Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

4^th of December – Dunkin Center, Providence.

“Jack Zimmermann, fucking fag!”

Jack ignored the loud yell from one of the rival team’s fans.

He had just marked his second goal in five minutes, not even ten minutes into the game. He was on fire tonight, nothing could stop him, not even insults – it wasn’t the first, it wouldn’t be the last, it wasn’t even the worst.

When he stepped off the ice at the end of the first period and saw Georgia, Anna from PR and Michael, the GM, waiting in front of the corridor that led to the locker room, he expected to be congratulated, to be honest – not to get a short, authoritative, “Zimmermann. My office, right now,” from Michael. 

4^th of December – near Buffalo.  

Bitty was mindlessly scrolling on his phone. The bus had gone mostly silent by now – just some guys talking with low voices, someone’s music softly coming out of his headphones, a few asleep already even if it wasn’t that late. They would reach Buffalo in less than fifteen minutes, so Bitty didn’t want to sleep right away.

The Falconers were playing the Aeros tonight. Apparently, Jack had scored for the second time in the first period, if his name trending was any indication. Bitty dwelled a little in the retweets.

Ten seconds later, he was walking in front of the bus, where Coaches Hall and Murray were sitting, his cellphone in his hand.

“Mmh. I think there might be a problem.”

Chapter Text

Jack felt a part of him break when George turned the computer screen so he could see the picture.

The picture of him and Bitty kissing, in a park of Providence, today around lunch hour.

George clicked it – it was actually 4 pictures: one of them being really close, Jack kissing Bitty, them looking at each other, and them kissing again, this time with Bitty’s arms around Jack’s shoulders.

Fuck.

Well, not everyone could say they had such hi-res pictures of their first kiss, during their first date.

“Care to explain?” Anna, the PR rep asked.

“I…”

“It’s a disaster,” the General Manager said. “It wouldn’t be a masculine woman, by any chance?”

Jack frowned at that.

“It is clearly a man.”

“Someone took the picture at around one PM. It had no visibility then, because they couldn’t spell your name correctly,” George said before things went sour between the other people in the room, “Until you started trending with your two goals in five minutes tonight. Even with the typo, the pics were seen, got retweeted, and it’s now out of hand.”

“We’d have appreciated a heads-up to have a plan,” Anna explained. “It was a stupid move to kiss him in public!”

Fuck. Jack had done his best. He made sure to not look suspiciously close to Bitty during lunch, to not go to a place where people usually had dates, to not stand too much in Bitty’s personal space, to not grab his hand; but, when they strolled in the park before Bitty’s train, he really, really wanted to kiss him, so he led him to a secluded place behind some trees, away from people.

It hadn’t been enough obviously.

“There wasn’t really a heads up to give,” Jack tried to defend. “It was out first date.”

“Your first date? Where did you even find him?” Anna asked.

“Instagram.”

“Jack, you really shouldn’t be thirsting on boys on Instagram while in the closet – anyone could have outed you-”

“I wasn’t thirsting for boys. I talked to him about some baking stuff he posted-”

“And this is not the point anyway,” George defended him. “Jack can thirst over whoever he wants to, as long as everyone is an adult and consenting.”

“We need more info on him,” Anna stated, already on her phone. “His name, his deal.”

“What? His deal?”

“Well- most likely theory is that he’s the cause of the leak; asked a friend to follow with a camera, to take an exploitable pic, something to start a scandal – for fame, money, who knows. He’s posting on Instagram, you said? A stunt like that would probably bring a lot of followers…”

“How dare you.”

The only thing that stopped Jack from standing up and flipping the table right now was seeing that George had the exact same angry face as him. He wasn’t crazy. This entire situation was totally surreal.

“He’s not even out to his parents!”

“That’s what he told you,” The general manager shrugged. “You just told us – you don’t know the guy.”

“Don’t even go there. He’s a good guy and would never do something like that. Don’t project your own shortcomings on other people-”

“Jack, we’re on your side here,” Anna said. “I’m just saying, things would have been easier if you came out while single, or in a long-term relationship, because right now, I have no idea of how to spin the story to our advantage.”

“Sorry that my life out of the rink is such an inconvenience? I’ll try to exist a little less next time?”

