#the last hc gave me a fic idea...fuck gonna go start writing plans

[omegawolverine]

gimmie those headcanons -Batz 🖤💜

hiiiii gamers <3 here's ur headcanons (sorry for lateness waaa):

-because of his dad working in fashion he's a wee bit too into fashion himself. he will dress lazy asf on the regular, but it still works, nothing ever clashes. on top of that, he will be the first to tell someone when something their wearing doesnt match, even tho he wont tell them to change bc, at the end of the day, if they wanna look a mess, that's their business. watches a lot of fashion shows, but nobody really knows why. he's gotten the whole bakusquad more or less invested in fashion tho, even if they dont actually understand shit about it.

-has more or less perfect skin thanks to his quirk, kaminari is perpetually mad about this

-kpop girl group stannie. is big on charts and streaming, will reply to text messages with nothing but a fancam if he's in a silly goofy mood

-sweets make him feel physically nauseous a lot of the time but he will never pass down a homemade oatmeal raisin cookie <3

-has trouble swallowing medication so he has to take his pillies with unsweetened (or watered down) apple juice

-demiromantic gay transman, uses he/him exclusively

-go autistic adhder go

-has a very specific routine he has to follow every day and he gets super pissed when the routine is interrupted. will refuse to hangout with people if they dont ask him at least a handful of hours ahead of time.

-has a lot of vocal stims, including (but not limited to): fuck, die, just straight up screaming, owa owa (kaminari's fault), boobas (mina's fault), humming songs, wawawa (can be just a few times or alotta times), shit and basically any colorful variation of a cuss

-more stims babeyyy: hitting things (himself, the floor, etc), shaking his head back and forth, shoulder shrugging, cracking knuckles, small kicks in the air, jumping up and down, chewing on basically anything, teeth clacking (?), clicking anything that's make a click sound, pacing, circling rooms (ig thats also pacing but also Not), etc

-likes cooking bc most people leave him alone and he get's to just relax while moving around, doing his own lil thing

-hoh because explosions, has hearing aids but he's 99% sure most people havent noticed

-professional procrastinator but he gets good grades and meets all his deadlines so nobody knows (plus he has a system to do things as soon as he gets them now which is way more effective)

-sucker for a good romance but wont admit it (all his friends know)

-also a sucker for a good drama, will get way too invested and sit in the common room shouting at pretty little liars on the regular

-likes collecting little things from days out, has little containers for stuff like rocks, things he buys on those days, etc. and a bulletin board over his desk for pictures (it used to be pretty empty, only a picture of the class and a few scenery pictures he took while hiking, but it started to fill up after kamino ward. lots of pictures of bakusquad, a few of him and ochako training, a couple pictures of his classmates napping in the common room and more pictures of kirishima than he'd like to admit)

-cries a lot, sometimes without noticing, a lot of the time when he's pissed off

-touch starved, but also has sensory issues related to touch and gets easily overwhelmed by it

-love language is being an asshole to his friend and then doing everything he can to help them. love language is cooking for the whole dorm and then complaining about it. love language is spending more time studying with his "so called squad" than actually getting his own work done (but dont worry, he has planned for this exact issue). love language is letting his friends come to him with their problems and listening even though it makes him feel super uncomfortable because he has no clue how to comfort someone. love language is giving mina hugs because her love language is touch and accepting kirishima's praises even though he doesn't know how to respond without being an ass and taking random gifts from sero even though he doesnt like people buying stuff for him and spending hours with kaminari on the weekends no matter how drained he gets from the social interaction. anyways. he loves his homies.

[darthkruge]

Poe Dameron x Reader ~ Take Mine

Summary || On your first mission as Commander of Blue Squadron, you take Poe’s X-wing. Unfortunately, it doesn’t go as planned. 

Warnings || Some injuries and a bit of blood? I didn’t go super in detail, though

Words || 2.2k

A/N || This is my first time writing for Poe and I’m so scared and I tried to be accurate and if it’s not I apologize but if I spent another minute staring at this draft I will scream. Special thanks to @poestardust and @buckysbeloved because y’all were both super fucking supportive and without that this might not have been posted! I am now officially adding Poe to the people I write for and while my requests for full fics are closed, I am more than willing to do little blurbs/hc’s or hear any and all of y’alls soft/angsty thoughts for that wonderful Flyboy. My status of requests gives more insight into all of this :)

gif credit

You groaned, shaking your head as you racked your brain for a way to get out of this. Your X-wing was supposed to be fixed a week ago, a solid few days before your mission was set to start. But, alas, Red Squadron had a bit of a rough mission coming off Hoth and needed repairs more rapidly than you, so your starfighter was put on the low priority list. 

Normally, this wouldn’t be a problem. You could be patient. Normally. But you had just been promoted to Commander of Blue Squadron and your first mission left in two standard hours. 

You walked through the door of your room, trying to find a solution but continuing to come up empty. 

“Sweetheart?” Your head perked up at Poe’s voice, the concern clear in his words. 

“What happened, why aren’t you with the rest of the Squadron getting ready?” 

“My starfighter isn’t ready.” You said, trying to make sense of the words as they came out.

Poe blinked. “Still?” 

“Yeah, the other repairs are taking longer than usual and it’s not ready and it won’t be ready and I have to lead my team on a supply drop and try to not get everyone killed and I don’t even have my kriffing X-wing!” Your voice shook, the lack of control making you anxious as you paced back and forth through your quarters. 

Poe’s hands found their way to your shoulders, steadying you. “Look at me, okay? Breathe for a second,” Poe gave you a slight smile as you nodded, closing your eyes as you took a deep breath. “Yeah, just like that. It’s gonna be just fine, we’ll figure it out!” 

Now, the panic creeped back into your expression. “How?!” 

