Author Topic: Yale cartoonist Ngozi Ukazu's CHECK PLEASE a young gay hockey player (who bakes)  (Read 770974 times)

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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OMGCHECKPLEASE!FANART_TRONNIES_ART_BLOG
http://tronnies-art-blog.tumblr.com/



http://omgfanplease.tumblr.com/post/116251956133/bitty-and-jack-from-check-please-by-ngozi-in-a
http://omgfanplease.tumblr.com/image/116251956133

Bitty and Jack (from Check, Please! by ngozi) in a scene from this fic, which I haven’t even finished yet but just had to stop and make fanart for! Jack speaking french is my weakness omfg ;_;

If you haven’t read Check, Please!…what the heck are you waiting for?? I’m obsessed, in the best way!!

Apr 12, 2015 x-posted @ tronnies-art-blog

#fanart #jack #bitty #fic illustration tw: #anxiety tw: #alcohol #submission
« Last Edit: January 17, 2017, 05:09:33 pm by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/episodes



A little bit of history--and why big, handsome Jack Laurent Zimmermann is not as strong as one might seem--



SEASON 1: FRESHMAN YEAR
FALL
The Hockey Prince
http://omgcheckplease.tumblr.com/post/57707902966






















Hence--




OMGCHECKPLEASE!FANART_VARIOUS







I'm so glad that Jack found someone as sweet and strong as Bitty is.
<3 THESE BOYS.




Jack needs a warm hug from a certain sweet southern boy.









« Last Edit: January 17, 2017, 05:10:46 pm by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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OMGCHECKPLEASE!FANARTPAWSPAINTSNTHINGS















« Last Edit: January 17, 2017, 05:11:16 pm by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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“Y’all, so much happened today!”
This boy is so adorable I can’t even…. <3

http://shadowartblog.tumblr.com/






"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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« Last Edit: January 17, 2017, 05:11:41 pm by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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« Last Edit: January 17, 2017, 05:12:05 pm by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Offline Aloysius J. Gleek

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CHECKPLEASE!FANFIC

By the way, I found this piece of fanfic here:
http://bittybutt.tumblr.com/post/134437359237/check-please-fic-rec-list

This piece is highly excerpted
(and slightly expurgated--)
so click the provided link below
to read the full text (6104 words!)
if you prefer that, goddamn it!!

Note--this fanfic is just over a year old--
written before the creator/cartoonist
(Ngozi Ukazu) advanced the 'real'
narrative, when Jack and Bitty do indeed
become boyfriends, after Jack graduates
(and Jack becomes a Falconer).












This is Jack’s favorite well-worn fantasy: he’s well regarded and plays well for a team he’s proud to be on, has a dog and a pond in his backyard that freezes over in the winter into a makeshift rink, and he’s happy in this warm, private life where the world lets him be.

It’s only recently that the dream has shifted. Nothing much changes, but the house smells like cinnamon instead of pine and books, and there are two dogs now and most notably: he’s not alone.

 

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_




(....)



Jack never planned to come out to his parents. Never once thought that saying, “Mom, Dad, I’m bi,” was a conversation he would ever need to have.

Parse had been one thing but two times makes a pattern, and Jack thinks: maybe.

George is already onto him, and when Jack jumps over a snow bank to ask Bittle if he wants to get coffee, he’s hit with how transparent he is.

They walk into the coffee shop, and it’s less crowded than normal. “Wanna grab a table?” Jack asks. “I’ll grab coffees. Mugs or paper cups?”

Bittle nods. “Mugs are fine.”

Jack returns with Bitty’s disgusting mocha concoction that the barista already knows, and his own London fog. They sit around the small round table, and Jack’s legs barely fit under it.

Bittle looks like he was created specifically to sit in coffee shops. He’s got his mittens off and his cheeks are red from the cold and Jack thinks: shit.

 

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

Jack phones Georgia on a Tuesday night and says, “If I sign with you, I have to tell you something.”

“Oh, hi Jack,” she says.

He takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry,” he says. “That was rude. Hi Georgia.”

“What did you want to say?”

“What if something happened and I didn’t want to stay in the closet? Or I couldn’t.”

She pauses, and the silence feels like it’s eating Jack from the inside out.

