Jack didn’t quite know what to do. He had a new phone that worked, but it lacked the presence of Bitty and felt wrong. His old one, which had pictures, videos, contact information, was tucked safely into his pocket even though it didn’t have a chance in hell at contacting home. Apparently. That’s what they’d told him, when he sat in that chair, numb to everything around him.
That had been an hour ago, and he was still numb, just now sitting outside of the office, in the heat. They’d told him to post on the network, and Jack had just stared at them. That was Bitty’s thing, social media. He’d never been a fan of the public attention, and left that to the people around him. Introducing himself to a bunch of strangers sounded like the opposite of what he wanted to do.
He hadn’t thought to ask if anyone was there. It was a mistake he’d regretted since leaving the office, but Jack had too much anxiety building up in him to turn around and go back in, so he just sat on that park bench in the middle of the city, staring at everything.
Someone blue had walked by. Holy shit. This couldn’t be real.
Others, humans, people with pointed ears, figures that looked like they walked right out of Lord of the Rings loitered around, paying no mind to the canadian looking incredibly out of place and uncomfortable. Some of them walked in and out of the little shops ahead of him, quaint things like bookstores and Apothecaries. None of which he had any interest in.
It was pure luck that he looked up from this foreign, evil phone, to see a familiar, decidedly not evil blonde head. Maybe he was seeing things, maybe he looked like a fool as Jack shot to his feet and took a step forward. “Bitty? Bittle—”
Bitty was busy, and that was how he liked it. By staying busy that meant he didn't have to think about how decidedly word everything was. He was coping, attempting to find the upside in the strange unknown entity that was Vallo. Start a pie club? No problem! Rally a hockey team together? Sure! Schedule himself to bake desserts for Rose Apothecary on a monthly basis? Why not! Bake a wedding cake for a newly engaged couple? Of course. Allow himself to be hired for a fantasy masquerade ball—well, that was taking a while to settle in, but he was doing it. Eric Bittle was small but his determination was unmatched.
It also hid all the sadness he had festering below the surface of missing everyone. Long distance had never been an issue; Bitty was well-versed on every sort of social media, video-chatting, skype-calling application that had existed to stay connected. But that didn't work when you were in an alternate universe. Bitty had no weekly calls with his mama. He had no late-night group chat musing about the evolution of Beyonce's music. And most of all, Bitty lacked every iteration of Jack in his life. No calls, no broadcasts, no nothing.
So Bitty baked. To not think about that gaping absence.
This led him currently to shop for ingredients for a devilishly rich coconut cream pie recipe he wanted to make (and maybe try adding almonds to the crust, with a dark chocolate drizzle—but no, he couldn't get ahead of himself) when he heard someone call his name. Hope blossomed instantly in his chest as he saw the one person he had wanted to see, always.
"Jack? Jack, sweetheart—" Bitty was running that last bit of distance and literally throwing himself around Jack. Not an illusion. Not a stress-induced baking accident. Just solid, warm, perfect Jack Zimmermann in his arms.
It wasn’t the first time Jack had caught Eric Bittle running into his arms. Not even the sixth time. It was still easy to do, his hands could span Bitty’s waist and give him the extra inches he needed so they could kiss, practically mid-air. It wasn’t until after the kiss that the reality of being in public hit him, and he made a little noise into Bitty’s neck.
It hadn’t even been that long since he’d seen his fiancee. A few hours? But there had been that deep onset panic that he was here alone and that had made Jack retreat into himself a little. One minute he had been going over real estate and talking about wedding planning options, the next he was here and away from that.
Having Bitty launch himself into Jack’s arms helped. He may have leaned away, but he didn’t let go. “I thought— I should have asked but—” Guilt set in, about not asking if Bitty was there, and his face flushed. “This is wild. Are you sure this is real and not a fever dream?”
Bitty couldn't even hide his smile as he kissed Jack. It had only been a few weeks, and when crunch time for the postseason hit and finals and everything they had been apart for way longer. But this was different, and Bitty tucked Jack in as close as possible. He had gotten very good at tuning the public out, and this was no exception.
And okay, if he got a little teary-eyed, Bitty didn't mind either. His fiance was here, looking just as confused and in shock as Bitty had been on his first day. Pie could wait.
