#i didn't know aus existed and u didn't want to copy anything

[nekioe]

I think that i usually don't talk a lot abt my aus and stuff because most of the time i loose interest in them quickly

Theres a reason why every single one has like 3 posts and then they're abandoned

.... i could never write a multichapter fic

Anyway another reason is probably also that i get distracyed by other things all the time *shoke shoke social media* and dont rly think a lot abt them :(

Which is sad because au thinking talking is fun, doomscrolling? Not so much

I feel like it has gotten a tiny bit better tho? I hope :)

[pleasantspark]

I Can't Imagine A Future Without You (Oneshot) Jeice x Zarbon's Daughter! OC (Mikumi) Genre: Angst & Hurt/Comfort Tropes: Third Class Act Misunderstanding Warnings: Awful Australian Accent Incoming! AUs Utilized: Overhaul AU

Age 577.

Jeice found himself pondering. He was walking around deep in thought. He was... Debating something. He's been dating Mikumi, Zarbon's Daughter for years. And... He loved her. But when he was talking to her about their previous relationships. He found out that she was involved with Captain Ginyu, and that they had a child together but it passed.

Jeice normally wouldn't care, but... He couldn't help but feel insecure knowing his own leader was involved with his girlfriend in the past. Jeice... Did know. But it didn't bother him, before she said all this. And now, he felt like he wasn't good for her. Ginyu was his leader, he was his second in command and he valued him.

But why was he jealous? Mikumi loved him and only him... He knew what he had to do. So he steeled himself and walked to her room. Upon arriving he took a deep breath.

"Mikumi, we need ta talk." He said.

"About what?" Her angelic voice said, Jeice only felt more guilty about what he was about to say.

"About us… Fahkin' too right, mate." Jeice said, Mikumi frowned.

"What about us?" Mikumi asked once more.

"U-Um..." Jeice swallowed a lump he didn't even know was there.

Come on, Jeice. Ya can say it. Just tell hah ya want ta break up. Give hah the bloody, "it's not ya, it's me."

Jeice was struggling, he couldn't bring himself to... Well, speak. But seeing her face, he finally decided to do it. He took a deep breath.

"Well, I want to bre-" Before he can say it, a bright light engulfed the room and caused Jeice to shield his eyes, Mikumi did too, and when the light subsided, he saw a figure that looked similar to him, light red skin- though, his was dark red. Golden Eyes, White hair similar to his, he wore a ripped denim jacket that was black and had a dark red undershirt, ripped blue jeans with a brown belt and holster with a gun, and white socks with red and white sneakers.

This kid was a carbon copy of him, down to the look, and exception of eyes. Jeice blinked a bit and before he could speak the kid spoke up.

"I'm JJ, I am here to say, whatever you're going to say next is going to ruin things." The kid now known as JJ said.

"Wat ahah ya saying?" Jeice asked.

"I'm saying, don't do what you're about to do." JJ urges.

"Wy?" Jeice asked once more.

"Just don't. It'll effect the future." JJ said.

JJ Lebeau, was someone who spent most of his days cleaning up any messes in any timeline. Mostly ones interlinked with his personal life. He wasn't like his associate Trunks at all when it came to fixing the past and protecting everyone there. JJ wanted to ensure his spot in the multiverse he grew up in.

So mix in his job with his passion for his family and you get a cocktail of conflicts. JJ was supposed to work with other universe's as part of his job but he couldn't help it if he hears a call from a Universe that had an instance of his parents being at the verge of a breakup he'd go.

But currently this doesn't matter, the universe he went to WAS the universe where he was conceived in. If he didn't do anything to prevent them from breaking up. His existence would be nothing essentially.

By this time, you already are well aware that JJ is Jeice and Mikumi's son from the future. A fact that he kept from any iteration of his parents as per the rules of the Time Patrol Squad. Atleast with their branch of things.

