Prompt: The Kiss never happened. Bitty was dating a fuckboy in Providence (maybe he went to Brown or sthg) and they just broke up. He knocks on Jack's door and asks if he can hole up and cry for a little before he goes back to Samwell.
When someone knocked on his apartment door, Jack had assumed that it could be Bitty. Anyone other than him would’ve had to buzz in from the front door to get in. Bitty, on the other hand, usually buzzed in to get into his boyfriend Poots’ apartment and then stopped by Jack’s to bring him pie and spend time with him after a romantic afternoon-or night- with James.
He couldn’t have thought that Bitty would be standing in front of him with puffy red eyes and a bottle of vodka.
“H-hey, Jack. C-can I come in?” He sniffed. “James-James dumped me.”
Jack silently led him in and sat him down on the couch. Bitty sniffed again, and when Jack held out his arms, he gasped and fell into them. Bitty clung to Jack as he sobbed and and shook, his small frame almost engulfed by Jack’s arms and the way Jack instinctively curled himself around Bitty. He wanted to protect Bitty from the world and from everything that hurt him. He wanted to march down to Poots’ apartment and beat him up for doing this to Bitty. He wanted to make Bitty stop hurting and sobbing in his arms, nothing made Jack more frustrated than the uncontrollable tears coursing down Bitty’s face and staining his shirt.
If it had been me, he thought. I would never let him cry like this. I would always make time for him. I wouldn’t have blown him off because someone else wanted my time when he finally comes to visit me.
“We-we were talking about summer plans. And I was just- just saying how hard this whole thing is-was. And he said if I thought it was a burden then we should end it. I shouldn’t have complained,” Bitty sobbed. “I didn’t want to make him feel pressure. It was so hard and I tried so hard and it wasn’t enough.”
“It was enough, you are more than enough for anyone. Poots was just blind and couldn’t see that,” Jack thumbed away Bitty’s tears. “You love him so much and he couldn’t see that.”
Bitty looked up at Jack, his expression indiscernible for a moment, then sniffed and pressed his face into Jack’s shoulder again.
“Can I stay here for the night? I think I need this. The boys and Lardo don’t know a thing about James, and I want- Jack, I need you.”
Jack pressed a light kiss on top of Bitty’s head as he cradled him in his arms. “We can do romcoms and ice cream. And I’ll monitor your vodka intake.”
He felt Bitty tighten his grip around his body and wished that they could stay entwined like this forever.
“I’d like that,” Bitty said.
Over Mean Girls and She’s All That, Bitty started to open up about the breakup.
“I mean, it’s not like I couldn’t see it happening. I think we both knew that James wasn’t- he wasn’t exactly the most considerate gentleman,” Bitty said, curled between Jack’s legs. Jack loved the solid weight against his front and had to remind himself not to nuzzle Bitty’s neck. “But I always thought that we could talk it over and come to an agreement. We- um-” Bitty fidgeted. “We were…together, tonight. So I thought that we still had some good days left and maybe after his first season, James would settle down a bit more and stop being…”
“A flakey douchebag,” Jack said. He tried not to imagine Bitty and Poots having sex, but it was hard when Bitty’s scent pervaded his nose and his weight was pressing against him.
“Yes,” Bitty agreed. “So it feels like he just threw me away, like I’m only worth- um,” he blushed, no doubt thinking about what he did for Poots. Bitty sighed. “I suppose dating isn’t worth it.”
“You just haven’t found the right person, Bittle. You’re worth so much,” Jack said.
Bitty sighed and turned so that he was resting the side of his head on Jack’s shoulder and his breath tickled Jack’s throat. “I wish…I wish I can be a bit more assertive.” He smelled like vodka and artisanal beer, and his eyes were so dilated that Jack could barely see the warm brown that usually peers up at him. “I should’ve stayed and tried to talk to him instead of wimping out and immediately leaving after he told me we were over. Maybe I wouldn’t lose so much dignity. And I-Jack-I had so many things to say to you at graduation. And so many times when we saw each other. So many things, but I just wimp out as usual.”
“You’re not a wimp, and even if you can’t say anything, that’s okay,” Jack said. “We can work on it, it’ll be like checking practice. We’re still a team, Bittle.”
“Oh, Jack.” Bitty looked up at him, almost adoringly. Was that the right word? It felt like the right word, even though Jack knew he was only inserting descriptions to make himself feel more important to Bitty.
Bitty took a deep breath and another swig of vodka before Jack could stop him.
“Jack. I-I-at graduation-what I wanted to say-” Bitty faltered. “I thought you were going to leave us. And I’m so glad that you’re still one of my closest friends.”
And if Bitty hadn’t just been dumped, if his feelings hadn’t clearly been a mess, Jack would’ve replied to that with an “I love you,” and kissed him and kissed him and never let him go. Instead he smoothed Bitty’s cowlick and smiled, “You’ll always be one of the closest people to me.”
He let his hand linger and Bitty leaned into it, silently tracking tears down his face and letting Jack comfort him.
One floor down, James Fitzgerald walked around his apartment in a frenzy. Shit, shit, shit. He just dumped Eric. He was so sure that Eric was about to give him the relationship talk and end it that he couldn’t take the suspense and told Eric that they were better off separated. And now Eric wasn’t answering his texts or picking up his calls, and Poots was sure that he’s gone to Jack’s place. And shit- Jack was going to kill him.
