#*as in when people were thinking tommy would help athena and i was like no it won't happen and as in when people were like we're gonna see

[epiphainie]

you know how i know a midseason helicopter crash, buck-was-foreshadowing-with-tommy-needing-his-help storyline will never happen? because it's too sexy for this show

[peppermintquartz]

Chimney is striding towards a tall, dark-haired man who is currently checking the cockpit of a helicopter. Time is of the essence, but they will still need to wait for Hen.

Tall guy has a nice ass, Buck thinks vaguely, a little distracted by all the activity that's going on around them. He wonders if the choppers get to go out every day. He would, if he were a pilot.

When the guy turns around, it is to reveal a handsome face: chiseled jaw, aristocratic nose, straightforward gaze, generous lips and - oh - a cleft chin. That face breaks into a broad smile, the lines crinkling at the eyes and around the mouth adding to the overall attractiveness of the features.

"Howie, hey!" Tall Handsome Guy hugs Chimney tightly, enveloping the shorter man in a sincere embrace. "Long time."

Wow. Buck blinks at the show of affection. When he gets closer, he sees that Tall Handsome Guy is actually about the same height as he is, but with a more angular face - that jawline is to die for - and he is broader in the shoulders. Even more handsome up close, too, which is totally unfair.

"This is Tommy, Tommy Kinard. He used to be at the 118," Chimney introduces. "Used to have a fat head, but he grew out of that."

"Thanks to you," says Tommy. He holds out a hand to Eddie and Buck.

Eddie shakes Tommy's hand first. "Eddie Diaz."

"Pleasure. And you are...?" Tommy turns to Buck.

Buck takes the proffered hand. Good God his hand is so big and strong. "Uh, Evan. E-Evan Buckley, hi."

"Hi Evan," says Tommy, smiling at Buck, the smile as warm as his hand. The name Evan sounds cozy and welcoming coming from Tommy, and for a second when Buck meets Tommy's eyes, he almost forgets to breathe. No man should be this good-looking, Buck thinks. Tommy clears his throat and his smile turns a little cheeky. "I'm gonna need that hand to fly the chopper, kid."

"Oh! Oh, right, sorry. I was just, um, thinking. About Cap and Thena."

"Yeah, we're gonna need Hen to show soon with some coordinates," Chimney says, looking antsy. "Can't go flying all over the Gulf of Mexico."

Tommy shrugs. "We'll do what we can. Wait, I see a car pulling in. Might be her. Get in the backseat, strap yourselves in. Once I get Hen clear of Melton, we'll dash. Hopefully she has a good cover story..." His cheeks puff out and he lets out an exaggerated exhale. Then he grins at the three. "If we're all arrested, can I blame it on you, Howie?"

"Yeah I really twisted your arm with the 'Please help us save Cap and Athena'." Chimney climbs in after Eddie.

"You know it's because of your irresistibly pretty face," says Tommy dryly, helping Buck get in, a hand on his elbow. "Alright, put those helmets on. Careful, Evan."

Buck manages to catch Tommy's faint frown just before the pilot takes his seat and starts up the engine, go over his checks or whatever pilots do. Tommy's concerned, which isn't a surprise. They're asking a huge favor.

But it's so cool that he is throwing in his lot with them, just like that. Buck doesn't think there are many people who would do this. Tommy Kinard really is pretty cool.

"Alright. She's ready to go when we are," says Tommy. He opens his door and slides out. To the trio, he says, "Don't touch anything. I'm gonna hang out near Melton and run intercept."

"We'll behave," Eddie says, holding up his hand like a Scout.

Tommy only rolls his eyes and chuckles before jogging away to the main hangar. Buck can't help noticing how the flight suit pulls over the man's shoulders and ass as he moves.

Wonder what his workouts are like, Buck muses. Maybe more squats and lifts.

Now, all they have to do is wait for Hen to show.

--

edited on AO3

Tommy's POV

[cjlouwho]

Bucktommy prompt idea for you:

Tommy going to Bobby, NOT to ask for his blessing on proposing to Buck, but thinking that Bobby will talk him out of it as it's too soon (Tommy needs someone to be rational with him and he thinks Bobby is levelheaded, especially when it comes to Buck).

He's unaware that Bobby and Athena basically speedran their way down the aisle, and Bobby gives him his blessing AND practically helps him plan the proposal/wedding instead.

This was ridiculous.

They'd only been together for four months.

Sure, Tommy could easily say they had been the best four months of his life, but still... four months.

You don't buy a ring for someone after only four months.

At least Tommy didn't. He wasn't that type. He was levelheaded, thought things through.

Even when he flew that helicopter straight through a hurricane, he thought that through. Knew he could do it. Knew to trust Howie and Hen and their instincts.

But this was all on him.

He was standing outside of a jewelry store, ring in one hand, receipt in the other, wondering what the hell just happened to him? Was he drugged? Possessed? What would possibly make him think this was a wise option? Why could he already envision Buck standing across from him in front of a room full of people as they spoke their vows to one another?

Tommy stuffed the ring and the receipt into his pockets. He practically marched to his car. There was only one person he could think to go to. One person who could talk some sense into him.

*****

“That's amazing, Tommy!” Bobby exclaimed, pulling Tommy in for a hug.

This was... not what he expected.

“Amazing?” he questioned once Bobby pulled back. “Bobby, it's insane.”

“What's insane about it?”

“We've only been together four months. He moved in a week ago, and we both joked about how crazy that even was.”

“And how's that week been?” Bobby asked, leading them over to the couch.

“It's... It's been great. Fantastic, really, but it's new. It'll wear off.”

“Doesn't have to.”

“Bobby, I- I thought I'd be coming here today for you to talk me out of this, not for me to talk me out of it while you talk me into it.”

Bobby smiled. “You love him?” he asked.

“Of course.”

“He loves you?”

“Yeah, he does,” Tommy replied, softer as he thought about the many times they'd said those words to each other over the last three months.

“You like spending time together?”

“We haven't spent a night apart since we started dating, work excluded.”

“You see a future with him?”

Tommy nodded. “We both want kids. He's gonna be such a great dad, too. He doubts himself sometimes, but I don't doubt him. We'd have to buy a bigger place someday, but we've got enough space for three where we are now.” Tommy's eyes were focused off in the distance, like he was imagining their whole lives together. “I haven't traveled much, outside of my time in the army, but we've made plans to do a roadtrip so he can show me all the places he's been. And he's so smart. He knows something about everything and I love that because he's always right. I don't even have to double check.” He stopped abruptly when he realized he was rambling. That's what got him into this mess in the first place. He got to thinking about Evan, and then he couldn't stop thinking about Evan, and then he was driving to a jewelry store.

Bobby shrugged. “I don't see a problem here, Tommy. Athena and I got engaged in less than a year, and I couldn't imagine it any other way.” He reached out, giving Tommy a pat on the leg. “You're a good guy, Tommy. Buck is just as much in this relationship as you are, believe me. You ask, he'll say yes.”

Somehow a wave of relief, along with a surge of anxiety, washed over Tommy at the same time. “Are you sure?”

“I'm sure.”

*****

Tommy stayed a bit longer, catching up with Bobby and discussing what plans he had for a proposal. When it was time to leave, Bobby walked him to the door. He reached for a handshake that turned into a hug.

“Thanks, Bobby,” Tommy said with a final pat on the back before he headed out.

“Anytime, kid. Hey, you have Buck call me after he says yes!”

Tommy smiled, giving Bobby a final wave before he got into his car.

Bobby wasn't surprised when his phone began to ring a few hours later, Buck's name lighting up the screen.

[capseycartwright]

for my fellow merli girlies - do you remember the whole “all roads lead to bruno” line from the sequel series? well, i thought about that too hard and it caused this. enjoy!

all roads lead to eddie diaz

Eddie inclined his head slightly. “He is,” he hummed in response. “But it sounds more like you’re wanting to pick a fight here than discuss our mutual appreciation for how great a person Buck is.”

Tommy, at least, looked slightly embarrassed. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before,” he admitted. “The way you feel about him.”

or - eddie and tommy have a revelatory conversation about the buck of it all.

ao3 link

The thing is, Eddie doesn’t intend to say what he does. He blames Frank, in all honesty, because if Eddie was less in touch with his own emotions, perhaps he wouldn’t have said it at all – but Frank had worked hard to make Eddie a more open version of himself, a more confident version of himself, and Eddie blames the confidence for how it happens.

It’s a family barbecue. Eddie loves their 118 family barbecues. They’re chaotic, in the nicest way, Bobby and Athena’s garden full of children of all ages, teenagers gathered in the corner, pouring over whatever the latest game they have for their consoles is, Jee-Yun holding court with the littlest of their gang, enough toys to rival an actual toy store gathered around them. Bobby was grilling, Buck standing at his side, the two of them looking altogether very serious as they discussed whether or not the burgers were done yet.