Poe thought for a second, mentally grasping at straws before his eyes widened in realization. “Take mine!”

“What?!”

“Take my X-wing! It’s all ready to go and Black Squadron isn’t set to go on our next mission for another two weeks! You’ll be back well before then, it’ll work out just fine!” 

“But- I can’t just take your X-wing, Poe!”

“Yes you can! Come on, I don’t really see what other options you have! Just take it, please? It’ll bring you good luck.” 

You sighed, realizing he was right. “Okay, okay, fine!”

Poe smiled, leaning in to peck you on the lips. “Now, go! You don’t want to be late, do you, Commander?” 

“Oh, no, definitely not, Commander! That would set a horrible example for my team!” You quipped back before leaning in once more. “I love you.” You whispered. 

“I love you too.” He smiled back. “Seriously!” He said with a laugh, “Go!” 

“Going!” You called over your shoulder as you ran to the hanger. 

A week and two days later, that conversation was the only thing on your mind. You were desperately steering your- no, Poe’s- X-wing away from the fleet of First Order ships flying straight for your Squadron. Somehow, they’d learned of your plans for the supply drop and decided to swing by. How thoughtful of them. 

“Okay, everyone. Just hang tight, shoot if you’ve got a clear shot but no one’s trying to be a hero, alright? First priority is getting home safe.” You said through the open channel.

 You smiled as you heard your team voice their approval, ending their messages with a “Commander” here and there. Right now, all you were doing was hoping you were deserving enough of that title to get everyone back in one piece. 

Looking to make sure everyone was in line, you felt your heart drop as you counted the starfighters. Everyone was there, minus one. Where was Snap? Craning your neck, you swore as you saw him caught on the right side, boxed in by two First Order TIE fighters. 

You quickly opened a private communication channel. “Tallie?”

“Yes, Commander L/N?”

“Make sure everyone stays ahead of the TIE fighters, okay? Keep moving forward.”

“Y/N what are you talking about?”

You sighed, consciously working to keep your voice even and calm. “Snap’s stuck and I’m not leaving him. I’ll be fine, just a little bit behind you. Just… get them home.” 

“But-”

“Please.” 

You felt guilty for being short with her, but you had to do it. If you didn’t, she’d know how kriffing terrified you were. 

After waiting a moment, she sighed. “Okay. Be safe, Commander.”

“Same to you.” You replied, shutting off the channel. You forced the tears back in your eyes and refused to let your thoughts dwell any more on your Squadron or that beautiful, dark haired pilot you knew was waiting for you. 

You turned Poe’s X-wing and sent a prayer to the Maker as you made a bee-line for one of the two TIE fighters and fired, shooting one directly. You laughed, almost giddy at how spot-on the hit was. 

“Commander?” Snap’s voice filtered through the communication system. 

“Hang on, I’ve almost got it.” You bit your lip in concentration as you aimed for the second fighter. But right as you pressed fire, so did they. Your eyes widened as you quickly swerved. Luckily, the blast didn’t hit the front of the starfighter, or else you’d be good as dead right now. Unluckily, you gasped in horror as your ship began plummeting, realizing they had hit your engine. 

You turned your head back, praying that this wasn’t in vain. You let out a breath, realizing Snap was now free and the other TIE was demolished, thanks to your aim. If you’re going to go down, at least you brought two First Order fighters with you. 

As your X-wing came closer and closer to the ground, you screwed your eyes shut. Against your will, you remembered that at least your last conversation with him had been a good one. Your heart broke, realizing he’d probably find a way to blame himself for this, forever. That you’d never get married, never have the chance to settle down after the war ends. That you’d never again feel his lips against yours, never again experience the warmth of his arms or the comfort of his embrace. How could life work like this, how could it simply-

Your thoughts were cut off as your starfighter crashed to the ground, leaving you in darkness. 

-------

“What do you mean, their starfighter went down?!”

Leia sighed, subtly but firmly gesturing for everyone else to clear the briefing room. “Blue Squadron’s supply run didn’t go as planned. There were first order TIE fighters waiting for them. I’m not sure of the specifics, just that Commander L/N’s X-wing’s communication systems went out. Snap said Y/N went down saving him and when he rushed back to their crashed X-wing, they were breathing, but unconscious and bleeding.” 

Her eyes softened as she saw Poe’s heartbroken expression. “I’m sorry, Poe. I know you must be feeling helpless right now. But there is no reason to assume the worst, at least not yet.”

Poe swallowed hard, the tears making his throat heavy. “I’m-” His voice broke, the pain evident. “I’m gonna go wait at the hangar bay. They’ll make it home.” 

Leia just nodded, not having the heart to tell him to try to prepare himself for the worst. 

-------

When you woke up, you were in Snap’s X-wing, leaning against the wall in the small space. You groaned when you moved your hand to your head. Yup, you were definitely bleeding. 

“Where are we?” You croaked out. 

Snap’s head shot over to you. “Oh thank the Maker, you’re awake! We’re almost back at the base. Just sit still, okay?”

You nodded, already feeling a bit groggy.

“Y/N?!” 

You gave an annoyed hum in response.

“Come on, Y/N, don’t fall asleep. Hold on a little longer.” 

You nodded, fighting against every instinct you had to stay conscious. 

“Kriff, okay. Talk to me, okay?”

“About what?” Your mouth felt like sandpaper and your head was heavy. Even as you leaned it against the wall, you felt dizzy, like you’d tip over at any second. 

“Dameron. Tell me about Dameron, okay?”

Your lips unconsciously curled into a soft smile. And then your eyes shot open as you tried to physically shake the dizziness from your body. “The X-wing!”

“What?!”

“My, no, his X-wing! Poe’s, his- he’s gonna be so upset, kriff!” 

“What are you going on about?”

