ended up doing a backflip

chowder: made me a birthday card with sparkly gel pen. it wasn’t my birthday

nursey: didn’t come for any lessons all term but rocked up in the last week for assessments and walked out with a certificate

dex: broke their float, ‘taped’ it back together with their goggles and insisted it was as good as new

whiskey: “if you don’t kick your legs, then you’ll drown. that’s about the long and the short of it” they’re 6

Then pauses.

Blinks.

Bitty blinks too.

They stare at each other.

Jack’s pupils dilate.

Bitty…

Jack: ….

Holster: …Jack

Jack: I’m thinking

- cheating

- lying

- hurtfully withholding information ‘for the other person’s sake’ until it leads to a breakup

- withholding information ‘for the other person’s sake’ because they don’t want to seem clingy… which Bitty did for a couple weeks, but then he called Jack and opened up about all of it and Jack responded with action and words

- even considering cheating tbh

- leading some kind of double life apart from the other

- one person placing undue emotional labor on the other and having to be hand-held into being an equally supportive partner

- allowing toxic masculinity to make one of them try to subvert their weaknesses into taciturn or gruff dismissal that leads to the other person walking out

- letting physical distance become some arbitrary wrench thrown into their love for each other

- breaking up for a while or “taking a break” lol

- sulking or harboring hurt feelings for no good goddamn reason

- losing their unique individual identities and lives to the relationship 

- losing any of their friends or having to modify existing intimate friendships to pacify insecurities in the relationship

So many television and film writers said it couldn’t be done, whilst gazing at their obscene salaries and assistants and interns running around at all hours doing their bidding. 

So it starts out with the basics, one ugly patterned tie, a hawaiian shirt, some pants that looked like they were recycled from the fabric of some child’s racecar sheets. (”They’re name brand” “Oh really Jack? What brand is that? Nick Jr?”)

Hey Readers,

While I’m well into making comics for Year Four, I want to have a slightly more consistent update schedule than in the past. This means working much further out to make sure comics are ready for posting. Because of this, I don’t feel comfortable starting Year Four before the end of March. The story is moving right along and I have pages ready to go, but I don’t want to leave readers on a limb too many times throughout the final year of this comic. So for now, thank you for your patience and please know that Check, Please will be back soon!

I’m also currently working on a script for a very exciting yet-to-be-formally-announced project, which has a hard deadline. (That also admittedly threw a wrench in things.) But I’ll continue to work on Year Four and share extras on this blog!

Again, thank you for understanding. During the five years of drawing this comic, you guys have been kind. And I can’t wait to share Bitty’s senior year with you!

Thank you, as always,