Eddie loved their family barbecues – the way everyone had a role to play amongst the chaos. Eddie’s was to stay far away from the food – though he felt he had long-since redeemed himself on the culinary front – and so he was usually sitting with a beer in hand, observing. Maybe once upon a time it was in an ‘outside looking in’ kind of way, but now it was in more of an appreciative way – Eddie loved this family he had built for himself, the people he had found and the people who had helped him find himself. He liked to watch, drink it all in – because one day, Eddie Diaz would be old and grey (and it was a revelation in itself to want to grow old) and these will have been the good old days, and he’ll miss them, so he likes to observe, and try and commit it all to memory.

Eddie’s attention was drawn by a bright laugh from Buck, and he couldn’t help the way he smiled as he watched his best friend.

“He’s brilliant, isn’t he?” Tommy said, siding up to Eddie. Normally, it wouldn’t be unusual for Eddie and Tommy to discuss how wonderful Buck was – it had long since become a key bonding point of their friendship – but there was an edge to Tommy’s voice that surprised Eddie. Tommy was a fairly calm and collected guy.

Eddie inclined his head slightly. “He is,” he hummed in response. “But it sounds more like you’re wanting to pick a fight here than discuss our mutual appreciation for how great a person Buck is.”

Tommy, at least, looked slightly embarrassed. “I don’t know how I didn’t see it before,” he admitted. “The way you feel about him.”

Eddie was quiet, for a minute. “Because I was good at hiding it,” he admitted. “Even from myself. I hid it for so long that I think people started to assume they were wrong to think I had ever felt that way about him.”

“But you do? Feel that way about him?”

Eddie shrugged. “Doesn’t seem like you want to know the answer to that.”

Tommy sighed. “I’m asking you – as a friend.”

“Then the answer is yes,” Eddie said. It still surprised him, how easily the words came now. It had taken so long for him to get to the point of being able to say it, the words coming out in a panicked rush during a session with Frank. It had felt like the most immense task he had ever undertaken, in that moment, but the words had started to come easier, since – when he’d told Hen, and Karen, over a bottle of pinot grigio, the words punctuated by some sad tears. He’d thought it had been too late, then, and Hen had gently reassured him that it would never be too late, not for him and Buck.

Still – it was the wrong time. Buck was with Tommy, and they’d been together for close to five months now, and Buck was happy. Liberated, even, free, and comfortable in himself in a way that Eddie had never seen before. His bisexuality had been the thing Buck had searched for his whole life, and who was Eddie to deny him the joy of discovering his queerness with a relatively attractive man who was kind to him? Eddie was in love with Buck, and in some ways, that love was what allowed him to take a more selfless approach to the whole situation. Eddie was proud of that.

Tommy’s face was doing something entirely complicated.

“Is that going to be a problem?” Eddie asked, raising an eyebrow. He didn’t want this to affect his friendship with Tommy – really, he didn’t. Eddie knew that if this all went the way he would like it to go, there would be hurt, but he’d sort of been hoping that Buck and Tommy’s relationship would come to its natural end and that hurt would only be momentary, the result of the strangeness that Tommy would feel if his ex-boyfriend started to date their mutual friend. But despite that, Eddie didn’t want to lose Tommy, and he knew Buck wouldn’t want to lose him either.

“Is it going to be a problem for you?” Tommy questioned, in lieu of a response.

Eddie shrugged. “No.”

Tommy’s face got even more complicated, confusion the clear emotion. “How – how is it not a problem for you?”

And this – this is where Eddie probably should have kept his mouth shut. In hindsight, he should have feigned some sort of migraine, and ran away, but he didn’t. Eddie let his newfound confidence get the better of him, and that was a very shiny, new problem for him.

There were lots of reasons it wasn’t a problem, but it all boiled down to one simple thing -

“I know he’ll chose me.”

The words were out, before Eddie could stop himself, and he couldn’t help but internally wince as he looked at Tommy’s face, the confusion turning to hurt, and then, well – annoyance. It wouldn’t be a nice thing to hear, Eddie knew, but he couldn’t deny the satisfaction he felt in saying it.

Eddie Diaz knew several different things to be true. The sky was blue, and he loved Christopher with every particle of his being. He was a damn good firefighter – and Evan Buckley would always choose him, over anyone else in the world.

Buck just didn’t know he was an option, yet.

“You sound very sure of that,” Tommy’s jaw was set in a hard line, his annoyance clear.

“I am,” Eddie said. “I want him to be happy, with you. I’m not going to try and ruin what you have. But Buck and I – we’ve been going somewhere for a long time, now, and neither of us were ready before. We’re not ready now, arguably. But I know we will be, one day, and so I know he’ll chose me.”

“All roads lead to Eddie Diaz, huh?”

“Something like that.”

Tommy was quiet. “I’m not going to fight you for him.”

“I’m not going to start a fight,” Eddie retorted. “It’s his decision.”

“Right.” Tommy looked as though he didn’t quite know what to say. “I am – I’m going to go and get another drink.”

Eddie watched as the other man walked away, and although it wasn’t particularly nice of him, he couldn’t help but smirk into the rim of his beer bottle.

The sky was blue, and Eddie was a happy man, now – and Buck would always choose him. He was sure of it.

He was looking forward to it.

[eliotwaughdeservesbetter]

'buck's a grown up so treat him like one' lmao where was that energy when tommy was telling buck to put his phone away because it was past his bedtime lmao. people who care about you wouldn't encourage you to fight for somebody who dumped you lmao.

Are we talking about the time when Buck was definitely in a deep hyperfixation and couldn't stop surfing internet by himself? And when he was hurt and needed rest to heal? When Tommy was a caring boyfriend who brought him new ice pack, fluffed his pillow, asked what he needed, slept with him in the same room on a small couch in case of emergency, although could go home? This time? And remind me, did he took Buck's laptop away from him? I don't think so, he just told him to go to sleep because that's what Buck needed. So, all i see here a worried boyfriend.

Em, yeah maybe people shouldn't encourage their loved ones to fight for someone who dumped them. But shouldn't they care about their mental health? Buck is obviously struggling, he needs at least closure. And Tommy wants to reach out too, as we saw in the scene with babbling. So they really need to talk and people around Buck should see it and help him to have this talk. Considering none of them ever gave up on their loved ones. How many struggles Madney had? Henren? Athena&Bobby? And now they are strong. And shouldn't the fuck they encourage Buck to do something to get his happily after too? Even if just to talk to Tommy, understand why Tommy broke up with him, so even without their endgame Buck would know what the hell happend to the relationship he thought were good.

[do-androids-dream-ao3acc]

[On request, I wrote Tommy in the episode]

Tommy wasn't an EMT, and it looked like that was what was needed most after Athena had landed the plane. The woman whom he - how long had it been now? - had rescued from a sinking cruise ship. How did she always get herself into such absurd situations? In any case, he’d been on duty anyway when all available stations were called to the highway. Because an airplane was going to land there. The chances of this actually working were extremely slim in his opinion, but here they were, a quick triage and apparently hardly any seriously injured passengers later. 

There was orderly chaos, as always during a major operation, and Tommy was focused. So much so that he almost missed Evan running past him. The man half-turned as he ran, almost stumbled, caught himself again and stopped with his arms still flailing. 

“Tommy!”

It wasn't that big grin that made Tommy's heart beat faster, though it almost was – very blue eyes, tousled curls, those ultra-long legs, simply everything about the man was an eye-catcher. Evan in action was yet another special sight. He was brimming with adrenaline, radiating from within; he was exactly where he wanted to be, and that was extremely attractive. 

“She did it,” was all Tommy managed to say.

There were a lot of other things he could have said, of course, but most of them were inappropriate, and time was of the essence. The plane was smoking, it wasn't over yet. 

“She did,” Evan confirmed with that irresistible grin, with that gleam in his eyes that spoke of pride in someone he was very fond of. 

Tommy could only hope that one day he would be the cause for that gleam in Evan's eyes. Ever since he’d seen him smile for the first time, he’d wanted to be the one to turn his sweet pout into a smile. Even now, with all the commotion and smoldering danger still hanging over the people on the highway - not to mention the woman who was still in the cockpit - he couldn't help but cherish the warmth in his heart just by looking at Evan. He'd grown too soft, probably, but it wasn't a bad thing, that’s what life had told him. Life, and love. Though that was a word stored far back in his heart, at least for now. 

“I have to go, the cap... I mean Bobby…”

He was adorable, and this was not the time nor place to tell him, but Evan was Evan, he was a surprise box. He approached him, it almost looked like a leap; then he crushed his lips to Tommy's. It was the shortest and almost most violent kiss he had ever experienced, but that didn't matter. Tommy was so full of adrenaline himself, so close to saying it, but this time his mind would prevail over his heart because it was right. 

"Hurry up," he said, and Evan beamed again, turned and ran. 

Just before the plane, he turned around once more, grinned and waved briefly, then he disappeared from Tommy's field of vision. 

“Sweet, love at the workplace.”

Lucy - who shouldn't be here any more than he was, but couldn't help herself any more than he could - stood behind him, a mocking yet good-natured smile on her lips. 