“Poe, he let me use his X-wing and it kriffing crashed and-” You trailed off, running a hand through your hair and wincing as the movement aggravated your injured head. 

“Y/N, calm down, okay? He’ll be fine, he’s not gonna care.”

You nodded, eyes filling with guilty tears as Snap finally pulled up to the Resistance Base. Home. As the X-wing opened, Snap helped haul you up as Poe sprinted over to you. 

“Y/N!” He called, hands coming to hold either side of your face. He quickly put one of your arms around his shoulders as his wound around your waist, holding your weight against him.

“I’m sorry, I’m so-” You hiccupped, tears leaking from your eyes. 

“Hey, it’s okay, it’s alright. Let’s just get you back to our room, yeah?” 

You shook your head, placing a hand on his chest to stop him. He looked into your eyes and his concern compounded, no idea why you were so distraught. 

“I crashed your X-wing.” You said, head hung in shame. 

Poe was now just as confused as he was concerned. “I… I know, sweetheart. But you’re safe now, I’ve got you. Just a little more walking and then I can clean you up.” 

“No! I, you don’t understand! Poe, it’s not just scratched up, it’s ruined. We had to leave it, it’s gone and it’s my fault and I’m so, so sorry.”

He just shook his head, still shocked that you thought he was upset about that. “Y/N, I know. But I’m not worried about that, I’m worried about you. Now would you please let me get you back to our room?” 

You nodded but he didn’t miss how the guilt refused to leave your gaze. When you finally got inside, he led you over to the bed and got you to sit down. 

“I’m fine, seriously.” 

Poe quirked his eyebrow. “You’re bleeding from the head.” 

He walked quickly into the refresher, coming back with the medkit you’ve used on him millions of times before. As he worked on disinfecting the cut on your head, you bunched your fingers in the bedsheets, distracting yourself from the pain of the gash. Noticing, he muttered a quick apology, taking a break to stroke his thumb across your cheekbone. Finally, he finished stitching the cut and gently placed a bandage over the area, smoothing out the edges. 

When he looked up, he saw you lost in your own mind. “Come on, baby, talk to me.” 

“You just… you loved that ship and you trusted me with it and you’d had it for so long and I can’t believe I wrecked it.” 

Poe sighed, wishing there was something he could do to convince you that everything was alright. 

“Sweetheart, it’s a kriffing X-wing. Why are you so worked up about it?” His voice was soft and free of judgment. 

“I just feel like I let you down.” 

“Hey,” He said, taking your hands in his. “You did nothing of the sort. I promise, I’m not upset, okay? I’m just glad you made it home to me.” 

You looked up at him. “I’ll always come home to you.” 

You scooted over and gestured to the bed, a silent invitation. Poe smiled at you and took a second to take off his boots and jacket before climbing in beside you. He wrapped his arm around your shoulders, careful not to hit your head while doing so. You leaned into him, your face resting comfortably in the crook of his neck as you breathed in his scent. He pulled back for a second, just to grab the covers and move them so they were all around you and up to your chin, just as you liked. 

Under the blankets, you moved your hand so it was resting on his heart. You liked doing so, feeling the steady beating of it after a long mission. Poe was used to it by now and simply placed one of his hands atop yours, his thumb rubbing up and down. 

“And you know it’s not your fault, right?” He said, breaking the silence 

“Poe, I was literally the one that crashed it.” You reasoned, lifting your head up to look at him. 

“They shot you down as you took out two TIE fighters! No one could have gotten out of that.” 

“But you had so many memories attached to that X-wing-”

“-And we’ll make new ones.” He finished. 

You sighed and nodded, a slow smile creeping onto your face that let Poe know that you at least somewhat believed his words. Inwardly, he cheered, quite proud of himself for getting through to you. Outwardly, he just tucked you further into his embrace and relished in the feeling of you safe, home, and in his arms.

----

tagging people on my permanent taglist + peoples who wanted a tag/might be interested? if i wrongly guessed you’d be interested please feel free to ignore sfklsj!!

@saltybreaddream @buckysbeloved @lolquarth @sodaoverstars @artiza-n @poestardust @beskar-tano @starwarsflowers @sunsetkenobi @90steaology @marvelinsanity @dracowars @collywobbl @dameronology​ @marvel-ousnesss​

also: i added poe to my taglist and if you would like to be added to those tags, the link to join my taglist is in my pinned! if you’ve already joined my taglist, you can just fill it out again in full or just check poe’s name and either way i’ll know because the last question on the form lets me know if you’re new to the taglist or simply editing your previous answer :)

also i sent this fic to the queue because i have never been more scared to post something

[readyreddie]

Rebel Without a Cause

Here is a fic I wrote to go with my Rebel! Eddie HC. I plan on writing more one shots like this and put them in a collection on here and AO3. Also I am trying to get back into writing and if you have any pointers feel free to message me.

Disclaimer I do not own these characters or the story of It

Eddie paced around the room back and forth, going between states of pure rage and utter despair. After the fight with Pennywise he had told the Losers that his mom had been lying to him his whole life. That his medication were all gazebos (Ben tried to tell him they were called placebos but he was too mad to listen) and that he had never actually been a sickly kid.

“I-I-I JUST CANT BELIEVE SHE WOULD LIE LIKE THAT TO ME!” Eddie screamed in a fit of rage turning toward Beverly and Richie, then went back to pacing. They had gone back to Richie’s house because they knew his parents wouldn’t bother them and Bev wasn’t quite ready to go back to her empty home. “Like, she’s, she’s, my mom ya know.” He turned back towards Richie and Bev, tears starting to roll down his face, clinging tightly together in thick quiet streams. “She is supposed t-t-to love me. To help me gro-grow,” He choked back a sob trying to at least get the words out from the open vent that his mind had turned into. “and help me learn, not lie to me.” At the last word he managed before he fell to his knees, hitting the carpeted ground so hard that Richie was sure he would bruise.