Time Patrollers are often sent to fix "Timeline Issues" they aren't directly allowed to speak to the people who they are interacting with. While what he and his buddies do are fixing timelines that had been damaged during shenanigans. Think of Zamasu and Goku Black.

JJ was born as Jeice Junior. His mom and dad had named him that because according to his Dad, he was "special and your mom wanted to show how much she loved me." If he was a girl they would have named him Jeica. Although he remembered having a sister named Jeica...

His parents were very much in love which he found very sweet. But things got very ugly quick in the past. Apparently his parents were going to break up because his father- with his unresolved insecurities and jealousy issues- had found out that Ginyu, someone who JJ considered a family friend and Uncle was involved with his Mom in the past.

His father freaked out and instead of telling his mother about his insecurity was preparing to break up with her. JJ knew he has to do something and that's what he did.

Currently, Jeice was confused about the male in front of him. He just told him... About how he'd regret his decision. What does this stranger who looks suspiciously like him.

He began to believe there's something more to this kid then there is. And he turned to face Mikumi.

"Mikumi… We'll av this chat lader." Jeice said.

"No, we need to discuss this now, you don't simply just come in here and ask to talk about our relationship and not do anything!" Mikumi snaps.

Jeice winced, he felt like a bad boyfriend now.

"I… I look, i was garn ta ask ta break up-" Jeice starts.

"Why?"

"I said I was not liyyke I was garn ta do it!" Jeice argues.

"I need to fucking know why!" Mikumi snaps.

"It's because of Ginyu okay!" Jeice said.

Mikumi was shocked. "G-Ginyu? Why?" She asked.

"…It's… I don't know, I am fahkin' afraid that ya… Might leave me fawr him. I would nevah be as good as gold as him!" Jeice said, he was on the verge of tears.

"...Jeice, I... I would never leave you... Why are you saying all this?" Mikumi asked.

"Evah since ya tol' me about ya 'n ginyu's past… I was fahkin' afraid ya might leave me fawr my best cobber." Jeice sobs on the floor. Mikumi looked at Jeice worried and hugged him.

"Jeice... I would never leave you... I love you too much for that to be a thing." Mikumi said, wiping his tears away.

"I know, i just… Seein' ya get too close… I.. Can't help but think it." Jeice said.

"Because I was with Ginyu in the past doesn't mean I would go back with him. I... I love you and only you..." Mikumi said.

"…I… I know… I'm sawrry…" Jeice said.

"I love you, never forget this..." Mikumi said.

JJ looked at his "parents" and disappeared.

Mikumi looked to where JJ was and turned to face Jeice.

"Where did he go?" Mikumi asked.

"I don't know, but i reckon i found out wat he reminded me of." Jeice said.

"Who?"

"I reckon that's our son."

[artkotaro]

Curiosities 👀

ENGLISH

More than anything, it is the origin story of my two Aus.

What is the reason that motivated you to make your own Au?

For that, let's start at the beginning of everything.

It's funny since Undertale had gone out of fashion at the time, I really didn't know what the story was about and had the idea that it would be another boring nonsense game.

But in that I dared to investigate what his story is about thanks to a YouTuber (whom I also met through the video game Bendy ant The Ink Machine), and thus my taste for Undertale began.

Then for the Shipps, but that's another story.

After getting to know Undertale better, I thought about delving into Fandom to the point of learning about alternative universes.

How?

Thanks to the Underverse series, there has started my taste for alternative universes.

One day when I was drawing one of the Undertale characters at the time, I came up with the idea of ​​creating my own alternate universe and Reisontale came up.

Reisontale was the first name you thought of for your AU?

If I am honest NO, the truth was it was difficult to think of a name for me AU, since I wanted it to be original and not repeated.

The first one that occurred to me was Gastertale.

But after searching that this AU already existed, I discarded the name and tried to think of another one again.

And why the Reisontale Name?

Well, that has a very clear explanation, by Reison.

