Work Text:
The alarm clock next to the bed read 3:30 am, and yet sleep eluded Jack. The cause for this was not excitement from the whirlwind of a reunion he had with the Bittles just over an hour prior, not really. Nor was it the digestion of the food he finished not thirty minutes ago. No, the thing that kept sleep away from Jack was really something so simple. So basic, it was just a single word.
“Yet.”
There’s no way Suzanne possibly knew about the ring hidden in the back corner of the top shelf of his closet at home, one Bitty would barely be able to reach even with a stool. There’s no way she was able to read his mind, and how as he and Bitty had walked into the Bittle family home, all he had been able to think about was someday doing this in their own home, one that belonged to the both of them where they lived together. For so long— most of his life, in fact— there was nothing in his life that Jack wanted more than the Stanley Cup, to have a career like his father, but that had all changed. It wasn’t, Jack mused, because he had the cup now. No, it was more like his priorities as a whole had shifted. Where a silver cup and hockey pucks and fresh sheets of ice had once stood tantamount now stood something slight warmer, blonder, and decidedly more Southern.
Sure, they had talked about it. Kind of. Mostly in hushed, late night conversations that treated the future as something so nebulous and far away that it barely registered as something real. But for some reason, the way that Suzanne had said that single “yet” tonight, with such flippancy and certainty at the same time, that the two of them eventually getting married was going to happen somewhere down the road, an inevitability without question, made those late-night conversations seem so much more concrete, so real in a way that even the ring never had.
Jack wanted that future Suzanne Bittle clearly saw more than anything, oh boy did he want.
Perhaps the warm welcome he had received was the catalyst for this tumult of emotions a single word had sent him into. After all, for so long Bitty’s parents had been a roadblock between him and the nebulous “future” in front of them. For the first year of their relationship, it had been that his parents didn’t know the truth about him let alone Jack. And then after The Kiss, there was the uncertainty about how the Bittles really felt about the whole situation, about how welcome Bitty would be at home now that they knew the truth. But here was finally the proof that not only did Bitty’s parents still love him without question, but also that Jack was welcome in their house —quite literally— with open arms. The fears that had plagued Bitty for so long were finally proven false, and he was finally able to step forward towards his future. A future Jack hoped included himself.
In some ways, the “yet” spoken that day by Suzanne was the culmination of all those thoughts and fears and hopes and struggles that had plagued both of them for years and had finally been laid to rest. It was permission, in a way, and acceptance that they could have a future together. Jack knew that even had the Bittles not reacted well to their son coming out that Bitty would have done what he wanted without their support. But they hadn’t reacted that way, and Bitty following his heart wouldn’t mean leaving his parents behind. He wouldn’t have to choose between his parents and Jack, and that more than anything filled Jack’s heart with warmth.
Sure, the reunion tonight had been a bit awkward. But that was inevitable to happen when meeting your significant other’s parents for the first time as their partner regardless of the gender of either party. But Jack would be damned if he wasn’t going to take advantage of the welcome he had already received to work on his relationship with Suzanne and Richard Bittle. Because if that “yet” was ever going to become a “now,” things would go better for everyone involved if Jack had a good relationship with his (hopefully) future in-laws. Was it going to be awkward and embarrassing? Absolutely. Was Jack probably going to want to crawl under a rock at some point and never come out? Almost assuredly. Was Bitty worth it? There was nothing in this world Jack was more certain about.
But for now, that future was still a “yet,” and Jack still had work to do. With a smile, he turned over and finally let sleep take him as he planned how to get closer to Bitty’s parents over the next couple days. But let it be known that if nothing else, Jack Zimmermann worked harder than God.