“Eds, come on it’s okay, it’s okay, we’re here for you.” Richie ran over to Eddie and took him in his arms, slowly stroking the back of his head trying to find a way to soothe the pain out of him.

“D-DON’T FUCKING CALL ME T-THAT!” Eddie choked out in between sobs, tears now rolling off his face and onto Richie’s annoyingly bright shirt.

“Eddie.” Bev said in a soft tone, trying to get Eddie to come out of his blinding sadness, and into a more emotionally stable sad. “Eddie, look at me.”

“W-What?” Eddie asked his voice coming back to a normal level but his eyes still acting like a broken dam.

“How about instead of crying we do something that she would hate? Not like a permanent thing but just something to rebel a little?” Beverly knew that doing something stupid always helped her feel a little better and thought it might help in this situation. Based off of Eddie’s head perking up and the river of tears turning into more of a stream of tears it was working.

“Like what?” Eddie’s asked. Voice still sad, but the sobbing has stopped which was a good thing.

“Well, Eddie Spaghetti, you could smoke with us?” Richie smiled at the boy, thinking his suggestion was a good one but Eddie just continued to frown at him.

“How about we start smaller, dumbass? Less lung damage and more change.” Bev already had an idea in mind, and it wasn’t to cause Eddie to have an anxiety attack about smoking. She knew that the sicknesses his mom had told him were fake but those attacks that fucked his breathing were real enough.

“Yea, I don’t think I would do well smoking.” Eddie gave a slight smile, not a big one, and he hadn’t stopped crying, but he had a small smile and that gave Richie hope.

“Well how about we dye your hair?” Bev thought that with Eddie’s openness to his more feminine side that this would be a good place for him to start rebelling. Plus she knew of Richie’s huge crush on Eddie and thought that this would drive him insane and that she could tease him about it.

“Dye my hair?”

“YEA THAT WOULD BE AWESOME!” Richie’s very minimal filter had slipped, just for a second, but long enough that his crush was showing. And his sudden outburst had caused Eddie to gape at him in confusion. “I-I mean, that so, so, so…”

“It would be awesome, we could dye it whatever color you wanted, and if you don’t wanna dye the whole thing we could just do a strip.” Bev smiled at Richie who was turning a whole new shade of red under his coke bottle glasses. “How about it?”

“I’ve always kinda wanted to have lighter hair, not like bleached, but like dirty blond, maybe? Or, maybe red hair?” Eddie was talking like his normal self again, eyes still puffy and red, nose still running, but his tears had stopped and his tone was normal. He was still in Richie’s arms though and neither would dare to move.

“You would look so cute as a red head Eds. Like a male Molly Ringwald.” Richie smiled at him and squeezed him into a tight hug.

“Ri…chie…ease…up….can’t...breathe.”

“Oh, sorry Eds.” Richie eased the tension in his arms but did not fully let go, not missing Eddie letting the name slip, or telling him to get off.

“Red, got it. I can do that. I have dyed my own hair a few times and like to think I am pretty good at it. I will go buy the dye. I will be back in 20 minutes tops you guys stay right the fuck here. Don’t. Move.” Bev commanded before running out the room to grab her bike and the dye as fast as possible.

Move they did not. In fact, they laid there, Richie holding Eddie, for so long that Eddie was surprised their muscles didn’t atrophy. Eddie began to sink further into Richie’s chest his head feeling heavy from the tears. His eyes were closed and his breathing was steady but Richie couldn’t tell if he was asleep or not. It didn’t really matter either way, but as Richie sat there staring at Eddie he couldn’t help but fall deeper and deeper into the well of love that had been building their whole childhood. Eddie shifted around against Richie nuzzling against Richie with his face, mumbling something under his breath.

“What was that Ed’s?”

“I said, I love you Bitchy.” Richie blinked as his eyes widened.

“Dontcha mean Richie, Eds?” Eddie shifted again this time looking up and planting a kiss on Richie’s cheek.

“Nope.” He smiled then went back to having his head against Richie’s chest. They laid there for a while, eventually moving to the bed where they could be more comfortable, never did they once leave each other’s side though.

When Beverly returned she opened the door to find both boys laying in the bed, their limbs all tangled and Eddie’s head resting on Richie’s chest as it would rise and fall. Both were asleep and they looked so at peace that Bev didn’t want to wake them, but she had spent 20 dollars on two things of this shitty dye and they were going to fucking use it.

“Sorry love birds, but I need ya to get up so we can turn this small sad brunette boy into a small sad red head boy.” Beverly smiled, as she walked over and shook them awake. Richie’s eyes shot open and he glared at Bev giving her the finger for ruining the moment.

“Okay, Bev I am getting up.” Eddie rubbed his eyes which were still red, and probably would be for another hour after all that crying. “How do we do this?”

“You will do nothing, my darling boy. Mama Bev will handle it all for you.” She leaned down to plant a kiss on his cheek and took him by the hand. She dragged him towards the bathroom where they spent the next 45 minutes. Eddie sitting on the toilet seat complaining about all the germs while Bev put the dye in his hair and waited to wash it out.

“Okay times up, Richie take the child’s head and put it under the sink.”

“Yes Madam.” Richie took Eddie by the hand and led him to the sink to wash the dye out.

“Now Eddie, your hair is pretty dark so we probably have to do this twice but lucky for us I love you and bought two box dyes for just this purpose.” Eddie lifted his head from the sink and looked at Bev. His hair still wet and matted from washing the dye out of it.

“Thanks Bev.” Eddie gave her a grin from ear to ear which meant the dye therapy was proving to be effective. “I’m just gonna dry off then we can decide what to do.”