Since she created this AU into a dead and destroyed AU.

Where did you get inspiration to make Reison?

In Chara and Friks, in My Little Pony Princess Celestia and Luna (at that time I was still a fan of them) and in the legends of my country of the Origin of Day and Night.

Well, I don't know if you noticed Reison has symbols that represent day and night. And this is more noticeable with the powers it has (which are Light and Darkness).

Why the name of Reison?

I chose a random name, this one is divided in two, Rei for a Sailor Moon character that I really like (Sailor Mars) and Son for my mistake, since I thought it meant Sun in English, but it actually means Son.

And well, I decided to give it a name like that, since I inadvertently made a move with the word smile in Spanish.

What is Reison's past? Will it have a story?

At the moment I will not show anything of Reison's past, nor his history.

But who will have a history if it is so.

I already have it planned from start to finish, but for the moment I will not show it, since I want Reison to continue maintaining that air of mystery that characterizes him.

But I will give basic information about her, such as her birthday and her tastes.

And what about Jackson? (the Sans of Reisontale)

Ahhhhh, I will talk very little about it, since it is not as relevant as Reison and Eight (since they will have a leading role in a project that I have planned that is called Multiverse), but I will include it despite the fact that I will not give it as much importance, it is still my favorite creation (after Reison and eight) 😌.

Did you plan to do Numbertale after Reisontale?

NO, Numbertale was not in my plans, in fact only Reisontale was only planned.

If you didn't have Numbertale planned, then how did the idea come about?

Something that if I don't clarify is that, since I was new to AUS, I thought that each AUS Creator could only create one. So I will settle for having a UA.

What made me change my mind was the Creator of Geno, Error and Fresh.

SHIT !! I create three Aus, with these Sans, with super good stories. (I loved the Aftetale U-U story 👌)

This gave me the motivation to do more than one UA, so the idea to create Numbertale came up.

Why Numbertale?

If I had trouble thinking of a name for my first AU, this was more.

But I will say the origin, since I was bored in math classes I decided to give characters a shape and without thinking I created an Undertale character.

Who was the Papyrus was the first Numbertale character to create after Sans and Friks.

And there's the name of Numbertale.

The numbers on the characters in Numbertale, did you put them on why?

Initially YES, but after delving further into the meaning of each Number by Numerology, I paid more attention to giving a number to each character and somehow fitting it according to its meaning and personality.

If you don't believe me, look up the meaning of 8 and 9, and you will know why I put that number on Sans and Papyrus.

Is Numbertale having its story too?

Of course, I already published the first page of Comic 1, the other pages I have in my sketchbook but I will pass them to Dijital later.

I take this opportunity to say that the story of Numbertale will be divided into 4 Comic, all without losing the course of the story, but it will have 4 protagonists depending on what the comic is called, a clear example is Comic 1 which is called Friks (it means that this Comic will star Friks).

The others would tell them but I do not want to do Spoilers, I put aside that I want it to be a surprise.

What was Eight's first design like?

Ugly

I think so, it wasn't a great design to say since at the time I didn't know how to draw Sans well.

But that if, I had to redesign it 3 times, (the current design is the definitive one).

Did you have a character to get inspired by Eight's design?

Yes, it was six characters, but I was more inspired by Cross Sans and Delta Sans.

At first I planned to make numbertale's universe a kind of world parallel to X-Tale, but dismiss the idea as it wanted to be original.

And apart from the need to know more about the AU as X-Gaster (which I didn't know much about, since I couldn't find the comics of this Spanish-language Sempai Jael, at the time I was finishing the comic like the incredible episodes of Underverse).

Eight's first design had an almost like Cross, but with its differences, I really regret how I used to draw it

As I said earlier, I didn't want it to be a cheap copy of Cross, I had to modify several things to the character such as story, personality and design.

There are some things that your current design retains from the old one.

You may find similitides of Eight's wardrobe with Cross's, it's more of a reference to Jakei's influence on this Au. Other than that Cross is my favorite character.

