I feel as though in any polypucks situation bitty has it made like THREE pro athlete bfs? Incredible
So my favourite polypucks scenario was dreamed up with… probably @gutsybitsy, she’s my go-to enabler of weird shit. (*blows kiss*) You shift around the ages a bit, and what you have is:
Tater, a star NHL defenseman, and his boyfriend, figure skating coach Eric Bittle (both 23);
Kent and Jack, who made it through rookie NHL years on separate teams by the skin of their teeth and some really good therapy, and who managed to get traded onto the same team together, FINALLY. They’re happy to be back together and a lot more stable than they were, but they’re also really afraid of being found out for being gay.
Tater inviting Kent and Jack to his place for “get to know you” dinner. These 19-year-olds trying not to sit too close together at the kitchen table but trying to emit mutual rays of support back and forth while Tater tosses the salad.
Eric Bittle, who looks vaguely familiar, introduces himself to the boys as Tater’s roommate. He slides a hand into Tater’s back pocket when he opens the oven door to check how the casserole is coming. Jack and Kent look at each other as Bittle gets plates and cups out of the cupboard.
(Kent puts his phone on the table and slides it over to Jack; Eric’s Wikipedia page is on the screen)
After dinner they take coffee cups into the living room and the new guys are still twitchy and a bit shellshocked, still not sure if they’re seeing what they think they are, but a large meal and acclimation mean they’re no longer jumping out of their skins, ready to bolt at any second in case they get found out.
“I think you boys can guess that Alexei and I are… together,” Eric says, sharing a significant look across the coffee table with Tater as he sits next to Kent on the sofa.
“Am not asking you to say anything about yourselves. Only saying to you,” Tater says, “You are safe here. We will be your friends. We will help you.”
Kent bursts into tears, and Eric puts an arm around his shoulders.
“How… did you know?” Jack asks, stunned.
Tater shrugs. “Did not know. Decided to trust you. Maybe you come, are disgusted, leave. Make life difficult for us. But… I do not think so.”
Jack finds himself feeling something he doesn’t feel very often: He needs a hug. Because he’s feeling the way you do after sustained terror or stress, where the moment you finally shut the door behind you, the moment you are finally safe, all the things you thought you could deal with hit you at once
Tater somehow knows this, without judgment rocks Jack slowly back and forth as Jack tries to grapple with his emotions. He can’t even process what Kent and Bitty are saying to each other, their rapid fire together of questions and answers and exclamations.
All he can hear is Tater saying, over and over as he rubs Jack’s back, “Is all right. You are safe now.”
areudirty
theartofmadeline