“I can promise you’ll look fucking adorable no matter what color your hair is Eds”

“Don’t call me that Trashmouth.”  Eddie pleaded, but couldn’t turn away fast enough to hide his blush. He grabbed a towel off the rack and ruffled his hair.

“Here let me Spaghetti.” Richie took the towel from him and started rubbing it back and forth on his head.

“Uhhh thanks…” When Richie was done drying off Eddie’s hair for him he couldn’t help but admire the dark red color that was now Eddie’s hair.

“Oh wow! Your hair looks great, Eds!” If Richie hadn’t been in love with Eddie before he certainly was now. The boy’s dark brown hair had turned into a deep shade of auburn red. The hair fell on his face in all the right ways and the red played against his sun kissed skin like tree leaves in autumn breaking up the sunlight.

“Really?!? You think so?” He turned to the mirror styling it back and forth then looked back at Richie and Bev.

“Yea, you look totally adorable. I’m sure that hair will make someone fall for our little Eddie.” Bev smiled at the smaller boy and gave him a hug. Then turned to Richie and gave him a very sly smile of all knowing. “Well I am actually gonna go to Bill’s and…hang out. See ya boys.” She gave them both a kiss on the cheek then turned and walked out the room.

“Well what do you want to do Richie?”

“We could just lay down and watch Tv, I don’t think my parents are coming home till late.” Richie gave a sad smile before taking Eddie’s hand and leading them downstairs. He wanted to tell Eddie how cute he looked with his hair, he wanted to tell him how much he wanted to kiss him, and hold him, but for now he would take the unquestioning cuddling and tell him later.

[everywon-woo]

SOMETIMES PLANES CRASH - chapter 1

He wasn’t stupid, he knew there would be a lot of negative reactions. But he would get to take Bitty on a real date. He would be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand- hell, maybe even kiss his boyfriend- in public. He couldn’t deny he wanted that. Fuck, he wanted that so bad, and now he would get it. 

Warnings: I probably swore a few times bc I’m me, outing without consent, violence during hockey games, homophobia, some slurs

A/N: This fic was inspired by this post but I ended up writing a whole fic about the coming out part. The HC from the original post will be in the last chapter (chapter 2 or 3, idk if i’m gonna split those up yet). Anyway, this is my first Check, Please! fic so I hope it’s not too bad. Feedback is always appreciated!

Chapter 1

He did it.

When the Falcs had given Jack the A, a lot of reporters had doubted the decision. After all, he was a rookie with a turbulent past. He thought that all the fuss about his overdose had been over, but he couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as his captaincy was announced, the same old discussions had started all over again. Could Jack handle this responsibility? Would he fall back into old habits? Was he really worth it?

But Jack wasn’t a scared teenager anymore. Sure, his anxiety was still present as always, but he had it under control. He knew he could handle the responsibility. He knew he was worth it. And tonight, in his first game with the A on his jersey, he proved it by scoring his first NHL hat trick. When he scored his third goal, which gave the Falcs a 4-3 lead, two seconds before the end of the third period, the arena went crazy and they didn’t stop chanting his name for minutes after the final whistle. On the big screen, Jack saw Bad Bob Zimmermann chanting just as loudly as the rest of the fans.

However, in that moment, right after the final whistle, Jack did not give a single fuck about his achievements or his dad. All his attention was focused on the boy next to Bob. Bitty was wearing a Zimmerman jersey and smiling one of those smiles that could make Jack melt on the spot.

He snapped out of his gaze when he felt a hand on his shoulder and Tater whispered in his ear: “I’m understand Zimmboni loves his boyfriend, but maybe eyefucking him on ice is not good idea.”

Jack quickly tore his eyes away from the stands and blushed.

When he looked back a few moments later, Bitty was gone. Probably on his way to the locker room. Jack gave himself a mental pat on the back for inviting Bitty as his guest so he could come see him after the game. Although, admittedly, when he arranged it, he was thinking of having him there as support if he fucked up, he had very different plans now. Maybe they could find an empty storage room somewhere.

 ‘Maybe’ was a bad word, Jack decided when he arrived at the locker room. Bitty in his jersey never failed to leave Jack all hot and bothered, but that, combined with his flushed cheeks from all the excitement and the way he hugged Jack close, but not close enough was plenty to drive Jack crazy. They had to find an empty storage room somewhere.

They didn’t say a word until Jack had Bitty pinned against the door of some kind of conference room.

“Jack,” Bitty breathed. Jack lost it.

He crashed their lips together and didn’t hesitate before slipping his tongue in Bitty’s mouth, which earned him a soft moan.

Jack didn’t care about the fact that he was still wearing his skates, and had to bend down a lot to kiss his tiny boyfriend – “I am average sized!” –  but apparently Bitty did, because he pushed Jack back until the back of his legs hit a chair. Jack got the hint and sat down, and Bittle straddled him before pressing his lips to that spot right below his jaw that made Jack shiver.

“I’m so proud of you, honey,” Bits said against his skin, voice already a bit hoarse.

“Bits,” Jack moaned, but Bitty didn’t stop kissing his neck. He was careful not to leave any marks, but apparently he enjoyed feeling Jack fall apart under his lips.

Jack threw his head back and closed his eyes for a moment, which was why he didn’t notice the door opening. When he opened his eyes, he was faced with one of the reporters and one of the Blackhawks D-men, who were presumably there to do an exclusive interview and were now both staring at him with wide eyes, and a camera.

Bitty noticed that something was wrong and turned to follow Jack’s terrified eyes.

Suddenly, the reporter seemed to realize that he had Jack Zimmermann, NHL star, making out with another man on camera, and his face turned into a wicked grin that made Jack feel more than a little uncomfortable.

“This is going to be the story of the fucking century,” he said, and he turned around to walk away, but not before adding “thanks for the career boost, Zimmermann.”