“Heard you know your way around that,” Tommy grinned and left her standing there. 

A few hours later, the sun had already risen over LA, heralding another hot morning. Tommy lowered the blinds of his house to lock it out. He didn't mind sleeping during the day after a shift, but after this assignment it wasn't at all clear whether he’d be able to find rest soon. It wasn't every day that a plane landed on the highway. What you almost had to reckon with, however, were the numerous overstrained drivers who wedged into each other when the road was cleared, making it necessary to call out the emergency services again. 

Tommy was just thinking about whether he should have a coffee or just pull a pillow over his head when there was a knock. It was a frantic knock, urgent, and he sighed. What the hell…

“Gerrard is back,” Evan sputtered as soon as the door opened. The look on his face was... almost anxious. “He discharged himself from hospital and left us standing at attention at the end of shift.”

“What?” asked Tommy, slightly confused.

He opened the door wide, but Evan just stood there with a desperate look in his eyes.

“Tommy,” he said, and now Tommy was slightly worried. “You… you’ll never believe what he said.”

@supercalime

[bekolxeram]

Buck cannot believe it, even with all the unthinkable emergencies he has encountered throughout his career. A blazing airplane just landed on a freeway in one piece, not by pilots, but by Athena and a child.

What was supposed to be a certain death situation, has been turned around by the bravery and cooperation of everyone onboard and on the ground, even the actor.

Once Athena is safely evacuated from the crippled jet, Bobby runs to her with the desperation of a man stranded in a desert to an oasis, a sight Buck is all too familiar with. He doesn't know if he should be sad for Bobby and Athena for getting into danger every time they travel, or should he be happy that they are always there to help save people. Then Buck feels a tap on his shoulder.

"Thank you. For showing me what a firefighter is supposed to be." Brad, the Hotshots captain said.

"No, I should be the one thanking you." Buck shrugs. "You've really come through and helped us a lot. If you're considering a career change, you would make a fine firefighter."

Brad briefly ducks his head, then gives Buck a cryptic smirk, "And likewise, if you ever get tired of the bureaucracy, you can work on my show. You have that… leading man charm, acting could work for you." Brad winks.

"Really? Um… I love my job, but that could be fun?" Buck replies, imagining the life of a famous TV actor.

"Yeah, I can get you a guest star spot. You should come by the studio later, I can give you a tour." Brad leans his body against the 119 truck and stares right into Buck's eyes. Yet, all Buck can hear is the word "tour" and he can't stop thinking about Tommy.

"I have to go get my car back anyway, but that sounds great! You know, my…" Buck doesn't even have time to finish his sentence.

"Sure! You know what? You should come to the bootcamp I set up with Captain Nash too. Just us guys, heart to heart, men versus wild." "Uhh…. bootcamp?" Since when does Bobby organize firefighter bootcamp for Hollywood actors? Buck asks himself. He really should take the time to talk to Bobby more, now that he's adapting to the new arrangement at work.

"Oh, you don't like it? Forget about it. We can take my private jet to go anywhere you want. Bahamas? Hawaii? Europe?" Brad steps closer to Buck. "I just thought you would be a fun travel companion?" Brad puts his hand on Buck's shoulder and slowly rubbing it. Buck looks at Brad's hand and finally realizes the overly flirtatious atmosphere brewing between them.

"Ah… It would be fun and all but…" Buck dodges his head to the side and waves one of his hands, "I gotta tell you, I've already got a boyfriend, and it's getting serious so…" Buck rises his eyebrows and smiles to try his best at an apologetic expression.

"Oh, Oh… so it wasn't me you were smiling at then…" Brad stares at the ground, clearly looking embarrassed.

"I'm so sorry, you're a very attractive man, but I… My boyfriend is a pilot too, a helicopter pilot… and a firefighter. This all just makes me think of him." Buck cannot contain his smile.

"It's okay, I wish you two the best." The actor utilizes his skill to mask his disappointment. "My offer for the studio tour and private jet ride still stand though."

"Actually, you know what? There is something from your set I want to borrow…" Buck again is cut off mid sentence, but this time, by a familiar voice.

"Evan!" Buck whips his head around and sees a scene that reminds him of his sister's wedding.

Tommy, again in his turnout gear, runs towards Buck with open arms and concern on his face.

"Are you alright? Eddie told me you went to get Bobby and next thing I knew you were on the 110 parked in front of the plane!" Tommy's hands roam around Buck's body, not in their usual, sensual way, but trying to check for any injury like a doctor would.

"I'm fine. Look, all in one piece." Buck opens his arms and turn around, to showcase how perfectly healthy he is. "I'm sorry I made you worry." He understands too well what dating a first responder means. Part of him still expects people to leave him the first instant he makes them scared for his life.

"What are you talking about? All I want is for you to be okay… When I saw you weren't there with the 118, I just knew you were in danger. I was so close to stealing my heli…" Buck pulls Tommy's chin in with his fingers and shuts him up with a searing kiss, just like their first. Tommy wraps his arms around Buck's waist to minimize their distance. They move naturally like they were made for each other.

Brad looks on and thinks to himself, "that's it. We need a queer storyline."

[livelaughlou]

Family Meeting

@bucktommypositivityweek Day 3-Meeting the friends and family. I kind of twisted it a bit, but I still hope you guys like it. It's another addition to the girl dad's Buck and Tommy and their daughter Alex universe.

bucktommy - Words: 1,055 - Rating: General - Complete

Tommy stares down at the little person in his arms, runs a light finger down her cheek, and marvels at this little person they made with the help of their surrogate.

Evan comes into the room with a bottle and stops, blinking slowly.

“Hey,” Tommy prompts. “You okay?”

Evan shakes his head. “Yeah, I just…you two are so gorgeous,” he says softly. “I had a husband, which wow, okay? And now I have this daughter that I get to raise with said husband. It’s a little…”

“Crazy?” Tommy supplies with a grin and Evan smiles back.

“A little bit,” Evan admits. “But in a good way. If you told 26 year old me that I’d be 35, married and a parent, I would have you committed.”

Tommy laughs just as there’s a knock on the door.

“Oh, they’re here,” Evan says. He hands the bottle to Tommy. “It’s too bad she wouldn’t eat earlier. No one will be able to hold her until she’s finished.”

“It’s okay.” Tommy looks down at her little face sucking on the nipple of the bottle. “They’ll be happy to wait.”

Evan’s grin is soft as he watches them and there’s another knock on the door.

“Right! I’ll go let everyone in,” Evan says. He leans down and kisses Tommy gently, then Alex’s forehead.

They’d decided to wait until they got home with her before introducing her to everyone. The only people who have met her so far are Maddie and Eddie and though they’d felt bad making everyone else wait, they’d wanted to make sure their surrogate, Ashley, was comfortable and Alex was out of the hospital before introducing her to the rest of the 118 family, as well as Lucy Donato, who has been a fixture in helping Tommy feel better about the prospect of raising a girl when his nerves got to be too much.

The first one in the living room is Maddie, who holds her hands to her chest and coos. “Hi little niece,” she says and Tommy grins as she bends down to give the baby a kiss on the cheek. “It’s auntie Maddie. You’re just as gorgeous as you were a few days ago.”

“Isn’t she?” Evan says, trailing behind the rest of the group as they make their way into the living room. Like he always does when the whole group is together, Tommy is glad they bought a bigger house before they got married, if only to fit everyone inside it.

“She’s really beautiful,” Lucy says, coming and wrapping her arm around Tommy’s shoulders, squeezing him in a gentle side hug.

“My goodness,” Bobby says, holding Athena’s hand. “You guys are very lucky. I’m proud of you.”

Tommy looks at Evan, who looks like he might cry.

“Thank you, Bobby,” Evan says and glances at the bottle Alex is still working on. “She’s almost done eating. Does anyone want to burp her?”

“I will!” Hen and Karen both say at the same time. Everyone laughs and Hen and Karen do a quick round of rock, paper, scissors, with Hen winning.

“Yes!” she cheers and Karen nudges her with an elbow good-naturedly.

“Have you guys gotten much sleep?” Chimney asks knowingly and Tommy snorts.

“What do you think?”

Chimney grins. “Sounds right for a Buckley-Kinard baby.”

“I know right?” Evan says. They’d done a mix of both of their sperm for the surrogacy so they don’t know for sure who the biological father is, not that either of them cares. That was the whole point anyway, though Tommy can’t help but think he sees Evan in her, around the eyes. He wonders if Evan thinks the same.

Alex finishes her bottle and Tommy kisses her head and passes her off to Hen, giving her a little burp cloth to put over her shoulder.

“Oh hello, sweet girl,” Hen coos as she begins burping her. Karen runs her fingers over the sparse hair on Alex’s head and smiles when she lets out a little burp.

“Ah, burping should not be so cute,” she says with a laugh.

“Everything about her is cute,” Evan says dreamily.

“Even two am diaper changes?” Eddie asks, amused.

