@providencefalconers / providencefalconers.tumblr.com
ok so I know everyone thinks bitty is the worst secret boyfriend in the world but let’s be real:
it’s jack. the worst secret boyfriend in the world is jack.
ok also: this was probably bitty’s first kiss. and even if it wasn’t his very first, it’s still THEIR first kiss, and a surprise kiss which tends to be messy and complicated, especially with that extreme height difference so just like—
imagine them bumping noses, or bitty moving forward onto his tip toes and accidentally stepping on jack’s foot, or drool becoming a slight problem. or jack quickly being out of breath bc he literally just ran across campus, or bitty’s nose being gross and snotty from crying, or any of the myriad things that can go wrong in a kiss.
and one of those things happens, one of those silly setbacks, but they’re both so giddy and happy, and they just! start laughing!
bc it’s so ridiculous. like what, is their life a romcom? why did jack run across campus instead of calling? and bitty has to get on a plane! it’s so ridiculous but so absolutely lovely, and both of them are so unbelievably pleased and surprised (jack bc he realized this ten minutes ago and bitty bc he never expected this to happen). and it’s just sweet & real & flawed & they have so much to work out but just can’t not try. so they kiss again (and again and again) until bitty has to go to the airport, still beaming, unable to control how happy he is
another thing I love about zimbits bc I am overwhelmed:
bitty is canonically a talker. he talks when he’s nervous. he talks when he’s happy. sometimes, he just talks to talk. hell, he has an entire vlog dedicated to him talking (and occasionally baking)
and jack is just?? not?? jack doesn’t talk. jack doesn’t have the words & often doesn’t have the desire to say them. jack is a stoic canadian hockey robot who struggles to express his feelings.
which is why I love that each of their ways-to-share-their-feelings reflected that so well? like, bitty internally drafted speeches. he hugged jack, but what he really wanted to do was say something (before he chickened out). that’s how he imagined things going.
but jack? jack didn’t need to say anything. he literally said two words that entire update. he said bittle twice, and then, just before he kissed him, he called him bitty. and bitty, for all his desire to talk, understood that that meant something. jack, for only the second time (and the first that bitty heard), called him by his nickname. and after that long speech bubble, bitty fell silent. he fell silent so that jack could express his feelings the only way he’s capable of — through touch.
this update was everything I needed and more:
god this UPDATE:
more update feelings:
I was just reading that omgcp extra that was an excerpt from The Swallow's "50 most beautiful" issue with someone literally interviewing Jack about his astounding beauty and Jack is just all calm and media-polite ("It’s nice. Thank you. It’s always great when people have good things to say about you. I appreciate it.") and probs not even flustered but in the bookplates on Ngozi's instagram he's blushing SO MUCH bc of Bitty and I'm dead dead dead help me please.
honestly, I feel like the reason jack doesn’t get flustered around the swallow reporters is because he doesn’t really believe it? jack has heard that kind of syrupy-sweet gossip reporter stuff a lot, and he’s learned that there’s often a hard edge behind it. maybe they’re buttering him up or the compliments are back-handed. even if they aren’t, it’s hard for him to feel complimented when he’s doing everything he can not to feel completely miserable and harassed.
actually, it’s hard for jack to feel complimented period. we know that he’s always pushing himself to be better and that he never thinks he’s good enough. there’s no real confirmation that this spreads to his looks, but I don’t see why not. jack was an ugly baby & fat kid born to two beautiful, famous parents. before he blossomed into the hockey adonis he is today, I don’t doubt that he got a lot of shit for the way he looked. it was just one more way he didn’t stack up.
I think that’s part of why shitty compliments jack’s appearance so much more than anyone else’s. yeah, jack is hot, but shitty also knew jack when he was even rawer than he is now. he probably picked up on jack’s insecurity and enthusiastically attempted to correct it.
still, after hearing shitty’s dramatic compliments for a while, they lose their power. he believes them in a logical sort of way — he knows he’s hot because people keep telling him he is. but he doesn’t always feel it.
with bitty, though…
bitty doesn’t have to compliment jack. he just looks up at him with big eyes even wider than usual, and jack feels special. he sneaks cookies into his baggage, and jack feels cared for. and when he and bitty actually start going out, and bitty starts saying and doing all the little things he’s been holding back, jack starts to feel really attractive. and so he starts to blush.
reasons I love the zimbits background scenes in a:
so like…does bitty come from money? i mean obviously he can’t be super wealthy bc he counts on his scholarship for samwell so much, but i was just thinking, he must have money in order to pay for all his baking supplies, and it’s not like we ever hear about him having a job. he might tho, which is another cute thing to consider altogether. little bitty with an on campus job. putting books in order at the library or swiping cards in the dining hall
ngozi said in a livestream once that all the cp boys come from some degree of privilege bc they’re able to go to samwell. I’m guessing that’s less so for dex, though, bc of the whole lobster boat thing.
bitty’s dad is a high school football coach in the south. we typically associate being a teacher with not having a lot of money, but high school football coaches actually make an average of like $60k a year. in georgia, there’s at least 17 who make six figure salaries. idk if that’s coach, but regardless, he could easily make more than the average. with the higher salary + bitty being an only child, it seems like he’s middle/upper middle class. not rich enough to go to samwell without a scholarship, but not exactly struggling either.
question of the day: when did jack decide to give chowder his dibs?
in case you didn’t realize how strong the parallels were between samwell vs. yale part one and the update, let’s just take a look at these fuckin panels
let me tell you something I have discovered and cannot stop thinking about: Jack probably makes a conscious effort to call Eric “Bittle” instead of “Bitty”
you asked why jack deliberately calls bitty bittle, so here are my thoughts!