 By the time the door closed, Jack was shaking and starting to have a hard time breathing.

No, Bitty couldn’t see him like this.

When Bitty moved away and left his lap empty, Jack knew this was it. Bitty had finally realized what a pain in the ass being with Jack was. Bitty didn’t deserve this. He deserved a nice life with a nice, mentally stable man who was not an NHL star.

Still, the thought of Bitty leaving made Jack’s eyes sting.

However, to Jack’s surprise, he didn’t leave. He sank to his knees in front of Jack and took his hands.

“Jack? Jack, please, look at me.”

He couldn’t. He could hear the panic in Bitty’s voice, and he didn’t want to see the evidence of how he had so majorly fucked up this beautiful boy’s life. Bitty kept talking anyway.

“I love you, Jack. And I know you can’t say it right now, but I know you love me too, and we’ll get through this. Maybe the footage is blurry and you can just deny the whole thing and-”

“I don’t want to deny it,” Jack said, to both his and Bitty’s surprise, and with that realization, he started to calm down. He didn’t want to deny it. He didn’t know if the video was live or not, but the footage would be on the internet within a few hours.

In a few hours, he would be out.

He wasn’t stupid, he knew there would be a lot of negative reactions. But he would get to take Bitty on a real date. He would be able to hold his boyfriend’s hand- hell, maybe even kiss his boyfriend- in public. He couldn’t deny he wanted that. Fuck, he wanted that so bad, and now he would get it.

“Jack… why are you smiling?” Bitty asked carefully.

Jack didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled his boyfriend back into his lap and cupped his face with his large hands.

“Eric Richard Bittle,” Bitty visibly held his breath, “will you go on a date with me?”

Bitty froze for a second, and burst out laughing.

“What?” Jack asked, “What did I do?”

“I’m sorry, honey,” Bitty said as he got himself back together, “for a second I thought you were gonna propose.”

Jack’s breath hitched.

“And… I- I mean,” Bitty stuttered, “not that I wouldn’t say yes, because let’s be real, I would definitely say yes, but-”

“What?”

Bitty froze.

“Oh fuck no I’m sorry honey, forget I said that. Hell, just forget this whole conversation. I’d love to go on a date with you.”

“Bits.” Jack said, and Bitty looked at him with his big eyes, full of embarrassment. “Would you really want to marry me?”

He only asked because he suddenly realized how much he wanted to marry Bitty. Okay, maybe not suddenly. He realized it when he came home to the smell of fresh pie. He realized it when he woke up with Bitty curled into his side. He realized it when he looked at his own parents and saw himself and Bitty in them. But he had never allowed himself to seriously think about it, because Bitty deserved better than being his secret. Now, though, he was not Jack’s secret anymore.

Bitty suddenly looked down to his hands shyly.

“Of course I would. I mean, maybe not now, but someday? Yeah.”

Jack’s heart did not know how to handle that. His brain didn’t either. But there were some things he didn’t need his brain for. He lifted Bitty’s chin and placed the gentlest kiss on his lips.

“I love you,” he said, “and someday sounds good.”

Bitty looked up at him in shock. Was the fact that he was it for Jack really a surprise to him? Damn, Jack needed to up his game if this boy still didn’t realize how much Jack loved him.

“But maybe we should go on that date first, eh?” he added.

Bitty smiled.

“Yeah, that’s a good idea.”

They were quiet for a moment, just content with being in each other’s presence, until Bitty sighed.

“Fuck, Jack, this is going to be awful for a while, isn’t it?”

Jack wanted nothing more than to deny that, but he nodded. Then he got an idea.

“Hey Bits, maybe we should go on that date now?”

Bitty looked at him like he had just told him his mom had eight arms.

“What?”

“You know, I’m inevitably getting outed in a few hours. The video wasn’t live because then your phone would be blowing up right now, but that reporter isn’t going to keep this to himself. So we can just as well go out and enjoy ourselves before the shitstorm starts. Before you realize what I dragged you into.”

Jack averted his eyes to the hands in his lap, suddenly aware of the horrible situation he had put Bitty into again.

But Bitty didn’t let him. He cupped Jack’s face and forced him to look into those big, brown eyes.

“I would love to go on a date with you tonight, Mr. Zimmermann. But you need to shower first. And we need to talk to George. We can’t prevent this from happening, but we can at least give her a head start.”

Jack was still getting more and more amazed by Bitty every day. While Jack was thinking about himself, Bitty was already thinking about the team and the solutions to their situation.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’ll go shower. Can you- can you maybe talk to George? She loves you and… you know… you’re better at this talking stuff than I am and-”

“Of course, honey. I’ll talk to George. You go take a shower and come to her office when you’re done.”

“Okay. Okay.” Jack said and then he didn’t know what to say anymore, so he pulled Bitty to his chest. “I love you, so much.”

“I love you too, honey,” Bittle whispered in the crook of Jack’s neck, “we’ll get through this.”

“Yeah. We will.”

 20 minutes later, Jack walked into George’s office after standing in the hall for a few moments to get himself together.

He loved Bitty. He knew Bitty loved him back. He knew they would get through this, but that didn’t make it any easier. George would inevitably be furious at him for not being more careful.

But when he opened the door, he was greeted by a smiling Bitty and George.

“Jack, there you are!” George greeted him. “Sit down!”

Jack nervously made his way over to the chair next to Bitty and sat down.

“I’m sorry,” he started, but George interrupted him.

“No, Jack. You’re not going to apologize. You have nothing to apologize for. This was an accident and if that reporter decides to share this information with the world, he’s a disgusting pig and I will personally make sure he never writes another word again, understood?”

Bitty smiled at him encouragingly to say see, it’s gonna be okay.

“Okay,” Jack said, “but what now?”