“Everyone, calm down,” Georgia ordered, pinching the bridge of her nose (probably to avoid punching the table). “Stop attacking Jack, he did nothing wrong, am I clear? He’s been outed, and visibly the other guy too. We can’t go back. So now, let’s just make a plan and stick to it. Anyone that has a problem with Jack seeing a man can fuck off and get out.”

No one got up, but that didn’t stop everyone to still look incredibly pissed off.

“… Hello?” Bitty tried, with a low voice.

He was in the middle of the hallway, in front of the coaches’ room. At least, no one of the team seemed keen to run in the hallway tonight.

“Ah! Dicky! How was the trip? Have you arrived yet?”

“I- yes.”

“Great! Your daddy say hello- Rick, Dicky’s on the phone. He says hello- and, good luck for the game tomorrow!”

They didn’t know. They didn’t know.

“Oh, you’ll ever guess what your aunt’s new hobby is- besides driving me nuts, I mean-”

“I. Sorry, I-“

“Oh, yes, you’re probably with your team right now, you don’t want to hear about my old Bible studies gossip…”

“It’s just- yes. No.”

“Ah, well. Good luck again for the game, we’ll try to catch it with your daddy. Call us tomorrow night! Love you, Dicky!”

“I- Love you, mama, daddy,” Bitty managed to utter, something blocking his throat.

They didn’t know.

Yet.

Bitty hung up, and took a few minutes to look at the wall.

He then went back to the coaches’ room. They both left to make some calls of their own.

Chapter Text

4^th of December – a meeting room of the Dunkin Center, Providence.

Jack took a deep breath. This is it. This is the moment.

“How are you?” he asked, softly.

“I’m- overwhelmed, I suppose,” Bitty’s voice on the phone answered, softly.  “I’m still processing. I haven’t seen the team yet, I warned the coaches as soon as I saw it and they took me to their hotel room to talk about what to do.”

“Are they okay? With… Everything?”

“Yes, yes. A bit surprised and lost, and Murray opened a beer from the minibar, but they knew I am gay – I never tried to hide it. They, uh – they had briefed me already about media and stuff, because they knew I wanted to apply for captain next year, and if I were to be elected, I’d be the first out NCAA captain, so-”

“Oh. Wow,” Jack said, feeling… Something warm in him. “Listen. I- It’s. I’d understand if you never want to hear from me again…”

“What? No! I’d understand if you never want to hear from me again!” Bitty immediately said. “Because I really want to hear from you again!”

The something warm switched to something else, and Jack felt a little more confident when he asked:

“I want to hear from you again too. And, well, uh. I- I need to ask you want I should publicly say. My team agrees it’s not a good idea necessarily to tell everyone it was a first date, plus it’s info I don’t really want to share…”

“Would it be easier if you told people I am your boyfriend?” Bitty asked, suddenly grave.

“Uh- I suppose so. But I don’t want to lie, or-”

“Jack.”

“Uh?”

“Will you be my boyfriend?”

Jack- Jack was pretty sure his whole face turned red.

Oh. Oh wow.

“I- I mean, Bitty, we’re in the middle of a scandal-”

“Jack, the scandal is here, whether I bail out or not,” Bitty stammered, all his confidence for the day having been used. “So, uh, we better do what we want, right. It won’t change anything. And I don’t want to bail out? And I loved talking with you, and I loved our date, and I loved kissing you – even if I didn’t realise you were interested and that we were on a date and you were gay before you kissed me…”

“I’m bi, actually.”

“See? We definitely should go on lot of other dates to get to know each other more.”

“… You really didn’t realise it was a date?”

“I thought you were straight, Jack! How could I have even thought you would be interested? And, I quote, ‘You need new baking utensils? You should see this shop in Providence!’ isn’t how you ask people out!”

“I knew I should have gone with ‘Hey, you should check out this bakery here.’”

“Ah! Even worse! I would have been so focused on the baked goods I wouldn’t have noticed you kissing me!”

“Ah. So I’m that bad of a kisser, I see…”

“I mean, hmm,” Bitty coughed, “that was, well, my first kiss. So I guess it just means we both need practice.”

“Ah, eh,” Jack stammered, “we should. Probably try to schedule this soon.”

“Yes, we should…” Bitty replied, and Jack was pretty sure he was smiling at the other end of the phone.