“The media is waiting for a NHL player to come out. It wouldn’t be fun.” Jack sighs. “But,” she says, “Jack, we could deal with it. You could deal with it. The franchise will support you.”

“What if I was sick again?”

“We have therapists, Jack. We have advisors for everything. We want you to play for us, and your personal life doesn’t matter to me or the franchise unless it’s illegal.”

“But—“

“Jack,” she says, and she sounds so patient that it makes Jack feel guilty. “You’re an amazing hockey player, but if you’re worried that it’s not good for you, maybe you should consider not playi—“

“I want to sign with you,” he says. “It’s just…” He pushes his palms into his eyes until he sees red.  “I love playing hockey.”

“Okay,” she says. “That’s good to hear. Would you like me to come by some time next week with a contract for you to sign?”

He smiles. “You should probably send it to my agent. I don’t want to be in trouble.”

“Say hi to Eric for me, alright, Jack? You take care.”

“Thanks, George. You too.”

 
 

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

He texts Shitty, i just signed with providence

And then two minutes later Shitty is tackling Jack to his bed and kissing Jack’s face.

Jack starts laughing and says,” Shitty, Shitty, stop!! Oh my god.”

“Jack,” he says, “Jack, Jack, Jack! I’m so proud of you.”

“You can’t say anything. My agent will do a press release or whatever, but.”

“Bitty!” Shitty yells. “Bittle!”

Bitty yells, “What’re y’all doin’ that is so important that you had to scream at me?”

Jack blushes when Shitty says, “Jack signed to Providence.”

Bittle smiles and says, “Jack, congratulations.”

“Yeah, well,” he says, “Guess you haven’t gotten rid of me yet.”

Bitty beams and says, “I’ll bake you something.”

  

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

Jack, at the end of it all, just wants to be happy.

He’s struggled for a long time, and he’s worried about graduating. He’s worried about moving. He’s worried about where Shitty will go to law school. He’s worried about meeting new teammates, about losing old ones. He’s worried about Bittle.

One person can only do so many things, he understands. But he does want to have the comfort that he’s achieved at Samwell follow him into his life after graduation.

He thinks about how much his life has changed in the last year, how much better his hockey has been, how little his hands shake.

He knows that being friends with Bittle plays a big part of it. His confidence in his game and his personal life is better than it has ever been, and Bittle absolutely has inspired Jack to be better in that regard.

Jack thinks about how strong his game was when he played with Parson. But then he knows how much he struggled in every other aspect of his life, and he knows, really and truly knows, that Eric Bittle is the kindest person to ever enter Jack’s life.

And he knows that what he wants probably doesn’t exist; this imagined happiness that exists in his mind is immense; it’s probably heavy and there’s no way it’s cheap; it probably isn’t real.

 

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

Jack is sitting at the kitchen table while Bittle makes dinner. Jack doesn’t know where Holster went, Ransom has been locked in the attic for hours, and Shitty and Lardo went for Italian, so the Haus is quiet.

Jack means to ask if he can help with dinner, but instead what he says is, “I came out to George.”

Bitty is quiet but Jack can see his shoulders tense.  It’s awkward and so Jack chuckles and says, “And then now to you, I guess, which makes two in a day.”

Bitty turns around, his wooden spoon held tight to his chest. His eyes are wide, but he says, “Thank you for trusting me.”

Jack grins. “Shitty say that to you?”

Bittle nods. “Yeah. Seemed like the right thing to say.”

“It’s a good thing to say. Just, uhm. I’m bi, I guess. I don’t know. I never spent much time thinking about it after Parse.”

Bittle keeps nodding, and says, “I had no idea. It’s okay, though. It’s good. That’s. Okay.”

Jack wants to change the subject, so he says, “I got a really big signing bonus. I was thinking I might, you know, buy a house.”

“That’s. Wow.”

“You can’t tweet about it,” Jack says laughing. “But maybe you’d like to, I don’t know, look at listings with me? You have good taste.”

Bittle serves scoops of spaghetti onto plates and sits next to Jack. “That’d be really nice.”




(....)
 



Jack rolls over to lay on his back, and waits until Bittle catches his breath. Jack works on keeping his head clear, on feeling the way Bittle’s thigh feels against his, the way his elbow feels pressed into Bittle’s bicep, the way Bittle is breathing evenly next to him.