What story are you going to make first? Numbertale or Reisontale?

Numbertale, since as I mentioned earlier, Reisontale is more related to Reison's story and past.

And I don't want to show any of this yet.

Besides, to better understand Reisontale's story, you have to know Numbertale's as these are related.

Why, I won't say.

You'll find out in The Multiverse Project

Are you going to do something else after you finish Numbertale and Reisontale?

Yep, The Multiverse Project where Reison, Co-Star Eight and The Jackson will be starring, because...

I see what I'm doing with him.

I have other projects, but I still don't know which one to start with first.

I'm not sure I'm going to be encouraged to do the story of my Third AU, called Wizardtale.

But first with the first thing.

•

Well this is all I wanted to say, if you want to continue knowing more or have doubts, encourage to ask me, I do not bite ;3.

[bittysvalentines]

Three Times Jack Zimmermann Saw Eric Bittle Without Meeting Him (Plus One Time Jack Didn't See Him but They Met Anyway)

From: @missweber

To: @n3rdyl4cy

Pairing: Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann

Tags: eventual meet cute, slow burn before ever meeting, implied homophobia, references to unsupportive parents, coming out, cameo appearance by Zdeno Chara, AU because real life NCAA rules apply, Jack didn't go to college, Bitty gets scouted by the Falconers

Summary: Jack saw Eric Bittle for the first time over a year before they actually met, but it was still as if someone had set a match to a fuse that would burn slowly but inevitably until it reached its end.

The first time Jack saw Eric Bittle was the February of his third year with the Falconers. It wasn't in person, but it was enough for Jack to have a flash of he's cute that was harder to shove back down than it should have been, especially since the photo Tater texted him was kind of hilarious.

Tater was at the Beanpot tournament with Thirdy and some pals from the Bruins and kept texting Jack updates and photos of the game.

Jack could have asked him to stop, but that would involve explaining why thinking about college hockey inevitably set him off balance and got him lost in a world of what ifs.

But then a photo came through that triggered three reactions in swift succession:

What the hell?

Ha ha, that's pretty funny.

Huh. He's cute.

The picture was of two people. One was a Samwell player, flushed and grinning even though his team had just lost the championship round to Boston College in overtime. The other was Zdeno Chara.

The Samwell player barely came up to Chara's shoulder even though he was on skates and Chara wasn't. According to Tater, the player (#15, Eric Bittle, Junior) was only five foot six to Chara's six foot nine and was 'quick like bunny!'

Jack tried to focus on what kind of speed a player like that would have to have play Division I hockey and not end as a smear against the boards, but he kept getting drawn to the sunny smile and the dark eyes that were unusually striking paired with honey blond hair.

Cute. And he kind of looked like Kenny.

But Kenny had never smiled like that.

An ex-girlfriend used to send him borderline explicit selfies when he was on the road. Those pictures had made him smile, but Jack had never found himself staring at them like this.

Jack put the phone down and forced himself to count breaths until he stopped shaking.

Once he could trust himself, he responded to Tater with a haha.

Then he deleted the photo and the entire text thread along with it.

* * *

The second time Jack saw Eric Bittle was a little over half a year later, right in the middle of training camp. Like before, it was a photograph. This time, though, it came via his news feed.

Samwell University Selects First Openly Gay NCAA Division I Team Captain

The photo was obviously a headshot from the team's site, but the brilliant smile and warm brown eyes were as lively as if it had been a candid shot.

Jack didn't get to the article itself for ten minutes.

When he did, it wasn't what he was expecting. It was as bland and banal and calculated as any item that came from a team's PR shop. Generic sounding quotes, no sign of anything resembling a controversial opinion (other than the fact that a gay player merely existing was controversial in and of itself), no personality, no depth.

There were only two startling revelations in the article, neither of which was more than a mention with no further explanation.