“Well, Eric has told me what happened, and he says you don’t want to deny anything?”

Jack nodded.

“Okay, that’s good. I’d rather kick the asses of anyone who dares to say a negative word about you than see you hide someone who obviously makes you very happy.”

Jack and Bitty both blushed and Jack reached for Bitty’s hand. Bitty squeezed his hand and Jack felt himself relax a little bit.

“So,” George continued, “there’s not much you can do right now. I suggest you take your boy out on that date while me and the team prepare for impact.”

Bitty laughed. “You make it sound like we’re on a plane that’s about to crash.”

George smiled, but Jack had done the media smile enough times to know that George was in fact trying very hard to stay calm.

“Yeah. I suggest you boys have some fun before the plane crashes.”

 And fun they had.

They had dinner at a small, low-key restaurant in Providence. Jack would have rather taken Bitty to some kind of fancy restaurant, but since Bitty was still wearing his Zimmermann jersey and Jack had put on his robber outfit instead of his suit, that was not really an option. They’d get a lot more chances to go out and get a fancy dinner anyway, so neither of them really minded.

As they were not used to being able to be affectionate in public, dinner went pretty much the same as any other time they had dinner together. That didn’t make it less fun, though. Jack didn’t think it was possible to not have fun when he was with Bitty. He could listen to him recounting ‘the pie recipe incident’, something that had apparently occurred last week between his mother and his aunt, for hours.

But the real fun started when they were happily walking through the city (hand in hand!) and passed the public ice skating rink.

Bitty was about to walk past it when Jack started pulling him towards the entrance.

“Jack, what are you doing?”

“I just suddenly feel the incredible urge to try out those figure skating moves you taught me. I love you, but my true love will always be the ice, and I feel like I haven’t showed my love enough today,” Jack smirked.

Bitty rolled his eyes. “I don’t even have my skates with me.”

“Me neither, I left them at the arena. We can just rent skates.”

Bitty sighed. “Okay.”

Jack’s face broke into a huge grin and he pulled his boyfriend towards the entrance.

It was already pretty late, and the girl behind the counter looked like she would commit a murder to get out of there, so he told her to keep the change.

Her eyes lit up and she even smiled a little when she said: “Thank you very much. You and your son can pick up your skates over there.”

Jack heard Bitty gasp and he was about to correct the girl, but instead, he turned to his boyfriend and said: “You can wait over here while your daddy picks up the skates, Dicky,” and he burst out laughing when he saw Bitty’s scandalized face.

“Jack Laurent Zimmerman, if you ever say something like that again, I swear I will break up with you.”

The girl then visibly realized her mistake and started apologizing.

Because Jack was still laughing, Bitty said: “It’s fine, honey. It’s not the first time someone made that mistake.”

That caught Jack’s attention. “When has someone made that mistake before?”

Bitty looked at him in confusion for a second before responding: “Where were you even last year? During the playoffs, Holster had a beard, and every time we went out together, people thought I was his son. At some point, he and Rans actually considered just adopting me. How did you miss that?”

Jack laughed again. “You know me, I lived under a rock at Samwell. Lardo even calls me the rock lord.”

“Of fucking course. My boyfriend, the rock lord,” Bitty muttered, now smiling, as he walked off to get some skates.

Jack followed, and 5 minutes later, they were on the ice. Luckily, there were a lot less people than usual because it was already late. The only people left on the ice were a few couples and a group of girls who seemed to do more standing still and gossiping than actually skating.

This was very fortunate, because Jack hadn’t lied when he said that he wanted to try a few figure skating moves. Since they came out to the team, Jack had been skating at Faber a few times, and Bitty had taught him some couple skating moves. They never succeeded, but it was fun nonetheless.

When he voiced his intentions, Bitty looked at him worriedly.

“Are you sure? I mean, I know you wanted to go on a real date but we’re in public and there’s a big chance that someone will recognize you, so-”

“Bits,” Jack interrupted. “I’m sure.”

To amplify this, he pressed his lips to the place where Bitty’s forehead wasn’t covered by his hat.

“Now, let’s skate some rounds to warm up.”

“Aye aye, captain,” Bitty muttered before taking off and skating backwards, away from Jack.

Their ‘warming up’ quickly turned into a race, and within a few minutes they were both more than warm enough, and the few people in the rink had probably realized they were not the average people that came to this rink to have some fun despite barely knowing how to skate.

Bitty decided that he wanted to do some jumps first – only easy ones, though, because the rental skates were fairly shit – so Jack just leaned back against the boards and watched.

He loved to play hockey with Bitty and he loved to watch him play hockey, but nothing would ever compare to watching him figure skate. The grace, the beauty, the way Bitty looked when he lost himself to skating for a moment, were things Jack would never get tired of.

He was almost disappointed when Bitty stopped after a while to skate over to Jack. ‘Almost’ being the keyword, because how could anyone ever be disappointed when their beautiful boyfriend suggests to skate together and try that lift that they’d attempted at Faber a few times?

 Unfortunately, Jack was a pretty horrible figure skater, so they went tumbling to the ice as soon as Bitty’s skates left the ice.

Less unfortunate was the position they ended up in: Bitty on his back on the ice and Jack almost entirely on top of him.

Jack would’ve been worried about Bitty’s fall if he hadn’t started giggling as soon as he hit the ice. At the sound of Bitty’s giggles, Jack couldn’t contain his own laughter anymore either.

After a few moments of pure happiness, Bitty turned his head to the side to look at their surroundings and he suddenly got a worried look in his eyes.

“Jack, someone is taking pictures,” he said, and he tried to wriggle out from under Jack.

Jack considered this for a moment before lifting one hand off the ice to tilt Bitty’s face to look at Jack and said, “Let them,” before kissing him softly.

