I love you Ethan Winters but you're a moron, what the actual FUCK did you think was in those bottles that was reattaching flesh, nerves, muscles, and bones
It doesn't take a genius to figure out you're a moldman
What do you think Jack’s teammates, brother, and family’s reactions were the first time they met AW as a WOC? I feel like she’s so different from his usual “type” — the blonde, white, cookie-cutter girlfriends he’s had before and is traditional to the NHL— so I’d be really interested to hear your thoughts on how they perceive her and the relationship. Like, do they clock the difference immediately? Is it more subtle judgment, curiosity, or even discomfort from them and the other wags? And do you think anyone is more openly skeptical than others?
I’m also curious whether they take the relationship seriously at all, or if they just assume it’s a phase — like he’s experimenting or “scratching an itch” and will eventually go back to what they expect from him. You know, that mindset of she’s just the girl he’s having fun with right now, and sooner or later he’ll fall back into his usual patterns.
What do you think Jacks reaction would be to someone not taking it serious or treating her badly I imagine he’s fiercely defensive of her and unwilling to let anyone else diminish what she means to him.(I can just imagine him being like this is Y/N I’ve known her a week she forced me to take my medicine and scratched my hair until I fell asleep I still have her eyelash in a box and the glass from the first date she didn’t agree too. I’ve forced her into a relationship, she doesn’t want to be here but also like me and hates that about herself but if I ever lost her or had anyone speak about her I would kill them and then myself)
Also, you mentioned that fans don’t really pick up on the darker tone in the verse — but do his family and teammates notice it? Like, are there small behavioral changes in Jack that they pick up on but maybe don’t fully understand? Or do they sense something is off with the dynamic and just choose not to get involved ( it’s not like hockey player are famous for that or anything)
And about the Hughes brothers dynamic: I know you often write it as a bit… off or intense in your fics, so I’m curious if it’s similar here. Like, hypothetically, if the reader went to Quinn for help, would he brush her off and go straight back to Jack with it? Or is there any part of him that would hesitate?
Do you see the brothers as being just as morally questionable as Jack, or is he more of an outlier — like the “bad egg” of the family? And with Jack specifically, I know he’s aware of his behavior, but do you think this is something that’s always been in him and he’s been enabled to act on it but never really has and suddenly the reader unintentionally brings out or intensifies in him
Sorry for all the questions — I hope you’re not sick of me in your inbox 😭 I just love this story so much and want to understand your thought process more so when I re-read it (which I already have… like 30 times) it’s even more vivid 🥰💕
please believe me when I say I could never be sick of you in my inbox in general and also bc you love the AW!verse as much as I do and indulge me in it 😭🩷 like genuinely it makes my day to see you in my inbox I’m always so excited, I’m always pulling the Lola Tung “I love this questionnnnn” in my mind 🫂
+ I struggle with deciding if this takes place with what actually happened post-Olympics or an even more fictional universe where the Hughes brothers stfu 😭😭 bc if it’s canon, everyone outside of his family thinks it’s a publicity stunt to rehabilitate his image. No one believes it’s organic in the slightest. But let’s go with the middle ground lol
+ Oh everyone notices immediately. And for Jack to be the one to break from the mold makes it even more noteworthy (if possible). I’ll start with his teammates. They’re in the know months before he hard launches her and even when he does hard launch her, they still don’t really believe his infatuation will last. The other WAGs save for a few (Nina for example) hold Reader at arm’s length for a plethora of reasons (internal biases, assuming Reader won’t be around for long, etc etc), Most of them, alongside their bfs, believe Jack isn’t serious about Reader. They have the mindset like you said of “she’s just the girl he’s having fun with right now, and sooner or later he’ll fall back into his usual patterns.” In their minds, she’s not the woman he’ll stay with for more than a few months much less marry
+ I don’t think anyone Jack knows is brave enough to treat Reader badly or talk badly about her anywhere near him. From what it seems, everyone loves Jack, teammates or not, and no one wants to risk his bad side. If he finds out things are being said privately, well…he’s not afraid of confrontation or embarrassing someone in public so he’s the type to say something about it but not fight about it. Just say his piece, make it known how he feels, and make them feel stupid lol He’s good at boundaries and compartmentalizing so he ends up noticeably colder to those people which then trickles down to other people also treating those people coldly. A really unexciting answer lol but I think just how the hockey world is set up prevents any blowups between players or teammates or even friends of friends. But he never forgives or forgets and he’ll be an asshole about it lmfaoooo
