#bf tweet on the dash

[tumblasha]

who could be my enemy in NEBRASKA of all places

expand for context:

if u blocked someone on iphone and then get a mac, that block list does NOT transfer to mac. my work laptop is a mac and i added my imessage stuff there.

so when i open my work laptop on my first day back from the holiday break, i see this nebraska number text me “merry christmas”.

NOW NOW i’ve only ever blocked two numbers in my life and here’s what i know

can’t be anyone from high school bc they all have 985 numbers

can’t be anyone from college bc i didn’t really have beef w anyone there (like, if we made it to the stage where i have ur number, i’d likely never have beef w u) ((also i’d remember it bc college was metaphorically yesterday))

the “merry xmas” number is from nebraska (402 area code)

the only person it MIGHT be is my gay high school twitter situationship. we talked a lot in 2016-17 (i thought we were just friends bc i was in my straight era rip) until one of her friends twitter DM’d me to be careful with her feelings bc she’s too “sensitive” and “happy with me” or smth?? then the situationship person blocked me and i counter-blocked her

but having a 2016 ex-oomf text me merry christmas in 2023 is a little … wacky. like, she isn’t even active on twt hmm

tempted to say “who is this” but twt told me to ignore it :/ what do y’all think (if u made it this far lmao)

praying it’s something boring

[vltbox]

my bf is literally bribing me to not use twitter during the day (for the sake of my productivity) and the amt of times im like “oh i want to tweet X” but i cANT. is a lot. anyway i do think it’s helping. my dash is so slow that tumblr doesnt have the same problem for me. i should just write my thoughts in a journal and move on with my day.

[mist-mystery]

I can't believe that Skephalo is somehow the only thing keeping me from flipping my shit

[taintmansion]

wow a viral tweet my bf made a while ago just showed up on my dash 😂

[path-of-my-childhood]

hey vax, i've not exactly been on tumblr for too long. has our fandom always been picking apart everything that taylor says or does? are they always angry that she didn't speak enough about politics? on instagram its uncommon and ngl, im dumbfounded by some of the things which i read.

I am not a fan of revisionist history, so yes - fans have always been pretty harsh with Taylor. Are they slightly more harsh now than they were, let’s say - four years ago? Sure, but that kind of behavior is very much in line with social media patterns of behavior in general - people have progressively been more aggressive and toxic on social media over years. No reason why fans would be exempt from that trend. Since I’ve only become active here in 2016, over the years I’ve done a lot of digging through archives of some blogs, and I was actually surprised about the level of complaining and demanding that was going on. It’s surprising at first, but if you think about it - is it really? Taylor has spoiled her fans so much that - given people’s fickle nature - I really don’t think we should be surprised with the level of entitlement some are showing.

With all that being said, what you see on your social media and what you engage with is only, and absolutely ONLY your choice. For example, I obviously know about above mentioned behavior, but am I seeing it on my dash? No. There’s none of that on my dash. I am also a very active Twitter user and - although I do sometimes stumble upon something that makes my eye roll - it’s absolutely fine, it’s not bad at all. Literally everything can be in your control, and anyone telling you otherwise is lying. Yes, sometimes it can take a little work, but it’s very doable. You can simply unfollow toxic people. You can scroll past a mean tweet without engaging, because engagement is nothing but a reward for people on social media. So choose who you reward carefully. Even asks here on Tumblr can be controlled, and I’ve actually experimented with this a lot. It does sound a little bit crude to say, but you can literally train people in what you like being sent. And voilà, you only get nice asks in your inbox.

The key is in the boundaries you set. But you have to ask yourself and be honest - is pleasant SM environment more important to you than engagement? They don’t necessarily exclude one another, but let’s not pretend that being ”scandalous”, edgy, toxic and mean isn’t behavior that nowadays brings in the biggest engagement on Internet. And we are talking here about people who spend a lot of time online, for most of them this is their main source of social life, and that like/reblog/retweet/ask is their main source of serotonin rush. 