“Yes, even those,” Evan insists and Tommy grins at him. As Alex finishes her burping, she’s gently passed around their family, and Evan settles next to Tommy on the couch, a hand on Tommy’s thigh. They listen to everyone coo over her and Tommy looks at his husband, marvels at this man he’s still building a life with over and over again.

Evan notices him staring and looks at him, eyes glinting with amusement and affection. “What?”

“I just really love you, Evan Kinard. Thank you for doing this with me,” he answers. He cups his face and kisses him softly and no one notices the PDA because everyone is still enamored with Alex, as they should be honestly.

“I love you too,” Evan says. “Thank you. I still can’t believe it’s real.”

“Me neither,” Tommy admits. “Want to spend the rest of our lives staring at how real it is in the face?”

Evan’s grin is incandescent. “Oh yeah. Everything with you, you know that."

Tommy does know that. He's about to kiss his husband again when a familiar cry rings out and Evan gets up to take her from Lucy.

"I didn't do it!" Lucy says, a little panicked, and Tommy can't help but laugh at his normally calm, capable friend being afraid of a tiny baby.

"She's a newborn," Maddie says knowingly. "It happens."

Tommy watches Evan cradle their little girl in his arms, swaying back and forth and cooing at her.

Eddie plops down beside him on the couch. "Your face looks ridiculous right now."

Tommy snorts. "I'm sure it does. Can you blame me?"

"Not at all." Eddie looks toward Evan and Alex, the latter having calmed down to gentle baby noises.

"All right, Buck," Eddie says, standing up again. "My turn. Hand her over."

Evan does, and then he turns to the group. "Hey, Tommy and I want to thank you for everything. You guys have kept us sane during this whole process and we really appreciate it."

"Of course, Buck," Bobby says. "We're all here when you need us."

Evan smiles, walks over, and takes the hand Tommy's holding out for him. "We know."

[faerlygraceful]

So I rewatched all of the “Begins” episodes last night and it only managed to cement my head canons about Tommy, which began forming after we saw him again.

Of course I don’t know if they thought this was going to be where the character ended up when they filled the firehouse back in season 2. I don’t know what Lou thought about his character. I don’t know what the intentions were. What I am doing (since this is my head canon), is taking new knowledge and using it to recategorize previous interactions. I’m queer, it’s what we all do.

So I’m going to share my analysis with all of y’all cause this is the internet, and I’m allowed.

Spoilers for… well everything.

Tommy is one of the three characters who shows up in all three Begins episodes, the other two being Athena and Sal DeLuca. His first appearance in the show is Hen Begins, but as we know Chimney Begins is chronologically first, so we’re starting there.

Chimney Begins

1) We first see Tommy when probie Howie walks in. He doesn’t seem to notice that Howie is a probie, asking who didn’t tip the takeout guy. Gerrard quickly takes the role of antagonist, and that’s when we move on.

2) At one point when they’re coming back from a call after Howie has been there a while, Tommy says, in a surprised tone, “You’re still here?” I think this is less of a, “You don’t belong here,” and more of a, “You’ve been here for weeks/months and haven’t been out once, I would have quit, why haven’t you?”

3) While man behind, Howie helps a guy who was having indigestion and a panic attack at the same time. When the rest get back, Howie tries to bond with them over the call, but is ignored. They are talking about takeout options and Gerrard asks Tommy, when his girlfriend is supposed to come in and cook. Tommy sounds extremely contained during this interaction, gives a a day, and when pressed he stammers and promises. The conversation fades off so we don’t hear what he promises, but he didn’t seem all that enthusiastic about his girlfriend coming in.

- Now this is where we really start getting into my hcs. Either Tommy is bi (which we’ll hopefully find out tomorrow) or he’s closeted. The tightness in his voice (which is all we have to go on because the camera is focused on the POV character), tells me that he’s extremely uncomfortable with the interaction. He’s been put on the spot, and he doesn’t like it. I think the girlfriend is either a) a friend he’s brought by the house once and everyone inferred or b) someone he manufactured in order to get out of team events ie, “Oh I can’t go out tonight, my girl is cooking.” He is uncomfortable with what his boss (a confirmed bigot) is asking for, and the man is pressuring him to produce his beard. If she was actually his girlfriend and Tommy is also bisexual, it could just be that’s he’s uncomfortable exposing her to the environment that the 118 is at that point.

4) Howie starts to try and broach the barriers between himself and the other firefighters, only to be rebuked. At one point he corners Tommy in the locker room, and starts naming off all these topics, stating, “Tell me what your thing is and I’ll make it mine.” Talking about his formidable people skills and asking if that means Tommy just didn’t like him that much.

Tommy tells him, “If I thought about you at all, I probably wouldn’t.” Which tells me that Tommy has already built his mask, his persona, and since the others don’t try to look beyond the surface he’s able to maintain it, but he can’t afford to let anyone in. He can’t think about the new guy on the squad, he’s too busy making sure Gerrard doesn’t find out about his closet. That would be just another person to have to hide from anyway.

This is when Howie gets pulled for the ambulance. Eli tells him that it’s not personal, because friends die and funerals are held. Which makes me also think that Howie stepped into the shoes of a firefighter who died. Maybe one who Tommy was particularly close to? Eli goes on to call Howie a puppy who doesn’t get a name until they know it’s gonna come through.

The next thing that happens is Kevin Lee’s death. Which is incredibly sad and is a big part of how Howie develops as a firefighter, but this meta is Tommy focused so moving on.

5) The garage collapse at the mall, and Tommy almost dies. More to it, Howie saved him. So Tommy decides to share some things with Howie. “Love Actually, monster trucks, and craft beer”. Maybe not a coming out story, but he did declare that one of his favorite movies is a rom com. It’s a start.

Hen Begins

1) Tommy is first seen when Hen walks into the house. He’s comes up to the railing after Gerrard calls for everyone and is positioned between the captain and DeLuca. Now it’s my personal opinion that DeLuca is an ass and that’s backed up by these episodes but even Hen defends him in Bobby Begins Again, and that started with this episode. But again, we’re not here to get into Sal DeLuca’s headspace, this is about Tommy. When Gerrard calls Hen an “diversity” hire, we see Tommy looking very uncomfortable, and Sal is the one to take up some of Captain’s dirty work for him (“For real?”). This is the episode where I truly see Tommy as “falling in line” with the captain. He’s opened up a little to Howie (no nickname yet), a little more inclined to joke, but still is holding these boundaries.

2) DeLuca talks about taking his girl to see some vampire movie and Tommy immediately knows it’s Twilight. DeLuca talks about how he likes Kristen Stewart (with Hen agreeing) before saying something about getting behind that, which makes Hen uncomfortable. (According to this, it would put it in 2008, which means she’s a paramedic for ten years prior to Buck joining which I hate. All those movies came out rather fast but could all be classified as “Twilight” so it was probably at least Eclipse in 2010 especially with the references made…. But then we start to go into how much I hate this timeline because nothing makes sense ever) Tommy talks about how he doesn’t understand the attraction to KS because she’s too… (Sal puts in hot here) broody, and Sal asks him if that means he’s Team Jacob (which is what makes me think it’s at least during Eclipse, I don’t see DeLuca being a Twi-Hard, and so his frame of reference would be movie based), and when Tommy acts confused (not sure if an act or not, he knew what Twilight was, but that doesn’t mean he knows about Team Edward vs Team Jacob), Chimney confirms that he’s implying that Tommy is gay. You. See. Him. Freeze. There is a few seconds where Tommy freezes in place like he’s processing before he makes a joke, blowing a kiss at Sal before laughing. Gerrard puts a stop to the conversation, and Hen takes a seat.

— Remember when Tommy has buried himself in the closet? What happened when someone rattles the door with a gay joke? One where it’s being implied that you are gay? When you’re bigot of a boss is sitting not five feet from you at the same table? You freeze to not immediately deny the accusation in a way that would make you look sus, and then you make a joke out of it. It hurts, so much.

———-Ah shit I’m going to timeline this———

From what we know, Tommy was in the army as a pilot. For Timeline purposes we’re going to assume that Eli leaving is the reason Hen went to the 118. During her med student arc it talks about how she was a paramedic for 10 years, so 2012 makes sense there. It doesn’t make sense with other thing’s because in Lonestar’s Hold the Line (2021 would make this make sense), Hen tells Owen that Denny is 10 and she and Karen and her were married for 8 years, (Same sex marriage has only been legal in CA since 2013). Bobby was their captain for a year in Worst Day Ever, they had a captain parade for two years (six captains) and before that they had a someone who was cleaning up after Gerrard. Also Hen and Karen were freshly back together when DADT was repealed. That makes Denny a baby on September 20th of 2011.

Enlistment periods are 8 years but that’s a mix of active and inactive duty. If Tommy signed up out of high school (18), was an active duty pilot for 6 years (24) and then moved to the reserves for the remaining two while he became a firefighter, it means he could have been a firefighter for two years longer than Hen or Chimney while being less than 10 years older than Buck.