"Oh honey, I promise it's not. I thought the same thing for a few days after I got here. It's been so—" Lonely, Bitty wanted to say lonely, but instead he placed a hand on Jack's cheek, and did the softest touch with his thumb, a gentle back and forth. It was the little things that he had missed, and Bitty was ready to cry with happiness all over again.
"You are not going to believe that I've been here a month. That's nearly a whole conference worth of playoffs." Bitty paused, leaned up against to kiss Jack, and then back down. "Do they have you at Morningside? We should have them change your room if it's not with me. Did you watch the video? Have you posted on the network yet? No, that's silly. I would have heard the notification. I have it set up to chirp if you or any of the boys reach out."
Jack closed his eyes and let his lips rest against Bitty’s forehead. For a few seconds, anyway, it was usually impossible for Bitty to be less animated when he was excited, but Jack couldn’t complain. It was one of the (many) things he loved about his fiance. He did give himself a moment to catch up, trying to take in everything Bitty was rambling about and in the end, he had to put up a hand.
“Wait-- Bits-- Bitty. One thing at a time.” A month. That was wild, he’d just seen Bitty that morning, before Jack had left to go shopping with Suzanne, and now he was being briefed on magic and fantasy. He was positive he looked dumbfounded and ridiculous, but tried to focus on each and every one of Bitty’s questions.
“A month. I- okay, skipping that for now. I think so? We can tell them. Yeah it was--” He thought about the video they’d put in front of him and Jack was almost certain Shitty had found his way into Georgia and laced his morning eggs with LSD by that point. “Reminded me of something Ransom and Holster would do.” At the network, he winced. “No. Do I have to?”
Bitty loved watching Jack sort through all of his questions—some serious, some just outward musings, some just a to-do list of things that would need to happen. It made his heart swell a hundred times more that his fiance was so attentive, even when he was barely a few hours into this strange, new, exciting, and absolutely terrifying world.
"I wish they were here. I wish they were all here, but it's just me and now you, honey," Bitty said, rubbing his hand up and down Jack's arm, in an attempt to be comforting. It was a lot to absorb, and while Bitty had baking to keep him occupied and not stress over goblins as baristas and hover cars, hockey wasn't exactly standard fare in Vallo.
"You don't have to post on the network, I would never make you, but everyone is just so helpful there, because they are all in the same boat as us, and that's how I got my job!" Bitty said, pleased and a little excited. He couldn't wait to introduce Jack to Alexis and Brigitte, for the sheer amount his fiance was dropped into conversation everyday. "And you'll eventually have to meet the hockey team I pulled together. They're a little rough around the edges but you'll like them."
Jack’s knees were getting weak in the way they would have if he’d found out he was banned from the NHL, or if hockey was canceled, in comparison to the way he felt weak when Bitty whispered things in his ear or dragged him off to bed. Two different weaknesses, and he could say with certainty that he preferred the latter.
“Job?” He was at least thankful that people were there for Bitty, if their usual suspects couldn’t. Bitty had always been more dependent on others than Jack had been, there was a pang of annoyance at the idea that this place - this magic - would keep him from his mother. “Hockey team?” He sounded weak now, as if he was finally catching up to just how much had changed just by being here.
He instantly felt kind of lame, for not keeping up and blew out a heavy breath so he could get with the times. He followed that up with a forced little smirk, directed down at the blonde head below his chin. “Does that mean this gets easier to adjust to? If you’re starting a hockey league and not just baking 300 pies.”
"Oh, sweetpea," Bitty said, smiling back. He saw that lost look on Jack's face, and Bitty knew he would be dealing with it for a while. But this might have been the first time, in the whole month that he had been here, that Bitty felt good about having a 'head start'. He could be Jack's guide, distract him when something brain-breaking used the crosswalk. Or feed him a warm slice of pie while someone talked about vicious giant seahorses. It would all work out.
"I have also baked 300 pies. But most of them were for new people, or Brigitte, or for the Apothecary, I do a monthly menu now." Not that Bitty needed an excuse, but one was spilling out of him. "Also, there's a pie club. You don't have to go if you don't want to, honey, but it's something else happening here that magic."
A thought—deadly and devastating, a reminder from others on the network—crept up into his mind. He placed a hand delicately over his mouth, as if to hold back a gasp of fear. "You remember proposing, right?" Bitty asked, then quickly added, "It's alright if you don't! I'm not trying to put pressure on you if you're not ready." Oh, how was he going to explain timelines to Jack when he barely understood them himself?