Jack wants to remember this, this warm safety that exists in this shitty room in this shitty Haus.

Bittle’s fingers softly trace the inside of Jack’s forearm, and Jack rolls onto his side to face him.

“You okay?” Bittle asks.

Jack smiles and catches Bitty’s lips between his. “I’m good,” he says, and he finds that he really, really means it.

 

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

They fall asleep, and by the time Jack wakes up, he can hear music downstairs and the sound of people talking over each other, laughing.

He wakes Bittle by running his finger over Bittle’s cheek until he stirs. His eyes flutter and his lips curl up softly at the corners. “Hmm,” he hums. “Hi.”

“Hey,” Jack says, nervous. “We should get dressed. There are people downstairs. Also, I’m hungry.”

Bittle leans up on his elbows. “Okay, yes. People, food. Both good.”

Jack catches Bitty looking at his butt when he pull on his jeans, and they end up kissing against the door, fully dressed.

Bittle pulls back, says, “We really should go downstairs.”

Jack steps back, runs his hands down the front of his own shirt. “Yes, okay, yeah. Right.”

Bittle smiles at him fondly, and takes a deep breath. “Gosh,” he says, and Jack is so fond of him that he smiles back.

“There’s something,” Jack says. “I don’t want to ruin the mood, but it’s important.”

Bittle sobers quickly, nods, “Okay.”

“I’m not ready to come out, publicly, I mean. Or to many people, really. I’m not ready for that, yet. Georgia knows, and she likes you, but it’s—“

“It’s fine.”

“You can’t tell anyone,” Jack says. “You can’t tweet about it, and you can’t say it on your video thing.”

“I know.”

“It’s really important. If someone asks if you have a boyfriend, you’ll have to say no.”

Bittle nods, determined, says, “Yes, I—“ and then pauses, and breaks out into a grin. “Wait? Boyfriend?”

“Uhm,” Jack says. “Well yeah, I mean, if you want. I did ask for your help looking for a place to live, so…”

Bittle leans up and kisses Jack softly. “I’d like that,” he says. “I promise.” He mimes locking his lips shut and throwing away the key, and Jack smiles.

When Jack ushers Bitty down the stairs, Shitty spots them, smirks at Jack, and Jack feels his face flush.

And suddenly Shitty is standing on the coffee table and the frogs are there, and Ransom and Holster, and Shitty shouts, “Oh captain, my captain,” and everyone raises their drinks at Jack, and Jack thinks: okay.

 

\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

Once the party dies down, Jack sneaks into Bittle’s room.

Bitty is beer-sleepy and curled on his side, and when Jack crawls in behind him, he hums happily. He drunkenly reaches behind him to find Jack’s hand, and pulls Jack’s arm around his middle.

Bittle falls back to sleep immediately, and Jack pulls the comforter over them.

Jack has made any number of mistakes in his life, but if all of them led to this little moment—his nose tucked into the nape of Eric Bittle’s neck and his heart full in a way he hasn’t ever felt—he can’t bring himself to regret any of them.



\_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_  \_

 

Jack sits behind Bittle’s parents with the rest of the team who is still around new England, and when Bittle walks across the stage, they all holler.

Bitty takes the fancy piece of paper and exits stage left, and then Jack realizes that they still have another 24 letters in the alphabet to get through, and he thinks: Tabarnac.

By the end of the ceremony, his neck is stiff. When it’s over, Bitty’s mother hugs him, says she’s very proud of him, that they watch his games at home whenever they’re able. He flushes, and thanks her. He says, “Congratulations on Eric’s graduation. You must be very proud,” and she hugs him again, her eyes big and wet.

 

When Bittle comes into the ground and finds his parents, he hugs them both, and clings to his mother in a way that tugs at Jack’s heartstrings.

And then Shitty is rushing over, and he yells, “Bits, my man!” and Bittle turns to hug Shitty just as tightly.

Jack catches Bitty’s eye over Shitty’s shoulder, and Bittle smiles. He mouths Hi silently and as Shitty releases him, he pats Shitty’s shoulder. Jack sticks his hand out to shake Bitty’s hand, and Bitty rolls his eyes.