I think it started out as him not wanting to fully accept bitty as part of the team. we know jack didn’t really like that he was playing, and I’m sure that a part of him knew it was very possible bitty would be cut despite the checking lessons. bitty’s hockey nickname signifies that he’s a member of the team. by not using it, jack didn’t really acknowledge that. as time went on, I think jack started to see bitty more and more as a member of the team and as a potential friend, which is when I think he started subconsciously referring to him as bitty. this could also be a consequence of bitty being around more — bitty is better friends with the other members of the team, he’s in the haus more often, jack starts to see him as more of a member of the team, and he starts inwardly calling him bitty. of course, we had to find this out for the first time at the most dramatic possible moment.
in year two, I think it’s a lot more complicated. I could be totally off the mark here, but I disagree on the idea that jack always calls bitty by his nickname inside his head. I think jack sort of subconsciously splits bitty between ‘member of my team’ and ‘romantic interest’ although those lines are very thin and intersect all the time. like, ‘bitty’ is everyone’s nickname for bitty, but as they get closer, bittle becomes jack’s own personal nickname for bitty? it becomes a personal signifier that this is something more than just a dude on his team. we can see this in when jack uses ‘bitty’ outside the first time. in epikegster, he’s referring to how other people perceive him. the notes are a little more complicated, but I think it’s probably just one of those moments where jack sees bitty as more of a teammate.
one of the reasons I think this distinction is real is because ngozi’s put a lot of effort into bitty’s different nicknames. it feels significant that each part of bitty’s life calls him by something different — his team calls him bitty, his romantic interest calls him bittle, his mom calls him dicky, and his dad calls him junior. I think calling bitty bittle instead of bitty kind of differentiates him from the rest of the team in jack’s mind, and it also signifies to the audience that this relationship has a different meaning than the others. we see that jack calls bitty ‘bittle’ and we can tell there’s a different emotional weight there.
anyway, that’s just my two cents! feel free to think I’m completely wrong
this scene makes me so emotional bc like... imagine jack going up to his room to grab his camera and coming back outside to find bitty super drunk and just taking selfie after selfie. duck lips. peace sign. smile. serious. jack takes his camera out and snaps like 4 pics of bitty before he notices. when bitty does notice, he chirps jack and then drunkenly poses for another pic, which jack takes laughing. shitty sees them and starts chirping jack for doing homework, which the whole team picks up. the conversation quickly moves on except for bitty, who keeps good-naturedly chirping jack and looking at him with the biggest heart eyes. they stay together for the rest of the night, jack snapping pics whenever he has the chance.
ALSO the frogs continue to kill it in this update like:
ok so I have too much hw to do to spend more than a minute on that update but:
I’m like 90% sure that this attic vs. roaches thing is foreshadowing a captain conflict. first of all, holster and ransom being on the opposite sides of an argument is completely unheard of, and I can’t imagine that it has nothing to do with the fact that they’re (theoretically) competing for a position next year. secondly, holster made sure to call ransom ‘mature and leader-y,’ which should be a compliment but actually made him look... really sad? he said ‘dude quit,’ which could just be him being humble, but he looked too upset for that to be his reasoning. with that in mind, I’m pretty sure that either
a: holster has a fantasy scenario where both he and ransom are captains, but ransom doesn’t want to be captain. ransom is REALLY busy and hockey doesn’t seem to be quite as much of a priority as his education; it wouldn’t surprise me to see him prioritize his already massive educational responsibilities. meanwhile, holster’s always praised rans so much that I can’t imagine he’d see rans as being unqualified/unable to handle the business
or b: holster wants just rans to be captain, and rans doesn’t want to be captain. I think holster would ENJOY being captain, and I think he probably secretly wants to be captain no matter what, but I wouldn’t be surprised if behind all holster’s bravado he’s actually unsure of himself and doesn’t believe he could be captain.
in either case, this could be a really touching narrative arc where hols/rans have some honest conversations and begin to understand the ways that their lives/life goals are different. this would be an excellent set-up for a senior year where they have to face the reality of living lives apart from each other. personally, though, I prefer the second option, just because I’d love for holster to get some serious individual character work
either way, I’m sure playoffs will be emotionally devastating... again
ok so impressions from the update:
ok so I have a lot of capital-F Feelings about jack zimmermann + physicality
