kennyvparse

[kennyvparse]

#1Kent

So, I was gonna post this fic on his birthday, but it took wayyy longer to code than I realized.

ANYWAY.

Here it is!

Enjoy!

One more chapter coming eventually!

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that feeling when you're looking at a fic for so long before posting that you start to kind of hate it

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Writing this fic has been very chill.

Coding this fic has been very unchill.

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a very lazy drawing of kenny <3

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So, I have 3 more prompts for my 34 perfect days of Kent Parson writing thing I've been doing, but instead I'm gonna take the next three days to work on the fic that I want to get posted on his birthday. I will probably post those three prompts after.

Thanks to everyone who has been reading so far!

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 30: Heart

"Hey, Kenny," Jack said as soon as he answered the video call.

Kent smiled at the sight of Jack and brought the box he had grabbed from his front door in view. "Look what I just got."

"Oh, what is that?"

Kent scoffed and turned the box around, zooming in on the sender. "I thought we weren't getting each other anything, Zimms," he said fondly. Which was a lie because had also already sent something to Jack. It was supposed to get there tomorrow. He should have paid for the expedited shipping.

"I'd feel bad if I didn't know you had sent something too," Jack said. He waited for Kent to adjust his camera so he could see more of Kent's face. "Besides. It's our first Valentine's day since we got back together. It felt wrong to not send you something."

"It would've been better if you were here instead," Kent said sadly. But he understood. They'd see each other in a few days when Jack's team headed East.

"I wish I was there too," Jack lamented. "So. Are you going to open it?"

Kent shook his head. "No. I'll wait until tomorrow," he said.

"You can open it now. I wrapped most of it so you won't see it. I just want to see one of the cards in it. I put it right on the top of everything."

"One card?" Kent asked. "Why did you need to give me more than one card?"

"Because I wanted to. Now, open it," Jack said.

"Bossy," Kent said. He grabbed his keys and was careful to cut the tape. He didn't want to damage anything in the box. He opened it up and felt his cheeks warm when he saw how carefully everything was wrapped and put into the box. He saw a small card on top. "This is what you wanted me to see?"

"Guy's daughter had a box full of them for her classmates. I saw that one and thought of you. She was very kind to let me have it. As long as I gave it to you."

Kent laughed. It was a valentine with a cat on the front holding a heart surrounded by text that said "You're my purrfect Valentine." He opened it up and saw Jack had written a short note in it, and also put a lollipop into the candy holding slot. "Cute," he said after he was sure his voice worked after getting a little choked up.

"The cat looks like Kit," Jack said excitedly. "The message on the front was good too."

Kent's smile matched Jack's. It was always so nice to see Jack so happy. He pulled the lollipop from the card and turned it around so he could show Jack the message inside. "Love you too," Kent said with a smile.

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 29: Snippet #4

“Did Noah teach you that?” Pierre-Louis asked from the trainer table.

“What?”

“That take down. That has Noah written all over it.”

“Shut up,” Kent said, blushing. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Probably out for the next few games, though. Protocol.”

“Okay,” Kent said with a sigh, running his fingers through his damp hair.

“Hey,” Pierre-Louis said, reaching out to tap Kent’s arm. “I’m fine. Thanks for sticking up for me.”

“Anytime.”

“I’m gonna tweet a clip of that takedown to your cousin.” His phone seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

“Stop talking about my cousin,” Kent said, snatching Pierre-Louis’ phone out of his hand. “If you have a concussion, no screens.”

“Who is his cousin?” Jeff asked.

“What?”

“Sycs, don’t.”

“Don’t what? Noah is so important.”

“That’s the concussion talking.”

“Ken Doll, come on. They gotta know about Noah.”

“No, they don’t. Shut up and I’ll give you those pineapple gummies they left when they came to visit when we were away.”

Pierre-Louis smiled. “You’re so nice to me.”

“Yeah. Whatever.”

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 28: Would

"We should help him, right?" Jeff asked, watching Jack run around the rink with twenty kids chasing after him.

"Zimms got this," Kent said, leaning against the boards and watching with a huge smile on his face.

"Parser," Jeff said, scolding.

"What?" Kent asked. "I'm doing this for science."

"Science."

"Yeah. Every year someone in the media asks us how many five year olds it would take to take down an NHL player. Now I get to know. I always answer like twelve. That's more than twelve."

Jeff laughed. "You know we do want him to come back," he replied. "Like, it's his first year helping us out. We want him to come back."