I will say that it’s a little worrying how many people depend on Taylor for so many things, and even worse - how many seem to genuinely have no other interests outside the celebrity they “stan”. I mean, to each their own I guess, but we all start from our own example and I always think how during one day I have to do work, and then my free time is split between my boyfriend, my friends, resting and then - as the last place on the scale of importance - all my interests. And seeing how much time some spend online, it sometimes really makes me wonder, ‘what about other aspects of your life? when do you get to those? do you even work on other areas of your life?’ My point is that given all I’ve mentioned, if you think about it, is it really surprising there’s so much anger and frustration? It just doesn’t seem like a quality life to lead - and then of course people will be bitter about everything. For example, if I’ve spend my day doing good at work, then spent some time with my friends, went home, had some quality time with my bf - am I really gonna care whether Taylor did this or that? Absolutely don’t give a shit. Yes - I’ll look at it, be amused for few minutes and say something like “cool, that was fun...” and move on with my day. But if your happiness/amusement/identity is derived mostly from one thing, then chances are you will find 20 things to complain about in a 10 second clip Taylor posted online.

Anyway, I don’t wanna get further into analysis, but I hope you get what I’m trying to say. Make your environment enjoyable - you can’t control other people and their frustrations, but you can control how you live your life and how you spend your free time. So you know, be mindful of that. 

[takethistoyourgrave2003]

I completely agree with your tags on that age/tweet post! I've been watching in disbelief and confusion how this topic came back around and a whole wave of black-and-white polemic opinions suddenly popped up on my dash.. I get that gatekeeping is bad and overgeneralizations as well, but also acting like really young groups will be just as comfortable holding a 20y/o fan's hand at a fansign as a 35+ y/o is just unrealistic... kpop has all sorts of weird dynamics and the labels literally make money off of "selling" their idols as imaginary girlfriends and boyfriends, so seeing older stans step into that dynamic can be strange and should be reflected, but of course of course doesn't have to be inherently "evil"... but also, like, I myself as an early 20s person sometimes feel weird stanning people born after 2000, even if I never saw them as "crush material" anyway, so the point that gets me worried is when fans don't think about/reflect that at all (but that counts for young stans as well, especially such that stan significantly older groups)

exactly!!! maybe the twitter op worded it a bit harshly (although if the person i reblogged the post from is correct then it sounds like it may have been a knee-jerk emotional response, and a totally understandable one at that) but as someone who grew up online in fandom spaces and experienced lots of weird shit from adults firsthand, i really feel like now that i'm the adult i owe it to younger fans to prioritize their safety over my own feelings and imo that means recognizing that it can be uncomfortable for teenage/early 20s fans to see people my age and older being obsessed with teenage/early 20s idols, regardless of whether anything truly creepy is going on or not. also you make a really good point about the bf/gf thing, like take the younger members of wayv for example. even if that's not how i view them (putting aside for a moment the fact that im a lesbian lol), the fact remains that a lot of the content they put out is *designed* for me to view them as like fantasy bfs, so i can easily see how it could lead to a weird dynamic (tbh i usually just ignore it cause im clearly not the target audience lol but still). but yeah the internet can make it really easy to forget that the person on the other side of the screen might be significantly older or younger than you (whether we're talking about an idol or a fellow fan) and while im obviously not saying we can all only interact with people +/-3 years of our own age or whatever i think it's something we do need to keep in mind

ummmm anyway so much for me not wanting to talk about this lol but im glad you saw my point and i hope you're having a good day/night!

[gogglememes]

Daisuke-Ken tweets based starter lines:

All of those are authorized tho, also edit them if you need inside the brackets there’s some context.

Hello! No wait that sounds like [ Diablomon ]

That's why we don't play games together [ Ichijouji ]

If you’ll pay attention, “loss” isn’t in my vocabulary. It is however, an unfortunate side effect of trying to get under my skin.

My [ cat ] is the cutest [ cat ] ever

Thanks for failing to do the bare minimum effort! Yes, this is a vague [ tweet ].

Personally, I don’t see the appeal behind animals, but that’s actually only somewhat because my apartments don’t allow them.

Imagine if were allowed, where the heckie would've you put [ Kimeramon ] inside your house HUH?  Indirect and not-so vague also direct [ posting ].

Look who i found today. He's doin' a binch face on my selfie.

I’ll tell [ Wormmon ] you took the photo. I’m planning on framing this for HIM. Isn’t making a [ Digimon ] happy enough of a reward for you?