Now none of this helps in placing where these episodes fall in the timeline, but I would say that Bobby’s first day falls about a year before the pilot, and Chimney Begins and Hen Begins butt right up together. Also I have no more information on Eli and how long he stayed after training Chim, and I probably never will because I cannot watch Boston.

More timeline BS. Hen and Karen had to have gotten together during the captain parade because Gerrard would not have let her on a call where she got hurt enough that Chim would make the call to Karen.

——————— Timeline bs over ——————

3) Tommy asks about how “New York bitchiness” could be a compliment after Howie mentioning that she has an East coast vibe, and Hen thanks him for the compliment. And then Howie makes it seem like Tommy’s calling her bitchy, but I don’t see it that way. What’s more likely is that’s the only vibe he knows from the east coast, so when Howie suggests she has it, he’s like, wait you think that’s a compliment? Howie treats it like Tommy’s calling Hen a bitch, but it honestly didn’t come off that way, more like Tommy trying to clarify that Howie wasn’t calling Hen a bitch by saying she has an “East Coast Vibe”. Anyway this conversation quickly devolves in Gerrard being a misogynist, and Tommy and DeLuca quickly scamper off.

4) Not Tommy related, but we do have someone with insight into being an openly gay firefighter now. Casey with the 115. He says that they knew he was gay from the moment he walked in, and it didn’t matter that he was the strongest guy in the firehouse. Here we have proof that it doesn’t matter your qualifications, if you’re perceived as gay, you’re automatically singled out. He said it was so hard that he was told to quit and find a new dream by his partner. Now, there is a red flag about your SO tellingly you to give up your dreams, but can you imagine how bad it would have been for the boyfriend to get to that point? The person you care about coming home every night defeated and downtrodden over something that’s supposed to be his dream? The ease in which Casey shed the boyfriend makes me think that they weren’t together long enough to earn those privileges, but the job also gets a red flag for being so bad that you’d advise your short term boyfriend to quit.

5) Hen’s speech. During this we don’t see him often, because he’s off to the side. The camera is more focused on Gerrard, DeLuca and Howie for the most part. But he does seem very closed off, when you do see him, his arms crossed, not standing defensively or challengingly like DeLuca, but like he’s trying to shrink. Actually it kind of reminds me of another queer firefighter that we all know.

6) We don’t get to see much more of the reactions because we go immediately into a call where a party limo crashed into a flower truck. Which we only know about because Hen went looking for it, saving the life of a little boy. Tommy tells her good job, that they would have discovered the secondary wreck eventually but that it would have been too late. She also has now earned Sal’s respect.

7) When they get back the Chief is there. Now remember, she gave her speech, they went out, they come back out and Gerrard is being removed. Nothing that happened on that call or involving her speech has anything to do with this. She thinks she’s being fired, that Gerrard called while heading to or back from the scene to have her removed, but that’s not the case. Her speech wasn’t actually necessary because everyone was already complaining about how Gerrard treated her. They even talk about someone who compared Gerrard and his behavior to hemorrhoids. Which I’m not saying could be from the army pilot who was probably deployed and had to undergo long-term constipation or diarrhea, but it could be.

Now all in all, there nothing really bad about Tommy’s behavior that we’ve seen. He doesn’t approach Hen, but we’ve seen from her interactions with Howie that she barely accepts his overtures of friendship in the beginning, and Tommy is much more closed off, remembering how he only opened up to Howie after he saved his life. He also doesn’t stand up for Hen to the captain’s face, but as an Army guy, he follows the chain of command. Doesn’t mean he won’t file one or two or three complaints through the proper channels. He just can’t afford to put himself in Gerrard’s crosshairs, can’t afford to undergo his scrutiny.

Bobby Begins Again

1) Hen has started a betting pool on the newest captain. Over under is 6 weeks, making me think that that’s the least amount of time a Captain stayed (about a month and a half and if they had 6 captains in 2 years that’s an average of 4 months). Tommy gives Nash a month and has to run to the ATM. DeLuca is obviously the main antagonizer, it sounds like he wanted the 118 and was denied (Also ABC, maybe bring him back ala Billy Tyson? Might be fun.).

2) Tommy has never worked on a farm, or dealt with toddlers. Cause he was floundering and falling all over himself when trying to catch Maurice the rooster. All in all these calls don’t show much. Tommy follows Bobby’s instructions, even though part of time he’s just parroting what Sal says, no arguments. Adds further credibility to the fact that he follows chain of command. It doesn’t matter that this guys only going to last a month, he’s my captain now.

3) During the Guillermo’s fire, Sal breaks rank to save the kid (which considering who that kid grows up to be, it sucks that he was successful). But when Bobby takes him to task for endangering them all, Sal doubles down. I thought I was paying attention during this scene, but it’s hard with the yelling. At least two people try to get him to cool it, one of them being Chimney who calls DeLuca “Fredo”.

4) They’re all at the bar, talking about Sal getting fired when Bobby shows up and the vibes change. Now sometime over the past twoish years Tommy is single, and it seems chronically at least to the house. Maybe because Gerrard is gone he doesn’t have to maintain a beard anymore, but with the endless captain parade and DeLuca being a tool, he doesn’t feel comfortable coming out? I think he’s also classified the 118 as unsafe, so maybe this lended a reason for his later transfer. But as he says, “Single is easier. Having the scars impresses women, getting ‘em freaks ‘em out.” Which gives heavy implications that like Buck in season one, Tommy isn’t dating but hooking up. If he’s gay, then his partners would have to be okay with the fact that he’s still closeted. And mention of women aside, it’s implied that a longer term relationship ended because he got hurt on the job. (This is why I don’t ascribe to the Tommy dated Abby theory. She implied that her relationship ended because of Patricia, and Tommy implies his last was due to injury. Which could be. He got hurt on the job and she couldn’t handle care giver burden for both of them? But that’s also turning Abby into Shannon Diaz pt 1 and while I dislike both women, they don’t need to be same character different font.) Here’s what I think. He got hurt on the job, and his long term boyfriend couldn’t even go to the hospital to check on him because he wasn’t out to his crew, causing them to break up.

Also for all you Buck/Tommy writers, Tommy canonically has a scar on his right side from a piece of shrapnel that he caught. He says it’s from a factory explosion. I don’t have the ability to get screen shots atm, but it’s pretty.

5) Tommy quotes Fight Club with Chim. So maybe another victim of the Han School of Movie References?

6) Bobby starts with family dinners. Tommy decides to transfer. The cake says, “The 217’s lose is our gain,” and they push his head into it.

The very next scene is Buck walking into the 118.

So all in all, we see Tommy as a deeply guarded character. He doesn’t open up easily, he follows orders, he has a soft side. I don’t really know how to conclude this because I sprinkled my impressions throughout, but I hope that this helps anyone who’s looking for Tommy characterization, and we’ll see tomorrow if any of this is right.

[momowoah]

Okay but I really think that the worst part is that this is season seven. Unless they're planning to turn 9-1-1 into the new Grey's Anatomy the chances of us being already in the final half of the show are huge. I'm not saying that there shouldn't be any drama, but the characters should've started to go forward, and yet nearly all of them feel stuck in the same place they have been for several seasons. Or should I say 2-3 seasons?

tldr: all/most S7 storylines were either useless in the long run or recycles. The only characters who had storylines on the good side of the scale (as in, they helped the characters develop and move to a new place in their lives) were Maddie and Chimney (and maybe Buck but he's on thin ice). All the characters are back to the same place they were in s4/s5. It's probably TM's fault. This shouldn't be happening in a 7th season.

(really long post under the cut but worth it imo)

Bobby and Athena had a whole seven episodes for their storylines and yet it didn't significantly change anything about them or their relationship. The doubts of how they are when they're at peace that were brought up in ep1 ended up not being addressed at all. We started the season with what was supposed to be this huge thing in their relationship and it was just never brought up again! Instead they put bathena through distress again just for the sake of being dramatic. And while I'm extremely glad we got Amir and think there were several high points in his storyline, what difference did it make in the long run? Yes, it brought up interesting things to Bobby's storyline, such as more insight into his childhood and the chance for him to explore another side of the fire he caused, but is it going to change anything? No! Bobby will be reinstated in S8 bc that's just how these things go, and I doubt they'll put any effort to continue the survivors storyline. I'd bet it'll just be ignored in the next seasons.

Hen and Karen have been trying for YEARS AND YEARS to adopt a child and they just can't let them! As a wlw, do you know how awful that is to watch? Seeing them fail time and time again and have their family broken up once again just because??? It was one thing with Nia, she got a happy ending, but that wasn't the case with Mara. The best thing for everyone involved would be for her to stay with Hen and Karen, but they blew it up. I know she's with Madney, but it's not the fucking same. Why do they have to go through this again? Why can't they finally get the family they've spent years fighting for? Why can't the drama be about anything else, why does it have to be about failed adoptions? I've seen this enough times before. Why not let them be able to adopt???? Why? I'm genuinely upset abt this btw, probably more than about anything else that went down.