Bitty gasped into the kiss, but quickly wrapped his arms around Jack’s neck nonetheless.

It was a sweet, short kiss, since Jack was not the biggest fan of PDA anyway, and when they parted, Jack whispered against Bitty’s lips: “You know, I think I love you more than the ice.”

“First you kiss me on the ice and now you outright say you love me more? Maybe we should get off the ice before it takes revenge on me for stealing you,” Bitty laughed. “You’re also getting kinda heavy,” he added.

“Oh, haha. Yeah. Sorry.”

Jack quickly got up and extended his hand to help Bitty up. He felt all warm when Bitty didn’t let go of his hand once he was back on his feet.

They were ready to leave the ice when one of the girls they had seen earlier approached them.

Bitty gave Jack a look to say ‘that’s the girl who took the pictures’.

“Hey,” she said, looking guilty but determined, and there also seemed to be… something else, “you’re… you’re Jack Zimmerman, right?”

Jack nodded. He’d rather spend some more time with Bitty than talk to fans right now, but this girl had pictures of them and she looked like she really wanted to say something, so Jack decided to hear her out.

“Uh- I, uh… just saw the news,” she stuttered, “and I... me and my friends,” she gestured to the group of girls on the other side of the rink, “just wanted to say that, uh… whoever made that video is a dick, and we support you and…” she looked at Bitty.

“Eric,” Bitty filled in.  

“Yeah, you and Eric. And I think we speak for a lot of the fans if we say we’ve got your back.”

To everyone’s surprise, Bitty stepped forward and wrapped his arms around the girl.

“Thank you. That means a lot,” he said.

Meanwhile, Jack had frozen beside them. The video was out. Jack was out. The plane had crashed.

“How long?” he asked.

Both Bitty and the girl looked up to him in confusion.

“What?”

“How long has the video been out?”

“Oh, uh… not that long,” she tapped her phone a few times, “4 minutes.”

For some reason, this was still a shock for Jack. He had expected this, but somewhere deep inside, he had still hoped that reporter would keep this to himself.

Bitty immediately noticed Jack’s panic and stepped away from the girl to cup Jack’s face with his gloved hands.

“Jack, please look at me. We knew this would happen, George and the team are ready for this. We’ll be fine. These people have your back,” he nodded towards the girl, who was watching the situation unfold.

“We really do, Jack,” she confirmed.

Jack let his forehead rest against Bitty’s for a while until his breath evened out.

No matter how much he didn’t want to be in this situation, he couldn’t deny that being with Bitty in public like this, without having to worry about being seen, was nice.

“I’m okay,” he stated when he felt like it was the truth. Then he got an idea. He turned to the girl.

“What’s your name?” he asked.

Her breath hitched for a moment, but she quickly got herself together and answered: “Emma.”

“Okay, Emma,” Jack started, “I believe you took some pictures?”

Emma’s face went beet red and she started sputtering: “Yeah- yeah, I did… but I- I’m sorry and I shouldn’t have done that, and I- I can delete them right now, I promise I wasn’t planning on outing you or anything-”

“Emma,” Jack interrupted her, “it’s fine.”

“I promise I didn’t mean to-”

“I know. I believe you. That’s not what I meant to say. I just wanted to ask if you took any good pictures?”

Emma stared at him wide-eyed for a few seconds before she seemed to process his question.

“Y- yeah, I, uh… took a photography class,” Jack smiled, “so I like to think I take some decent pictures,” Emma laughed.

“Can I see them?” Jack asked.

Emma looked like she had no idea where this was going, but she complied anyway, and showed Jack the photos on her phone. There was one of Jack and Bitty right before Bitty’s skates left the ice during the lift, which made it look like Jack actually had a clue what he was doing. There was a picture of them laying on the ice and laughing. The next one, presumably taken a few seconds later, showed Bitty looking almost directly into the camera – but it looked like he hadn’t realized there was a camera yet, because he was still smiling – and Jack looking down at him lovingly. The last picture was the perfect shot of Jack and Bitty kissing. Even with her phone, Emma had framed these pictures perfectly, the light of the street lanterns shining at the perfect angle.

“These are amazing,” Jack said.

Emma blushed deeply. “Thank you. I can send them to you, if you want? I can, uh… DM them to you on twitter?” she offered.

Bitty scoffed. “No, send them to me. Jack Zimmerman can’t use twitter to save his life,” he said, and he shoved Jack playfully.

They then exchanged twitter usernames, and after that Jack and Bitty took off for real, but not before shouting, “Thank you!” to the girls who had been silently observing the whole conversation. Jack swore he could hear some of them squeal.

 “Hey Bits?” Jack said while they were unlacing their skates.

Bitty hummed.

“Maybe you could post one of those photos on, uh… Instagram? Is that what it’s called?”

Bitty looked up at him in surprise.

“Really?”

Jack nodded.

“Oh. Uh, yeah, of course. Which one do you like best?” Bitty asked while opening up the app.

Jack thought about this for a few moments before deciding: “The one where you look into the camera. You look good in that one.”

Bitty put a hand over his heart and looked quasi-offended. “Jack Laurent Zimmermann, are you saying I don’t look good in the rest of them?”

Jack knew it was supposed to be a joke, but he couldn’t resist lightly dragging his lips over Bitty’s jaw before whispering in his ear: “You have no idea how good you look. Especially in my jersey. But I think you’d look even better if you were wearing only my jersey.”

Bitty seemingly choked on nothing and he hit Jack in the chest.

“You can’t just say stuff like that in public!”

Jack smirked. “Oh, but I can now, remember?”

Bitty blushed.

“Okay, I’m just gonna post that picture now and then we can go home.”

Eric Bittle @omgcheckplease

Jack Zimmermann sure knows how to have a first date instagram.com/p/HdhJkslxv3

Chapter 2