Don't use the Elsa gif with me, jerk. ELSA DID NOT DO ANYTHING WRONG TO DESERVE THIS

My [ “partner” ] is my business. So kindly back off.

I have a photo of [ Ichijouji Ken ] pasted on my trash bin. Because he's trash.

I’m high grade recyclable. But go off.

Ya accept the title of Trash [ Kaiser ] then huh

If I’m a boomer, you’re a literal infant.

Are ya threatenin' me, trashy? Try it. You can't capture the great and only [ Motomiya Daisuke ].

Oh no, please. After you. I mean, besides your low IQ, you need every advantage you can get. 

It’s cold and miserable and if someone else throws another snowball at my head, I’ll shove it down their throat. Respectfully, of course.

[ Ichijouji Ken ] owes me the same pair of [ goggles ] he broke. Or in [ Yen ]. PAY ME, YOU JERK

Sorry, you must have an IQ of 160 or higher to talk to me or my worm.

Let the Worm decide.

It seems like someone on my dash likes detaching his few remaining brain cells and letting it go into the unknown.

Isn't fun that we follow each other here and saw each other hours ago and now we're bickering all again? [ Miyako ], if you read this don't start the 'ship' thing.

I see. Aliens. That clearly explains everything.

Last day of the year!! Is it the best day to confess you love with your beloved crush? I'm asking for a friend.

Good luck. Maybe if you’re in a relationship, you’ll finally leave me alone.

Don't worry, I won't replace you in my heart if i get a gf or bf

If this is the part where [ Motomiya ] confesses to me, I will literally throw him into a dungeon. [ End tweet ].

I love... ... breakin' your freakin' [ dark towers ] and [ evil rings ] hoho

I’m going to destroy you. Personally.

Boomer isn’t defined by age. It’s a mindset. A lifestyle. You.

kiss my kick.

Ok boomer king.

Probably what [ Motomiya ] says every morning when he wakes up: I think I will cause problems on purpose.

I woke up this morning and thought: I think I will pester [ Ichijouji ] today.

Whoever thinks snow is aesthetically pleasing needs a CT scan. You know what sounds like a good idea? Taking over a beach.

Is this how you made [ Kimeramon ]? copying and pasting parts?

Excuse you, INSECT, to be fair, you need to have a certain level of intelligence to truly appreciate the subtle art of playing god and creating life.

Go step on a lego, [ Motomiya ].

Be my guest and step on it by youself.

[ Motomiya ], are you saying you’re a coward then? One little piece of plastic is enough to deter you? Shame.

DO ya think I NEVER EXPERIENCED THE PAIN OF THOSE BY MYSELF?! YOU WEAK BOY CANNOT SUPPORT THE WRATH OF THE LEGO GODS

[ Motomiya ]. Do you need a doctor? You’re speaking in idiot again.

STEP ON A FREAKING LEGO YOURSELF

[drunkkenobi]

Hello OP! This post came across my dash and I got so excited because Watcher’s timeline creation is a passion project of mine. It is filled with lies and half-truths, so it requires a lot of conjecture, but here are some of my best guesses.

As for conception of Watcher, I think we have to look back to fall 2018, if not earlier. 2018 was a very, very busy year for BuzzFeed Unsolved. They shot 3 seasons, plus a whole bunch of crossover series with other BuzzFeed folks (In Control with Kelsey, Ladylike, etc), they launched the BUN network, did a bunch of conventions, etc. And during all of this, Ryan’s longtime relationship ended, he lost a grandparent, and he accrued enough overtime to take all of December 2018 off with vacation. He was still doing as much work for Unsolved as possible, writing episodes and editing and doing all of the ghost evidence (which takes ages). I don’t have exact links for most of these on-hand, but the being out for all of December was from the BuzzFeed holiday party video of 2018. 