Buck got to finally come out and it was great but instead of taking it as an opportunity to let him grow into himself they just threw him right back into the hamster wheel of dating people who are either not fully into him or who he's not fully into. (if you like bt probably skip the rest of this paragraph but I'd also be upset about how they're handling them if I liked the ship bc I liked the previous bt and they did something similar to them lol) Tommy's behavior could be explained away at first, but I feel like time and time again the show goes the extra mile to make him uninterested in Buck or just straight up an asshole to him? Instead of taking the small opportunities of portraying them as a healthy happy couple they just consistently screw up their relationship? They're not the couple I support but even then I wanted them to be good together bc I want Buck to be happy, and yet all we get is this?

I don't even have words about Eddie, especially considering what rg has said about him destroying his life and possibly reverting back to military no emotions mode next season. WHY CAN'T HE BE HAPPY? We already saw him break down, WE'VE ALREADY HAD A STORYLINE ABOUT HIM REBUILDING HIS LIFE, but happiness is boring so now he has to ruin his relationship with his son too right? It just pisses me off how they go about his character sometimes. I liked that they were bringing back the Shannon storyline because he was supposed to be able to finally move on, but this wasn't about that. No, it was about retraumatizing Eddie and Chris and splitting them up at a time when they should be leaning on each other and healing, because Chris has also been suffering with the Shannon stuff. We saw it in fucking ep 1. Don't even get me started on the Marisol stuff because idek why she was there at all. Literally don't get it. We had an off-screen breakup anyways. She wasn't relevant at all to anything that happened. Why was she even there? I'm genuinely asking. The only Eddie arc that has some positive potential for next season is him dealing with his relationship with religion (especially if they tie it to the military and the way he lives his life for others' expectations), but tbh I don't trust them not to fuck it up.

Finally, I don't have complaints about madney, except for why tf was Maddie so absent this season? The wedding episode was all about Chimney (who was also maybe kinda missing tbh), and although I love him and his backstory and the opportunity to see Kevin again, I really wanted it to be about their relationship, since it was their wedding, yk. Dispatch was also severely under utilized. We did get the 7x07 Maddie plotline and it might've been bc it was a shortened season but yeah, I'm still not that satisfied.

So, we have all the characters stuck in places they've been before. More specifically, in the place they were in season 4/5. Bathena relationship problems followed by a life threatening situation? Check. Henren struggling with adoption? Check. Buck getting into what was supposed to be a good relationship only for it to end up going really bad? Check. Eddie struggling with relationships and his mental health going to hell? Check. Madney in a good place with a new child and about to have an awful fucking time? Hopefully just check for the first part. And you know which question this makes me ask? It's whether Tim Minear is just reverting everyone to their s4 state out of spite for the seasons he was away. And even if it is a genuine attempt at getting the show back on the track he wanted out of good intentions, it still sucks, because it doesn't change the fact that it is just a repeat of old storylines. I actually complained at this before the show even aired, but (iirc) I ended up deleting my post because I thought that I was just overreacting. Guess what? I fucking wasn't, bc that's EXACTLY what they did.

Now, going back to the start of this post, the reason why all these storylines suck so much is not that they are bad. It's not even that they aren't original. No, it's the fact that we're doing storylines that belong in the fourth or fifth season of a show in its seventh season. Even the Gerrard plotline, which is new to 9-1-1, feels like it came too late, because the split up crew/villain captain storyline tends to happen much sooner in procedurals, and for a reason. Besides the fact that this was never really a big bad type of show and I don't get why they are making it one all of a sudden, and ignoring the fact that Gerrard being brought back as captain, especially to the 118 of all places, makes no fucking sense, that kind of plotline is one that it's obviously always temporary. No one believes he'll still be the captain by the end of 8A, much less by the end of the season. He'll hardly survive the first 3-5 episodes. That's ultimately a filler storyline. It helps the show go on for longer, it might even help in the development of a couple characters, but at the end of the day it doesn't change anything, which appears to be a recurring theme when it comes to 9-1-1 storylines.

The reason I have a problem with this is that we don't need a filler storyline, because no one knows whether the show has the luxury of taking its sweet time. Yeah, it has a huge audience and it is doing good numbers, but it is still a fucking money pit that was already cancelled once and it's unsustainable on the long run. It might not end that soon, but is it honestly going to reach season 14? Does anyone truly think that we've only seen half of it (or less) so far? Because I don't. Not many shows make it that far, and there's a reason for that. We have three huge names who are extremely important to the show. What happens if they get tired? What happens if someone gets a better offer? What happens if we're still revisiting old storylines when that happens? Do we get an incomplete story or a rushed one?

The show should be moving forward, even if there are no plans for it to end soon. We have the drama of the huge disasters 9-1-1 loves. We have the drama of the cases. We have a myriad of new possible dramatic storylines for the characters that show development without being too final. Athena could have so many different job related storylines (from moving up in her career to abandoning it), and her and Bobby's storyline from the beginning of the season about being boring together can be played in a good and dramatic line. Henren and Madney have a whole world of parenting issues that they could go through. Buck and Eddie both still need either an endgame love interest (whether it's each other or not) or to get to the point where they are fine not having one, and we have all of the relationship trouble that comes with that. This show can give us new things, storylines that are good for the characters, without losing the dramatic factor (which, if I'm being honest, would not be a deal breaker for me). Yet, it refuses to, and probably not for a good reason, because it comes down to either Tim wanting to rewrite history or just trying to drag this show for as long as possible (which apparently he only knows how to do by refusing to make the characters happy). And you know what? I'm fucking mad about it, and I think you should be too.

Btw, this is not to say the whole season sucked. We got Madney and Henren together multiple times which was great. We finally got Bi Buck. There were several amazing acting moments for both the main and recurring actors. As a standalone season, it was good. It just doesn't work when you look at the bigger picture.

[atimeofyourlife]

Go ahead, rip my heart out

Part 2 of the make it worse before it gets better (part 1 here | ao3)

rated: t | wc: 1283

There was a little bit of a whirlwind once they knew what was going on. Maddie was going to call Chimney while Eddie let Bobby know, and then the message would get passed on to Hen.

Bobby and Athena were the first to arrive, followed by Chimney, followed by Hen. It felt all too familiar, gathering together in a hospital waiting room sharing information while waiting for news on Buck.

"What even happened?" Hen asked, looking between Eddie and Maddie. "Have you called Tommy?"

Eddie sighed, hating that he was going to have to break the news. "Buck came over to mine last night after Tommy broke up with him. We split a six pack and he slept on my couch. When I woke up this morning he was having cardiac symptoms so I called for an ambulance and here we are."

"They're still doing testing but the doctors think it's broken heart syndrome." Maddie added.

"Is that even a real thing?" Athena asked after a beat of silence.

"The clinical name is takotsubo cardiomyopathy. It's a sudden weakening of a the heart muscle." Hen explained, sounding like she was repeating verbatim something she had read in a medical textbook when she was in medical school.

"Yeah." Maddie replied, nodding at Hen. "It's often caused by sudden physical or emotional stress. Like the loss of a loved one or a break up. That's why it's called broken heart syndrome."

read more below the cut or on ao3

Once Buck was done with the testing and was allowed visitors, Eddie, Maddie, and Bobby joined Buck to hear what the doctors had to say.

"The scans we have done are showing an enlargement of the left ventricle, which is the standard presentation of takotsubo cardiomyopathy. We're going to need to keep you in for a few days, for continued monitoring, but the outlook is good."

"What does it mean for work? I'm a firefighter." Buck asked, still sounding a little out of breath but nowhere near as bad as he had before Eddie had called 911.

"Well, you are going to be out for a while. Maybe on light duty behind a desk for a few months. But the majority of people recover to full health. The heart muscle usually heals within a month, and it's generally around two months for patients to get back to full health. We will continue monitoring, so you won't be able to return to full duty until you have received the all clear from us."

"What is the chance of recurrence?" Maddie asked, sounding a little worried.

"Recurrence is seen in the region of 4 to 10 percent of cases, and there is no solid way to guarantee prevention. But we recommend eating well, sleeping well, regular exercise. If you haven't already, maybe look into therapy to talk about the emotional stressors both on and off the job."

"I have been in therapy, but not for a while. I guess I need to call Doctor Copeland." Buck sighed. "What about complications?"

"That was going to be my next point. Complications are rare, but as a precaution we will be starting you on blood thinners, because of your history of blood clots. The complication we are most concerned about in your case is a blood clot in the heart wall."

"Great." Buck slumped back into his pillows, seeming defeated.

"I'll give you some time. A nurse will be in shortly with your medication." The doctor said, before leaving the room.

"Buck, as soon as you're cleared medically, you can come back. If you're still on blood thinners, it won't be a deal breaker. I won't make that same mistake again." Bobby assured him.