Kent smirked as Jack looked back, surrounded. "Swoops. He's coming back no matter what," he said fondly as a few of the kids grabbed his arms to pull Jack down.

"Okay. Still," Jeff said, "we should help him. That's a lot of little kids trying to grab him."

"I would, Swoops," Kent said. "But, you know, still recovering from. That wrist thing in April." He even held up his previously injured wrist for emphasis.

"You're the worst," Jeff said, watching the little kids close in on Jack.

"Kenny! Help!"

And, okay, maybe it was a little dangerous now. Cute, but dangerous. He pushed off the boards and skated to the opposite side of the rink. "Careful!" Kent said. "No jumping. Don't pull on his hair. Nobody move, we don't want anyone to hurt themselves."

He began pulling the kids off of Jack one by one, taking count of the kids as he did. Though he wondered if the answer would be different if Jack and the kids had been wearing their skates instead of shoes.

He would figure it out at a later date.

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 27: Spade

Portzy: What else is there to say about Kent Parson? Ever the consummate guest on our show. He's funny. Wicked smart. And a fucking beaut.

It's always refreshing to hear him be real with us at the end of the season. To hear him disappointed with how the season ended. And then finding out he'd been playing the last month of the season injured.

But an injured Kent Parson is still good enough that the other 31 teams would still kill to have him on their team.

That's what happens when you're the best player in the league. Which is not up for discussion. Until someone has won as much as he has, he is the best player in the league.

Which, by the way, is another reason to hate him. Because he's good at hockey. He's good looking. Just an all around good dude.

He's got everything going for him. How are us mere mortals ever going to compare?

Yes, Coco?

Coco: I guess you could say that he has looks, personality, and skills in spades? Because, you know. He's an Ace. And their jersey--

Portzy: It's not good if you have to explain it, Coco.

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 26: Gold

Kent Parson was a little different compared to his brothers. Kent would say he was different because they were so much older than he was. Different generations and whatnot. It wasn't a lie. His brother closest in age was ten years older than him. By the time Kent was starting preschool, his oldest brother had already graduated high school.

But he learned a lot from them. Mostly his love of sports as his brothers were standouts in different sports from basketball to football to baseball to tennis and much, much more. And his competitiveness. Even though he was the youngest of five boys, they never let him get anything easy.

Kent would often say that instilling that competitive spirit in him early was how he got to where he was today.

The Parson boys were so similar that they would often receive comments that they were clones of each other.

Except Kent.

Because while the four older Parson boys were all brown hair, brown eyed boys, Kent came back from the hospital with blonde hair and gray-ish eyes. If Kent didn't look exactly like his older brothers when they were born, everyone would have wondered if they had brought the wrong baby home by accident.

Still, he was the baby, and, according to the four older Parson boys, mom and dad's favorite. Which the Parson parents would vehemently disagree with. It wasn't like it hurt the boys' feelings to say that. They were old and mature enough to know that Kent was the baby. Smart from a young age. And, honestly, way cuter than the older four were as a baby.

They would call him their mom's golden boy, mostly because of the blonde hair because they had no idea where in the punnett square of their family the blonde hair and blue, green, hazel, gray eyes came from.

And they called him the golden child, even though Kent hated it because he hated being different from his family. He did not like standing out.

Little did his family know that the nickname would mean something very different for him in a few years.

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 25: Club

After about five minutes of nonstop doorbell ringing, Kent finally opened his front door.

"Get dressed," Jeff said, barreling into Kent's house. "We're going out."

"No?" Kent said. He brought his phone back up to his ear. "Yeah. Babe. No. It's just Jeff."

"You're talking to Jack?"

"Who else would I be calling babe?" Kent asked the same time Jack asked, "Who else is Kent's babe?"

"Give me the phone," Jeff said, trying to reach for it.

"No," Kent said, trying to hold it out of Jeff's reach.

"My arms are longer than yours, Parser," Jeff said, yanking the phone from Kent's hands. "Jack. Hey," he said, putting the phone to his ear.

"Hey, Jeff," Jack said. "Make sure he doesn't give you any excuse to stay in. I have to sleep soon and there's no reason for him to stay at home all night."

"That's what I'm saying!" Jeff said. "He's 27. He should be at the club!"

"Are you actually taking him to a club?"

"I'm not going to a club," Kent said as if he could hear what Jack had just asked.

Jack laughed and Jeff rolled his eyes. "Make sure he has fun," Jack said. "You can give the phone back to him."

"Night, Jack," Jeff said. Then handed the phone to Kent.