That finally earned a quiet laugh from Jack, something soothing in all of this was Bitty still being himself. He knew his fiance’s tendency to stress bake - it had only really been a point of contention during finals and writing his thesis - and in this case, it was a comfort. “That’s my Bittle.” Jack had always done his best to let Bitty talk himself around into a circle of what he wanted. It wasn’t that Jack wasn’t interested in speaking his mind - he did when it was something involving both of them or more leaning towards Jack - but he’d learned Bitty’s process over the years they’d been together.
The proposal whiplash did make the smile fade and his eyebrows creased together in worry. “Um,” of course he remembered proposing to Bitty. And the fainting spell on center ice. And the celebrations after.
But also Jack needed a little teasing right now, not worry. He didn’t like that it was even a potential of that happening, but it’s not like it would have changed them in the future, Jack had known what he wanted for a long time. “Does that mean you don’t remember the wedding? Georgia heat, the carnations looked … nice. Soft classical music.” He was going to get pinched, he knew it.
Bitty sucked in a sharp breath when he watched Jack's smile fade. Oh no. This was terrible, horrible, Bitty just made everything more complicated, which he never wanted to do for Jack. He wanted to take it all back, but he also knew the stress of not knowing would tear him up inside.
That was until Jack asked if Bitty didn't remember their wedding. Thank the Lord, Jack gave himself away by mentioning the dreaded carnations.
"Jack Laurent Zimmermann! How dare you!" Bitty said, exasperated and also incredibly fond, and pinched at Jack's side. The relief that swelled in his teasing meant that he remembered the proposal and that they hadn't got married yet. Bitty thought his heart might break at the thought of missing his own wedding. Or worse, leaving Jack alone to plan the wedding without him.
"You know it's going to be in the fall because I would never want y'all to sweat through your tuxes and we will do our first entrance together to Beyonce's Love on Top without a single carnation in sight. Oh goodness, how could you even tease me like that!" He dragged Jack down for another kiss instead.
Bingo. Jack was smiling as he was dragged into the kiss, not a single complaint to be had. About this. He still had a lot of complaints otherwise, but not as far as Bitty was concerned, never as far as Bitty was concerned. When he pulled back, the puzzled eyebrows were back, and he squinted down at Bitty. “Wait, does that mean you finally decided between that and Crazy in Love?”
It wasn’t Jack’s fault that he looked just a little proud at remembering the name of that song. But then he’d spent time listening to the potential playlist music just in case something had come up about it and he had a chance to flex his knowledge.
He hadn’t expected it to be alternate-universe and magical travel.
That was the way of panic attack, and Jack let his forehead drop to rest against Bitty’s. “Okay, but, you’re sure I didn’t take a puck to the head?”
"Crazy in Love is iconically Beyonce, but after some consideration, it's more of a—Jack! You remembered!" Bitty's whole face lit up with excitement. If he could physically make heart eyes at Jack Zimmermann, he would, right now. His fiance was accurately recounting the names of Queen B titles without any prompting from him Oh, Bitty was so in love with him—maybe even more so in this moment.
He bumped his nose against Jack's as their foreheads touched. Bitty could think of nothing more that he would like to do than stay in the comfort and closeness of Jack. But they were also on the sidewalk of a semi-busy area of Vallo, and the potential to run into not normal things in an attempt to normalize the situation for his fiance was counterproductive.
"I swear, honey, no pucks to the head, at least I don't think so," Bitty said so carefully, smoothing down the side of Jack's hair. "Let me take you to Morningside? I'll give you ice, just to be sure. And I have a pecan pie cooling on the counter that I can feed you a slice of. But all of this will still be the same after, except now you're here so it's better than before."
Jack was always a little selfishly pleased when his own research worked out to his benefit. His face didn’t really show it, but his mouth did quirk up at Bitty just enough.
And then he desperately hoped there would be no more questions or comments because that had been the extent of his knowledge as far as Beyonce was concerned. There was the reminder that they were in public, and his stomach lurched as Jack looked up and around at everything. No one clamoring for a picture or invading their privacy, which was nice, but everything was strange and different enough that he gulped audibly.
“Haha, alright. Yeah- Let’s- I could go for some pecan pie.” He said it his usual way, sure to fire up Bitty and give Jack something to focus on. “Lead the way, Bits.”