"It's not." Buck sighed. "It's just hitting all the greatest hits right now. Someone I love has left me again, god I've lost count of how many times that has happened. I'm back on blood thinners, like after my leg was crushed. Worried about my heart health, like after the lightning strike. I just can't help wondering what's next?"

--

Working without Buck felt strange. They were back on shift a couple of days after Buck had been admitted to the hospital, and everything just felt slightly off. Eddie knew that they all should be used to working down a man between all the injuries and health scares they'd accumulated over the years, or all the times personal reasons had kept them off the job, like the months he was working at dispatch as a liaison. Hell, they hadn't long had Bobby back at the head of the 118. But Buck, he was the glue that held their family together. Eddie had heard the stories from before he'd joined, before Buck had joined. People had been friends, but not family. It had been Buck's stubbornness and huge heart that had turned the station into a family.

And he couldn't help worrying. What if something else happened to Buck? Sure, Buck was in hospital, and it was the best place for him to be. And he was already responding to the treatment. But there was always that what if. Everyone else had told him that Buck would be okay, that the doctor had assured them that he would make a full recovery. But they hadn't seen him. Only Eddie had seen how he'd been that morning. How terrifying it had been to see his best friend in so much pain, not knowing what was going on.

The only thing keeping him going was knowing that Buck would never be alone for long. Even while they were on shift, there was a revolving cast of friends and family that would continue to check in on him. Maddie, Athena, Karen, Carla, Pepa, Josh, Linda, Sue. People that could stop by for a few minutes, others for a longer visit. Somewhat replicating what had happened when Buck was recovering from the lightning strike, but more to keep him company while he was in the hospital than having people constantly on his doorstep to check in without actually letting him rest.

--

It was a four alarm fire at an apartment complex near the end of shift. There were so many houses on scene, Eddie tried to focus on the job rather than trying to figure out who else was involved. He had noticed the 217 engine, and could only hope that Tommy was on air support. He wasn't ready to have that conversation. Hell, he wasn't sure he would be able to have that conversation without it turning to anger. What could he even say to the man who had just broken his best friend's heart so bad it had landed him in the hospital.

"Diaz." He was just packing down the equipment at the end when he was approached by one of the 133 paramedics. "How's Buckley doing?"

"Better. He's responding to treatment, still in hospital." Eddie replied.

"That's good to hear, we were pretty worried about him. Thought it could be some delayed reaction to the lightning."

"No. It- uh-it's a type of cardiomyopathy." Eddie said, choosing his words carefully. Not wanting to share too many details of Buck's health. "The doctor said he should make a full recovery within a few months."

"Nothing keeps you guys at the 118 down for long. Let him know we're all thinking about him."

"Will do, thanks man." Eddie nodded and the paramedic left to join the rest of the 133.

Eddie finished loading the equipment back into the engine, and made to get in, when he noticed Tommy standing a few feet away. He didn't want to acknowledge him, but Tommy beat him to it.

"Eddie," Tommy's voice sounded a little hoarse, a slightly distant look on his face. "Where's Evan?"

[peppermintquartz]

some possible midseason bucktommy angst:

Tommy gets into an accident at work partially because he got a little cocky. He's okay, but Buck finds himself overwhelmed (he doesn't fall to pieces, not until Tommy's safe, and then he just crumples at home alone in the loft) by what could have been, and the fact that Buck would not have been anywhere close enough to try to save him, not like he was able to save Christopher and Eddie when they were in danger.

So he tells Tommy he wants to break up (so that neither of them will have to feel the worst kind of heartbreak).

It kinda blindsides Tommy, who naturally assumes the worst, and he tries to get Buck to tell him why but Buck just says "It's not you, it's me" and then he clams up and avoids him.

Over the next two, three episodes we hear voicemails that Buck doesn't delete but never replies to, sees some texts, and Tommy finally comes to the station but Buck hides from him until a job rolls in, and Buck quickly goes out to work, pretending he doesn't see Tommy's devastated expression.

Unfortunately in the meantime the people who can talk sense into Buck are occupied with their own shit - Hen and Karen with the councilwoman, Eddie with being on his own in his adult life for the first time in forever and discovering himself, Bobby not at the station and not really able to observe Buck, Chimney and Maddie having some trouble with their daughter maybe (not that I want harm to come to Jee-yun but she's so cute, so something will, if my writer's instincts are correct).

Then Tommy accidentally sees Buck and Eddie hugging and thinks that Buck got together with Eddie and gets super jealous. Tommy asks Eddie out for a spar but doesn't ask Eddie anything about the hug, he just keeps fighting and not pulling his punches or kicks, and finally when it gets too heated and they're pulled apart, Tommy spits out that he isn't ever giving up on getting Evan back. Then Eddie realizes what happened and he clarifies matters with Tommy.

Then Eddie is on Tommy's side to get Buck and Tommy to reconcile. Then Buck is hurt quite seriously because of poor leadership and Tommy almost assaults Gerard after he rescues Buck; he's stopped only because Chimney and Athena and Eddie hold him back.

He rushes to the hospital, but Buck doesn't want to see him. Tommy is beyond frustrated, because he doesn't know what he did wrong, and he wants to make it right, and he begs Maddie and Chimney to help. Maddie goes in and sits with her brother, who finally confesses that he's really afraid that if he'll loses Tommy while they're together, he won't be able to take it.

"I live with that thought every day," Maddie tells him, stern and wise and kind. "And I have two of you to worry about. Every time you and Chim are at work, my heart is with you. Should I leave Chimney then, because he might die on the job?"

"What? No, of course not!"

"Then why are you doing this to Tommy?" Maddie is very gentle and she kisses the top of her little brother's head. "I'm gonna let him in, and you're going to talk this out with him, ok?"

Tommy comes into the ward, Buck takes his hand, and they finally have some time alone.

"I thought you'd thrown me over for Eddie," Tommy admits. "I know you two are close."

"I was just afraid I'd lose you and not be able to save you," Buck says. "I didn't want you to feel how I felt that day. I thought I could protect you from that pain."

"We won't have to worry for a bit, seeing how you're in hospital and I, uh, I may be suspended for threatening to assault a captain."

"You did that? For me?"

Then it's them saying sorry for being stupid and then making up, and that's when Tommy says, "I love you, Evan Buckley, and nothing will keep me safer than knowing I have you to come home to."

So that's how they split and reconcile and how Tommy gets to say 'I love you' first

[lover-of-mine]

Hiiii Anna 💕💕💕

something I find interesting is that Buck refers to Athena as “Sargent grant” when talking to Tommy in the hospital scene. While It makes sense because Tommy isn’t apart of the 118 and doesn’t really have a relationship with Athena, it’s still interesting. Bobby and to a lesser extent Athena are important people in bucks life, so referring to them by their titles when talking to his boyfriend is quite an interesting choice to highlight perhaps some barriers between Buck and Tommy.

All while contrasting this with Eddie not even looking up from his magazine saying Bobby’s wife?

Some deliberate choices were made here.

What do you think about Buck calling Athena “Sargent grant” when he’s talking to Tommy?

-❤️🪐

Hi darling!

Okay, so a lot of the interactions we saw between Buck and Tommy were to establish that they don't really understand each other, add to that focus that Tommy is a bad fit in Buck's life, I feel like with the added context of the loft scene, aka Tommy falling asleep while Buck talks, the fact that even though Tommy was in the hospital and was the one responsible for making sure Buck didn't injure himself further he didn't even know how Buck dislocated his shoulder (and the possibility that the ibuprofen is what created the boils which we are not sure was intentional or an accident that give an explanation better than "curse"), I feel like there's a level of Buck not knowing how to talk to him and not being sure if he would understand why this is important, or take him seriously if I decide to be mean, if Buck had simply called her Athena. Buck is trying to establish why the curse is real, and I think that there's a part of Buck who is still trying to impress Tommy to keep his attention in a sense, and I think Buck might've felt that saying "oh, a police sergeant gave me this information" is better than saying "Bobby's wife gave me this information". That kinda plays into Buck's appearance a bit too, I think, and the "oh, so I am gross" contrasting the way Buck is bracing himself for Eddie to say it's bad, there's a part of Buck that's still in that "I need to be my best or they won't like me" phase of the relationship. Which would help with the whole "taking the rose-colored glasses off" element Oliver mentioned that happened this episode.

[pineapplehazard]

Just finished s7!!! Right on time✨

Now did I cry when Eddie said goodbye to Chris? Yes, yes I did.

But here's my thoughts about the last two episodes:

- Eddie Diaz : the whole thing with Kim was actually crazy of him, but her playing Shannon?? That man has a reason to act like a mad man but girl what are YOU doing?? That was a quick expedition out for Marisol too, Buck and him see to have a way to make girlfriends disappear this season.

- Chris Diaz : valid. I get why he thinks it's better for him to be away from his father for some time, it's probably a good thing actually for them to have space to breath and accept what happened. But the Diaz parents?? Ramon shit talking about Shannon every chances he's giving (he literally did it at her funeral that man has no shame), and Helena acting like she just won lottery, please at least ACT like you're not happy to take Chris from you son. Honestly if my own mom wasn't sitting right next to me I would have been insulting both of them so MUCH.