+ His friends are genuinely surprised by how serious Jack is about Reader. They assume she’s a one-off and then she joins them in the summer. But for them, as long as they still have their same Jack, they don’t really care. They quickly learn what Jack is willing to divulge (not a lot) and what he’s not willing to divulge (pretty much everything) and go from there. They talk amongst themselves about how surprising it is that Reader’s not the usual blonde white girl (and not nicely ofc) but abandon that train of thought early on bc Jack won’t take it lightly
+ His parents are more than a little thrown off by Reader tbh. Not enough to say anything because Jack is going to do what Jack is going to do of course but it’s an unexpected development. They don’t treat her any different though than they did to any other girl Jack has brought home. But there are definitely some behind the doors talks between his parents but in a very white liberal way. Reader does win them over pretty early on by virtue of being polite, ‘loving’ Jack, and making Jack a better person so it’s not something his parents think about after that first year
+ ‘this is Y/N I’ve known her a week she forced me to take my medicine and scratched my hair until I fell asleep I still have her eyelash in a box and the glass from the first date she didn’t agree too. I’ve forced her into a relationship, she doesn’t want to be here but also like me and hates that about herself but if I ever lost her or had anyone speak about her I would kill them and then myself’ this is killing me so bad LMFAOOOOO that guy is nuts 😭 everyone can tell he’s intense about her and sometimes he gets this wild eyed look when he thinks she’s being disrespected and the room gets real quiet 💀
+ For the most part, I do think Jack is able to keep what he’s doing and what he’s become under wraps. Reader also tends to go along with whatever Jack wants (to make her life easier) so that works out in his favor in making him look less insane. Sometimes he slips up but those moments are so far and few between that his friends, family, and teammates chalk it up to him being stressed or whatever. They do pick up that he’s obsessive but it’s kind of one of those things people tend to romanticize looking from the outside in so Jack’s able to get away with a lot. And as we’ve seen, hockey players can get away with anything so even if any of these people did pick up the darker tones, no one would feel inclined to intervene unless Jack crossed whatever moral line they held in regards to abusive relationships as sad as that is. The only ones who really pick up that their relationship isn’t what it seems are Quinn and Luke ofc
+ I saved the brothers for last bc whew. You got me with the ‘you often write it as a bit… off or intense in your fics’ AKSJSKSNSN I really do think they’re so weird about each other. Realistically, Reader would never go to either brother for help. She knows where she stands and she also knows that as long as Jack is happy, Quinn and Luke are happy to let him get away with anything. That’s not to say they aren’t sympathetic but their love for Jack trumps all. Besides, everything Jack does is with her in mind so is it really that bad? <- bastards, every single one of them
+ Quinn and Luke are the ones who take to Reader and the relationship the quickest. Luke’s there from the beginning and Jack talks to Quinn sm that Quinn might as well be there himself so they see how quickly Jack goes into the deep end. They raise their eyebrows at Jack deviating so much from his usual type, maybe even tease him a little bit, but they’re supportive from the start. They don’t entertain many of the speculations that come out in private or public. And they know Jack better than anyone. It’s serious to him so it’s serious to them
+ All those brothers are morally questionable lmfao they care about each others happiness and success more than their own 😭 I think Jack feels things a little more deeply than his brothers by virtue of being the middle kid and balancing taking care of Luke while also relying on Quinn to a significant degree. But I think he’s even shocked by how much he feels for Reader. As far as most things go, Jack leads a pretty perfect life. #1 draft pick with the talent to back it up, almost instantly becomes the face of a franchise, gets the golden goal, has a good reputation (or did…), was able to be his own person when entering the league, entered the league at 18 years old and was already making millions by 19, is beloved by everyone in his life, brothers that he would die for and who would die for him no questions asked etc etc like I really could go on and on. So it really is a shock to his system when he meets Reader and wants her attention to be solely on him. He assumes it’ll fade eventually but if anything, that need grows hungrier and hungrier as time goes on
+ The fact that you read AW once blows my mind but for you to reread it too…I could cry 😭😭😭 thank you for loving them as much as I do 😭😭😭🤍🤍🤍