I think during that month off is when he decided to move to being on contract only for BFU and did so in January, maybe February of 2019. But I’m pretty sure January. The biggest hint for this was the weekend of the infamous BuzzFeed Layoffs (Jan 25-28), where BF laid off 10% of its work force across all departments. TJ was one of them. And that weekend, Ryan was at Sundance supporting Mari who had a movie there. He wasn’t at the office in at all because, in my opinion, he was already out of there. The next season of BFU True Crime shot in February and was written by Garrett Werner, so I think that’s where Ryan’s part-time involvement began. (note that Ryan was still an EP on BFU until the end so he still had tons of work to do with the show, just not as much)

On the other hand, I’m fairly certain Shane was still a full-time BuzzFeed employee until April or so. The boys were in the same intern class, but they started a few months apart. (I highly recommend this episode of The Trypod, which has SO much juicy early BF goodness). Ryan in ~August 2014, Shane in ~November 2014. Because BF works on contracts, I think that means that Ryan left BF when his contract was up and Shane similarly, but those were a few months apart. (Shane also continued to be in a handful of BuzzFeed videos during that time, while Ryan was not.)

This is where it gets juicy.

Steven Lim, bless his wonderful business nerd heart, put on his LinkedIn that he left BuzzFeed in March 2019, so we can guess that’s when his own contract was up. This also coincides with the trio “incorporating over cheeseballs”, as seen in Making Watcher. What they didn’t mention, was that was March 13, 2019. We know that because Ryan and Steven posted instagram videos that night of them playing Super Smash Bros in the exact same outfits. (Shane left by then because he’s a baby about competition). 

Also! During this time, season 5 of BFU True Crime was airing and with that, the boys posted videos announcing when new episodes and post-mortems were up. A few of these were from Ryan’s kitchen or Shane’s apartment. In the very first Watcher Weekly Plus, they were asked if Steven was hiding off camera in these videos and they all said yes.

Also also! The Watcher YouTube was registered on April 9, 2019. So that “six months” line from all the December 2019 announcements is bullshit and it makes me laugh. But I think the reason for the subterfuge is that Shane was still under BF contract and they didn’t want to ruffle feathers.

That brings us to Tourist Trapped.

Tourist Trapped was filmed over two days, April 23-24, 2019. I remember when they filmed it because there were fan reports of them at Knott’s Berry Farm and Matt Real posted instastories of them at the taco truck place. At the time we assumed they were filming more Berry Boys. (which I guess they were, just times 100). Another fun TT fact is that starting March 26 (through April 9), Ryan was tweeting at various LA businesses asking to collab. These included places like Pink’s and Madame Tussaud’s (and others that aren’t in the episode) as they were obviously planning TT. I’m not sure why TT came together so quickly (or how). At one point, the boys said it wasn’t originally filmed for Watcher. I don’t know what means exactly, it’s possible they were approached to do a pilot for a network but that fell through and did it themselves anyway. Whenever that video first aired, they were suspiciously tight-lipped about the shooting schedule of it, even in the patreon videos, so there’s more to that story. My personal theory is that they used BuzzFeed equipment that they weren’t supposed to, but that’s based on no actual facts.

As for the rest of the first year Watcher shows, Puppet History was first in early July. Then Top 5 Beatdown later that month. This is when Steven had to become our Business Boy and put his shows on the backburner to get investors and do all of that business stuff. (He also went to Taiwan for Worth It) His shows, Homemade and Grocery Run, were filmed in September and October 2019. (this is all based on some clapboard dates taken from videos and Steven’s ever-changing hair color) Spooky Small Talk was filmed October 25 & 26. and Weird Wonderful World November 6 & 7.

I absolutely agree that Watcher was Ryan’s concept first. I think he went to Shane and Shane was hesitant, so he and Steven came up with a lot of the early concepts and brainstorming before they finally got Shane on board. Some things I think that helped tip Shane to Ryan and Steven was that BF canceled Ruining History, fired all of the Hot Daga animators (both presumably in fall of 2018), and then did those horrible layoffs that included a lot of the BFU team. if Shane wasn’t on board before those layoffs, he definitely was after, in my humble opinion.

ANYWAY, sorry for hijacking your very good post OP! Like I said, this is SUCH a personal passion project of mine (I have timeline spreadsheets, I’m a simple woman) and I love talking about it. (also sorry for not having links, but it’s 11:30pm on a Tuesday, I can hunt some up later if anyone needs them)

PLS pls share your theories on watcher’s origin story !!