One was that Bittle came from Georgia. That was definitely unusual, and Jack wondered how someone who was not only short and gay but Southern ever managed to get into hockey in the first place.

The other was that Bittle's team knew he was gay before they had voted him captain and had voted him in unanimously - which was the only time that had ever happened in the history of the team.

Jack figured the article was only the opening salvo. There would be follow-up interviews, no doubt. You Can Play would be all over it, and so would Sports Illustrated and ESPN.

All that happened though, as training camp ended and pre-season began, was that several opinion pieces came out and Jack added more names to his list of which reporters could and could not be trusted.

(The one article that went viral did so for the wrong reasons: it was a passionate, pompous, and self-important screed about gay rights in international sports that might have had more impact and less unintentional hilarity if the author had not been operating under the assumption that Bittle was from Georgia-the-country and not Georgia-the-state.)

Also, Kent texted Jack.

did u see the news?

Jack didn't reply and didn't read the other texts that followed. But he did tell George he needed to talk with her. Alone.

"I'm still not planning on coming out," he informed her right out of the gate.

"This is about the Samwell thing, isn't it?"

He nodded. He wished she hadn't put it quite that way. If NCAA hockey had been an option for him, Samwell would have been his top choice.

In retrospect, going to the Q had been a mistake in more ways than one. Thank God the Falconers had been willing to take a chance on him after rehab.

"Jack, I'm glad you trusted me all those years ago, but it honestly doesn't matter to me one way or the other if you come out now, or later, or never."

"I just..." He kept his eyes focused on the corner of her desk. "There are" - he circled his hand - "rumors."

Rumors. Gossip. A few photos he wished he could wipe from existence. Fanfic.

"You know I don't care about that, Jack."

He nodded, eyes still cut down and away. By never denying the rumors about him and Kent, he'd confirmed them for her, and he didn't know what to do about that. At least she was willing to maintain the polite fiction that she had no idea who Jack had dated back in the Q.

"Just... If You Can Play comes around and wants me to do another clip..." He blinked away the stinging in his eyes and why was this rattling him so much? "I don't feel like I can say no."

But what would he say if he said 'yes?' He couldn't offer other queer athletes any kind of advice that wasn't about hockey. But just existing would say so much in and of itself...

"I'm not ready but I should be ready, shouldn't I? Especially now."

"Jack. There's no should about it."

"But somehow this kid can be brave enough to come out, while I - "

George held up a hand to cut him off. She shook her head sadly. "I don't think he had a choice. This," she said, pointing to a copy of the article on her monitor, "is a pre-emptive strike. From what Martin Hall tells me, Bittle was out to his classmates and before he was on anyone's radar as a top prospect. And apparently, his online presence wasn't at all discreet and he has a sizable following. Hall said Bittle decided it was better to get the story out on his own terms before someone put two and two together and made a call to Deadspin or worse."

Jack understood. It would only take one picture from 2009, one recollection from a team-mate, to get the story out of his hands or Kent's. He should think about getting ahead of things, but...

... he wasn't ready. He wasn't sure he ever would be.

* * *

The only reason Jack didn't see Bittle again until March was because he had his own hockey to focus on. Then finally, the annual nightmare of the trade deadline finally passed and speculation started churning about what might happen after the playoffs.

Free agent frenzy technically didn't start until July, but there was a lot of early buzz about the young men who would be coming out of the NCAA and where in the NHL they might go.

One of these young men was Eric Bittle. There was more talk about whether Bittle was too small for the NHL than whether he was too gay for the NHL, but Jack still avoided watching the video clips Tater kept trying to show him.

(He couldn't explain why he avoided watching them any more than he could explain why he only sometimes responded to Kent's texts, but he suspected it came from the same dark place in his mind.)

And then Samwell made it to the Frozen Four. Jack didn't watch, but he felt a thrill of vindication when he heard that the Wellies (and Bittle) won.