"I'm not gonna allow myself to be tagteamed by the two of you in my own house, Zimms," Kent said. He paused for a moment before his eyes went wide. "No. I'm not going to the club because of a meme!"

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 24: Could

According to Kent, Jack was one of the most frustrating people in the world. Sometimes. Because, even though it took some time, Jack always got what he wanted.

And, right now, Jack wanted Kent.

Which was nice.

But frustrating.

Because, they had been taking it slow for over a year now.

There was only so many times they could see each other during the season to speed up whatever it was going on between them.

Luckily their bye weeks had lined up and, by luck, Kent hadn't been named to the All-Star game, so they'd been able to spend sometime together. It was both easy and not easy getting back into each other's orbits.

But they still had their little safeguards to keep them from moving too fast.

They had even decided on adjoining rooms in the hotel so they could have their own space.

Tonight was different.

Jack was lingering. And finding many excuses to stay within touching distance of Kent.

"I'm not tired," Jack said as he watched Kent sit on the edge of his bed.

"You barely stayed awake through the movie," Kent argued.

"The movie was boring."

"Jack," Kent said, leaning back. "Say what you want to say."

Jack leaned against the door separating their rooms. He looked Kent up and down. He smiled. He sighed.

"I was just wondering." He took a moment to make his eyes meet Kent's. "I was wondering if I could wake up in the same bed as you tomorrow."

Kent's eyes went wide and he sat up. "Jack. I don't think I'm ready to--"

Jack put his hand up. "Kenny," he said softly. "I lied earlier. I am tired. I just want to sleep in the same bed as you. Hold you. Or, maybe, you hold me. And when I wake up, I know it'll be earlier than you because you're going to sleep in, I want to be able to just... watch you."

"Creepy, Zimms," Kent said.

Jack could see him blushing. "So, what do you say?"

Kent stood up and walked over to Jack. He reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "Go change," he said. "You're not sleeping with me in business causal. And then, you could wake up with me tomorrow."

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 23: Reunion

Being back at the Colisée de Rimouski was a little weird. Although he'd been back to the arena a few times, this time was different.

He was being honored, which he hated. They were retiring his jersey number, which he hated even more. Because why would he not want anyone else to wear his jersey number ever again?

Or, if they really, really, really wanted to wear 91 again, he'd have to give the person permission.

That seemed like way too much work.

Apparently it was a big honor that was given to only a small group of players.

But there was just something about putting on the royal and navy blue jersey with the shark boat logo on it. The color was nice after wearing a mostly black and white jersey for almost ten years.

It was fun chatting with his former teammates who had made the trip to watch him have to stand there as they raised his jersey to the rafters. They knew he hated the spotlight. And they took this little reunion to chirp him about it in person instead of through text or DM.

As he stepped out onto the ice, the embarrassment was second to the joy he felt when he saw his first billet family sitting in the crowd next to his former teammates cheering loudly and taking a lot of pictures and video of the occasion. He stood next to his own family, not listening to a word the announcer said before he watched as his jersey was slowly raised up.

He felt his eyes water as he thought of what that jersey represented in his life.

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 22: Snippet #3

(Hey, remember when I wrote a 20+ chapter juniors pimms fic that I haven't updated in half a decade? Yeah, me neither.)

"So. You and Jack."

"What... what about us?"

"Come on, Parson. All of Canada knows about Jack Zimmermann and how he is when he comes to hockey. And, this year, the year before his draft, he's going out to parties and getting drunk?"

"You are too," Kent replied.

"I'm not projected to go number one in the draft."

Kent laughed. "Yeah. Well. Maybe if we were as disciplined as him, we'd all actually give him some competition this draft."

"You are."

"I are what?"

"Giving him competition."

Kent laughed again, this time, louder, and feeling it deep in his chest. When he finally stopped, he looked at Gaspar. "Dude. No," he said. "No way. I'm maybe top twenty. No way I'm anywhere close to the top."

"People are gonna be looking," he said. "You keep winning. You keep sharing the limelight with him."

"More like standing in his shadow," Kent replied. His eyes went wide and he put his hands up. 'Which I'm fine with," he said quickly. "It's not a bad thing. I like being in the shadows."

"See, I don't believe that for a second," he replied. "I've seen you play."

"It's an American thing?" Kent said, unconvincingly. 

Gaspar rolled his eyes, not even remotely convinced. "Whatever," he said. "So, you're not going to tell me why Jack is the way he is only with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"We've seen him with people he's known longer. Keats, for one. He's not even like this with Keats."

