ZIMMMS

A Zimbits College AU | part I | part II | part III  | part IV | parts V + VI | part VII | parts VIII + IX

Part X

No one says anything for what feels like several minutes to Bitty. Logically, he knows it can’t be that long, because that would be ridiculous, but the number of thoughts his brain manages to fire at him is so high that it’s hard to accept they all came in a period closer to six seconds.

“Hi, Eric.” Jack sounds uncommonly nonplussed to find Bitty in his kitchen. He’s actually smiling at Bitty, too. A nice soft smile that causes fluttering in Bitty’s stomach.

“Hi,” Bitty says again, twisting his hands together, unable to take his eyes off Jack. He looks good. Bitty hasn’t actually seen him since Monday and it’s like he’s being hit with it all over again; his attraction to Jack.

The thought doesn’t help his already flustered state.

The sound of bubbling distracts Bitty. 

“Oh no!” Bitty yells, turning and rushing to the stove top. He snatches the saucepan and moves it off the heat, but he knows as he stirs it that his panic and following minutes of inattention has ruined the custard.

“Everything alright?” Jack asks him.

“My custard,” Bitty says helplessly, continuing to whisk the curdled mess.

Lardo crosses by Bitty to turn the heat off on the stovetop.

“Looks fine to me,” she says.

Bitty shakes his head.

“It’s split,” Jack remarks.

“You can tell that from over here?” Shitty asks Jack. They’re still on the other side of the kitchen counter.

“I do TA a food class,” Jack replies.

“I should’ve been stirring its⁠—keeping my eye on it,” Bitty explains to Shitty. “It’s one of those things where an extra few seconds can ruin it.” Bitty stops his futile whisking and puts the pan back on the stovetop.

There’s silence again. 

“Why are you making custard anyway?” Jack asks Bitty. “Wait. Actually. Why are you making custard here?”

Bitty sighs and crosses his arms over his chest. “The custard is for the pie. Your thank you pie.”

Jack frowns. “I thought we decided I didn’t need one.”

“No. You decided that.”

“And the ‘here’ part?” Jack prompts.

“You weren’t supposed to find out,” Bitty tells him, kicking the heel of his shoe against the counter before catching himself.

“Why not?” Jack asks him.

“I didn’t want to intrude, or-” give you the wrong idea, Bitty doesn’t say. Though in this case, the wrong ideas⁠—that Bitty is interested in Jacks⁠—is accurate. But Jack’s explained his boundaries to Bitty and he’s not going to cross them or even get close enough to toe the line. Really. As much as he wants to. Really wants to.

happy two am i stayed up writing this instead of the *checks smudged writing on my hands* smirfteen different wips on my desktop enjoy the angst

title from hozier’s cherry wine bc. i felt like it

warnings for homophobia and anxiety mentions

         In the spring, Nursey and Dex drive up to Maine over a long weekend.

         One of Dex’s cousins is having a baby and the shower happens to coincide with a rare day off from classes and only one practice, which someone convinces Dex to miss despite his captainly insistence he be there. They pack up Dex’s pick-up and make the three hour drive with Nursey misreading directions and dictating the playlist and Dex tapping away at the steering wheel while ignoring mostly everything but the road.

         Nursey does his best to distract, when they reach Dex’s childhood home and his parents welcome them in with step-late smiles and frequent breaks of silence, when Dex’s brother Jay drops by with his girlfriend and makes just-a-bit-off jokes as they talk in the living room, when they get ready for bed ignoring his parents’ intent glances at the fact they’ll be sharing a bed.

         “I should probably sleep on the couch,” Dex says, sitting on the closed toilet seat as Nursey brushes his teeth.

         “That’s dumb,” Nursey says, gargled. “They know we’re dating.”

         “I know, but.” Dex curls his hands over his bare knees. He’s in a pair of boxers and an old t-shirt. He’s soft and smudged looking and Nursey wants to wrap his arms around him. “I want to make it easier on them. They’re—trying.”

Check, Please! Senior Year #12 - Coach III back«  start  »next

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and people usually say yes and thank you and oh my god and this was my dream for so many years

except then Nursey meets an idiot (you guessed it, red hair, big ears, freckles,  a t t i t u d e), who is like: No. Fuck off. I’m bootstrapping it. I’m doing this with My Own Two Damn Hands.

And Nursey is like. Pal. Buddy. Chill. You can do this with Your Own Two Damn Hands by taking this here money with them.

And Dex is still like, no. Fuck you. Want a sandwich?

And so Nursey accidentally finds himself helping the idiot and eating his sandwiches.

(What is Dex building, you ask me? I have Zero Idea. A boat? A house? A business? an  ice rink for local kids? It doesn’t matter!)

Because I do.

Roommate + Fake Dating oho i am excited for this one. here comes more actual writing are y’all ready?? 2.1k

On the one hand, Bitty loves the fact that the team just doubled the number of beds per bedroom in the Haus. Sure, it doesn’t seem quite as luxurious as the individual rooms, but it means that even more people can fit in the Haus and that means a couple of things:

First of all, he has far more people nearby to make go to Stop ‘n Shop and buy him butter.

Second of all, there are many, many people around who are perfectly willing to hang out with him, which means as long as he doesn’t tell them that he needs to do homework, he has a house full of willing accomplices in procrastination.

Unfortunately, the second thing doesn’t work on Jack.