having feelings about pimms but if Jack never dropped out of the draft so they don't break up so they continue to have a not so healthy relationship bc neither of them got the character building from canon and what if they came out together like jack and bitty bc parallels but they were super messy bc jack never went to rehab and Kent never got his cat or the hockey team equivalent of timeout away from jack to think about his crimes and they never figure out how to stop constantly competing against each other but also the world or how to address their own issues

basically what if they were stuck with each other and rotted each other from the inside out

wingman au

The third time Jack commented on his form, Kent exhaled and put down the weights, sitting up on the bench.

“Why are you here?” he asked.

“I’m not,” Jack told him.

“You know what I mean.”

Jack shrugged. “Ask yourself. You can stop this anytime.”

Kent frowned and ignored that answer. He wasn’t interested in letting go or being told that he was the one who needed to do it. It was much easier to think that this was all Jack’s fault.

After all, it was all Jack’s fault.

“Whatever,” he said, lying back down. “If you’re going to be here, count my reps.” 

This was usually the part where Jack grilled him on what he was lifting, or told him to drink water, or commented on the sweet gym setup that the Aces had going for their players. That was the kind of white noise that Jack’s presence normally rounded out to be, and Kent didn’t mind it, not really. Jack was around because of course he was. 

Then he always had to go and ruin it. 

“If you drop that on yourself, it’s going to break your neck,” Jack said.

“So spot me.”

“That would be tricky.”

Jack said it casually, matter of fact, and it pissed Kent right the fuck off.

He hated when Jack did that. If he was haunting Kent, which he was, always playing the same rotation of rock music that lived in the CD folder of his car at weird hours in Kent’s apartment and showing up in every corner of the Aces HQ, then he could learn some after-life manners. And if he was a trick of Kent’s imagination, some weird psychological hangup because Kent needed him, which he did, then he could do Kent a favour and stop reminding him that he wasn’t real. 

Neither was an option, though, Kent knew that. Jack never could pass up a lecture.

Kent heard the door open across the room.

“Hey, Parser,” Troy said, walking up to him in his gym gear. “You need a spotter? You shouldn’t do that alone.”

I’m good, he almost said, but Jack was standing over his shoulder, a know-it-all expression on his face.

“See?” Jack said, insufferably. 

Shut up, he wanted to say. He didn’t, only because Swoops would think he was crazy for it.

So Kent had spent the last four months seeing his dead best friend everywhere he went. That didn’t mean he was crazy. Not officially, anyway. You needed a doctor to sign a piece of paper for that, and he wasn’t going within ten feet of one.

In the end, he let Jeff Troy stand in Jack’s place, making sure he didn’t trap himself under a barbell if he dropped it. 

He counted the reps himself, silently, alongside a familiar song that was stuck in his head.

Yes, I’ve done the work analyzing this relationship’s problematic traits and I’ve come to the educated conclusion that I still want them to fuck

kent’s love is “I’m coming back for you, I promise” and jack’s response is “I won’t be here” and I’m supposed to be normal???

year 2 AU Jack goes with Parse after the kegster

Kent owns exactly 2 mugs with some ridiculous hockey pun on it and one is shoved in the very back of his cabinets because he doesn’t know how to give it to Jack

Jack has a sweater in his closet for a school he’s never been to. There’s a slip of paper tucked in a book with a message on it. A friendship bracelet still tied to his old bag.

Jack has a charm on his Keychain. It’s part of a set. He doesn’t remember what the other one looks like.

Kent has half a puck tucked away on a shelf. He has still has the receipt from the first time they snuck out to eat lunch. There's a scar on the side of his leg from when they wrestled near a coffee table.

Jack has half a puck in his childhood bedroom. There's a novelty hat from the place they always went to eat. There a box of bandaids half empty in the night stand.

Lost focus and had a consensual workplace relationship.

You do not mess with a man’s pregame ritual.  It is a sacred and honored tradition, and everyone knows that interfering with the ritual comes at a hefty cost.  Still, when the world around you changes, you have to make changes as well.

Jack Zimmermann must have his peanut butter and jelly sandwich before each game, but he knew that things weren’t quite right.  He knew it was not the type of bread, or the smoothness of the peanut butter, or the flavor of the jelly that felt out of place. He knew what was missing, but despite it all, he kept trying.  One knife-full of jelly.  Two knife-fulls of peanut butter.  Three strokes to spread it together.  Exactly the way he memorized it, but he knew it was never quite right.

Until one day Jack sat down and pulled a sandwich out of his bag.  It was wrapped in white parchment with small note signed with some kind words and a heart.  It was made with sweet honey-oat bread, crunchy gourmet peanut butter, and homemade pluot jam.  From the very first bite, Jack knew it was the perfect sandwich, not because of what was in it, but because for the first time in years, he did not have to make it himself.

Jack was satisfied, and the ritual was complete.

—

You do not mess with a man’s pregame ritual.  The Aces understood why Kent Parson must have his peanut butter and jelly sandwich before each game.

But they wondered why he always made two.

so @bittysthesis sent me this post with this tag....

@samwellparse I take jackparse suggestions very seriously

AU where jack and parse keep hooking up after the overdose

[ID: DMs between Check Please characters Jack Zimmermann and Kent Parson. Jack says, I can’t go to therapy they’ll tell me to stop fucking you.” Kent replies, “omg. Omg???????” End ID.]

@shortbutsopassionate Okokokok talk to me about the first place Jack would take Kent on his first visit to Montreal. Like the first spot jack needs him to see.

(in the “they both loved each other au”,) jack and kent bus out to the mile end. 

“this far to go get bagels? really?” kent whines 

jack playfully hits him. “itll be worth it. just wait.anyways, you know how my dad gets.” bad bob had specifically asked for these fairmount bagels. 

“fine,” kent says, and leans his head against jack’s shoulder. a few minutes later they get off at a street corner. jack leads him down a few blocks and then stops him right as he’s about to cross the street. jack points to a building on the opposite corner. theres an deppaneur on the first floor and what seems to be an apartment with a small balcony on the second. there’s a “for rent” sign in the window.

“there,” jack says. 

“there what?” kent asks

“that’s where we move in. we skip the draft, we change our names and we move in.”

:youre ridiculous,” kent says as he tries to move forward but jack puts out his arm and stops him.  

“we’ll get jobs as janitors or dish washers or whatever else we can find,” he says, getting more excited.

“we get a dog,” kent adds 

“we get a rescue,” jack says. “ we’ll grow terrible facial hair and we join a shitty beer league that plays at mcconnell areana. when it’s late at night we’ll go out to the rink in jeance meance parc and skate until the sun rise.” 

“yeah, when it isn’t -30 fucking degrees,” kent jokes, 

“yeah,” jack says quietly

“yeah,” kent repeats wistfully. 

they stand there for about a minute, imagining this secret, impossible life. 

“anyways, we should get going,” jack says as he starts to walk. 

“yeah,” kent says quietly, still looking at the second story apartment. 

something something jack and kent were meant to be but not built to last

Reblogging my own tags about this post because it still gives me feelings