WITH PLEASURE!! sorry this took so long i was in a meeting!

i think steven lim left buzzfeed first, or at least went part-time/freelance since he moved to new york in late 2018 and then back to los angeles in 2019.

we know from watcher weekly+ episode 3 and the beginning of the future is unscripted (which, yes, obviously dramatized, but i think there's some truth to it!) that steven approached them in the spring (march-april 2019), when i assume their contracts at buzzfeed were already ending and it was time to renew and asked about the future. also, we know shane and ryan got hired at buzzfeed at the same time so it makes sense that their contracts would be up for renewal at the same time. ryan mentioned that it was important for them to keep a good relationship with buzzfeed in leaving so that's why i think it was around the time their contracts would have been up anyway.

as far as who conceptualized the company - i really think it was ryan! whenever they talk about it they give so much of the credit to him. i think he and shane may have floated the idea but it wasn't a solid "yes, we're going to do this" because neither of them had the kind of business understanding that they needed. i think shane was probably the last on board, but only because i think ryan spoke to steven first as the more business-minded of the three of them and then the two of them approached shane so they could assure him that they had things covered (since we know shane doesn't always believe in himself and his abilities, having steven and ryan, in whose abilities he wholeheartedly believes, already on board would make him more inclined to agree).

the variety article where they announced watcher (dec 2019) says "the founders have spent the last six months producing the first batch of shows," which puts production officially starting in june 2019. we know journalists are vague with time estimations but june being the official start of producing shows that are specifically For Watcher Entertainment sounds right to me. shane's instagram puts them shooting puppet history season 1 in early july 2019 and we know that that pilot was the very first watcher thing they shot from shane's audio commentary on patreon.

sophie @psychicbergara and itze @monsteraficionado pointed out that tourist trapped was filmed earlier (april 2019), but that it was also made as a way for shane and ryan to explore their dynamic outside of unsolved and not specifically For Watcher at first. (i also remember this being said but i cannot place a source. it was probably a watcher weekly and i'm not going to go back and watch 200 of them to place it but. it's part of the theory!).

we also know from making watcher that their original plan was to fund everything themselves, but realized they needed investors a little later on. since shane mentions in the same puppet history audio commentary that they needed to do everything as cheaply as possible for puppet history, which, again, started shooting in july, it's safe to assume they hadn't pitched to investors at that point. steven's hair was pink when they secured their investors, which took two meetings a week apart from each other, so i think that last investment meeting happened in august 2019!

okay. i THINK that covered everything. maybe in terms of the exact months these things happened i could be off, but i think the timeline is right.

another gem from shane's instagram is this picture from february 2020 that makes me feel like my brain is just absolutely teeming with bees because you can feel all of the love and joy and excitement a month after launch.

also: i rewatched the first making watcher episode to re-check some of my facts and see if they made any reference to timing and i legitimately started crying when ryan said "i think we might be okay" after their investment meeting. "i'm working with my best friends. we assembled the best team we could have possibly assembled, we made the best content we could have made, and we did everything the right way. i believe in us" excuse me. i have to sob.

[hollywoodpointegossip]

Well, I suppose it’s about time we check in on the real subject of, well, pretty much all of thank u, next. 

We’ll be honest with you. When the album dropped on Monday, we thought maybe just maybe this was an announcement that Hollywood Pointe’s favorite star-crossed lovers, Alexa Paige and Moony Rayne, were getting back together. I mean, from imagine to ghostin, it really seems like Paige is all moony-eyed for Moony and no longer happy with her music producer bf Connor Mann. 

But then, of course, yesterday Moony had to let us down by tweeting that (admittedly super cute) love song for his (actual) current girlfriend, Becca Oliver, dashing all our hopes for a Payne reunion. 

And the hits keep coming for Alexa, because not only has Moony confirmed his relationship status, he’s even gone so far as to delete all traces of Paige from his social media accounts, including unfollowing her on literally everything and deleting all of their photos together. 

Well, at the very least this seems to confirm that those songs really were about him. 