They stayed silent, content, a few seconds before Bitty asked, slowly:

“Jack?”

“Mmh?”

“Are you going back for the third period?”

Ah. The second period had started right as the meeting with Georgia, Anna and the GM had ended.

To be honest; he didn’t know if he had it in him to go back. He wanted to hide and to be left alone until the end of his days.

“I- I don’t think so. It’s such a mess, backstage- plus, I’m likely to be targeted. I’ve talked with some of the staff, and the fact I could go back on the ice tonight wasn’t even mentioned…”

“I. I think you should play. As a former confused kid who thought sports didn’t have room for him? I really think you should play.”

“Mmh.”

“You being pulled out in the middle of the game, right after being outed? That’s very… violent. There are already rumours that say that you’ve been fired, I’m certain. So… Yes. I think that would mean a lot if you went back.”

He was right. Jack new that Bitty was right. That didn’t make him any more comfortable about the situation.

“I’ll talk to the AGM.”

“Jack. You can play.”

“So.”

“So.”

“SO.”

“SOOO!!!”

When Bitty finally reached the room he was sharing with Holster and Ransom, he was only half surprised to see that Lardo was also here, cross-legged on the bed while the boys were hanging on the floor, and that in the middle of the three, there was Shitty’s sweaty face on Lardo’s phone. The Falconers’ game was playing on the TV, but none of them was really invested.

“Hi Shits.”

“Jack Zimmermann?” Holster whined.

“You’re wheeling Jack Zimmermann and you didn’t tell us? Your friends, your brothers?” Ransom said.

“Bittleson Bitty Bittle, we spent so much time with Ransom, trying to set you up with a great guy for Winter Screw – and Jack Zimmermann?”

Bitty just shrugged and sat on the bed on the other side of Ransom and Holster, taking his phone cable out of his bag to charge it.

“I didn’t tell y’all because today was Jack and I’s first date. So there wasn’t much to tell you about before.”

“First date?” Lardo asked. “Talk about an unforgettable experience.”

“In my defense, I didn’t even know it was a date,” Bitty pointed out. “Or that he was bi. I just thought it was a perfectly regular, no-homo outing.”

“Oh," Ransom said. "Well, it actually was a homo outing.”

“A- Ransom!” Bitty yelled.

“Oooooh!” Holster and Lardo shouted.

“Stop it!”

Holster laughed at that.

“Well, anyway, Bitty, you managed to charm the Hockey Robot itself, you should be proud!”

“How do you even know him?” Shitty asked – his voice was low, so Lardo turned up the volume some.

“Ah, you haven’t followed Shitty?” Bitty replied. “Two weeks back, he messaged me on Instagram about a dumb video I made for laughs.”

“Yep, that you told us,” Ransom said. “But not that you kept talking with him after that.”

“Bits, you dog!” Shitty laughed.

“What do you want? I thought I was developing an impossible, one-sided crush on a straight boy. Obviously I wouldn’t give y’all more fuel for the dumpster fire I was in. And just so you know, he’s not a ‘Hockey Robot’ but he’s very charming, funny, and awkward, and such a gentleman I didn’t notice he was flirting with me.”

“Yo, are you still talking about Zimmermann, or…?” Holster groaned.

“So, how did you end up on a date-not-date today?” Lardo asked.

That was a good question. Bitty took two seconds to try to get the story straight.

“Well, while we were chatting, I mentioned I needed to go to Boston to buy some quality ingredients and some new utensils, and he told me, ‘hey, there’s a good shop in Providence, you should check it out! I’ll bring you there!’ so, of course, you know my hopeless ass, I took the train to Providence this morning, we went there, had fun, told him to buy some stuff too because he wants to try to bake something, and then he treated me to lunch in a nice place and we went to the park, where as you all know, he kissed me, and we hung out there until it was time for me to take the train back and for him to go to the rink for his game tonight.”

“That sounds pretty lame,” Holster said.

“Disappointed to learn Zimmermann isn’t the kind to put out on the first date,” Ransom added.

“We weren’t going to be involved on a park bench in the middle of the afternoon, Justin.”

“Oh, you know, they’ve seen it all before,” Lardo said. “You wouldn’t be the first…”

“Lards, I do not want to know.”