Maybe Bittle would sign with an NHL team or maybe he wouldn't, but the short, gay, Southern kid had scored the game-winning goal in the NCAA championships, and it felt like something in the world had shifted and wasn't going to shift back.

Jack was still mulling it over when he arrived at the practice facility that morning, and George had to shout at him twice to get his attention.

"Jack, can you come in here a moment?"

The request brought the usual spike of anxiety even though he knew nothing awful was likely to happen. He followed George into her office.

"I thought you would want to hear this from me before you heard it from anyone else."

Jack's breath froze halfway up his throat. He had no idea what his face must have looked like, but George patted the air in front of her as if the soothing motion would reach him. "It's okay, it's okay, it's nothing bad, but I didn't want you caught unprepared. Did you watch the NCAA finals yesterday?"

Jack shook his head. George didn't seem surprised, and he wondered what she'd put together about him when he started looking into online degrees.

"I want you to take a look at this." She turned her monitor so he could see it. A video clip played. In it, a small player with the number 15 on his back zipped between opposing players like a destroyer through a fleet of battleships.

The third time Jack saw Eric Bittle was the first time he actually saw him play hockey.

"Play it again," he rasped once the clip was done. This time, he watched while knowing what to watch for. The way Bittle read the ice. The way he sent the puck unerringly not to where his liney was but to where his liney would be. The way he was obviously reluctant to take a hit, but had turned that avoidance into a weapon, with one feint in particular sending one Denver player crashing into the boards and his teammate plowing into him a half-second later.

The soft hands. Eyes that were as full of determination as they were of fear.

"He might need a year in the AHL first - trust me, you'll plotz when you hear how much hockey he didn't play before college - but can you imagine having that on your line?"

He could. Very much so. "And you're telling me first because..."

She sighed. "Because you're my friend as much as you are one of my players, and I keep thinking about that first conversation we had about Bittle, and about what it would mean to come out. When or if you decide to be out is one hundred percent up to you. I know you're out to a few people on the team, but I wanted to make damned sure you know that if we sign Bittle, it does not mean I'm expecting anything from you except to play damned good hockey and live the best life you know how to live. Got it?"

Jack nodded, swallowing hard and blinking the brightness from his eyes.

"Good. And if we sign Bittle and that brings any attention back to you that you don't want, we'll deal with it, okay?"

"Okay." His attention went back to the monitor, which was frozen on the moment when Bittle was hoisted into the air by two D-men who were each half again as big as he was. His expression was caught somewhere between joy, indignation, surprise, and... sadness?

He looked more closely. There were lots of other people on the ice. Parents, siblings. The goalie was openly sobbing on an older woman's shoulder. One of the two D-men holding Bittle had a woman in a hijab smiling up at him. The other had a gaggle of redheads crowding in around him.

It took him a moment, but he finally registered what he wasn't seeing. He thought about the 'pre-emptive strike' article, and how there had been so little press and no interviews or profile pieces that he could recall.

Jack may have had any number of issues with his own parents over the years, but they had always, always, always been there for him.

And in many ways, they had been there for Kent as well, even during the dark times when he and Kent hadn't been talking at all.

"George?"

"Hm?"

"There's something I want to do, when you go meet with Bittle."

* * *

The first time Jack actually met Eric Bittle was at Samwell.

Maman and Papa would meet him at dinner, after Jack and George had finished talking business. Meanwhile, they were taking a nostalgia tour of campus.

"We're meeting Bittle at the hockey team's house," George explained. "I'm also hoping to talk to a couple of his teammates." She must have studied a map before they arrived because she set off like she knew exactly where she was going.

They crossed a quad that was bordered on one side by a pond. Jack wondered if it ever froze over hard enough to skate on. Knots of students were scattered on the grass, some studying, some napping. A lively pickup game of soccer ended abruptly when someone kicked the ball into the pond.

Jack could imagine himself in a place like this, but the imagining didn't hurt as much he expected.