- Hen Wilson : I'm mad that they were all going to be happy and then that woman whose son hasn't been mentioned since like ep2? comes to take her revenge out of nowhere. When I saw Mara all closed on herself and quiet when Hen visited her that broke my heart😭 then at the end the emotional whiplash of Chris leaving, instantly followed by the Wilsons getting reunited with Mara, ouch (is it like 'a soul for a soul' but with family, like they CANNOT be happy at the same time??), also I know the plot was for Gerrard to come back, but I love Captain Wilson, and I wanted her to take after Bobby

- Chimney and Maddie: they're relatively absent from the final 2 eps so I don't have much to say, I loved Chimney calling Gerrard trash to his face, and I loved Maddie. I just love Maddie.

- Buck : such a good husband for his chaotic dating-the-doppelganger-of-his-deceased-ex husband... He was just so supportive and trying to help, gosh he's just so cute. But MORE IMPORTANTLY where's my angst?? You're telling me Bobby's in a coma, and all we got from Buck (who's basically his son) is one line of dialog AFTER we know Bobby's going to be alright? Sentence immediately followed by an awkward sex joke argh!! My favorite thing about 911 is Bobby and Buck's relationship and I don't know if it's just an impression but i feel like they barely had any interaction this season, I missed them, I need more of them!! Also all things considered Buck had quite a quiet and calm season, which does feel weird and not something that will stick

- Athena : she mentioned Emmett and I was just woop crying incoming! I'm not gonna dwell on the whole cartel thing, I'm sure people already express so many opinions on this, my real question is how many times can Athena break rules before getting a problem with the hierarchy? (ik she did in s1, but since then she's been pulling some sketchy moves from time to time with no problems afterwards). Also ik the house was going to burn but I hadn't thought of the implications, that they would loose all the memories and stuff and that's so sad, I totally get her panic about wanting to get everything that's on her phone to still have SOMETHING.

-Bobby : please bobby never leave the 118, maybe they could handle it but I couldn't, so please don't leave ever.

(-Tommy : whether you ship them or not, the last scene we got of them together (dinner at Buck's) should start an alarm in your brain about their future together, specially once you consider Gerrard's come back. Tommy literally says that Gerrard's the closest things he got to a father figure when he was in the 118, and that it didn't help him be a better person. (ik he's not saying he saw Gerrard the way Buck see Bobby but he still acknowledge that he saw him as a model of some sort), that's the online line 'acknowledging' Tommy's past actions, but also showing that he followed Gerrard's lead, and we know Buck is not going to appreciate Gerrard's way of leading and this definitely could be a big cause of conflict between Buck and Tommy...)

It feels weird to finally be up to date, and to know killer bees will attack LA in two days😭

I FORGOT RAVI!!

He was there for 3seconds but still, I was so happy seeing him, and ik so far it doesn't seem he'll be back in s8 for some time, so I'm devastated

[quintessenceofdust88]

(Several) Sentence Sunday

I was tagged by my darling @typicalopposite! So here's some sentences of my Hallmark Christmas movie AU, 'Flaming Delights', which was supposed to have its first chapter published today, but. What can I say? Little Blobs and Nonna Rosa have taken over my life hehe (speaking of which: Nonna Rosa fix-it later today, new chapter of Little Blobs on Tuesday! Yay! Ohhh, and prompts! Prompts between today and Monday, I promise) Anyway, here's Flaming Delights (if you think you've read it before, yeah, I posted a snippet a while back, but I heavily edited it so here's the new version). I hope you enjoy it! 🎄🎄🎄

-- (tw: minor oc deaths, car accident)

It was a snowy day in Flame Pine, and Buck had finally flipped the sign of his bakery, Flaming Delights (no one had ever accused him of much creativity), to closed. Now, the only people left were his parents, Bobby and Athena, and Hen and Karen. They were tucked in a corner, enjoying the pastries Buck hadn't sold during the day and fresh cups of hot chocolate, while he wiped the counter clean and flipped the chairs.

"Do you want some help, kid?" His dad asked, halfway to getting up, and Buck waved him off.

"Nah, Dad, I'm good, you've worked all day. You're helping by taking care of the leftovers for me" Buck reassured him, and Bobby sat back down, his eyes still on his kid. Buck knew his parents thought he worked too much, and especially during the holidays, the conversation would soon turn to… 

“You know you’ve also worked all day, right, baby?” His mom told him, a sharp eyebrow raised at him, and Buck shrugged sheepishly. 

“Well, yeah, but I wasn’t chasing bad guys or putting out fires, Mom” He reminded her while wiping the counter, earning a laugh from Hen and Karen. 

“Oh, as if there are many bad guys for Athena to chase in Flame Pine” Karen says while stealing an eclair from Hen’s plate. Hen nodded enthusiastically, and even Athena was smirking a little. 

“Face it, Buckaroo, this town’s crime life is as dead as your love life” She said, and Buck playfully clutched his own chest.

“Ouch, Hen, rude” He told her. “I’ll have you know I went on a date just last week”

“Yeah, Buck, having dinner with Taylor every time she comes to town and taking her to your loft afterwards barely counts as a date” The very accurate description came from Bobby this time, and Buck desperately wished this town wasn’t so small for once.

Fortunately for him, Buck wasn’t able to answer, because Jee and Maddie came in. As soon as they were inside, Jee made a beeline for Buck, who readily picked her up. 

“Hi, butterfly” He said, pressing a kiss to her cheek, and instead of giggling like she usually did, she hid her head on his shoulder with a small sigh. “Oh no, what happened, sweetheart?”

“She’s a little upset Angelica won’t be living with us anymore” Maddie explained while giving Bobby and Athena a hug (they weren’t her adoptive parents like they were Buck’s, but once she had come to live in Flame Pine, they might as well have been), and Buck rubbed his niece’s back comfortingly. 

“Oh, so her uncle finally managed to get here?” Athena asked, and Maddie nodded.

That had been the talk of the town for the last few weeks. When Elizabeth and Philip Kinard had sadly passed away in a car accident, everyone had wondered what would happen to their little girl, Angelica, because they had no family in town, as far as anyone knew. Chim and Maddie had signed up as emergency foster parents, and the approval was probably helped by the fact Maddie was her teacher. 

As it turned out, Philip’s brother, Tommy, had been named Angelica’s guardian in their will; the problem is that he was a pilot and was working on a remote location in South America by the time of their deaths. Philip’s attorney had managed to reach him out a little after the funerals, and said the guy was trying everything he could to get back to the US as soon as possible. Now, three weeks after their deaths, it seemed he had managed.

Np tagging @bidisasterevankinard @unhingedangstaddict @aplaceinme @30somethingautisticteacher and anyone else who wants to join in! <3

[larry-is-my-anchor1]

I don’t know why I combined episodes 8 & 9 in one post.

Season 3 episode 9, is the second part of the episode, after Eddie and Buck stop arguing and are discussing Maddie. Buck brings up that one can’t help a person who doesn’t want to be saved, meaning his ex brother inlaw, then Buck apologizes for not being there for Eddie and Chris. He was going through his own crap and was selfish.

Buck suggests to Eddie perhaps he was thinking of him as he beat up people in cage fights. For god sakes the writers know exactly what they’re doing. And it would be awful if these two don’t end up together

Listen all I’m saying is their relationship feels different. I realize that relationships and dynamics are all very different on the show. Some are more complicated than others. There are romantic relationships, such as Maddie and Chimney Athena and Nash, also Hen and Karen. There are ex relationships with Athena and Michael and Nash. Best friend relationships with Hen and Chimney, Athena and Hen. Boss and team relationships. Sibling relationships.

I mean Chimney is friends with both Eddie and Buck, but their male friendship just doesn’t feel the same as Eddie and Buck’s.

Side giggle: in episode 8 when Buck slipped as they were walking off, the look Eddie gave him. Bahahah. Like I worry about you all the time.

Which is ironic since Eddie is using underground fighting not only for some side money, but also to deal with his own demons. Poor guy.

When Buck brings up Eddie at dinner, with Maddie and Chim.

Chimney is worried about Hen. And Buck about Eddie. I guess the show was alluding to best friends being worried about one another. And I am all for having a solid foundation of friendship. But I really think once a long time after Buck realizes he likes men as well, but not really Tommy, then Eddie was always the one for him. I have absolutely no idea how they are going to address Eddie.

Bosco said the friendship between her and Eddie was one sided. I think that’s interesting because I just think Eddie pushes through. I don’t think Eddie doesn’t care. I think he cares too much and he keeps it all inside. I think he’s punishing himself. I think yes perhaps it’s the way he was raised. He needs to be strong and silent. And perhaps he hasn’t felt enough since he was a kid. I think a relationship he rushed into when he was young but he loved her because she was Christopher’s mother. But just maybe he will be realizing more things?