Bitty just laid on the bed to try to look at the game on TV – they were reaching the end of the second period, and Jack was still absent.

He had seemed really hesitant when Bitty had asked him if he planned to go back on the ice; he regretted pressing the issue now. Of course Jack would be targeted. Apparently, a player had already called him a faggot during the first period, mere minutes after the tweet started to make rounds – now that the entire stadium probably knew what was happening, he couldn’t just discreetly go back in the game and hope no one notices.

“So, what’s your deal with Zimmermann?” Shitty asked. “Do I need to threaten him?”

“Don’t you even dare. I’m not dating people bad enough that they need to be threatened to respect me, thank you very much.”

“So that’s what you’re doing? Dating? On the regular? It wasn’t a one-time thing?”

“If you really wanna know, I just had him on the phone and I asked him to be my boyfriend and he said yes.”

“Whaat?”

“Bits you DOG!” Holster yelled.

“Bitty! You found a boyfriend before L&S right here got their shit together!” Ransom cried. “I’m so proud!”

“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?” Shitty yelled back.

“Ransom, say one more word and next roadie I pair you up with Snorlax,” Lardo threatened.

Bitty just laughed, put his phone on silent, and focused back on the game.

Chapter Text

Jack hadn’t talked to his team at all since the end of the first period. He had just managed to convince everyone to let him go back to the game just as the third period was about to start –the GM insisted it wasn’t safe, but George had put her foot down and told them to let him play. “I’m in your corner, Jack,” she had told him, and he didn’t doubt it one second. “And they will be too, I’ll make sure of that.” Jack sure hoped so.

Going to the locker room after the rest of the team after the game, and some short interviews right off of the ice, was weird. The conversations died down when Jack entered the room and started again with hesitation and at low voices.

Some people were already in the showers, the others ignored Jack except for a quick, “Great game!”

They still looked at him from the corner of their eyes, while he was undressing to go shower. And queer men were the peeping toms in the locker rooms?

Finally, when he turned around, only wearing a towel around his waist, and he saw that Guy was just staring at him, he had enough.

“I’m bi. I have a boyfriend. We both got outed.”

“Sorry Jack, it’s just… We weren’t expecting that.”

“Neither was I,” Jack just said, before going to the showers, where Tater was already, shouting for him to come to celebrate the win.

Breakfast was… Awkward.

Bitty got down at the same time as Holster and Ransom, and he was met in the dining room of the hotel by everyone’s sneering faces and raised eyebrows.

Uh. He filled a plate at the buffet with eggs, eggs and eggs, got way too much coffee, and sat next to Holster and Lardo just to have Ollie & Wicks appear across the table at the second his butt touched the chair.

“Bitty, where are the deets.”

“Wicky. Good morning to you too.”

“I can’t believe you’d betray us, your oldest friends-”, Wicky said, ignoring him.

“You’re dating some NHL player and you haven’t even updated us once you were back from your date.”

“I didn’t know it was a date,” Bitty groaned, the voice low.

“Wait guys-” Holster, who was sitting next to Bitty, asked. “You knew Bits was going to go see Wunder Boy?”

Ollie just shrugged.

“Oh, you know, he just showed us almost all the messages.”

“’Please guys, help me get in my head that he’s straight and there’s not one chance between us’”, Wicky added, doing a bad imitation of Bitty’s voice.

“I told him there was a chance. I was right,” Ollie pointed out.

“And I’ll be honest:” Wicky started, “Bitty, I did not believe in you one second.”

“You thought Zimmermann was as straight as an arrow?” Holster asked.

“Oh, no. This guy had been tickling my gaydar for a while. I just thought Bitty didn’t have any chance, you know.”

“Thanks,” Bitty groaned, shoving a forkful of eggs in his mouth. “Will you leave me alone now?”

“Bitty, you’re the gossip subject of the month. No one will leave you alone,” Holster said.

Bitty just groaned even more.

He wanted to eat his breakfast in peace.

“Be happy, Ransom went to sit with Tango to distract him, because the guy was ready and capable of skewering you with questions,” Holster said.

“Lardo, do something,” the poor victim complained.

“I told everyone that filming you or sharing pics of you was off-limits. That’s all I can, and am willing to do,” Lardo shrugged. “If you want to be left alone, maybe ask someone to hire you some bodyguards.”