"Well, Keats is a lot."

"We know," Gaspar said. "But. You and Jack."

"He makes me better."

"Hockey wise."

"Yes," Kent said. "And person wise. I think."

"See. I don't know if I believe that part."

"Well, doesn't matter if you believe it, now doesn't it?" Kent said.

"Snappy," he said with a smile. "I like it. Jack too, I suppose." 

"What does that mean?" Kent asked.

"Nothing bad. I don't think anyone in Canada has seen Jack smile on the ice before. And apparently, playing with you, he's smiling at least once a game."

"If we win."

"I guess." 

"I just I'm just intrigued. That out of every hockey player Jack has ever played with. A cocky, little American boy is the one that gets him out of his shell and also to play better than he's ever played before. What makes you special?”

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 21: Should

(A sort of sequel to Halfway)

There was someone in Kent's house which was something he did not want to have to deal with after dealing with the Vegas heat and Aces development camp.

He grabbed the nearest hockey stick next to the door as he slowly made his way to the kitchen. "Kit," he said softly, just hoping his cat was okay.

Maybe he should have called the cops. But there was something in him telling him that he wasn't actually in any danger. Still, he gripped his weapon tight, needing to be ready just in case he was in some danger.

He immediately dropped the stick when he saw Jack standing in his kitchen with Kit on the kitchen island watching him put some food together. "Jack?" He was surprised. Because yesterday, Jack was in Montreal.

Yesterday, Kent kind of tried to break up with him? Kind of.

"I should have called."

Kent bent down to pick up the stick and put it up against the nearest wall. "No. It's okay. You have a key for a reason."

"No. I mean. Over the last two weeks I should have called."

"Oh," Kent said softly. "I... just. Don't even worry about it. I was just saying things. It didn't mean anything."

"It did," Jack countered, stepping around the island and to Kent. He reached out to touch Kent, but stopped himself. He ran the hand down his own face instead. "I just. I thought you were busy. You are always busy, which is amazing. And that's why you didn't call. You have a life besides me. And I just..." he sighed. "It's not an excuse. I should have called. I thought about it. Because I missed talking to you. But. I should have--"

Kent stepped forward and pressed his lips to Jack's. He pulled back after a moment. "You didn't have to fly out here. A call would've been enough."

"No. It's not," Jack said. "Because, I need you to know that I'm in this. That it's not just you looking out for me again this time. I need to be here for you too."

"Okay," Kent said.

"So. I'm gonna call you so you don't have to be the only one calling me all the time. Okay?"

Kent nodded. "Okay." Because Jack never said things he didn't mean.

"I made..." Jack turned around and looked at the plates he'd left out on the table.

Kit had decided that their food was now hers.

"I'll order take out," Kent said with a laugh. He kissed Jack once more before he went to his take out drawer to pull out a dozen menus for them to choose from.

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jack zimmermann is shroedinger’s bisexual in that we’re never actually going to see him address his sexuality in any meaningful way but his creator gets accolades for writing a bisexual character anyway

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34 Perfect Days of Kent Parson - Day 20: Wild

"I'm getting traded," Jack said softly as soon as Kent answered his video call.

"What?" Kent asked, sitting up from his bed. It was still early. He was tired. But he was now wide awake.

"I just got the call. They're gonna announce it in a few hours," Jack said.

"Are you okay?" Kent couldn't tell if Jack was upset about the trade or not. He'd seen his teammates when they found out they were traded, some at the trade deadline, others in the offseason. They usually reacted more than Jack was.

"I'm fine, Kenny."

"Okay," Kent said. He knew better than to ask if Jack was sure. Especially since Jack had been talking about getting moved for so long. As much as he enjoyed his time on the Falconers, he often talked about needing a change. He just didn't think it'd happen as soon as the Stanley Cup Finals ended. "So, where you heading?"

Kent could only hope somewhere west. Somewhere closer.

"Out west," Jack said, as if reading Kent's mind.

"Well, that's fucking wild," Kent laughed.

"How did you know?"

"Huh?"

"How did you know it was Minnesota?"

"I didn't," Kent said. "You're joining the Wild?"

"Yes," Jack said.

"Why are you joining the Wild?"

"Because I get to use all of my flannels."

"Jack," Kent said with a huff.

"I liked Minnesota when I lived there." He did live there for two very formative hockey years in his life. "They gave me a good contract. Good term. And I get to play you three times a year."

Kent hummed. "You look good in green."

"I do look good in green," Jack agreed.