[skullsmuldon]

Anon! Gillian's tweet included you as well. Until Gillian herself says this is her bf, guess what, you don't get to say it either!! It's not about respecting anything other than her privacy. You are the most arrogant to display and post away as you PM supporters do, when Gillian is quiet as a little mouse because you are part of the public and not fucking invited to anything in her private life. You're even on innocent people's blogs flaunting her business, or what you think you know!!

And what I really don't get is why bother coming to others telling them they are wrong... I don't get it. Block or unfollow and it's all good you can control what is on your dash... I haven't seen any PM/GA Shipping on my dash because I don't follow that path... so I go around to these blogs accusing them of being disrespectful or being bad fans? NO I DONT! Because the only thing making you bad is insulting/calling her names and than you are obviously no fan of her at all... I'm sick of the bad fan theme that is going around... you can be fan of her and not liking things she does it's okay. It like being a fan of a musician and not Fucking adore every single song and not act like everything they do is a gift from heaven. She is human and she fucks up from time to time and that's okay...

[homeiswherethehausis]

The Real Win

Also on my AO3

There were two minutes left in the third period of game seven of the playoffs. The Falconers and the Schooners were dead even – three wins, three losses, one point each in this final game. The next goal won the Cup. Literally. Jack snagged the puck from the faceoff and sent a hard pass to Tater before dashing up the boards. Up in a private box, Bitty was gripping the edge of his seat. Bob and Alicia were sitting in front, and the Samwell’s Men’s Hockey team fanned out in the remaining seats. The air was tense, everyone holding their breath, waiting to see if this game would go to a shoot out.

The whistle blew. The play stopped and the teams gathered around their benches to wait out the commercial break. Bitty watched Jack lean in and say something to Tater, Marty tapping him on the helmet.

“Lord, I’m so nervous.”

“Brah, everything’s gonna be fine. We’re up on shots and the Schooners have one of their second line d-men playing. If we don’t win now, we’re definitely gonna get it in OT. Snowy’s not letting a thing in,” Shitty said reassuringly. The ‘Yo Marry Me Jack Zimmerman’ sign was on the floor at his feet, ready to be waved when the camera panned to their box.

“I’m still nervous. It’s good to be nervous.”

On the ice, the referees blew their whistles. Tater took the faceoff this time. The Schooners won the puck and the commentator rattled off names and a play-by-play of the game. The play was hanging around the blue line in the Falconer’s defensive zone, and Bitty was working his way through the fingernails on his left hand. Suddenly, there were only thirty seconds left. A Schooner forward went for a shot but it went wide and Jack swooped in and snatched it, breaking out of his zone. He passed it hard to Thirdy who dodged opposing players on his way up the ice. Tater and Guy were close behind him, with Jack coming up afterwards.

“And its Robinson with the puck. He passes to St. Martin, over to Mashkov, back to St. Martin…”

The announcers drone on, narrating the plays for the millions of people watching at home. Bitty chances a look up at the scoreboard over center ice. Only fifteen seconds. Fourteen. Thirteen.

“Zimmermann’s got the puck. He passes to Robinson, back to Zimmermann. He shoots, he scores! Zimmermann’s got the goal folks with only four seconds left on the clock! Falconers take the Cup!”

The siren screams and the noise of the crowd is deafening. Bitty’s sure there are tears in Alicia’s eyes as she hugs Bob. Shitty’s waving his sign proudly, screaming, “Jack Zimmermann, you fucking beaute!” Lardo, Ransom, and Holster are wrapped in a three-way hug, Chowder flying over his seat to join in. Bitty’s clapping and shouting and he can barely see the ice through his tears.

George appears at the door of their box and looked over at Bob and Alicia. “You’re good to go down to the ice now. Eric, you can come too.”

Bitty nods, a lump stuck in his throat. He wipes at this eyes as Shitty thumps him on the back. Bob guides him out into the hallway. Up ahead, Bitty can see Marty’s wife and son being ushered out of their box with Guy’s wife and Poot’s girlfriend.

Finally, the hallways and stairs give way and the ice is right there. George stands by the open door and gives Bitty a smile as he walks past.

They’re some of the first family onto the ice. The Falconers are still in a full team celly, Jack’s helmet covered head lost somewhere in the middle. Bitty steps onto the ice and slides his way towards the far end of the ice. The Falconers’ coaches are handing out the Stanley Cup Champions hats and the team assistants are taking helmets and gloves back to the bench.