Maybe it was because he had figured out somewhere along the line that not being able to play college hockey didn't mean he couldn't go to college one day.

Or maybe it was because something about this place, even though he had never been here before, felt like home.

George turned right just past the quad, but Jack missed it because he was watching the soccer players trying to retrieve their ball without getting in the pond.

And, of course, he plowed right into someone.

"Oh, I'm so sorry! Are you okay?"

A slender (but still solid - Jack felt like he'd been checked) young man had landed on his ass. He had a phone in one hand, and a miraculously unspilled latte in the other.

The man tucked his phone into the back of some (very short) red shorts and reached out to take the hand Jack offered.

"I'm sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going - I've got this meeting I've got to get to and then I got a text so I thought..."

The honey-smooth drawl trailed off as the young man looked up to see who had knocked him over.

"Jack Zimmermann??"

Jack could feel the flush rise to his cheeks and was glad he couldn't see how red he must have been turning.

"Haha. Yeah. And you're Eric Bittle, eh?"

He was even cuter in person.

"Um..." Bittle seemed reluctant to let go of his hand. Jack could sympathize.

"Hello, Eric. I'm Georgia Martin - it's nice to finally meet you in person." George must have realized that Jack wasn't right behind her. "I hope you don't mind I brought company along. Did you still want to meet back at your house?"

"Oh! Yes!" Bittle reclaimed his hand, and headed off the same direction George had been going. "I made a pie for you - there should be enough for us all, even if Chowder - that's our goalie - comes home early."

George nodded in approval. If Chowder was Chris Chow, Jack knew she was hoping to speak with him, too.

"Pie, huh?" Jack asked.

Bittle nodded emphatically. "Yes, sir! I hope y'all like pecan pie," he said, pronouncing 'pecan' completely incorrectly.

Jack couldn't help teasing. "Bittle. You need to eat more protein if you're going to be in the NHL."

Bittle gasped in exaggerated shock. "You did not just say that to my face!"

"I said it to all of you," Jack deadpanned. "Not that there's a lot to say it to, eh?"

Bittle's eyes narrowed, but the corner of his mouth twitched. "Why do I get the idea that you're going to be a whole lot of trouble, Mr. Zimmermann?"

"If you want trouble, wait until you meet my parents. They're joining us for dinner tonight."

It wasn't often that he started this kind of back-and-forth with someone so quickly. But something about it didn't feel quick.

It felt like a long, slow burning fuse that was first lit back when Tater sent that ridiculous picture had finally reached its end.

Meanwhile, Bittle started rambling on about how he really should make a second pie if he was going to meet someone's parents.

Jack fought back a smile. Tater was going to be so pissed he wasn't invited along.

"Sorry I'm babbling on like this, but this is one of the most exciting things that has ever happened to me!"

"I know what you mean, um, I mean, I remember what it was like when George came and talked to me."

George was a few feet ahead of them, but he could hear her roll her eyes.

"I don't know if you ever heard the story of how I joined the Falconers, but... well, I was in a rough spot. And I knew I would be safe with them. That I would feel safe with them."

"I'd love to hear that story sometime," Bittle said gently, reaching out to touch Jack's arm, then jerking his hand away quickly.

"I'd love to tell it to you." He didn't quite reach out to Bittle, but it was easy enough to let the back of his hand knock against Bittle's as they walked along.

It would have been nice to do more, to promise more, or just say more, but he wasn't ready for that.

"I wasn't expecting to meet you today, but I'm sure glad I did." Bittle smiled let his hand brush tentatively against Jack's in return.

Some other time, Jack might have said out loud what he was thinking, that it felt like he knew Bittle, like he knew this place, knew what it was like to walk side by side with him. Like part of him already knew what it was like not to walk hand in hand, but half embracing as they walked back to Bittle's house.

No, he wasn't ready for anything like that, not yet, but for the first time it was easy to imagine a time when he would be.