#he wants not to care so desperately but he fuckifn does

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''i do have thoughts ! but'' share?

well fbdkdk we all like to joke about mitch's daddy issues.. and even though it's all just speculation, it does something to you when you feel like a parent's love is conditional!! i would know. it's a very relatable part of him to me personally, and it's a part that can get ugly (which isn't the most fun to speculate abt in a fandomy sense) so i don't blame anyone for wanting to look at it from such a lighthearted perspective like. i do it too and in the end, he is a millionaire with little material concern in this life from now on most likely so!! But inside of him.... when you feel like you have to earn the love of people around you or keep it up or can't express your full self for fear of what ppl think or whatever like. it wears you down. it hurts your self image. it makes you codependent and needy in a way that might not be the most fun or cutest despite what all of us who adore him say.. mitch's perception of himself as someone who wants to and HAS to provide that energy for this team all the time is pretty evident in that blueprint ep about him, and while i think most of the time, that's just his personality... you can't always be on and always be that for people. privileged to be in his position but sometimes feels like he's still. not whole.... missing something. HATES being left out and feeling like things are happening without him.... none of that is cute when it's happening a lot, but he has teammates who love him and are willing to accomodate that despite the teasing so <3

i also just think like. if any person on this team were most likely to Snap in any meaningful way... it would be him. like he's done and been everything Traditional Hockey would want from him and it's still not enough to get people off his back, fans media family alike. his teammates can break sticks over the bench and people "love their passion" but mitch goes down the hallway to do it out of everyones eyeshot and its a story for a week? idk. he is handled differently from everyone else on the leafs, and i cant imagine how it is to be this hometown boy who can never do anything right by some standards.... who think the only team he's ever really known would be better without him?? who wouldn't doubt their place or contemplate the drastic when theyre someone who lets others opinions get to them?? like when your self image already suffers but your have people piling on... you're telling me there's nothing internally dark about that???????

there is a lot more to say but i'm fucked up on nyquil and 5 seconds from sleep so. hope this makes sense 😭