“Oh my God, Jack,” he hears Shitty say, and Bitty bats his hand away and hugs him.

“Thanks for coming,” Bitty says into Jack’s chest.

“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” he says, and he finds that it’s true.

He pulls away because they have definitely been hugging for too long considering that Bittle’s parents are three feet away, and he says, “Can I talk to you for a second?”

 

Bitty turns to his mom and dad and says, “I’ll just be a sec, okay? I have to ask Jack something about… hockey. I’ll be back in a jiff.”

Jack walks a few away to where the crowd has thinned out, and then he says, “I’m proud of you.”

Bitty shrugs. “Is everything okay?”

Jack nods. “I wanted to ask you something, but I want you to think about it. I know you’ve been looking for jobs around here. But I wanted to run something by you, first. You don’t have to say anything, okay?”

Bitty looks worried, and Jack says, “Montreal offered me a contract. My term with Prov comes up at the end of the season. And, well. The Habs offered me more, a lot more, and I’ve always wanted to play for them and—“

“Yes,” Bitty says. “Of course, yes.”

“I haven’t even asked you anything,” Jack says, confused.

Bitty beams at him, shakes his head softly. “Jack Zimmerman,” his voice full of fondness. “You say yes to that contract as soon possible, and I’ll move with you. If that’s what you want.”

“Of course that’s what I want. If you would let me finish asking—“

“Okay, okay, ask me.”

“If you already know what I’m going to say—“

“Jack. Please ask.”

Jack huffs. “Will you live with me? In Montreal?”

“Yes,” he says, and turns to look over his shoulder. His parents are turned the other way, engaged in an animated conversation with Shitty about God knows what. “I want to kiss you. I’m going to kiss you until you suffocate as soon as we’re somewhere else.”

Jack blushes, and squeezes Bittle’s hand quickly. “I’ve been looking at places. There’s a small house outside the city with a pond, a yard. I was thinking, how do you feel about dogs?”






Notes:

title is taken from a stanley kubrick quote:

I’ve never been certain whether the moral of the Icarus story should only be, as is generally accepted, ‘don’t try to fly too high,’ or whether it might also be thought of as ‘forget the wax and feathers, and do a better job on the wings.'


//find me on tumblr. http://bittyjack.tumblr.com/

Works inspired by this one:

[podfic] forget the wax and the feathers by annapod (annabelle_myrtille)



Notes:

For nighimpossible.
a big heartfelt thank you to jedusaur for organizing this exchanged. happy valentine's day ♡

thank you to defcontwo for the beta and to ruba for the constant encouragement and friendship.

i also made a playlist for these boys, which can be found here.
http://8tracks.com/tiny-dakota/that-one-crowded-hour-a-jack-bitty-fan-mix

(See the end of the work for more notes and other works inspired by this one.)

http://archiveofourown.org/works/3337322?view_adult=true


Rating:                  Not Rated
Archive Warning:    Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Category:              M/M
Fandom:               Check Please! (Webcomic)
Relationship:         Eric Bittle/Jack Zimmermann
Characters:           Kent "Parse" Parson     Shitty Knight     Larissa "Lardo" Duan
Additional Tags:    Anxiety     Graduation Blues     past Jack/Parse     Valentine's Day Fanworks Exchange 2015
Language:            English Collections: Check Please! Valentine's Day Fanworks Exchange
Stats:                  Published: 2015-02-14    Words: 6104     Chapters: 1/1     Comments: 51     Kudos: 1283     Bookmarks: 302     Hits: 10042
« Last Edit: April 29, 2016, 04:57:10 pm by Aloysius J. Gleek »
"Tu doives entendre je t'aime."
(and you know who I am...)


Cowboy Curtis (Laurence Fishburne)
and Pee-wee in the 1990 episode
"Camping Out"

Online Front-Ranger

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  • Brokeback got us good.
Thanks for exerpting that! Verra nice! I wonder what Bitty is a nickname for.  :)
"chewing gum and duct tape"

Offline CellarDweller

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  • A city boy's mentality, with a cowboy's soul.
John, you find the coolest stuff!


Tell him when l come up to him and ask to play the record, l'm gonna say: ''Voulez-vous jouer ce disque?''
'Voulez-vous, will you kiss my dick?'
Will you play my record? One-track mind!