Marty slaps a cap over Jacks sweaty hair. “Great job out there, kiddo. Bien fait.”

“Merci,” Jack shouts, accepting Marty’s hug.

“Ah, je vois Gabby et mon fils! Hey, Gabby!” Marty shouts, breaking away from Jack and skating over to his family.

Over Guy’s shoulder, Jack sees a tiny blond head skidding across the ice behind Gabby. Breaking away from the thumps on his back, Jack skates through the mass of players and coaches and camera crews. He passes Marty, who’s holding his son in the air like he’s the Cup. Marty catches his eye and winks.

Bitty catches sight of Jack skating towards him and tries to run faster over the ice. He slips and nearly falls, if not for Jack catching his elbow. Bitty smiles up at Jack, farther than he has to normally. Jack seem especially tall when he’s in his skates and Bitty isn’t wearing his.

“I’m so proud of you, sweetheart!” Bitty exclaims. He wraps his arms around Jack’s waist and holds him tight. He smells of sweat and ice and exhilaration.

Jack leans his chin against Bitty’s head. There’s a million thoughts running through his mind. He’s just won the Stanley Cup. He scored the game-winning goal. He’s hugging Bittle in the middle of the ice after he won the Stanley Cup.

Bitty looks up. “You alright?”

Jack nods. He looks over and sees his parents on their way towards them. George is still standing at the edge of the ice. She sees him watching her and nods gently, as if saying its alright.

“Let’s do it now.”

Bitty’s eyes widen. “Right now?”

Jack nods. “Why not? I’ve won the Cup. And George did say we could set something up once the season ends.”

“If you want to, sweetheart,” Bitty says, smiling brightly. “How do you wanna do this?”

Jack flips his Champions cap backwards and leans down to capture Bitty’s lips. Bitty kisses back with enthusiasm, reaching up onto tiptoe until Jack lifts him up so he can stand on Jack’s skates. His fingers reach into Jack’s sweaty hair. Jack’s hands hold Bitty’s waist firmly so he doesn’t fall.

“I love you so much, Jack Zimmermann,” Bitty whispers.

“Je t’aime aussi,” Jack whispers back.

Bob and Alicia, who had been standing back to give they boys some space, come forward and give Jack their own congratulations. Bitty is wrapped up in the family hug. Afterwards, Jack’s hand doesn’t move from it’s place on Bitty back.

“Going to break my record now?” Bob asks.

“I can only try,” Jack said, laughing.

The crowd has spread around the ice. Camera crews film the players and the families, while reporters from nearly every sports station ask questions. The Stanley Cup is hoisted in the air over Marty’s head and a separate camera crew tracks its progress.

“Zimmermann!” Marty calls. “Your turn with the Cup, kiddo.”

Jack’s grin widens and he presses a kiss to Bitty’s head before skating over. Marty gives the Cup one last kiss and then Jack’s hoisting it over his head. Bitty take out his phone and snaps a picture.

@omgcheckplease: Proudest bf in the world <3 #stanleycup #thatsmyboyfriend

***

The next morning, Jack and Bitty lie curled up together in bed in Jack’s apartment in Providence. CNN and Sports Net have both run stories about Jack and Bitty, with pictures of Jack with the Cup and a shot of Jack and Bitty hugging. Bitty’s twitter has gained over five thousand followers and George has already called for a press conference in the following couple days.

“That was a good way to do it,” she had said the night before. “Nothing overly crazy. You might want to get on social media too, Jack. Just to be sure.”

Bitty had laughed and helped Jack set up a twitter account. Lying together in bed, Jack fumbles with his phone and posts his first tweet.

It’s a picture of Jack and Bitty snuggled together, Jack’s Champions hat covering Bitty’s bedhead. The sun shining through the window casts just the right amount of light, glinting off Bitty’s smile as Jack kisses his cheek.

@jlzimmermann1: I’m so lucky to have this man in my life. Thanks for all your support @omgcheckplease. #therealwin

Seconds later, there’s a reply.

@samwelldmen: @omgcheckplease @jlzimmermann1 FIIIIIIIINNNNNEE!!!!